We would like to thank all of the individuals, organizations and businesses involved with making this year’s Safety Fair at the Mullis Street Fire Station Oct. 9 a great success.
Ballots will soon be in the mail. However you vote otherwise, I would like to ask San Juan County voters to reject Initiatives 1100 and 1105 that would privatize sales of beer, wine and spirits. The San Juan Island Prevention Coalition is very concerned about the impact these bills would have on our community. These initiatives would increase the availability of alcohol, which is a demonstrated risk factor for substance abuse among youth.
I am currently on a PeaceCorps assignment in the city of Assomada on the Cape Verde Islands, so for the next two years I will be casting my absentee vote from here. This afternoon, I mailed my ballot to San Juan County and if it arrives by Nov. 2 my vote will be counted and although I am a very great distance away from my home, I want to share my reasons for a difficult choice I made on the County Council race.
What this county needs is a grandmother in tennis shoes to bring a little common sense to the County Council. Years of bickering, short-sightedness, complacency and downright irresponsibility have landed us in a mess. Having been around long enough to remember, and also work within, the three-commissioner system, I am appalled at how little is accomplished with more people at the helm.
I am voting for Rich Peterson. If you reside in District 2, I ask that you vote for Rich as well. If you don’t live in District 2, please encourage your friends that do to Vote for Rich.
We are just a couple of guys frustrated at having the campaign signs we’ve put up repeatedly stolen. Other candidates’ signs just a few feet away have not been touched. As a last resort, on our own initiative, we’ve hung a few signs from tree branches, out of easy reach, at some of the vandalism sites. We don’t want this to be misunderstood: It is not a frivolous gesture, nor does it suggest disrespect toward our neighbors or the environment.
The bigger fireworks you buy at the reservation aren’t legal – haven’t been in quite some time, and are not the subject of Referendum 2008-2. Referendum 2008-2 is about the subsequent banning of “safe and sane” fireworks. You see, in 2008, an ordinance was passed banning all fireworks in San Juan County (without a permit). Yes, all fireworks in San Juan County – including sparklers, pinwheels and those crazy smoke balls and snakes.
I came away from the San Juan Builders Association Candidates Forum at Mullis Community Senior Center for the two District 2 candidates with several impressions. There is a clear choice for District 2 voters in this council-seat election. One impression is that Rich Peterson is not a politician … which is a compliment.
I am one of many San Juan County Democrats who endorse Bob Myhr for San Juan County Council. I feel both candidates are good men who are committed to the Lopez community and both candidates would make good council members. However, for me, Bob Myhr is the better candidate by far.
Come on, folks! This is just too much intrusion of local government on our rights! Do you really want to ban all sparklers, pinwheels mounted on sticks, or fountain types of fireworks for everyone in the San Juan Islands on the Fourth of July?! These types of fireworks are not noisy and a not dangerous with parental supervision.
It’s been a long-held American tradition to light fireworks on the Fourth of July. If the current ban remains, we won’t be able to keep that tradition going through each generation. My question is: Why ban them if we haven’t had any accidents or fires in San Juan County with personal fireworks?
Former Town Fire Chief Vern Long, who resigned effective Oct. 18, will receive a severance package of three months salary, health benefits for three months, and payment of unused vacation hours. All told, the package is worth $21,482.10: Three months salary at $5,110.58 per month; employee health insurance premiums at $530.13 per month; and unused vacation hours of 154.68 hours at $29.48 per hour, totaling $4,559.97.
Almost $300,000 in grants for salmon habitat restoration have been awarded to two organizations in the San Juan Islands. The money is part of $12 million for 39 projects awarded Tuesday by the state Salmon Recovery Funding Board. All told, the projects are designed to improve the health of Puget Sound waterways, conserve critical shorelines and help recover salmon populations. Friends of the San Juans will receive $159,999 to develop an action plan for wild salmon recovery in San Juan County. The Skagit Fisheries Enhancement Group will receive $141,379 to restore the beach at Thatcher Bay on Blakely Island.
