RECORD SOUTH WHIDBEY
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2011 | Vol. 87, No. 87 | WWW.SOUTHWHIDBEYRECORD.COM | 75¢
INSIDE: Best foot forward, Community, A7
New marina plan would include $100K from local hotels BY BRIAN KELLY South Whidbey Record
Hotel owners in Langley are continuing their push for a do-over on the design for the first phase of the Langley Marina expansion. City officials met with Port of South Whidbey commissioners in a special session earlier this month to get an update on the port’s plans for the small boat harbor in the Village by the Sea. Langley leaders also said they were underwhelmed with the port’s design of the first phase of the project.
City hall’s newfound interest in the first phase of marina makeover was spurred by recent meetings between Langley officials and hotel owners in town, who have been quietly — and sometimes not so quietly — pressing a proposal for an expanded marina using public and private funds. Tony Puma said owners of the three hotels in town are willing to commit $100,000 to the marina expansion. The port’s plan for the first phase isn’t enough, he said.
“We’re very disappointed it only adds 10 slips. That doesn’t get it done,” Puma said. Puma is a property owner near the marina; he is a co-owner of the Boatyard Inn with Paul Schell, who also owns the Inn at Langley. “We have some skin in the game here,” Puma said. Port officials are currently pursuing a multi-phase expansion of the marina. The $2.5 million first phase would see the Bremerton breakwater repositioned just outside the existing harbor, a move that port
officials say would add 400 feet of moorage dock space and create a protective perimeter for the existing marina while giving tour boats and walk-on ferries a place to tie up. Port commissioners have been tepid to the idea of another redesign of the project, however. Commissioners have stressed they want to move forward with the funding already in hand, and show the public that progress is being made on the long-talked-about expansion. Hotel owners, though, are willing to wait if it means a more substantial
makeover of the marina. Like some on the city council, they are worried that the marina project will stall after the first phase and future improvements will be a long way off. Puma acknowledged that redesigning the first phase would set the project back at least a year. “My interest in all of this has been to persuade the port to do the right thing here. Even though it’s going to take longer,” Puma said. “The port has been messing with SEE MARINA, A6
Wife of murder victim claimed he was abusive
Time to get smashed
BY BRIAN KELLY South Whidbey Record
Steve Hutchinson, Virginia Bloom and Lori Katzakian pull bits of stems and leaves from crushed grapes on a sort tray as they prep syrah grapes for fermenting vats. Below, Bloom checks the sugar content of fermenting grapes. It was crush time — but more like crunch time — this week at Blooms Winery on Holmes Harbor. Winery owners Virginia and Ken Bloom have been crushing this year’s harvest of grapes, a total of two tons of syrah grapes brought over from Yakima this week. With the help of friends, the couple were making their way through the fall “crush” with the assistance of a crusher/ destemmer machine. Virginia Bloom said the harvest usually happens earlier, but this year’s weather pushed it back into late October. The winery will be wrapping up just as the Whidbey Island Vintners Association presents the Fall Wine Tour on Whidbey the weekend of Nov. 11-13. For more information on the tour, visit www.whidbey islandvintners.org.
Brian Kelly / The Record
The wife of a Langley man who was killed just after Christmas 2003 had sought a domestic violence protection order against her husband seven months before he was murdered, court records show. Detectives claim Russel Douglas was gunned down by James “Jim” Huden at a remote Wahl Road property as Douglas went to pick up a Christmas gift for his estranged wife, Brenna Douglas. Huden was arrested in Veracruz, Mexico in early June, where he had been hiding from the law for nearly seven years and working as a music tutor under the name of “Maestro Jim.” His former mistress, Peggy Sue Thomas, was arrested as an accomplice in July after police found her on her houseboat “Off the Hook” at Navajo Lake in New Mexico. Thomas, who is also facing a first-degree murder charge, once worked with Brenna Douglas, the murder victim’s wife, at her Langley hair salon, Just B’s. Court records show that Brenna Douglas has been investigated as a third suspect in the murder. Detectives say Huden had never met Russel Douglas before his Christmastime visit to Whidbey with Thomas in late 2003. Law enforcement authorities, however, have not given a motive for the murder — although court documents filed for the arrest of Thomas recounted an interview with Huden’s wife, Jean, who said Jim Huden told her that he and Thomas had plotted to kill Douglas and that he was abusive toward his wife and children. Court records for a protection order sought by Brenna Douglas echo that allegation. In a three-page handwritten statement, Brenna Douglas said her husband had threatened her, called her names, yelled at their two young children and often neglected them. SEE WIFE, A6