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South Whidbey
Gut-check loss Sports, page A8
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2014 | Vol. 90, No. 99 | WWW.SOUTHWHIDBEYRECORD.COM | 75¢
Wild winds wreak havoc
‘There’s been more property damage from this storm than any other I can remember.’ — Jon Beck, South Whidbey Fire/EMS
Hospital contests prosecutor’s subpoena in chief nurse assault case By JESSIE STENSLAND South Whidbey Record
Justin Burnett / The Record
Kirk Highberger and Molly Brewer hop downed trees at Jon Gulledge and Roberta Gentry’s house on Saratoga Road. About 10 large trees fell over the property, including one that smashed through their roof.
By JUSTIN BURNETT South Whidbey Record The December wind storm of 2014 won’t be forgotten anytime soon, not on South Whidbey anyway. Beginning at about 7:30 p.m. Thursday evening, the South End was slammed by winds that downed hundreds of trees, resulting in scores of power outages, an unknown number of blocked roads and driveways, and damaging private property from Clinton to Greenbank. One unlucky couple, Jon Gulledge and Roberta Gentry, even had a tree smash through the roof of their two-story house on Saratoga Road. “They’re lucky to be alive,” said Kirk Highberger, who was
there helping clear away wreckage Friday morning. Gulledge and his wife were upstairs at about 8:30 p.m. when they started hearing a series of snapping noises outside. A second later the lights went out. Then, a short time after that, a falling branch shattered the skylight of Gentry’s home-based salon, which is right next to their bedroom. “I went downstairs to get something to clean it up and then heard a crunch,” Gulledge said. The fallen tree hit with enough force to snap the ceiling’s main support beam and leave broken drywall and insulation hanging in disarray. Gulledge, a remodeling contractor, said the damages could top $40,000 but that it was too early to tell SEE STORM, A9
Whidbey General Hospital is fighting a subpoena from the Island County prosecutor seeking an internal investigation report into allegations that the chief nursing officer assaulted a restrained patient. The prosecution is simultaneously fighting the chief nursing officer’s subpoena of all the alleged victim’s medical records. A deputy prosecutor likens the nurse’s request to harassment of a rape victim, according to court documents. Linda Gipson, the chief nursing officer, faces one count of fourth-degree assault in a case that’s become unusually complex for a gross misdemeanor charge. Island County District Court Judge Bill Hawkins will hear arguments over the subpoenas duces tecum during a hearing set for Monday afternoon. The prosecutor’s office isn’t the only entity that’s requesting a copy of the
internal investigation. The South Whidbey Record asked for a copy of the investigation, but was denied. In an email to a Whidbey News Group
“Simply being a victim with mental health problems should not allow the defense to comb through (the alleged victim’s) most intimate of records.” Jacqueline Lawrence, Island County deputy prosecutor
reporter, hospital CEO Tom Tomasino claims that the internal investigation into the alleged criminal assault “was conducted in accordance with our quality improvement and medSEE NURSE, A20
Dozens take shot at coding during national event By BEN WATANABE South Whidbey Record Whidbey Makers was a flurry of typing and swiping Wednesday. Dozens of children turned out for Computer Science Education Week events on South Whidbey. Organized by Whidbey Makers and the Atlantis ROV team, several lessons were planned to introduce and encourage people to try out computer science through coding. Atlantis mentor Ashley McConnaughey
said about 40 children took part in the first Hour of Code in Clinton, with several more at the handful of other events throughout the day. Held at the vast lab spaces of Whidbey Makers in Clinton, the first Hour of Code event was a mixed bag of good and bad. The good: a couple dozen students between the ages of four and 18, plus adults into their 70s, showed up to take part in the international Hour of Code. The bad: code.org crashed because an estimated 60 million people logged on
for the annual event, a four-fold jump from last year, and some devices were unable to connect to Whidbey Makers’ wireless router because of water damage. Of the two dozen children, it was about an equal split between boys and girls. Statistics repeatedly show that mostly boys and men take to electronics. According to a report by the White House Office of Science and Technology SEE CODING, A13
Ben Watanabe / The Record
Eros Harper, 13, shows a pixel art character he made.