Executive exchange: San Juan County, Lake Forest Park swap administrators

If the name Lake Forest Park sounds familiar, it should. That's where county Administrator Pete Rose is headed, and it's also the city from where it appears his replacement will come.

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updated 9:20 AM May 16, 2012 1

Eelgrass – a zoo of strange and small animals

By Russel Barsh and Madrona Murphy Like true grasses on land, eelgrass responds to longer, warmer days by growing new leaves and sometimes forming small, inconspicuous flowers. Eelgrass competes for light with the mat of algae and diatoms [a single-celled algae] that floats above like green clouds.

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updated 3:42 PM May 15, 2012 Islands' Weekly 0

Don't get caught in the dark

A planned 30-minute power outage begins at 11:30 p.m. on San Juan Island, Friday, May 18

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2:07 PM May 15, 2012 0

Friday Harbor High rated 9th best in Washington state

Friday Harbor High School earned high marks in U.S. News and World Report's annual report on the nation's "best high schools", thanks in part to student success in AP classes.

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updated 7:17 PM May 11, 2012 3

Obscene phone calls: annoying or dangerous?

Since the end of April, the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office has taken 20 calls reporting sexually explicit telephone calls in the middle of the night by a man, from a restricted or private number, who speaks to his female victims by their name.

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updated 4:58 PM May 11, 2012 0

County Council endorses proposed sales-tax hike

The proposed sales-tax hikes, at .3 percent, is expected to raise slightly more than $1 million a year, with much of the new revenue earmarked for support of public safety and law enforcement services.

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10:33 AM May 11, 2012 0

Knife-wielding naked woman, terror on Terrace Drive, plywood peril; San Juan County Sheriff's Log

May 5: An Orcas Island man was slapped with a criminal citation for hauling an unsecured load following a dangerous mid-morning mishap in the 700 block of Orcas Road. The 33-year-old was hauling a rickety load on a flatbed truck when an old wooden cabinet fell off the truck and onto the roadway, and then struck the front end of a car in the oncoming lane. A piece of plywood from the cabinet reportedly impaled itself into the windshield of the oncoming car, causing shards of broken glass to strike the face of a 60-year-old man behind the wheel, who suffered minor injuries. The driver of the flatbed faces up to 90 days in jail and a fine of $250.

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updated 8:22 AM May 11, 2012 0

County Council to interview administrator candidate, Friday, on Orcas

The special meeting begins at 3 p.m., at the Public Works building at Orcas Landing, with the council meeting in executive session (behind closed doors). The council is scheduled to reconvene in open session at 3:45 p.m.

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6:31 PM May 10, 2012 0

San Juan Island woman faces new round of drug charges

Authorities claim Chelse Sue Rogers sold small quantities of marijuana and cocaine multiple times while she was out on bail on a pending drug trafficking offense in late October. She is slated to be in court Friday for a preliminary hearing, and has been in Island County jail, held without bail, since her arrest.

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2:41 PM May 10, 2012 0

Incumbents Adams, Thomerson win reelection to OPALCO board

At 18.3 percent, voter turnout hit a all-time high, with 150 ballots cast at the annual meeting and 403 cast in OPALCO's first-ever format for voting online.

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updated 5:07 PM May 9, 2012 0

CRC's magic number: three

On Saturday, the San Juan County Charter Review Commission put the finishing touch on three amendments to the voter-approved charter, passed in 2005. First, the county council would be reduced to three members from the present six. Second...

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updated 3:32 PM May 8, 2012 0