Posts by Betty Freeman

Langley’s Mystery Weekend began in January1984, based on the game of “Clue,” with a handful of actors and co-writers. Josh Hauser, owner of Moonraker Books, was the first murderer. She “poisoned” popular local dentist Ric Prael. Hauser is still participating as an actor in 2025. Another actor was with Mystery Weekend since it began until his death in 2021. John Ball was the murderer five times, most recently in 2018, when he was “arrested” for the murder of Merlin Mariner.

Various writers contributed to the early Mystery Weekend stories from1984 to 1989. Chris Crotty was the main writer from 1990 to 1999, with several co-writers over those years. Loretta Martin has been the chief writer since 1999, with co-writers Saranell DeChambeau, Mike Hill and Rachel McDougald.

The first Mystery Weekend Loretta Martin was officially involved in was “Death Takes a Mulligan” by Chris Crotty in 1998. Martin was the newly hired Chamber Director and, even though it was a surprising amount of work to produce the event, she loved it. 

During those first years the Chamber produced the mystery with no other income besides asking the merchants to pay for the printing costs of their clues. The Chamber paid the other costs and the Mystery was free to the public.

When Loretta Martin tallied the final expenses from the 1998 Mystery Weekend, she was shocked to see how much it was costing the Chamber to produce and advertise the event. She spoke to several Board members, and they told her that the Island County Tourism Grants had given money to support the event for about five years but had told them in 1994 that the event should be able to support itself after ten years. Martin knew the Chamber budget could not support the event much longer at the over $3,500 it was costing at that time to produce.

Martin said, “The largest expense for the event was the cost of the writer, so, since I had a lot of television writing and producing experience under my belt, and was already an employee, I volunteered to write the event myself at no extra cost to the Chamber of Commerce.”

When Martin started writing the Langley Mystery in 1999, she remembered the mystery newspaper one of the first writers had made part of her story. Martin liked the idea and decided to add The Langley Gazette to her first mystery. Adding …

The first of the North Puget Sound Gray Whales or “Sounders” has returned to the Salish Sea early, continuing a recent trend of early arrivals. Cascadia Research and Orca Network have confirmed that the whale, known as Little Patch (CRC-53), was first identified and photographed in Saratoga Passage on December 11. 

“After I spotted the whale, I was joined by other Camano whale watchers who were excited to greet the first Sounder of the season,” said Serena Tierra, Co-Coordinator for Orca Network’s Whale Sighting Network. “This is such a special time of year for residents of North Puget Sound because it provides an opportunity to see whales close to shore and form connections as you get to know them as individuals.” 

This is the fifth season in a row that Little Patch has shown up in either December or January, choosing to return to the Salish Sea early and forgo the migration to winter breeding areas in Mexico. The other Sounders are expecting to arrive between January and April, with most returning in early March.

The Sounders are a group of gray whales who annually detour from their migration between the Bering Sea and Baja, Callifornia, to spend time in the waters of the Salish Sea. Cascadia Research first documented the group in 1990, and has been studying them ever since. Little Patch was first identified in 1991 and has been seen 26 different years since.

While in the Salish Sea, the Sounders primarily feed on ghost shrimp in the intertidal regions around Whidbey and Camano Islands and the Snohomish River delta. Gray whales went through an Unusual Mortality Event from 2019 to 2023 that killed thousands of whales in the eastern North Pacific population. During that time, the number of Sounders increased to almost 20 individuals as hungry whales discovered the abundant ghost shrimp here, and a few enjoyed extended stays in the area rather than continuing on their migrations.

Vessel operators of all types are reminded to be on the lookout for these slow moving animals and to share the water. Gray whales can surface anywhere unexpectedly. Follow all Be Whale Wise laws/guidelines (www.bewhalewise.org) while on the water. At first sight of any whale all vessels should slow to under 7 knots and keep at least 100 yards distance from gray whales.

Whale sightings from the public provide critical information about the travels of the whales, and timely …