Record
INSIDE
South Whidbey
historic visit...A12
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2014 | Vol. 90, No. 69 | www.SOUTHWHIDBEYRECORD.com | 75¢
HUB angling to get kids hooked By BEN WATANABE South Whidbey Record A bunch of people on Whidbey Island are hoping they can soon put the adage “Teach a man to fish” and apply it to a few dozen children. The HUB, an after-school hangout for young people in Langley, is sponsoring a pair of free beach salmon fishing classes in mid-September. Their goal, summarized in the tagline, “Give a kid a fish and he eats today, teach a kid to fish and he’ll eat forever,” is to educate and equip children from 5 years old to 17 to hook into a salmon. Hank Hall, The HUB’s executive director, said with the abundance of hotspot fishing beaches around Whidbey it is important to give children the opportunity to learn. “Introducing somebody young or old to fishing opens up a whole new attitude to their life,” Hall said. “It’s clean, it reduces stress … You can fill a freezer with an awful lot of salmon in a short bit of time.” Hall, an avid angler, would know the benefits. He recalled being a boy in a single-parent household with no one having time to teach him how to tie a lure or cast. As a middle schooler many years ago, he wanted to learn how to fish and started a fishing club. That set him on a path to a lifelong hobby—one SEE ANGLING, A9
Teach a kid to fish …
Ben Watanabe / The Record
Cody Wilkie, 14, of Clinton fights to pull a fish away from the boat launch floats at Bush Point on Aug. 25. He will be one of the instructors at a free children’s fishing class hosted by The HUB on Sept. 20 and 21.
Long history of Freeland Commissioners delay fish Hall recalled at centennial and wildlife protections By KATE DANIEL South Whidbey Record
Freeland Hall was built as a venue for unity and support in a budding community — a place where the First Thursday Club, which eventually joined with the Community Activity Club to form the existing Holmes Harbor Activities Club, could meet to discuss issues of the day, and a place where hundreds of families would come to gather to celebrate matrimony, important achievements, birthdays and life throughout the years. On Saturday, Aug. 23, hundreds of South Whidbey community members gathered once again within the hall’s rich
brown walls. Their ages were as varied as their memories of events there: weddings, church services, retirement parties, birthdays, and as of that morning, the hall’s 100th anniversary party. Lively piano melodies drifted from the stage, mixing with the laughter of children and chatter of adults to create a joyous medley. Donna Chan of Greenbank said she has lived on Whidbey for “some time” and has attended events at Freeland Hall. At one time, she recalled, the Catholic church held masses within its walls on Saturday SEE HALL, A13
By JANIS REID South Whidbey Record A farmer’s right to maintain drainage ditches without regulation was at the core of Monday’s debate on fish and wildlife protections at the Island County commissioners meeting. Unable to reach consensus on the issue, the commissioners delayed adopting the document and agreed to revisit the discussion at their Sept.
3 work session and Sept. 8 regular meeting. At the heart of their debate was the need to adopt government-mandated regulations without creating obstacles for farms within critical areas. Under the current draft, farmers with drainage ditches categorized as regulated streams would be required to go through an expensive permitting and inspection process to perform basic ditch maintenance.
“It would put us out of business,” said Daryl VanderPool, owner of Maxwelton Farm. “We would be done.” Several farmers at the Aug. 25 meeting encouraged the commissioners to revisit the requirements that would affect the island’s farming community. “This was a poorly drafted ordinance before it got SEE PROTECTIONS, A13