Contributed Photo/Katja Fuhlert from Pixabay

Ages 16 and Up Can Get Vaccinated 

From Gov. Jay Inslee’s Office

Washington State Gov. Jay Inslee announced March 31 that effective April 15, all Washingtonians over the age of 16 will be eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccination. 

Over the past four months, since Washington began administering doses of the vaccination, the state has followed a tiered eligibility system, beginning with those most at risk of hospitalization and death.

The governor and the state department of health have also prioritized equity issues in each phase to ensure vaccine access to populations disproportionately affected by the virus, including communities of color and low-income communities. 

The expansion of eligibility comes, in part, in response to a recent uptick in COVID cases in the state. 

“We must do everything possible to ensure that we can keep cases down,” Inslee said during a press conference Wednesday. “We have concerns about the trends we are seeing across the state and we must be cautious. Opening up full eligibility will be one tool to help in the fight against the virus.

“If we get vaccinated and continue the health practices that keep those around us healthy – masks, distancing and basic hygiene – we’re going to knock this virus down. But we cannot get complacent. We feel like we are done with COVID, but this virus is not done with us yet.”

Roughly 3.3 million doses have been administered in Washington to date, and more than one million residents have been fully vaccinated. 

Find more information on the COVID-19 vaccine here. Use the Vaccine Locator tool to register for a vaccination appointment here. For DOH’s COVID-19 Information Hotline, dial 1-800-525-0127, then press #. Language assistance is available.

Contributed Photo/Fish For Teeth.

From Fish for Teeth

From 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m., Friday, April 2, enjoy a legendary fish taco from Fish for Teeth.

They’re actually burritos. They’re delicious and made with flakey white rockfish sustainably harvested off the Washington coast, Pablito’s salsa, Tillamook cheese, fresh greens, and a squeeze of lime, all assembled with love from a Fish for Teeth volunteer, which is very likely a Kiwanis member because Kiwanis helps out so much!

An $8 suggested donation will land you one of these totally satisfying flavor-bombs. We’ll be set up at the San Juan Island Community Theater.

Fish for Teeth’s mission is to provide dental care to those who cannot afford it.

There are no income restrictions for people receiving care—it is expensive to live on our islands, and dental care often gets pushed to the back, leaving people living with dental pain or unhealthy teeth and gums. Continue Reading

Contributed Photo/Town of Friday Harbor. A portion of the poetry garden below Downriggers.

Contributed Photo/Town of Friday Harbor. Rebecca Cook took the cover photo for the town’s poetry book.

From the Town of Friday Harbor

The Town of Friday Harbor and its Arts Commission invite the community to celebrate National Poetry Month with a tour of the town’s four poetry gardens.

The winning poems from the town’s 2019 poetry contest are on display in the waterfront viewing area below Downriggers and next to the San Juan Community Theatre, the Mullis Community Senior Center and the post office.

The poems are also published in the book “Friday Harbor Poetry Gardens,” available free at town hall, San Juan Islands Museum of Art, San Juan Islands Sculpture Park and the Chambers of Commerce on San Juan, Orcas and Lopez.

Over 270 poems were submitted in the contest by 90 San Juan County residents. The arts commission plans to hold its second poetry gardens contest in 2022.

By Tony Fyrqvist, San Juan Island

I strongly support the Island Rec Levy. We have lived on the island for 30 years and I have seen the improvement has made in the community. The levy is a small price divided among many to provide a great return for all.

In the early ’90s, Cindy Baker was instrumental in organizing the youth soccer leagues which subsequently left Island Rec but the base she created has sustained the program and been enjoyed by countless island youth and parents.

For a person from Finland (along with my Canadian and U.S. friends), the roller hockey experience has been invaluable. Participating in this program, I have stayed in shape and all of our children learned to skate, as rollerblading is very similar to ice skating.

I remember when the first father-daughter dance took place at the grange. I took our older daughter first and then overlapped for a while with two daughters and then continued with the younger one. This provided us with many happy memories and opportunities to bond.

Our middle and youngest sons enjoyed the skate park and the skate competitions, and all of our five children participated in Island Rec soccer camps during the summer.

Other programs we have participated, or been involved with, include the children’s festival, ping pong tournament, Music on the Lawn and teen basketball. We have taken our puppy for socialization to the dog park. Continue Reading

Contributed Photo/San Juan Island Firefighters Association

From San Juan Islands’ Firefighter Association

The San Juan Islands’ Firefighter Association will host a walking tour instead of the annual Easter egg hunt due to the ongoing pandemic, from noon-2 p.m., Sunday, April 4.

We hope you will join us for a fun walk around town, visit with some of our firefighters and keep an eye out for the Easter Bunny.

Wearing COVID-19 masks, families will follow a route around the town, looking to spot firefighters in front of certain businesses. They will stamp your passport and you can visit the Easter Bunny in the Wells Fargo bank parking lot on Spring Street.

The annual family Easter Egg Hunt has been hosted by the Firefighter Association for more than 25 years and the event has historically been held at Jackson Beach.

Instead of canceling this tradition due to the COVID-19 health pandemic, the association created its second, special edition Easter Egg event for a safe, fun, outing for our islands’ families.

Download the map and passport book at www.sjifire.org and see if you get your passport fully stamped on Sunday. Continue Reading

From Friday Harbor Film Festival

The Friday Harbor Film Festival Director Series presents a varied selection of not-to-be-missed documentaries to brighten your life each month. Beginning April 1, in honor of Earth Day, four feature films will be available 24/7 at fhff.org.

The films include “Awake, A Dream from Standing Rock,” “My Country No More,” “No Fear No Favor” and “From Seed to Seed.” Screen all for only $9.95 or each film for $2.95. Free scheduled livestream Q&As are planned for each film. Details will be posted on the website.

“Awake, A Dream from Standing Rock,” is directed by Myron Dewey, Josh Fox and James Spione. The film is a record of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s massive peaceful resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline.

The pipeline brings fracked crude oil from the Bakken Shale in North Dakota to Illinois, passing through their land and underneath the Missouri River, threatening this source of drinking water for over 18 million people. The film documents the story of Native-led defiance that has forever changed the fight for clean water, our environment and the future of our planet. It asks: “Are you ready to join the fight?”

“My Country No More” is directed by Rita Baghdadi & Jeremiah Hammerling. Between 2011 and 2016, drilling for oil in America reached an unprecedented peak, setting off a modern-day gold rush in one of the most rural communities in the country: Trenton, North Dakota. While Kalie Rider and her brother Jed are striving to rebuild farming in their family, their uncle Roger decides to sell a piece of his land, triggering local industrialization and community controversy. Continue Reading

Contributed Photo/OPALCO.

From OPALCO

Orcas Power & Light Cooperative is clearing the right-of-way areas under power lines to protect the electrical system from outages, remove forest fuels that could feed a wildfire and improve forest health through biochar amendments to the soil.

OPALCO is our member-owned cooperative electric utility, serving San Juan County. 

The Civilian Conservation Corp will begin burning conservation piles on Eastman Road the week of March 29.

The recent projects on Eastman Road on Orcas Island and Squaw Bay Road on Shaw Island are examples of the collaboration between OPALCO, Rain Shadow Consulting and the Civilian Conservation Corp, which are bringing their strength, ecological expertise and all-weather fortitude to the projects.

The main objective of this collaboration is to keep a safe clearance around OPALCO’s overhead transmission lines.

On these projects, Rain Shadow Consulting is contracted to provide local and professional arborist services to bring the areas into compliance with OPALCO’s specifications for power line corridors and the Civilian Conservation Corp is managing the woody mass for wildfire prevention and building piles for conservation burns to create biochar for soil amendment and forest health.

Civilian Conservation Corp

Contributed Photo/OPALCO.

The San Juan Islands Civilian Conservation Corp launched in October of 2020, under the umbrella of the San Juan Islands Conservation District.

The corp is an 11-month AmeriCorps program that provides crew members a stipend, college and medical benefits, housing and a certificate in Ecological Restoration from Huxley College of the Environment at Western Washington University.

The crew works with local public and preservation organizations on projects like this one, ranging from invasive weed removal to ecosystem rehabilitation. The young adults of the Civilian Conservation Corp will also lead and mentor the youth participants this summer. Continue Reading

Coming soon to visit Friday Harbor, Lopez, Orcas…

Sun-E-Land Bikes is a new Electric Bicycle Company based in Bellingham, now open for business and will be coming to the San Juan Islands to feature and promote the Sun-E-Land City Cruiser.

Matt Holmes is the owner and operator of Sun-E-Land Bikes. Sun-E-Land Bikes offers affordable electric bicycles in the Pacific Northwest. Their featured product is the Sun-E-Land City Cruiser which is capable of 25 miles per charge. It has a 350 watt motor which is powerful enough to get riders over any hill. Conquer Mt. Constitution, no sweat! The City Cruiser comes with a full-year warranty at a price of only $699, or $1300 for a pair.

These bikes will be available for test-rides at Friday Harbor on April 5 from 10AM -Noon and on Lopez Island in the afternoon. On April 6, the bikes will be available for test-rides on Orcas Island. Sun-E-Land Bikes are perfect for everyday use, for rentals and for leisure. If you, your friends or business might benefit from a new form of transportation, please contact Matt to schedule a meeting time.

A little history and information about the company: Continue Reading

Contributed Photo/San Juan Islands Museum of Art. “What About Todd” oil painting by RaVae Luckhart.

From San Juan Community Theatre

San Juan Community Theatre and San Juan Islands Museum of Art are pleased to present a joint production called Island Artist Scenes.

Our two organizations have collaborated during their lull in normal operations to produce a series of mini-documentaries highlighting local artists.

In our first installment of this limited series, viewers will meet RaVae Luckhart, a San Juan Island resident and abstract expressionist painter whose bold paintings spring forth, inspired by the music RaVae listens to while painting and as a reaction to each stroke of the brush as they come.

Join us as we visit with RaVae in her home studio and learn more about her work and process at www.sjctheatre.org.

Contributed Image/CDC

From San Juan County

San Juan County Health and Community Services will be opening registration for first-dose vaccine appointments at 9 a.m., Monday, March 29. These clinics will be on Orcas and San Juan Island. Lopez doses will be administered by Lopez Pharmacy.

Those who are eligible and wish to register for an appointment should go to https://www.sanjuanco.com/1737/COVID-Vaccine-Info at 9 a.m., Monday, March 29. There will be links clearly marked for each clinic. At this time, Phase 1a and Phase 1b Tier 1, 2, 3, and 4 are eligible for vaccination. Go here for more info on current eligibility regulations.

The links will be shown in the “STEP 2” section, highlighted in orange. Details on the timing of clinics and the approximate number of doses available will be posted on the vaccine info page once confirmed.

From San Juan Island EMS

The retirement announcement of Superintendent Pamela Hutchins on March 25,  marks the end of a critical era for the San Juan County Public Hospital District No. 1.

First hired in April 2005 as the financial officer for the old Inter Island Medical Center, she played a role there until it closed its doors on Thanksgiving Day 2012, and PeaceHealth Peace Island Medical Center opened its doors.

“The Wednesday before Thanksgiving 2012 the old medical center was fully staffed,” she recalled, “and the day after it was empty – except for me.”

Instead of going with the clinic staff, Hutchins was hired as the district’s superintendent. The hospital district has two levies, one for San Juan Island EMS and one for the clinic services, the latter levy becoming primarily a subsidy payment to PeaceHealth.

Hutchins stayed at the old medical center building until EMS Chief Jim Cole invited her to work from the station in 2013. She remained there until the hospital district got its own offices again in March 2017.

“It was energizing to be immersed in EMS,” she said, “I have thoroughly enjoyed it.” Continue Reading

From Jeffrey Struthers and Rick Christmas, OPALCO Orcas District Representatives

It is time to vote for Orcas district directors for OPALCO and Rock Island. We, your current Orcas district directors — Jeffrey Struthers and Rick Christmas — ask for your vote.

Here is why we believe you should return both of us to the board for another term.

OPALCO has superb reliability and infrastructure, locally and in our connection to the mainland. Now are living through a time of accelerating climate change that could expose us to a situation like what recently happened in Texas.

Serving you on this board is a job to be done, not a prize to be won.

Over the last several years, we have worked aggressively, beyond “business as usual”, to put our islands on a path towards a more sustainable future. Already, your cooperative has:

• Completed our first solar-plus-storage “micro-grid” to enhance local reliance. Another is coming soon on San Juan Island to protect core community services during mainland outages.
• Greatly expanded low-cost options for members to efficiently electrify their heating and transportation.
• Responded proactively meet Washington State legislation clean energy requirements.

At the same time, we have greatly improved the broadband and communications infrastructure in the islands: Continue Reading

Contributed Image/CDC

From San Juan County

Since the last update on Friday, March 19, the total cases in San Juan County have increased from 129 to 131.

There are nine close contacts of positive cases currently in active quarantine.

Orcas Island

There are no new cases on Orcas Island since the last update and no confirmed positive cases under active monitoring on Orcas Island at this time.

Lopez Island

There is one new case on Lopez Island and the transmission source is unknown. There is one positive case under active monitoring on Lopez Island at this time.

San Juan Island

There is one new case on San Juan Island, and the transmission source is unknown. There is one positive case under active monitoring on San Juan Island at this time.

Overall Continue Reading

From Homes for Islanders

The affordable self-help housing non-profit Homes for Islanders is nearing completion of their Foxhall neighborhood homes. This will bring the organization’s owner-built affordable home production total up to 129 completed homes built over 17 years between 2004 and 2021.

Although Homes for Islanders has been searching diligently for a future location(s) to continue the program, we
regretfully acknowledge that we have been unable to locate feasible neighborhoods or
undeveloped sites for two group builds for 8-10 homes for each site.

Homes for Islanders, therefore, intends to suspend our operations until we can locate a suitable, feasible location where our mutual self-help program can be offered to the community once again.

It is our hope that the span of time during which Homes for Islanders remains in operational suspension will be short, but it may take several years to overcome the present lack of available building sites suitable for neighborhoods of mutual self-help homebuilding.

In the meantime, the Homes for Islanders volunteer Board of Directors will continue to search through potential future sites with the goal of reopening operations and helping more islanders achieve the dream of sweat-equity homeownership in the San Juans.

By Karin Roemers-Kleven, Plastic Free Salish Sea

Spring is in the air, the days are getting longer and the weather is getting better. We can leave our houses and go for nice walks.

So, why not adopt a beach?

The idea behind adopting a beach was launched about a year ago with the development of the Plastic Free Salish Sea website.

The website was supported with a grant to the San Juan County Marine Resources Committee and is chock full of resources on how to reduce, reuse and refuse.

The website also mapped all the county’s beaches. Citizens from San Juan, Lopez and Orcas Island can make a huge difference by adopting one of their local beaches to keep clean from debris.

Visit the website at https://plasticfreesalishsea.org/adopt-a-beach.

For example, if your favorite beach is Jackson Beach on San Juan Island, you can sign up for that beach on the website and report the debris you find with pictures and descriptions. Continue Reading

Contributed Photo/Alchemy Art Center

From Alchemy Art Center

Alchemy Art Center’s two enormous gas kilns, previously standing sentinel by the road, have been moved to their new permanent home next to the ceramic studio.

It was quite a feat to get them into place, and kudos to the Alchemy engineering team for pulling it off!

Gas firings can create some of the most beautiful, unpredictable results in pottery, quite different from our current electric system.

We can’t wait to hook these behemoths up and begin what we know will be a beautiful friendship!