Editor,

When we married in 1964, my husband took his first shore duty after five years at sea at another town in Washington. Our money was welcome, but we were not. We hated it so much he went back to sea when the Navy asked for volunteers during Vietnam.

I went home to Portland to live while he road an ammo transport. When he had a chance for shore duty again at the end of 1967, we wondered, where was Whidbey Island?

We found it and fell in love with this special place. Not just the beauty, but it felt like home. People were warm, friendly and ready to help. We really felt we had found a home and were lucky enough to buy some land not far from Ault Field.

The Navy didn’t let us stay here, but we kept our land and returned for good in 1978. We raised our son and lots of critters through the years, and explored every part of this remarkable place.

We spent time and money all over the island, always feeling welcome. We don’t any more. It started with COER and its junk science studies and expensive lawsuits, and now we don’t know how many groups there are.

Even the Town of Coupeville is on the bandwagon. We’ve had it. You don’t want us, we don’t want you. We’ll stay and spend our money where we are welcome, up north.

Maybe if all us “horrible Navy people” only spend our money in Oak Harbor you’ll realize we aren’t so bad after all.

Karen and Ben Bess

Oak Harbor