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Examiner The Whidbey
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News from the Heart of Whidbey Island
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2010
WHIDBEY ISLAND’S ONLY LOCALLY OWNED, INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER
Trillium money goal achieved
Island bounty
By Toni Grove Examiner Staff Writer Volunteers and staff of the Whidbey Camano Land Trust were breathing a bit easier at the end of the day last Friday when months of intense fundraising – and nail-biting – came to an end. On Monday, Development Director Elizabeth Guss confirmed that the group has nearly all the money it needs to buy the $4.2 million Trillium Woods property south of Greenbank and preserve it as publicly accessible open space and wildlife habitat. Friday was the deadline to raise the money needed to buy the 664-acre property. With about $150,000 left to go, Guss said she expects the purchase to close on Sept. 22. If the last few checks and matching donors don’t quite add up to the total purchase price, the group will get a bridge loan to complete the deal. Late last week, Land Trust Communications Specialist Petra Martin had said the group was within $350,000 of their goal, and an anonymous donor had stepped forward with a promise to match any single $100,000 donation. The property first came into the public eye in 1988 when portions of it were clear-cut and local citizens protested the logging. After plans for a proposed 124-home development on the site floundered, the Land Trust sought to buy the land from its current owner, Shoreline Bank, and were given a deadline of June 10 to raise the money needed. A plan for how Trillium Woods will be used by the public has not yet been developed, though Land Trust officials have said they need to raise about $50,000 for maintenance and operations of the property for the next five to seven years. A conservation easement will be filed with the title and the property will be transferred to Island County once the purchase is complete and the debt paid off. “The uses will be spelled out in the conservation easement, a legally binding document,” Guss said. A
Kasia Pierzga / The Whidbey Examiner
Simone White, 5, and her sister Camille, 7, explore the garden at Good Cheer Food Bank in Bayview Saturday during the Whidbey Island Farm Tour. The tour coincided with Good Cheer’s annual Harvest Party and Music Fest, a day-long celebration of the bounty of the garden – and the generosity of those who support the food bank.
Negligent-driving charge dropped By Toni Grove Examiner Staff Writer A charge of negligent driving filed in Island County District Court last week against Coupeville defense attorney Craig Platt has been dismissed. District Court Commissioner Linda B. Kipling signed the order Sept. 9, one day after the story appeared in the Examiner. Documents released this week confirmed that the charges had been dismissed. According to the arrest report, the charges had been filed following Platt’s arrest during an Aug. 28 traffic stop, when an Island County Sheriff’s deputy believed Platt to be intoxicated. Deputy Luke Plambeck stopped Platt near the intersection of Libbey and West Beach roads after observing that he did not dim his car’s high beams until he was
about 100 feet from the deputy’s vehicle, according to the report. Plambeck stated in a signed affidavit that, based on his training and personal experience, “this is a common driving pattern/infraction consistent with that of an impaired driver.” When Plambeck pulled Platt over, he allegedly detected a “strong odor of intoxicants,” and asked Platt to undergo a sobriety test. Plambeck’s report indicated that Platt was cooperative. But when Platt declined to undergo any tests, he was arrested and taken to the Island County Jail in Coupeville. At the jail, about half an hour after the stop, Platt took two breathalyzer tests, which yielded .057 on the first and .054 on the second, which is below the legal limit of .08 percent. Results of the test were released Sept. 9.
Plambeck issued Platt a criminal citation for first-degree negligent driving. Law enforcement can deem a person to be driving impaired, even if the results of the breathalyzer test are below the legal limit. Platt also received a separate traffic citation for failing to dim high beams. While being processed at the jail, Platt told Coupeville Deputy Marshal Adrian Kuschnereit that he felt Plambeck believed him to be intoxicated because of his naturally red complexion, according to a report filed by Kuschnereit. “I was born with it, and that is what he said was a reason for believing I was drunk,” Platt reportedly said. Kuschnereit was present because he had been requested to assist deputy Plambeck at the traffic stop and then to accompany him to the jail. Platt declined to comment. A