RECORD SOUTH WHIDBEY
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2012 | Vol. 88, No. 12 | WWW.SOUTHWHIDBEYRECORD.COM | 75¢
INSIDE: Tiny home builder, Community, A8
Diking District 1 opponents win majority on board
Look out, a head
BY BRIAN KELLY South Whidbey Record
Ben Watanabe / The Record
South Whidbey students show their support during the Falcon boys basketball season finale victory against Lakewood on Monday as they wave enlarged photos of some familiar Falcon faces. Three South Whidbey students hoist enlarged photos of Falcon junior guard Sam Turpin. He wasn’t the only larger-than-life player, though, as freshman Angus Jones and junior Josh Bishop were also featured on much-larger-than-life face posters in the student section during the game.
COUPEVILLE — The critics of Diking District 1’s controversial pump project will soon be in control of the district’s board of commissioners. Tom Kraft has an insurmountable lead in votes, 232-105, over incumbent Diking Commissioner Ray Gabelein for a seat on the three-member board. Island County officials wrapped up their tally of ballots in Tuesday’s diking district election Wednesday. “I look forward to working hard to make the workings of Diking District 1 transparent and responsive to the needs of our district,” Kraft said.
“I sincerely look to be responsive to everyone’s best interests, and that we operate not only to the letter of the law, but also to the spirit of the law.” Officials will finalize the election Feb. 16. The elections office will count any valid ballots that are received before the certification date, and also decide the fate of a single ballot where the signature of the voter did not match the one on file with the state. Officials hoped to contact that voter late Wednesday. Kraft, a Seattle resident, is one of the opponents of the assessment process used by the diking district to pay for SEE MAJORITY, A14
New animal hospital is high-tech operation BY BEN WATANABE South Whidbey Record
LANGLEY — Cats and dogs that are sick as a dog (or a cat) have a new clinic on the South End. Animal Hospital by the Sea opened in December and is preparing for a grand opening next week. After eight months of planning and remodeling the building at 114 Second St. — the location of the long-vacated Langley Clinic — two exam rooms, a consultation room, X-ray room, a surgery room, a comfort garden and an isolation ward are ready for South Whidbey’s pet problems. “I’m trying to do as much as possible to have the pets be comfortable,” said owner and veterinarian Jean Dieden. Dieden said her aim is to provide pet owners with the most current technology and speedy results. The X-ray machine takes digital images that can be enlarged and adjusted for density and contrast,
allowing animal owners and Dieden to better examine the image. It also eliminates the time (they are processed in seconds) and cost of film development, because the X-ray file can be emailed. That was useful for a recent owner, Dieden said, who brought in her dog with a tumor on its toe. The owner was saddened by the results and wanted her husband to see the photo, too. “I felt bad for her because she was alone, so I emailed it to her husband,” Dieden said. Three machines are available for blood analysis. Doing blood tests at the animal hospital allows for sameday results instead of paying a courier to travel off-island and back, which may or may not happen on weekends. “Nobody gets their blood tests done on the morning or on the weekends, which was not going to be acceptable to me,” Dieden said. Another 21st century feature
Ben Watanabe / The Record
Jean Dieden has opened a new animal clinic on South Whidbey. Animal Hospital by the Sea in Langley was created to service small pets, cats and dogs such as Dieden’s wire-haired dachshund Phinney. of the animal hospital is its digital records access. Pet owners and clients can find their animal’s files through the animal hospital’s website at www.animalhospitalbythesea. com, which will also have a portal
for an online pet pharmacy prescription service. “We’re essentially paperless,” Dieden said. The kennels are all built with Formica — stainless-steel surfaces
can be a bit chilly for some animals — and cushioned with memory foam pads, which Dieden said will help relax any anxious dogs SEE HOSPITAL, A14