Around town, around the island….

Jim Maya has gone out all this week & taken folks to see the incredible wildlife here, including these Steller sea lions earlier this week. By the way, these guys are named after naturalist Georg Wilhelm Steller - did you know that?

What’s happening….

Deb at Lakedale Resort last summer....

• You knew Deb Nolan has a catering business (besides being on the school board & doing a million other things for the community)? Here’s more.

• The Economic Development Council has a new domain name: http://www.sanjuansedc.org/ .

Update your records. Or get some records. Or listen to your records.

• The County Republicans are having their annual Lincoln Legacy Dinner on Saturday – here’s the scoop.

If I find out where the Democrats are eating, I’ll let you know.

• The Town & County are using more recycled paper – wahoo!

The County’s Stan Matthews reports:

As a result of San Juan County’s conversion to use of paper with a 40% recycled content, the Town of Friday Harbor and approximately 50 businesses that were using virgin paper are now using the more environmentally friendly paper.

NOTE: The figures used concerning the environmental impact of switching to recycled paper were based on a total, countywide changeover of 80 cases of virgin paper @ 50lbs per case to 40% recycled paper for a 12 month period, as calculated by the “Paper Calculator” on the Environmental Defense Fund’s website. (http://www.edf.org/papercalculator)

County Pollution Prevention Specialist Brian Rader and Gerard Post van der Burg of Islands Paper & Supply Company with the first shipment of paper delivered under the new agreement.

• The Backdoor Kitchen re-opens tonight & this weekend for the season – AND Noodle Bowl Monday is back this coming Monday! See ya there!

Doctor Pearson

• Remember Ann Pearson? She graduated from the island in the 1980s at the age of 16, and went to Obelin before landing at Harvard, where she’s a professor of biogeochemistry in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences. Here’s more from the Harvard Gazette.

• You remember Be Chic Boutique has their 50-70% off sale this weekend, right? They’re lightening their load before moving down the street in a couple of weeks to the location where Dominique’s House was, and the Park Service before that.

Helping out....

• Helping our friends in Haiti: Yvonne Swanberg says the Rotary Club has been helping, and you can too – here’s more:

Donate Shelter Boxes for Haiti

San Juan Island Rotary has purchased two Shelter Boxes for disaster relief that will be sent to Haiti, and will accept donations for additional ones.

For those concerned that money donated for Haiti may not get there, or if it does, will go to the wrong place, then the Shelter Box program is the how one may help the relief effort in Haiti with confidence the money will go where intended, as the program is tightly controlled,  and each box is tracked as to when and where it goes, with the information reported back to the donor.

One Shelter box was purchased as a joint effort of Rotarians at their Wednesday meeting, and the second with Club matching funds.   The cost of one Shelter Box is approximately $1,000.00, however SJI Rotary will continue their efforts to purchase additional Shelter Boxes during the coming weeks.

Donations to Shelter Box can be made directly to Shelter Box. or you may contact Yvonne Swanberg, President of San Juan Island Rotary (syswanberg (at) rockisland.com) to make a donation to Rotary toward a Shelter Box.

For additional information on Shelter Boxes, check out the website www.shelterbox.org showing the Shelter Box units arriving on Haiti.

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