NEWS-TIMESS
SPORTS Wildcats hold spring camp. A9
WHIDBEY
SATURDAY, JUNE 8, 2013 | Vol. 114 No. 46 | WWW.WHIDBEYNEWSTIMES.COM | 75¢
Prayer proposal derailed by co. commissioners By JESSIE STENSLAND Staff reporter
Meetings of the Island County Board of Commissioners will not begin with a prayer. At least not anytime soon. Commissioner Kelly Emerson, the board chairwoman, proposed instituting a prayer at the beginning of board meetings. She said it was an issue she thought 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 consider the idea during the Wednesday work session for discussion. A lone cameraman from a TV news station videotaped the meeting. JOHNSON Commissioner Jill Johnson previously said she was in favor of the meeting prayer, which made it appear the proposal would be passed by the three-member board. But Johnson changed her mind. On Wednesday, Johnson 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 previously she was an advocate for prayer at government meet- EMERSON ings and believed 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 SEE PRAYER, A10
Ron Newberry/Whidbey News-Times
Tyler O’Dell shows his excitement during the paper toss at Oak Harbor High School. The event is a decades-old tradition for seniors to pitch their old homework and assignments on the final day of class.
Time to celebrate
OHHS class of 2013 graduating Monday By RON NEWBERRY Staff reporter
Dwight Lundstrom doesn’t know exactly when the paper toss started at Oak Harbor High School. He knows it’s a decades-old tradition, and a
chaotic one. And as principal, he knows the drill. “Just paper down on the floor!” Lundstrom said into a microphone as a sea of paper-toting students began pouring into the Student Union Building. “Be sure to secure your cell phones, cameras, car keys. It’s no good to lose them on the floor. We’ve done that before.” Not long afterward, the chaos started as thousands of school papers were tossed into the SEE PAPER TOSS, A10
Oak Harbor High School’s graduation ceremony is Monday at Wildcat Memorial Stadium. The ceremony starts at 6 p.m. Doors open at 4:45 p.m., and close promptly at 5:55 with no admittance into the stadium during the processional. Oak Harbor’s class of 2013 is 370 members strong.
Ceremony recognizes turning point in World War II By JANIS REID Staff reporter
Retired Cmdr. Harry Ferrier still owns the baseball cap he wore the day he was hit in the head by Japanese gunfire and fell unconscious. Some 20,000 feet in the air, 17-year-old
radioman and gunner Ferrier came to with a gunshot to the wrist, the aircraft’s turret gunner dead and his pilot wounded in a malfunctioning TBF-1 Avenger. “On the morning of (June) fourth, as we were flying out, we saw (Japanese aircraft) flying in,” Ferrier said.
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Sailors stand at parade rest during Tuesday’s commemoration ceremony for the Battle of Midway.
“That was when we were caught by Japanese combat air patrol.” Ferrier’s Torpedo Squadron 8 was sent into battle after the military famously cracked Japanese communication codes, revealing plans to take over the Midway Photo by Janis Reid
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