A proposition to continue a levy that funds ambulances and other emergency medical services on Whidbey Island will go before the voters on the Aug. 7 election ballot, but due to declining property values it may bring in less than the old levy.

Whidbey General Hospital commissioners approved a resolution Monday that places the levy on the ballot. If passed, it would continue the current levy of 50 cents per $1,000 of assessed value for another six years. That equates to $150 a year for the owner of a home worth $300,000.

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A 49-year-old Oak Harbor man is accused of raping his friend’s son repeatedly, molesting a teenaged girl, asking children for sex and providing a child with marijuana, court documents allege.

Roderick Woods was charged in Island County Superior Court March 6 with two counts of rape of a child in the first degree, child molestation in the second degree, two counts of communicating with a minor for immoral purposes and distribution of marijuana to a minor.

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The controversial issue of “accident potential zones” is landing back on Island County’s agenda.

Representatives from the Island County planning department and Whidbey Island Naval Air Station will be at a meeting concerning the county’s APZ at 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 7 at the conference room of the Oak Harbor Library.

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A 39-year-old South Whidbey man who allegedly burglarized a Freeland home was caught green-handed, court documents indicate.

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Every dog may have its day, but the time still wasn’t right for a new county ordinance on canine licenses. Island County commissioners held a public hearing Monday, but didn’t take any action, on a proposed ordinance that would simplify the fees for dog licenses and increase the redemption fees for picking up lost dogs and for surrendering pooches to a shelter.

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A 65-year-old man who used to volunteer at the Oak Harbor School District was recently sent to prison after being caught in a Skagit County Sheriff’s Office sting operation in which he thought he was meeting an underaged girl for sex.

Court documents from the criminal case indicate that Jonathon Kruse admitted that he had sexually abused nine children, 18 adult women, one man and even a few dogs during his lifetime.

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Island County commissioners will consider an ordinance Monday that increases dog license fees and the cost of getting a pooch out of doggy jail.

Betty Kemp, manager of the general services department, said the increases are based on a survey of what other jurisdictions charge for dog tags and the redemption of lost dogs at animal shelters. She said the proposed charges would put the county’s fees in the middle of the pack. In addition, she said the increase would bring the county slightly closer to recovering the cost of providing animal control.

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