NEWS-TIMES WHIDBEY
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2011 | Vol. 120, No. 74 | WWW.WHIDBEYNEWSTIMES.COM | 75¢
Sports: Wildcats come from behind. A9
Hospital leaders scuttle February bond election By JESSIE STENSLAND Staff reporter
Kathy Reed/Whidbey Crosswind
An American flag waves in the breeze as Oak Harbor Mayor Jim Slowik speaks to an audience gathered for the 9/11 memorial service Sunday afternoon.
Whidbey community remembers Sept. 11 Base captain was at the Pentagon Whidbey Crosswind
SEE SEPT. 11, A4
Kathy Reed/Whidbey Crosswind
Capt. Jay Johnston, commanding officer of Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, addresses the crowd at the 9/11 memorial service Sunday at Windjammer Park.
Why they went Sunday’s 9/11 Memorial Service in Oak Harbor attracted a crowd of people, each with his or her own reason for attending. For comments from the crowd please turn to page 10 of today’s Whidbey News-Times.
Whidbey General Hospital CEO Tom Tomasino Tomasino also discussed a series of bond measures that have failed on the island, as well as the growing poverty. He said the hospital has experienced a 65 percent increase in uncompensated care since 2008. SEE BOND, A4
Jury tells senator’s husband to pay $50,000 for ‘battery’ in sex suit By JESSIE STENSLAND Staff reporter
By KATHY REED
A large American flag fluttered in the breeze, suspended above the speakers at the 9/11 memorial ceremony Sunday afternoon in Windjammer Park, supported by ladder trucks from the Oak Harbor and Naval Air Station Whidbey Island Fire Departments and backed up by North Whidbey Fire and Rescue. A crowd of about 150 people, not including firefighters, turned out for the ceremony, quietly paying
Whidbey General Hospital officials have decided to hold off on sending another bond proposal to voters. At a Monday night meeting, hospital commissioners unanimously reversed their previous decision to place a $50-million proposal to expand the hospital on the ballot next February. It would have been a redo of the bond that failed to reach the 60 percent supermajority in a May 17 special election this year. Hospital CEO Tom Tomasino cited the troubled economy, the hospital’s poor reputation in the community and inadequate coverage by local newspapers as the reasons for delaying the election. He said the hospital has
made great strides in trying to improve care and has won numerous awards. “We’re just not getting the coverage we had hoped for in the press,” he said. “Our community is often unaware of what we’re doing in the hospital.” Tomasino pointed out that the majority of voters, a total of 55 percent, voted in favor of the bond proposal in May, though it failed to reach the necessary 60 percent. He said South Whidbey voters were overwhelmingly in favor of the proposal, while North Whidbey voters were more reluctant. “On the north end of the island, they have more health care choices than in the south,” he said. “That probably played a role.”
A jury in a civil trial found that a state senator’s husband battered his wife’s former campaign manager and should pay $50,000 in damages. The verdict was announced last Friday afternoon, culminating nearly two weeks of testimony and arguments. Defendant Basil Badley and his wife, Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, weren’t in the Island County courtroom to hear the jury’s decision. Coupeville resident Courtney Jones and a number of her supporters in the courtroom wept after the verdict was read. Jones worked as Haugen’s campaign manager in 2008. She filed the lawsuit against Badley in 2009, claiming that he had kissed and groped her during a dinner at the couple’s home while the senator was away.
It took the jury about six hours to decide the two-part verdict. In the first part, they answered “yes” to the question of whether Badley committed the battery of Jones. In the second part, the jury found that Jones was entitled to $6,000 in economic damages and $44,000 in emotional damages. Afterward, Badley’s attorney, Tyna Ek, said simply that she was surprised by the verdict. Jones’ attorney, Thomas Breen, said he was satisfied with the verdict. He has asked the jury to award Jones $100,000 in damages, but he said he respected their decision. He said the most important consideration was that the jury unanimously agreed with Jones that Badley had, in fact, groped her. The lawsuit originally went to trial as a “sexual assault and battery” charge, but
Judge Alan Hancock ruled after the plaintiff’s attorneys rested their case that the evidence didn’t support the “sexual assault” part of the claim and left it as a battery case. In an interview, Breen described battery as “offensive touching” and said that’s what Jones was alleging all along. Both Jones and Badley took the stand during the trial and described their version of events. Jones described how Badley repeatedly kissed her, licked her face and groped her as she physically and verbally resisted. In his testimony, Badley SEE BADLEY, A7