News-Times Whidbey
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2013 | Vol. 114, No. 16 | www.whidbeynewstimes.com | 75¢
INSIDE: Wildcat grad makes it in New York. A10
Fewer riders, canceled trips plague ferries By JUSTIN BURNETT Staff reporter
Justin Burnett / Whidbey News-Times
The MV Kennewick steams out of Keystone Thursday on its way to Port Townsend. One of three new ferries built to serve the route, the boats have come under fire from those who question their cost and design.
Work crews expected to delay traffic Motorists traveling over the Deception Pass Bridge Monday could encounter delays while works crews inspect utility lines stretching underneath the bridge. Workers from the city of Oak Harbor and the Washington State Department of Transportation will inspect the lines from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., Monday Feb. 25. The inspection will force one lane of the Highway over Deception Pass to close. Motorists will encounter a similar situation in the spring. Department of transportation work crews will close one lane of Highway 20 to inspect the Deception Pass and Canoe Pass bridges. A time hasn’t been scheduled for the inspection.
Already under fire over a slew of cost and design concerns, Washington’s newest ferries are earning fresh criticism from one state lawmaker as operational statistics reveal new questions about the vessels’ performance. A review of state Depar tment of Transportation statistics by the Record shows that, in two years of service on the Coupeville-to-Port Townsend ferry route, Kwa-di Tabil class ferries are less used by the public and more susceptible to weather cancelations than their predecessors. Last year, total ridership on the route — including cars and walk-on passengers — was down 12 percent from 2006, the last full year the
80-year-old Steel Electrics were in service. That pencils out to nearly 83,000 fewer riders than the 766,843 who rode the ferries six years ago. During the same period, weather cancelations rose 128 percent, from just 64 runs scrubbed in 2006 to 146 last year. Ferry officials blame ridership numbers on the economy and changing transportation habits of the public. Also, the route was served by a smaller vessel for years after the Steel Electrics were retired in late 2007 and the impacts are still being felt. “It takes a while to get your ridership back,” said George Capacci, deputy chief of operations and construction. As for the weather cancelations, he attributes that to See Ferries, A8
No kidding: Assessor helps deliver baby goat By JESSIE STENSLAND Staff reporter
Saving a life is all in a day’s work for Island County Assessor Mary Engle. The elected assessor was called into action last month while she was teaching a new appraiser how to measure farm buildings. They stopped at Central Whidbey’s historic Jenne Farm, owned by Fran Einterz and Joyce Peterson. Engle said she noticed as they arrived that a blackand-white goat in a fenced pasture seemed to be in distress. She kept an eye on the animal as they worked and finally went to inspect. She said she quickly realized that the goat was having difficulty giving birth. The baby goat was stuck on the way out, with only its
head and a leg visible. Engle called her husband, longtime Coupeville farmer Bob Engle, and asked him what to do. “He said, ‘I don’t know. Use your feminine instincts,’” she said. Her instinct was to pull. Engle said she yanked on the little kid, which induced the nanny-goat to contract and the baby was safely born almost immediately. Engle said they waited until the tiny goat got up and walked, then left as a neighboring farmer arrived to help. “Being in the field, you see so many weird things,” Engle said, “but that was a new one.” Einterz and Peterson were in Cuba on a jazz tour when the assessor birthed See goat, A8
Jessie Stensland/Whidbey News-Times
During a recent visit to a historic Central Whidbey Farm, Island County Assessor Mary Engle found herself delivering a baby goat She was visiting the farm while training a new appraiser.