1's, Ulr.tch Scher:er
Rt I Box 32
Granite Fells, Wz 98252
Jack Webb, former mayor of Granite Falls, dies
As a memorial to Jack Webb, the
News-Press reprints its story of Nov. 27,
' 1969,- which recorded some of the events of
the 28 years he served as the mayor of
Granite Falls. Retired 14 months ago from
political office, Webb died Friday, January
15, in an Everett hospital
Granite Falls isn't the same as it was in
1930 when Jack Webb moved to town. Most
memorable, because they were everywhere,
mud streets. The only exception was a paved
section in front of the town hall and the
post office across the street and a 16-foot
wide strip up Stanley Avenue. Pictures attest
the mud situation and also acclaim Granite
Falls as boom town for gold and silver
mining in the sides of the Cascade Mountains
and logging and lumber mills close to town.
It was 1933 that Jack Webb started his
political life in the town. He was councilman
in 1933 and 1934. It was in 1935 during his
second term on the council that Fred Bruns
moved from Granite Falls and council
appointed Jack Webb to fill the unexpired
term of town mayor. In 1936 Webb won the
office on lris own. The same story was true
for 1938, 1940, '42, '44, '46 and '48. It
resumed in 1952, '54, and '56. His election
in 1964 was by write-in vote even though
candidates were named on the ballot.
For 28 years, Jack Webb served as
Mayor of Granite Falls.
Retiring at age 63, his successor, George
Bryan is a mere 27 years old. Remarkable
today? Webb himself became Mayor at 29!
Those years in between would consume
volumes, a look at the minutes of Town
Council meetings would be a help, but
nothing is more personal than an interview
of recollections.
Mayor Webb sat back and watched the
town government function under Harry
Olson from 1950 to '52, then again under
MalcolmWoolman from 1960 to '64. It was
in the mid 50's that the two-term of office
for mayor was extended to four years and it
was after the 1964 election that statutes
were changed to elect the mayor in a year
other than the time of a presidential
election.
So Jack Webb became mayor on a
one-year appointment and ends his service as
mayor on a one-year extension.
"Lots of things have taken place over
the years, lots not known broadly," he said.
He takes pride in the fact that no LIDs nor
assessments nor special taxes were ever asked
from the people for street or sidewalk
improvements.
It was in WPA years and just before that
a $70-$80,000 street program changed board
sidewalks to cement and dirt-filled
raiseways, the streets were re-aligned and
paved with gutters alongside.
WPA help was again used in the early
40's on the new town hall. It's the town hall
as we know it now - the two story white
40 watt bulbs that hung across streets
became real street lights on poles and less
than four years ago the bulb gave way to the
mercury vapor lights.
This year the town modernized again,
but not so visibly. Natural gas is piped into
town, underground and unseen-but there.
And a third producing water well not
only was discovered but is waiting now for
final state approval before a pump is
installed and it's put to use.
The third productive well is actually the
seventh well tried.
Only one well served the town when
Webb first sat on the Council. It is now
beneath the bus garage of the Granite Falls
School. And there was a water reservoir on
iron Mountain but the water became so
warm in summer it wasn't refreshing.
Council authorized a well to be drilled and
two were - 400 to 600 feet deep. Both were
dry. Councilmen figured if surface water was
in town, at the edge of town they should be
able to dig a lake 18 feet deep by 150-200
feet long. A driller, Clarence Miller, was
called in. He went about 15 feet, then 60
feet and council pondered . . . at $5 a foot
this was pretty expensive and the town was
"as poor as a church mouse," said Webb. At
65 feet, round rock wasbrought up. Round
rock said the driller, is an indication of water
flow. He drilled more and came up with a
well producing 200 gallons of water a
minute.
Webb said, "We were greedy. We had to
have another one." They went 90 feet away
and dug and drilled. It was dry. Then 90 feet
again and they hit even better water. Better
water meaning not so much red oxide
content. This was about 1937.
It was 1968 that water again figured'
into Webb's political life. Another
productive well was needed.The population
was expanding the the demand for water
greater. The 5th and 6th attempts for a well
were made first close to the mountains, then
at Paradise Park. Both were dry. The seventh
attempt, about 130 feet from No. Two
Productive Well found the liquid.
UTILITY LINES
Carrying water through the town until
the mid-40's were wooden water mains.
Bonds were sold and the wooden mains were
replaced with transite pipe - all except the
one section of wooden main that was laid
along Alder Avenue just weeks before the
cement pipe was installed. It's still there.
Water and sewer lines were first laid in
Granite Falls "way before my time," said
Mayor Webb. They were here in 1904. Sewer
lines have never been replaced and there has
never been trouble with the trunk lines. The
only, maintenance required was when
property owners would attempt their own
hookups and make a bad one. Modernization
to the sewer system came in the late 1950's
after pressure from state and federal offices
to stop dumping into the Pilchuck River. A
past vice president of the Snohomish County
Peace Officer's Association, past master of
the Masonic Lodge, past patron of the
Eastern Star and fast becoming past mayor."
A year ago he was voted a life
membership in the Masonic Lodge and is a
charter member of the Peace Officers
Association. In the Scottish Rite of Everett
he holds a 32nd degree.
His activity is also recorded in the
Association of Washington Cities, trying to
promote more funds for fourth class towns
and in Olympia where he has lobbied for a
portion of the sales tax for the town.
MEET THE WEBBS
It's been 39 years since Jack Webb
brought his young wife, Ada, to Granite
Falls. For awhile he commuted to Everett
where he worked in a garage until a shop
accident laid him off for three years. When
he could work again he started his own
repair shop at home and in 1940 bought the
Texaco station in partnership with Bill
Davidson. A year later Davidson was recalled
to the Navy and Jack Webb was on his own.
Webb worked in an auto repair shop
before he started high school. Born in Lake
Chelan, he attended school in Methow,
started high school in Pateros and completed
high school in Bellingham. From there he
went to Sedro-Woolley and then to Seattle.
His education didn't stop. He said he had
"lots of it but it's been with hard knocks."
It was in 1925 that Jack and Ada Webb
were married. Ada was born in Kentucky
but was raised in the small town of Clipper,
near Deming. The Webbs had two children,
Eugene and Lillian.
Eugene and his wife gave the Webbs four
grandchildren. Eugene died in 1958, the
result of WWlI injuries. His oldest son is now
serving in Vietnam. The rest of the family
lives in Los Angeles.
Lillian married Harold Goodrich. With
their two children, Cheri and Marty, they
live on Wallace St. in Granite Falls. Mrs.
Goodrich recalled, "the first time dad was
elected to council I was very small. I kind of
grew up with it (his being in public office).
My kids grew up with it too."
In October, Jack and Ada Webb
celebrated their 44. th wedding anniversary.
In_few more days, they celebrated
an end to their public era and toast to a
well-earned and much deserved rest as Mr.
and Mrs. (private citizen) Jack Webb.
VOLUME LXXX
THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 1971
SERVING LAKE STEVENS and GRANITE FALLS, WASHINGTON
Citizens can help plan
new high school program
Formation of a citizens
committee to assist tile staff in
planning the instructional
program for the new high
school was discussed at the
meeting of Lake Stevens School
directors. Citizens interested in
working on this committee are
urged to contact the high
school office or the
administration office.
A new dress code for senior
high students was approved by
the Board, the code had been
drawn up by students, faculty
and parents. The code permits a
great deal of latitude in dress
and restricts only types of
clothing that would definitely
be distracting or is not clean.
The forth coming special
levy scheduled for Feb. 9 was
discussed at length and board
members issued citizens an,
invitation to a public
informational meeting to be
held at the junior high at 8
p.m., Jan. 21.
Superintendent D.D. Oates
presented an enrollment
summary showing district
enrollment continuing to grow.
Totals for the district for the
first of each month were:'
October, 2811; November,
2836; December, 2870;
January, 2893. All of this
growth has been in the
kindergarten and elementary
grades. Elementary facilities are
Fire guts home
of Frank Clarks
Two fires occurred in
Granite Falls, almost
simultaneously, Monday
afternoon. While firemen
responded to a chimney fire on
the South Pilchuck Road, the
home being rented by the
Frank Clarks on the north end
of the same road caught fire
and was completely gutted in
the blaze.
The fire at the Clarks began
with a hot grease fire in the
kitchen and quickly spread
throughout the house. Home at
the time were Terry Lee, Frank
Clark's sister-in-law, who was
babysitting with the Clark's
three month old son, and a
niece, five and half months old
Michelle Crawford, daughter of
Mayor for 28 years
Irvin J. 'Jack' Webb
NUMBER 51
Dora Bean
goes to State
Lake Stevens Junior Miss,
Miss Dora Bean is one of the
many high school seniors
entered in the Washington
Junior Miss Pageant on January
21,22 and 23 in Pulhnan.
Miss Bean, daughter of Mr.
and Mrs. Clarence Miller, won
the local pageant last
November. She leaves for
Pullman on January 19, with
Miss Diana Dolphin, of Lake
Stevens, .reigning Washington
State Junior Miss.
Since the local pageant she
has been kept busy with school
activities and getting .ready for
the state contest. The state
contest is to select Washington
State's "Ideal" Hgh School
HISTORICAL
GROUP MEETS
Granite Falls Hstorical
Society will meet at 7:30 p.m.
January 25 at the American
Legion Hall, South Granite
Avenue, Granite Falls. Special
interest for the meeting will be
a committee report on the
study of means for preserving
and displaying historical
artifacts of the Stillaguamish
Valley. A draft of the by-laws
for the organization will also be
reviewed.
A special program has not
been arranged for Monday
evening, but following the
meeting there will be a time for
reminiscing. Older people who
are familiar with the people and
the valley are especially invited
to attend.
The society has been
undertaking a membership roll,
and those people interested in
becoming a member of the
society or just wishing to attend
without membership, are
welcome to come to the
meeting.
Resigns
Richard Stultz has resigned
from the position of football
coach at Lake Stevens High
School. His decision of
retirement is only for the
active roll of coaching. He will
continue as department head
and activities director as well as
continue his teaching duties at
the high school.
Bag pick-up
January"23 Granite Falls
Boy Scouts are going to pick up
the bags they gave out January
16. Please have the bags out by
11 a.m. If you have too much
stuff and do not have enough
room in the sack just put it in a
box or another sack.
Top grade average
Renae Engstrom, Granite
Falls, has attained a 4.0 grade
average for the fall quarter of
studies at Eastern Washington
State College at Cheney. A
sophomore, she plans to enter
the field of physical therapy.
building on South Granite Avenue that
houses not only the town's records and
provides a meeting room for the Council but
also houses the town's fire department
equipment, a library and the treasurer's
office. The treasurer was scheduled to have
the space used by the library, but it was
declined then and it's been a library all this
time. Another part of the building not used
for its original intentions is the upstairs back
room. That was planned for a recreation
room for fire department volunteers. Never
devdoped, it had been rented out at times
and is not used at all now.
Why so much about the town hall?
Mayor Webb had it designed to functionally
replace its sagging predecessor. Its
predecessor was literally "held up by the
power and telephone lines." It had been the
two-story frame school house that stood
where the Medical Clinic is now. Before
Webb came to town, the school was moved
across the street and converted into the
Town Hall. A pot-belly stove was upstairs in
the meeting room, sacks were stuffed around
windows to keep out the cold. Through the
years, decay and rot worked at the support
posts until literally "the wires held. it up."
The "new" town hall of ]941 also
replaced the log jail house. It was in the rear
and became a source of story when a
'resident' set about to gain freedom by
setting fire to a mattress or some other
good-smoking material inside. It was just a
matter of minutes for the firemen to arrive
at that scene. The bell that called them was
atop the town halt (the old school house)
and the 1924 Chevy truck used to haul the
hose was on the first floor. The truck was
faster than the two wheel carts it replaced
just a short while before. The bell that
knelled is now in front of Granite Falls High
School.
Still in sight and like the bell, used no
more, is the observation building on the roof
of the Town Hall. Ordered by the federal
government during World War II, spotters
manned the station 24 hours a day on
lookout for planes. Webb was a chief spotter
but he said "everyone in town had a figure
in it." Plane descriptions were called tO
Seattle then Paine Field.
GOING MODERN
Webb recalls the Granite Falls
Hydroelectric plant on the Pilchuck even
though it had been sold in 1922 to Puget
Sound Power and Light Company. PUD now
supplies electricity to the town and area.
Through these years the reflectors with their
IIDALE'S'00
LOANS
treatment plant was built with revenue from
sewer bonds. $15,000 in bonds were sold -
the balance of the money raised by
townspeople paying a $2 montlfly service
charge three years before the facility was
built.
These were a few of the things steered
by Mayor Webb. Some of his ideas melded,
some were rejected by the Town Council.
Cooperation between mayor and council
over the years has paid off in a community
that is rich with self respect, a place where
people want to be.
Mayor Webb sees a future for the town
with "just as much or more progress because
there is science to go along with it and desire
for 'you paint your house, I'll paint mine'."
It's a long way from the time hewas warned
"no use trying to do anything. A matter of
time there won't be a town. Buildings will be
empty. The town's nearly gone, there will
soon be just a few dogs in a ghost town."
"A lot of people felt we should go
ahead. It hasn't been due to my credit where
we are today," Webb said. "I've had a good
council to work with." Councilmen often
made trips with the mayor to Olympia,
Seattle and Everett on business for the town.
Expenses were collected for few such
excursions, they were treated as a pleasant
visit to another town and paid for out of the
pocket of the travelers.
Twenty-eight years in public office
doesn't weigh lightly but Mayor Webb
considers those elections in much the same
way as deGaulle's 'votes of confidence.' In
one election race, of about 142 votes cast
Webb was given all but 15 or 20; in another
he had all but 4 votes; and still another gave
him all but 10 or 11.
To dispel rumors, Mayor Webb clarified
the last three terms he's held. In 1954 and
'56 his name was on the ballot though he
didn't actively seek re-election. In 1964 his
name was not on the ballot, he was elected
just the same.
Mayor Webb also explained that "ihe
mayor promotes the program and presents it
to the council. The council rejects or accepts
the program by ordinance or resolution. The
mayor administers the law as passed by the
council, whether he likes it or not."
ON THE NEW
Of the new government officials, he
commented, "George will have problems-
nothing he can't solve. He's going in with a
council from several years. He understands
business and this is a business. New ideas are
better than old ideas which might get stale,
which they do. You have to work with
young people, why not have a young person.
I don't think Bryan is too young to take
hold and I think he will take hold. I didn't
know anything of it, I learned a lot of things
you couldn't do - he will too."
I've tried to live by the Golden Rule and
I've tried to administer city business the
same way. I may have made enemies but I
hope I've made many friends. I'd like to see
the organizations in town give the new
mayor a break. It takes time to instigate new
programs."
So went the comments.
Retireing for keeps? Mayor Webb
affirmed it. He did say he would help though
and he'd be glad to do it. 'TU not keep an
archives," he said. "Any ideas or knowledge
I'll be glad to pass on."
Jokingly he said, "I'm past everything -
For certain classes special
restrictions might apply.
Directors discussed the
possibility of moving the
graduation exercises to a
different location, because of
space, but agreed no change
would be made at least for the
current year. Activities Director
Richard Stultz discussed the
high school athletic program,
including the financial
problems. The need for better
facilities to accommodate
spectators was discussed.
now virtually filled and if
growth continues emergency
housing will be required next
year, according to Oates.
Business Manager Robert
Larson reported on an audit of
district records by the state
examiner. The report pointed
out an overly-optimistic
estimate of revenues for 1968,
but showed district records in
good order. Larson also
reported the date of the bond
sale had been changed from
January 19 to February 9.
'Drug' policy adopted by
school directors at G F
An interim policy on procedures for dealing with students
involved with illegal and dangerous drags was adopted by Granite
Falls School Directors at their meeting last Wednesday in the
school board room.
Drug involvement would include use of illegal or dangerous
drags during the school day or at school sponsored functions;
attempt to sell dangerous or illegal drugs during the school day or
school sponsored functions; and being under the influence of
dangerous or illegal drugs during the school day or at school
sponsored functions.
The policy adopted bythe directors sets school personnel to
be first concerned with the welfare of the students involved.
Investigative and punitive measures would follow after health
needs. Appropriate law enforcement agencies would be called
upon for consultative and investigative assistance where illegal
drag activity has occurred.
Involvement with illegal Ottie Hale, home economics
drags by non-students is and business education
recognized as the responsibility instructors. Having state
of law enforcement agencies in approved vocation programs
the policy adopted by the makes the school eligible for
directors, additional services from the
Although the total student state and for additional funding
count for grades kindergarten from the state and federai
through 12 was unchanged on governments.
January 1 from the first of Accreditation of elementary
September, there was a gain of schools now being considered
one student in the elementary by the state was reported upon
grades and a loss of one student by Elementary Principal Don
in the secondary. The Van Liew. He said acurriculum
elementary school has
enrollment of 432 and the
secondary, 315.
A curriculum guideline for
language arts is underway, the
directors were told by Supt.
Patrick Hoban. High school
English teachers, one teacher
from the elementary school,
high school Principal Willis
Knox and Librarian Don
Dundas are studying the
curriculum development and
will meet soon with the state's
language arts supervisor.
Work toward gaining state
approval for the school's
vocational education program is
being done by high school
counselor Lawrence Martinec
and Miss Lela Bryan and Mrs.
committee is now developing
goals and request for
elementary accreditation will be
on a voluntary basis, not a state
requirement.
Directors approved purchase
of liability insurance coverage
for students enrolled in the
aerospace science class who
have an airplane ride as part of
the class. The additional
inclusion to the liability policy
ts $160 a year.
An interim policy on
employee's retirement adopted
by the school board last
Wednesday has an inclusion
that a variance in the interest of
the school may be made by the
board if requested by the
employee, Otherwise, all
" , ..... - employees who reach their 65th
ARNOLD'S J|W|LR¥ birthday before September 1
EXPERT CLOCK & WATCH are to be retired.
. Re-investment of the
REPAIR.- KEYS MADE $386,000 in building bonds was
Closed on Monday approved by the directors.
Downtown Lake Stevens 334-1505 (Continued on Page 2)
Mr. and Mrs. Theodore
Crawford of Granite Falls. The
three escaped without injury
All the clothing and home
furnishings of the Clarks were
destroyed in the fire.
Early Sunday morning
firemen were called to the
Canyon Falls Road, off the Mt.
Loop Highway, where a tree
had fallen across a power line.
An hour later, a't 3 a.m., when
electricity was restored in town,
the alarm in the telephone
Girl.
The
pageant will receive a cash
scholarship and will compete in
the America's Junior Miss
Pageant next May in Mobile,
Ala.
company's service center was
triggered by the resurge of
power causing firemen to
respond there, but there was no
fire.
winner of the state Rev. Pfeil injured
Mr. Don Thayer,
superintendent of the Everett
Gospel Mission, was speaker at
the morning and evening
services at the Community
Bible Church on Sunday in the
absence of Pastor Maurice Pfeil.
Rev. Pfeil was injured in a
fall on the ice last week and is
recuperating at his home.
HUNT'S
TOMATO
SAUCE
=LIBBY
A A A A A A -
COMET
CLEANSER
14-
Oz ....
2/35¢
v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v
PEELED
TOMATOES
C°an LUMBERJACK
SYRUP
) CENTENNIAL
MASHED '
i FLOUR
Bag
POTATOES
) 13-Oz.
' 2/89¢
1) 2-Lb. Bag
ii ,
'. 39¢ 4/79¢'
i) FOOD STAMP (
SHOPPERS
() *Fresh Produce f ' (
(' "Fresh'Fr°ze"MeatsF°ods K 0 NNER UP S
() *Dairy Products Granite Avenue & Pioneer St'reet (
( *Drugs & Sundries
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