Vol. 125, No. 49
News-Times Whidbey
SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015
WWW.WHIDBEYNEWSTIMES.COM | 75 CENTS
Protecting a ‘nutty’ property
page A10
Your hometown newspaper for 125 years
Navy firing back at jet noise lawsuit COER claims Navy is not presenting ‘real’ sound data By JANIS REID Staff reporter
The Navy asked a federal judge to deny a citizen group’s demand that aircraft operations be halted at Outlying Field Coupeville. The Citizens of Ebey’s Reserve, or COER, sued the Navy in 2013 claiming that the noise associated with the EA-18G Growler pilot training is damaging the health of those living under the OLF flight path. In response, Navy attorneys said in recent court documents that the request for “injunctive relief” should be denied because COER’s “injuries … are not sufficient to rise to the level of irreparable harm” and that it would be detrimental to both Navy operations and national security. Capt. Mike Nortier, commanding officer for Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, is among a handful of Navy brass and experts who responded in written legal declarations in support of continued training at OLF. Performing touch-and-go operations at NAS Whidbey’s Ault Field instead of OLF produces a back up of other types of flight operations because the Field Carrier Landing Practice, or FCLPs, are a “closed pattern” that can’t be interrupted, Nortier said. In addition, moving the operations to the more dense Oak Harbor area would affect more people. “The population surrounding Ault Field is greater than that surrounding OLF Coupeville, which means noise impacts from aircraft operations at Ault Field impact a greater number of people than at Coupeville,” Nortier said. OLF Coupeville is crucial to pilot training because it provides “a realistic environment in which to practice FCLPs,” according to a declaration of Capt. Benjamin Hewlett, commander of NAS Whidbey’s Carrier Air Wing I. “Night carrier operations are the highest risk operations in aviation, but night combat operations are critical to mission success because of the diminished capability of the enemy,” Hewlett said. If pilots are not able to practice FCLPs in “an environment as ideal as OLF Coupeville” before going aboard a carrier it “will degrade SEE STORY, A5
Photo by Jenn Henderson
Keaton Farris was just 25 years old when he died from dehydration in the Island County Jail April 8. A detective’s long-awaited investigation into the tragedy was released this week.
Jail under scrutiny following mentally ill inmate’s death
Father’s Day protest to send message to jail, sheriff’s office By JESSIE STENSLAND Co-Editor
“Catastrophic systemic failures” at the Island County Jail led to a 25-year-old man’s death from dehydration April 8, Island County Sheriff Mark Brown said. An exhaustive investigation by Detective Ed Wallace offers an unblinking look at how negligence and errors by both corrections deputies and jail administration contributed to Keaton Farris’ tragic death. The report was released Thursday. Two corrections deputies who falsified logs were placed on administrative leave and have since resigned. Lt. Pam McCarthy was placed on paid administrative leave
pending a disciplinary review, said the sheriff’s office. Chief De Dennis, the jail administrator, was suspended for 30 days without pay and his continued employment is uncertain, Brown said. FARRIS’ FATHER, Coupeville postman Fred Farris, said he is struggling to understand how this could have happened. He is filled with grief, anger and disbelief. “It’s not OK,” he said. “What happened is unconscionable.” Fred Farris and his family entrusted the jail employees to care for his son. He is agonizing over his decision not to bail out his son; people convinced him that the young man would be safer in jail since he was dealing with a mental-health issue. The family has organized a peaceful protest to be held on Father’s Day — this Sunday — as a way of sending a message to the jail and sheriff’s office. The goal, Fred Farris said, is to ensure that such a needless tragedy never happens again. SEE JAIL DEATH, A13
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