RECORD SOUTH WHIDBEY
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2011 | Vol. 87, No. 82 | WWW.SOUTHWHIDBEYRECORD.COM | 75¢
INSIDE: Uppity yuppies, Island Life, A12
Residents seek halt to spending on sewer project BY BRIAN KELLY South Whidbey Record
FREELAND — Stop throwing money down the “rat hole” of a $40 million sewer project that’s opposed by most people who live in the Freeland area, residents told the board of the Freeland Water and Sewer District Monday. Residents also asked sewer district commissioners to rescind the resolution that called for a local improvement district, or LID, which would give the sewer district the authority to make property owners pay for the new sewer system. Opponents of the contro-
versial $40 million plan said the project is overpriced and would hit property owners with assessments that could total tens of thousands of dollars. Critics also charge that the original plan was for sewers in the downtown commercial core of Freeland, but the proposal was expanded in a way that makes residential properties shoulder most of the costs for the unwanted sewer system. “This train is going down the track and it needs to stop,” Mike Gregory told sewer commissioners. “You guys need to give your heads a shake, I’m sorry. A
lot of money has been spent here, and it’s going down a rat hole,” Gregory added. “It’s a waste of taxpayer dollars for you to pursue this,” added Pam Neschke, another resident in the sewer district. “I think it ought to be stopped.” District officials estimate $2.5 million has been spent on a new sewer system for Freeland so far, mostly on consultants. Neschke said the board should wait until the citizens advisory committee on a new sewer system had completed its work. The district should also seek money from the group
that originally wanted a sewage treatment system: the downtown business community, residents said. “I think this LID and this $40 million sewer project should be stopped, and not a penny spent more on it. Allow the [citizens advisory committee] to pursue the other options,” Neschke said. “Allow the commercial core to participate if they choose to, and leave the residents out of it until the residents choose,” she told commissioners. Neschke also pointed out that LIDs are usually created SEE SEWER, A10
Brian Kelly / The Record
Rocky Knickerbocker, a commissioner with the Freeland Water and Sewer District, responds to criticism from Freeland residents Monday as fellow District Commissioner Jim Short listens.
Freeland man accused of knife attack on parents
Blessings for all creatures, great and small
BY BRIAN KELLY South Whidbey Record
Father Nigel Taber-Hamilton reads a prayer at the start of the Blessing of the Animals in celebration of St. Francis of Assisi at St. Augustine in-the-Woods Episcopal Church on Sunday. Dozens of people brought their four-legged friends and family members to the annual ceremony, where Taber-Hamilton led a prayer for animals that are suffering, lost or hunted, deserted, frightened or hungry. “Make us true friends to animals so may we all share the blessings of the merciful,” he said.
Brian Kelly / The Record
Elvis does his best FDR impersonation with half of a dog biscuit while waiting for the start of Sunday’s blessing ceremony at St. Augustine’s.
COUPEVILLE — A Freeland man accused of stabbing his mother and father after breaking into their Bush Point Terrace-area home was ordered held in the Island County jail on $500,000 bond Tuesday. Sean P. DeMerchant, 38, was arrested by Island County deputies late Sunday night after dispatchers received a 911 call from his mother, Norma DeMerchant, who said her son had a knife and was trying to break in. Her call became more frantic after her son entered the home and stabbed the woman and her husband. Norma DeMerchant told a dispatcher just after the stabbing that they were bleeding and needed help, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed this week in Island County Court. DeMerchant, 66, and her husband, Paul W. DeMerchant, 73, were both taken to area hospitals after the attack. Paul DeMerchant, the father of the alleged assailant, was taken to Whidbey General Hospital in Coupeville, and was released late Monday morning. His wife was taken by a medical airlift to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where she remains in serious condition. Sean DeMerchant made a preliminary appearance in Island County Superior Court Tuesday, and is facing two possible counts of SEE ATTACK, A10