The Daily Herald from Everett, Washington • 19

The Herald riday July 14 1995 nraBQSKI LocalRegion "sc LINDA BRYANT Herald Columnist Closed: case and lives but not drugs Silent tears flowed openly in the hushed courtroom as parents and family mem bers stepped forward to speak for their children Sylvia Ali pleaded that the killer of her daughter Gabrielle and granddaughter Alyssia never stop paying for his crimes David and Shonn Mereness asked that there be no mercy or leniency for the man who shot their son and brother Jason Mereness and Gabrielle All as they slept And finally the father step mother and grandmother of Gar ridan Nelson 21 described a loving little boy a Cub Scout a gentle teen ager a young man enlisted in the a med forces right after graduation om Monroe High School and returned from duty to serve in i reserves He did not sound all like what he had become a drug user who killed for $600 and left a 20 month old baby behind in the darkened apartment to die slowly of starvation and dehydration Drugs fueled this tragic case from beginning to end Police say drugs were used and 1 sold in the south Everett apart ment where Gabrielle Ali had lived with Alyssia for seven months under a special state funded pro gram for teen parents Jason Mereness had been with them for less than two months before the eb 13 murders The apartment was a gathering spot for other young people many of whom were there to do drugs in the Tweak crank street lan guage for crystal methampheta mine a powerful stimulant cooked See BRYANT back page this section YI Big fire Travelers near the Northcreek Business Park off 1 405 in Bothell Saturday be alarmed at all the smoke Developers of a new Home Depot plan to burn 85 acres to rid the area of unwanted reed canary grass It will be replanted with species more suitable to a wetland area The project will likely take all day Tough access Visitors to the Snohomish County Cooperative Extension office in McCollum Park will find it tough going during the next few weeks The office which houses 4 master gardener and other programs is at 600 1 28th St SE in an area undergoing repaving If you need to stop by call first for daily access and parking information The number is (206) 338 2400 Call us or Your Information is published Tuesday through Saturday If you have a news tip or an idea for a local story call the city desk at (206) 339 3427 Garridan Nelson gets 80 years for the three deathsIA Mukilteo on get well Budget should be in the black this year but with no money to spare report says By ANDREW WINEKE Herald Writer MUKILTEO inally the city of Muk ilteo received some good financial news although it came with more warnings of future problems The city which has run deficits the past two years should be just barely in the black by the end of this year according to a report released by a budget review task force made up of local business leaders turned the comer stopped the bleeding and coming back on what we call get well said city administrator Bob Baril However the report warned that unless revenue is increased the city will not be able to cover emergencies and will have no margin of error to cover growth in the cost of services or a decline in revenue from state money basic problem is there simply enough revenue for what trying to Baril said The report by the Blue Ribbon Budget Review Task orce recommended that the city council consider raising revenue by any means legally possible and look into con tracting for services such as police and planning can maintain OK and be in the task force member Paul Kulle said Kulle is the chief financial officer of Production Plating Inc city is very well run based on its revenue under taxed is what it boils down to I think most people would really want a library in Muk ilteo but in order to do that have to raise taxes running lean and Mukilteo Mayor Brian Sullivan formed the task force in April saying he wanted a responsible outside assessment of the finances Sullivan said he hopes the report along See MUKILTEO back page this section Mirwi irt i 7'7 jiimiii iMiiirr zttwtt 1 ffii'r The Everett Symphony Orchestra plays on the freeway Thursday at ribbon cutting ceremonies for the new Highway 526 ramp to northbound 1 5 which stretches away in the background The ramp will open to traffic July 28 Photo by JIM LEO The Herald Ba rSs 1 I a I I 1 Iv'j Ribbon cutting ceremony set to music for completed ramp to northbound 1 5 By ARVELL STANCIL Herald Writer EVERETT As kids their parents discouraged them from playing in the streets But members of the Everett Sym phony Orchestra put those childhood warnings aside Thursday morning and played on the nearly completed Highway 526 ramp to northbound 1 5 for the ribbon cutting service commem orating the overpass and tunnel project They performed the Spangled and a medley of marches including and Stripes pulled the event together was the said Susan rancisco recreation superinten dent for the parks and recreation department She helped plan the cere mony with co workers and people from letcher General the project con tractor Holding the event on the ramp which needs more guardrails installed before its July 28 opening gave citizens a rare opportunity to sit and enjoy the view of part of south Everett and the traffic on the surrounding roads a chance that probably occur again until these same people are in their vehicles waiting for rush hour traffic to die down on the ramp When that does happen they may consider it an irony since the $162 mil lion project is intended to lessen the traffic that comes out of the Boeing Co plant on Highway 526 The chance to perform at the cere mony was one that orchestra conductor Paul Elliott Cobbs did not want to pass up He took time out of a Vashon Island music camp that conducting The ceremony which had the theme also included the Navy Color Guard Several public offi cials appeared and gave short speeches about the benefits of the ramp and the cooperation between the city of Everett the state the federal government and Boeing that made the construction pos sible See RAMP back page this section ire hits popular Terrace restaurant By JIM HALEY Herald Writer MOUNTLAKE TERRACE A popular restaurant here will be closed indefinitely following an early morning fire Thursday that caused an estimated $250000 damage irefighters were called to the China Passage 22003 66th Ave at 5:05 am after a passerby and janitors coming to work reported smoke and flames said District 1 Battalion Chief Ken Kingman Mountlake Terrace units arrived to billowing smoke most of it coming out of the attic They called in a second alarm District 1 Lynnwood and Edmonds fire fighters responded What concerned firefighters the most was a long attic that extended the length of the strip mall housing the restaurant They feared that the fire would spread to the rest of the retail building from above irefighters with chain saws started carving a ahead of the flames but crews with fire hoses managed to extinguish them within 40 minutes before The HeraldJIM LEO Crews put out spot fires on the China Passage roof early Thursday morning in Mountlake Terrace 4 uV' tiMMPv1" ait they spread to other businesses Kingman said There was smoke damage to two vacant spaces a barbershop and an Azteca restau rant closed temporarily for cleanup feel good about the amount of damage we were able to Kingman said The cause of the blaze is uncer tain The fire started in a west wall and a four foot strip of char run ning from the ground to the roof along the wood siding indicates that it started on the outside But fire investigators willing to speculate how it was ignited We have a whole bunch more work to do on said Brad Reading Terrace fire marshal know where it started We just sure the chain of events Early investigation showed nothing to indicate arson Reading said Also the fire started in the area of a neon sign and an elec trical short is possible he added Everett man gets life in prison for kidnapping By ROBIN STANTON Herald Writer A man who claimed a multiple personality disorder led to his crimes was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of release under the three strikes law Thursday William Bergen Greene 41 of Everett was convicted in June of indecent liberties and first degree kidnapping for attacking a woman been his counselor for four years He held her in his apart ment where gone to check on him for several hours touching her sexually then tied her up and fled in her car Greene also has two previous convictions for indecent liberties Before the trial started Judge Richard Thorpe found no legal grounds to allow a multiple per sonality defense leaving his lawyer to argue vaguely at the trial that Greene was out of it mentally At the sentencing hearing Thursday Greene spoke of years of pain and suffering and of See GREENE back page this section SB jimiwwTOiW'iiTi'ii 9 fe T5J I 7Y 1.