Whidbey Island definitely had its ups and downs in 2015. From the celebration of new art within the city to the merry-go-round of grocery stores, 2015 brought change in businesses, government and community. Here’s a look at the top headlines from the last year:
January
-One Clinton beach cabin was destroyed and another damaged in a mudslide, but residents said they planned to stay.
-The Island County sheriff’s office seized $23,000 worth of methamphetamine at a home in Scatchet Head.
-Nichols Brothers Boat Builders celebrated 50 years in business.
-The Feed the Need food drive at North Whidbey Help House gathered 3,100 items, up 300 from 2014.
-Rory Westmoreland, a Renton scrap-metal dealer, was sentenced to 75 days in jail and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine in Island County District Court. His crab boat, “Deep Sea,” caught fire, sank and spilled oil in Penn Cove, closing the shellfish harvest at Penn Cove Shellfish for a month in 2012.
-A PBY Catalina was towed from the Seaplane Base to its new home on Pioneer Way in Oak Harbor. The tow started at midnight and took three hours.
February
-After considerable debate, the temperature at Oak Harbor’s John Vanderzicht pool was set at 82 degrees. It was raised again, to 83, in August.
-Doug Saar, a former Oak Harbor attorney, was sentenced to 15 months of prison for stealing more than $200,000 from two clients.
-Geri Forbes was hired as Whidbey General Hospital’s CEO, replacing Tom Tomasino and getting $279,000 in salary. She pledged greater transparency than Tomasino had provided.
-Oak Harbor unveiled its $33,000 Kraken sculpture, a piece of public art depicting a legendary sea monster attacking a submarine. One onlooker called it “a real imagination grabber,” but Mayor Scott Dudley concluded, “I don’t think anybody likes it.”
-Oak Harbor’s Safeway store on State Route 20 became a Haggen store.
-iPhone users found that Apple’s map app located Langley and Whidbey Island on Hat Island. The next month, Apple promised a fix.
March
-Father-son team Gerry and Mark Saia sailed the 90-year-old schooner Suva from Port Townsend to Coupeville for a visit. The newly formed Coupeville Maritime Heritage Society pledged to buy it, which it did.
-Downtown Oak Harbor businessman Rick Ronnebohm offered a $500 reward to anyone leading police to the person or people who painted graffiti on several buildings there.
-The Oak Harbor School District investigated a student’s hacking the email accounts of staff and fellow students.
–Oak Harbor Councilman Bob Severns officially entered the race for mayor.
–Island County Prosecutor Greg Banks threatened to file a lawsuit if the Board of Commissioners hired an outside attorney without his approval. It did, and then he did.
–The commissioners disagreed on whether rules governing wineries functioning as rural event centers should be resolved quickly though code changes or in a more deliberate fashion through changes to the Comprehensive Plan. The latter course of action won out.
April
-The trial of Whidbey General Hospital administrator Linda Gipson, accused of assaulting a patient, began in Island County District Court. Later in the month, the jury found her not guilty.
-Residents of the Ledgewood neighborhood, hit by a massive landslide in 2013, sued the county for negligence. The matter was still pending at year-end.
-After Keaton Farris, 25, was found dead in his cell at Island County Jail in Coupeville, County Sheriff Mark Brown put two corrections deputies on paid leave. They later resigned.
-A swarm of honeybees touched down in the Coupeville School District office and were removed by a beekeeper who used only a bucket and his hands. The next month, a swarm visited Oak Harbor.
-The executive board for the Oak Harbor Police Department Association asked the mayor to remove Capt. Teri Gardner because it lacked faith in her ability to make “fair, impartial and honest decisions.” To date, she remains in her position.
-Oak Harbor Mayor Scott Dudley announced he would not seek re-election. City Councilman Jim Campbell entered the race.
-The state nursing association filed an unfair labor practices complaint against Whidbey General Hospital, alleging it disciplined or fired nurses without providing documentation.
-A citizens’ group filed a motion in federal court to stop Navy planes from using Outlying Field Coupeville until the Navy completes an environmental impact statement.
May
-Dejsha Lollar, 18, was crowned the first-ever Miss Oak Harbor. She wowed the judges with her personality, poise and vocal rendition of “Summertime.”
-The state Health Department ordered Arely Jimenez and Clarence Hugh Jonson to stop practicing naturopathy because neither held a credential in Washington.
-A team from Whidbey Island Naval Air Station safely destroyed a box containing about 30 sticks of dynamite found in a Cultus Bay-area house for sale.
-The entry of a third candidate, Martha Yount, into the Oak Harbor mayoral race triggered the need for a primary election in August. Bob Severns and Jim Campbell had already entered the race.
-The Board of Island County Commissioners eliminated Island Transit’s Route 411, the only off-island route.
-C. Hugh Jonson, a holistic practitioner who was arrested by Oak Harbor police in March, sued the city and the state’s Health Department for $25 million.
June
-Patrick Heussmann, 29, was accused of driving a truck into his girlfriend’s house.
-Only 10 people showed up for the dedication of Oak Harbor’s kraken sculpture. The artist was not among them.
-”Catastrophic systemic failures” at Island County Jail led to Keaton Farris’ death by dehydration, said County Sheriff Mark Brown following an investigation into the event by Detective Ed Wallace. Farris was one of three people who had died in the jail within the past nine years. More than 250 people marched through Coupeville to protest his death.
-An unusually warm, dry spring led to a burn ban and the failure of some crops.
July
-A court proceeding revealed that Whidbey General Hospital paid its chief nursing officer’s legal fees of roughly $250,000 in a criminal case alleging she had assaulted a patient.
-The Port of Coupeville’s commissioners voted 3-1 to end negotiations with the Greenbank Farm Management Group and to assume all Farm management control starting Jan. 1, 2016.
-Island Transit’s Route 411, slated earlier in the year for discontinuation, received a reprieve.
-Megan Kelly, who represented Coupeville in the Miss Washington USA pageant, said she would take part in the Miss Earth United States pageant.
August
-The state Department of Ecology said it would let Island County ban fish farming from its waters temporarily.
-The Federal Emergency Management Agency issued new floodplain maps that threatened to increase federal flood insurance premiums.
-Nurses at Whidbey General Hospital entered their fifth month of talks trying to negotiated a new contract. The old one expired in March. At issue were rest breaks, pay, staffing and training. At year-end, negotiations were still under way.
-Petty Officer Keiyia Jones, stationed at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, disappeared while attempting to swim ashore from a boat in which he’d been crabbing. His body was found in September.
-Linds Pharmacy in Coupeville closed its doors.
-Seeking salmon, Peyton Horn instead hooked a large giant squid.
-Mike Brown replaced Marv Koorn as chief of North Whidbey Fire and Rescue.
-A storm produced gusts of 70 mph, depriving thousands of island residents of power.
-A federal court judge denied a motion by Citizens of Ebey’s Reserve to halt the Navy’s carrier landing practice at a field near Coupeville.
September
-The McDonald’s restaurant at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station announced it would close later in the month.
-The future of Oak Harbor’s Haggen store was thrown into doubt when the grocery chain declared bankruptcy.
-Oak Harbor City Administrator Larry Cort retired as the city’s top nonnelected official, citing the need to focus on his cancer treatments. He died in October at age 60.
-The Board of Island County Commissioners sought to intervene in the August lawsuit brought by Greg Banks against the external counsel the county hired to help revise its Comprehensive Plan.
-Sailor Shan Duffus allegedly pointed a loaded gun at Oak Harbor City Councilwoman Tara Hizon.
October
-The Commissioners approved raising the county payroll by $247,000 in 2016.
-A report called for improved medical and mental health care at Island County Jail to remedy the shortcomings that led to the death of Keaton Farris there in April.
-The Commissioners unexpectedly ousted Planning Director Dave Wechner, arguably violating the state’s Open Public Meetings Act in doing so. His job was split between two current employees.
-Oak Harbor officials revealed that the city’s new sewage treatment facility will turn flushed solids into odor-free crunchy brown material usable as fertilizer.
November
-City councilman Bob Severns was elected Oak Harbor mayor. Incumbent Georgia Gardner beat Rob Born for a seat on the Whidbey General Hospital Board.
-The Beach Watchers announced that on Jan. 1 they will separate from Washington State University and become the Sound Water Stewards.
-Volunteers planted 100 Garry oak saplings and many more seedlings on a property at the north end of town.
-Four young people were charged with killing John “Jay” Johnson, 17, over a $400 impound fee.
December
-The Board of Island County Commissioners considered hiring an engineering firm to contest new floodplain maps issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
-Shan Duffus agreed to a plea bargain, serving no jail time, for pointing a loaded gun at Oak Harbor City Councilwoman Tara Hizon.
-Island County released a 2016 budget of $83.2 million, up 8 percent over 2015.
-Haggen revealed it will seek to auction off its Oak Harbor store.
-Island, San Juan and Skagit counties settled with the parents of Keaton Farris for $4 million.
