INSIDE: Holiday Guide shows best shopping sites on Whidbey.
Record South Whidbey
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2012 | Vol. 88, No. 93 | www.SOUTHWHIDBEYRECORD.com | 75¢
Gabbing about gobblers
Thanksgiving hunger pains
The Record continued its tradition of visiting with South Whidbey Elementary School students to talk about Thanksgiving, the Pilgrims and turkey. Their responses about why Thanksgiving Day is celebrated varied from fleeing Holland to, “I forgot.”
BY JESSIE STENSLAND Staff reporter
Ben Watanabe / The Record
Taylor Auld
What do you like about Thanksgiving? Turkey? I don’t like turkey. My mom makes me eat turkey, but I would eat the skin. So you don’t like turkey, but is that a turkey feather in your hair? No. It’s just a normal feather.
Jamie Dale Who did the Pilgrims meet when they arrived to America? The Indians. See Turkey Talk, A11
Whidbey will miss Haugen’s clout in Olympia
Jesse Kinskie unloads turkeys at the Good Cheer Food Bank. Kinskie and another volunteer, Scott Stark, unloaded 500 turkeys the morning of Nov. 16 in preparation for Thanksgiving Day.
Need rising for Good Cheer BY BEN WATANABE Staff reporter BAYVIEW — The Good Cheer Food Bank walk-in refrigerator was filled with 1,000 turkeys. And it may not be enough. “Hunger has a face and has a story,” said Karen Korbelik, the food bank manager. Good Cheer projects it will help about 1,000 families in November. As of Nov. 16, 709 families had received food from the nonprofit, and Korbelik believed the number would grow. Some 35 new families have visited the food bank for help this year. A comparison of October 2011 and 2012 shows an increase in aide, from 859 families to 924. One of those families that received help stuck with Korbelik, who has been the food bank manager just over a year. A father and son visited Good Cheer the week of Thanksgiving last year. She was exhausted from long nights working and was ready to leave ahead of the snowstorm that covered Whidbey. Korbelik learned the father and son were living in the woods on Whidbey Island, and their reality put hers in perspective. “It was one of those moments that brought me out of my own craziness here at Good Cheer and brought it home,” she said. “It emboldened my mission.” See Hunger, A10
Thanksgiving options While Good Cheer is providing Thanksgiving food for needy families, those needing help or company on the holiday have other options. American Legion dinner American Legion Post 141 will serve its traditional Thanksgiving dinner Thursday, Nov. 22. The post is located along Highway 525 just south of The Goose. All are welcome to enjoy dinner in a warm and inviting location. This year’s dinner will be served from 1 to 5 p.m. and large parties should make reservations if possible. Call 321-5696. The menu will include the traditional favorites of turkey, ham, dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, corn, cranberry sauce and pie for dessert. However there is always a surprise or two when someone decides to donate delicious squash, sweet potatoes or some other favorite recipe. Mobile Turkey Unit The volunteer Mobile Turkey Unit is accepting requests for free, home-delivered Thanksgiving dinners to people on South and Central Whidbey for a 14th year of operation. People can request a meal for themselves or neighbors in need by calling 341-1220 and leaving a message or using the online form at www.mobileturkeyunit.word press.com.
Outgoing state Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen becomes emotional when she talks about her worries for the district she’s represented in Olympia over the last 30 years. Without her clout, she said District 10 could lose out on millions of dollars of state funding for a wide variety of projects. “I’m really going to miss being able to serve the people,” she said. Haugen is not the only one with concerns. Officials in Island County and Oak Harbor are worried that her departure could spell the end of a vital transportation funding source. The CEO of the county’s largest private employer also admits doubts about the future of state projects. “Mary Margaret has helped bring millions of dollars of work here,” said Matt Nichols, CEO of Nichols Brothers Boat Builders in Freeland. “She pretty much mandated we would get part of the ferry work.” The longtime state senator lost in the election to Oak Harbor resident Barbara Bailey, a Republican state representative. Haugen served as a state senator for 20 years and 10 years in the House before that. Haugen surmises that she lost, in part, because of her historic vote in favor of legalizing gay marriage. “I had a lot of people tell me to my face that they could no longer support me anymore because of my vote on gay marriage,” she said, adding See Haugen, A10