Sounder The Islands’
Serving Orcas, Lopez and San Juan County
Real Estate in the
San Juan Islands November 2015
WEDNESDAY, November 18, 2015 n VOL. 48, NO. 46 n 75¢ n islandssounder.com Inside this edition Published the third Wednesday of each month by the Journal of the San Juan Islands, Islands’ Sounder and Islands’ Weekly
Staff photo
PO Box 171 Eastsound, WA 98245 360.376.2145 www.orcasislandrealty.com
Low Bank Waterfront Home
Doe Bay Views
Justice system failure by DIANA HEFLEY
Private 5 acres with big marine views to the Peapod Rocks. Pond & areas for gardening. Well built 3841 sq ft.,Pella Windows, alder floors & cabinets, metal roof, open plan kitchen with bar, 2 walk-in pantries. Radiant heat, central vac, commercial fire sprinkler system, attached 2+ car garage, main floor master with double closets & vanities, hot tub, private suite upstairs, views from lower level office, Doe Bay water. Seller owns 2 more adjoining 5 acre lots with another water membership.
Hear the sound of water rippling through beach stones from nearly every room of this well-maintained Orcas waterfront home w/views of Waldron, Sucia & beyond. Over-sized windows face the water, letting in the outside light to fill this home. 3 bed, 2 bath with decks and lawn to the waters edge. Spacious master suite w/sitting area & private view deck. Covered porch entry, 2 car garage w/bathroom, fireplace, jetted tub, oak & tile floors & fenced gardens. Currently a well-rented vacation home.
MLS#742973
MLS# 700042
$795,000
$1,095,000
Herald writer
The following is part of a series by the Everett Herald entitled “What Jail Can’t Cure.” The following piece covers the death of Lopez resident Keaton Farris in a Coupeville jail. For the full series, go to http://www. heraldnet.com/section/jailsandmentalillness. Keaton Farris was seven miles from home and he was dying. He was alone and naked, dehydrated and starving, locked up in the Island County Jail for forging a $355 check. Keaton, 25, had attended Coupeville High School, less than a mile from the jail. He played football and basketball and ran track. His dad, Fred, is a mailman in the small town. Keaton returned home last year to rest and find his footing after being diagnosed with bipolar disorder. His parents believe he was in the throes of a manic episode before he died on April 7. Keaton was behind bars for 18 days, shuffled among three other jails before he was sent to Island County. Fred Farris and Tiffany Ferrians weren’t allowed to see or talk to their son. They frequently called to check on him and told corrections officers he was bipolar and needed his medication. The Island County Jail chief later claimed his staff didn’t know Keaton was mentally ill. The chief ’s statements and details about Keaton’s incarceration are part of the 700page report compiled by Island County’s veteran detective Ed Wallace. His investigation found that corrections officers documented how Keaton refused water and meals.
Wendy Thomas Kathryn Sherman photo
Keaton died because he was labeled a behavioral problem, a danger and an inconvenience. He died while he was in a mental health crisis and unable to care for himself. Two corrections officers forged records and lied about when they’d last checked on Keaton. They were put on leave and later resigned. The Whatcom County prosecutor is investigating to determine if someone should be charged with a crime. The FBI also is reviewing Keaton’s death. Island County Sheriff Mark Brown, who oversees the jail, fired a corrections lieutenant. The jail chief retired and the nurse left her job in the midst of a health department investigation. Island County has spent $20,000 for a corrections advisor to review jail operations. Brown made changes to improve medical and mental health screening. He apologized to Fred Farris and said Keaton died because of a “systematic breakdown.” Keaton’s story is not an isolated incident. He is one of the estimated 2 million people living with mental illness who are booked into the nation’s jails every year. Mental illness is three to six times more prevalent in jail than in the general popu-
by LESLIE KELLY
Although employment is up across the San Juan Islands, and the economy seems to be rebounding, residents still face stagnant wages while the price of everything from rent to groceries is increasing. That was the message in a recent report by the San Juan County Economic Development Council. Victoria Compton, executive director of the economic development council, called the report “mostly positive.” “It’s clear that we are in economic recovery,” she said. “We’re a few years behind the rest of the nation. We’re just starting to see the natural climb out of the recession.” The report included data from the Washington Employment Security Department, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Western Washington University. Among the notable results is that unemployment in the San Juan Islands has dropped from
Mary Clure
Locally Owned and Operated
Victoria Shaner
Asya Eberle
Ian Terry / The Herald
Tiffany Ferrians holds a portrait of her son Keaton Farris at her home on Lopez Island on Thursday. “There’s a serenity to him here,” Ferrians said about the portrait from 2014. At left: Keaton Farris in Seattle in January 2015. He passed away on April 7, 2015. lation. Suicide continues to be the leading cause of death among inmates and has been on the rise for a decade. The National Institute of Corrections and behavioral health experts say jails and prisons have become the country’s largest mental health institutions since the nation shut down psychiatric hospitals in the 1980s and failed to adequately replace them with community resources. Jails and prisons aren’t designed to properly care for people in crisis, or treat those with severe mental illness. Corrections officers often aren’t knowledgable about mental illnesses, and jails often lack adequate medical staffing. Inmates can be reluctant to report their mental illness because of the stigma.
Residents facing increasing costs Special to the Sounder
Lisa Botiller Wolford
6.2 percent in May of 2012 to a current rate of 4.4 percent. The highest unemployment listed was in January 2012 at 8.8 percent. Compton said that included growth in manufacturing and technology jobs, as well as a return to full force labor in other areas such as retail and construction. “It’s only been recently that construction has begun to come back,” she said. “And we’ve seen a growth in small manufacturing and tech.” Examples of that, she said were the manufacturing of parts for Honda outboards and filters for NASA, both which are done in the San Juans. She said she’s also seen a growth in technology companies that produce apps. “They can do their work anywhere, but they’ve decided to work and live here because it’s a nice place,” she said. According to the state Department of revenue, business growth on the islands was reported to be up 6,000 firms or companies from
The 58-bed jail in Coupeville is just across the water from Snohomish County, where reforms have been under way at the jail after a series of deaths. Snohomish County has paid $3.7 million to settle lawsuits with the families of two young people who died after being denied adequate medical attention. Other lawsuits are pending. Keaton’s symptoms were so severe on April 1 that he couldn’t be arraigned for identity theft. The San Juan County judge urged Keaton’s mom not to bail her son out of jail. His public defender assured Ferrians that Keaton was safe. The judge ordered him to be evaluated by a psychologist at Western State Hospital. But long delays
3,000 in 1994 to 9,000 in 2014. Those figures are based on sale tax reports given to the state. One thing that has been an issue for workers living on the San Juan Islands is wages. While costs of goods and services has increased, wages have not. “The best way of looking at it is that if a tomato cost $1 in 2007, it now costs $1.50,” said Compton. “But as a consumer, you are still only making the wages you were in 2007.” That holds true for everything, including rents, which she said were higher than other places in the state, like smaller towns in eastern Washington, because of the appeal of living in the San Juans. “People from Seattle, where wages are better, are still coming here to buy homes or rent vacation rentals,” she said. “So that means rents stay high and that’s a tough squeeze on workers here.”
SEE COUNTY, PAGE 5
SEE KEATON, PAGE 6
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