Heartbreak in Sultan:
A community struggles to understand murder; five youths arrested
As graduating Sultan teenagers celebrated the beginning of their adult lives Wednesday, the life of Antonio Marks, 17, of Marysville ended and five Sultan teens face years in prison for his murder. The details of the case are still emerging, but evidence collected from witnesses, the crime scene, and downtown surveillance cameras points to a simmering long-running confrontation that exploded in the early morning hours. Read story

First highway stimulus project in the county
Work began last week on a $1.4 million project to completely repave U.S. Highway 2 from Monroe to Sultan. The project is the first Snohomish County highway project to be funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the federal stimulus package meant to pump money into the economy and create jobs. Read story

Climbers struggle to save Index Town Wall from granite quarrying
Granite is wonderful rock for rock climbers. It's rough enough to grip, forms cracks that are fun to ascend and is loaded with the natural features that make good hand and foot holds. Too bad. Because it's great for counter tops, too. The rock's value as building material nearly cost Pacific Northwest climbers one of their favorite climbing sites: the sheer, towering cliff behind the town of Index known as Town Wall.

The climbing season was just getting underway in March when climbers, eager to tackle the granite after a long winter, began to arrive at Town Wall only to find new No Trespassing signs in place. Alarmed, they quickly learned that the woman who actually owns the wall itself was considering selling the granite. Read story

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