Thieves de-tentacle the Kraken

Vol. 126,
No. 31
News-Times
Whidbey
SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 2016
Blue Fox tossing tires
page 4
Your hometown newspaper for 126 years
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Thieves de-tentacle the Kraken
By RON NEWBERRY
[email protected]
Ron Newberry file photo
A 4-foot tentacle from
the Kraken sculpture on
Pioneer Way was stolen.
It could be a difficult case to crack.
One of the City of Oak Harbor’s most
controversial pieces of artwork has been detentacled.
Someone has stolen the tentacle from the
kraken sculpture.
The Oak Harbor Police, notified Tuesday of
the theft by a city employee, is asking for the
public’s help to locate the 4-foot hammered
copper tentacle that once wrapped around a
pole near the intersection of SE Pioneer Way
and City Beach Street.
The detached limb was part of the bronze
giant octopus sculpture the city paid $33,000
for an Oregon artist to construct.
The public art was installed in February
2015, including the tentacle that climbed a
pole across the street from the sea monster,
giving the illusion that it had traveled underneath the road.
Someone shattered that illusion, leaving
police to seek public input on the tentacle’s
possible whereabouts.
“At that particular intersection, we don’t
have a camera,” Oak Harbor Police Chief Ed
Greens said. “We’re very dependent on someone seeing something.”
Skip Pohtilla, chairman of the city’s Art
Commission, said he noticed something bare
about that intersection around the one-year
anniversary of the kraken’s installation in late
February, then did a double-take, noticing
that the largest of two tentacles was gone.
SEE KRAKEN, A10
Teens arrested after
video shows chicken
tossed into bonfire
By JESSIE STENSLAND
[email protected]
Two juveniles were arrested for animal cruelty after
allegedly dousing a chicken with gasoline and throwing it
in a bonfire on Camano Island, according to Island County
Sheriff Mark Brown.
On April 13, a staff member at Pasado’s Safe Haven, an
animal sanctuary in Sultan, reported the suspected animal
cruelty case to the Island County Sheriff’s Office. Kim
Koon, an investigator for Pasado, provided investigators
with a report of the incident and a link to the video of the
alleged crime being committed.
SEE TEENS, A10
Pot grower asks for
after-the-fact approval
By DAN RICHMAN
[email protected]
A Woodinville couple yesterday sought, and will likely
get, county permission to do what they’ve already been
doing for two years: use the buildings in an Oak Harbor
industrial park to grow and process marijuana.
Island County officials earlier this week pled ignorance
of the apparent land-use infraction, despite repeated complaints from a neighbor, notice of the unapproved use from
a reporter, and multiple stories in the Whidbey NewsTimes as early as 2014 detailing tenants in the buildings
being kicked out to make way for marijuana operations.
“What is the point of laws if they are not enforced?” asked
the neighbor, Mike Haun, owner of Precision Tire Factory
SEE POT, A11
Photo by Ron Newberry/Whidbey News-Times
A fiery celebration in store at Ebey’s Landing
On a recent evening, the windows of the historic Ferry House in Coupeville reflect a fiery sunset. The structure, built in
1860, is one of Washington’s oldest residential buildings and one of the signature landmarks of the Ebey’s Landing National
Historical Reserve, a unit of the National Park Service. The Ferry House is owned by the National Park Service, which is
celebrating its 100-year anniversary this year. As part of several events planned to celebrate the centennial, the Reserve is
teaming up with the Coupeville Farm to School program from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. today at the historic Jacob Ebey House to
celebrate farming and food and offer free Junior Ranger activities for children ages 7 to 14. The Jacob Ebey House is located
a short trail walk from Sunnyside Cemetery in Coupeville.
Page A10
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KRAKEN
CONTINUED FROM A1
He contacted the city’s
senior planner, Cac Kamak,
and the matter was discussed
at the art commission’s
March meeting.
“I think it’s probably gone
for good,” Pohtilla said, adding the cost of both tentacles
were several thousand dollars. “It’s upsetting. The city
paid for it. It’s the citizens
of Oak Harbor’s artwork.
Somebody who took it is tak-
ing it from the entire community. It’s just not right for
them to deface public property like that.”
The kraken project drew
criticism from the start as it
depicted the giant octopus
swallowing a Nautilus submarine in a city so closely affiliated with Naval Air Station
Whidbey Island.
Former mayor Scott
Dudley voiced his disapprov-
al of the art, which like other
public art pieces in the city,
are funded by a 0.25 percent
utility tax on water, sewer and
garbage.
Others like the sea creature, inspired by the giant
octopus in Jules Verne’s 1870
novel, “Twenty-Thousand
Leagues Under the Sea.”
“Who’s not a Jules Verne
fan?” Green said. “Personally,
I like it. I like art being incorporated into the city environment. I think it enhances the
environment around the city.”
Copper theft is a widespread problem and Pohtilla
suspects that’s the reason for
the tentacle’s disappearance.
“What’s a little concerning
is folks who accept copper
for recycling are supposed
to certify where the copper
comes from, something of
that nature,” Pohtilla said.
“That’s obviously not a random piece of property.”
“It’s going to be real obvious,” Green said.
Anyone with knowledge of
the missing art piece may
notify Oak Harbor police by
calling the department’s nonemergency line at 360-6799567.
Saturday, April 16, 2016 • Whidbey News-Times
TEENS
CONTINUED FROM A1
Brown said the video
shows “the live chicken
being thrown into a bonfire,
drenched in gasoline and
beaten with a pitchfork.”
The flaming chicken runs
out of the fire and the teenagers pour more gas on the
bird. Laughter can be heard
in the background.
Animal Control Officer
Carol Barnes and Lt. Jeff
Myers investigated the case
and arrested two teenage
boys, ages 15 and 16, on
suspicion of first-degree animal cruelty.
One teenager is from
Camano Island and the
other is from Stanwood.
“They both appeared
to be remorseful after the
fact,” Barnes said, adding
that the boys were cooperative with the investigation.
The incident occurred
during the teenagers’
spring break. The boys
shared the video with
friends but don’t know who
posted it on Twitter.
The teenagers were
booked
into
Island
County juvenile facility in
Coupeville.
Saturday, April 16, 2016 • Whidbey News-Times
POT
CONTINUED FROM A1
& Auto Center. “It is so discouraging.”
Christina and Scott
Hensrude for about three
years have owned seven of
the 11 buildings between
3143 and 3171 Goldie Road,
on the west side of that road
between Industrial Avenue
and West Ault Field Road,
said Scott Hensrude, 55, on
Tuesday.
At a hearing Friday, in a
process known as a site plan
review, they sought county
permission to convert the
seven buildings away from
rented commercial space,
using 41,646 square feet
for marijuana growing and
10,412 square feet for processing.
There’s just one problem:
Five of the seven buildings
in the six-acre complex have
already been converted,
without the permission of
the county. Pot is also being
grown in a sixth building.
At yesterday’s hearing,
Hiller West, the county’s
director of current-use planning and community development, posed no objections
to the proposed conversion.
Hearing Examiner Michael
Bobbink said he will rule on
the proposal within ten days.
Unopposed reviews are usually granted.
A visit to the complex
Monday revealed that five
buildings are surrounded
by high cyclone fencing rendered opaque by slats and
topped with coils of razor
wire. One man behind the
fencing, who declined to give
his name or be interviewed,
confirmed that marijuana is
being grown and processed
there. Another man, who
declined to come out from
behind the fence, give his
name or be interviewed,
described himself as a tenant
at the facility. The aroma of
marijuana was present.
One of the two buildings
not yet fenced has also been
home to a grow operation for
about six months, said Terry
Boese, the tenant next door
to the grow.
The buildings’ owner said
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he has no idea what is going
on in the buildings, despite
the fact that he collects rent
from multiple tenants growing and processing pot there.
“I own those buildings, but
I don’t go to them for months
at a time,” Scott Hensrude
said Tuesday. “I don’t know
how long (the marijuana
operation) has been up and
running. I’m a landlord, an
owner of properties. I’ve been
very successful.”
West yesterday continued
to insist the county has no
knowledge of the unlawful
use. On Tuesday, he said
didn’t know the buildings
were already being used for
marijuana.
“If they’re doing it without
site plan review, they’re doing
it illegally,” he said. Though
informed of the violation by
a reporter, who documented
the situation with photographs, he said the county
lacks official knowledge until
a complaint has been filed.
And as of Tuesday, none had
been filed, said county codeenforcement officer John
Clark.
If a complaint is filed, then
Clark must investigate, West
said. A finding that the owner
proceeded without site plan
review would be a violation
of the county’s land-use code,
Clark said. It could lead to the
county’s issuing a cease-anddesist order, imposing fines
and possibly initiating legal
action by the county’s prosecutor, West said.
“I have complained over
and over again, for years,”
Haun, the tire-store owner,
testified under oath at yesterday’s hearing. “I have tried to
make contact with the county
enforcers, and they never got
back to me. These guys have
just done what they want and
steamrolled everyone. Is it
my responsibility to come
down and enforce it?”
Bobbink said he will not
be considering any land-use
violations in his deliberations,
because they are “extraneous.”
When asked after the hearing why he had approved
the plan when he knew of
prior violations, West replied,
“Actually, I don’t have knowledge. There’s been no complaint filed.” Just having been
Page A11
told about the violation, even
by credible sources, doesn’t
equate to “knowledge,” he
said. “People mention things
to me all the time. That
doesn’t mean I have evidence.”
Not all recreational-marijuana businesspeople take
county approval as casually
as the Hensrudes.
Lucas Jushinski waited
“months and months, spent
thousands and thousands on
rent” while the county deliberated over his permits, he
said.
“I didn’t consider going
ahead without county approval,” he said. “I didn’t want
the county to come in and
close me down.” He finally
got approval recently and
planned to open Island Herb,
a retail store in Freeland, last
week.
Maureen Cooke, owner
of Whidbey Island Cannabis
Company, in the store’s early
days suffered a stop-work
order because she opened
her store without a site plan
approval.
The county has long had
ample opportunity to learn
what was going on at the
Oak Harbor complex, formally known as North Whidbey
Business Center. One former
tenant there, Mark Calim of
Mark’s Auto Repair, said in
a May 2014 Whidbey NewsTimes story that he was
essentially kicked out of his
location to make way for marijuana-related enterprises.
Another tenant, not-for-profit
Garage of Blessings, said in
June 2014 that it had gotten a
letter from the property manager saying that its property
would be fenced and that,
as of July 2014, customers
would lose access to a garage
filled with the free, used
items the charity gives away.
If Bobbink approves the
conversion request, all the
remaining tenants at 3161,
3159 and 3163 Goldie Road
(two buildings, despite three
addresses) will be forced
to vacate. From north to
south, they are: Whidbey
Island Homebrew Supply,
Valdez Construction, Arirang
Garden Korean and Japanese
Food, Garage of Blessings
and Mobile Music, a car-stereo store.