News-Times Whidbey
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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2014 | Vol. 124, No. 93 | WWW.WHIDBEYNEWSTIMES.COM | 75¢
IT selects interim director, one with his own controversial past By JESSIE STENSLAND Co-editor File photo/Whidbey News-Times
Garrett Newkirk attending a Navy EIS meeting earlier this year.
Mired in financial problems and on the heels of a scathing state audit, Island Transit officials are looking at a new interim director with controversial baggage of his own. Board members unanimously voted Friday night to authorize the chairman to enter into contract negotiations with Kenneth J. Graska, former assistant general manager of MV Transportation. Graska was executive director of
Sheriff called to speak to No bullet noise foe located By JANIS REID Staff reporter
While Island County officials say the tone of anti-noise leaders is becoming more aggressive, one longtime critic of the board of commissioners is claiming he was bullied. Rick Abraham, a member of Citizens of Ebey’s Reserve, or COER, an anti-jet noise group, claims the county hassled North Whidbey resident Garrett Newkirk after he commented at a Nov. 3 commissioner meeting. Sheriff Mark Brown said Monday he was called by a concerned county staff member during Newkirk’s comments, which were off his usual script and directed specifically at Commissioner Jill Johnson. “My concern is that the sheriff’s department was being used for the wrong purpose because the commissioners didn’t want to hear what he and people like him had to say,” Abraham said. At the heart of both Newkirk’s SEE NEWKIRK, A12
Community Transit in Snohomish County in 1993 when it was investigated by the FBI over a bribery and kickback scandal. Graska resigned after receiving “blistering criticism” in a management audit that described an “‘often autocratic and intimidating’ treatment of employees, resulting in ‘very thin’ support for him at all levels of the organization,” according to a 1993 story in The Everett Herald. The Herald did a series of investigative SEE GRASKA, A11
OH mayor urges Langley to replace IT representative By BEN WATANABE Whidbey News Group
Oak Harbor Mayor Scott Dudley made good on his promise to seek the removal of members of the Island Transit Board of Directors. On Monday, he took his case to the Langley City SEE DUDLEY VISIT, A11
to verify report of gunshot By JESSIE STENSLAND Co-editor
Oak Harbor police aren’t certain if a road-rage suspect took a shot at an officer who was pursuing him Saturday afternoon. Officer Patrick Horn had his own gun drawn and was ducking behind the trunk of his car on East Whidbey Avenue when he believes he heard a shot fired, according to police Detective Sgt. Mike Bailey. Investigators later located a 9mm Uzi hidden in the area where the suspect was found, according to the police report. No bullet hole or shell casing
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Photo by Jessie Stensland/Whidbey News-Times
Oak Harbor resident Christopher Wiggins appears in Island County Superior Court Monday with attorney Steve McKay. Wiggins, a felon, is accused of illegally possessing an Uzi. was found, Bailey said. The suspect, Nicholas Wiggins, 28, appeared in Island County Superior Court Monday morning. Superior Court Judge Vickie
Churchill found probable cause to hold him on suspicion of unlawful possession of a firearm. Chief Criminal Deputy Eric Ohme said Wiggins was being sought on a warrant for DUI and
hit-and-run. His criminal history includes convictions for robbery, theft, burglary, forgery and identify theft. SEE WIGGINS, A12
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