Council ponders TV cable deal
Oak Harbor residents who are happy or unhappy with their cable service may want to attend the City Council meeting next Tuesday night at 7 p.m.
Council members will consider extending a franchise agreement with AT&T Broadband for three years. In a separate action, they will also consider renegotiating the city’s current contract with AT&T.
At the last meeting, several council members expressed displeasure about the city’s current cable service, particularly with the channels that are offered.
“Rarely a week goes by,” Councilwoman Sheilah Crider said, “when someone doesn’t comment to me how their needs aren’t being met in this arena.”
Councilman Paul Brewer suggested that the city solicit bids from other cable providers.
If there is a renegotiation, City Attorney Phil Bleyhl said the city may ask AT&T to extend fiber optic cables into the city to expand the channel line-up.
An island-wide look at the cable industry can be found on page 2 of today’s Whidbey News-Times.
Are you missing something?
Friday morning, a very friendly cat stepped into the Whidbey News-Times and made himself at home. He’s a long-haired orange tomcat. Everyone at the newspaper agrees that this gorgeous guy is too clean and neat to be a stray — his coat and amber eyes are shiny and clean. And his fantastic tail isn’t mussed at all. He isn’t declawed and his paws are a bit soft for a street cat. We think he simply wandered away from his home to visit. Unfortunatley, he wasn’t wearing a collar.
Don’t worry, he wasn’t shown the door at 5 p.m. Mr. Cat is spending the weekend as a pampered houseguest. If you or someone you know is frantically looking for their pet, call the Whidbey News-Times’ cat hotline, 675-6611, on Monday morning. Ask to speak with Bev Babb.
Playhouse auditions
Whidbey Playhouse will have auditions at 7 p.m., Feb. 4 and 5 for “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)”. All 37 works of Shakespeare are included in this production that’s called a hilarious slapstick show that summarizes all the playwright’s stage work, with the sonnets thrown in. The play will debut in April.
Anyone interested in being cast in this production should come prepared with a two-minute monologue. Call 679-2237 for more information.
Smith ahead in money race
Three island-living Republicans are running for Congress, and one claims she’s got more money than the others.
Langley resident Norma Smith reported this week that she has raised $54,659 for her campaign, and had $45,083 cash on hand at the end of 2001.
Smith said that’s more than her two opponents for the Republican nomination have available. Fellow Langley resident Kelly Barlean raised $76,337 through the end of the year but had only $20,661 on hand at year’s end. Herb Meyer, and resident of the San Juan Islands, raised $15,495 last year and still held $14,247. The figures came from Smith’s office, which cited the Federal Elections Commission as the source.
The three candidates and possibly others (the official filing period will be in July) will meet in the September primary for the right to advance to the general election. The Second Congressional District is held by Democrat Rick Larsen.
