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Celebrate American on July 3 See...A3
WEDNESDAY, JULY 1, 2015 | Vol. 91, No. 51 | www.SOUTHWHIDBEYRECORD.com | 75¢
Maxwelton Independence Day Parade A community, family affair for
100 years
Contributed photo
Maxwelton residents prepare to march in the 1948 parade. Front row, from left: Marjorie Mills, unknown, Ruth (Mitchell) Burley, Beth (Meador) Grubb, Art Kinskie [center] , Mary Sue (Kinskie) Lile and Diane Green.
By JUSTIN BURNETT South Whidbey Record It was once a small family affair, a chance for relatives and close friends to come together and celebrate
America’s birthday. It was a day of flag waving, foot races, softball, good food and great times. And while some things have changed over the past 100 years, the heartbeat of the Maxwelton Independence Day Parade has remained the
same. It’s about community, said Doug Green, a longtime Maxwelton beach property owner, and is a reflecSEE PARADE, A10
Whidbey General Hospital coughs up cash for cleared nurse’s legal fees By JESSIE STENSLAND South Whidbey Record Whidbey General Hospital paid its chief nursing officer’s legal fees in defending against a gross-misdemeanor criminal charge of which she was found not guilty. The bill totaled about $250,000. The hospital will likely be repaid under a state fund that reimburses attorney’s fees for people charged with assault who are found to have acted in self defense. The fact that the public hospital was paying Chief Nursing
Officer Linda Gipson’s legal fees came out in court last Thursday. A jury found Gipson not guilty in April following a trial that was unique to district court in its length and complexity. Gipson had been accused of assaulting a mentally ill patient who was in restraints at the hospital, but the jury found that she had acted lawfully. Her attorney, Andrew Schwarz of Seattle, asked Island County District Court Judge Bill Hawkins to reimburse her from the fund and the judge agreed, despite the prosecutor’s objection.
Gipson didn’t attend the hearing. Until last Thursday, Schwarz didn’t disclose to the prosecution that the hospital paid almost all of his bills. His billing statements excluded the name of the “third party payer,” according to Island County Prosecutor Greg Banks. Banks said he doesn’t know if that means the hospital or its insurance carrier paid the bill, but he said it should have been a transparent decision by hospital officials if they decided to fund a public official’s criminal defense. He pointed out that state law forbids public
entities to gift individuals with public funds. State law specifically allows public agencies to defend public employees in lawsuits, but criminal cases are different, he said. Banks said he researched the issue and, so far, has found only one instance — a 1998 case in Illinois — in which a public entity paid for the criminal defense of public officials. Mark Rapozo, a deputy director at the state Auditor’s Office, said he would ask basic questions, like how the decision was made to pay SEE ATTORNEY FEES, A24