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<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Friday, June 6, 2008 State's I-5 onramp work merits kudos By Kristi O'Harran Herald Columnist Dear Washington state Department of Transportation, Thanks so much for this week's opening of new southbound I-5 onramp at 41st Street in Everett. We have a story about completed freeway work on Page B1 today. The new entrance off 41st Street drops me onto my own freeway lane as I go home from work. During months of construction, your temporary onramp at 41st Street was a mess. Southbound travelers coming from Marysville, Arlington and Stanwood, often going 117 miles per hour on their way to sales at Alderwood, would seldom let me crowd into their lane. Your Department of Transportation designers allowed drivers about 45 feet in which to successfully join the flow or crash into looming cement blocks that would have severely munched my 1993 Toyota Corolla. I am ecstatic with the new arrangement. Way to stay on top of things. Your friend, Kristi * * * See a free movie at the Popcorn in the Parks Outdoor Cinema Series on Saturday night at Jennings Memorial Park, 6519 Armar Road in Marysville. Because of licensing agreements, they can't name the movie, but it's about dinosaurs, says Andrea Hartland, recreation coordinator. She recommends you bring snacks, a blanket and lawn chairs. I recommend you bring umbrellas. * * * First gentleman Mike Gregoire was a welcome guest speaker Sunday at the 100th celebration for the Utsalady Ladies Aid on Camano Island. His mispronunciation, five different ways, of "Utsalady" was charming to the crowd of 200, and taken in good stride, organizer Vicki Tanner says. "He was very good natured about this and it added lots of laughs from the crowd," Tanner says. "The ladies enjoyed his presence probably more than if the governor herself would have been there." As I lived for seven years at Utsalady Point, please accept my pronunciation as the gold standard: "Ut" rhymes with but. "Sa" is like something sharp you use to quickly slice a log in half at a Darrington Rodeo competition. "Lady" is like a Scotsman would say "Awa wi ye, laddie." (For those you who don't speak Scottish, that's "Away with you, laddie.") Even natives give their own twist on the name, Tanner adds. Now they know. * * * This isn't a job for adults: Teens help Benji Travis, associated teen director at the Marysville-North County Branch YMCA, decide who to invite to break dancing competitions. "A few months before the event we start promoting," Travis said. "I get the kids' input and I make decisions according to what they want." The seventh annual 360 Break Dance Battle is set for 6 p.m. Saturday at Totem Middle School, 1605 Seventh St. in Marysville. The DJ is Forrest Getemgump from New York. I've never heard of him either. "We actually have a positive energy at our events and rarely have any trouble," Travis says. "If anything is going to happen, the kids let me know. Our security usually just watches certain people." * * * Fun Fact: Children's liaison Linnea Epstein, who is in charge of the early literacy program at the Granite Falls Library, has a couple of suggestions for summer reading for kids: "The House Takes A Vacation" by Jacqueline Davis and "Mommy, I Want To Sleep In Your Bed!" by Harriet Ziefert. She says she enjoys biographies, nonfiction and mysteries, authors Janet Evanovich and Nicholas Sparks and reading about the history of Great Britain. Columnist Kristi O'Harran: 425-339-3451 or oharran@heraldnet.com.

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