News-Times Whidbey
Serving up comfort food
A10
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2015 | Vol. 125, No. 14 | WWW.WHIDBEYNEWSTIMES.COM | 75¢
HUNT
“I’m in the posi-
tion now where I think I’ll be able to handle the presidency …”
CRIBB
“I don’t like to admit I can’t do everything, but the reality is that I can’t.”
Back in the saddle Hunt ready to serve as board president again By MICHELLE BEAHM Staff reporter
About a year after stepping down from the role, Peter Hunt reassumed the position as board president of the Oak Harbor School Board last week. In April 2014, Hunt stepped down as president citing health concerns. He ceded the role to Christine Cribb. Cribb recently was appointed as the executive director of the Oak Harbor Chamber of Commerce, however, and said she didn’t believe she could dedicate as much time on school matters as the role of board president requires. “I cannot visit all the schools and everything that I’d like to do as board president in the way I did it before my repositioning at SEE HUNT, A5
Photo by SSG Bryan W. Lewis
Aviation crews of Army helicopters train using the Modular Swallow Water Egress Trainer to practice getting out of a seat and harness while upside down submerged in water at Whidbey Island Naval Station’s Aviation Survival Training Center.
Army learns from the Navy Helicopter crews train to survive under water at NAS Whidbey pool By JANIS REID Staff reporter
A trainee’s first step is to learn to pull oxygen from a small air tank while under water. The emergency tanks, which are issued to all military air crew who fly over water, hold
about 3,000 psi, or 20 good breaths, and can mean the difference between life and death. But, “it depends on how stressed out you are,” said Lt. Cmdr. Chris Cooper, with the Aviation Survival Training Center located at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station. “We just tell them to relax and control their breathing.” Army crew members who pilot UH-60 Black Hawks and AH-64 Apache Echos out of Joint Base Lewis-McChord joined the ranks last week of trainees from all over the world. The Whidbey-based training center is one of only eight such installations and services
all branches of the military. All over-water crew members are required to complete and pass the training once every four years. After completing that first air-tank exercise three times, trainees move on to phase two of what the military calls the “crawl, walk, run” approach, according to Cooper. “It increases their comfort level in the water,” Cooper said. Crew members are strapped into a rotating chair, a Modular Shallow Water Egress SEE TRAINING, A5
OHHS culinary program among the ‘Elite 50’ By MICHELLE BEAHM Staff reporter
Oak Harbor High School’s culinary program is now recognized as one of the top 50 high school hospitality programs in the country. “The Wildcats, for a number of years now, have kind of stood out in the … high school culinary education area in Washington,” said Lyle Hildahl, director of the Washington Restaurant Association Education Foundation, which partners
with the culinary program at the high school. The ranking, awarded by Sullivan University, is awarded to schools that excel in their hospitality area and have strong enrollment and influence in their community. The application also must include an original recipe with photos or a restaurant management design, two student essays on the topic of why they wish to pursue hospitality careers and any
further information about the school’s program. Oak Harbor High School is one of only two programs west of the Rocky Mountains to receive the Elite 50 designation, according to Shawna Davis, the Career and Technical Education secretary at the high school. “It’s not just a nod to the program,” said Chef Mary Arthur, who runs the SEE TOP 50, A5
Photo by Michelle Beahm/Whidbey News-Times
Dylan Crogan, right, and Patrick Salgado rehearse for an upcoming ProStart culinary competition.