Debbi Fincher of the San Juan Island Prevention Coalition and Rock Solid Team Advisor shares this report with you…

Johnny Berg, Ramona Flierl & Luke Fincher – Contributed photo

Rock Solid Youth Prevention Team represented the San Juan Island Prevention Coalition and our community at the annual Prevention Policy Day in Olympia this February. This advocacy effort is organized by the Washington Association for Substance Abuse & Violence Prevention (WASAVP), which fosters and supports youth involvement at the policy level.

As part of the day on the Hill, Rep. Harris and Sen. Kuderer spoke to the youth about why they are champions for House Bill 1074 (Rep. Harris) and its companion, Senate Bill 5057, (Sen. Kuderer), Tobacco 21 Law for Washington State. Johnny Berg, Rock Solid chaperone, shared his support of Tobacco 21, “this approach will drastically drop future users according to the statics they shared which nearly 95% of smokers started before the age of 21.”

We also met and heard from Annie Tegan, from Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, according to recent studies, approximately 2,800 Washington state kids will become addicted to tobacco products each year. Imagine that is like having 39 school buses full of kids on their way to a lifetime of tobacco-related illnesses and addiction. Continue Reading

Mary Stone welcomes Robert Bulloch – Contributed photo

Local long-time attorney Mary Stone is pleased to announce her firm is expanding with the addition of her new law partner, Robert Bulloch. The firm will now be known as Stone & Bulloch, P.S.

“Bob brings over 20 years of legal experience as a litigator and trial attorney along with extensive experience serving clients in estate planning, probate, real estate and elder law”, says Stone

Over the past 20 years, Bulloch had risen to the level of Supervising Deputy District Attorney in San Bernardino County, California. He was an award-winning prosecutor handling some of the most high-profile and complex cases in the county’s history.

In 2014, Bulloch was nationally recognized by his legal peers for the prestigious “Excellence in Litigation Award” by the Association of Government Attorneys in Capital Litigation.

He was also nominated by his peers in the two preceding years for outstanding advocacy on a state-wide level. The California State Bar has certified Bulloch as a Criminal Law Specialist. Continue Reading

There’s a Third Saturday Contra Dance coming up on Saturday…

• WHERE-Grange Hall in Friday Harbor
• WHEN-Saturday March 16th, 7 till 9 PM
• PRICE-$10 donation at the door, $5 students

This month our caller is Amy Carroll, and our band is Forrest Carroll and Friends. Amy and Forrest have been here for our dances several times, as recently as last October. They are a great team and provide a good time for all.

As always with contra dancing, all the dances are taught, you don’t need to bring a partner, and you don’t need to have ever done contra dancing before. Beginners and experienced dancers mix seamlessly, it’s what contra dancing is all about!

This dance is graciously sponsored by San Juan Island Grange # 966. Check us out and like our Facebook page at San Juan Islands Contra Dance.

Wellington is this week’s Pet of the Week

Hi there. I’m Wellington. If you’re like me, you were born to be wild, but only moderately wild and only for a few minutes a day or when the red dot is in the room.

For the most part, I prefer napping and having someone to watch television and cuddle with. I’m here at the animal shelter, hoping someone out there would like to adopt a moderately wild boy with a gentle personality. Lets meet soon.

Animal Protection Society of Friday Harbor
994 Cattle Point Road
(360) 378-2158

In the SJ Update mailbag we find this letter from Rich Meenan…

The San Juan Public Schools Foundation wants to thank everyone who helped make Monday night’s silver anniversary Knowledge Bowl a smashing success:

The teams from Friday Harbor 8^th through 12^th grade, Spring Street International School, Kiwanians (congratulations, winners!), Lions, Soroptimists, and Rotarians for a terrific competition

The San Juan Community Theatre staff for so much technical support

The many local businesses that donated raffle prizes and gift certificates

Cart Nelsen and the High School Jazz Band for more great music

The High School PTA for all the tasty bake sale items

Andy Anderson for an inspiring presentation about our amazing school arts program

And, not least, Brent Snow for generously hosting another evening of fun and laughter as emcee.

Great thanks to all and see you next year at the 26^th Knowledge Bowl!

Martha Alvarado
T.J. Heller
Darla Jungmeyer
Krista Mattox
Karen Meenan
Rich Meenan
Brian Moore
Jacoba Porter
Jennifer Thomas

Click to enlarge – Photos courtesy of San Juan Island Fire & Rescue

FRIDAY HARBOR, WA — On Thursday afternoon, March 7, 2019 at 2:20 p.m., San Juan Island Fire and Rescue crews responded to 911 fire call regarding a recreation vehicle fire adjacent to a commercial building on Spring Street in Friday Harbor.

Upon arrival, the vehicle fire had quickly spread to trees and a propane tank adjacent to the commercial building, which housed a retail office supply store. An employee and a customer in the building quickly and safely evacuated. One individual, who had been working on the recreation vehicle when it caught fire, was taken to Peace Health Island Medical Center for minor injuries, where they were treated and released.

San Juan Island Fire and Rescue Chief Norvin Collins said, “This was an aggressive fire. It was fueled by the burning vehicle and the propane tank immediately adjacent to the structure. Once we were sure all occupants were safely out of the building, our goal was to contain the fire to the structure as fast as possible and to ensure the safety of everyone on the scene.”

Wind conditions and materials within the structure made the efforts to completely extinguish the fire complicated and extended the time crews needed on the scene. No additional injuries were reported during the fire. The fire response was an all-hands event requiring multiple crews and the department’s logistics team. San Juan Island EMS provided on-scene support for firefighters and security and scene control was provided by the San Juan County Sheriff’s Department.

Chief Collins said, “It is always a sad day to see people’s lives and a business impacted by a fire. We are very grateful for the support of our community during this event. We are especially grateful for the great work and support of our emergency response partners – San Juan EMS, San Juan County Sheriff, Town of Friday Harbor, Port of Friday Harbor, OPALCO and two propane companies for your response and assistance. The fast response and offers of assistance during emergencies demonstrates that we are all in this together.”

More photos below – Continue Reading

The San Juan Island Library now offers free access to lynda.com. At lynda.com you can find thousands of online classes about using technology and business.

Popular classes include Photoshop and Quickbooks. All you need to do is visit https://www.sjlib.org/investment-research/a-z-list-of-online-resources/.

Have your library card handy. Your pin is usually the last four digits of your telephone number, unless you have reset it.

Happy learning!

This two-part workshop given by Katerina Wen, M.Ed. will focus on how breath, movement, and nutrition can enhance the health of your brain. For everyone that values the longevity of their brain and seeks to upgrade its capacity and performance!

Classes are held Monday and Wednesday March 25^th and 27^th at Friday Harbor Holistic Health, 669 Mullis Street, #202 from 6:00 to 7:30 pm. There is an early fee of $44 which expires March 14^th and will be $49 thereafter. Sign up today!

For more information call 360-378-4953 or visit www.islandrec.org.  

It is that time of year for building and remodeling projects!

The San Juan Center of Skagit Valley College is running two separate building related classes.  One class will discuss tiny home building in San Juan Country and the other will discuss remodeling in San Juan County.  Classes are being held on both San Juan or Orcas Island. Full descriptions are below. Register for one or both!

Call the San Juan Center at 378-3220 for more information or to register.

Title: An Introduction to DIY House Remodeling in San Juan County
Looking to tackle a home remodel project? Where do you begin? Continue Reading

San Juan Island School Board Director Jack McKenna announced his resignation from school board position #5 on February 27, 2019. The school board accepted his resignation with regret. Director McKenna will be missed and the district would like to thank him for his 7.5 years of dedicated service to the students and community of San Juan Island School District.

San Juan Island School District is currently seeking persons interested in public education to fill this unexpired term as a board member. The next election to fill this position will be the regularly scheduled election of November, 2019.

Qualified candidates will be individuals who are dedicated to quality education for all students. Good communication skills and a working knowledge of local school district operations will also be an asset in this position. Continue Reading

This weekend – Sunday, March 10th at 2:00 AM – Daylight Saving Time begins.

Spring is almost here and the days are getting longer.

Don’t forget to set your clock forward one hour – (Probably when you go to bed Saturday) so at 2:00 AM it will really be 3:00 AM.

This may also be a good time to change the batteries in your smoke alarms.

Office Supplies Plus after the fire – Tim Dustrude photo

On Thursday afternoon, March 7th, an RV parked next to Office Supplies Plus, caught fire and ignited the building as well. Propane a propane tank in the RV helped accelerate the blaze and it quickly burned out of control.

Everyone inside the building got out safely and called 911 but the building and the RV were total losses.

More info will be published soon.

Here’s a video on Facebook shot by Ken Norris.

Image courtesy of Fenner Photography

This year Island Rec is offering a how-to workshop on building your car for the Hill of Thrills race, led by STEM veteran Cecil Dent.

Utilize tools and workshop space at the FH High School’s STEM building. Get ideas and hands-on assistance to craft and assemble alongside Cecil. Attendance of the workshop starts at a $45.00 flat rate ($50.00 after March 22nd), with a $200.00 add-on option for all the parts you’ll need to build an ‘Island Racer’.

Join the crew from 3-5pm on Saturdays April 6th, April 20th, and May 4th. Register online, call (378-4953), or visit the Island Rec office at 580 Guard Street.

The annual Master Gardeners Native Plant Sale is coming soon!

Just in time for spring planting – and spring is coming.

There are hundreds of natives in containers, including flowers, grasses, shrubs and trees.

Plants from the Salish Seeds project are included. They grow species native to county grasslands, oak savannahs and prairies. Plants are grown at Red Mill Farm in San Juan Valley.

Some of the spectacular flowers include the chocolate lily, shooting star, Douglas aster, prairie star, nodding onion, fawn lily, and both the great and common camas.

Shrubs include red flowering currant, evergreen huckleberry, Oregon grape, and our state flower, the Pacific Rhododendron. Continue Reading

In the SJ Update Mailbag this morning, we have this letter from Steve Ulvi…

Glancing at caller ID on a recent snowy morning, I guessed that my old Alaska pal, Archie was riled up about something.   Most likely a retaliatory shot in response to the brow-beating I served up previously. I had been pretty steamed about the sheer insanity of Alaska oil revenue politics, opening the Arctic Refuge when we won’t need any more oil and trying to restart the abominable Pebble Mine idea. I let it ring and go to message, deciding whether to pick up.

“Hey Champ, if you ain’t too busy exfoliating or plucking your eye brows, pick up to hear some truth…”.

Warming to his familiar voice I jumped in “back away from the ledge and count to ten, Archie, the moon of booming ice is nearly over!”.

He laughed and slurped a spoon of piping hot, high-test brew through his three front teeth. He had most of his teeth pulled by an itinerant hack dentist, while in the fog of a hangover, after reading about some guy going around the bend due to silver fillings in a John Birch Society magazine in the 1980s.

Not one for polite chit-chat, my favorite chain-smoking libertarian gleefully launched into his favorite thread. A view that can be summarized in sanitized terms as ‘you gave up everything real to leave the wild northland and retire in the environmentally pummeled, foo-foo San Juan Islands’. Continue Reading

FRIDAY HARBOR, WA – San Juan Island National Historical Park today announced the availability of the Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for the 2018 Replace American Camp Temporary Visitor Center Environmental Assessment (EA).

The FONSI, which was signed by National Park Service Pacific West Regional Director Stan Austin, identifies the selected alternative and is the decision making document for the project.

Two alternatives were evaluated in the EA: Alternative 1 (the no action alternative) and Alternative 2 (the proposed action). The FONSI authorizes implementation of Alternative 2, which includes the replacement of the 40 year-old “temporary” visitor center with a new facility, the relocation of the visitor center entrance road, and expansion of park operational facilities, including administrative campsites and a maintenance storage area. Continue Reading