News-Times Whidbey
INSIDE: Annual
count documents 23,000 birds A9
SATURDAY, JANUARY 3, 2015 | VOL. 125, NO. 1 | WWW.WHIDBEYNEWSTIMES.COM | 75¢
Just chillin’ About 100 take
icy plunge to ring in new year By RON NEWBERRY
S Staff reporter
unshine and clear
blue skies greeted about 100 people who gathered at Windjammer Park to take a chilly plunge into the lagoon to kick-start the new year. Melissa Riker, who organized Oak Harbor’s second 5K Resolution Run and Polar Bear Plunge, was just glad they waited again until noon to commence the New Year’s Day baptism. “I think the water was a little bit colder this year,” she said. “There was some ice on it (that) morning as I was setting stuff up.” Once noon came around, about three hours after setup, participants broke the water’s surface then broke into shrieks from the shocking experience. A few jumped from the dock, but most ran into the water before quickly retreating back to the shore. Bob Barnes wasn’t among them. He played the role of spectator as he partook in his daily walk and came across the large gathering. A resident of Oak Harbor since 1957
Photo by Ron Newberry/Whidbey News-Times
McKenzie Meyer, left, and Olivia Goodenough, both from Coupeville, retreat from the chilly waters after participating in a New Year’s Day polar bear plunge in the lagoon at Windjammer Park in Oak Harbor Thursday. Part of the lagoon’s surface was ice earlier in the day before melting. and a retired naval officer, Barnes was compelled to stay, watch and shake his head. “I can’t think they’re all together,” he said, laughing. “It’s kind of a kick to see them. That was cold.” Some took the plunge for personal reasons, others for the challenge and the thrill. “It was horrible. It was freezing,” said Olivia Goodenough, a Coupeville High School freshman. She and friend McKenzie Meyer participated in the run and plunge. “They’re fun,” Meyer said.
Plunge a new intergenerational tradition By JUSTIN BURNETT
Editor, South Whidbey Record
Temperatures that dipped into the 20s and frost on the roads weren’t enough to stop 178 people from taking a New Year’s swim in Useless Bay Thursday. Convening for the 11th annual Polar Bear Plunge at Double Bluff Beach Park, the mob of all ages roared into the chilly water with screams and laughter. While
some braved it alone, for others, it was a family affair. “We just all follow great-grandma,” said Oak Harbor resident Jessica Cooks. She was one of three generations participating in the event, as was family “matriarch” Barbara Fournier, 74. Fournier, a Coupeville resident, took the plunge twice before she recruitSEE FAMILY TRADITION, A16
Mudslide wipes out beach cabin, but rattled residents plan to stay By JUSTIN BURNETT
Editor, South Whidbey Record
One beach cabin was destroyed and another damaged in a mudslide in Old Clinton this past weekend. The slide happened at about 2:30 p.m. Sunday on Campers Row Walk, a walk-in shoreline community accessed off
Hastings and South Brighton Beach roads. No one was injured, but the event was witnessed by at least two people and heard by several others. “The home just exploded,” said Kathy Schwenn, a resident who saw the mudslide happen. The hillside behind the home had been having problems for a couple weeks, and Schwenn and a friend, Suzie Hong,
decided to survey the damage from the tide flats. They were nearing the area when the bluff suddenly gave way. The friends watched in horror as the home was obliterated by what Schwenn described as a “horrendous tidal wave of mud” roaring down the hill. SEE SLIDE, A16
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