Wishing you a very Merry Christmas
Vol. 125, No. 102
News-Times Whidbey
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2015
WWW.WHIDBEYNEWSTIMES.COM | 75 CENTS
Your hometown newspaper for 125 years
Making his rounds
Photo provided
Wayne Papalski, left, and Frank Rodriguez are honored last week. Rosmond L. Shaw was deployed and unable to attend the awards luncheon.
NAS Whidbey Sailor, Marine of year named By DEBRA VAUGHN
dvaughn@whidbeynewsgroup.com
The top sailors and Marine of the year at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station were announced last week during a luncheon hosted by the Oak Harbor Navy League and Rotary Club. Logistic Specialist 1st Class Rosmond L. Shaw was named Sea Sailor of the year. She’s assigned to Electronic Attack Squadron 130. Hospital Corpsman 1st Class Wayne Papalski was honored as Shore Sailor of the Year. Papalski took home the title for his work at SEE HONOR, A7
County may hire firm to fend off insurance hikes By DAN RICHMAN
drichman@whidbeynewstime.com
The Board of Island County Commissioners is considering hiring an Edmonds engineering firm to help it stave off new or increased flood-insurance premiums for waterfront landowners. The board said it will decide this month whether to pay $43,000 to Coast & Harbor Engineering to help determine whether to appeal proposed federal determinations of flood boundaries along parts of its shoreline. “We need to be sure there was no error in methodology” made by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, when it issued revised federal flood insurance rate maps this summer, said Commissioner Helen Price Johnson. SEE FLOOD PREMIUMS, A4
Santa finds his reward in bringing joy to kids By DEBRA VAUGHN
dvaughn@whidbeynewsgroup.com
W
esley Worrel has the eye twinkle, a little belly and the patience for dealing with an onslaught of small children. Not sure if he’s the real Santa? Just give his luxurious, white beard a little tug. In the weeks leading up to Christmas, he’s been all over Oak Harbor spreading Christmas cheer. He visited seniors at a retirement community as well as women and children at a shelter who escaped domestic abuse. Last week he doled out oranges to school children as part of the Kiwanis Santa Orange Project. For decades, Kiwanis has made sure young Oak Harbor school children form a lovely memory of Santa. “The best part is the expression on those kids’ faces when you walk into their classrooms,” Worrel said. “Their eyes go big, their mouths drop open.” And the kids — they go WILD. As part of his cross-town tour, Santa stopped by Crescent Harbor Elementary. Every classroom, the kids mobbed him. They ran headlong into his arms. They hugged him, patted his suit, touched his beard. They squeaked out their most desired Christmas gifts. “They come running at 90 mph to give you a hug,” he said. “I don’t know anything more rewarding than that.” Wesley Worrel grew up on a farm in Kansas, part of a large extended family. He didn’t
Photo by Debra Vaugh/Whidbey News-Times
Wesley Worrel, AKA Santa, greets kindergarten students at Crescent Harbor Elementary. They rushed him when he walked through the door. receive much in the way of presents at Christmas and he never saw Santa. But he remembers love. “I didn’t worry about presents, but when I got one I was tickled to get it,” he said. This is a man who has worked hard his entire life. At age 9 he was plowing fields. He earned his driver’s license at age 14. By high
school, he was driving a school bus and spending his summer breaks harvesting at farms in Texas. He joined the Air Force, and after getting out he worked in a mill and later as a middle school custodian in California. It’s at that job when he first got roped into donning the suit. When one of those children came back years later and showed him a picture she’d
kept with him — that made an impression. He moved to Oak Harbor in 2004 to be closer to two of his children and his grandchildren. He and his wife just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. At age 73, he’s running his own business, DW Landscape SEE ROUNDS, A7