On Wednesday April 17, 2019, the San Juan Island School District Board of Directors will hold a Special School Board Meeting in the High School Library, 45 Blair Ave.  This is an open public meeting and is scheduled for 5:00 pm.  Two interviews will be held for the school board position vacancy.

The Board will interview candidates for position #5 vacated on March 1, 2019, by Jack McKenna. This is a public meeting for a formal interview process.  The successful candidate will be appointed to fill the board vacancy until the term ends in November, 2019.  The schedule for interviews will be as follows:

Brian Moore 5:05 pm – 5:25 pm

Floyd Bourne 5:35 pm – 5:55 pm

All public comment, with the exception of public hearings on policy, budget or other specific items, will be heard during the “Public Comment” section of the Call to Order of the special meeting.  Anyone wishing to address the board on any topic will be scheduled to speak during the public comment period by the Administrative Assistant present at the board meeting.  Check in to be scheduled to speak will occur during the 15 minutes before the start of the meeting.     

Please see the agenda at https://www.boarddocs.com/wa/sjisd/Board.nsf/Public.

This is a quick look at the board agenda for your convenience.  Please be aware that agendas could change prior to the board meeting.

Plan Ahead And Mail Early-Property Taxes Due April 30

San Juan County Treasurer, Rhonda Pederson would like to remind county property owners that the first installment of property taxes and personal property taxes are due April 30.

If you mail, MAIL EARLY – all San Juan County mail goes to Seattle for processing. When you mail your tax payment from your home or drop it off at the post office mailbox, it is routed to Seattle, where it is postmarked and processed the next day. It is then routed to Friday Harbor where it is delivered to our mail box, possibly the following day.

State statues dictate that your postmark date determines your payment date and that 1% interest per month begins accruing on the first day of the following month (May 1). This means that if you put your payment in your mailbox on April 30, it will NOT be postmarked on April 30, but rather May 1 and interest will be accrued. Continue Reading

Griffin Bay Bookstore Kicks Off 40^th Anniversary Activities on Independent Bookstore Day

• Literary Drawing Contest for Kids
• Book & a Cuppa for Adults
• Join Us on Saturday, April 27, 2019, 10:00 am—6:00 pm
• 10% off on all books in the store

Griffin Bay Bookstore kicks off activities for kids and adults on Saturday, April 27 to begin celebrating 40 years of bookselling in Friday Harbor. There’s no better way to celebrate Independent Bookstore Day than to visit an island institution: Griffin Bay Bookstore.

Parents and kids: Make sure to come to the bookstore to find out how to win prizes for artwork—gift certificates for drawing a picture of your favorite book, character, or scene.

Submit your drawing to be eligible for one of three prizes for three different age groups: six and younger, seven to twelve, and thirteen to eighteen. A total of 9 gift certificates will be given out and winners will receive a $25, $15, or $10 gift certificate. Submitted drawings will festoon the café until the end of the year. Continue Reading

Photo by Dave Cobb

If you thought looking for Easter eggs was kid stuff, try finding one in the dark!

Bring a flashlight and a basket and join us at this special egg hunt just for teens. Beach Bonfire after. Find a Golden egg and win a gift card!

Friday April 19^th from 8:30-9:30pm at Jackson Beach, for grades 6-12.

Check out all of Island Rec’s events at www.islandrec.org, stop by our office Monday – Friday 11:00am-5:00pm at 580 Guard Street, or call 360-378-4953.

The Anacortes Terminal Parking Lot A will be closed for about one month starting Saturday, April 13. Construction crews will repave the parking lot during the closure. The work is anticipated to be completed by mid-May.

Lot A is directly adjacent to the passenger terminal and vehicles will not have access to the 15 min. pick-up/drop-off area.  Bus turnaround access remains available.

During construction, access to seven ADA parking stalls will be maintained, and the south side of the parking lot (with new ADA parking stalls) will open by May 1. Additionally, Diamond Parking Lot will open the upper lots for additional parking.

In our continuing April is Poetry Month series, the San Juan Update is sharing poems from local poets every Friday this month. Today is the 2nd Friday and today we have Tara MacMahon, with her poem “With”, and Susie Hale, with “Boundaries’: Continue Reading

Osha Breeze invites you to this month’s exhibit at SJCT…

Good morning my friends,

I wanted to make sure you knew about my current art show that is hanging at the Community Theater through April. Please drop by and see my current body of paintings as well as a few pieces from earlier times.

And if you can, please join us there for a gathering/reception this coming Sunday, April 14th from 5-7pm.

Hope you are well & Hope to see you there!
Osha

Book Talk: Drew Harvell will discuss her book, Ocean Outbreak: Confronting the Rising Tide of Marine Disease.

This presentation will include updates on Sea Star Wasting Disease and salmon health in our Puget Sound waters. Drew is a local author and resident scientist at Friday Harbor Laboratories.

A book signing and reception will follow the presentation.

Earth Day, April 22 from 7:00 – 9:00 pm at Brickworks, 150 Nichols Street, Friday Harbor.

Hosted by Friday Harbor Labs and Griffin Bay Books.

All are invited. There is no charge for this event.

Merri Ann Simonson is back with another real estate article…

Merri Ann Simonson – Contributed photo

San Juan Island Real Estate Market Summary

The first quarter results for San Juan Island were very similar to the first quarter results last year. San Juan Island’s dollar volume for the quarter reflected a decrease of 12.5% as compared to the same quarter in 2018. The first quarters are often a roller coaster for our islands and are affected by weather, local and national events. The number of transactions was down 31%.

The County’s first quarter dollar volume reflected a decrease of 25% as compared to 2018 and the transaction numbers also reflected a decrease of 33%. The inventory level in some categories is having an impact.

Continue reading… (PDF)

FHFF Best of the Fest Series continues…

What happens when a community stands up for its civil rights? The Most Dangerous Year tells the story of a small group of Washington State families caught in the middle of the nation’s “bathroom wars.” 

Director Vlada Knowlton, a Seattle area filmmaker and parent of a transgender child, takes us to the front lines of this heart-wrenching political battle. Her film details how she and her family worked to combat a Washington state bill intended to force all people to use the public restroom that coincides with their birth sex. Then, joining other families of transgender children and a coalition of state lawmakers and civil rights activists, they fought numerous other discriminatory initiatives. Instead of shaming those who question transgender rights, this film invites a conversation.

As Washington state senator Joe Fain points out, we lose the battle for understanding when we stop speaking with one another.

Tuesday, April 16th, 7:00 PM at the Grange, 152 First Street, Friday Harbor.
Free Admission – Donations Gladly Accepted

Directed by  Vlada Knowlton
Released in 2018

April 25 Workshop in Friday Harbor

“Talking Trash” is an exciting workshop hosted by the Marine Resources Committee during Earth Week.  The event will be held on April 25, 2019 at Brickworks in Friday Harbor from 5 – 7 PM. The workshop is part of the Plastic Free Salish Sea campaign which aims to share ideas about how to reduce waste and reuse what you already have. It will be fun, educational, and positive! 

Every day single-use plastics wash up on our beaches and are ingested by birds and marine wild life because they confuse it for prey or they get tangled up in it.  Since China and India have refused America’s mixed recyclables, only limited plastic waste generated on the island can be recycled putting a huge burden on our solid waste management services. Learn about the positive ways we can all contribute to reducing our waste and protecting our beautiful islands and the surrounding fragile waters of the Salish Sea. 

Workshop participants will also get to see the final art pieces that will be created by local artists from the litter collected during the Great Islands Clean-up and see first-hand an artistic reuse of garbage found in the marine environment. Continue Reading

San Juan Island Library announced today that it is making available WiFi hotspots. People over the age of 18 can check out a hotspot device for three weeks to receive internet service via a cell tower. The program is free of charge, and is partially supported by a San Juan Island Community Foundation grant. These devices won’t work in locations that can’t receive T-Mobile signals, but islanders should be able to get internet service in many locations, including while traveling. 

Providing Wi-Fi hotspots to the community through our lending library makes sense because we are increasingly dependent on internet access for work and recreation. Educational programs, including those available for free through a library account, such as Lynda.com or Learning Express, require internet access. And a new trend is that many independent films are no longer available in physical DVD format and are only available through online streaming.

The experience of other libraries across the country has shown that lending hotspots is popular for libraries like ours. The expansion of the T-Mobile wireless network in conjunction with Rock Island over the last several years means that many locations throughout the island can now get an internet connection, which may have been impossible a few years ago. Continue Reading

In the SJ Update mailbag we find this note from Dawn Alger, who write to share good news about her son…

I just wanted to share the upcoming graduation of our son, Rigby Alger from Pacific Lutheran University. He will be graduating on May 25th, Summa Cum Laude with his Bachelors of Education. His certifications are in Elementary Education and Special Education. He hopes to come back to the islands to teach.

Rigby graduated from Palmer High School in Alaska. He finished his Associates Degree [here in Friday Harbor at] Skagit Valley College in 2014. He has taught summer art classes at the San Juan Museum of Art and worked summers at Krystal Acres for the last 5 years.

San Juan Island Fire and Rescue is conducting a live fire training in the wooded area east of the District’s main station, 1011 Mullis Street in Friday Harbor, Sunday, April 14, 2019.

The live fire training is scheduled between 12:00 noon and 5:00 p.m. During that time residents will see smoke in the area around Mullis Street and Friday Harbor Airport.

Fire Chief Norvin Collins said, “This will be a controlled, supervised live fire training with both weather and smoke conditions continuously monitored. We especially want to say thank you to our neighbors and our community for your cooperation, patience and always for your support.”

Assistant Fire Chief Noel Monin added, “Live fire training is a required element of wildland firefighter training and certification. This is the final portion of the San Juan Island Fire and Rescue Recruit Academy. Pending successful completion of the wildland firefighting training, your fire district will be adding eight new volunteer firefighters to our roster for duty beginning May 1, 2019.”

# # #

The San Juan Island Fire & Rescue was established on October 6, 1958. The fire district covers about 55 square miles, including all of San Juan Island, Brown and Pearl Islands. For more information, please visit http://www.sjifire.org/

Save the Date: June 1st and 2nd, 2019 from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm be one of the hundreds who attend this year’s annual San Juan Island Artists’ Studio Tour

This will be the largest, most exciting and fun-filled island event yet! Expect to find lots and lots of new studios for 2019 with 22 mutually supportive island art studios, and over 50 total artists featuring glass blowing, etchings, mixed media, handmade knives, kaleidoscopes, wearable art and jewelry, fused glass and fine art. Take the self-guided tour to visit personal studios around the island and watch great art in the making.

Our island professional artists open their doors to welcome the public on the first weekend of June. Go down hidden drives and private workshops where local island artists celebrate the annual San Juan Island Artists’ Studio Tour. This is your chance to buy fine art at its source, so mark your calendar.

The SJI Artists’ Studio Tour, an annual free event, showcases individual art studios along with guest artists and musicians amid luscious gardens and breathtaking views. Sing up for a raffle at each studio for a chance to win local fine art. Maps and brochures are available online for your convenience at www.sanjuanislandartists.com and at many local businesses in Friday Harbor. Continue Reading

Coho Restaurant shares this invitation with you…

We are starting a Thursday lunch service and we have some fun wine dinners coming up. We are open Tuesday – Saturday this time of year.

What’s Pho Lunch at Coho Restaurant? starting April 11th
We’re bringing real Pho to Friday Harbor on Thursdays! Pho Real. Stop in for an amazing lunch with the most flavorful stock and fresh vegetables. Our vegetarian pho starts at only $10. So if you’re a noodle Pho natic or if you just want a Pho nomenially delicious lunch with farm fresh veggies, fish, chicken or meat, check us out. In addition to Pho, we’ll have spring rolls.

Winemaker’s Dinners
Join us for one or all four of our Walla Walla winemaker’s dinner series – Kontos Cellars, Doubleback Winery, Dusted Valley Winery and Rotie Cellars. Kontos Cellar’s is the first up April 12^th. If you’re a fan of red wine you won’t want to miss this evening.