Ferry Service Bellingham Wa

ONE WOMAN - TWO STORIES: Thomas goes from devoted mom to accused murderer

Or calculating chameleon, and accomplice to first-degree murder.

Two starkly different pictures of Peggy Sue Thomas began to emerge this week as Island County authorities prepare to arraign the former hairdresser and beauty queen in the Christmastime murder of Russel Douglas.

Douglas was found dead in the front seat of his 2002 Chevrolet Tracker next to a wooded driveway on Wahl Road; the door to his car open, the window down about six inches, and Douglas, buckled in his seat. He had been shot once, in the head.

Police claim that James "Jim" Huden killed Douglas, a Langley resident and father of two, after he was lured to his death by Thomas, Huden's mistress at the time.

Huden was arrested in June in Mexico, and Thomas was taken into custody in Navajo Lake, N.M., where she had been living on her half-million dollar houseboat called "Off the Hook."

One woman, two stories

At a bail hearing earlier this week, Craig Platt , an attorney for Thomas, described Thomas as a law-abiding citizen with a good reputation in the community, and a mother devoted to her children.

Platt recalled how Thomas had served in the Navy - her father was retired Navy, and her stepmom, a former police officer - and said she was a highly skilled aircraft mechanic before getting an honorable discharge after her four-year stint ended in 1992.

She later found work at BF Goodrich in Everett, he added.

"She was the first female at BF Goodrich to be promoted to lead mechanic," Platt said, but gave up the job to be more active in the lives of her children.

Back on Whidbey, she worked as a hairstylist in Langley; at Atellier, then Studio A, before opening her own place, called Baker Street Hair Theater .

She later moved to Nevada and was a driver for Presidential Limo in Las Vegas from 2003 to 2006, but quit after getting married to Mark Allen .

Platt recalled how Thomas had coached girls basketball for the South Whidbey School District, and was the vice president of the booster and scholarship fund at the high school in Roswell, N.M., where her teens went to school after her marriage.

RVing Alaska: New ferry service from Bellingham, Washington to ...

The new route aboard the 499-passenger MV Kennicott will place travelers just 60 miles south of Anchorage, where they can then access Southcentral and Interior Alaska via highway or the Alaska Railroad. Another new addition to the Alaska Marine Highway summer schedule is weekly service to the community of Gustavus, being added to the schedule for the first time in the system’s history. Gustavus is the gateway to Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve and adjacent to the Tongass National Forest. For more information, visit www.FerryAlaska.com . Both the ferry and the Alaska Highway are must-sees. If you're only going once, do the highway in one direction and the ferry in the other. Unfortunately, the ferry cruises all night, so you will miss some scenery.

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