News-Times Whidbey
INSIDE: Marking 30 years serving Mexican. A11
SATURDAY, AUGUST 25, 2012 | Vol. 113, No. 68 | www.whidbeynewstimes.com | 75¢
Student-built lantern house put into place Greenbank man pleads to kidnapping, rape
Three Whidbey high schools combine efforts
By JESSIE STENSLAND Staff reporter
By REBECCA OLSON Staff reporter
Thanks to the work of Oak Harbor, Coupeville and South Whidbey students, Thursday afternoon featured the installation of the new, historically accurate lantern house. Two years of hard work by students from three schools, with a big boost from Archie Nichols of Nichols Brothers Boat Builders in Freeland and many other mentors, culminated as the lantern house arrived by truck at Admiralty Head Lighthouse Thursday morning preceded by an Island Crane Services, Inc. crane driven by Don Carscadden. Volunteers had already prepped the old lantern house, leaving it loose for fast removal — a relief because volunteers had feared the lantern house was welded to the floor, but instead, it was bolted. Archie Nichols and four South Whidbey High School students who put countless hours of work into the project climbed the winding staircase into the old lantern house and attached ropes for its removal by crane. A crowd gathered below to watch the removal of the lantern house, a thin, Plexiglas lantern house not intended to look historically accurate. Dust rained down as the lantern house was lowered to the ground. It will be auctioned off by the park. “I’m so excited! I’m just like dying of excitement!” exclaimed Julie Pigott, WSU Extension of Island County Admiralty Head Lighthouse
Rebecca Olson / Whidbey News-Times
A new lantern house was placed on Admiralty Head Lighthouse Thursday, the culmination of two years of work by students and teachers of all three Whidbey high schools, Archie Nichols of Nichols Brothers Boat Builders and a number of volunteers and donors. program coordinator. “It’s gorgeous!” she said, admiring the new lantern house. “The students have done a wonderful job. It’s professional work. ... I’m so
proud of them!” As watchers gazed at the lighthouse, topless for the first time in 50 years, Nichols drilled holes in the new lantern house on the ground to
match the studs already in place, which were unevenly spaced. Students Christian Justus, Zach Caravan, Scotty See lantern, A20
A 23-year-old Greenbank man who kidnapped and raped his estranged girlfriend will likely be going away for more than 16 years. George Downey was dressed in jail orange and wearing his usual odd grin in Island County Superior Court Monday. As part of a plea bargain, he pleaded guilty to first-degree rape, second-degree kidnapping, residential burglary, second-degree burglary, felony violation of a court order and a gross misdemeanor violation of a court order. Both the prosecution and defense will recommend an indeterminate sentence of up to life, with a minimum of 16 years and four months in prison. The sentencing hearing is scheduled for Oct. 12. Deputy Prosecutor David Carman told the judge that the amended charges take into account all the facts of the case and that the victims are aware of the plea bargain. Downey abducted his estranged girlfriend and their 4-year-old boy from a home on East Harbor Road near Freeland March 16. After driving them to a different location, he broke into a vacant home and raped the woman inside. After the rape, he continued driving north with the woman and child in his vehicle. He threatened to kill himself and the victims by driving off Deception Pass Bridge and later threatened to drive off the Coupeville Wharf. About an hour after the abduction, deputies with the Island County Sheriff’s Office pulled over Downey’s Jeep on
Greenbank resident George Downey pleads guilty in court Monday to kidnapping and rape charges. Highway 20 near Coupeville, saving the woman and child. Sheriff Mark Brown said the office was in the process of issuing an AMBER Alert — a child abduction broadcast — at the time of the arrest. The victim had obtained a domestic violence protection order about a month before the kidnapping to protect herself and her son from Downey. The woman told the judge about numerous incidents of violence and threats. She claimed he threatened to kill “all three” of them with his rifles. In an incident last October, Downey beat her, repeatedly raped her and choked her, the woman wrote in her petition for the protection order. Island County Superior Court Judge Vickie Churchill approved a temporary order for protection on Feb. 15, followed by a permanent order on Feb. 29.
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