Record South Whidbey
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Clinton veteran returns to Dachau See...A10
SATURDAY, MAY 2, 2015 | Vol. 91, No. 34 | WWW.SOUTHWHIDBEYRECORD.COM | 75¢
Golf carts the runaway favorite identified at Langley charrette By BEN WATANABE South Whidbey Record Adding golf carts to move people between the South Whidbey Harbor marina and Langley’s business district was the runaway people’s choice from a workshop meeting earlier this month.
Public input results compiled by a Langley woman and the information assembled by the city’s director of Community Planning both confirmed that electric golf carts were the preferred method. Sharon Emerson, a critic of the proposed funicular, gathered copies of the charrette
feedback forms about people’s preference for a way to improve access to the marina. On her site, langleyfunicular.com, she calculated that 48.33 forms favored the golf carts as the top choice. Michael Davolio, Langley’s director of Community Planning, said 130 matrixes
were filled out and handed to him at the end of the April 14 meeting. He didn’t give a specific number, but agreed that the top choice was golf carts. In a distant second, the funicular ranked SEE CHARRETTE, A12
Freeland bald eagle lives to soar again By JUSTIN BURNETT South Whidbey Record An injured bald eagle from the Freeland area was released back into the wild Thursday. And after months of recovery at a wildlife center on San Juan Island, the bird couldn’t have made it more clear that it was ready to go home. Secured in a plastic crate covered by a blanket, a handler had barely unlatched the gate when the bird burst out with a clank and took flight over a grassy field. “Yeah, she kicked the door open,” laughed Vicki Taylor, a rehabilitator at Wolf Hollow Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. The non-profit organization takes in injured and orphaned Justin Burnett / The Record
SEE EAGLE, A12
Vicki Taylor of Wolf Hollow releases a bald eagle in Freeland Thursday. The bird was injured in February.
Barber says adieu after 30 years
South Whidbey man seeks kidney match, donors By BEN WATANABE South Whidbey Record
By JUSTIN BURNETT South Whidbey Record After nearly three decades of cutting hair on South Whidbey, Theresa Johnson set down her shears for good this week. The longtime Freeland stylist officially retired Wednesday, closing her home-based salon on Dorsey Drive. She and her husband are heading for warmer climes and a new life in Hemet, Calif., a small city that’s about a 45-minute drive from Palm Springs. They’ll also spend part of the year in the Lake Stevens area, as fair-weather residents of Lake Connor Park. In an interview with The Record on her last day in busiSEE JOHNSON, A3
Ben Watanabe / The Record
Ben Brager of Freeland takes in some sunshine with his dog. A serious illness forced him to quit his job and move back home while awaiting analysis for a kidney donation.
Ben Brager doesn’t look sick, but he is. Even when he is not ill, he is still sick. Brager, 24, has two autoimmune disorders, and he will live forever with the threat of having colds that leave him bedridden for weeks, joint pain and occasional to regular dialysis. Good luck getting him to offer up his life story. He’d much rather talk about upcoming plans for a lingcod fishing trip to the San Juan Islands or his September wedding.
The Freeland man who was born and raised on South Whidbey is back home now. Living with granulomatosis with polyganiitis, an autoimmune attack and inflammation of blood vessels, means that his body is attacking itself. In Brager’s case, it has gone after his kidneys and his joints. Most of his life Brager has had the disorder. He was diagnosed at 12 years old, a terrifying experience for him and his whole family. He ended up leaving the school district to be home schooled, and eventually SEE BRAGER, A5