INSIDE: Pin for a win ... Sports, A7
Record South Whidbey
SATURDAY, JANUARY 19, 2013 | Vol. 89, No. 6 | www.SOUTHWHIDBEYRECORD.com | 75¢
Thousands of ballots head to Whidbey voters RECORD STAFF
Jim Larsen / The Record
Adam Peterson displays two fine examples of geoducks caught near Langley last week. He estimated the harvest that day between 800 and 1,000 pounds. An Alaska Ice Seafoods employee, he drove the geoducks to to Seattle but returned for more later.
State harvests cash through geoducks By JIM LARSEN Record editor The geoduck (pronounced gooeyduck) has a funny name and its appearance often elicits embarrassed laughter, but Washington’s biggest clam means big money to the Department of Natural Resources and fine eating, particularly for wealthy devotees in China. For the first time in years, commercial geoduck harvesting is under way in Langley. It started Monday, Jan. 7, and is open until Jan. 25. The DNR manages two geoduck fishery tracts near Langley. Langley North is 129 acres in size and Langley South is 54 acres. Other Island County tracts are listed as Admiralty Bay, Austin, Cultus Bay, Dines Point, Double Bluff, Holmes Harbor, Lagoon Point, Point Partridge, Randall, Rocky Point and Useless Bay. Adam Peterson, truck driver for Alaska Ice Seafoods, stopped by the Langley Marina last week to pick up plastic crates loaded with geoducks from that day’s harvest. The clams average two to three pounds each and cost approximately $14 a pound for the harvester. “The whiter they are the better,” he said.
Ballots for two school district levy elections were mailed to military voters last week and voters on South and North Whidbey Island should receive their ballots next week. Both the South Whidbey and Oak Harbor school districts are running tax levy proposals for voters to consider on Feb. 12. The Island County Auditor’s office mailed out approximately 2,000 ballots last week to military voters. The remaining ballots, about 30,000, will be mailed to voters next week. Ballots must be postmarked no later than Feb. 12 to be counted. The South Whidbey School District is running two levy proposals next month. The first is a maintenance and operations levy that comprises nearly $4 million of the South End school district’s $15 million budget. According to Jo Moccia, South Whidbey schools superintendent, the maintenance and operation levy is ongoing and the district is seeking no increase in the levy. The present rate is $1.04 per thousand of assessed property value. The second is a capital/technology projects levy that will bring in $2 million per year for six years, up from the current $950,000. Of the $2 million, $750,000 would fund technology while the remainder would be used to take on deferred maintenance projects, such as roofing, siding, HVAC, painting and plumbing. If passed, this levy would increase taxes by an estimated 33 cents per thousand, bringing it to 53 cents per thousand of assessed valuation. The Oak Harbor School District is asking voters to approve a levy that will raise $7.35 million a year for the next four years. The levy will cost a homeowner $1.98 per $1,000 assessed property value. If approved, the owner of a $250,000 home will pay $495 a year. North Whidbey school officials said the levy proposal will help restore some of the cuts they have made in recent See Ballots, A6
Jim Larsen / The Record
Plastic crates full of geoducks await pickup near the Langley Marina boat ramp. The whiter the geoduck the better price it fetches. The giant clams cost harvesters about $14 per pound this year but sell for much more than that, particularly to Chinese markets. Ralph Downes, a game agent who has covered Whidbey Island for the Department of Wildlife for the past 22 years, said four bid winners were award-
ed the opportunity to work the Langley tracts, with quotas of 8,017 pounds each, See Geoducks, A6
Nathan Whalen / The Record
Elections workers Susan Hamilton and M’lissa Christopherson prepare ballots to be mailed for school district levy elections in February.