RECORD SOUTH WHIDBEY
INSIDE
HALLOWEEN
EVENTS
SEE...A15
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2013 | VOL. 89, NO. 87 | WWW.SOUTHWHIDBEYRECORD.COM | 75¢
Work on track for Fire/EMS boat
Serving Whidbey since 1983
By BEN WATANABE South Whidbey Record Standing in front of the 32-foot long, shiny aluminum catamaran at Tim Leonard’s Freeland shop, it’s easy to envision the marine response vessel cruising through choppy Puget Sound waters. Work was coming along well during a recent visit to the first-time boat building company, North Cross Aluminum, at Leonard’s home and shop. Leonard, half his body in one of the two 430 horsepower engine compartments, reflected on the work that went into the future South Whidbey Fire/ EMS boat. “It’s a serious boat, it’s a serious project,” Leonard said. “It’s crazy to be on an island and not have a highspeed boat.” South Whidbey Fire/ EMS received $350,000 from a Federal Emergency Management Association grant and will pay the remainder of the $483,000 tab from district coffers. Leonard and his crew of metal workers have worked on the boat since July, though they were awarded the contract in April. Engineering specifications were hashed out for a couple of months before any fabrication began at the shop. He estimated about 20 people have worked on the new fire boat. That includes one recent addition to replace the project’s lead, Robert Roane, who was seriously injured in a motorcycle crash in August. Brett Harvey, a longtime metal worker, was brought in to aid the boat’s progress. Now, Leonard and Co. are waiting on the electrical system to be installed and for the SEE FIREBOAT, A28
Clinton movie maker puts Coupeville film on hold By RON NEWBERRY South Whidbey Record
opportunity to purchase the restaurant from the previous owners who wanted out of the business. Colburn had been working at the restaurant for about a year prior and had worked as a head chef at two other restaurants prior when he decided to take on the business.
An independent feature film planned to be shot on Whidbey Island this fall is on hold after the movie was unable to secure a marquee Hollywood actor. Joseph Itaya, the movie’s producer and director, had hoped to begin production of a children’s adventure film called “Lost & Found” in Coupeville in October, however the project hinged on landing notable big-screen acting talent that didn’t materialize. Itaya, a graduate of South Whidbey High School who now lives in Los Angeles, is still pressing forward to keep alive his dream of turning a screenplay he wrote in college into a motion picture. Itaya restructured the movie’s script and changed the role of a main character to make the film more alluring to established actors. He said he revised the story by making two scripts, one set in the summer and the other during the holiday season, extending the possibilities of when shooting could occur. The movie originally was to be set in the summer. “There are so many things out of my control,” Itaya said. “I can only do the things in my control. One of those things in my control is the story, the characters, the script and planning, things of that nature.” “Basically, there are two different sets of blueprints at this point. One is a summer blueprint, one is a Christmas blueprint. There are so many different elements. It really just depends on which one comes together first.”
SEE COLBURN, A28
SEE ITAYA, A4
Celeste Erickson / The Record
Owners Neil Colburn and Candy Culver stand in front of Neil’s Clover Patch Cafe. The owners are celebrating the cafe’s 30th anniversary this month.
30 years and still going strong By CELESTE ERICKSON South Whidbey Record It is a day of celebration for the owners of Neil’s Clover Patch Cafe. Today, Neil Colburn and Candy Culver have owned the restaurant for 30 years. That’s three decades of serving food to hungry customers. The restaurant has grown to become a prominent fixture on the
island in Bayview with many patrons returning as regulars. Colburn, a former Langley mayor, tackles the kitchen while his wife, Culver, manages the front. The cafe is the type of place when the owners often know every person in the restaurant by name. “We’ve had wonderful loyal customers since we’ve opened,” Culver said. Back in 1983, Colburn seized the