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SUNDAY, 11.29.2015
Danger stalks the hallways Violent assaults and serious injuries to staff at Western State Hospital has cost the state psychiatric institution millions in compensation and lost time.
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EVERETT, WASHINGTON
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Ski season’s triumphant return — this year
By Martha Bellisle Associated Press
See WESTERN, Page A9
RECORD SETTER
PHOTOS BY IAN TERRY / THE HERALD
Despite lifts being closed, Matt McDevitt (left) and Kris Melton make their way up the slopes of Stevens Pass for their first runs of the season last week. The pair came from Leavenworth for a taste of the newly fallen snow. The ski area is officially scheduled to open Tuesday.
Snow forecast is decent, but the future of state’s ski areas is not so cool By Dan Catchpole and Amy Nile Herald Writers
Edmonds woman trained here for Appalachian Trail feat. Outdoors, E1
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STEVENS PASS — He’s having his rock-gouged skis tuned, waxed and heat treated in anticipation of speeding down the mountain. Temple Voorhees, of Snohomish, is among the skiers, snowboarders and business owners who are stoked to put last season — one of the worst snowfall winters on record — in the past. This season’s forecast calls for slightly below average snowfall — still plenty to cover the slopes. That’s welcome news to businesses such as those along U.S. 2 that rely on ski traffic. Natural weather cycles caused last season’s threadbare snowfall and this winter’s expected comeback. But the dismal 2014-15 season
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By blowing a stream of cold air through mist, a snowmaker machine creates fresh powder at Stevens Pass.
provides a glimpse into what’s likely to be a melting future for skiing and snowboarding in Washington. “Ski areas are the canary
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in the coal mine for climate change,” said John Gifford, president of the Pacific Northwest Ski Areas Association. Last season the region’s ski
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resorts opened late, closed early and had mostly poor conditions in between. At Stevens Pass, Voorhees said, it seemed that every new snowfall was followed by rain, washing away fresh powder and leaving rocks uncovered. The 51-year-old started skiing at Stevens when he was 5. On winter mornings, he can often be found in the area’s upper parking lot with fellow skiers, a group that jokingly calls itself the Monday Wrecking Crew. Conditions last winter were so bad, Voorhees said, it almost felt like there wasn’t a ski season. Earnings plummeted at resorts across the state. At Stevens Pass, revenues were 43 percent less than the previous season, which was the resort’s most financially successful, See SEASON, Page A8
VOL. 115, NO. 290 © 2015 THE DAILY HERALD CO.
SUNDAY
LAKEWOOD — A psychiatric patient “head-butted” a nurse so hard she fell back and slammed her head on a door, causing injuries that kept her home for three months. An agitated patient knocked a nurse onto the cement floor and forced him out of work for seven months. A nurse who tried to stop a patient attack was injured so seriously that her recovery took more than two years. Hundreds of employees at Washington’s largest psychiatric hospital have suffered concussions, fractures, bruises and cuts during assaults by patients, resulting in millions of dollars in medical costs and thousands of missed days of work. In some cases, the attacks led to assault and even attempted murder charges, according to court records. Federal regulators have
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