Soroptimists International of Friday Harbor have provided ferry tickets for cancer patients on San Juan Island under their Cancer Treatment Support Mission since May 2005. The Komen Foundation recently removed financial support for San Juan County programs for breast cancer patients, so now the financial need is even greater. Soroptimist typically spends more than $12,000 annually to fund this project through events and raffle ticket sales.
Lonely Planet has announced its newest “Best in Travel” lists, ranking the San Juan Islands on its list of “World’s Top 10 Cycling Routes.” These results are featured in the book “Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2010,” available in book stores now.
Be the third person to correctly identify where this photograph was taken and you’ll be the winner of the SanJuanJournal.com GeoBee, a periodic online contest. E-mail your answer to rwalker@sanjuanjournal.com. The winner will be allowed to stop by The Journal office on Monday morning for coffee and one — maybe two — of columnist Howard Schonberger’s fresh homemade chocolate chip cookies.
The rest of the field battled over the leftovers as two of San Juan’s top golfers carried their team to victory in the second annual Gobbler Classic, Saturday at the San Juan Golf and Country Club.
Friday Harbor fans, few in number and very cold, held out until the bitter end in hopes that the Senior Tigers would triumph in the 2009 North Cascade Youth Football League championship game on Saturday evening. The Friday Harbor Tigers faced the Burlington Tigers, who they had defeated just a few weeks earlier 18-7. From the beginning, it was a battle of defensive lines and running backs.
There has been no public panic, and for that we are thankful. But there has been and is cause for concern: H1N1 has arrived on the islands. As of Friday, there have been five confirmed cases of swine flu on the islands, but officials believe there have been more. One child has been hospitalized with H1N1. Health officials will try to determine whether H1N1 was a cause of a young woman’s unexpected death last week.
The annual No-Cost Turkey Dinner is Nov. 22, 2:30 p.m., in the Friday Harbor High School cafeteria. The dinner is free and open to the public. To volunteer or for more information, call Dan Miller Sr., 378-2046. The annual Community Thanksgiving Dinner is Nov. 26, noon to 4 p.m., in the San Juan Island Grange. This dinner is free and open to the public. There will be camaraderie, food, games, and televised football.
Assistant Fire Chief Frank Chaffee estimates the tree in his front yard toppled over sometime after 11 p.m. last night, a casualty of the high winds that struck the island. “I saw it dance around in the wind last night,” Chaffee said of the tree. “When I opened the front door this morning, all I saw was green.”
The severity of the illness and its symptoms are similar to the seasonal flu: Children will have fever and either cough or sore throat, and occasionally vomiting and diarrhea, and adults will commonly have fever, cough and/or sore throat often associated with body aches and headaches. In most cases, symptoms can be treated with bed rest, fluids, and fever-lowering medicines.
A 6.6 earthquake struck the southern end of the Queen Charlotte Islands off Canada’s Pacific Coast early Nov. 17. There were no immediate reports of injury or tsunami. The quake was felt as far away as Bulkley Valley in northwest British Columbia.
In these difficult economic times, it is exciting to see a project that can help local businesses without negatively impacting the environment. The local produce of our farmers is, in large part, sustainably produced, using a fraction of the greenhouse gas promoting fuels that off-island produce represents.
I urge the Town Council not to miss this one-time opportunity to partner with the county Land Bank and the Agricultural Guild to preserve this historic property and enhance the economy and livability of the town and the islands.
Amanda Cartmill Cruz passed into her heavenly father’s hands unexpectedly on Nov. 12 at her home. She was 33. Born at Harrison Memorial Hospital in Bremerton, Wash., on Sept. 7, 1976, she is the only daughter of Edward and Catherine Cartmill, now residents of La Conner, Wash.
