RECORD SOUTH WHIDBEY
INSIDE: , Turf burn Sports, A10
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011 | Vol. 87, No. 85 | WWW.SOUTHWHIDBEYRECORD.COM | 75¢
No surprise: Freeland race goes straight to the sewer BY BRIAN KELLY South Whidbey Record
FREELAND — Jim Short figures he’s got a lot to offer if voters return him to a seat on the board of commissioners for the Freeland Water & Sewer District. Trouble is, he thinks he’s fighting a losing battle and his chances for election are slim. “I think I’m toast,” Short said. Short, 64, is the newest member of the threemember board, having been appointed in September 2010. Controversy over the district’s work on an expanded sewer system for the South End’s commercial hub, however, has led two residents to challenge Short and the other incumbent up for election in November for their seats. It’s the first time in memory that the district has had a race for a commissioner’s seat, let alone two. Blame the proposal for a new sewer system, a long-talked-about idea that went off the rails once the
Brian Kelly / The Record
Jim Short, the incumbent water commissioner. construction estimate neared $40 million and an alarmed group of residents raised concern that they’d be hit with bills for $40,000 or more on their properties to help pay for the sewage treatment system. The district’s sometimes unsupported defense of the project and some high-profile stumbles along the way haven’t helped. Short, a broker with Windermere Real Estate who works in residential real estate and is a familiar
face doing community good deeds in the Freeland area, is taking his first shot at elected office. His challenger, Marilynn Abrahamson, is equally well-known, mostly due to her consistent criticism of the spendy new sewer system. She helped form POOPS, Property Owners Opposed to Proposed Sewers, and more recently, FAIRS, Freeland Advocates for Informed Responsible Solutions. Much of the scrap over
Brian Kelly / The Record
Marilynn Abrahamson, the challenger. sewers has stemmed from the district’s expansion of the project, when the proposal morphed from a new system that would serve the commercial area south of Holmes Harbor, to one that would include large swaths of the residential neighborhoods nearby. District officials took steps to create a local improvement district, or LID, that would require property owners to pay automatic assessments of thousands of dollars to pay for the new infrastructure.
Critics said the costly LID would force many residents out of their homes, and said district officials had exaggerated the need for sewers — and that there was no proof that failing septic systems were fouling the recreational waters of Holmes Harbor, and that the prediction of a population boom in Freeland that required urban-style infrastructure had been invalidated by the sour economy. District meetings that once drew few onlookers are
now filled with angry and anxious residents. “This has turned into a lot more of a contentious situation than I really like to deal with,” Short said. He stressed that district officials put the LID on hold many months ago, and it was clear to him the proposal was finished once it had been given a closer look by the district’s consultants. Officials pulled together roughly $10 million in outside money to help pay for the project. And Short said the LID was to show agencies that might have grant money “that the community was serious about putting in sewers. “Just because you form a LID, it doesn’t necessarily mean you have to impose the LID,” he added. “There is no cost to the ratepayers until construction is finished on the project. And that could be four or five years.” Short said the district hoped to get at least half the money needed for the project from SEE SEWER, A6
Family happy that ‘Snappy’ makes it home
Hot off the griddle Gloria Hartnett, right, gets set to flip a lefse under the watchful eye of Barb Mathews. The pair were part of a team of more than a dozen women from Trinity Lutheran Church who gathered for four days in the kitchen at the Freeland church to cook Norwegian flatbread for the church’s upcoming bazaar.
BY BRIAN KELLY South Whidbey Record
She ran away from home, changed her name and was looking forward to a life in show business. Whidbey the turtle’s brief shot at the spotlight has come to an end, however. Whidbey — real name, “Snappy” — is an alligator snapping turtle that was discovered in a South Whidbey ditch near Sunlight Shores by a passer-by in late September. Weighing in at almost 20 pounds, the turtle was taken to veterinarian David Parent’s office in Freeland by the family who found her, and later
The bazaar, the biggest fundraiser of the year for the church, supports the outreach programs of local charitable organizations. It will be held on Saturday, Nov. 5. Brian Kelly / The Record
SEE SNAPPY, A20