Here’s what was happening in the news this week:
100 years ago:
The new hall at Freeland was completed and dedicated when a large crowd gathered and filled the building to its capacity.
Ben Loers cut his left thumb in a serious manner. It was not certain yet as to whether he would lose the member or not. The axe cut through the bone and muscles, and about 14 stitches had to be taken.
Will and Harold Ireland, of Utsaladdy, were business visitors to Oak Harbor, and the News said it was indebted to them for three fine crabs.
75 years ago:
By a 3-to-2 vote, the Oak Harbor Town Council decided to use vitrified clay pipe in the sewer system.
“Sue,” faithful old gray mare of Ed Armstrong, fell over the bluff on the county gravel pit at San de Fuca, hurting herself so badly she had to be shot. Sue was foaled in the winter of 1916, but as she was the female of the species, she was a little sensitive about her age.
50 years ago:
Five Camano residents entered into a $42,5000 damage suit against Island County. According to the claim, the damage was due to “defective drains or no drains causing water to be diverted, which caused houses to shift and depreciate property.” Continuing slides and dampness prevented wide-scale repair.
Groundbreaking ceremonies for the first project in the proposed Oak Harbor Beach Park were held when the first shovel of dirt was turned of the Rotary Lagoon. The dedication of the Rotary Lagoon was planned to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Rotary.
While the carriers patrolling in the Gulf of Tonkin waters were preparing to launch retaliatory strikes against North Vietnam, SP-2H Neptunes from Patrol Squadron One, a unit of the Seventh Fleet, were providing air cover. Patrol Squadron One, homeported at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station and then-stationed at MCAS Iwakuni, Japan, had been flying missions in Vietnam since the first of the year.
25 years ago:
A blast of arctic air flowing down from British Columbia’s Fraser Valley caused temperatures to plummet and dumped as much as 14 inches of snow on parts of the island. Power was lost for 24 hours on the South End. There were also many snow-related car accidents, none of which resulted in fatalities.
An 18-year-old California man who stole ingredients from an Oak Harbor business because he wanted to make pizza was sentenced to 30 days in the Island County Jail for burglary.
The new addition to Oak Harbor Naval Hospital on Whidbey Island NAS opened to a ribbon cutting with about 100 people in attendance. The new $13.8 million, 60,000-square-foot addition nearly tripled the size of the hospital and added 100 treatment rooms, doctors offices and examinations rooms.
Fire destroyed a Puget Power substation near the main gate to Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, but no one was injured in the blaze. Oak Harbor Fire Marshal Bill Sharp said the completely destroyed transformer substation would cost at least $300,000 to replace. The cause of the fire was failure of old equipment.
Looking Back is compiled from the Whidbey News-Times’ archives as the newspaper celebrates 125 years in business and the City of Oak Harbor its 100th anniversary of incorporation.
