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SATURDAY, JANUARY 31, 2015 | Vol. 91, No. 9 | www.SOUTHWHIDBEYRECORD.com | 75¢
School district’s records policy fuels concern; board continues discussion By JUSTIN BURNETT South Whidbey Record
Justin Burnett / The Record
Gary Gabelein smiles while directing traffic at a recent car accident in Freeland. The longtime firefighter retired this month after 43 years as a South Whidbey Fire/EMS volunteer.
Gary Gabelein
Firefighter hangs up his hat after 43 years By BEN WATANABE South Whidbey Record In the two cleared engine bays of Station 36 in Bayview, it was akin to being in Gary Gabelein’s home. His wife and three children were all there Tuesday night, and he was surrounded by friends in a familiar setting. He spent countless hours working in that three-bay hall that had a leaky roof and was a mite cold most of the time. After 43 years, many memories had been made at Station 36. His years of service are the third most in the district’s history, behind Carl Simmons’ 50 years and Gordon Simmons’ 47. Such long volunteer careers are uncommon in South Whidbey Fire Chief Rusty Palmer’s 39 years of experience. “When you get into the 40s and the 50s, it’s pretty rare,” he said. Dozens of people, many still active volunteers and employees of South Whidbey Fire/EMS (previously named Island County Fire District 3) attended Gabelein’s retirement party.
They celebrated his storied career that spanned more than four decades. Gabelein, 64, was presented with several gifts from the fire district: a new ID card that states its expiration date as “RETIRED,” a framed badge, his helmet, last name patch worn on the back of his jacket, and a bust depicting a fireman saving a child with placards reading “firefighter” “battalion chief” “fire commissioner” and his dates of service. The brevity of each description belied the late-night injuries and fires he responded to, the long meetings as commissioner and his duties as battalion chief. But the short titles match the measured words of Gabelein himself, who on his profile page at www.swfe.org wrote that he’s with South Whidbey Fire because “I enjoy helping people,” and that others should volunteer because of “Helping the community and the people in the area.” After hearing from some fire district colleagues, Gabelein was cheered on for a quick speech, and he did not SEE GABELEIN, A14
The South Whidbey School District’s new policy of proactively identifying online people who request public records is raising red flags among some open government champions. While it appears largely unanimous that the practice isn’t illegal, critics say the small number of requests in 2014 — less than one a month — coupled with its yearsold legal battle with a former employee cast suspicion on the motives of administrators and the school board. One prominent media attorney said those factors make it appear the policy was specifically designed to scare people away from seeking public records, and a Whidbey parent and school board meeting regular said that district officials are trying to expose those deemed as troublemakers. Toby Nixon, president of the Washington Coalition for Open Government, said the intent behind the policy doesn’t make it illegal, but it does raise a question. “Is it wrong if the motivation of the district is to call out an abusive requester?” he said. The answer may vary by a person’s individual views, but Nixon said the coalition considers access to public records a civil right, and agencies that use public shaming as a tool for limiting the number or scope of requests under the SEE DISTRICT, A11
Food columnist fools burglar By JESSIE STENSLAND South Whidbey Record An 82-year-old recipe columnist for the South Whidbey Record tricked a burglar into incriminating himself last year. The burglar, Freeland resident David De Spain, was sentenced to an exceptional term of more than nine years in prison Friday morning during a hearing in Island County Superior Court.
It was a predictable ending to an unusual case. “It was one of the most bizarre adventures of my entire life,” Margaret Faltys said in a phone interview Friday morning. Faltys writes the “Whidbey Recipes” column in the South Whidbey Record under her maiden name, Margaret Walton. Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Eric Ohme laid out the story of the crime SEE FALTYS, A14