Snoco Council, & Exec, DNR, Lumber Co’s & Builders: ALL FAIL.

Usually a “fail” is a funny picture or video of someone doing something stupid, you laugh or even wince with the person & move on. The people in charge of this fail are anything but funny. No one will ever be able to laugh this one off. So who was in charge when the fatal decisions were made in regards to Oso?
(Look at these names: They are important)

County Executive
Aaron Reardon
Council members
John Koster,
Jeff Sax,
Gary Nelson,
Kirke Sievers,
Dave Gosset,

Seems as if everyone involved has turned tail & ran or the have that infamous old disease “politico~timers” you know:The good ol  “I don’t recall syndrome” an insidious disease that only seems to strike all county, state, & city workers in times of accountability.

Officials in Snohomish County did not return calls Wednesday. Peter Hahn, director of Public Works in Snohomish County when the buyout plan was considered, said he did not recall the issue. Meg Moorehead, who was the county’s section manager on watershed planning and flood analysis, said she did not recall the discussion.

Sadly this is not about a 6 dollar intimacy kit, this is about 43 lives & the hundreds who will be affected by their loss forever, they will always be able to “recall” that horrific day.
No worries the Seattle Times is digging in with both heels

TIMES WATCHDOG

Landslides and logging: the connections

Warnings of slide risk go back decades

State allowed logging on plateau above slope

State used outdated data to allow logging

Loggers may have passed approved boundary

2010 county report said area was dangerous

Laser maps reveal risk with startling clarity

Monitoring can warn of slides — at a cost

Worried about possible deaths, county considered emptying neighborhood in 2004

State lands chief breaks vow, takes timber-industry money

Log wall at base of mudslide hill required repeated repairs

County mudslide warnings failed to reach hill’s residents

Seems there were warnings way over 10 years ago, another slide 8 years ago at the same time as the county once again began issuing building permits for that same area.

Please check out this interactive map from another enlightening story from the Times to see the full impact of the devastation

I can tell you that litigation attorneys are going to be busier then a 1 legged man at a butt~kicking contest. This is not merely a Snohomish County situation, it was a conglomeration of greed that made decisions alone & as a group which would end 43 lives. Now all they can do is blame others or go into hiding. According to the newspaper reports there were many people involved in this, now it is just a matter of connecting the dots to see how they were interacting & who was getting the financial incentives to continue putting lives at danger for the almighty dollar.

Here is the short list of those responsible:
Summit Timber ~ Clearcutting
Grandy Lake Timber ~ Clearcutting
Washington State Department of Natural Resources
Snohomish County Executives & Council
Ralph Walker ~ Inspector for most of the homes
Edward Goodridge ~ Stilaguamish Tribal Chair who ok’d several sites
Blue Heron Services ~ Kim Peterson who ok’d several sites
Ridgewood Homes Inc. ~ who built most of the homes but is now out of business…
https://secure.lni.wa.gov/verify/Detail.aspx?UBI=601762318&LIC=RIDGEHI032MP&SAW=
http://www.sos.wa.gov/corps/search_detail.aspx?ubi=601762318
Liz Burns ~ Unkown Association
Mike Mickiewicz ~ Unknown Association

The remnant of one clear-cut operation is visible in aerial photographs of Saturday’s monstrous mudslide. A triangle — 7½ acres, the shape of a pie slice — can be seen atop the destruction, its tip just cutting into where the hill collapsed. (Click on the picture to go to the article which explains it better)



Here are some pictures I edited as well to show even MORE clear cut areas. I believe it was Grandy Lake that clear cut the area above though.



Trust me when I say there are far more slides to come. This is one story about 43 people, 43 lives that are gone & the hundreds that are devastated by their loss. These faces are of human beings who meant something to many people. Human beings who lost their lives with tons of land coming at them, some who may have survived for a short time afterwards. I wonder what The Snohomish County Council, DNR, & the logging companies did with all that money they made off of the blood of these innocent people?

I wonder HOW they sleep at night.

Remembering the victims of the Oso mudslide

 

 

 

So now in TYPICAL Snohomish County fashion they are putting together a “Task Force” made up of some of the same people involved in the original fubar…

Task force to probe Oso mudslide and emergency response
…Meanwhile, County Executive John Lovick announced talks have begun with Gov. Jay Inslee’s office to convene an independent commission to explore why the hill fell, the land-use decisions made by area leaders prior to the slide, and their response since the disaster. “There will be a lot of questions and we hope to have a lot of answers,” Lovick said. Lovick has tapped Gary Haakenson, a seasoned county executive director and former Edmonds mayor, and John Koster, a former longtime county councilman, to help spearhead the initiatives. Offices are being opened in Darrington and Arlington to help manage the recovery. “Everything has changed and it is changing as we speak,” he said.Lovick left little doubt that he and others involved in the slide effort have grown weary of some news reports suggesting the county did a poor job of addressing risk before the slide and was slow in responding to the carnage after the hill fell. “I’m tremendously disappointed,” Lovick told the press conference, noting that in the first day rescue crews saved 11 people from the debris field. No rescuers have been seriously injured during the more than monthlong operation. “This was a tremendous disaster,” he said later. “The response was a success. I’m not going to allow people to turn it into a failure.”  Lovick said. “It’s going to look at everything that happened,” he said. “They’re going to cover every single detail.” Another discussion is when to allow people to visit the slide area and under what circumstances. The bottom line: not now. “I don’t have any tolerance for somebody who is going up there on a tour bus or is going up there to collect mementos,” sheriff Trenary said.

You are reading all of this right! This was an actual “news” story in the Everett Herald.
So Koster who was the original council member that made the fatal 2004 decision along with his peers, is going to “investigate” himself????

Does anyone but me see how that just doesn’t seem ethical: Oh but wait, we are talking about Snohomish County Goverment ~ Ethics be damned.

I have now formed an opinion of John Lovick & it is not good. Somehow he managed to make this ALL about him… he is so “weary” of people blaming him & the others responsible for this tragedy, I mean he is “tremendously disappointed” & everything… You know because he won’t let anyone turn this into a “failure”Oh & “no rescuers were hurt” but they wouldn’t be there if innocent citizens weren’t killed in the first place “Captain Obvious” (or in his case it may be Captain Oblivious)

Are you kidding me? It was a failure from the moment the earth crashed down on those people, it was a failure as they took their last breaths, it was a failure the moment the fateful decision was made NOT to buy those homes out & NOT to notify people of the real danger.

As for Sheriff Trenary I am not sure what in the world HE was thinking (or not): Who in the hell is going to take a tour bus to collect artifacts? Ummmm the roads are blocked. Is it perhaps the magical flying tour bus company he speaks of? Let’s ask our unicorns shall we?

This makes me beyond sick, & it is going to take years of litigation because none of these morons are going to take responsibility for their actions. The state, & the county have an arsenal of attorneys waiting at the gates to shut these people down, to give them the run around to fudge documents & to weasel their way out of it.

I can only tell you what I know, but I guarantee those that really know are never going to admit any wrongdoing, ever. I do know that I have found out enough more info to do another story… sad but true.

TAGS:  Aaron Reardon, Blue Heron Services, Blue Heron Services Kim Peterson, County Executive John Lovick, Dana Johnson, Dave Gosset, Edward Goodridge, Gary Haakenson, Gary Nelson, Grandy Lake Timber, Jay Inslee, Jeff Sax, John Koster, John Lovick, Kirke Sievers, Liz Burns, Meg Moorehead, Mike Mickiewicz, Nancy Johnson, Oso Landslide, Oso Mudslide, Oso Wa, Peter Hahn, Ralph Walker, Ridgewood Homes Inc, Sheriff Ty Trenary, Snohomish County, Snohomish County Corruption, snohomish county fraud, Stecvcen Johnson, Summit Timber, Warning about Oso ignored, Washington State Dept of Natural Resources