Ten years ago the cities of Marysville and Arlington divided up the Smokey Point / Lakewood community over the objections of the residents. Today we are still seeing this division being done by the cities’ newspapers. While The Arlington Times will sometimes cover news about Smokey Point, the Times and Marysville Globe seem to have decided that the Lakewood School District is only of interest to those living in Marysville. A large percentage of residents served by the Lakewood School District live within Arlington city.

However, because our schools have a Marysville mailing address, news about our schools and sports — with just a few exceptions — is reported only in the Marysville Globe. Those of us who are served by the Lakewood School District yet receive The Arlington Times have to seek out our local news and sports online. This is something we frequently experience during the school sports seasons.

This last week’s example is the recent fire at Lakewood Elementary School. Fortunately the Snohomish County Herald covered the fire, because we didn’t learn anything about it from The Arlington Times. I propose The Arlington Times and The Marysville Globe create a new section with news of all the school districts of our area. In this way we can all learn the latest news and sports from the Arlington, Marysville, Lakewood and the Darrington school districts as well as the private schools in the area.

“No man is an island,” said John Donne. This is very true in our community today. My children attend the Lakewood school district; their friends at church youth group attend the Arlington schools; children of other friends attend Marysville schools. Shouldn’t I be able to read the latest news and sports about each of these school districts no matter which paper we receive? The Arlington Times and Marysville Globe share the same publisher and frequently print the same stories and other features. Please do the same for our schools.

Clare Scheffer