The following are segments of stories taken from the front pages of the Whidbey Island Record 50, 25 and 15 years ago on Wednesday, Nov. 18, 1965, Tuesday, Nov. 20, 1990 and Saturday, Nov. 18, 2000.
50 years ago
Editor: Ace Comstock
Commissioners to Study Proposed Billboard Law
“County Commissioner Ed Christoe has agreed to bring to the attention of his fellow commissioners a proposed county ordinance for the regulation and control of billboards along the county’s roads and highways.
“The ordinance is the product of several months of study by a committee from the Central Whidbey Chamber of Commerce. The committee, which included several business people, a realtor and Attorney Dick Pitt, patterned the proposed ordinance after others in existence elsewhere.
“One major item of the proposed ordinance is that existing signs are exempt from provisions of the ordinance for a period of one year after its passage.
“The proposed ordinance also provides for the screening and fencing of automobile junk yards and other junk yards and provides penalties for the violation of the ordinance.”
25 years ago
Editor: Jim Larsen
Project to create 51 new lots
“The city of Langley has issued a Mitigated Determination of Nonsignificance on a new 51 lot plat called ‘The Cedars’ on the south side of Sandy Point Road opposite the south end of Decker Street in Langley.
“The Cedars, a development being proposed by Richard A. Johnson Co. and Al Kittleson, contains 27 acres to be divided into lots with two open space areas. The development would be hooked up to Langley’s water and sewer system.”
15 years ago
Editor: Jim Larsen
No decision after first round of Exxon battle
“At what several observers said was one of the most crowded public hearing of the last two decades, more than 150 people crammed themselves into the commissioners’ meeting room at the Island County Courthouse Thursday morning to find out whether developers will be able to build a new gas station complex in Freeland.
“The crowd, which was composed primarily of opponents to the Exxon gas station, mini-mart and car wash proposed by Freeland’s A-OOK development group, probably spent more time waiting and listening than any other that has gathered for a land-use hearing in recent memory. They kept it up for five hours as expert witnesses and attorneys argued before Island County Hearing Examiner Michael Bobink. And they will have to do it again Monday, when the hearing moves into a second session at the Coupeville Rec Hall.”
