RECORD
Merry Christmas
SOUTH WHIDBEY
from the
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2011 | Vol. 87, No. 103 | WWW.SOUTHWHIDBEYRECORD.COM | 75¢
INSIDE: The warmth of giving, Community, A8
Homeowner finds burglar inside home
Dear Santa
Search continues for intruder
The Record visited students from Danni Curgus’ class at South Whidbey Elementary School. The youngsters shared their letters to Santa before their holiday wishes went to the jolly old man.
BY BRIAN KELLY South Whidbey Record
Glenn Perkins said it was hard to tell who was more surprised: The burglar who was caught redhanded, or Perkins, who discovered the intruder who slipped into his South Whidbey home Wednesday and interrupted his morning coffee. The Island County Sheriff’s Office is still searching for the burglar who escaped from Perkins’ home on Kolia Place after assaulting the homeowner and running into the woods nearby. A police artist has made a drawing of the suspect, and the sketch is expected to be released to the media soon. The break-in, which follows a series of residential burglaries across Whidbey Island in recent months, prompted a frenzied but unsuccessful search for the burglar Wednesday. The prowler was described as a thin white man with long reddish hair in a ponytail, who was wearing a khakicolored shirt, Dockers-style pants and a blue baseball cap. The crime happened just after 10:30 a.m. Perkins said he was sitting with his wife in a SEE BURGLAR, A20
Safe Ride Home: Volunteers launch effort to help youth
Payton Currier, 6 Dear Sana War is yur rander. I been really good this year. Love Payton
BY BEN WATANABE South Whidbey Record
Liam Stuchell, 6
Madelyn Smith, 6 Dear Santa I tried my best. Haw is your reindeer. Haw is the North Pole. Wat is my present. Luve Madelyn
Dear Santa How are you? I’ve been trying best to be good. How is the weather? Love Liam
More inside Turn to Page A20 for more letters to Santa.
BAYVIEW — A group of South Whidbey residents have started a new program to get kids home safely. In the wake of a car crash that killed three men on South Whidbey last month, a handful of people banded together to find ways to prevent a similar tragedy. Brian Grimm, who has a teenage daughter, saw a post on one of the victims’ Facebook pages from someone who had offered to give rides to inebriated youths. “Something isn’t right when someone who isn’t trained to deal with these situations has to pick up kids in unsafe situations,” Grimm said. So Grimm and others came up with a better SEE SAFE, A3