50 years ago

Editor: Lana Townsend

Basement fire started by lamp

“Fire started from a small lamp caused an estimated $1,000 damage at the residence of David C. Henny last Thursday.

“Henny, owner and manager of Whidbey Telephone Co., was home at the time with his wife and four children. His wife smelled smoke coming from the basement, grabbed a pail of water and put out part of the fire before firemen arrived. The alarm, turned on at 8:45 p.m., brought trucks from Freeland, Midvale and Maxwelton to the home located on a bluff above Sunlight Beach.

“The wall of the basement, which had recently been remodeled into a bedroom, was burned in one place and firemen had to chop part of the ceiling away to prevent the fire from moving into the upstairs. District Fire Chief E. M. Hunter said the fire was probably caused by a small lamp which was turned on at the time and pointed toward the wall.”

25 years ago

Editor: Jim Larsen

Double Bluff work starts, beach hard to reach for public

“Safe, easy public access to Double Bluff beach came to a screeching halt last week when work started on a new, 225-foot long concrete bulkhead. The bulkhead, now nearly finished, prepares the way for the construction of a house on the lot adjacent to the road-end, through which the public used to walk to reach the mile-long beach.

“On a partly sunny day last Wednesday, Georgia MacDonald and Tom Covington drove into the public parking area for a walk on the beach, only to discover that the only access was over the county’s road-end.”

15 years ago

Editor: Jim Larsen

Bill would declare this a rural county

“A bill that would declare Island County ‘rural’ and therefore bestow upon it a bushel of money for economic development is clinging to life in Olympia. County elected officials and business leaders have been hard at work this legislative session promoting House Bill 1628 and its companion, Senate Bill 5082. The Senate version of the bill has already failed to make the cut, but the House bill is alive.

“Tom Shaughnessy, Island District Economic Development director, said Thursday that HB 1628 has been sent to the Rules Committee, where it and some 20 other bills that have a financial impact on the state will be further studied. The bill provides for designating Island County as a ‘rural county.’ This would allow the county to keep .08 percent of the sales taxes collected locally that presently go to state coffers. That amounts to about $400,000 annually that could be spent on economic development.”