Repairs to the 90-car Sealth continue after damage to the vessel’s engine output shaft was discovered on Jan. 5. Engineers estimate that the vessel will be ready to return to service by the end of this week, after repairs and sea trials are completed.
Friday Harbor’s mayor and Town Council have responsibilities that go beyond meetings in Town Hall the first and third Thursday of the month. Jan. 7, the mayor and council made their selections for committees that deal with emergency management, the environment, housing, public health and 13 other areas of public importance.
Sometimes when something very bad happens it can, in fact, be a blessing in disguise. Such was the case the Saturday after Thanksgiving, Nov. 28, when Lyle Mann, not feeling well, drove himself to the clinic. They immediately airlifted him to St. Joseph Hospital in Bellingham for observation by the cardiac team. An angiogram the next morning revealed his center artery was nearly totally blocked and a side vein off of that artery was half blocked! His surgeon, Dr. Richard Leone, immediately scheduled him for open heart, double bypass surgery the very next morning on Monday, Nov. 30, 7:30 a.m. Dr. Leone did this immediately to prevent a massive heart attack that imminently threatened to end Lyle’s life.
We have reached a new year, with two special holidays behind us. I want to thank the customers at King’s Market who gave their turkey cards to the Food Bank. There were enough points to get turkeys for Thanksgiving dinner. And thanks to John McBride for picking up the extra funds needed to give out hams for Christmas to our customers.
Cans, cans and more cans filled the office at Friday Harbor Elementary School, Jan. 11. The school’s Food Drive (inclusive of both people and pet food) wrapped up with all 830 cans bagged, grabbed and shoved into a truck heading for the Friday Harbor Food Bank.
At its most complex, Matthew Gray Palmer’s latest sculpture, “All Things within All Things” incorporates sophisticated themes of connectivity. At its most basic, it is just really, really cool.
Johan Elias (Johnny) Moe passed away Jan. 7, 2010 at the age of 81. He was born in Seattle, Wash., to Elias and Dagne Moe on Jan. 29, 1928 and grew up in Mount Vernon and Stanwood, graduating from Twin City High School in Stanwood. Johnny played football in high school but excelled in music, playing the coronet. He formed Johnny Moe and His Orchestra in Snohomish and entertained in Washington for many years.
The Southern Resident killer whale population is now 88, with the birth of a J pod orca confirmed Jan. 3. The Center for Whale Research, which maintains a census of the Southern Resident killer whales for the National Marine Fisheries Service, reported that five whales were born and three were missing in 2009, nudging the year-end population to 87. “No sooner had the census report been made to the government than another new baby killer whale appeared in J pod, this one to a twelve-year-old female on 3 January 2010,” the center reported on its Web site.
The Pacific Northwest chapter of the Explorers Club presents its third annual Compass Symposium April 22, 23 and 24 at Lakedale Lodge, San Juan Island. Registration deadline is Feb. 1. Contact Lynn Danaher, islandlynx@aol.com. The symposium is open to all members of the Explorers Club, “and adventurers, researchers and scientists that share our sense of curiosity,” Danaher said.
The San Juan County Health Department is following up with relatives and others who may have come into contact with a 54-year-old Friday Harbor man who died of meningitis in his home on New Year’s Eve. The victim, identified by the county coroner as Mark Ambrose Trahan, had reportedly complained of earaches and headaches, but had not sought medical attention and had felt well enough to be active until at least two days before his death. His body was discovered by sheriff’s deputies after a neighbor expressed concern about his well-being.
Thomas Martin Smythe passed away early morning Jan. 6, 2010 after a courageous fight with pancreatic cancer. He was 42.
2010 is an important year. We will participate in the 23rd U.S. Census to determine our nation’s population. The census is mandated every 10 years by the U.S. Constitution; the results are used to allocate congressional seats, electoral votes and government program funding. Census documents will be mailed March 15. Until then, local census workers will be spreading the word, on the street and through this newspaper, to encourage islanders to complete their census forms — all islanders, regardless of citizenship or legal residency.
Mary Jane Leche, beloved wife, mother, grandmother and sister, died at her home in Friday Harbor, Wash. on Jan. 5, 2010. She was 80. In memory and thanksgiving for the life of Mary Jane, a Requiem Eucharist will be celebrated Saturday, Jan. 9, 2010 at 2 p.m. at St. David’s Episcopal Church, Friday Harbor. Graveside service will be conducted at Breidablik Cemetery in Poulsbo.
