Min­nie Knych shares this report of a Free­dom Flotil­la down at the har­bor… Despite the cool, fog­gy weath­er more than 50 peo­ple showed up at Fair­weath­er Park to cel­e­brate liv­ing in the great­est coun­try on Earth with a Free­dom Flotil­la on Sat­ur­day, Oct. 3. Signs, flags and music marked the occa­sion. Can­di­date for WA State Leg­is­la­ture  Con­tin­ue Reading

In the mail­bag this morn­ing we find this let­ter from Anna Maria de Fre­itas… As I lis­ten to the rain bounce off my sky light and feel the fall chill set­tle in the air, I know that the days of out­door din­ing for me and my restau­rant indus­try col­leagues are quick­ly com­ing to an end.  Con­tin­ue Reading

In the SJ Update mail bag this morn­ing we have this let­ter from Justin Paulsen… If 2020 has high­light­ed noth­ing else with­in our coun­try it is that polit­i­cal divi­sion has seeped into every func­tion of our soci­ety. As our cur­rent gen­er­a­tion nav­i­gates social, health and eco­nom­ic waters which have nev­er before been explored, one fac­tor  Con­tin­ue Reading

We hear from Fran­cis Smith, Retired Sr. EMT & Fire Cap­tain (25 years)… The San Juan Island Pub­lic Hos­pi­tal Dis­trict #1 (PHD) recent­ly announced a sur­prise reor­ga­ni­za­tion of San Juan Island EMS. Chief Karl Kuet­z­ing has been removed and the PHD Super­in­ten­dent is now in charge of the agency. The pub­lished announce­ment is a study in duplic­i­ty  Con­tin­ue Reading

I know very lit­tle about Fire Dis­trict Com­mis­sion­er Frank Car­di­nale, but last after­noon dur­ing our first joint meet­ing with the Fire Dis­trict to dis­cuss inte­gra­tion, Com­mis­sion­er Car­di­nale showed me every­thing I need to know about him. He is dis­re­spect­ful, attack­ing, accusato­ry, aggres­sive, and clear­ly not inter­est­ed in get­ting to know our new hos­pi­tal dis­trict board or being remote­ly col­lab­o­ra­tive.  Con­tin­ue Reading

Edi­tor: Some­thing shame­ful hap­pened Tues­day after­noon.  The San Juan Coun­ty Pub­lic Hos­pi­tal Dis­trict Com­mis­sion­ers (PHD) and the San Juan Coun­ty Fire Dis­trict 3 (FD3) Com­mis­sion­ers held a vir­tu­al joint pub­lic meet­ing to dis­cuss the pos­si­bil­i­ty of resum­ing dis­cus­sion of inte­grat­ing San Juan Island Emer­gency Med­ical Ser­vice (EMS) and FD3. The meet­ing was pro­gress­ing with some fric­tion.   Con­tin­ue Reading

A tru­ly remark­able woman is run­ning for the San Juan Island seat on the coun­ty coun­cil. Chris­tine Min­ney owns and runs Ernie’s restau­rant with her hus­band Patrick and rais­es much of the pro­duce for the restau­rant in her gar­den. She has a 24-year his­to­ry on the island, dur­ing which time she has owned and/or worked  Con­tin­ue Reading

In the San Juan Update mail­bag this morn­ing we find this let­ter from Karin Agos­ta… A friend asked me yes­ter­day about Ryan Palma­teer’s strengths as a can­di­date for San Juan Coun­ty Coun­cil Dis­trict 1. This is a great ques­tion in today’s con­fus­ing, demand­ing world. Here’s what I wrote her: First, his work in sus­tain­able con­struc­tion plus  Con­tin­ue Reading

In the San Juan Update mail­bag this after­noon we have this let­ter from Tan­ja at the Land Bank… Hel­lo San Juan Update! I’ve been post­ing our week­ly “nature notes” on our face­book and Insta­gram accounts since April, and today’s post­ing fea­tures a pilot project to help the Island Mar­ble but­ter­fly thrive. I think it’s a great  Con­tin­ue Reading

In the mail­bag this morn­ing we have this let­ter from Katie Flem­ing… Dear Edi­tor, I sup­port Ryan Palma­teer for the Coun­ty Coun­cil Dis­trict 1 posi­tion. I have worked with Ryan for 3 years on ener­gy con­ser­va­tion, renew­able ener­gy pro­mo­tion, and cli­mate action pro­grams in the San Juan Islands. Ryan is very com­mit­ted to the resilien­cy  Con­tin­ue Reading

Today in the SJ Update Mail­bag we have this let­ter from Gay Gra­ham… To the Edi­tor: Covid-19 has caused us to make any num­ber of changes in the paths that we used to take. One of these can be for­get­ting to renew or not hav­ing the oppor­tu­ni­ty to sup­port those orga­ni­za­tions and caus­es that need  Con­tin­ue Reading

In the SJ Update Mail­bag we have this let­ter today from Daniel Schwartz, SJC Repub­li­can Precinct Com­mit­tee Offi­cer… Response to the San Juan Coun­ty Democ­rats Res­o­lu­tion on Police Reform The San Juan Coun­ty Democ­rats have pro­duced a res­o­lu­tion filled with the fab­ri­ca­tions, revi­sion­ist his­to­ry, and out­right false­hoods that make up the woke play­book of today’s  Con­tin­ue Reading

In the mail­bag this morn­ing we have a note from Helen Machin-Smith of Island Stage Left… Hel­lo from Island Stage Left, Appar­ent­ly a rumor has been cir­cu­lat­ing that Island Stage Left has ceased oper­a­tions. This is news to us! The rumor is untrue. At this point we have no idea what the future holds (nor does any  Con­tin­ue Reading

In the SJ Update mail­bag today we have this let­ter from Beth Hel­stien… A huge shout out to Hos­pice of San Juan and San Juan Coun­ty Senior Ser­vices for all their ser­vices! Do you know that our local hos­pice orga­ni­za­tion loans all kinds of equip­ment to the com­mu­ni­ty whether you need Hos­pice vol­un­teer ser­vices or  Con­tin­ue Reading

In the SJ Update mail­bag this morn­ing we have these thoughts from David Kobrin… As an his­to­ri­an, I know there can be two oppos­ing accounts of the same event, both of which are equal­ly accu­rate. I’m not allud­ing to “alter­na­tive facts” or made up fic­tions. I mean exact­ly what I wrote: two sto­ries that con­tra­dict  Con­tin­ue Reading

In the mail­bag this after­noon we have this let­ter from Brent Snow, Gen­er­al Man­ag­er of Roche Har­bor Resort… Dear Friends, Neigh­bors and Com­mu­ni­ty, The COVID-19 pan­dem­ic has put a ter­ri­ble mon­key wrench in all our plans. These are not easy times for any hos­pi­tal­i­ty oper­a­tion and Roche Har­bor is found­ed and based on hos­pi­tal­i­ty.  We are  Con­tin­ue Reading