Record South Whidbey
SATURDAY, APRIL 7, 2012 | Vol. 88, No. 28 | www.SOUTHWHIDBEYRECORD.com | 75¢
Loading zone seen as gone forever
State grant energizes schools BY BEN WATANABE Staff reporter
By JIM LARSEN Record editor
In the mind of Langley’s mildmannered grocer, Gene Felton, it’s gone forever. “It does not appear we’ll get that loading zone back,” he said Thursday morning after a meeting Wednesday with Mayor Larry Kwarsick. “But it’s still my preference to get the old spot back.” After taking some criticism at Monday’s city council meeting for eliminating the morning hours loading zone on Second Street just east of the Star Store parking lot in favor of more hours of public parking, Kwarsick met Wednesday with Felton, who owns the Star Store grocery and mercantile, and Jenn and Sieb Jurrians, who own Prima Bistro, a restaurant on the top floor of the same building and whose business also depended on the Second Street loading zone. It’s where truckers could safely and easily pull off the street and bring their goods into the businesses. “Everybody got to express their opinions,” Kwarsick said, adding that he has “no regrets” about his decision. The one bit of consensus that came out of Wednesday’s meeting is that truck drivers won’t have to worry if they now double-park or park with one end sticking out where it doesn’t belong. Kwarsick said the truck drivers will be assured they will not receive citations for improper parking while servicing businesses. He’ll have Police Chief Randy Heston put it in writing when he returns from vacation. “The city has no interest in interfering with their parking habits,” Kwarsick said. That’s no small thing to truck drivers, according to Felton. He said a Columbia Beer and Wine truck driver blocked one lane of traffic on Second Street last week when he found the loading zone was gone. “We have to pay for our own parking See zone, A17
INSIDE: ZERO SUM, SPORTS, A12
Photo courtesy of Natasha Sheldon
Freeland resident Sasha Sheldon looks over her bunny, Floppy, an escape artist who continually manages to free himself from the cage.
Rascally rabbit found in time for Easter Sunday By JESSIE STENSLAND Staff reporter
They call him Rat. He chases balls like a dog and uses a litter box like a cat. He demands attention like a toddler and sometimes seems to think he’s a person. His given name is actually Floppy, which is a perfectly reasonable monicker for an adorable, lop-eared bunny. But his fluffy, stuffed-animallike appearance belies the rascal that lies within. “He’s a character,” his owner, Natasha Sheldon, says with a smile. Floppy’s rascally, wandering ways recently provided his family with an Easter-time miracle of sorts.
Floppy lives with Sheldon, her 7-year-old daughter Sasha, a woman named Joan Parry and a Yorkshire terrier in a Freeland home. Sheldon is a live-in caregiver for Parry, a cheerful senior citizen who’s unusually tolerant of a rabbit that loves to steal her newspapers. “I’ve never seen a rabbit like him,” Parry said. “He’s special.” As Sheldon explained, she received the Holland lop from an ex-boyfriend about two and a half years ago. Born on Camano Island, the baby bunny was as cute as can be and quickly won her and her daughter’s hearts. But just as See floppy, A10
The best possible scenario has come true for the South Whidbey School District after applying for more than $600,000 in state grant funds. The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction announced Thursday the South Whidbey School District was one of 43 school districts across Washington awarded the funds. “This will yield about $90,000 in annual savings in energy expenses for the district,” said District Superintendent Jo Moccia in an email. “This is great news for SWSD.” In total, South Whidbey schools will receive $685,000 in grant money. Earlier this year, the school district had an energy audit performed by Ameresco Quantum, an energy consultant company based in Renton. Representatives from Ameresco told the school board in early March they discovered the district could save about $90,000 by making cost-efficient improvements, repairs and upgrades to the district’s four main campuses: South Whidbey High School, Langley Middle School, South Whidbey Elementary School and the District Service and Transportation Center. They also estimated cash incentives from Puget Sound Energy worth about $152,000 for upgrades like new, more energy-efficient fluorescent bulbs and light timers. Up-front, the school district will make a $200,000 down payment from capital funds for the work. The South Whidbey School District will complete almost $1.8 million in improvements. Moccia said the work will occur over the next six months. Washington’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, Randy Dorn, said the $20.9 million grant, divided among the 43 districts, will help create long-term operational savings for the school districts and stimulate construction employment. The grant money came from the state Legislature. Earlier energy grant funding totaled $50 million in 2010 See Energy, A17