Idyllic life turns to nightmare

CRESCENT BAR — After Orlan and Jean Wood signed a lease for a small spot on Crescent Bar Island in 1988, they moved in to enjoy their retirement.

Now they have trouble sleeping, wondering where and how they’ll finish out their years. Their dream has become a nightmare.

The Woods and numerous other couples were informed on April 26 that the Grant County Public Utility District will not renew a lease of the island. The lease with the Port of Quincy allowed people like the Woods to develop it for domestic use during the last four decades.

The Woods, 77 and 75, are still hopeful that a new lease can be worked out between the PUD and the port and that their home will be saved. But they have joined with other lease-holders — perhaps as many as 400 — to consider attorneys and plans for a legal battle.

“This is not the end of it,” Orlan said with a combative tone. “I’m 77 years old, and this is my home.”

“There’s about 80 of us that these are our homes,” he added. “There’s a number of us that this is it.”

According to Orlan, the 400 lease-holders on the island stand to lose about $60 million with the eviction. That is how much they estimate they’ve put into developing their sites collectively.

Actually, Orlan said, the lease-holders have already lost most of that. The forced move has taken the value out of everything they own.

“They want us to totally get out of here, tear up the concrete and the pavement, and we pay for it,” Orlan said.

The situation has become a sore subject between the Woods. Jean became uneasy after re-licensing of the PUD’s dams. She had a feeling her world was about to turn upside down.

“I wanted to sell five years ago, and he pooh-poohed it,” she said.

Orlan based his rejection of her idea on representatives of the PUD. He said they visited with lease-holders and assured them that things would work out and that leases would be extended.

“It was expected because of the tremendous amount of money that was invested here,” Orlan said. “This doesn’t make economic sense. It doesn’t make any sense at all.”

The decision not to sell is water under the bridge now, but Orlan wistfully says he should have listened to Jean. Their place was worth upwards of $300,000 then.

Meanwhile Jean has tempered her feelings on the matter. She knows that if she and Orlan had sold, they would have saddled another couple with the problem they now face.

The Woods moved to Crescent Bar with a 12-foot by 34-foot Park Model RV trailer. Orlan added 600 square feet of living space, including a master bedroom. He also added a deck.

“We lived in a 3,200-square-foot home on the West side,” Orlan said. “I’m not going to go from a 3,200-square foot home to that trailer of 400 feet and retire happily.”

Orlan noted one of the complaints during this controversy is lease-holders exceeding their authority by adding to their trailers. It was encouraged by Crescent Bar Inc., he said, and all construction was approved by an architecture committee, and permitted and inspected by Grant County. He said lease-holders never saw a written prohibition of construction.

“We didn’t know it, and they never enforced it,” Orlan said. “My first contact with a PUD person occurred in 1998.”

The mess the Woods and others are experiencing began around 1970 when the PUD signed a lease with the Port of Quincy to develop the island. There are several stories as to why.

After 40 years there are probably few people alive who know the truth, according to the Woods. The story Orlan believes is the PUD failed at making the island an attractive recreational area.

The Woods came into the picture in 1986 at a Renton High School reunion. A classmate of Jean’s who lived on the island told the couple of the beauty of the area and the sunshine of Central Washington. He recommended it for retirement.

Orlan worked at Boeing and the stress of the job was causing depression. It was becoming time for retirement.

Jean had her own business, a specialty fabric store in the Southcenter area. It was successful but profited so little that her hourly wage didn’t qualify as minimum.

The Woods decided to visit Crescent Bar Island. They liked what they saw and sat down with representatives of Crescent Bar Inc. It had sub-leased the island from the Port of Quincy and offered yet another sub-lease to couples or individuals.

The Woods understood the island was government land of some type, but they never talked to the PUD or the port. They didn’t know of the existence of those entities. All they knew was their deal was with Crescent Bar, Inc.

“I asked what the term of the lease was, and they said 2023,” Orlan said. “I figured I’d be 90 by then and no longer living here.”

Actually, the Woods thought they’d be dead or in some type of assisted living facility by then.

Jean has Parkinson’s, and Orlan tries to shield her from community discussions of their situation. He says stress aggravates her condition.

Orlan has his own medical challenges. He is a cancer survivor, having waged battle with the disease in 2000. The radiation treatments that saved him left him with saliva glands that no longer function.

Orlan carries a bottle of water in a hip holster constantly and must take a sip every two or three minutes to keep his throat from drying. He eats mostly soft foods because it is difficult to swallow, and he takes most of his pills with yogurt.

“I used to love food,” he said. “Man, I could eat.”

Orlan retired on $1,025 per month from Boeing. He still gets $1,025, but the couple enjoys only $725 of it. He must keep his $400 a month medical insurance to be able to afford his medications. Most of the Woods’ lifestyle depends on Social Security.

“We took odd jobs here and there to supplement our income,” Jean said.

The Woods have started to look at their options. The first one they considered is the purchase of a 3 bedroom, 2 bath “basic” house in a new development at Quincy. It would cost about $160,000, or all of the money they have saved.

“We thought we were going to live off of that the rest of our lives,” Orlan said.

The Woods’ 50-year-old son offered to help Orlan do the finish work on the house after it is framed. It would save about $20,000. They could save a little more by installing some of the fixtures in their home on the island.

“I put more than $100,000 into this place, and all I’d get to keep is the fixtures,” Orlan said, shaking his head.

Jean doesn’t like this plan. She doesn’t believe Orlan will be able to do the work without paying a physical cost. He agrees, saying he may be too old.

A second option would be buying a pad at the Quincy Golf Course and moving their home there. That would cost thousands. The Woods would have to detach the added construction that is lag-bolted on, install new wheels and tires and a towing tongue.

“And it takes a diesel semi to pull this thing,” Orlan said.

Already the Woods don’t like the second plan. The space at the golf course is not as large as the space on the island.

“I can’t get this much on their lot. I’d have to do something different,” Orlan said.

The option that is starting to emerge as number one is a move back to the West side. Jean would like to be closer to her family in Western Washington and relatives in Canada. The humid West side would also be good for Orlan’s physical condition.

The Woods believe the move would cost upward of $200,000. But they could mitigate some of that cost with the purchase of a foreclosed home.

“I’ve given it to the Lord,” Jean said. “He knows our situation. He’ll put us where we need to be.”

Orlan is a believer too, but not quite to the same level. He believes there are things he is required to do.

“I pray to the Lord that He may work through me,” he said.

Considering all of the cost and work in moving, the Woods hope God will keep them where they are. That would be the best outcome.

Meanwhile, the stress is getting to Orlan. He has a tough time falling asleep at night. He is constantly mulling the future and the present.