Skagit County Sheriff John Boynton (1925 – 1999) 20 years, Democrat, FBI National Academy, WSP dispatcher, son of Dr. George Boynton, married to Lou Jane Boynton
Skagit County Sheriff John Boynton (1925-1999) was not what you saw on the exterior. He was tall, wore a crew cut, and had a stern expression. Around people who didn’t know him, he talked about how law enforcement was like the military. When I first heard him speak about military discipline, I was appalled. It was his way of “breaking in” a young deputy prosecutor. In reality, he had a big heart and was a moderate Democrat in the FDR tradition. John was born and raised in Skagit County, the son of a beloved local physician. John was very bright, understood the political climate of the county, and knew how to manage men and women law enforcement officers.
I think John saw me as a project to be encouraged and guided. He fostered a relationship between the prosecuting attorney and sheriff’s offices, wanting our attention to the felony cases referred by his office. When my office needed assistance finding witnesses or serving a trial summons, his office was responsive. John was easily re-elected County Sheriff, but in the 1980s, he ran for State Representative and lost. The voters wanted him to remain as Sheriff. John also was a friend of the Stevens County Sheriff, who was my father-in-law while I was in the Prosecutor’s office.
Mike Redman, Encourager, Warrior & Loyal Friend (1941-2001)
Mike Redman was my predecessor as San Juan County Prosecuting Attorney, having resigned to become Executive Director of the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys with offices in Olympia. This photo, taken during Mike’s unsuccessful campaign for Attorney General, shows Mike in the center, Pat McMullen on the left, and me on the right.
Mike graduated from Franklin High School in Seattle, Yale University in 1963, and the University of Washington Law School. He then volunteered for the U.S. Army and served in Vietnam. He was featured in the nationally televised special “Halftime,” which traces the lives of five members of his Yale class. It was said correctly about Mike, “He was definitely the guy you wanted in your foxhole when the action started.”
Pat McMullen; Mentor & Friend
Just weeks after taking the Bar Exam, I met Patrick R. McMullen (1945 – 1999) when he was the Skagit County Prosecuting Attorney at the home of Mount Vernon attorney Kenny R. St. Clair. Pat hired me as a Deputy PA starting in October 1976. Pat later served in the Washington State House of Representatives and the Washington State Senate. Most observers believe he would have been appointed U.S. Attorney for Western Washington had he lived a few more years. Pat was an excellent trial lawyer with a humble approach to jurors that confounded opposing lawyers.
Pat McMullen, Bobbie McMullen, and Bill Nielsen, on a beach, circa 1989. Pat and Bill were law school classmates at UW and then worked together when Bill became Pat’s first Chief Civil Deputy PA in the mid-1970s. Bill later went into private practice in Mount Vernon until he was appointed to the Western Washington Growth Management Hearing Board.
Pat and Bobbie were married while Pat was the Skagit County Prosecuting Attorney. Bobbie was a legal assistant for many years and was a steady source of support for Pat as he went into private practice and was elected to the House of Representatives and the Washington State Senate. This photo was taken in the rotunda of the Washington State Capitol when Pat was in either the House or the Senate.
Flying & Sailing the San Juan Islands
The San Juan Islands and San Juan County are a unique and special place to live, offering numerous benefits to both tourists and residents. Debbie and I were blessed to live and work in Friday Harbor from 1977 to 1979. We soon learned that access is both a natural defense in the islands and a severe limitation. You either arrive and depart by boat or airplane. This page is about our use of both transportation methods.
I started taking flying lessons soon after we settled in Friday Harbor. After my first solo flight, my “friends” told me the custom was to “trim the tail feathers” of the pilot. Here are Sheriff Don Brown and Undersheriff Ray Scheffer on June 14, 1978, conducting the ceremonies.
This March 1979 photo is a bit over the top, with the gaze into the distance and the scarf billowing in the breeze at the Friday Harbor airport, as I posed before a Piper PA-28 Cherokee, owned by a flying club I had joined. Unfortunately, it is the only photo I have of the airplane.
I became a student pilot in April 1978, flying in a Cessna 150 (N6989G), and made my first solo in June 1978. I completed my solo cross-country from Friday Harbor to Olympia in January 1979 in the Piper Cherokee 180 (N16351). It was an IFR plane because a club member, a former Navy pilot, wanted to fly on instruments, while the other members were VFR; however, we agreed to the upgrade. Again, a bit over the top!
We owned a San Francisco Pelican, a 12′ flat-bottom wooden class sailboat with a mainsail and bowsprit for rigging a headsail. The Smith Brothers built the boat on Samish Island, where we lived before moving to San Juan Island. This 1977 photo shows me at the tiller and Debbie tending a line as we are being launched into Padilla Bay at Bayview State Park.
In the San Juan Islands, a flat-bottom boat allows access to sandy beaches that other seacraft cannot reach. In the top photo, I am working on our San Francisco Pelican on “Pelican Beach” (aka Pelican Bay) on Cypress Island on July 2, 1978, with our friend Denny Stewart. In the photo below, Debbie is at the same beach the next day, snorkeling for seafood for the annual seafood bake on Pelican Beach. We sailed to Cypress Island from Friday Harbor to meet our group of friends arriving from the mainland for the Fourth of July weekend. More recently, the Washington DNR has installed buoys in the bay for larger craft to moor offshore.
Public Office Years
I graduated from Gonzaga University Law School in 1976, took the Washington State Bar Exam in the fall of that year, and, pending the results of the bar exam, worked as a legal intern for Pat McMullen, the Skagit County Prosecuting Attorney. I tried cases representing the State in both the District Court and the Juvenile Court. After passing the bar exam, I was sworn in as a member of the Washington State Bar Association in January 1977.
Skagit County, 1977
An article in the January 6, 1977, Courier-Times about my appointment as deputy prosecuting attorney quotes me as saying I respected District 3 Judge Hugh Ridgway because “He’s a country lawyer. He knows the law. He’s competent.” Here I was, just a couple of months out of law school, endorsing a veteran judge. Get a grip on yourself, Tom
San Juan County, 1977 – 1979
After nine months as a Deputy PA, and having been called as a special DPA in San Juan County to prosecute a felony case in Juvenile Court, I was encouraged to apply to become the San Juan County Prosecuting Attorney to fill the vacancy following the resignation of Mike Redman. Vacancies are filled by a vote of the Board of County Commissioners, who selected me. I arrived in Friday Harbor by ferry and returned home the same day with a new job.
San Juan County Superior Court Judge Howard Patrick also served as Island County Judge and happened to be on the bench in Friday Harbor the day I was appointed PA. No time was wasted in conducting a swearing-in ceremony in his courtroom. He was a great jurist who was admired and respected by the lawyers and other judges.
Front page of the September 1977 issue of the San Juan Journal, which isabout my appointment as San Juan County PA. It was a one-attorney office with a legal secretary as support staff. The PA’s office was across the street from the Courthouse in Friday Harbor.
One thing I did not anticipate when I accepted the appointment as PA was that I would also become the County Coroner. This montage of articles includes a photo of me at the scene of a plane crash at Roche Harbor on San Juan Island that claimed the lives of four people.
Living on San Juan Island provided challenges and opportunities in abundance. Accessing the island is on top of the list of challenges. The solutions we found are explained here.
Skagit County, 1979 – 1986
December 1979, in Superior Court after a hearing on the proposed nuclear plant advisory ballot. At the counsel table are Pat McMullen, Tom Moser, Bill Nielsen, and Paul Luvera. In the background is Skagit County Commissioner Bud Norris.
I returned to Skagit County in 1979 to accept an appointment as Chief Civil Deputy by my friend and mentor, Pat McMullen, Skagit County Prosecutor. Two years later, Pat resigned, and I was appointed to fill his term as the elected Prosecuting Attorney. I had formed a relationship with the Board of Commissioners during my time representing the County as Chief Civil Deputy. Most of my work was land-use matters, resolving civil litigation and making sure the County stayed out of trouble. One of my first tasks as the new PA was to hire a new Chief Civil Deputy. Thankfully, John Moffat applied for the position and was selected. John had a background in legal services and became a valuable asset to the PA’s office.
Skagit County Superior Court Judges Harry Follman and Walter Deirelein swore in three elected officials in December 1980. Skagit County Commissioners Jerry Mansfield and Bud Norris were both sworn in for a second term. I was sworn in for my first full four-year term as Prosecuting Attorney.
My public office days ended with the 1986 election. To the left is a portion of a campaign flyer that included a photo of me with John Boynton, Skagit County Sheriff, who became a friend during my tenure as prosecutor. The voters set me free, but at the time it was an unwelcomed interruption in both my career and personal life.
