According to state law, every district that places a measure on the ballot is responsible for appointing committees to write voters’ guide arguments both for and against the proposition. If a district is unable to appoint committees, that responsibility falls to the County Auditor.

Two local measures will appear on the upcoming April 24 Special Election. Orcas Island voters will vote on a proposal to establish a public hospital district. San Juan Island School District has placed a four-year property tax levy on the ballot to support the District’s education programs and operating expenses. Sponsors of both measures have appointed committees to write arguments supporting their proposal. Neither have appointed opposing argument writers.

For that reason, County Auditor Milene Henley is seeking people interested in writing arguments against either measure.

If you are interested in writing an opposing argument, please contact the Auditor at [email protected], or (360) 370-7558. Up to three people (per measure) may be named as argument writers, though they may seek the assistance of as many people as needed. Statements are limited to 250 words.

Firewise Communities Fuel Reduction Program and Wildfire Community Preparedness Day Home Evaluations

The San Juan Island Fire Department is proud to announce the 2018 Firewise Communities fuel reduction program. The 2018 program, which runs from April 1 through May 31, is open to existing and newly formed Firewise Communities. 

The Department, supported in part by the national Firewise Communities program, will pay one half of the rental fee for a day’s use of a chipper from Harbor Rental. Residents of each community will be responsible for picking up and returning the chipper, its safe operation, and for fuel or other associated costs.

Maintaining a Firewise Community is a team effort. As many residents as possible should participate, as it makes the work much easier. Their effort, including number of participants and hours contributed, should be included in the Firewise Community’s annual renewal report. To schedule the use of a chipper, the Community’s Resident Leader should contact Department Firewise Specialist Jon Zerby at (360) 378-5419. Continue Reading

Local nonprofits got a boost in funding for their projects after the most recent San Juan Island Community Foundation grant cycle. The Women’s Fund, a donor advised fund of the Foundation, awarded $6,000 to support the following 4 community programs:

• The San Juan EMT Association “Every 15 Minutes” program
• The Salish Sea Sciences 2018 Summer program
• The San Juan Islands Agricultural Guild San Juan County Food Hub/Producer Engagement project
• The San Juan Islands Museum of Art Database and Technology Renovation

Continue Reading

David Turnoy, chair of the SJC Democrats shares this invitation with you…

The San Juan County Democrats will be holding our biennial convention on Saturday, March 24th, at the Grange in Friday Harbor, from 1:00 until possibly as late as 5:00. This will follow a march through Friday Harbor demanding that the issue of gun violence be addressed, and it will include children as well as adults. We wanted to be able to participate in this march because the issue is so important. So we have purposely scheduled our convention to begin right after the march, which starts at the courthouse in Friday Harbor at noon on March 24th. The march finishes at the courthouse around 1:00, and that is right across the street from the Grange located on 1st Street.

What do we do at our convention that occurs in a non-presidential election year? Continue Reading

United Way’s “Out of the Cold” Severe Weather Shelter program will conclude its first year of operations on Tuesday, March 12th at noon in the Key Bank basement, with a wrap up meeting and recap of the Steering Committee and volunteers. Everyone is welcome to attend.

We enjoyed many successes and learned necessary lessons over the course of 16 weeks of operation, putting into action all the systems and practices necessary to safely and effectively offer severe weather shelter to anyone who needed it, including the following accomplishments: Continue Reading

Thanks to your generous donation of time, talent, financial gifts and endless encouragement over the years, together, we’ve helped more than 17,700 injured and orphaned animals.

We’re so grateful!

Please join us at our annual Open House event Saturday, March 31st from 11 am to 3 pm at 284 Boyce Road on San Juan Island. Take a tour, meet our staff and board, hear about our history and help us kick off our 35th year celebration!

Click here for more information. San Juan Transit will provide transportation to and from downtown Friday Harbor. We hope to see you there!

Finnegan is this week’s Pet of the Week – Contributed photo

“I didn’t choose the thug life. The thug life chose me.” That’s the name of my new memoir, due out later this spring. My name is Finnegan, and I grew up on the mean streets of Friday Harbor. More specifically, the parking lot behind The Village at the Harbor.

I survived on mice and scraps from the dumpster for the first two years of my life until I met someone who noticed how skinny I was. She started bringing me food. Every day!  I liked her, and we became friends. You’ll have to wait to read the rest of the story when my book comes out. Warning; if you are squeamish, don’t ready the chapter about the day I went to see the vet for “tutoring”.

See you at the signing – or sooner if you’d like to be my forever person! I’m here at the animal shelter, hoping to meet you soon.

Animal Protection Society of Friday Harbor
111 Shelter Road
(360) 378-2158

The 2018 San Juan County “Point-In Time” (PIT) Homeless Count identified 120 people who have no stable place to live, a decrease from the 2017 count of 154.The decrease can be attributed to success in placing families into housing by local service providers, as well as changing definitions of homelessness at the State level.

The first San Juan County count, conducted in 2005 counted 21 homeless or at risk of homelessness. The numbers have varied with an overall upward trend since then. The state mandated count was conducted on Thursday, January 25,2018. The count was initiated by the State of Washington in 2005 (RCW43.185C). The Washington State Department of Commerce oversees the count statewide. 

Of the 120 people identified as having no stable place to live, 57 people, including children and disabled persons, were living out of doors, in vehicles, in abandoned buildings, or in an RV or boat that lacked one of the following: drinking water, a restroom, heat, the ability to cook food, or the ability to bathe. The remaining 63 were at risk of homelessness, in temporary, unstable living arrangements, often with friends or family. In 2017, the count found 96 people homeless and 58 at risk of homelessness. The 2016 count found 58homeless and 46 at risk of homelessness. Continue Reading

Jake and Molly are busy scraping, sanding and painting – creating their new restaurant “Mr. Believable’s – SJ Update photo

What’s happening at the Rumor Mill? A new restaurant is coming soon, called Mr. Believable’s. New restaurateurs Jake Beliveau and Molly Prima hope to have a soft opening before the end of April and an official Grand Opening on Memorial Day Weekend.

Mr. Beliveable’s* will be a community minded BBQ restaurant serving pulled pork and fried chicken among other things including vegetarian and vegan foods. There will be a focus on local sourcing from the island’s farms. Many entrees will be available as sandwiches and they will introduce the island to “Believe-a-bowls” – bowls with loaded baked potatoes, loaded mac ‘n cheese or rice bowls. Fridays will be “Salmon nights” and starting in the fall they will be the local “Wednesday Night Restaurant” with family oriented, affordable comfort food options. Along with the full bar and beer & wine selection, they will offer 8 – 10 home made sodas on tap.

A few things will change – the dance floor is going away, with a more versatile multi-use floor for dining or dancing (by moving tables aside when necessary). The fence separating the bar area is being moved to enlarge the bar; the high bar tables are being moved back against the far wall in the dining room with a bookshelf added there for games. The stage will remain for live music, but it will also be home to other performing arts as well such as comedy and poetry readings.

*And the name – Mr. Beliveable’s – where did that come from? Well it’s a rare example of “Thank You Autocorrect!” Jake discovered that when typing his last name into a smart phone, it would “correct” his spelling for him. So Mr. Beliveau is also Mr. Believable. They have been using that name for their booth at the Farmer’s Market and it seemed a natural for this new restaurant.

From the SJ Update mailbag…

On Wednesday, March 14th, Friday Harbor high school and middle school students will be a part of the national silent demonstration honoring the slain seventeen students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. 

The seventeen-minute walk-out will begin here at 10:30 with the students gathering on the high school track. Spring Street International School students will also participate while the elementary school’s principal, Diane Ball, will ask the students to reflect upon and speak about kindness. Fred Woods, FHHS principal, sent out a letter to all parents regarding this event Friday afternoon.

Ayla Ridwan and Emma Mughal are the high school coordinators for both these demonstrations.  They ask everyone to wear orange.  While the public is encouraged to support the students and their  message, they will not be allowed on school grounds.  Rather, they may gather on the sidewalks and outside the fence line by the track.  

On March 24th the students will participate in the national “March for Our Lives.”  Look for details as this date draws closer.

Congratulations to Nylah Pieples, a 5th grade student at Stillpoint School who was selected as a State Semifinalist in the 2018 Letters About Literature contest!

This year, 1,132 Washington students in grades 4 through 6 submitted letters in Level 1. Nylah’s letter was one of only 20 letters selected as State semifinalists. This is the 25th annual Letters About Literature writing competition, which is sponsored by the Library of Congress Center for the Book.

The Stillpoint School community is very proud of Nylah’s academic accomplishment!

It’s tomorrow morning 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 tonight) 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.

Chinook Salmon – Geoffrey McMichael photo

The passage of SB 6269 marks another critical step forward to increase Washington state oil transportation safety. Similarly, the phase out of Atlantic salmon net pens in Washington received significant bi-partisan support.

These bills represent a victory for Washington state and the Salish Sea.  It is a call to decision makers in Washington and British Columbia that our shared waters should reflect sound science and multi-agency coordination. Our fish and wildlife don’t stop at the border nor do oil or fish spills. 

“The legislature showed that protecting the health and safety of our shared waters goes beyond party lines and fish spills and oil spills are concerns every Washingtonian understands. Considering the growing volume of tar sands traveling through our region, it is imperative for the health of our communities to have adequate funding for preventing spills. These votes send an important message that Washington State takes the risk posed by oil spills and fish spills in our waters seriously and we will do what it takes to protect the Salish Sea,” stated Stephanie Buffum, Friends of the San Juans Executive Director.

Background: Continue Reading

April 2018 Educational Programs and Operations Levy
by Ralph Hahn, Chairman, San Juan Island School Board
March 9, 2018

Voters will soon be receiving an informational mailer from the school district about the upcoming school levy election in April. The information contained in the mailer has been carefully reviewed and subsequently approved by the Board of Directors. It is a statement of facts based on reviews of the budget information available at this moment. There are several pieces of information that are different than past levy elections.

First, the name of the levy is new. In the past it was called the Maintenance and Operations Levy (M. & O. levy). With the changes in the state’s financing of K-12 public education, it is now called the Educational Programs and Operations Levy.

Second, in effect this levy is a renewal of the terms and conditions of the M. & O. Levy (initially about the same amount to be collected at basically the same per thousand of assessed value).   The purpose of the levy is to allow communities to provide and and fund programs the state does not consider basic education and does not fund. In reality, with the new restrictions imposed by the state legislature, in 2019-20 local levy revenue will be limited and reduced about $400,000 LESS than we will receive in 2018-19 in local levy support. That is based on the facts as we presently know them. We simply cannot know what future state legislatures might or might not do. Continue Reading