Island Rec shares news about the newest addition to their staff.

Island Rec’s Board of Commissioners is pleased to announce that Kerry Jack has been selected as the new Director for Island Rec. Kerry, who is a Certified Park & Recreation Professional, brings a wide range of experiences in commercial and municipal recreation, including supervision of facility rentals, special events, outdoor recreation, and the creation of classes, programs, and trips for all ages. She has worked in California, Oregon, and Washington, most recently for Pierce County Parks.

Island Rec has been under the leadership of Maddie Ovenell since 2015. Her last day with the district is Friday, Dec. 30, and she will be staying here on San Juan Island with her family.

Registration for winter and spring programs opens next Tuesday, Jan. 3.

From Nov. 1 — A quiet autumn morning at Dream Lake.

San Juan Island Library invites families with toddlers, preschoolers, and other young kids who might not make it to midnight to take part in Noon Year’s Eve. This daytime event starts at the Mullis Center — 589 Nash St. — at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 31 with themed crafts, activities, and games. Attendees will ring in the new year at noon with a balloon drop and dance party.

The event is free and no advance registration is required.

Cynthia Parkin, Jet, Ruffles, Raquel Lackey — Contributed photo

The County sends along news about this year’s dog licensing program.

The San Juan County Auditor’s office is ready for the 2023 dog licensing season. Each year, the department has the pleasure of recognizing a celebrity dog and issuing them the first dog tag. Competition in 2023 was steep and just one Celebrity Dog could not be crowned, so the honor goes to Jet and Ruffles, the Crisis Response Canines for San Juan County. Jet and Ruffles encourage all pet owners to license their dogs as soon as possible in the new year.

Ruffles and her owner Raquel Lackey support first responders and spend time with children learning to read in an effort to promote literacy. Jet and his owner Cynthia Parkin joined the Fire Department in 2021 after certifying through National Crisis Response Canines. They remain grateful for the opportunity to support first responders and any community members affected by crisis or trauma.

All dogs in San Juan County are required to be licensed annually. Dog licenses are available starting Tuesday, Jan. 3, and current fees are $15 for dogs that are spayed or neutered and $40 for other canines. A late fee of $10 applies to licenses purchased after March 31. Add a photo of your dog for an additional $5 per year, which will display when the dog’s license number is looked up. This additional measure of security adds priceless peace of mind if a dog is lost.

San Juan County dog license fees fund the licensing program and an account that compensates residents for livestock killed or injured by stray, dangerous dogs. The balance of collected fees is distributed to the local Animal Protection Societies for impound services.

Dog licenses are available at a variety of San Juan County locations. If you live on San Juan Island, get your tag at the San Juan County Auditor’s office or the Animal Protection Society. For added convenience, licenses can also be purchased through the mail:

San Juan County Auditor
Attn: Dog Licensing
PO Box 638
Friday Harbor, WA 98250

From April 22 — Up and over the closed gate on the way to Fourth of July Beach.

OPALCO crew making repairs in the snow on Dec. 23 — Contributed photo

OPALCO shares details about the mainland power delivery issues that caused the all-county power outage on Christmas Eve.

At 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 24, all of San Juan County lost power again – only a day after after experiencing another county-wide outage. An OPALCO engineer happened to be driving through Anacortes and saw a flash as equipment failed on the transmission feed that serves San Juan County. He stopped to document and report the damage to the equipment and was able to get a video of the equipment failing from a neighbor. This was the same power pole where equipment failure caused the previous power outage on Dec. 22-23.

By 2:40 p.m., Puget Sound Energy had completed the repairs on the transmission line. They replaced two jumpers and an insulator, in addition to the jumper they replaced on Dec. 23. By 5:30 pm, everyone in San Juan County had their power fully restored.

OPALCO has noticed misinformation being spread about the cause of the recent outages. Please get your information directly from OPALCO as other sources can provide misleading or inaccurate information. OPALCO provides regular updates on its website, on the phone system at 360-376-3500, and on Facebook and Twitter. Members can even sign up for notifications on their location through SmartHub.

The cause of an outage is difficult to communicate while the crews are in the field making repairs under extremely challenging conditions. OPALCO is still investigating all the issues related to the outages that occurred last week. Because the equipment was on transmission lines operated by PSE, OPALCO will need to get the information from them first. OPALCO maintains strict protocols following an outage to document and follow-up on any further maintenance needed on the system.

As the recent county-wide outages demonstrated, OPALCO’s transmission system is dependent on mainland facilities owned and operated by PSE and Bonneville Power Administration. Working with this system, OPALCO maintained a reliability rating of 99.87% in 2021. When outages occur, OPALCO works closely with PSE and BPA to get the system back up and running. However, during a major storm event like we experienced last week, PSE had hundreds of thousands of consumers out of power and it took longer than expected to get our lines repaired.

OPALCO would like to have a redundant transmission line for emergency disruptions and have investigated a new overhead transmission line through Anacortes, as well as a new submarine cable to the mainland. Both projects would cost in the hundreds of millions and require acquisition of easements and land in developed residential areas. As a small non-profit co-op, OPALCO is seeking grants for major projects such as these to protect rate payer affordability.

OPALCO appreciates members’ patience during these difficult times. OPALCO is incredibly grateful to our talented line crew and their commitment to keeping our lights on. The team also appreciated all the emails and notes of gratitude that came pouring in – even as people were still waiting for their power to return.

Contributed photo

The Friday Harbor Food Bank is back to its regular hours this week — 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Wednesday, noon to 2 p.m. on Thursday for online order pick-up, and New Year’s Eve Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

From Oct. 13 — Footsteps at high tide at Eagle Cove.

OPALCO sends along news about the cause of the first of two county-wide outages from last week.

Just before 5 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 22, as temperatures dipped into the low 20s, a mainland electrical feeder serving San Juan County lost power. Shortly after the power went out, the Bonneville Power Administration team helped identify the cause of the outage, which was faulty equipment on Puget Sound Energy’s transmission system. OPALCO crews were called out and remained on standby for when the the mainland repairs were complete.

The OPALCO team waited 8 hours for PSE crews to respond and complete the work on the mainland feed. Throughout the evening and into the wee hours of the morning OPALCO was in constant communication with BPA and PSE to coordinate the outage work.

At 2:10 a.m., the mainland power to the islands was re-energized and OPALCO began to bring the power to the island back up. They did this in phases to help protect the system. When the power goes out during such extreme temperatures, the grid must be managed carefully because picking up such a heavy load too quickly will overload the system.

Because the mainland outage lasted so long and the outside temperatures remained so low, parts of the OPALCO system were overloaded, resulting in smaller neighborhood outages. About 1,200 meters remained without power through the night as OPALCO crews worked to repair and restore the localized system outages. By Friday afternoon, most OPALCO members had their power restored.

The Town of Friday Harbor sends along a request for help with its continuing fight against water leaks.

The Town is continuing to lose ground with our water supply. We are asking those on Town water to please check for water leaks. At this point leaks most likely will be somewhere in your home or business rather than underground. Significant damage has already occurred to at least one home. Please check on your neighbors, particularly if their home or business is unoccupied at this time.

If you find a leak:

1. Immediately shut off water to the structure at the main valve.
2. If you cannot find the main valve, call the Sheriff’s non-emergency line at 360-378-4151 and the Town’s water department staff will be dispatched to turn off the water at your meter. Do not tamper with the water meter yourself. Meters may only be turned off by Town staff.
3. Call a plumber to assess your situation.

In an effort to conserve our water supply, we will cease bulk sales to contractors starting tomorrow, Dec. 27, until further notice. Thank you for your assistance. We’re all in this together.

The County shares news about the newest addition to its emergency response capabilities.

San Juan County is pleased to announce that cell phone users in the county can now send text messages to 911 in an emergency. This new feature increases accessibility to emergency services and helps San Juan County’s emergency response teams quickly and effectively assist residents and visitors alike. San Juan County is the 32nd county in Washington to implement the new feature.

“With the challenging geography of our county, text-to-911 will give more accessibility to those who have minimal cell phone coverage,” says Sheriff Ron Krebs. “Nationwide text-to-911 is being used by the hearing impaired, as well as those whose safety is in danger of making a 911 phone call. This is another piece that allows us to continue to serve our communities better.”

Learn more about the details for the text-to-911 program.

From Aug. 19 — High above the San Juan County Fair.

The Animal Protection Society of Friday Harbor shares a look at the adoptable animals of the week — Eureka and Stanford, two year-and-a-half-old domestic shorthairs.

Hiya guys, the names are Eureka and Stanford. We’re brothers — litter-mates actually. We’ve been together since birth, came to the shelter together, and together is how we plan on leaving here.

The humans around us haven’t always been consistent, but we have been the constant for one another. We made a bond early on as brothers — one to stick together always, and we don’t plan on breaking it. We are both smart, capable, guys who can take care of ourselves, but we’d rather take care of each other than be alone. We each feel more comfortable with the other around. We feel more confident in ourselves with our brother by our side. We feel more capable, happy, and content knowing we have each other. So, it is together we hope to stay! Luckily, it seems like the people here at the shelter who are helping us get adopted understand that. They see our brotherly love and they respect it. Although we don’t exactly speak their language, we can tell by the way they say that we are “a bonded pair,” that they get our vibe and know what we’re looking for.

Now with their help, we’ll hopefully find a person looking for a two-some like us to become part of their family. In addition to us looking out for one another, we are looking forward to the chance to warm up to our people — to be able to receive pets from them and show them our affectionate sides. We’d love to join a family that lets us keep our indoor/outdoor balance, to be able to explore outside — maybe even has some property where we can safely play and hunt, with a warm home to crawl back into for the evenings cuddling up with our favorite brother and our forever family.

Contact APS to learn more about Eureka and Stanford.