Vol. 126, No. 1
News-Times Whidbey
SATURDAY, JANUARY 2, 2016
WWW.WHIDBEYNEWSTIMES.COM | 75 CENTS
Busy year at state park.... page A6
Your hometown newspaper for 126 years
Shamed lawyer released early, suing neighbor By JESSIE STENSLAND jessie@whidbeynewsgroup.com
SEE SAAR, A12
Photo courtesy of Antoine Smith
A building at Whidbey Apartments burned early Sunday morning near Whidbey Island Naval Air Station. Officials are calling it arson.
Arson strikes Navy housing — again By DEBRA VAUGHN
dvaughn@whidbeynewsgroup.com
Someone is targeting Navy sailors and their families. An arsonist set a military apartment building ablaze Sunday less than a mile from Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, damaging four apartments and leaving five families without homes. Officials are calling it arson and offering a $2,000 reward for tips that lead to arrest and conviction. They also say they do have leads. The fire started shortly after midnight Sunday at the
Photo by Debra Vaughn/Whidbey News-Times
Whidbey Apartments on Larkspur Circle. Shannon and Ryan Sharland lost everything they owned in the fire, including their two kittens. The couple were married a few months ago. Sunday, they were out of town visiting family when they got a call from military police about the blaze. Someone lit the SEE ARSON, A12
Sea Hawkers planning rally at Deception Pass Bridge Expect even more blue and green than usual if you travel across the Deception Pass Bridge Saturday, Jan. 2. The Whidbey Island Sea Hawkers will hold its traditional Seahawks rally at the bridge. Fittingly, it will start at 12:12 p.m.
The group, a chapter of the official Sea Hawkers Booster Club, held rallies at popular island landmarks during the past two Super Bowl seasons. Now that the Seahawks have clinched a playoff berth, the Whidbey 12s are gathering to show their support. Fans are asked to carpool and
dress warmly in Seahawks’ green and blue colors. Those bringing flags or signs must hold on to them securely and not attach anything to the bridge or toss anything over the sides. Parking in the lot on the south side of the bridge requires a Discover Pass.
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“Bringing independence to living and quality to life”
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A former Oak Harbor attorney who stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from clients was released from prison early and jumped back into litigation — only now he’s just representing himself. Douglas Saar, disbarred in 2013, filed a lawsuit in Island County Superior Court Dec. 7 against Lee Roof, a Coupeville doctor. The lawsuit accuses Roof of trespassing at a home Saar owns near Oak Harbor and leaving letters with “damaging and defamatory information” for renters to find. In addition, Saar is appealing a court order directing him to pay more than $200,000 in restitution to his SAAR victims. Saar pleaded guilty in Island County Superior Court in February to two counts of theft and one count of money laundering for stealing from two dead clients, including a woman with a trust that was supposed to go to Whidbey Animals’ Improvement Foundation, also known as WAIF. Prior to that, he pleaded guilty to first-degree theft in related cases in San Juan and Island County courtrooms. During his sentencing hearing Feb. 6, Saar’s attorney argued that his client should be sentenced under a Parenting Sentencing Alternative, which would mean no prison time. Saar and his wife have two small children and two college-age kids. The judge, however, ruled that the special sentencing alternative was not appropriate and sentenced him to 17 months in prison. In prison, however, Saar managed to convince Department of Corrections officials to release him early under the same Parenting Sentencing Alternative. Saar served only four months, according to Island County Prosecutor Greg Banks. Banks complained to Bernie Warner, then-secretary of the Department of Corrections. Banks noted that the judge made it clear that Saar should serve his time behind bars and that the Parenting Sentencing Alternative was “totally inappropriate,” given that his family is otherwise intact, his wife has a master’s degree and his family has “tremendous financial resources that make them one-percenters.” “I’m surprised that, after a judge makes a considered decision in a case where the issue was fully litigated, a corrections staff member can, and would, simply overrule the judge’s decision,” Banks wrote. In response, Warner called Banks and discussed the issue. Warner said he agrees that corrections staff should check whether things like family offender sentencing
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