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Inside
Thursday, AUGUST 7, 2014
VOL. 19, NO. 52
Democrats ahead in county races Second place too close to call in commissioner race By JANIS REID Staff reporter
Democrats appeared to be doing well in early Island County primary election returns with Karla Jacks leading for District 3 commissioner and Ana Maria Nunez as treasurer. Jacks is outpacing her four Republican challengers with 2,371 votes cast in her favor, or 49 percent. The race for the second slot is a squeaker. Republican Marc Hennemann has 727 votes, or 14.99 percent, Republican Rick Hannold has 712 or 14.68 percent, and Aubrey Vaughan, a Republican appointed as
See ELECTION page 3
Coupeville couple jailed for tax fraud By Jessie Stensland Co-Editor
A Coupeville husband and wife were sentenced to federal prison last week for conspiracy to defraud the government and making false or fraudulent claims, the U.S. Attorney’s Office reported. Debra A. Aaron, 60, was sentenced to five years in prison and Samuel Aaron, 71, was sentenced to 30 months in prison. Both were also sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $723,275 in restitution. “I can’t find any other motivation for doing this other than greed,” Judge Marsha J. Pechman said at the sentencing hearing. “…The public trust has been violated.” The Aarons both had lengthy careers as federal employees. Samuel Aaron had a military career and then worked for the Federal Aviation Administration for more
See FRAUD page 3
Megan Hansen photo
Sharon Anderson, left, of Ocean Shores, and Marianne Mishina, of Spokane, work on a multi-media scrapbooking project at the Pacific Northwest Art School. The school brings students from all over the world and often attracts students back for multiple classes. This is Anderson’s fourth time visiting Coupeville and the art school.
Art school thrives with festival push By Megan Hansen Co-Editor
For 51 years, the Coupeville Arts and Crafts Festival has been the event that gives back to the community. From providing a venue for local artists to raising money for scholarships, the festival has been an annual boon to Coupeville. In fact, profits from the festival gave rise to another important Coupeville institution. In 1989, the Coupeville Festival Association gave $25,000 in seed money to start the Coupeville Art Center. Today the school brings artists from all over the world and pumps a conservative estimate of $250,000 back into the local economy annually. The concept of the Coupeville Art Center actually started in 1986 when a group of locals got together and decided they wanted a greater focus on arts education in the community with the support of the festival association, according to Judy Lynn, a local historian and former director of the art center. Lynn served as director from 1987 to 1999. In 1987, the group held its first series of fiber-based workshops at Camp Casey, called Fiber Forum. There were 10 three-day workshops.
Additional workshops were added in the areas of photography, painting and mixed media with a workshop series called Photo Focus, Pallettes Plus and Needle Works. “The seed money carried us through until we got our 501c3 (designation),” Lynn said. “It was essential. We didn’t have any money. We didn’t have any overhead. We didn’t have an office. We didn’t have a school.” The center had very little overhead and required a minimum number of students to ensure costs were covered. “The office was in my bedroom,” Lynn said. “We had to use what space we could find.” Workshops were held at the local schools, Camp Casey, the Coupeville Recreation Hall
See SCHOOL page 12
Festival kicks off Friday Arts and crafts vendors will fill the streets of downtown Coupeville this weekend as the Coupeville Festival Association rings in its 50th anniversary. Roughly 250 volunteers aid in the execution of the festival, which is a big draw for people from all over. The festival will feature more than 200 vendors, live music, food, activi-
See FESTIVAL page 12