Mill Creek Beacon - Your Hometown News Source

It is hard to imagine a year ago this month, I became Superintendent of Everett Public Schools. At that time, I knew there were challenges with overcrowding and equitable access to learning spaces in our schools. I was ready for... — Updated 7/13/2020

Publisher Paul Archipley and Mill Creek editor Emily Gilbert are at opposite ends of the generational gap. He is a Baby Boomer; she is a member of Generation Z. In this regular feature, they share their thoughts on issues of the... — Updated 6/25/2020

I have a funny story about Father's Day and this newspaper column, although it's possible I've told it before. It's also possible it's not funny. I'm pretty sure about the holiday. Eighteen years ago, I decided to write a column... — Updated 6/19/2020

The number of columns I have written is not really so interesting, but the things I’ve seen and heard while I’ve been writing newspaper columns really have, on occasion, brought me up short. Albert Einstein used to say,... — Updated 6/19/2020

As we wait for Phase 3, this virus is a medical and financial disaster.   Graduates Parade Thank you to City Manager Michael Ciaravino, his staff, and the many parents who helped put together the car parade to celebrate the 2020... — Updated 6/19/2020

Let us visualize together a highly frustrated male wandering around several local community shops, and then doing so throughout most of the “all service” stores. As he does, he chastised himself, “You must have overlooked... — Updated 6/19/2020

I can revisit my childhood anytime I wish, dropping in at a moment’s notice, connecting with my earliest memories on a whim. I lived on Google Street, just two clicks from you. That’s where I find the past, anyway. I hop... — Updated 6/5/2020

Okay, so how are we all managing with this coronavirus lock-down? For this family, rather well. My wife returned from Fred Meyer the other day with (wait for it!) toilet paper! I, on the same day, had a conversation with a... — Updated 6/5/2020

What would all the finger-chattering be by Twitter, if a successful community high school soccer coach was hired to be our Olympics swim team’s head coach? Now be realistic. What should we be asking if one of our elected... — Updated 6/5/2020 Full story

Congratulations to an amazing class of seniors. You have dedicated 13 years of education to get to this point. Persistence and determination brought you this far and will continue to guide you into the future. You truly are a... — Updated 6/5/2020 Full story

My shorts were right where I left them last fall, rolled up on a bottom shelf. The warm weather had sent me off on a scavenger hunt for comfortable clothes that didn't resemble pajamas. Call it a momentary spark of self-respect.... — Updated 5/15/2020

As an Army medic veteran, oftentimes with great sadness, and now maybe more so with Memorial Day in focus, I am obsessed by a whispering, begging voice: “I was lost on the water, or on the battlefields. Please do not leave me beh... — Updated 5/15/2020 Full story

My personal appreciation goes to those of you who are practicing social distancing and wearing face covers. Not only are you protecting yourself, but you are also helping to keep the rest of us healthy. If we stick to it, the... — Updated 5/15/2020

Google knows what I'm up to. This shouldn't be a surprise, although I'm always surprised. Of course, any search engine worth its salt will recognize patterns, including (and maybe particularly) if one is looking up the meaning of... — Updated 5/1/2020 Full story

As the months are pulled from my calendar it seems I am turning more and more into my mother. Things she wanted me to learn are now creeping back into my daily thinking. How many of us have turned into our mothers?  I have often... — Updated 5/1/2020

In last month’s column, I stated in these challenging times we stand with you, and we will get through this together. I still believe that. But as this crisis continues to disrupt what we all thought of as our normal life, I... — Updated 5/1/2020

I woke up on Easter morning last week, completely unprepared for a miracle. I guess that's a little obvious. Miracles are pretty much always surprises, by definition. I was awake earlier than usual, but I'm apparently not the only... — Updated 4/24/2020

International DNA Day is on April 25. It is a day to commemorate when the scientific journal, Nature, in 1953 published James Watson, Francis Crick, Maurice Wilkins, Rosalind Franklin and colleagues’ DNA papers that changed... — Updated 4/20/2020

It typically applies to those painful one-sided breakups, where one person wants to end the relationship and the other wants to stay in but has no influence over the decision. It’s not you, it’s me. That flippant phrase,... — Updated 4/17/2020

Thank you to everyone who is staying indoors and practicing social distancing. We are starting to flatten the curve. In fact, we have been such good soldiers in the war on the virus that we are being rewarded with fewer... — Updated 4/17/2020

Scared. That’s a word being confessed everywhere, by husbands to wives, children to parents, patients to doctors, workers to coworkers, strangers to strangers. We’re scared. How could we not be? We’re part of a moment like... — Updated 4/8/2020 Full story

Fred Fillbrook, the View’s owner and publisher, has my compliments and many others for over 28 years of using his 1st Amendment rights. If one or more city councilmembers follow their peers’ – Mark Bond, John Stickler, and... — Updated 4/3/2020

What unprecedented times we are living in. When we entered 2020, who would have thought we would be facing a national health crisis, working from home, and closing schools? It has been a challenge for everyone. These are difficult... — Updated 4/3/2020