Years of annual rate hikes for three of Oak Harbor’s four utilities were approved this week with barely a peep from the public.
The Oak Harbor Public Works department has come out with its 2011-2012 budget wish list, and among the many capital projects proposed are plans for a $1.2 million upgrade of the RV park and the construction of a $250,000 kids’ “splash park.”
Police have closed a section of West Beach Road for what appears to be a man with a gun barricaded in his apartment.
Details are sketchy at this time but radio traffic over emergency channels at about noon Sunday reported that a man had been arguing with a woman at a duplex apartment off West Beach Road when he allegedly pulled out a gun and began pointing it at people.
Determined to reverse or at least hamstring Oak Harbor’s plans to turn SE Pioneer Way into a one-way street, downtown property owners Frank Scelzi and Kristi Jensen have hired another attorney to attack yet another facet of the contentious road project.
The body of a former Oak Harbor school teacher was recovered by a search and rescue team in a Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office helicopter Thursday near Mount Larrabee in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.
Dallas Kloke, a 71-year-old Anacortes resident, was found at an elevation of about 6,600 feet on the Paleiades peaks, according to Deputy George Ratazczak, search and rescue coordinator for the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office in a news release. The recovery took place at about 9 a.m. that day and went smoothly, he said.
With a swish of a pen, the effort to save Trillium Woods, the largest single owned tract of forestland left on Whidbey Island, came to an end.
On Wednesday afternoon, Sept. 29, Whidbey Camano Land Trust Executive Director Pat Powell recorded the deed and transferred the title to the 664-acre property, located off Highway 525 between Freeland and Greenbank, at the Island County Courthouse in Coupeville.
After losing everything but his most faithful companion to a fire in Greenbank last month, good fortune may finally be blowing Dan Weehunt’s way.
Blessed with sunshine and a hefty turnout, organizers are calling Whidbey General Hospital Foundation’s ninth annual Tour de Whidbey a great success.
As of Tuesday morning, search and rescue teams in Whatcom County were still searching for a retired Oak Harbor teacher who disappeared in a climbing accident near Mount Larrabee last weekend.
Whispers that Whidbey Island Bank was on the verge of buying its second failing bank this year were validated Friday with the announcement that it had purchased North County Bank.
Washington Banking Company, parent company of Whidbey Island Bank, purchased the Arlington-based financial institution Sept. 24, following its closure by the Washington Department of Financial Institutions for reasons of inadequate capital and severe loan losses.
The Oak Harbor City Council made it clear this week that proposed utility rate hikes, which represent about a 45 percent overall increase over six years, needs some polishing, particularly in areas of transparency.
A training exercise meant to test Whidbey Island emergency responders turned the parking lot at Keystone Harbor into a disaster area Monday evening.
Two downtown property owners fighting against Oak Harbor’s plan for a one-way street on SE Pioneer Way suffered a major defeat this week.
On Thursday, Sept, 23, an Island County Superior Court judge ruled against Frank Scelzi and Kristi Jensen, the owners of Old Town Mall, and granted the city’s motion for summary judgement concerning sidewalk rights on Pioneer Way.
