Examiner The Whidbey
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Thursday, January 29, 2015
VOL. 20, NO. 25
Coupeville expanding class options By Megan Hansen Co-Editor
Coupeville Middle and High School leaders are working toward a new class schedule structure for the 2015-16 school year. The new structure will mean more course offerings for students and may potentially impact graduation requirements. Principal Larry Walsh and Assistant Principal Duane Baumann have been working with a committee of staff volunteers since early fall to research possible structure changes. After consulting other districts and polling students and teachers, the commit-
See CLASSES, page 2
Deep Sea owner sued for $1.2 mill. By Jessie Stensland Co-Editor
The owner of the Deep Sea crab boat that caught fire, sank and spilled oil in Penn Cove is going to jail and is being sued for $1.2 million. Rory Westmoreland, a Renton scrapmetal dealer, was sentenced to 75 days in jail and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine in Island County District Court Monday. The state Attorney General’s Office, representing the Department of Natural Resources, filed a lawsuit against Westmoreland in Island County Superior Court last week. The suit aims to recoup costs incurred in disposing of the vessel. In addition, the Department of Ecology last year fined Westmoreland $301,000 for the oil spill that resulted from the Deep Sea sinking. Yet Penn Cove Shellfish has yet to see a penny of compensation for the disaster, which forced the closure of shellfish harvest for a month in 2012 and had other, longer-range consequences for the business. Co-owner Ian Jefferds said he filed a claim with the National Pollution Fund Center, run by the Coast Guard, a couple years ago but hasn’t heard anything back.
See SUED, page 13
Jessie Stensland photo
Central Whidbey resident Barbara Vaughan stands at the intersection of Highway 20 and Parker Road. She and a group of neighbors aren’t pleased with a project to realign intersections in the area.
Group concerned about road plans Neighbors plan public meeting for Feb. 10 By Jessie Stensland Co-Editor
A group of Central Whidbey residents are trying to stop a road project that’s supposed to improve safety and provide additional stops for Island Transit buses. Barbara Vaughan said she and a group of neighbors are concerned that the Washington Department of Transportation’s plans to reconfigure the intersection of Highway 20 at Parker Road would actually make the area less safe. They also question the wisdom of proposed bus turn-outs. The residents have been outspoken about their concerns for years. But as the project draws closer, the group is making a last effort to put an end to it. “I think we should shut the whole thing down,” she said, “and start from square one.”
The group of five residents urges the public to attend a meeting they are holding at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 10, at the Pacific Rim Institute, which is adjacent to the impending construction site on Parker Road. The members of the loose-knit group, she said, feel that the $5.8-million project — particularly the bus turn-in lanes — is a waste of money, will be unsafe and will create an ugly entranceway to Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve. Vaughan said the project was originally pushed by Martha Rose, former Island Transit director, who also had plans for a pedestrian tunnel nearby. Yet Tom Pearce, a spokesman for DOT, said the project is already all set to go. The proposals have been the subject of many public meetings over the years and went
through changes. He said the project is going out to bid in May. Construction will be this summer. According to Pearce, the project would close the intersection at Parker Road and the highway. Parker Road would be re-routed to Morris Road, which intersects with the highway just south of the current Parker Road intersection. Left-turn lanes would be added on the highway at Morris Road and the county transfer stations. The intersection of the highway and Smith Prairie Road would also be closed. In addition, the project calls for bus turnouts on both sides of the highway near Morris Road.
See ROAD, page 2