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Editorial Ode to the also-rans; stories of interest that didn’t quite make the cut PAGE 6
Journal
The 75¢ Wednesday, December 21, 2011 Vol. 104 Issue 51
of the San Juan Islands
Top 10 of 2011( ) plus one
www.sanjuanjournal.com
Judge treads lightly on Bandit Sentenced to seven years, three months young boy to get food after his mother drank away the welfare Colton Harris-Moore bears lit- money. Children taunted him at tle resemblance to the image of the school for living in a derelict home brazen Barefoot Bandit who cap- and wearing ill-fitting clothes. tured worldwide headlines with Moreover, Churchill said it his exploits durwas amazing ing a two-year “I would say Eastsound that the young crime spree. man didn’t follost its innocence at Instead, his low his mother defense attorthe hands of Mr. Harris- down the path neys, a forensic of drug or alcoMoore.” psychiatrist and hol addiction. even prosecutors — Randall Gaylord, San Juan County “This repreprosecuting attorney described him as sents the tria painfully shy umph of the young man who survived a hor- human spirit and the triumph of rendous childhood, is embarrassed Colton Harris-Moore,” the judge by media attention and does not said. “He survived.” consider himself a folk hero. Still, Churchill said she had Harris-Moore stared at his to follow the law and couldn’t feet during most of his sentenc- give him an exceptional sentence ing hearing that spanned Friday See HARRIS-MOORE, Page 4 morning and most of the afternoon in Island County Superior Court in Coupeville. The stories of Harris-Moore’s trials and tribulations apparently swayed Judge Vickie Churchill, who had sentenced him in a different case four years ago. She balanced the sentencing recommendations from the defense and prosecution and came down in the middle, sending the former Camano Island resident to prison for seven years and three months. Before the sentencing, HarrisNewlyweds Moore pleaded guilty to a total of 16 counts from Island County, San Juan Island’s Nicholas including theft of a firearm and “Nick” Joseph Lehman married residential burglary. Then the Ashlee Jo Ross were on Sept. hearing continued with Harris10 in Woodinville, Wash. Moore pleading guilty to 17 counts Read more on page 12. from San Juan County. Churchill said she was mindful of Harris-Moore’s tragic childhood. He started stealing and burglarizing homes when he was a
By Jessie Stensland, assistant editor,Whidbey News Times
A look back at the stories that made a difference The top 10 stories of 2010, based on local impact and interest, as determined by the staff of The Journal of the San Juan Islands. We begin with… No. 10: Consolidation complete The debate over the benefits and drawbacks of San Juan Island’s two fire departments becoming one had long been a contentious issue. But by the time the two entities put pen to paper, in June and in August, and the Town of Friday Harbor officially handed over its future
fire protection to San Juan Island Fire Department, the resolution of that decades’ long tug-of-war barely caused a ripple. Under the agreement, ratified June 2, the town, which now retains a fire department in name only, will pay San Juan Island Fire Department roughly $250,000 a year for fire protec-
tion. That’s equivalent to what the department, a junior taxing district, would receive if it’s property-tax levy applied within the town’s boundaries. The two entities also struck an agreement that the town will lease and part with its fire fighting See TOP 10, Page 3
About the photos Top, defense attorney Jason Schwarz consults with 16-year-old Taylor Hammel, who admitted to murdering his mother and to setting his Friday Harbor home ablaze. Bottom left, a woman walks a dog with a leash on National Park Service property, at South Beach. Islanders take to the streets to protest against a Level I sex offender’s request to move to San Juan Island.
2011 Special Award; Second Place: General Excellence from the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association