Whidbey News-Times, July 04, 2012

Page 1

News-Times Whidbey

SPORTS:

Whidbey youth head to district. A9

WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2012 | Vol. 113, No. 53 | www.whidbeynewstimes.com | 75¢

By REBECCA OLSON Staff reporter

Retired Rear Adm. William J. McDaniel (Ret.) has assisted with disaster relief around the world, served in Vietnam and even starred on a reality TV show. Now he has one more accolade as grand marshal of Oak Harbor’s Fourth of July parade. The parade begins at 11 a.m. this morning, July 4, on Bayshore Drive. “I’m very tickled. It’s an honor,” McDaniel said of being chosen as grand marshal. “They’ve had some wonderful grand marshals in the past and it’s an honor and I appreciate it.” McDaniel, 69, lives on North Whidbey Island with his wife, Shirley. He was born in Oklahoma and received his doctor of medicine degree in 1968, leading him to the Naval Aerospace Medical Institute

in Florida, where he became a Navy flight surgeon and embarked on worldwide assignments in Okinawa, Japan, aboard the USS Tripoli off the coast of Vietnam and to Whidbey Island Naval Air Station. McDaniel served 32 years in the Navy but the adventures didn’t stop there. Ten years ago, he starred as the mole in the reality TV show “The Mole” for 13 weeks. In the show, contestants had to gather money that only one contestant would win in the end. McDaniel was chosen to be the mole, a contestant secretly working to sabotage the other contestants’ efforts. “That was incredible. We spent seven weeks in Switzerland and Italy filming the show. Anderson Cooper was the host,” McDaniel said, adding that he got to know See Marshal, A2

League axes public queries By JUSTIN BURNETT Staff reporter

Contributed photo

Retired Rear Adm. William McDaniel met a young barber in Banda Aceh shortly after he arrived in Indonesia. He brought the man to the Naval Hospital Ship USNS Mercy for surgery on a badly broken femur fracture.

See league, A2

Parade route dispute simmers

Jessie Stensland / Whidbey News-Times

Jason McFayden, president of the Oak Harbor Chamber of Commerce board, stands in a narrow section of Pioneer Way. The chamber decided not to route the Fourth of July parade down the road because of concerns about mixing large crowds and parade floats on the narrow road.

By JESSIE STENSLAND Staff reporter

Pioneer Way in downtown Oak Harbor is once again at the center of controversy as upset merchants discovered that the Fourth of July parade will not travel on the skinny, one-way street through the retail core. Part of the consternation comes from the fact that former Mayor Jim Slowik and

his administration had promised downtown merchants that the controversial project to turn downtown’s main drag into a one-way street would See parade, A8

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For the first time in at least 15 years, the public will not be quizzing Island County commissioner candidates during this year’s League of Women Voters primary political forums. The league, a non-partisan group that works to inform and encourage public participation in government, has for decades held forums on ballot measures and public offices up for election. For much of that time, people have had the chance


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