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VOLUME 37, NUMBER 39 • SEPTEMBER 30, 2014
Luggage thrown off ferry after ‘bomb’ scare By Cali Bagby Weekly editor
On Sept. 11, two Lopez men threw over five pieces of luggage into the Salish Sea after incorrectly assuming that the bags contained bombs. “The guys who threw the bags overboard were probably acting out of the idea that they were protecting people on the boat,” said San Juan County Undersheriff Bruce Distler. That morning a man from California flew to Seattle and caught a shuttle from the airport to the ferry ter-
minal in Anacortes. He was traveling with five bags of luggage and his dog. He was on his way to Lopez to do electrical work for a client. On the shuttle he met another man from Lopez and asked him if there was a luggage cart at the terminal to help him carry his gear, weighing about 50 pounds each, on the boat. According to the deputy, who later filed the official report, the man from Lopez was suspicious about the Californian, who had claimed to live on Lopez, but “seemed to know very
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little about the island.” Despite these suspicions the Lopez man offered to help the California man. The Lopezian was meeting another Lopezian at the terminal who was driving a pick-up truck. The two Lopezians helped the California man load the bags in the vehicle. Then the property owner took his dog for a walk, but misjudged the timing of the ferry loading traffic. As the pick-up rolled onto the boat, the California man ran to catch up and found himself on the boat
not able to find the vehicle. Meanwhile the two Lopezians searched the boat for the property owner. “They were both looking for each other and missing one another,” said Distler. “And to make things more complicated it was 9/11.” The significance of the day donned on one of the Lopezians as they realized that they had carried on bags to the ferry and were unaware of the contents. “They probably started to panic,” said Distler. Back at the pick-up they opened the bags and found
electrical equipment including a black box with wires sticking out. They proceeded to throw the luggage overboard near the northeast portion of Decatur Island. The Californian later told a deputy that the bags contained “most of his earthly possessions” and that none of the items were for making bombs, but were used for electrical work. The two men later explained to ferry workers what had happened and they notified the Sheriff’s Office, leading to a deputy
meeting all three men at the Lopez landing. The deputy reported that the two Lopezians’ actions would not be written up as a criminal act as they were not acting with “malicious intent, but rather genuine concern.” The case is considered civil in nature and the men will be responsible for replacing the items or providing restitution to the property owner. “It’s obvious they cared, but there are different ways to take care of it,” said Distler. “When in doubt call the ferry workers first.”
County-wide bat study reports results Submitted by Kwiaht
The best available scientific evidence is in, and it’s a fact: San Juan County is very batty, and Orcas is the battiest island. Kwiaht director Russel Barsh has announced results of the first systematic survey of the county’s bats in 75 years. The study included 105 nights of ultrasound recordings, visits to homes and barns where bats were reported roosting, and visual observations includ-
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A California myotis, one of the county’s most common bats. ing dead or injured bats received by Wolf Hollow Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. “Over 10 thousand bats were heard,” Barsh says, “and that is only perhaps one percent of what’s out there.” The most bat flyovers per hour were heard above lakes and ponds on Orcas. Nine species of bats were identified by acoustic analyses; a 10th species (Keen’s myotis) is probably also present but must be confirmed genetically. “This is a significant portion of the 15 species of bats that are known from Washington State as a whole,” says Barsh. All nine confirmed species were observed on
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Lopez, Orcas and San Juan Islands, but in different proportions, which Barsh attributes to differences in the kinds of habitats that are available on each island. “For example,” Barsh says, “Yuma myotis, which like to hunt over open water, were more abundant on Lopez, while California myotis, which seem to prefer to hunt wooded areas, were more abundant on Orcas.” Results of the 2014 study are consistent with an acoustic survey of Lopez in July 2013 conducted by Western Bat Working Group Co-Chairwoman Ella Rowan with assistance by Barsh and Kwiaht. That study has already been submitted for publication. The Kwiaht study also confirmed that San Juan County is an important reservoir of Townsend’s bigeared bat, a federal and state
species of concern found at only about a dozen maternity roosts in Washington. Townsends were identified on four islands. The reason for their relative abundance in San Juan County remains unclear, but farmers and gardeners should rejoice: this relatively large, sociable bat specializes in eating moths, in particular the moths that are most destructive of orchard trees. “Older, untended orchards must be a feast for them,” Barsh says. The Kwiaht study also confirmed that many species of bats remain in the islands over the winter, dispersing locally rather than migrating to the mainland or hibernating. “Next year’s focus will be the dispersal pattern of winter bats,” Barsh says, “and what it is they are eating.” He is particularly interested in a tribe of moths that SEE BATS, PAGE 4