RECORD SOUTH WHIDBEY
SATURDAY, JANUARY 28, 2012 | Vol. 88, No. 8 | WWW.SOUTHWHIDBEYRECORD.COM | 75¢
INSIDE: Busy as a bee, Community, A6
Bomb scare shuts down Clinton-Mukilteo ferry BY BEN WATANABE South Whidbey Record
MUKILTEO — A former Langley resident was arrested after threatening to set off a bomb on the ferry M/V Cathlamet after it left Clinton on Thursday morning. The bomb scare shut down the ferry route for nearly two hours and left stranded travelers on both Whidbey Island and the mainland. Michael William Harsh, the man who the Washington State Patrol says threatened to set off a bomb on the ferry, later claimed he was bipolar and hadn’t taken his medication in recent weeks. Harsh, 32, was booked into Snohomish County Jail on $25,000 SEE BOMB, A8
Ben Watanabe / The Record
A bomb disposal expert from the Washington State Patrol bomb squad sets up a device to examine a backpack first believed to contain explosives at the Mukilteo Ferry Terminal Thursday morning. A man’s backpack was examined and destroyed by a projected water disruptor.
Wind, waves slam homeowners along Langley coast Council OKs golf carts on Langley streets
BY PATRICIA DUFF South Whidbey Record
SANDY POINT — Grace Ojala of Langley said it was the worst storm she’s ever seen in Saratoga Passage. “It was so bad the waves were splashing up to the top of our house and splashing over the houses north of us,” she said. Ojala lives on Sunrise Lane in a neighborhood of four houses on the beachfront near the Langley Marina. She was up at 5:45 a.m. Thursday and the wind and waves were in high gear and didn’t settle down until about 8 a.m., she said. “This was worse than the storm that destroyed Ivar’s five or six years ago,” Ojala said. The wind, she said, was coming from the north and it washed decks with logs, took out bricks when it washed over the seawall, destroyed fences, tipped garbage cans and flower pots, uprooted plants and flowers, and left a path of rocks both large and small strewn over water-soaked yards and driveways. She watched from the second floor of her home as the waves hit her house. “Nobody’s windows were broken, which was a miracle because those waves were hitting us hard,” Ojala said. Down in Sandy Point, the damage was more extreme. Melanie Hill lives on Point View Walk and described a similar scene to the one Ojala described after what she called a hurricane of sorts. “There is a lot of damage,” Hill said.
BY BRIAN KELLY South Whidbey Record
Brian Kelly / The Record
Logs and other debris pushed ashore by high wind and wave action Thursday morning spill across a deck in a front yard near Sandy Point. “There’s a pretty high bulkhead down here, but logs got washed up over that and front yards are completely destroyed,” she added. The waves threw bowling ball-sized rocks onto lawns, along with huge logs and other debris. A sailboard was dropped onto one lawn, and the power of the surf broke apart numerous wooden decks and snapped a steel flagpole at its base.
Landscaping pavers and brick patios were washed away, along with seaside gardens. Hill said that because she lives on the side of the point that faces Everett, her yard was untouched by the storm. But her neighbors who face Langley were not as lucky. “Their decks were trashed, sand washed completely over the sidewalks, firewood is SEE WIND, A9
LANGLEY — The Village by the Sea is getting on the bandwagon. The bandwagon, in this case, is a tricked-out golf cart. The Langley City Council gave its initial and unanimous approval Wednesday to a new “golf cart zone” that would allow licensed drivers to use the electric-motored vehicles on city streets. The city is joining a growing list of places that have made golf carts street-legal. Earlier this month, Coupeville approved a golf cart zone, and town officials expect to see golf carts on local streets in February after signs are put up warning automobile drivers. The cities of Arlington, Mill Creek, Cheney, Liberty Lake, La Conner and Orting have also passed legislation creating golf cart zones. Under the new rules, golf cart jockeys would need to upgrade the typical golf cart to make it street-worthy in Langley. SEE CARTS, A8