Vol. 125, No. 32
News-Times Whidbey
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2015
WWW.WHIDBEYNEWSTIMES.COM | 75 CENTS
Break out the klompen
Your hometown newspaper for 125 years
OH mayor won’t seek re-election
Oak Harbor teachers talking walkout
With Dudley out, Jim Campbell jumping in
By DEBRA VAUGHN Staff reporter
Oak Harbor Public School teachers are expected to join a growing number of area school districts that have voted to walk out of class for one day. Teachers want to send a message to state lawmakers, who they say aren’t adequately funding state public schools. In particular, teachers are concerned lawmakers are shortchanging teacher pay and benefits and pushing to increase class sizes. They also don’t like linking test scores to teacher evaluations, a policy they say isn’t based in research and doesn’t help students or teachers. Members of the teacher’s union, the Oak Harbor Education Association, were expected to vote Tuesday on whether they should walk out May 1. The results of the vote came in too late for publication, but association president Kathy Ridle said a preliminary vote last week indicated the union’s membership strongly supports SEE TEACHERS, A12
A10
By JESSIE STENSLAND Staff reporter
Photo by Jim Waller/Whidbey News-Times
POUNDING THE PAVEMENT Sunny weather made for a perfect Whidbey Island Marathon Sunday. Organizers said the event went without a hitch, with a total of 1,900 participants in the various races. See complete story and more photos on page 9.
Oak Harbor Mayor Scott Dudley is out, but City Councilman Jim Campbell is in. Dudley announced Tuesday that he will not seek re-election this fall, though he previously said there was a strong chance he would. Campbell announced the same day that he has decided to run for mayor, partly because he didn’t want Councilman Bob DUDLEY Severns to run unopposed. Severns announced earlier this year that he is running for mayor. Many people in the community have asked him to throw his hat into the ring, Campbell said. As a former senior manager at Lockheed, he said he’s an CAMPBELL experienced and professional administrator. “A good manager surrounds himself with good people and gets out of the way,” he said. Dudley may be leaving city politics behind, but said he still has some fight in him. He said he believes he would win if he ran again, but it would be pointless if the same council members are in office. Dudley and the majority of the council SEE DUDLEY, A12
Low inventory, high demand create seller’s market on N. Whidbey By JANIS REID Staff reporter
A housing shortage on Whidbey Island this spring is causing Realtors to scramble and buyers to rush to purchase.
Industry insiders say that within the current “crazy” sales climate houses are moving quickly and staying on the market mere days in some cases. “It’s a pretty busy market and there’s little
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supply of homes,” said Hal Hovey, a Realtor with Coldwell Banker Koetje. “It’s frustrating on the part of the home buyers who can’t find a home that meets their needs in their price range.”
This seller’s market is particularly evident in the $200,000 and less homes coveted by first-time homebuyers and military personnel. But both for homes under and over SEE SELLER’S MARKET, A5
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