News-T mes Whidbey
Wishing you a very Merry Christmas
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2014 | Vol. 124, No. 103| WWW.WHIDBEYNEWSTIMES.COM | 75¢
‘Mr. Christmas’ brings holiday cheer each year By JANIS REID Staff reporter
At the corner of Taylor and Crescent Harbor roads, you’ll find Mr. Christmas. You’ll know his house, and the house of his good friend Tom Carston, by the five-acre Christmas display that runs Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day. “We pretty much have it covered,” said former Oak Harbor Public Works manager Jim Croft. “What used to take a couple of days now takes a couple of weeks.” Croft also plays Santa Clause at the Home Depot Christmas village each year. “I’m Mr. Christmas,” Croft said. “Christmas is my time.” The annual tradition started in 1978 when Croft put some lights up on his garage. His collection grew, and when Carston moved in next door in 1984, he joined in. “I’ve always had lights,” said Carston, who retired from the Navy as a lieutenant commandSEE CHEER, A2
Whidbey’s lone elk takes liking to lawn ornaments By RON NEWBERRY Staff reporter
It’s not a good time of year to be a yard ornament around Strawberry Point. Santa and his little elves might want to get out of the cold. Whidbey Island’s lone resident elk is known to knock around a few yard features. The elk is typically restless this time of year and might still be a little highstrung because he is experiencing the postrut period, according to Ralph Downes, a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife enforcement officer who lives on Whidbey. Downes has seen the elk in recent weeks and said he sports a large rack of antlers and appears very healthy despite being in his second year on an island where hunting for
Third-graders Ava Lang, far left, and Rebeka Dailey, far right, help first-graders Isabella Tercero, second from the left, and Katie Vanderhoek write their letters to Santa at Crescent Harbor Elementary.
Letters to Old St. Nick Every December, billions of Christmas wish letters make way to that jolly man up north. This year, the Whidbey NewsTimes borrowed a few of those letters to share. Don’t worry, though, Santa got them back as soon as we were done with them.
CRESCENT HARBOR ELEMENTARY Dear Santa, My name is Leland Deutcher. I go to Crescent Harbor Elementary, in Washington. Some things I like to do are playing Lego’s, hunting, games and roses, too. Could you please get Lego’s for me? And could you get the poor people that have no food food for those people? Because I really don’t like it when people starve to death. I have a few questions to ask. How do your reindeers fly?
SEE LONELY ELK, A13
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Photo courtesy of Annette Stillwell
Your friend, Leland Deutcher
SEE SANTA LETTERS, A13
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