Dispose of unwanted medicines on National Drug Take-back Day, April 27

Correct disposal helps prevent unintentional poisonings

Source: Snohomish County Health District

SNOHOMISH COUNTY, Wash. –Unintentional poisonings are at a record high in Snohomish County. The most recent information shows that in 2011 the number of such poisonings affected 150 county residents– more than triple the 46 reported in 2000. You can help reduce the chance of unintentional poisonings by disposing of your unwanted medicines on National Drug Take-back Day, April 27 at multiple locations in Snohomish County.

“Unintentional poisonings frequently involve prescription drugs,” said Dr. Gary Goldbaum, Health Officer and Director of the Snohomish Health District. He said they not only harm people, but improperly discarded drugs can also harm the environment when they enter septic systems and household trash.

To help protect the public’s safety and health, area law enforcement agencies and Bartell Drug will participate in National Drug Take-back Day, Saturday, April 27 at sites throughout the county.  Find locations and hours on the Health District’s website, www.snohd.org, or call 425.388.3199. The sites accept unused, expired and unwanted prescription drugs, including narcotic painkillers and other medications.

All police departments in the county have drop-boxes available year-round, Monday through Friday, including the NCIS office at Naval Station Everett, the Washington State Patrol office in Marysville, and tribal police stations on the Tulalip and Stillaguamish reservations. Additionally, two Group Health locations and many Bartell Drugstores accept unwanted vitamins, pet medications, over-the-counter medications, inhalers and unopened EpiPens year-round.

Only law enforcement locations can accept controlled substances, such as Ativan and OxyContin. Leave all items in their original containers.

The Saturday drug-return hours support the US Drug Enforcement Agency’s “National Drug Take-back Day,” through participation by the Snohomish County Partnership for Secure Medicine Disposal. Partnership members include the Snohomish Health District, Snohomish County, the Snohomish County Sheriff’s office, the Snohomish Regional Drug and Gang Task Force, the Washington State Patrol, and all local law enforcement agencies.

Established in 1959, the Snohomish Health District works for a safer and healthier Snohomish County through disease prevention, health promotion, and protection from environmental threats. Find more information about the Health Board and the Health District at http://www.snohd.org.

 

Drop-Off Locations and Hours

The Snohomish County Partnership for Secure Medicine Disposal provides residents with secure medicine drop-off locations year-round. The hours listed below are for the Saturday, April 27 National Drug Take-back Day.

 

City: Arlington

Time: 10  am – noon

Location: Arlington Police Department

110 East Third Street

Arlington, WA 98223

 

City: Edmonds

Time: 10  am – 2  pm

Location: Edmonds Police Department

250 Fifth Avenue North

Edmonds, WA 98020

 

City: Everett

Time: 8  am – Noon

Location: Everett Police Department – North Precinct

3002 Wetmore Avenue

Everett, WA 98201

 

City: Lake Stevens

Time: 10  am – 2  pm

Location: Bartell Drugs (hosted by Lake Stevens Police Department)

621 SR 9 NE

Lake Stevens, WA 98258

 

City: Lynnwood

Time: 8 am – noon

Location: Lynnwood Police Department

19321 44th Avenue West

Lynnwood, WA 98036

 

City: Lynnwood

Time: 10  am – 2  pm

Location: Home & About Home Care (hosted by Snohomish Regional Drug & Gang TF)

15121 Hwy 99

Lynnwood, WA 98087

 

City: Marysville

Time: 9  am – 1  pm

Location: Marysville Police Department

1635 Grove Street

Marysville, WA 98270

 

City: Mill Creek

Time: 9  am – 1  pm

Location: Snohomish County Sheriff – South Precinct

15928 Mill Creek Blvd

Mill Creek, WA 98012

 

City: Mountlake Terrace

Time: 10 am – 2  pm

Location: Mountlake Terrace Police Department

5906 232nd Street SW

Mountlake Terrace, WA 98043

 

City: Snohomish

Time: 8  am – noon

Location: Snohomish Police Department

230 Maple Avenue

Snohomish, WA 98290

 

 

Sarvey center’s raptors still draw the eagle-eye of kids

A display of its birds of prey in Snohomish impresses kids as the wildlife center continues to request financial support.

Dan Bates / The HeraldSarvey Wildlife Center volunteer Robert Lee holds a red-tailed hawk with only one wing Friday at the Snohomish Library. Having lost a wing, the hawk will remain at Sarvey for the rest of its life, Lee said.
Dan Bates / The Herald
Sarvey Wildlife Center volunteer Robert Lee holds a red-tailed hawk with only one wing Friday at the Snohomish Library. Having lost a wing, the hawk will remain at Sarvey for the rest of its life, Lee said.
By Alejandro Dominguez, The Herald
SNOHOMISH — A line formed in the Snohomish Library 30 minutes before the show started.Eight-year-old Lily Westman and her brother, Cooper, 6, were first in line last week, waiting for the doors to open for the “Raptor Factor” show. They were eager to see all of the birds, but hoped to see a bald eagle.

“I want to know how they take care of them,” said Cooper, who goes to Cascade View Elementary School.

The show is put on by the Sarvey Wildlife Care Center, a nonprofit located between Arlington and Granite Falls that rescues, treats and releases wild animals. It’s one of the outreach efforts by the center that has been around since 1981.

Last month, the center announced that it was having financial difficulties. The center has an operating budget of about $450,000 a year, but donations have been down. Director Suzanne West said last month the center needed $95,000 to continue to care for animals, keep the doors open and continue their programs.

In the last couple of weeks, however, the center has seen an increase in donations and new donors have also appeared. The shortfall has been reduced to $50,000.

“We are still feeling the crunch,” West said. “We have been able to tighten our belts and we have received additional funding.”

Jennifer Cutshall, 44, of Snohomish, heard about Sarvey’s financial problems. She’s hoping that people step up to help out the center. She’s seen the raptor show herself. On Friday she brought her youngest son, Isaac Tavares, 4, for the first time.

“It’s a good chance to see these birds this close,” Cutshall said.

They were about 75 kids, parents, grandparents and others who attended the show and learned about the barn owl, great horned owl, red-tailed hawk and peregrine falcon.

The children asked questions about the birds, such as the length of their wings and how fast they could fly. They were amazed when some of the birds spread their wings.

Most of them gasped when volunteers took out the last bird of the show: a bald eagle named Askate.

Seeing the animal was the favorite part of 5-year-old Kaylee Broome who goes to kindergarten at Machias Elementary School.

“It was so cool,” Kayle said.

Alejandro Dominguez: 425-339-3422; adominguez@heraldnet.com.

More about Sarvey

The Sarvey Wildlife Center is located at 13106 148th St. NE, near Arlington.

For more information on the center, including how to donate and what to do if you find an injured or orphaned animal, go to www.sarveywildlife.org/ or call 360-435-4817.

Old, busy bridge replacement begins

Source: North County Outlook

PilchuckCreekBuilt in 1916, the scenic but single-lane Pilchuck Creek Bridge on SR 9 north of Arlington is one of the oldest bridges in the state. On March 12 crews began minor work in preparation for a project to replace the concrete structure.

The new bridge will be wider, with two lanes and shoulders. It will also be in a slightly different place to help smooth out the sharp curves leading to the bridge.

For the next couple weeks, crews will be working from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. daily to install silt fencing and signs while removing some trees and surveying. WSDOT doesn’t anticipate any cause delays for drivers unless crews need to stop traffic for a few minutes to safely drop a tree or unload equipment. Once this minor work is completed, the project will be on hold until May when bridge construction begins.

Of the 3,600 state-owned bridges in Washington, the 95-year-old Pilchuck Creek bridge is one of the oldest. And at just 17 feet wide, the single-lane bridge is too narrow for modern safety and traffic standards, requiring drivers from either direction to take turns crossing it. The SR 9 corridor in Snohomish County is the only alternative to I-5 and serves a number of rapidly growing communities.

The new bridge is expected to be in place by summer of 2014. The projected cost is nearly $18 million.

Police partner with public to ID suspects online

Courtesy image.Arlington Police recently posted this security camera footage screen-cap on www.CanYouID.me, of a suspect who passed a counterfeit $50 bill at the Union 76 Gas Station at 2513 State Route 530 in Arlington on Jan. 15.
Courtesy image.
Arlington Police recently posted this security camera footage screen-cap on www.CanYouID.me, of a suspect who passed a counterfeit $50 bill at the Union 76 Gas Station at 2513 State Route 530 in Arlington on Jan. 15.

Source: The Marysville Globe

In a modern spin on the “wanted” posters of the Old West, local police departments are using a new website — www.CanYouID.me — to help identify unnamed suspects.

In the wake of the Marysville Police Department’s recent success with the program, the Arlington Police Department has posted a notice of its own on the site — at http://canyouid.me/blog/2013/03/arlington-police-department-case-no-13/apd130130 — asking web surfers if they recognized the suspect in a security camera footage screen-cap who passed a counterfeit $50 bill at the Union 76 Gas Station at 2513 State Route 530 in Arlington on Jan. 15.

The website hosts photos taken via video surveillance cameras in stores and other locations. With purported crimes ranging from credit card theft to robbery, suspects are shown on the website’s main page in the hopes that someone can help put names to their faces.

“The CanYouID.me website now provides a practical tool for law enforcement to partner with the public, to help hold criminals accountable for the crimes that impact our community,” Marysville Police Officer Dan Vinson said.

Marysville Police responded to a report of a shoplifter leaving the Marysville Kmart store with $11,338 in jewelry stolen from a locked display case. Unable to identify the suspect, detectives turned to CanYouID.me for help. Two citizens identified the suspect through the photos posted on the site, and he has since been charged, according to Marysville Police Detective Craig Bartl, who inherited the case from Vinson, who was on detective duty at the time.

CanYouID.me allows anyone who recognizes a suspect in a photo to contact the investigating agency through email with just a simple click. Anonymous tips are also welcome. Since its development by a Lake Forest Park detective in July of 2010, the website has helped identify 20 suspects, with 43 participating agencies and 148 detective signed up with the site. The city of Arlington website will link to its entries on CanYouID.me under its police department link at http://arlingtonwa.gov/index.aspx?page=86.

“The media is very helpful on big cases, but we’ve got tons of lesser crimes that aren’t going to make the evening news, and this is another outlet for that,” Arlington Police Sgt. Jonathan Ventura said. “This goes along with [Arlington Mayor Barbara Tolbert’s] focus on community outreach and embracing social media, because we can’t do this without the public’s help. It’s just a great tool.”

Enjoy romantic winter music in Arlington

Grammy Award-winning duo Eric Tingstad and Nancy Rumbel.
Grammy Award-winning duo Eric Tingstad and Nancy Rumbel.

 Sarah Arney, North County Outlook, http://www.northcountyoutlook.com

The Arlington Arts Council will present two shows to brighten up the dark winter days in the Romantic Winter Music Festival on two Saturdays in February.

On Saturday, Feb. 9, Last Leaf Productions will offer “Sweet and Hot,” a musical revue originally conceived by Julianne Boyd to showcase the musical works of Harold Arlen, a prolific composer from 1930-1970.

Together with popular lyricists including Ira Gershwin, Johnny Mercer and Truman Capote, Arlen wrote hundreds of songs that have become standards in American music. His work includes “Get Happy,” “Stormy Weather,” “Let’s Fall in Love,” and the songs from The Wizard of Oz including “Somewhere Over The Rainbow.”

Terence Alaric Levitt is music director and accompanist for the show. A composer himself, Levitt has written many shows produced in the Seattle area and in California where he studied music and composition. He will be joined by Keith Ruby to fill out the musical accompaniment for the show.

Performers include Pat Haines-Ainsworth, who played Sister Hubert in Last Leaf’s production of “Nunsense” that played in the Byrnes Performing Arts Center two years ago. Also featured are Jonathan Reis, Emily Cawley, Krista Erickson and Buddy Mahoney who have collectively performed on many western Washington stages including Village Theatre, Northwest Savoyards and Seattle Musical Theatre.

On February 16, the Grammy Award-winning duo Eric Tingstad and Nancy Rumbel return to Arlington for their first local performance since the grand opening of the BPAC in 2007.

Tingstad provides Americana finger-style guitar which is complemented by Rumbel’s wistful high-toned oboe floating gracefully above Tingstad’s gently swirling hypnotic guitar lines. On some pieces Rumbel plays English horn, and she adds a jig flavor with a peppy ocarina, which is much like a penny whistle.

The duo has released many albums, including Acoustic Garden, The Gift, Woodlands, In the Garden and Legends.

Both concerts start 7:30 p.m. at the Byrnes Performing Arts Center, 18821 Crown Ridge Blvd., adjacent to Arlington High School.

Tickets are $15 and can be purchased in advance online at brownpapertickets.com and at Flowers by George, 335 N. Olympic Ave., in downtown Arlington. Remaining tickets will be sold at the door.

For information see www.arlingtonartscouncil.net, byrnesperformingarts.org or arlingtonwa.gov, or call 360-403-3448.

Eagle Festival returns Feb. 1-2

Arlington  Times, http://www.arlingtontimes.com

ARLINGTON — The city of Arlington and the Stillaguamish Tribe welcome locals and out-of-towners alike to attend the sixth annual Eagle Festival on Friday, Feb. 1, and Saturday, Feb. 2, in Arlington. The Stillaguamish watershed hosts large concentrations of bald eagles during the winter, when they feed on the spawning salmon.

This year, in an effort to make the festival a two-day event, organizers have added activities on Friday, including a rafting trip on the Stillaguamish River. To make a reservation, call North Cascades River Expeditions at 1-800-634-8433. The cost is $60. Also on Friday, the Predators of the Heart Wild Animal Show will start at 7 p.m. at Eagle Creek Elementary. This event is new to the Eagle Festival and is sponsored by Calvary of Arlington.

The Arlington Arts Council will again be conducting its Nature Art Show at Magnolia Hall. The show opens on Friday at 5 p.m. with an artists’ reception and wine tasting, and continues on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Included in the show are a Nature Art Contest and an Eagle Photograph Contest. Cash prizes will be awarded. For more details, log onto www.arlingtonwa.gov/eaglefest.

Also included in the Eagle Festival is a Nature Poetry Contest whose details can be found online, again, at www.arlingtonwa.gov/eaglefest. Fogdog Gallery will be displaying the poems and providing prizes at 233 N. Olympic Ave.

Starting at 9 a.m. on Saturday, city Natural Resource Manager Bill Blake will lead a short walk through the city’s Storm Water Wetland Park, and along the Stillaguamish River’s Eagle Trail. Participants should meet at the Haller Park parking lot, located at 1100 West Ave. From 10 a.m. to noon, wildlife biologists will be giving tours at the Port Susan Bay Nature Conservancy.

For a personal encounter with a live bird, guests should stop by the Sarvey Wildlife open house from noon to 4 p.m. in the City Council Chambers at 110 E. Third St. Sarvey Wildlife staff will be showing many birds of prey. Nature exhibits and representatives from Western Wildlife Outreach, Sound Salmon Solutions, Pilchuck Audubon Society and Snohomish Conservation District will be on site from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Representatives from Sound Salmon Solutions will be presenting “Tree Tenders” at 11 a.m. at the Depot at Legion Park.

The Country Carvers Chainsaw Show will return Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Legion Park. Chainsaw artists from across the Pacific Northwest will carve eagles and other art, and an auction at 3 p.m. on Saturday will sell those carvings to the public, while the best-in-show title is awarded.

For more information on the Eagle Festival, please visit the city of Arlington’s website at www.arlingtonwa.gov/eaglefest or call 360-403-3448.