RECORD
INSIDE
SOUTH WHIDBEY
Anglers in humpy heaven
page A9
SATuRdAy, July 27, 2013 | Vol. 89, no. 60| WWW.SouThWhidbeyRecoRd.com | 75¢
South Whidbey coach’s passing mourned By BEN WATANABE Staff reporter Henry Pope, a father of three, a husband and longtime South Whidbey basketball coach died early Thursday morning. He was 57 years old. Pope is survived by his wife, Teresa, daughters Samantha, 22, and Taylor, 20, and son Lewis, 13.
The death shocked his family. Teresa Pope said her husband had an enlarged heart, unknown to all of them, and high blood pressure. She awoke about 10 minutes before 1 a.m. and saw him struggling to breathe. Teresa attempted resuscitation and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) while awaiting the arrival of first responders. EMTs continued CPR as they transported to Whidbey General Hospital where he was pronounced dead. Pope’s family is planning a memorial service Friday, Aug. 2
at Trinity Lutheran Church. The time is to be determined, but his wife said it will be in the mid-afternoon. “There are a lot of people that want to be there,” Teresa Pope said. Sports leadership was a major commitment of Coach Pope’s. He led the Falcon girls basketball team for three seasons before taking over as the boys head coach in the 2010-11
Jury returns with verdict of ‘guilty’ in murder trial
Three vie for school board at-large seat By BEN WATANABE Staff reporter
By JESSIE STENSLAND Staff reporter
Three former teachers want to be the next school board director for the South Whidbey School District. The at-large position will be vacated by Jill Engstrom at the end of the year, and one of the three candidates will take her place among the five-member board. Vying to advance to the general election in November are Betty Bond, Miriam Coates and Rocco Gianni. Two, Bond and Gianni, are retired teachers. Coates has a long history in education and is active on South Whidbey with youth activities. Each candidate is seeking their first publicly elected position. One of these candidates will join a board in the midst of slowing a decade-long enrollment decline, revamping the schools’ image and shaping its future of teacher evaluations, negotiations, policy implementation and possible grade configurations. About 12,000 ballots were mailed to voters in the South Whidbey School District. BETTY BOND is a relative newcomer to South Whidbey, having moved to the Fox Spit area three years ago. The retired teacher spent much of her career teaching early education, from first to eighth grade in California. Since moving here, BoND however, Bond delved into South Whidbey school issues. She participated in the community conversations hosted by the district in the 2011-12 school year to give parents, SEE ELECTION, A11
SEE COACH, A11
Beachcomber
Grace Swanson / The Record
Alana Shigekane basks in the sun with a day at the beach in Langley. Alana, a San Francisco, Calif. resident, was visiting Seawall Park after spending a while with her grandfather who lives on Whidbey Island. She enjoyed the vacation while experiencing the “nature thing” on excursions like this.
Joshua David Lambert will almost certainly spend the rest of his life behind bars as a convicted double murderer. A jury found Lambert guilty Thursday on all counts, which include two counts of firstdegree murder, one count of kidnapping and several burglary and gun charges. The jurors rejected Lambert’s defense that he suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and was legally insane when he stabbed his two 80-year-old grandfathers to death and bound his great-aunt with packing tape on Oct. 3, 2011. Prosecutor Greg Banks argued Lambert committed the horrendous and senseless crimes in the midst of a methamphetamineinduced psychotic episode. The jury returned the verdict Thursday afternoon, after deliberating for about six hours. Banks said Lambert is virtually guaranteed to receive a life sentence, especially since jurors found that he committed a series of aggravating factors, which increase the sentence substantially. The minimum time the 32-year-old man faces under the standard sentencing range is 67.5 years. Lambert’s sentencing hearing hasn’t been set, but will likely be in the next month. On Oct. 3, 2011, Lambert went on a frenzied search for guns to save his teenage son from non-existent “agents” and ended up killing both of his grandfathers. Lambert stabbed his paternal grandfather, George Lambert, to death, tied up his great SEE VERDICT, A14