INSIDE: Schuster tips the scale ... Sports, A7
Record South Whidbey
SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013 | Vol. 89, No. 4 | www.SOUTHWHIDBEYRECORD.com | 75¢
$2.4 million Langley Marina expansion green lighted By JIM LARSEN Record editor There was a party going on at the Port of South Whidbey meeting Tuesday night, even it it was only in the head of Port President Curt Gordon. “There should be champagne or something,” Gordon said. “This is a big deal.” His comment came in response to Port Operations Director Ed Fields’ announcement that he had “good news.” Just the day before, the Army Corps of Engineers had approved the port’s expansion plans at the Langley Marina. “I got the call and was down there in one hour,” Field told Gordon and Commissioner Chris Jerome. Commissioner Dennis Gregoire did not attend the meeting. The port has been waiting literally for years for the Army Corps permit. It means that port engineers can begin detailing the design, then the port can call for bids from contractors. The final Corps permit had been anticipated for several months, but apparently needed a kick in the pants from higher officials. Fields said help was found in the offices of Senator Patty Murray and Congressman Rick Larsen. “Our representatives were working for us at the Corps,” Field said. Rep. Larsen visited the marina Thursday where he was given a quick tour and shown drawing of the expansion plans. They were talking on the marina’s walkway, to which was tied 400-feet of breakwater-style dock that can now be arrayed to accommodate more boaters visiting Langley. See Marina, A6
Jim Larsen / The Record
Standing on the Langley Marina walkway, Curt Gordon, president of the board of the Port of South Whidbey, points out plans for the expansion project to, from the left, port Finance Director Angi Mozer, Congressman Rick Larsen and Port Operations Manager Ed Field.
No injuries after teen driver crashes into school bus
“Kids said it felt like a pothole.” Dan Poolman assistant superintendent South Whidbey School District
By BEN WATANABE Staff reporter A 17-year-old girl crashed her Jeep Wrangler into the back of a South Whidbey school bus Thursday afternoon. None of the students on the bus or the driver were injured. The crash happened on Maxwelton Drive, about a mile
Ben Watanabe / The Record
These women discuss the rear-end crash of the Jeep and the school bus Thursday afternoon. south of Highway 525. Bus driver Bob Hackler was slowing down to
stop and let students off the bus, just around a curve on the 50 mph
county road. “He was stopping and said it felt like a pop,” said Dan Poolman, the assistant superintendent of business and transportation for the South Whidbey School District. “Kids said it felt like a pothole.” The teen driver had failed to stop in time and rear-ended the bus. One of the school district’s newer vehicles, purchased in 2010, the yellow bus had minor scratches to its bumper and its rear “Unlawful to pass when red lights flash,” sign was bent on the lower right corner.
The Jeep’s hood had folded up, making a teepee over the engine with some damage to the grill. Pieces of the Jeep’s front end lay scattered behind the bus. “She was following behind, probably too close,” said Washington State Patrol Sgt. Bruce Maier. Some 30 students were interviewed by Island County Sheriff’s deputies. They were then released from the dinged bus and either picked up by their parents or transferred to another school bus and taken home at 3:50 p.m. “I was hoping this would never happen,” Poolman said. “Luckily nobody was hurt.” The crash happened at about 3 p.m., shortly after the bus began the “giraffe” route that goes from the schools on Maxwelton Road to Cultus Bay, Sandy Hook and Possession Point. See Crashes, A6