RECORD
INSIDE: Hometown Hero Lennox Bishop ... Island Life, A9
SOUTH WHIDBEY
SATURDAY, JUNE 8, 2013 | Vol. 89, No. 46 | WWW.SOUTHWHIDBEYRECORD.COM | 75¢
Whose God?
Question quashes Island County prayer proposal By JESSIE STENSLAND Staff reporter Meetings of the Island County commissioners will not begin with a prayer. At least not anytime soon. Commissioner Kelly Emerson, the board chairperson, proposed instituting a prayer at the beginning of board meetings. She said it was an issue she had been thinking about for months, even before a prayer policy turned into a political minefield for the Oak Harbor City Council. Emerson asked her fellow commissioners to discuss the idea during Wednesday’s work session. A lone cameraman from a TV news station videotaped the meeting. Commissioner Jill Johnson previously said she was in favor of the meeting prayer, which made it appear the proposal would be passed 2-1 by the three-member board. But Johnson changed her mind. Wednesday, she said she prays to Jesus Christ and realized she wasn’t willing to sit through a prayer to another god or a “watered down god.” Johnson said she had been an advocate for prayer at government meetings and felt that it’s important for elected officials to be reminded that their decisions are about something bigger than themselves. Then she reconsidered. “I had a very strong opinion about doing it,” she said, “and then began to try on what that meant. And what that meant was in government when you say someone can pray you’re saying they can pray to their god and their god could be Allah, their god could be a priestess, their god could be Mother Earth. And I began to realize what that would mean for me sitting up there hearing someone pray to a god that’s not my god and it is something I am unwilling to compromise on.” Johnson said she also thought about what it would be like for people in the audience to have to sit through a prayer to her god or SEE PRAYER, A6
Life’s a breeze among the trees By BEN WATANABE Staff reporter The smell of cedar in the treehouse is a prominent sensory appeal of Whidbey Wellness in the Woods. The woody, sweet scent fills the lofted treehouse cabin 13 feet above the needle-covered ground. As wind rushes through the verdant canopy and swirls around the treehouse, it almost sings. Not like co-owner/operator Ken Berry sings, but almost. Having people discover and rent his and wife Lynn Berry’s vacation house is a sweet song to them, and one that persists. They met not long ago through music at Trinity Lutheran Church and their relationship bonded and strengthened over music and eventually became a marriage, and that marriage created a 33.5-foot long treehouse rental just off Lancaster and Wahl roads in Freeland. After one of her first visits to Ken’s home, located on the same property as the treehouse, Lynn said she was revitalized by the forest surrounding his house. “I felt an incredible energy of healing in the woods,” Lynn said. Soon after they married, friends of Lynn’s contacted her for an extended visit. In the course of their conversation, they told her they were selling their Woodinville home and its treehouse. Sensing a tinge of providence, Lynn put her feeling for the trees and their onthe-market treehouse together. “It was a divine order,” she said. “It was unmistakable.” Its single-bed, octagonal living area (excluding the protruding queen-size bed’s extra angles) offers a place for people to rest, think and dream. And this treehouse is a sweet dream realized for the Berrys. Staying in the canopy cabin for between $95 and $120 per night affords lots of space at 250 square feet and plenty of ways to avoid cabin fever. At most, three adults can stay in the treehouse, with two on the bed and one on the hide-abed sofa. Windows on all but one wall create a near 360-degree view and when the cabin, complete with a TV, DVD player, CD/radio/iPod player, wireless internet, a hide-abed sofa and electric fireplace, is insufficient, there are woods to be walked, a grassy meadow to be
Ben Watanabe / The Record
Like a small sentinel among the towering trees of this Freeland forest stands the Whidbey Wellness in the Woods treehouse. played in or laid upon and other forms of wellness. Lynn also offers massages and cooking classes. Ken, usually busy with his day job at Whidbey Telecom, leaves most of the treehouse work to Lynn. That’s not to say that Ken, even after a long day’s work, won’t entertain guests. During a recent stay, a family with two boys was treated to an impromptu archery course with Ken instructing them how to hit the targets. There’s also a sport court with a basketball hoop and a pickleball net, though those aren’t necessarily always available to the Berrys’ temporary treehouse tenants. “It’s great to have all these resources,” Lynn Berry said. Much of the materials and furnishings in the treehouse and its detached shower house are reused items. Lynn, the self-titled queen of thrift store shopping, used old roofing shingles as the pathway from the road to the treehouse stairs and to the shower house, which has a composting, SEE TREEHOUSE, A6
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Ben Watanabe / The Record
This small shower house sits on the forest floor about 15 yards from the tree house. Owner-operator Lynn Berry explains much of the trimming is from an old alder tree that her husband, Ken Berry, cut, sanded and finished for the detached shower and toilet room.
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