The Friday Harbor Tigers won the Fifth and Sixth Grade SWISH League Championship Dec. 12 at Skagit Valley College. The Tigers capped their season by winning the season-ending three-game tournament that day. The Tigers finished the season 8-1 league, 11-1 overall. All of the tournament games were nail-biters, including an overtime victory in the first tourney game.
Life on our islands was once described by a local writer as similar to living on a ship at sea. We are largely on our own out here in the northwesternmost county in the continental United States. With that in mind, “shop local” takes on new meaning. Money we spend here stays here. It helps pay local wages, support local public services, pay local wages, put food on local tables, pay local rents and mortgages. And it funnels through to the many non-profits by the generous donations of local businesses.
The deadline is Dec. 31 to submit writing and/or visual art to Shark Reef online magazine for its spring 2010 issue. “We welcome submissions from anyone who lives in the islands or has ever visited here,” editor Lorna Reese said.
The San Juan County Association of Realtors presented $2,433 in real estate agent donations to the Friday Harbor Food Bank, Tuesday. The association presented the money in lieu of its annual canned food drive.
Seven organizations will share more than $1.4 million in funding for projects to improve salmon habitat in San Juan County. All told, the state Salmon Recovery Funding Board today announced the awarding of $42.8 million in grants to protect and restore salmon populations to communities across Washington state.
Everyone in San Juan County wanting to receive the H1N1 vaccine is now eligible to do so, the county Department of Health has announced. The county Health Department will sponsor H1N1 vaccination clinics Wednesday, 1-4 p.m., at Mullis Community Senior Center in Friday Harbor; Friday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., at Orcas Island Senior Center in Eastsound; and Friday, 9 a.m. to noon, at Lopez Island Senior Center.
We are grieving with hope because we know that John is in God’s hands and we will be with him again. Even in this overwhelming sadness the children and I feel such pride in the legacy left by John. He has left us an example of a life well lived, and a remarkable life to remember with grateful hearts.
The Dec. 16 edition of The Journal consists of two sections and 32 pages: local news, Opinion, Sports, Obituaries, Island Scene, What’s Happening!, Business, Classifieds, At Your Service Professional Directory, Legal Notices, and Project Home magazine. This week’s edition is available at newsstands later today.
Although only in its second Christmas run, Island Stage Left’s “Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol” was so well received last year and so anticipated this year, that it now seems part of the San Juan Christmas scene.
The Friday Harbor Town Council’s last scheduled meetings of the year will arguably be its most significant of the year.
We are so fortunate to be able to gather to enjoy each other’s company, to see old friends. No one has to be alone on Thanksgiving Day in Friday Harbor. I look out the window at the port and a ferry coming to the land.
I went through town last night finding myself saying “oh” and “ah” seeing all the wonderful lights and decorations. I thought, what a lot of hard work and time decorating, business owners and town workers had done.
During my five years here, my heart has never failed to be warmed by the many Letters to the Editor that praise the solicited and unsolicited generosity of our island members. That giving spirit was never more evident than on Dec. 8 at the Medical Guild’s annual Christmas Luncheon and Auction.
