News-Times Whidbey
INSIDE: McCoy garners Golden Apple A15
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2013 | Vol. 114, No. 11 | www.whidbeynewstimes.com | 75¢
The Gun Show
Ballot deadlines Ballots must be postmarked by Feb. 12, or can be placed in drop boxes at the Oak Harbor City Hall, 865 S.E. Barrington Drive, the elections office on N. Main Street in Coupeville, Trinity Lutheran Church, 18341 Highway 525 in Freeland and Ken’s Corner in Clinton. Polls close at 8 p.m. Tuesday.
Just days left to cast levy ballots By NATHAN WHALEN Staff reporter
Jessie Stensland/Whidbey News-Times
Oak Harbor resident William Frail demands that two councilmen resign for their support of restrictions on guns. He came to the Tuesday meeting armed with a M1 Garand rifle and a protest sign.
Crowd gathers for decision
Oak Harbor council ends ban on guns in parks By JESSIE STENSLAND Staff reporter
The members of the Oak Harbor City Council were outnumbered and surrounded by men with guns, but they managed to diffuse the situation with parliamentary procedures. The armed members of the audience ultimately won the day at the Tuesday night meeting as the council members unanimously voted to reverse a ban on guns in city parks. Councilman Rick Almberg created a region-wide controversy by leading the council in a decision not to immediately bring the gun-related city code in compliance with state law, but then dramatically walking out of the last council meeting when his colleagues refused to pass his motion aimed at disarming a member of the audience. But on Tuesday the council avoided the spectacle of drawn-out public comments by quickly passing the ordinance and only allowing the audience to speak during a half-hour comment period; they made it clear that it was a threat of a lawsuit, not public pressure, that pushed them to act. Tony Barge, the city’s former police chief, didn’t get a chance to offer his two cents. The council even silenced Mayor Scott Dudley, who has been a fierce critic of their actions, by adjourning the meeting prior to his regular mayor comment period. Still, arguments on both sides of the gun-control debate were aired. A total of 179 people, most of them gun-rights advocates,
Jessie Stensland/Whidbey News-Times
Oak Harbor Mayor Scott Dudley is interviewed by one of the TV news crews that covered the council meeting. attended the session, along with a media circus that included all the Seattle TV stations and newspaper reporters from across the region. It was literally standing-room-only as all the chairs in the audience were removed to make room for the crowds. Dozens of people were wearing guns. A large-screen TV with a live feed of the meeting was set up in See GUNS, A24
Voters on North Whidbey only have a couple of days to decide whether to approve a tax measure that will give the Oak Harbor School District millions of dollars in taxpayer funds. The deadline for the levy election is Tuesday. Ballots either have to be postmarked by Feb. 12, or dropped in one of four drop boxes by 8 p.m. As of Wednesday afternoon, the Island County Auditor’s Office had received 10,733 ballots for levy proposals in the Oak Harbor School District and the South Whidbey School District, said Michele Reagan, deputy Island County auditor. The county had mailed out approximately 31,000 ballots to voters in both districts weeks earlier. For the Oak Harbor School District, the levy would bring in $7.35 million a year for the next four years. Approval would increase the levy rate to $1.98 per $1,000 assessed property value, up from the current rate of $1. An owner of a $250,000 home would pay $495 a year, which is an increase of about $22 a month. The levy needs to pass by a 50 percent simple majority. School officials have said the proposal would continue to pay the salaries for 20 teachers, seven instructional assistants and 9.5 maintenance and custodial staff. It would also continue funding $700,000 needed for technology upgrades. The levy’s approval would restore 14 of the 34 teaching positions that have been cut in recent years due to
state funding losses. It would fund additional instructional assistants and classroom supplies. It would also restore the middle school athletic program, after school tutoring and protect existing athletics and activities from almost certain cuts. The levy provides additional funding for special education, maintenance and custodial, technology upgrades and textbooks. An approved levy will still place Oak Harbor schools at about half of its levy authority. The expanded levy would account for approximately 14 percent of expenditures, while the maximum allowed is 28 percent. Neighboring school districts are at or near the levy maximum. Volunteers representing Citizens for Better Schools are busy waving signs on busy street corners to rally support for the levy. In addition to the Oak Harbor levy, the South Whidbey School District is running a technology levy and a maintenance and operations levy Feb. 12. Ballots have to be postmarked by Feb. 12, or ballots can be placed in drop boxes at the Oak Harbor City Hall entrance, the elections office on N. Main Street in Coupeville, Trinity Lutheran Church in Freeland and Ken’s Corner in Clinton. Polls close at 8 p.m. Tuesday.