Record South Whidbey
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2014 fall sports preview See...A9
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2014 | Vol. 90, No. 72 | WWW.SOUTHWHIDBEYRECORD.COM | 75¢
Whidbey coho derby swims on under new leadership By BEN WATANABE South Whidbey Record Whidbey Island’s annual silver salmon derby continues this year with a new host. Instead of being organized by the Puget Sound Anglers, which lost its Whidbey Island chapter last year, Sebo’s Do-It Center will run the show as the event’s major sponsor with help from the Holmes Harbor Rod and Gun Club and South Whidbey Sons of the American Legion. “It’s just a new face on an old derby,” said Bob Crouch, the fishing expert at Sebo’s. He added that he expects this to be the event’s biggest year yet. Organizers say the 2014 coho derby offers more cash prizes for winners and better raffle gifts. Crouch listed Lamiglas fishing rods, a commercial crab pot and other high-quality gear to be raffled off at the Sept. 13
event. Ken Urstad is one of the organizers with a perspective from the past Puget Sound Anglers group. He is also helping out with this year’s derby, which he said will offer more for participants than in the past decade. “With Sebo’s taking it over, we’re going to make it a little more special,” Urstad said. One of the highlights of the Sebo’s derby is the promotion of local manufacturers of fishing gear. Chris Brooks, a Freeland resident, fashions his own lures and sells them at Sebo’s. Crouch talked Port Angeles-based Wicked Lures owner James Beasley, a relative newcomer to the sport fishing industry, into joining the derby this year. Beasley, for his part, is ecstatic to show off his product and bring some sponsored anglers for a shot at hooking into the winning fish. “I’m just happy to be there,” Beasley said in a
By JESSIE STENSLAND South Whidbey Record
tions throughout the Puget Sound area. Saratoga Enterprises encompasses Lind’s Coupeville Pharmacy, Lind’s Freeland Pharmacy and Lind’s Jewelry, which is also located in Freeland. Any potential sale would likely include the pharmacy and drug portion of the store in Freeland
A former South Whidbey man hiding out from the long arm of the law in China was recently banned from the Island County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page for his trollish activities, according to Detective Ed Wallace. Michael Farrens has been a thorn in the sheriff’s virtual side since his mugshot was posted on the sheriff’s Facebook page last month. He wrote tirades accusing the sheriff’s office of discriminating against him by posting his mugshot and of illegally arresting him in a felony eluding case from 2013. “What a bunch of crooked retards,” he wrote in one post, which has been removed from the Facebook page. Since then, Farrens created a YouTube video criticizing Coupeville Marshal Rick Norrie, who arrested him in the 2013 case, and a Facebook page, www. facebook.com/FireRickNorrie, with a petition to get Norrie fired. Farrens was fairly well known to law enforcement on South Whidbey before he moved to China. In one memorable case, a Clinton couple found Farrens naked and lying in a fetal position in their shower, according to documents obtained through a records request. Farrens claimed he had been shackled and bound by pirates, the deputy’s report states. Farrens is currently wanted on a $10,000 warrant out of Island County Superior Court. Prosecutors charged him on Sept. 11, 2013 with assault
SEE LIND’S, A5
SEE FARRENS, A14
Justin Burnett / The Record
Coho fisherman line the beach at Bush Point Friday morning. Anglers will participate in the annual Whidbey Island salmon derby Sept. 13. phone interview. “I’ve fished over there and caught plenty of coho.” He said he’ll use his coho troller on a downrigger with-
out a flasher, a lure he tested for five years before introducing it to retailers. Sebo’s is one of the first stores his product found shelf space,
and Crouch was thrilled to get Beasley and the Port SEE DERBY, A14
Lind’s pharmacy considers corporate ties By JUSTIN BURNETT South Whidbey Record A longtime South Whidbey pharmacist struggling with industry changes is considering a prescription for corporate ownership. Ron Lind of Saratoga Enterprises Inc. confirmed this week that change may be in the wind for the decades-old island pharmacy. Insurance companies and mail-order houses are increasingly
Cops ban Facebook user in hiding
sources of competition, and Lind is considering selling portions of the business to a national or Washington-based chain. “Nothing has happened yet,” Lind said. “They are inquiring and we’re hearing what they have to say.” Interested corporations include Walgreens with about 8,200 stores nationwide, CVS with about 7,600 locations, Rite Aid with about 4,600 stores, and Bartell Drugs, a state chain with about 60 loca-