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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2014 | Vol. 90, No. 73 | www.SOUTHWHIDBEYRECORD.com | 75¢
Bank robber steals cash, employee’s car Phony 9-1-1 call preceded heist; ruse was used before, cops say
Justin Burnett / The Record
Ulla Elliott, a Clinton resident, reads a closed sign on Wells Fargo’s door Monday. The Clinton branch was robbed by a masked gunman who not only stole cash but took an employee’s car as well.
By JUSTIN BURNETT South Whidbey Record Wells Fargo in Clinton was robbed Monday. The Island County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the bank was hit by a lone gunman.
The suspect made off with an undisclosed amount of cash, and in an unusual move used a bank employee’s vehicle as a getaway car. No one was hurt. According to Detective Ed Wallace, spokes-
man for the sheriff’s office, the heist took place at about 11:50 a.m. at the branch on Highway 525. The suspect entered the bank wearing a black mask, gloves and a camouflaged jacket over a black hooded sweatshirt.
Picnic to foster Clinton spirit By BEN WATANABE South Whidbey Record Nothing says fall like a pumpkin. In the case of the firstever Clinton Town Picnic this Saturday, those pumpkins will be hurtling through the air after being launched from a trebuchet, all in the name of building a stronger community identity for the sprawling unincorporated area of Island County.
“Clinton is unique in that it has the ferry, everybody knows that. But we’re trying to revitalize the area,” said Catherine Billera, a board member of the Clinton Progressive Association, one of the agencies putting on the free-to-all fall feast. “We would like people to identify with Clinton,” she added. Even the feast’s genesis is a testament to community building. Thanks to business and resident donations, the Clinton
Progressive Association, Clinton Chamber of Commerce and Clinton Community Council, barbecued beef, lamb and veggie burgers and salad is all free. “It isn’t often you get a free lunch that is truly free,” said Jack Lynch, president of the community council. The picnic is from 3 to 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 13, at Dan Porter Memorial Park on Deer Lake Road, Clinton. Aside from the food,
activities figure to be attractions to the picnic in the park. Clinton revelers can play lawn Scrabble and bring a pumpkin or squash to decorate and sculpt for a crowd-judged contest. The main act, however, will be loading those quirks of art into the trebuchet and watching them sail through the air until gravity bests them and smashes them back to Earth. SEE PICNIC, A5
Brandishing a black semi-automatic handgun, the robber approached a teller and demanded cash and the keys to an employee’s SEE ROBBERY, A13
Paratransit service cuts run deep on South End, meeting planned By JESSIE STENSLAND South Whidbey Record Multiple sclerosis is a maddeningly mysterious autoimmune disease that leaves each of its victims with a unique progression of symptoms. It has confined South Whidbey resident Tamara Guthrie to a wheelchair, but it didn’t completely rob her of her independence. When her husband was gone for weeks on business trips, she still was able to get to her doctor’s SEE PARATRANSIT, A5