Soroptimist International of Friday Harbor invites women of all ages to attend its second annual seminar at Skagit Valley College, San Juan Center on Saturday, February 8 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

This year’s theme of “Women’s Health: Where to find it, how to keep it” offers free sessions led by professional health and wellness practitioners addressing topics of holistic health, nutrition, self-advocacy, access to health care, parenting and menopause. Healthy morning refreshments and lunch are included in the program.

Register online at the Soroptimist website: www.sifri.org/contact-us or by calling 378-5167. Either way, someone will respond with registration details. Advance registration is required by February 6 due to space limitations. Here’s to a healthy you!

Cady Davies, Public Information Officer over at San Juan Island EMS sends this over for you…

San Juan Island EMS is a service of the San Juan County Public Hospital District No. 1 and provides Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and medical transportation to the residents and visitors of San Juan Island, the Town of Friday Harbor, and the islands of Brown, Pearl, Henry, Speiden, John and Stuart. SJIEMS offers advanced life support services and employs career paramedics and volunteer EMTs in a nationally recognized and CAMTS critical care accredited agency. SJIEMS is looking to pass a permanent levy beginning in 2015 for the ongoing uninterrupted operations of EMS into the future.

The past two years, EMS has seen almost a $500,000 loss of tax revenue due to declining property values. Only one third of the operating budget comes from property taxes.
San Juan Island EMS has served the citizens and visitors of the district since 1977 in a model of excellence in rural advanced life support care and transportation. EMS is looking to pass a permanent levy of up to 50 cents per thousand of valuation. The combination of career paramedics and volunteer EMTs provides a fiscally responsible yet robust level of service that our islands need. EMS also works hard to prevent accidents and illnesses by focusing on community education and outreach with a well-recognized public First Aid and CPR program with over 70 AEDs placed throughout the district. Continue Reading

Stan Matthews over at the County sends this heads-up for you…

Washington Courts have received reports that a fraudulent email is being widely distributed around the U.S. with the subject line “Urgent court notice NR#73230” (or another random number) that claims the receiver is scheduled to appear in “the court of Washington.”

The receiver is then instructed to open the attached court notice and read it thoroughly, and is warned about not appearing. The spam has proven to be a “malware” email and will download a computer virus when the attachment is opened.

The administrator of San Juan County District Court administrator was contacted by the owner of a business on Orcas that received one of the fraudulent emails.

A news release issued by Washington Courts states: “This email did not originate with the Administrative Office of the Courts or any Washington courts,” and advises anyone receiving an email that fits the above description to delete the email immediately without opening the attachment.
For useful information and tips, visit the FBI E-Scams and Warnings site at http://www.fbi.gov/scams-safety/e-scams

Today we start a new monthly series, “Meet your volunteer firefighter”, written by Sheila Harley, Public Information Officer of the San Juan Island Fire Dept. And here is Sheila with our first firefighter…

January’s firefighter, Carolyn Hudson – Click for larger version – Tim Dustrude photo

Carolyn is the Administrative Assistant for San Juan Island Fire Rescue. She is the one you will most likely see when you get your burn permit at the office at 1011 Mullis Street. Carolyn is originally from Morton, Illinois and arrived on the Island in 1997. She began working part-time at the old fire office across from IPS in 1999. Her friend, Claire Vedder, was enrolled in the firefighting class so Carolyn decided to do it too. She completed that and went on to complete the wildland firefighting class.

Carolyn is also a working member of the Washington Incident Management Team 4. This means that when there is a very large fire somewhere in Washington, or beyond, she will be deployed, sometimes for weeks at a time, working in the finance section, keeping track of the costs of the fire.

Besides her regular duties here at the office, Carolyn works with children. She is involved with the Children’s Festival, the Easter Egg Hunt, the Safety Fair, the Children’s Safety House at the San Juan County Fair, and helping Susan and Peter Risser teach classes during Fire Prevention Week at the Elementary School. Many children remember her Dalmatian, Dottie, who would “Stop Drop and Roll” for the children, helping them learn the basics in case their clothing caught on fire. She, along with the Rissers, will, on invitation, come to businesses and civic meetings to teach the basics of using fire extinguishers. Carolyn Hudson, a paid employee, is an important part of San Juan Island Fire Rescue’s mission to protect life and property.

Sheila Harley
Public Information Offices
San Juan Island Fire

Turn up your speakers or get out the headphones and enjoy some local music! Tovio is a local band who has published their first EP on bandcamp.com where you can preview and download their songs. All originals written by Avery Adams and performed by Tovio – Avery Adams on guitar, piano & vocals, Jake Beliveau on bass, saxophone & vocals, and Tawm Perkowski on drums, percussion and vocals.

The band formed around December of 2012 and started playing local gigs in February of 2013. They have done some off island shows, including in Seattle.

Show your support by purchasing songs off of their first EP at this link. You choose your own price & file format and help support Local Music!

Here is some information about the EP, straight off of their bandcamp.com page:

Recorded over the spring, summer, fall, and winter of 2013, in attempts to mimic lunar rattling and solar hum, the forest’s endearing silence and the ocean’s awesome roar.

Engineering, Mixing, Mastering by T. Perkowski
Recorded at Red Carpet Studios and Brickworks
Songs written by A. Adams, performed by Tovio

We are fortunate to live in one of the most picturesque and beautiful locations in the world. Any time of the year, mother nature’s beauty can be seen and experienced – Warm sunny days on the water, misty, foggy days in the forests, gusty wind-blown days at the beach… One thing we don’t get a lot of is a snowy winter landscape but when we do, wow – what a treat! Question is, how do you choose to enjoy it when it snows?

Previous survey results and comments can be seen at this link.

CLick the poster below for more information on auditions for the play Annie!

Click for larger poster

Well, it’s really not about anything actually. Other than, just a chance for you to have your thoughts heard and to see what your neighbors think about whatever happens to be the question of the week.

It all began a few weeks ago, when I was walking into town and I approached a woman on the sidewalk, heading in the other direction. As we neared, our eyes met, we smiled and we both said “hello” as we passed. A few minutes later I approached another woman heading in the other direction. But this time as we neared, I noticed she was not looking at me. In fact it almost seemed that she was making sure to look at anything but me. We passed and never said hello or anything.

So, no big deal – sometimes we pass people and we say hello, sometimes we don’t. But what got me curious about this, was realizing that sometimes I will say “HELLO!” even when someone’s not looking, and other times I won’t.

And so I got wondering what all of you think about this type of situation. That’s where this whole Small Town Survey idea came from. And after that I thought it would be fun to put up a new question each week.

Maude Cumming from the School District office sends over this notice…

The second semester FHHS Community Service-Learning Class will begin January 28th. This class utilizes committed adult mentors who will guide students through the completion of a service project related to community improvement – both locally and globally. This is a great opportunity for a “win-win” partnership between students and local organizations. If you have a community improvement service project in mind, a fifteen minute in-class presentation time can be arranged on January 30th, 31st or February 3rd, from 10:20 – 11:20. Please contact Jenny Wilson at
jwilson [@] sjisd [.] wed net [.] edu for more information.

Thank you very much for your continuing support and interest in our students!

Jenny Wilson
FHHS Teacher
(360) 370-7117

And

Maude Cumming
Executive Assistant to the Superintendent
San Juan Island School District
(360) 378-4133

Once again, the San Juan Island Trails Committee brings you this very popular series of hikes to help you get out and get acquainted with the wonderful island we call home. The first one for 2014 happens this coming Saturday, January 25 from 1:00 – 4:00 at American Camp. Here’s the Trails Committee with more…

Historic building at the American Camp Parade Ground – Click to enlarge – John Dustrude photo

This is the start of our fourth year of these walks and walking with Mike is always fun and informative. Please, everyone, come on out and join us! Bring your families and friends.

Meet Mike Vouri, Historian and Chief of Interpretation, San Juan Island National Historical Park, to walk the South Beach Trail, heading back along the bluffs. Always refining his knowledge, Mike has great stories to tell along the way. He’ll talk about “deep time’, the first peoples, Hudson Bay Company, the army, and fishing, fishing, and more fishing!

Meet and park at the American Camp Visitors’ Center. Length is 2 miles round trip, rating is moderate, terrain is grass and gravel path. Dogs on leashes? Yes. Rain or shine. Information: www.sanjuanislandtrails.org.

American Camp trail near the redoubt, leading to South Beach, with Mt. Finlayson and Cattle Point in the distance – Click to enlarge – John Dustrude photo

Rehearsal for “Mama” by Fiona Small – Jan Bollwinkel-Smith photo

From the hilarity of a happy hour where the bar patrons speak only in bumper sticker talk to serious issues like bullying and teen suicide, San Juan Community Theatre’s new Playwrights “On the Fringe” showcases both a variety of themes and Island talents.

“On the Fringe” is presented on the Whittier stage Friday and Saturday, January 24 and 25 at 7:00 p.m. and Sunday, January 26 at 2:00 p.m.

This newly created version of past island playwrights festivals took the judging out of the process and opened up an almost “anything goes” format—allowing writers of all ages and experience to submit works.

“What hit me the most about this festival is the depth of so many of the subjects being written about,” said Fringe coordinator Julie Laidlaw. “I think it says a lot about what we’re trying to express to each other.”

Each of the short plays and monologues features both directors and actors from the islands.

Click the link for info on each play and for admission/ticket info Continue Reading

Matt Marinkovich has some information for you about the tacos this Friday and about the whole Fish for Teeth Program in general. Here he is with the story…

Fish for Teeth will be selling fish tacos this Friday as we kick off our third year of fixing islanders’ teeth who could not otherwise afford dental care. The last two ToothMobile visits have produced record numbers, and we plan on stepping up our prevention and education efforts with a sealant program that seeks to apply sealants to every second-grader on San Juan Island.

The fish tacos are $7 each and will be served from 11am-2pm at Friday Harbor Ace Hardware on Friday, January 24th. They are the same fabulous super-tacos (actually burritos) filled with Matt Marinkovich’s Alaskan rockfish (harvested from abundant stocks), and complimented with Pablito’s salsa, fresh Tillamook cheese, fresh cabbage, and a squeeze of lime. Our Fish For Teeth Taco Team is the happiest bunch of volunteers you could meet because they love to pitch in for this great cause! Thank you to Friday Harbor Ace Hardware for providing the covered space to sell fish tacos. Continue Reading

Interested in learning more about how to audition for a play or musical?

The ins and outs of “how to audition” for plays and musicals is the focus of a special clinic sponsored by San Juan Community Theatre Join us at PARC on Monday, January 27 at 6:30 p.m. Here are the details…

The free workshop will be held at the PARC building, 70 Saltspring Drive off Beaverton Valley Road; all ages are welcome. Pianist and vocal coach Carol Hooper, dance instructor Bill Ament and SJCT’s Artistic Director Susan Williams will help with tips on singing auditions, dance moves and cold reading techniques.

Learn a few tricks to help make your next audition experience more fun and help you land that part!

While the workshop comes a week before auditions for SJCT’s spring musical, Annie, Williams says everyone (not just those interested in Annie) are invited.

Sweet Rusty defines the word, “Serenity”. She’s a big gentle girl; about 4-years old. We think she is part Maine Coon, and part Torti. She’s very affectionate and has beautiful lady-like manners. She’d do great with an elderly person, or in a quiet household. She gets along well with other cats and would probably be just fine with a well-mannered dog or two. Stop by the shelter and let her steal your heart like she has ours.

Kids and Parents! Are you looking for a fun and convenient childcare option during mid-winter break? Island Rec will be offering a fun-filled day-camp for K-6th graders. Our staff is designing an enriching camp experience including fun games & activities, crafts, swimming, bowling, field trips, and lots more!

School’s Out Camp will run Tuesday through Friday, February 18th-21st at Friday Harbor Elementary School. Camp hours are from 8:30am to 3:30pm daily with optional extended hours from 3:30pm to 5:30pm each evening. Children must have a current STAR application on file and may enroll for specific days or for the full 4-day session.

Space is limited for this program and parents are strongly encouraged to register early. Sign up before January 30th and save with an early fee discount. Scholarships are available for those on the free or reduced lunch program. Sign up today!

To register, or for more information on camp fees and scholarships, please call 378-4953 or visit www.islandrec.org.

Park volunteers install a puncheon on the Bell Point-Westcott Bay trail – SJINHP photo

San Juan Islanders will have the opportunity to talk about trails and enjoy freshly baked pizza during a Mitchell Hill and Westcott Bay Trails Workshop scheduled 5 to 7 p.m., Wednesday January 22 at the Mullis Senior Center.

San Juan Island National Historical Park is in the process of drafting a Development Concept Plan for 382 acres of uplands, forests and shoreline that became part of English Camp in 2010 and 2013.

A Douglas fir stands in full on the Mitchell Hill summit – SJINHP photo

The proposed land will provide a blueprint for future facilities and recreational activities for each new area. The public workshop to gather public input on trail use and design is the next step in the process.

The park’s vision is to establish a system of non-motorized trails at Mitchell Hill and Westcott Bay that honors the unique character of these secluded coastal wetland and forest areas, according to park Integrated Resources Manager Jerald Weaver.

The trails connect English Camp to adjoining properties, support a diversity of recreational experiences, and are an integral part of the island-wide community trail system.

The Trails Workshop will consist of two parts:

• Block One will focus on existing trail use and conditions.
• Block Two will explore planning for the future, looking specifically at potential multiple and single-use trails, access to both trails and trailheads, protection of sensitive resources, and opportunities for interpretation and visitor support facilities.

“Our goal is to provide walking, bicycling and equestrian trail experiences, along with enhanced accessibilityto these trails,” Weaver said.

“We want to foster cooperation between the park, trail users and neighboring landowners and we need help from islanders in guiding development of a trail system at English Camp that both meets the needs of the park and enhances our island community — please come join the conversation.”