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Wolverines survive scare in one-point win
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Editorial A new year beckons: fresh start for you and for us PAGE 6
Journal
The 75¢ Wednesday, December 28, 2011 Vol. 104 Issue 52
of the San Juan Islands
Top 10 of 2011 ( ) plus one
www.sanjuanjournal.com
A look back at the stories that made a difference, part 2 of 2 The plus one: Trail ends for “Barefoot Bandit” For the sake of brevity, we won’t recount why Colton Harris-Moore, aka the “Barefoot Bandit”, made the Journal’s Top Ten story list first in 2009 and then again in 2010. It appears, however, that 2011 will be the last. Harris-Moore, now 20, pleaded guilty in an Island County courtroom Dec. 16 to 33 offenses stemming from a two-year crime spree. That includes 17 counts from San Juan County. He was sentenced to seven years and three months in prison, and has
vowed to compensate his victims by selling the rights to his story. A book and a movie are in the works. He is slated to be sentenced in federal court in January on a series of federal offenses. No. 5: Prop. 2 dumped; Prop. 1 squeaks by In the end, the County Council asked voters to tip the scales on the fate of the county’s solid waste operation. When the final count was tallied from the Nov. 8 election, voters dumped Proposition 2 like a hot potato, tossing aside the See TOP 10, Page 5
About the photos Far left, Jean Staben, Steven Ryan, and daughter Anne Marie, demonstrate support for embattled elementary school principal Gary Pflueger. Top right, defense attorney Jason Schwarz consults with 16-year-old Taylor Hammel at a Nov. 9 hearing, in which the 16-year-old pleaded guilty to murdering his mother and to arson. Bottom right, Friday Harbor Administrator King Fitch and granddaughters.
Skipper escapes, blazing boat sinks Early morning fire destroys 27-foot fiberglass boat moored near Shipyard Cove By Scott Rasmussen
A San Juan Island man scrambled into a skiff and escaped a predawn blaze that destroyed and sank his 27-foot boat on the morning of Dec. 17 near Friday Harbor’s Shipyard Cove. The Fire Boat Confidence, manned by two firefighters, arrived alongside the burning fiberglass vessel and began battling the blaze at about 2:15 a.m., roughly 15 minutes after the department
was notified of the fire, said San Juan Island Fire Department Chief Steve Marler. Marler said the blaze was under control about 45 minutes after Confidence arrived at the scene, but too much damage had been done for the Caliph V, owned by San Juan Island’s Scott Forbes, to stay afloat. It sank in about 40 feet of water. “It appeared to the guys that the boat was going
down even after they put the fire out,” Marler said. “The remains of the boat were sinking around the time they were leaving the scene.” At this point, the cause of the fire has yet to be determined, according to U.S. Coast Guard petty officer David Whitlock. “The owner didn’t seem to really know and we’re still looking into that,” Whitlock said. “The main thing we were looking out
for was any pollution and preventing it from spreading if there was.” Whitlock described the amount of fuel that emerged from the boat as “minimal.” About 10 gallons of diesel fuel were reportedly onboard the Caliph V at the time it sank. Members of Islands Oil Spill Association were alerted about the boat fire at about 3 a.m. and remained on standby
in the event an oil spill, according to IOSA spokeswoman Jackie Wolf. At the request of the U.S. Coast Guard, two members of the IOSA team surveyed the area shortly after sunrise that Saturday, noticed a fuel sheen in the area of the sunken boat, but determined none would be recoverable. Small amounts of fuel bubbled on the surface once every minute or two, but were See BOAT, Page 4
2011 Special Award; Second Place: General Excellence from the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association
New calf in J-pod A new orca calf has been confirmed by NOAA. Read more about the calf and its mother J-16, otherwise known as “Slick”, page 3.