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

What’s that you say? You have a car? What a coincidence! I simply ADORE riding in cars!

I also love belly rubs, roast beef, cats, other dogs, cuddling, people of all shapes and sizes, going for walks, karaoke, peanut butter cookies, deep-tissue massage and classic rock.

We like all the same things, don’t we? It’s almost like the universe put us here on the same planet at the same time, don’t you think? No doubt about it – we were meant for each other.

My name is Peugeot and I’ll be here at the animal shelter waiting for you. Don’t be too long…

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

Featured speaker Kris Bayas will share a new look at worm bins and the compost-worm-casting connection for healthy plants and garden.

Kris Bayas, a WSU Extension Master Composter and vermiculture advocate enthusiastically presents the advantages and possibilities of keeping an active worm bin to process compostable material into worm castings to keep your plants and garden in healthy robust growing condition.

No yard? No bin? No problem–she has the answers and you will be a worm convert too! Please join us on November 1st at 1:00 pm at the Mullis Center.

Tea, coffee, desserts and good gardening conversation to follow.

Contact Marguerite Bennett at 378-8524 for any questions.

Here’s an invitation for you from Joe Gamez at Calvary San Juan…

This Year’s Harvest Fest is on Monday October 31st from 4:00PM till 7:00PM.  This year’s theme is, “It’s a Jungle Out There” and will be held at Calvary San Juan, 620 Guard Street.  

We have free food and deserts as well as fun carnival type games throughout the whole building and lots of candy and other prizes.  

Treat bags will be provided and this year we have special guest, “Predators of the Heart”  to entertain and educate.  This exotic animal encounter highlights God’s creation and illustrates biblical truth through a uniquely powerful approach.  Their mission is to expose the predator of sin that comes to steal the heart and destroy one’s future, while communicating a message of forgiveness and hope in Jesus Christ.  

This free event will be great fun for the whole family.  Sponsored by Calvary San Juan and Islands Community Church.

EDC offers free workshop on LinkedIn for business and career development

Many people have joined LinkedIn, but how can it be used for career enhancement and to generate business? Join the San Juan County Economic Development Council for a FREE workshop on the topic of LinkedIn for Business & Career Development, on Tuesday, November 8th from 1-2:00 p.m. on San Juan Island. Advanced registration is required.

LinkedIn has become the number one social media tool for business and career enhancement. Whether establishing a brand, building a client base, or finding a job, LinkedIn’s free service provides its users powerful tools to achieve personal and business development goals.

Noted management consultant and author Mike Sanders will discuss how to use LinkedIn effectively, and he will discuss common mistakes made by both novice and experienced users. He will explain the top 10 advanced LinkedIn tips, including completion of profile, photography, titles, work samples and updates. Finally, he will lead a question and answer session to discuss issues relating to attendees’ specific LinkedIn profiles.

Details: San Juan Island, Tuesday, November 8th from 1-2:00 p.m. at the San Juan Island Library in Friday Harbor. Free workshop; advance registration is required. Please call 360-378-2906 to reserve your space, or email: info [@] sanjuansedc.org.

The EDC thanks San Juan County government, our ports, the Town of Friday Harbor, Heritage Bank, Islanders Bank and the Department of Commerce for their support of this workshop.

This workshop is not sponsored by the San Juan Island Library.
The San Juan County Economic Development Council (EDC) strives to strengthen and diversify the economy of San Juan County. We believe a strong economy builds a strong community. The EDC works to build an environment that helps business owners create jobs. We serve business: linking organizations and resources, providing valuable information, rendering assistance and advocating for an improved island business environment.

One of the displays at Frightmare at the Fairgrounds – Kim Miller photo

Don’t forget, the last night for this event is tonight – Saturday, October 29th. Marie DiCristina and Kim Miller were there. Marie shares these thoughts and Kim shares these photos. 

Thanks for sharing you two…

Hi Tim,

I just left the most amazing display I’ve seen in a while. The Frightmare at the Fairgrounds is totally awesome! You need to go see it. The whole town should see it! Fantastic displays… hundreds of them… spooky, silly, funny, animated exhibit with lights, smoke, spiders, ghosts, witches.. .it’s all there.

The children’s display (scary things turned off, scenery only) is going until 6pm tonight for $5. Then at 6 – 10pm the special effects come into play for $10.  It is absolutely worth it. Great fun… don’t miss it! I was amazed at the professional quality and the sheer enormity of the exhibit. It completely fills the main Fairgrounds building. The best part is all the proceeds go to local charities.  Go see it!!!! 

Boo!
Marie DiCristina

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J28 with “peanut-head” and J54 malnourished on 2 October 2016 – Photo by Ken Balcomb, Center for Whale Research

By Kenneth C. Balcomb,
Senior Scientist Center for Whale Research

J28 was born in mid-winter 1992/93 in or near Puget Sound Washington, and was the first of four known calves born to J17 in the J9/J5 lineage of southern resident killer whales (SRKW – see family tree) inhabiting the inshore marine waters of the Pacific Northwest. The iconic and world-famous J1, first SRKW ever to be photo-identified, was her father. Photographs of J28 that were taken in the summer of 1993 by Center for Whale Research staff and Earthwatch volunteers show that she was a healthy and vigorous ‘calf’’ among six new calves born that year into the SRKW population.

In late autumn 2002, when J28 was nine years old she acquired a small nick in the trailing edge of her dorsal fin that made her easily identifiable to whale-watchers and the general public, and she became one of the darlings for a growing fan club of humans that were beginning to raise concerns that this iconic population was precipitously declining from around 100 in 1995 to around 80 in 2003. The SRKW population was declared Endangered under the US Endangered Species Act in 2005, and earlier this year it was listed as a “species in the spotlight” by NOAA for its lack of recovery since then.

Sexual maturity for these immensely popular neighbor animals is typically attained in the early to mid teens, and J28 had her first known calf, a daughter J46, in November 2009 when she was sixteen years old. Gestation is approximately 17 months, so we can estimate that J28 became pregnant at age fourteen and a half. In January 2013 (three years after the birth of J46), a freshly dead neonate calf was found on Dungeness Spit and identified from DNA as belonging to J28 with the father most likely to have been L41. The dead calf was not given an alpha-numeric designation because it had not been documented alive. She subsequently (23 months after the dead calf) had her second live-born calf, a son J54, in December 2015 at the tail end of a so-called “Baby Boom” of 2014/15. Regrettably now that mom has died, he will not survive and may already be dead, along with two other “boomers” (J55 and L120). (Continue reading here)

San Juan Islands Museum Of Art Opens A New Phase Of Development

After many years on the board of the San Juan Islands Museum of Art (SJIMA), serving as chairman of the board and executive director, and guiding the construction of the permanent museum in Friday Harbor, Charlie Bodenstab has retired.

“I wholeheartedly wish SJIMA success in this new chapter of its life in service to the arts, artists and the community,” says Bodenstab. “I believe in SJIMA’s future!”

With a restructured board, SJIMA leadership is using this new phase in the museum’s development to consolidate efforts and reshape operations. Former members of the board RaVae Luckhart and Karen Woldtvedt remain. Six new board members join them: Yvonne Buijs-Mancuso, Knowle Hanson, Peter Lane, Laura Long, Linda Marsaudon and Diane Martindale.

Says Luckhart, “SJIMA is grateful for the contributions of Charlie Bodenstab, the late Jack Yelverton and the many staff and board members who have worked hard to bring quality visual arts to the San Juans since our founding.”

The new SJIMA board has embraced the professional assistance of the Ostara Group, of Seattle, to shape a strategic plan. Another project is to recruit long-term board members whose talents and energies would support that strategic plan. Until such time that the budget and funding can support a full-time executive director, a steering committee provides management of the day-to-day activities.

SJIMA’s tradition for outstanding programming will continue with a seminal exhibition in 2017, Legends of the Human Spirit: Traditional and Contemporary Coastal Peoples. The exhibition showcases art from the Nuu-chah-nulth, Coast Salish, and Kwakwaka’wakw Nations, and other First Nations, making this the first ever exhibition of Coastal People’s art in the county. The exhibition opens in May 2017 and ends after Labor Day, capturing the peak-season visitors. Continue Reading

Port Commissioners Greg Hertel, Mike Ahrenius and Barbara Marrett cut the ribbon held by Current and former Port Directors Ted Fitzgerald and Marilyn O’Conner – Tim Dustrude photo

The official ribbon cutting ceremony happened today at the Spring Street Landing building. A good crowd of about 100 or so people showed up to get a first glimpse of the inside of the new Downrigger’s Restaurant and also check out the businesses below. According to Debbie Rishel, Downrigger’s is planning to open for business on November 10th. Click any of the thumbnails below for a larger view. All photos by Tim Dustrude, San Juan Update.

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Library Amnesty: Start the Coming Year with a Clean Slate at Your Library

Patrons of the San Juan Island Library who have charges on their account for long overdue books will soon get a reprieve.

Starting November 1, the library will offer a two month amnesty period.

Overdue, undamaged materials — including books, DVDs, magazines and audiobooks – can be returned to the Library and all billed item charges will be forgiven.

“We’re encouraging everyone — children and adults alike — to return their overdue materials so they can get back to discovering and enjoying all that the library has to offer, and so others can enjoy these books and items too. Let’s start the coming year with a clean slate,” library director Laurie Orton said.

After the amnesty period, San Juan Island Library is introducing some changes to its billing rules. Any items that are overdue by 30 days are declared lost and the patron’s account is billed. If the items are returned before they are 90 days overdue the charges are waived. However, if they are returned after the 90 days, the billed amount remains on the patron’s account.

Explains Orton, “Since the Library may very well have spent more taxpayer money to replace these items in order to satisfy other patrons’ requests in the meantime, it’s only fair that the borrower who kept the materials for so long pays the replacement costs incurred.”

So take advantage of the Amnesty period from November 1st through December 31st and bring in any overdue, undamaged items—all bills will be waived!

The San Juan Island Library is open Sundays 1-5, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays 10-6, Tuesdays and Thursdays 10-8 and Saturdays 10-5. Please visit our website at www.sjlib.org or call 378-2798 for more information.

Leslie Baker

Assistant Director

San Juan Island Library

On November 4, as part of the Jump for Joy program, professional athletes Neil Amonson, and Jeff Shapiro will be skydiving into local schools to spark interest in living life to the fullest and this year’s Friday Harbor Film Festival. The first skydive takes place at the Middle School at 12pm and the second jump will occur at the Elementary School at 1:15pm. These high-flying skydivers will also be spending the entire weekend connecting with local students at Festival events.

• Neil Amonson, is part of the educational and inspirational program, Jump for Joy, which teaches young people that they can do whatever they dream and that no dream is too big when it comes to seeking happiness. http://jump-4-joy.org/
• Jeff Shapiro, a world class Hang Glider pilot represented the United States in the 2009 and 2011 World Championships, now Jeff is one of the world’s elite Wing Suit pilots.

KAVU, which stands for Klear Above, Unlimited Visibility, is a company aimed at inspiring people to make the most of every day and will be sponsoring the skydiving activities. KAVU is a major supporter of this year’s festival as Bruce Barr, the founder of KAVU who attended Friday Harbor High School, is being honored at the Festival this year with a Local Hero Award. KAVU will also be showcasing their top adventurers, such as Amonson and Shapiro, and filmmakers during Saturday night’s KAVU Collection, which will be held at the Whittier Theatre from 7 – 10pm. Visit www.fhff.org/events for more details on the event.

Another key piece of information is that the Friday Harbor Film Festival is providing free weekend passes to all elementary, middle and high school students in Friday Harbor who want to attend. Any interested student may receive a free student wristband, which provides access to films shown during the festival. Elementary and Middle School students, accompanied by their parents/guardians, can pick up their wristbands at the Festival Office, 10 First Street.

The Festival has a very exciting line-up of documentary films, and special events that celebrate the art of filmmaking. Over 50 films have been scheduled, featuring quality documentaries and docu-dramas that highlight compelling stories about humanitarian efforts, environmental issues, social concerns, and daring explorations. The Friday Harbor Film Festival is proud to be distinguished by the large number of filmmakers who personally come to San Juan Island each year from across the globe. The full line-up of films can be viewed on the Festival’s website, www.fhff.org.

Winners get a behind-the-scenes ferry tour on Monday

It is the ferry captain’s job to get dressed in uniform every morning and take the wheel of one of the state’s 22 ferries. This Halloween is a day like any other for Washington State Ferries (WSF) captains, except they’re expecting a few witches, ghosts, goblins and maybe a junior captain or two to join them aboard several afternoon sailings.

On Monday, October 31, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. WSF is encouraging all walk-on customers, young and old, to come aboard dressed for Halloween. On all sailings during this time, the captain or a crewmember will watch from the wheelhouse and select their favorite costume from the walk-on passengers. The lucky winner will be invited up to the wheelhouse to meet the captain for a behind-the-scenes tour of the ferry.

You’re invited by the SJI Prevention Coalition to take this anonymous survey…

Dear San Juan Update,

We do appreciate you sharing this with your readers. This is the 4th year we are offering our annual survey, which is offered by the State. The survey is anonymous, it gives the San Juan Island Prevention Coalition valuable insight into our community, as it pertains to prevention issues, especially among youth. We welcome the feedback of all San Juan Island Residents. We offer the online survey in English and Spanish. As always, we appreciate your support!

Thank you, Debbi

Online Survey English:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SASAON2016

Online Survey Spanish:
https://es.surveymonkey.com/r/SASASP2016

Steven Mallatratt’s eerie thriller, The Woman in Black, finishes up its ten-performance run at San Juan Community Theatre tonight, Thursday through Saturday, October 27-29 at 7:30 pm.

Directed by Bobby Ryan, this play-within-a-play featuring a lawyer obsessed with a curse that he thinks has been cast on his family, has been receiving much acclaim from island audiences. Long-time Islander David Bentley shared his reaction on FACEBOOK:

Over the 25 years I’ve lived on this tiny island off the coast of Washington State, I’ve been amazed at what our community can achieve in our well designed theater. Tonight, however, the bar was set several notches higher.

Thursday is “Pay What You Can” at the door. (Doors open at 6:30 pm).
Tickets for Friday and Saturday’s performances are available on-line at www.sjctheatre.org or at the box office (378-3210).

Following is a joint statement released by Bill Williams, chair, San Juan County Public Hospital District #1, and Merry-Ann Keane, chief administrative officer, PeaceHealth Peace Island Medical Center:

Representatives of San Juan County Public Hospital District #1 and PeaceHealth have jointly drafted an amendment to the subsidy agreement that details, among other things, the financial relationship between the two entities for the operation of PeaceHealth Peace Island Medical Center.

Specifically, the amendment calls for a reduction of the subsidy paid to PeaceHealth by the hospital district beginning Jan. 1, 2017. The amount of the reduction is approximately $50,000.

These funds will be available to the district to use at its discretion.

This amendment was generated by PeaceHealth leaders and hospital district board representatives in the spirit of collaboration and with the joint recognition that there may be services that the community requests that are outside of the scope of PeaceHealth Peace Island.  Reducing the subsidy allows the district discretionary funds without compromising PeaceHealth’s ability to continue its service delivery.

The amendment to the agreement will be put to a San Juan County Public Hospital District #1 vote on Nov. 23, 2016.

Snow Geese on Fir Island – John Dustrude photo

By Louise Dustrude

John and I had some time to spare on the mainland Monday and so we decided to see whether, even though it seemed early, the snow geese were back for the winter on Fir Island.

We lucked out.

It was on the wildlife viewing area on the road west of Conway that we saw the familiar acre-or-more white splotch that means either snow geese or swans. In this case it was geese.

We watched entranced for 45 minutes as wave after wave of snow geese flew in from the northeast and the northwest and landed near their fellows in either the green grass or the cutover cornfield, and we wondered what makes each individual bird choose one type of field over the other.

We know a few things about these fascinating birds, either from observation or from friends or the internet, but we’d like to know so much more and don’t know how to find out. Maybe you know. Continue Reading

Looking for a “Haunted House” Experience this Halloween weekend? Look no further than the fairgrounds! This year, Frightmare at the Fairgrounds returns to benefit our local Friday Harbor Thespian Society, a group of youth involved in theatre.

We thank the Friday Harbor Jolly Trolley and San Juan County Fairgrounds for their support! The fun starts on Friday Night at 5:oo pm! Prepare to be thrilled and maybe even scared!

There will also be a “no-scare” experience on Saturday from 2:oo to 6:00 pm for younger kids or those not wanting to be “thrilled”. Then we start the scary effects again at 6:00 to 10:00 pm Saturday night, recommended for 10 years and up.

Interested in volunteering, contact Debbi Fincher 378-9479 or Ashley King at 378-4310.

Friday and Saturday, Frightmare at the Fairgrounds — get ready to be spooked!

• Friday, 5-10 pm $10.00
• Saturday, 2-6pm (Kids time) $5.00
• Saturday, 6-10pm $10.00

See you there to be scared! Proceeds support the local chapter of the International Thespian Society.