100 years ago
The benefits of incorporation at the county seat were beginning to appear. The elimination of delivery wagons into the country by merchants put the farmers in closer touch with the town and made a livelier appearance on certain days when the rural community came in to do their trading.
The construction for the light system for Coupeville was being completed. People were enthusiastic about the needed improvement. The Oak Harbor News congratulated the city council and taxpayers of the town on the evidence of new life of 1915.
Mr. And Mrs. R. Zylstra Sr. held a family reunion at their home on New Years’s Day. Twenty-seven family members were in attendance, representing the children and grandchildren of Mr. and Mrs. Zylstra.
American farms during 1914 eclipsed all records for combined value of their products with a total of almost $10 billion.
75 years ago
Whidbey farmers were to ask permission to poison rabbit hordes. “If we could get the state department of agriculture and the state department of game to cooperate and remove the ‘game animal’ protection from the Kansas Cottontails that are raising havoc with Whidby farms, we could poison the rabbits and solve our bunny problem in a hurry,” said Ben Loers, one of the Juan de Fuca grange’s committeemen named to investigate the rabbit situation.
Eddie O’Hara of Crescent Harbor with a low bid of $2.98 per cord was awarded the bid to furnish the Oak Harbor School District with 160 cords.
According to a report made to Sheriff Tommy Clark, the body of Edward G. Clement, the lighthouse keeper whose boat capsized when he was rowing from Smith Island to Minor Island, was found on the beach at Smith Island.
Turkey grower Tom McKinnon of Langley reported to Sheriff Tommy Clark that he heard someone in his turkey yard. McKinnon ran out there with his 410-gauge shotgun, saw the two men, one carrying a turkey under his arm and one a turkey in a gunnysack, and shot at them. Both of the intruders dropped their burdens, and one of them staggered for several steps.
50 years ago
Patrol Squadron 42, returning home after deployment in the Far East, was commended for the Armed Forces Expeditionary Award (Vietnam) for their participation in U.S. armed Forces operations last summer and fall.
Heather Hanby was crowned the Festival of Lights queen when the Coupeville Methodist Youth Fellowship held their annual Epiphany service.
New commissioner Ed Christoe’s first motion was that a resolution be passed indicating that Island County wants the air strip on Central Whidbey. John Vanderzicht, Island County commissioner chairman, said, “The only means under which Island County can acquire this is for airport purposes.” A group of Island County horsemen had made an application for a selection for an arena, race track and relative recreational activity.
25 years ago
An Oak Harbor School District bus slid into a ditch. The bus, filled with children, slid from the wet road and into the ditch. No one was injured in the incident.
Island County commissioners voted to sign an interlocal agreement that called for island-wide planning of an enhanced emergency system. The I-COM project would provide a single dispatch point for all fire and police emergency centers throughout the county.
A civilian employee at NAS Whidbey was arrested on suspicion of growing marijuana in his North Whidbey residence. The Island County Sheriff’s Department raided the home and said they found a large marijuana growing operation on the first floor.
Most of the north lane of Edgecliff Drive in Langley caved in.
