Around here….

Sam & mom Laurie & papa Tim join in the singing for Tallulah's fourth birthday.

There are all kinds of stuff happening around here…here’s a start:

• It was Tallulah’s fourth birthday last night, so everyone at the Community Dinner & the band sang happy birthday for her – she was beaming throughout. Here’s a picture of her & Laurie when she was seven weeks old (click here, and scroll about halfway down).

• Kelly Carlisle wrote up his experience with the local EMTs when he was here last April before the Tour D’ Lopez (he & his buddy stayed here on San Juan Island before the race)… check it out.

John Koster

• Republican John Koster is coming up from Snohomish County to visit on Friday (tomorrow). You can meet the candidate at a no-host lunch at China Pearl noon…he’ll be challenging Democratic Congressman Rick Larsen in this fall’s election.

• Nature’s wisdom, passed by again: Local professor Mike Cohen thinks that the movie Avatar had a chance to connect with one of humans’ problems – our dis-connect with nature – but missed. Here’s more.

• Besides the School District’s M&O levy on the ballot which will be mailed to you today, the local Emergency Medical Services (EMS) levy needs your vote, too. I gotta say I think we have just about as fine an EMS setup & response as anyone in a remote place could ask for, and I hope you’ll vote “yes” on that one as well as the school levy.

Here’s more from the Island’s Hospital Board:

We will all soon be receiving our ballots for a special election scheduled for February 9, 2010.  On that ballot our local Emergency Medical Service (EMS) is asking for a RENEWAL of its tax levy.

EMS is part of San Juan County Public Hospital District #1, which is part of a statewide system of Public Hospital Districts.  It was established here in San Juan County in 1973 as a junior taxing district comprising the Town of Friday Harbor and San Juan Island, as well as Henry, Speiden, Stuart, Johns, Brown and Pearl Islands.  The five member Hospital District Board oversees EMS and the Inter-Island Medical Center (IIMC).  EMS and IIMC have separate tax levies and are financially independent.

The current EMS levy runs out at the end of this year.  This levy request is a RENEWAL, not an increase in the EMS tax rate. It is the same rate that was asked for and approved on the last two EMS levies. For example, if you own a home assessed at $200,000, your tax for EMS is approximately $70 per year.  That’s about $5.83 per month for 24/7 emergency care!  Given our healthcare challenges these days, that is a deal!

In order for this levy RENEWAL to pass, 60% of voters must approve the levy. Also, voter turnout must exceed 40% of voters in the last general election.  So, we need YOUR VOTE!

Our Emergency Medical Service (EMS) from San Juan Island EMS is one of the highest rated services in the country.  We are incredibly blessed to have this 24/7 service, staffed by a highly trained and committed group of Paramedics and Volunteer EMT’s.

We urge you to VOTE YES for the EMS Levy Renewal.

Board of Commissioners, San Juan County Public Hospital District #1

Lenore Bayuk, Chairperson
Randi Dooley-Park
Michael Edwards, MD
Michael Roger
Keri Talbott

For more information go to www.yes4ems.org or call Chief Jim Cole at 360-378-5152.

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