Record South Whidbey
INSIDE the love of music See...A10
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 2014 | Vol. 90, No. 21 | www.SOUTHWHIDBEYRECORD.com | 75¢
BACK TO PRACTICE
South End leaders hunger for a tasty Clinton culture By BEN WATANABE South Whidbey Record
Ben Watanabe / The Record
Jeffrey Meier and players on the boys soccer team from South Whidbey High School practice March 6 at the Sports Complex on Langley Road, a South Whidbey Parks & Recreation District property. Previously, access to the fields was limited in favor of preserving the field condition. The commissioners, after a special hearing to revoke a ban on volunteer youth soccer coach Terry Swanson, directed the parks staff to open all the fields for use, especially for the high school teams.
Sports Complex fields reopen at commissioners’ orders By BEN WATANABE South Whidbey Record
not follow direction to stay in a specified area of the six-field Sports Complex on Langley Road. Eventually, Swanson was cited for trespassSouth Whidbey Parks & Recreation District ing by the Island County Sheriff’s Office and fields are now open for people to use. banned for one year. He successfully appealed It sounds simple, but a week ago the fields, the commissioners to lift parks and facilities were the ban March 6, argunot so accessible. The “We generally wanted to shift the balance more toward access, ing that the fields should district’s commissioners not be closed off to pubunderstanding that the condition of the fields might suffer.” opted to change course lic use. Swanson also said after a controversial ban Matt Simms, parks commissioner field use should be rotated of a popular youth socto avoid excessive wear on cer coach was lifted at the any single field. of balancing condition against access. “It’s as commissioners special meeting March 6. Most of the commissioners agreed with By March 7, the South Whidbey High School complicated as you can imagine.” Swanson that the fields and parks should be In late February, volunteer youth soccer boys soccer teams were practicing at the Sports Complex fields. The change, commissioners coach Terry Swanson was prohibited from SEE SPORTS COMPLEX, A12 say, will get more people onto parks district using the facilities after the staff claimed he did property. “We generally wanted to shift the balance more toward access, understanding that the condition of the fields might suffer,” said Commissioner Matt Simms, calling it an issue
Freeland has commerce. Langley has art. Clinton will have food if a group of four South Whidbey people and three Clinton agencies have their way. Fueled by Leadership Snohomish County, a program that identifies, trains and invigorates future leaders in Snohomish County and now Whidbey Island, George Henny, Sarah Boin, Angi Mozer and Tara Long are crafting a business plan to turn Clinton into a “locavore’s” paradise. The South Whidbey Island ferry area littered with shuttered doors and empty storefronts has the Clinton Chamber of Commerce, the Clinton Community Council and the Clinton Progressive Association working to promote economic sustainability in what’s become a passthrough community, a place to buzz by while getting on or off the ferry. “We all know that Clinton is lacking in a bit of identity,” said Boin [formerly Diers], the owner of the Langley shop Wander on Whidbey. “Why not give them an identity of food?” The first product of the four-person team, a designation given by Leadership Snohomish County, will be a food class this month. That will be followed by a food “lab” in April by Vicki Robin, author of “Blessing the Hands that Feed Us, SEE CLINTON, A12