A former Oak Harbor teenager who accidentally started a house fire that killed his mother last year will not be charged with a crime.
Island County Prosecutor Greg Banks announced this week that he was declining to file charges against the 15-year-old boy after a forensic psychologist concluded that he “is not an arsonist and not prone to engage in fire setting behaviors.”
Commissioners on the Whidbey General Hospital board decided to move the start time of their regular meetings back an hour to 5 p.m. beginning next year.
The commissioners also discussed the possibility of holding the meetings, which are on the second Monday of each month, at 7 a.m., which is preferred by hospital administrators. But that idea was scotched because of the difficulty it would pose to physicians who attend the meetings.
A former Oak Harbor teenager who accidentally started a house fire that killed his mother last year will not be charged with a crime.
The date for the so-called Barefoot Bandit to appear in Island County Superior Court has finally been set.
Colton Harris-Moore is scheduled to appear in court on Friday, Dec. 16 to enter guilty pleas to crimes he allegedly committed in the state. Harris-Moore, a 20-year-old Camano Island resident, has already pleaded guilty to seven federal criminal charges in U.S. District Court in Seattle.
Investigators have exhausted leads in the mysterious disappearance of an elderly, medically fragile North Whidbey woman who hasn’t been seen since June.
A 42-year-old Sedro-Woolley man caught driving drunk on South Whidbey Aug. 9 will likely be going to prison because of four prior DUI convictions.
William Shuler pleaded guilty Island County Superior Court Nov. 14 to felony DUI.
Island County commissioners increased county current expense fund, county roads and Conservation Futures levies by 1 percent Monday.
Budget Director Elaine Marlow gave the commissioners a PowerPoint presentation about the budget just prior to the vote. She explained that the budget the commissioners adopted in October assumed the 1 percent increase and would have to be modified if the increases weren’t adopted. Without the modest hike, she said further cuts may have to be made to programs or the workforce.
Island County Commissioner Kelly Emerson was snubbed by her colleagues on the board when she sought to become the new chairwoman Monday, further stoking hard feelings between her and the other two commissioners.
“You’re out of line in implying that I’m not doing an adequate job and I resent it,” Emerson said in response to Commissioner Angie Homola’s explanation of why she felt Emerson wasn’t ready for the position.
A child molester was recently sent to prison after investigators discovered he was living in Oak Harbor without registering as a sex offender.
A 22-year-old Navy man is accused of entering his ex-girlfriend’s home in the middle of the night and assaulting her and her new boyfriend as they were asleep in bed, court documents allege.
Prosecutors charged Edgardo Pabonbaez in Island County Superior Court Nov. 2 with assault in the second degree and assault in the fourth degree.
The budget the Island County commissioners adopted just last month may have to be revised, possibly even before the end of the year, if state lawmakers adopt $2 billion in cuts proposed by Gov. Chris Gregoire.
North Whidbey voters passed a renewal levy that will allow the North Whidbey Parks and Recreation District to keep the Oak Harbor pool open, according to the first count of ballots in the Nov. 8 election.
A 38-year-old former Oak Harbor man will have to register as a sex offender under a plea bargain worked out in an unusual case in which a child rape conviction was thrown out by an appeals court.
