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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15, 2015 | Vol. 91, No. 29 | www.SOUTHWHIDBEYRECORD.com | 75¢
Prisoner may have died from dehydration
Jessie Stensland / The Record
Linda Gipson, chief nursing officer at Whidbey General Hospital, was acquitted last week. She was accused of assaulting a patient.
Gipson found innocent Jury acquits Whidbey General Hospital’s chief nurse
By JESSIE STENSLAND South Whidbey Record Linda Gipson is not guilty of assaulting a patient at Whidbey General Hospital. The jurors deliberated for about 90 min-
utes before returning the verdict in Island County District Court Friday afternoon. They found that Gipson, the chief nursing officer at Whidbey General Hospital, is not guilty of fourth-degree assault.
The case was unusual for the District Court in the high-profile nature of the defendant and complexity of the case, which involved SEE GIPSON, A7
The cause of death for a 25-year-old inmate at the Island County jail may be dehydration, according to Island County Coroner Robert Bishop. Corrections deputies reported finding Keaton Farris deceased in his jail cell at 12:20 a.m., April 8. “At this time, there is nothing to indicate that this could be a homicide or suicide,” Bishop said. The coroner said initial laboratory testing indicates that Farris may have died from dehydration, but that the determination of the cause and manner of death may not be completed for another four to six weeks. Island County Sheriff Mark Brown said two corrections deputies are on paid administrative leave pending an investigation into possible department policy violations following the death. Farris was being held on an identity theft charge out of San Juan County and was incarcerated at the Island County jail since March 26, 2015, according to the sheriff. Brown said Farris was by himself in a “safety room” at the jail when he died. Online court records show that Farris was being held in lieu of $10,000 bail and ordered to be evaluated by Western State Hospital for competency to stand trial.
McCarthy to sit out mayor’s race By BEN WATANABE South Whidbey Record
Ben Watanabe / The Record
Langley Mayor Fred McCarthy announced this week he won’t seek re-election this November.
Langley will be without an incumbent in the 2015 mayoral election. Mayor Fred McCarthy announced his decision not to seek re-election Monday morning. In an interview with The Record, he said he wants to pursue other interests, chief among them his family. “It was a matter of looking at four more years,” he said in his City Hall office, a small room that looks out over Saratoga Passage, a waterway he enjoys sailing through on his vintage boat.
Instead of running meetings in 2016, McCarthy said he’d like to be with family more, travel, sail, ride his motorcycle, take out his classic Ford truck, work on a book based on his experiences in the Vietnam War, improve his instrumentation skills and return to teaching graduate-level courses in education. “Whidbey Island is a pretty nice place,” he said. “You have to slow down and enjoy it.” He denied that criticism over the marina access project was a factor. SEE MAYOR, A5