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WEDNESDAY,SePTembeR SEPTEMBER18, 18,2013 | vol. 89, No. 75 | WWW.SouThWhidbeyRecoRd.com | 75¢ SATuRdAy,
Goodbye, good riddance
Ben Watanabe / The Record
Dustin Haul wrenches a charred and broken beam from the debris pile at the ruin of 460 Anthes Avenue on Tuesday. He was there with Thermatech Northwest, a Lakewoodbased cleanup and abatement company tasked with cleaning the burned-down Langley.
Clean-up of charred Anthes Avenue home begins By BEN WATANABE South Whidbey Record Charred beams, singed and soggy pages and twisted metal are all that remain of the home at 460 Anthes Avenue in Langley. Soon, even that will be gone. Demolition began this week on the burned down home, a duplex in Langley, nearly four months after a fire in the garage
ravaged the house and forced South Whidbey firefighters to knock down the roof to keep the blaze from spreading. “It’s nice to see it getting going now,” said Mayor Fred McCarthy, who fielded at least one public comment about the ruins in a recent city council meeting. Homeowner Maralie Johnson and the home’s occupants, including pets, were unharmed in the fire. On Tuesday, Thermatech Northwest foreman Mike Guiley said the debris should be cleared in about two weeks. One
snag to clearing it faster, he said, was the confined area with which he has to work. The dimensions of the work space precluded bringing in a larger excavator to grab massive heaps of wood, metal and siding. “I would love to bring in an excavator,” Guiley said. Instead, he was limited to a small loader to scoop up debris. See CLean UP, a28
Anti-OLF group may agree to put airstrip lawsuit ‘on hold’ By JANIS REID South Whidbey Record
Record file
A man holds his ears as an EA-6B Prowler performs a touch-and-go at Outlying Field Coupeville.
A Coupeville-based citizens’ group, which sued the Navy in federal court in July, has begun the process of putting its lawsuit on hold while accusing the Navy of “backpedaling.” The group sued the Navy in July over jet noise at Outlying Field
Coupeville or OLF, part of Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, and demanded an Environmental Impact Statement or EIS from the Navy. The Navy suspended operations at OLF until the end of the year and announced this month its intention to initiate an EIS. David Mann, lawyer for the
Coupeville-based Citizens of Ebeys Reserve, said he was approached by the Navy last week, asking if the lawsuit was “moot” now that the EIS had begun. Mann said the group remains hesitant to dismiss the See OLF, a27