Record South Whidbey
WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012 | Vol. 88, No. 57 | www.SOUTHWHIDBEYRECORD.com | 75¢
INSIDE: Painting piety, A8
Credit rising
Ben Watanabe / The Record
Bill Hill testifies against James Huden, who is accused of shooting Russel Douglas in 2003. Huden and Hill were close friends at the time, and Hill said Huden admitted his involvement in the murder.
Former friends share details in Huden trial BY BEN WATANABE Staff reporter
COUPEVILLE — Bill Hill waited a few months before he called the Island County Sheriff’s office back in 2004. He had sensitive information that his former friend James Huden, whom Island County prosecutors allege shot Russel Douglas in the head in Dec. 2003, told him of the incident during a car drive together. Hill lived with the information for months, he told Prosecutor Greg Banks, Judge Vickie Churchill, the jury and gallery at Island County Superior Court on Friday, July 13, out of fear and out of loyalty to his friend. “I wasn’t so sure I was gonna spill the beans or not,” Hill said, taking a deep breath and looking down. “He’s my best friend.” Huden was on trial for the murder of Douglas more than eight years ago in a secluded area of Freeland. The prosecution alleged Huden and an accomplice, Peggy Sue Thomas, lured Douglas to a driveway off Wahl Road on Dec. 26, 2003. Then, from about six inches away, Huden shot Douglas in
the head. At the time, Huden was living in Punta Gorda, Fla., and was on Whidbey Island to see Thomas, his mistress. Through his relationship with Thomas, Banks said in his opening statements, Huden came to believe Douglas was an abusive father and husband to Brenna Douglas, who owned a hair salon Thomas worked at. The murder, Banks argued, was a way for Huden to avenge his own abusive childhood. Hill supported the prosecution’s argument when he shared that Huden and he became close friends (acquainted well enough for Hill to fly to Las Vegas to walk Jean Huden down the aisle in Jim and Jean Huden’s wedding). Their shared interests in music, similar migration from the West Coast to Florida, service in the U.S. Air Force and stories of growing up in abusive households brought Hill and Huden together. It was while driving along the Gulf Coast from Punta Gorda to Sarasota, Fla., See Huden, A9
Jim Larsen / The Record
Beverly Rose makes sure that just about everyone at the Clinton Thursday Market walks away with a credit union survey in their hands.
Whidbey credit union fans strike again By JUSTIN BURNETT Staff reporter
Hobbled by funding problems, the effort to establish a credit union on South Whidbey has taken a new direction. Instead of opening its own branch, the organizing committee is now working to drum up enough support in the community to sway Bellingham-based North Coast Credit Union into opening a branch of its own. The new direction is largely the result of funding headaches. Before it could get the green light from the National Credit Union Administration, the group had to secure at least $200,000 in donated capital, or pledged cash, as start up money. The effort was not going well, according to Beverly Rose, a founding member of the organizing committee. “We hadn’t raised nearly as much as we needed,” Rose said. “What I came to realize was not a one of us are fundraisers,” she said. The effort to start a credit union on South Whidbey — Oak Harbor presently has two — began in early
2011 when the late Duke LeBaron of Bayview approached his friend Rose with the possibility. Rose didn’t take much convincing. Not only did the two share a strong belief in the importance and value of the shop-local concept, but Rose had past experience in the business. In the 1970s, she founded the Chicago Land Women’s Federal Credit Union and ran the organization out of her home before it was grew to the point where it could move to a commercial location. Establishing a charter committee, the group went on to hold meetings from Clinton to Oak Harbor and ultimately gathered enough support to exceed the National Credit Union Administration’s requirement for 358 interested parties. “We have over 400,” said Rose, proudly. However, raising the needed capital proved a bigger headache than first thought. After sixth months of effort, the committee had less than $50,000 in pledges, Rose said. It also became clear that even if it did meet the requirement, any prospective branch would
be severely handicapped with limited services. Until it established itself as a financially stable institution, the credit union would be restricted from offering checking accounts. Only savings accounts would be permitted, and it could not approve loans greater than $5,000. The committee needed help and turned to North Coast. Initially, the nonprofit cooperative was just providing consultation but committee members soon decided that it would rather the bank open its own branch because it would operate without all the limitations of a new organization. Terry Belcoe, CEO and president of North Coast, said both he and the bank’s board of directors warmed to the idea immediately. They once had a branch in Oak Harbor but it failed due to competition with the two existing credit unions, Alaska USA Federal Credit Union and Navy Federal Credit Union. Because they differ from normal banks in their model — they are See Credit, A9