News-Times Whidbey
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SATURDAY, JANUARY 31, 2015 | Vol. 125, No. 9 | WWW.WHIDBEYNEWSTIMES.COM | 75¢
Sheriff slapped with $10-million claim Attorneys say former employee neglected to report pedophile coach By JESSIE STENSLAND Staff reporter
Attorneys representing five women who say they were sex-
ually assaulted by a swim coach for the North Whidbey Park and Recreation District in the 1990s have filed a tort against the Island County Sheriff’s Office, demanding $10 million to $20 million in damages. The claim states that a district commissioner who also worked at the sheriff’s office was aware of the coach’s inappropriate conduct with young female swimmers as early as
1994 but didn’t report the problems to the appropriate authorities. Andy King, the district’s former swim coach, is a serial pedophile who preyed on girls at a series of swim programs in Washington and California during a 30-year career. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison in 2010 after pleading guilty to 20 child molestation charges in a California courtroom. The five women named in the
claim say they were sexually abused by King while he was coach of the Aquajets swim team, which is under the North Whidbey Park and Rec umbrella. The attorneys first filed lawsuits against the district for failing to protect the young girls; the claims alleged the district performed inadequate background checks, provided insufficient supervision of King and did not adequately respond to
the evidence of his inappropriate behavior. The district’s insurance provider has paid out $6.3 million to the five women, according to the women’s attorney. The final two victims settled this month for a combined $1.4 million. Seattle attorney Jay Krulewitch, who represented the women SEE CLAIM, A24
Homeless count casts a wide net By JANIS REID Staff reporter
A grouping of several broken down campers and tents is tucked away less than 300 feet off a main North Whidbey road. Living there is a man, a woman, the woman’s two adult sons intermittently and two Chihuahuas. The couple pulled into the wooded area two weeks ago to get their nonlicensed camper off the road and it stopped working. Both are dogged with multiple health conditions, have to rely on public transportation to carry them to the North Whidbey Help House for food and warm themselves around a fire they build in a beat-up standing grill. They said they’ve been homeless for about a year, but it’s not the first time. When asked about the island’s homeless population, the woman said, “There’s a lot of kids out there.” The encampment is one of many lesser-known areas county-wide where the homeless congregate and find shelter. It was included in the annual point-in-time homeless count Thursday. More than 100 volunteers at four locations offered free food, clothing and necessities while outreach groups explored wooded areas and abandoned structures in search of the county’s homeless. Those who connected with volunteers were assist-
ed in filling out a brief form about their circumstances and the nature of their homelessness. The federally and state mandated survey will allow the county and other governmental agencies to paint a clearer picture of the area’s homeless population. The outreach portion of the county is new and expanded this year, according to Joanne Pellant, who said it has been a “monumental task.” That task seems to have yielded good results, according to housing program coordinator Catherine Reid, who said just on North Whidbey the number of survey’s collected jumped from five to 30. “We had a great turnout,” said Reid, who participated at the open house at Oak Harbor’s Spin Cafe. “It was really wonderful.” Although unofficial numbers won’t be available for weeks, Reid said it looks like they have been able to “identify a lot of folks who are experiencing homelessness.” “My takeaway is that it was a great continuation of last year when we did the open houses for the first time,” Reid said. Faith Wilder, who led the outreach team on South Whidbey, said the number of people at the open house grew from about a dozen last year to more than 60 this year. “We know we’re way over what last year was,” Wilder said.
Photo by Michelle Beahm / Whidbey News-Times
Above, Georgia Weyland, left, Jade Dawes, Paula Seaman and several of the schools’ chickens show off the Seahawk team spirit at Hillcrest Elementary. Below, Loraine Goen, lead cook at Oak Harbor Middle School, organizes the Seahawk-themed lunch.
CUCKOO FOR SEAHAWKS
Super Bowl fever heating up at Oak Harbor schools By RON NEWBERRY, MICHELLE BEAHM Staff reporters
For a festive occasion such as this, Shane Evans allowed a few exceptions. Ordinarily, the principal at Oak Harbor Middle School wouldn’t approve of Skittles served at lunch time. But since it’s Marshawn Lynch’s favorite treat and the Seattle Seahawks are back in the Super Bowl, Evans relaxed a few rules Friday.
“They’re not on the menu,” Evans said with a laugh. “They don’t meet the nutritional standards.” In celebration of the Seahawks’ Super Bowl appearance against the New England Patriots Sunday, many students and staff in the Oak Harbor School District decked themselves out in Seahawks’ colors and let their blue hair down. At Hillcrest Elementary School, they even went a little cuckoo, dressing up live chickens in blue-and-green SEE HAWKS, A24