Spectacular trails less traveled
SUNDAY, 09.06.2015
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EVERETT, WASHINGTON
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Lawsuit unlikely to alter project
WWW.HERALDNET.COM
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$1.50 (HIGHER IN OUTLYING AREAS)
BIG FOUR ICE CAVES
The newest apartment complex in Everett has too much value to the city to be halted by the outcome of a case against its developer. By Dan Catchpole Herald Writer
EVERETT — Everett’s newest apartment building, Potala Place and Farmer’s Market, is at the center of a federal agency’s lawsuit against a local developer for alleged fraud. But the outcome of the court case likely will have little immediate effect on downtown development. The apartment building with ground floor shopping is too close to completion and has enough economic upside that it likely will not sit idle even if the developer, Lobsang Dargey, loses in court and has to give up the property. Similar fraud cases have resulted in bankruptcy or courtappointed overseers managing projects. Potala Place and Farmer’s Market is an important piece of development that has given downtown Everett a facelift over the past decade. The five-story building has 220 apartments and the project includes an adjacent 122-room Hampton Inn that caters to business travelers. See PROJECT, Page A7
Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . . .E3 Crossword . . . . . . . . . . . . .D7 Dear Abby. . . . . . . . . . . . . .D7 Entertainment . . . . . . . . . .D5 Horoscope . . . . . . . . . . . . .D7 Lottery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .A2
GENNA MARTIN / HERALD FILE
Rescue workers carry an injured woman to an area where she can be treated before she was taken to the hospital by ambulance July 6 at the trailhead of the Big Four Ice Caves. One person died and five were injured after the caves collapsed.
Death was expected
Emails detail efforts officials made to warn people ... and then save them By Rikki King Herald Writer
VERLOT — People will continue to die at the Big Four Ice Caves. That’s what police were saying privately before and after a California woman was killed by falling ice July 6. In fact, leaders at the Snohomish County Sheriff ’s Office were exchanging emails with the U.S. Forest Service about the dangers, saying “it’s just a matter of time,” two hours before the death.
For more than 15 years, Snohomish County sheriff ’s Sgt. Danny Wikstrom has headed up the search & rescue team. In that time he has been called to two of three deaths at the caves, which form at the base of what he calls a “monster mountain face” regularly swept by avalanches and rock fall. On July 9, three days after the death, Wikstrom wrote in an email to the U.S. Forest Service. “My feeling is that due to ease of access and people’s lack of understanding or appreciation of the deadly potential that this will continue and periodically inexperienced people will continue to die there.”
The Daily Herald obtained dozens of emails between police and the Forest Service through a public records request. The records show that the sheriff ’s office and forest rangers were coordinating efforts to get the word out about the heightened dangers for months before the death. Their emails document how Wikstrom and sheriff ’s chief pilot Bill Quistorf led a personal and dedicated campaign to make sure responders would be prepared if the caves collapsed with people trapped inside. The search & rescue team has drilled for a major operation at the ice caves every year for the past five years,
Quistorf wrote. Two days after the death, Wikstrom even suggested permanently closing off the popular hiking route — “decommissioning the whole thing and letting nature reclaim it.” “We’ve all been worried about this happening and it’s going to happen again and again and again,” he wrote. In late May, Wikstrom wrote that despite safetyeducation efforts, placing warning signs and having rangers talk to hikers about the dangers, he wasn’t sure there was “anything else one reasonably can do.” See CAVES, Page A6
Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .D4 Obituaries. . . . . . . . . . . . . .B3 Viewpoints . . . . . . . . . . . . .B7
FALL FILMS
COUGAR LOSS
OIL TRAINS
Holiday season brings the sure-things to the big screen. Good Life, D1
WSU loses 24-17 to Portland State in season opener. Sports, C1
Cities find themselves scrambling to prepare for disaster. Local, B1
Coolish 62/52, C10
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VOL. 115, NO. 206 © 2015 THE DAILY HERALD CO.