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Falcons fall to King’s See...A8
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2015 | Vol. 91, No. 10 | www.SOUTHWHIDBEYRECORD.com | 75¢
Langley adopts food truck rules; site selection remains undetermined By BEN WATANABE South Whidbey Record
Justin Burnett / The Record
South Whidbey Fire/EMS firefighters work to put out a house fire in Freeland Monday.
Fire claims Freeland home Family searches for new housing in wake of blaze By JUSTIN BURNETT South Whidbey Record A morning fire destroyed a Freeland home Monday and left a family homeless. The blaze was reported just after 9 a.m. on Goss Lake Road. The single story structure was largely intact, but damages inside and to the roof were so severe the home is uninhabitable, fire authorities report. The only person home when the fire broke out, Charlotte Griffin, got out safely. Her two cats were missing, but are presumed OK. Griffin lived in the house with her husband Kenneth Griffin, and their 15-year-old grandson. Kenneth was off island and their
grandson was at school. “I keep thinking I should call him at school but there is nothing he can do about it,” said Griffin, during the fire. “My whole house is burned down,” she said. Griffin was in her den when the home’s smoke alarms went off. Smoke was filling the house with the majority seeming to come from the bedroom, she said. She called 9-1-1 before evacuating. Island County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Chris Garden, one of the first on the scene, arrived to find smoke coming from the eaves all around the house. No flames were initially visible, however the blaze spread and eventually burned through portions of the roof. According to Paul Busch, assistant chief of South Whidbey Fire/EMS, much of the fire was SEE FIRE, A14
A season from late May to early September is set for food trucks in Langley. It was not done without some debate among the Langley City Council members during their meeting Monday night. Councilmen Thomas Gill and Jim Sundberg were at odds over the role of the city government in regulating business, with Gill in favor of creating a “good business climate” and Sundberg wanting to ensure protection of the “public good,” by limiting hours of operation and setting a season for operation. Specifically, Gill and Sundberg argued about possible restrictions not
currently written into the ordinance that would exclude food trucks during Choochokam in July. Other businesses aren’t burdened by such restrictions, Gill said, so why would the city limit commerce in a new industry? “I’m saying the rules already exist and let’s abide by the rules,” Gill said. The ordinance was in the works for months, and the city council adopted it as is in a 4-1 vote without the additional restrictions. The rules establish a permit process and regulations for mobile food vendors to operate at selected sites. The council did amend it, however, to include language that SEE FOOD TRUCKS, A9
Sheriff’s office slapped with $10 million suit By JESSIE STENSLAND South Whidbey Record
Justin Burnett / The Record
South Whidbey Fire/EMS firefighter Ann Collins helps Charlotte Griffin search for her missing cats.
Attorneys representing five women who say they were sexually 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 SEE LAWSUIT, A9