Central Whidbey prairie flower blooms belie all the hard work

Joseph Sheldon, vice chair of the Pacific Rim Institute Board of Trustees, discovers a chocolate lily during a tour of the Pacific Rim Institute prairie.  - Rebecca Olson/Whidbey News-Times
Rebecca Olson/Whidbey News-Times
Joseph Sheldon, vice chair of the Pacific Rim Institute Board of Trustees, discovers a chocolate lily during a tour of the Pacific Rim Institute prairie.
From bright yellow buttercups to star-shaped, purple camas, the prairie at the Pacific Rim Institute south of Coupeville has an ecosystem unique to the area, making it well worth the time-consuming efforts to restore it with native wildflowers and grasses. During a rare time that the prairie was open to the public, Robert Pelant, CEO of the Pacific Rim Institute, and Dr. Joseph Sheldon, vice chair of the PRI Board of Trustees, offered tours to the community. Thursday morning, nearly 50 students from Evergreen State College, plus community members, attended a tour to view the restoration work.

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News updated 11:30 AM May 24, 2012 0

Wildcats begin state competition | Track

Oak Harbor's Matt Reith finished 12th and John Rodeheffer 16th in the 3,200 at the state 3A track meet at Mount Tahoma High School in Tacoma Thursday, May 24.

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Sports 8:11 AM May 25, 2012 0

North Whidbey park district finds its director

After more than five months of searching, the North Whidbey Park and Recreation District seems to finally have a new executive director. The board of commissioners is scheduled tonight to hire Bill Walker as executive director. The meeting takes place May 24 at 7 p.m. at the John Vanderzicht Memorial Pool, 85 SE Jerome St in Oak Harbor. Walker will take over for Craig Carlson, who resigned in December.

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News 11:33 AM May 24, 2012 0

Christine Fields places 8th in state tournament | Golf

An improved second round lifted Coupeville freshman Christine Fields to eighth place in the state 1A golf tournament to lead the trio of local prep golfers who competed at state Tuesday and Wednesday, May 22 and 23.

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Sports updated 10:31 AM May 24, 2012 0

Coupeville's Phillips, Fields earn first-team honors

Coupeville's Taylor Phillips and Austin Fields, first-team all-league selections, paced the post-season honors for the Wolves when the Cascade Conference announced its all-star teams this week.

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Sports updated 10:30 AM May 24, 2012 0

6 earn high-point awards | NWAC

Six high-point winners pushed the North Whidbey Aquatic Club to second place in the eight-team 35th Annual Spring Thunderbird at Anacortes’ Fidalgo Pool May 18 to 20.

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Sports 10:30 AM May 24, 2012 0

Penn Cove Water Festival success despite sunken boat

A notorious sunken boat didn’t stop a popular festival from enjoying a successful weekend. The Penn Cove Water Festival drew thousands of people to Coupeville Saturday. Noteworthy for the annual canoe races, competitors noted the conditions Saturday were perfect and they didn’t appear to notice any adverse effects from the sinking of the Deep Sea, which took place the previous weekend.

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News updated 2:59 PM May 22, 2012 0

Primary’s crucial in District 1 race | Editorial

Island County Commissioner District 1 takes up most of Whidbey Island south of Oak Harbor, running from Clinton to the outskirts of the county’s biggest city. But the best chance for District 1 voters to assure they have the person in office who best reflects their interests is in the primary election. The primary will be held earlier than every this year, on Tuesday, Aug. 7, a mere 11 weeks away. Voters don’t have a lot of time to check out the five candidates in the running.

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Opinion updated 2:48 PM May 22, 2012 0

Summer days bring art | Art and About

Scott Milo Gallery presents SUMMER DAZE, from the Women Painters of Washington. A reception will be from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, June 1 in conjunction with the Gallery Walk.

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Entertainment updated 2:47 PM May 22, 2012 0

A lot of comments from one person

In a recent edition of the Whidbey News-Times the forum was given to educators to give their take on teacher salaries. In the article they pointed out an individual who had previously been published in the forum who was in opposition to salary increases. On its surface it would just seem as though we are seeing both sides of the coin. Yet, the one side of the coin not representing teachers was not the individual I would post in my forum if I was running a newspaper.

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Letters updated 2:46 PM May 22, 2012 8

Don’t betray the public trust

Thanks to Helen Price Johnson for her stand for Conservation Futures. This has been an essential tool for preserving the rural beauty of Island County and for keeping some small part of the islands available for public access. So many of us have worked so hard and spent huge numbers of hours to get Conservation Futures provisions enacted, it would be a major betrayal of public trust to disband it now.

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Letters updated 2:43 PM May 22, 2012 2