Continue EMS
North County Firefighters currently have the privilege of providing emergency medical services to the residents of North County Fire and EMS. Some of the communities who we serve are Bryant, Freeborn, Warm Beach, Kayak, Lake Ketchum and Grandview just to list a few.
This service has been provided by the Fire Districts (14 and 18) for decades and is continually having to expand to help meet the demand due to population growth. The communitys emergency medical services are one of the most vital services in our local communities and is greatly needed to keep our families safe and protected.
This service is currently funded by an EMS levy that was originally voted in at 50 cents per $1,000 and was set to expire at the end of its term. We are asking voters to restore the levy to its approved rate of 50 cents per $1,000 and have the levy ensured as a permanent EMS levy where the rate must be taxpayer approved not to ever exceed 50 cents per thousand. If this levy is not renewed, then our vital emergency medical services will not have designated funds to continue to help meet the demands of the community. The current funding supplies items such as on-duty paramedics, on-duty emergency medical technicians, EMS training, defibrillators, aid and medic units, and most emergency medical supplies. The North County Firefighters believe that quality EMS should be provided to every resident of our great community and endorses North Count Fire/ EMS Proposition No. 2. Please help us and vote Yes to continue EMS, so that we may continue to keep you and your family safe.
Fred Zielie, President
North County Firefighters Assoc.
Arlington


Aging inmates
Not only is one in every 100 American adults incarcerated but due to our mandatory minimum sentencing laws, we have a rapidly aging prison population. Statistics show that one in every 23 persons incarcerated in this country is 55 years old or older. Did you know that the cost of incarceration for those older people increases threefold?
Japan is building three new penal facilities for their aging prison population with elevators, wheelchair ramps and other disabled-access features to the tune of $78 million. With our slumping economy and budget deficits statewide, Washington will be forced to spend money they dont have when these expansions become necessary here.
Incidentally, experts tell us that age is the foremost factor in crime reduction.
Lea Zengage
Lake Stevens


Trafton school
On Friday, April 18, Trafton elementary school got national recognition for having served the community for the last 120 years. It was recognized as a Washington State Heritage register and the national register for historic place.
What an honor and privilege for students, teachers and parents who kept the school going in the past and today.
As a parent to two Tafton alumni, I cannot express my thanks and gratitude enough, for having been able to be part of this wonderful institution. I enjoyed helping students in their studies, baking for the Trafton fair and being an active parent helping to promote the excellence of the school.
Alas, I had also attended several hearings regarding the closure of the school site, which to this day is still an enigma. Why close a school that had successfully functioned for so many years and graduated wonderful students with great achievements. Teachers and parents poured their hearts to make it the best in the District.
Now that Trafton school is an historic site, lets not forget its dedication to excellence, its perseverance and a reminder to honor and preserve the school for many more generations.
Esther Van Der Berg
Arlington


Tom Ingalls
Blessings to the Arlington School Districts administration, staff, supportive services, students and parents (past and present). I have just received word of the passing of Tim Ingalls, kindergarten teacher par excellance. Last night was sleepless with memories of conversations, of his dreams for the future educational possibilities, of his kindness and dedication to children and with words for a letter that just had to be submitted.
I served with Tom on the Advisory Committee for Education for nine years and on the committees to select art for the new high school and for the library at the new Presidents Elementary. What stands out, besides his caring and involvement, are his words, If I can make a difference in one childs life I will have done my work. By opening his heart, listening, believing and giving support to our children, I believe he made a difference in many.
I send my love and support to all who have been witness and/or the focus of Toms compassion.
Chris DeBruler (Olds)
Bingen


Home schooling
The Feb. 28, unanimous decision by the California Court of Appeals that home schooling in California by non-credentialed teachers is illegal has caused some concern among home schooling parents in Washington, which has in recent weeks been reflected in the pages of the Everett Herald.
This concern is well founded. Although Washington statute does protect home schooling by parents, statutes can be repealed by a legislature hostile to home schooling. In this area of life, as in many others, continued liberty calls for continued vigilance.
No one can doubt that the moral imperative for the education of children rests with parents, not with the state. This moral imperative is also a legally protected right. The United States Supreme Court has ruled that the fundamental theory of liberty upon which all governments in this Union repose excludes any general power of the State to standardize its children by forcing them to accept instruction from public teachers only (Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 1925), and having also ruled that the primary role of parents in upbringing of children is established beyond debate (Wisconsin v. Yoder, 1972).
Home schooled children excel. The occasional accusation that home schooled children suffer socially and academically are refuted by years of accumulated statistics showing they excel in every measure of achievement.
All parents love their children and sacrifice time and treasure for their childrens benefit. Home schooling parents carry this sacrifice a bit further than most of us, and in so doing benefit not only their children but also our entire society, demonstrating to all of us that quality education does not necessarily require public schools to the exclusion of other alternatives.
John Koster
Snohomish County Council


Our Library
When I was teaching, I was really surprised to find that several parents of my students were driving their kids to the Marysville Library to do research for their homework. The idea puzzled me, so the next time I drove by the Marysville Library I stopped in to see if I could figure out why. I could hardly believe my eyes. It was wonderful. I didnt know libraries like that existed. It was hard to believe that library was in the same library system as our Arlington Library.
Another day a few years later, I worked helping prepare a quilt show in Monroe. There was a pre-view party that evening, and having nowhere to go in between, I went to the new Monroe Library. Wow. Shocked again. It was very nice and had many more books than our Arlington Library, especially in the reference section.
Later yet, I discovered that Sno-Isle has a very interesting genealogical collection, all in one place, at the Snohomish Library. On my first trip there, I again was astounded as I viewed the wonders of what a twenty-first century library can provide for a community.
Our Arlington librarians are wonderful, they do a lot to help us library patrons, but they are not magicians. Our current facility does not have the space to contain the number of computers and the other materials that are offered right on the shelves, right there, ready for todays use or checkout, in the very modern libraries Ive mentioned above. I wish I could pack all you Arlington voters into a giant bus and drive you on a tour of these other wonderful new libraries. I wish you all could see these libraries for yourselves.
Please people, please, lets vote to raise the standard of living, for our selves and our children, right here in Arlington. A new, modern, larger library is within our reach. We can give our librarians, and ourselves, The Magic.
Bea Randall
Arlington