Record South Whidbey
INSIDE
Falcons fight to standstill See...A8
SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 2014 | Vol. 90, No. 32 | WWW.SOUTHWHIDBEYRECORD.COM | 75¢
Tuesday fire claims Clinton home
Fair group wants regular county funding, new lease By BEN WATANABE South Whidbey Record
Justin Burnett / The Record
South Whidbey Fire/EMS firefighters battle a house fire on Longwood Lane late Tuesday. No one was hurt in the blaze, but the home was completely destroyed.
None injured, but blaze resists 40,000-gallon attack By JUSTIN BURNETT South Whidbey Record Fire destroyed a large house on South Whidbey Tuesday. The blaze began at about 5 p.m. at a home on Longwood Lane, off Ewing Road.
South Whidbey Fire/EMS crews battled the blaze for hours, dumping an estimated 40,000 gallons of water on the structure, but the house couldn’t be saved, district officials said. “This was a loss before we got here,” Fire Chief Rusty Palmer said. About three-fourths of the home was reportedly
already on fire when the first 9-1-1 call came in. Once on scene, fire crews coordinated their attack and were able to save at least two outbuildings, a two-story workshop/barn and a firewood SEE FIRE, A20
Fifth-grade students raise salmon fry for Maxwelton watershed By JUSTIN BURNETT South Whidbey Record
Justin Burnett / The Record
Brayden Jonsson and classmates release tiny coho into the Maxwelton watershed Friday.
Like proud parents on graduation day, about 100 South Whidbey fifth graders said their goodbyes to hundreds of salmon fry Friday. Four classes from South Whidbey Elementary School spent the morning releasing the tiny coho into the Maxwelton watershed and on to desti-
nies unknown. Few tears were spilt over the parting, however, as the release was long planned and was the conclusion of a four-month project that left students with an in-depth understanding of a salmon’s life cycle and the pride of having contributed to the larger restoration efforts going on throughout Western SEE SALMON, A13
Running the Island County Fairgrounds costs too much, and the managing Whidbey Island Fair Association wants county funding as part of a restructured lease. In a letter sent to the county commissioners on April 9, fair association President Diane Divelbess wrote that her group could not “in good faith” renew the lease as it exists without any county support for the property. The two-year lease is set to expire in June. “The way we are now, we are managing but without sufficient funds to manage,” Divelbess said in a phone interview Thursday. “Up to now, the county has given us what [it] has been able to give us.” That reality rang true with Commissioner Helen Price Johnson. She worked with a steering committee that presented a $10.12 million overhaul of the property over 10 years. “What we found was the property has increasing challenges,” she said. “What is clear from the study is the fair association needs to focus on the fair, and that is reflected in this letter,” she added. Island County, the owner of the 12.8-acre property on Camano Avenue in Langley, has not budgeted any maintenance and operations funding for the fairgrounds for several years. In lieu of that money, the county SEE FAIR, A14