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Friday, 11.20.2015 The Daily Herald
School From Page A3
open even when state dollars stop flowing toward the independent public schools. Hundreds of charter school students, parents and educators were in Olympia on Thursday to hold a rally outside the state Capitol and testify before
a joint meeting of the Senate Education and Senate Ways & Means committees to encourage lawmakers to find a way to save their schools. The hearing ended before the Supreme Court decision was issued. Katie Wilton, a ninth grade student at Summit Olympus in Tacoma, called the Supreme Court ruling unfair and asked lawmakers to be courageous and do whatever they can to save her school.
Everett’s public affairs director retiring Herald staff EVERETT — The city’s longtime director for public affairs, Pat McClain, plans to retire in March. Mayor Ray Stephanson has appointed Bob Bolerjack to take McClain’s place. Bolerjack works in the public relations department for the Snohomish County Public Utility District and is a former editorial page editor at The Daily Herald. McClain first joined city government in 1980 as the community affairs director and has worked for four different mayors. Stephanson called him “a tireless champion of Everett.”
Stephanson credited McClain with helping bring notable institutions to town, including Naval Station Everett, the Everett AquaSox baseball team and Washington State University North Puget Sound. McClain plans to assist with the transition after Bolerjack joins the city in January. Bolerjack went to work for the PUD in 2012 after 25 years as an editor at The Daily Herald. He also serves as the chairman for the Everett Community College Board of Trustees and on two community advisory boards for Washington State University North Puget Sound.
Body found after Camano fire Herald staff CAMANO ISLAND — A man’s body was found after a Wednesday fire at a home on Sundown Lane on Camano Island, officials said. The body was discovered after Camano Island Fire and Rescue put out the 11:17 a.m. blaze, said Rick Felici,
chief criminal deputy for the Island County Sheriff’s Office. Sheriff’s deputies and the Washington State Patrol crime lab team were investigating, along with the Snohomish County Fire Marshal’s office. Identification of the victim was pending Thursday as was the likely cause and origin of the fire.
“This goes against the will of Washington state voters,” Wilton said. “This is not how democracy is supposed to work.” The Supreme Court ruling came without comment by the justices, but two dissenting opinions were filed and one written by Justice Mary Yu expressed her belief that the court should reconsider its decision because it needs clarification. “The state and various
amici have raised legitimate questions regarding the use of unrestricted funds and the power of the Legislature to act. These questions touch upon the impact of our decision on other public, non-common school programs,” Yu wrote. “We should be open to modifying the language in our decision for the sake of clarity.” Senate Republicans’ budget writer, Sen. Andy Hill, said charter schools
will be one of the biggest issues lawmakers deal with next session. “We need to fix that glitch,” he said. “There are ways you can specify where funds for charter schools come from.” Hill said the Supreme Court didn’t “say charter schools are good or bad, they said the way you’re paying for them is unconstitutional.” He said that those opposed to charter schools
should listen Thursday’s testimony before the Senate committee. “I think the stories you heard from the students and the parents were pretty powerful,” he said. “If this is a choice that the parents and the students have made and to deny them from that ... we’re not taking money away from public schools. School districts are getting the same number of dollars per student that they were before.”
Muhlstein: ‘Made for each other’ From Page A3
looks like a giant gingerbread house. Titled “Chamber on the Move” because the building once housed the Everett Area Chamber of Commerce, the picture is quintessentially Everett. Soon, Arrabito’s handcolored large print of the photo will hang in the downtown Everett Public Library. He is donating the picture in honor of Michelle “Mickey” Meagher, Brian Meagher’s wife. A senior page at the library, she died Oct. 25. She was 64. “Everybody in the library loved Mickey, she was just so positive,” said Fran Habicht, the library’s circulation manager. “She was such a caring spirit, just delightful.” Amazingly, the Meaghers and Arrabito crossed paths for the first time little more than a month before Mickey died. The bridge picture brought them together. Brian Meagher recalled how his wife first spotted the photo on the Schack Arts Center website. It was publicizing an art show featuring works by the Schack’s artists of the
year, Arrabito and Verena Schwippert. The display was on view Aug. 13 through Sept. 19. Meagher said that after his wife recognized his workplace in the photo, they went to the exhibit. There, they bought a print of Arrabito’s photo. “It was the last art we bought together,” he said. They returned to the Schack on a Sunday when Arrabito was there. Meeting the photographer, the bridge tender shared that he was at work the day the Weyerhaeuser building was moved. Meagher is visible in the picture — a tiny figure at the very center of the bridge. Arrabito recalled asking Mickey Meagher why she bought the photo. “She said it was to honor her husband’s work,” he said. After they met, the photographer and the bridge tender exchanged email. In the online guest book accompanying Mickey Meagher’s obituary, Arrabito shared a message he had received from Meagher right after they met. “Mickey can’t believe how lucky she was to come across your bridge photograph, by chance,”
Meagher wrote. “Mickey loves all art forms. ... She truly was having a hard time trying to wrap her mind around how difficult your shot must have been, from a moving boat, a target slipping away.” Arrabito said he cried when he learned from Everett Public Library Director Eileen Simmons that Mickey had died. “I was just devastated,” he said. Habicht said Mickey’s co-workers raised money to buy Arrabito’s photo, which is roughly a 24-inch square. He is donating the picture, so the money will be used for a frame and plaque. Mickey Meagher oversaw and trained the library’s pages. “She was a good mentor,” Habicht said. Brian Meagher said his wife read the Narnia and Harry Potter books. “She always had to be ahead of the kids when they were talking about books,” he said. “She was a cheerleader for that whole department.” Arrabito, 63, has lately been thinking about that day in 1984. The building was being moved from Weyerhaeuser’s old Mill B to Port of Everett
property near the marina. Arrabito, a Marine Corps veteran and former combat photographer, was new to Everett and working for Pete Kinch. Then the owner of a local photo studio, Kinch served as Everett’s mayor from 1990 to 1994. When Arrabito took the picture, he was on a boat owned by Bud Haines, a friend of Kinch’s. He waited to take the picture until a bit of sky was showing between the bridge and the chimney. After getting four blackand-white shots, he knew he had what he wanted. When he quit working for Kinch, Arrabito said he had one request: “The four negatives I shot of the bridge. He was such a gentleman, he turned the negatives over to me. He didn’t have to.” Arrabito will never forget taking that image. And he’ll always remember meeting Mickey Meagher and her bridgetender husband all these years later. “They were an interesting couple — and made for each other,” he said. Julie Muhlstein: 425339-3460; jmuhlstein@ heraldnet.com.
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