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INSIDE: Nailed it ... Island Life, A13
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WEDNESDAY, MAY 8, 2013 | Vol. 89, No. 37 | WWW.SOUTHWHIDBEYRECORD.COM | 75¢
Suffragettes take to the streets
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By JIM LARSEN Record editor
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Nichols jobs depend on another ferry
Michaela Marx Wheatley / The Record
Patricia Duff is the fictional suffragette leader Hetty Maxwell. She will lead the parade through downtown Langley. The rally will take place at Tom Hladky Park. The living history street theater is part of Langley’s ongoing Centennial celebration.
Langley marks 100th with living history By MICHAELA MARX WHEATLEY Staff reporter Visitors may think they have stepped into a time machine, as the suffragettes will march at 11 a.m. Saturday in downtown Langley. A one-of-a-kind street theater will celebrate the women who fought for women’s right to vote. It’s all part of Langley’s ongoing centennial celebration. The event is the brainchild of Langley historian Bob Waterman. Waterman wanted to commemorate the fight women put up in their struggle for the vote. As Langley turns 100 in 2013, it has also been 100 years since the suffragettes marched on Washington, D.C. on March 3, 1913. Langley resident Sharen Heath is one of the suffragettes. She participates for the fun, but also because it celebrates the trailblazers that paved the way. “It’s utterly impossible for me to understand a culture just 100 years ago — my grandmother’s generation — that denied half its adult population the right to vote, yet, that was most of America in 1913,” she said. “It puts more recent rights movements, such as civil rights and marriage equality, into clearer perspective. No SEE RALLY, A28
Bob Thurmond photo
More than 35 women practice suffragette battle songs at the fairgrounds last Sunday. They will sing original suffragette songs as they march through Langley Saturday. The suffragette march is written and directed by Bob Waterman, Langley’s resident history buff.
Eighty to 100 jobs on South Whidbey are riding on the outcome of a transportation bill still up in the air as the Washington State Legislature prepares for its special session beginning Monday, May 13. Matt Nichols, CEO of Nichols Brothers Boat Builders in Freeland, is anxious to see the third of a proposed four Olympic Class 144-passenger ferries funded. Nichols Bros. builds superstructures for the ferries under subcontract to Vigor Shipyards in Seattle. The first, the Tokitae, left the Nichols yard this spring. Nichols said the second, named the Samish, is in progress. The third boat in the class is uncertain. “We need the third ferry,” Nichols said, noting it would replace a 60-yearold vessel in the ferry system. “We’re well into the second 144-car ferry now, we’ve got the assembly line going, it won’t get any cheaper.” A report by Judy Goldenberg, of Washington State Ferries communications, stated the cost of the Tokitae is $146.9 million and total cost of the Samish is expected to be $132.5 million. “Economies of scale reduce the cost of the second vessel,” she wrote. Nichols believes the same factors will lead to the third vessel costing less, as long as assembly lines can be kept going. The Island County Economic Development Council is in Nichols’ corner, as Ron Nelson, executive director, said the jobs at Nichols Bros. support 370 other jobs in the economy and have a impact on the local economy. “Building another 144 is the right choice,” he said. Most agree that funding for the third 144-car ferry will
“We’re well into the second 144-car ferry now, we’ve got the assembly line going, it won’t get any cheaper.” Matt Nichols, Nichols Brothers CEO
require a tax increase. The most talked about vehicle for a tax increase is House Bill 1954 which passed the House Transportation Committee under Chairwoman Judy Clibborn, D-Mercer Island, in the regular session. But it still awaits action by the full House, Senate Transportation Committee and full Senate. “It’s not a sure thing,” David Moseley, state Department of Transportation assistant director in charge of ferries, told The Record this week. The bill would increase revenues with a host of taxes and fees, the most controversial being a 10 cent per gallon gas tax raised in increments over three years. Norma Smith, R-Clinton, doesn’t see the House Transportation bill skating through the rest of the process. She expressed concern about high “mega project” construction costs in this state and said the tax could rise to 13 cents a gallon, not the 10 cents talked about. “I’m hopeful we can find a solution for the 144 (car ferry),” she said. “We need to find a solution, but we need reform.” Moseley said the Legislature could adopt some other kind of tax package in the special session, but he sees HB 1954 as the framework. SEE FERRY, A8