Hard times are always harder on children. The challenges of ordinary life are magnified when the stress of economic difficulty is imposed on a family. Foreclosures, layoffs and budget woes can lead to desperate behaviors. The overall gloom of the times affects even those who are not at immediate risk.
April gives us a lot more to think about than spring. This month is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, Child Abuse Prevention Month, and Alcohol Awareness Month — three issues that plague our society yet three issues on which we can make such a big difference. Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Services of the San Juan Islands is using this month to make you aware of some important facts.
I read the recent editorial regarding the restoration of American Camp
prairie (“Restoring a great natural place,” page 6A, April 1 Journal). Your editorial neglected to mention that “restoring” the prairie would involved multiple applications of herbicides and extensive burning of hundreds of acres. This process seems inconsistent with “restoring the natural balance.”
Senate Bill 5688 and House Bill 1727 confer all the rights of marriage to domestic partnerships, stopping only at giving them the actual recognition of “marriage,” but proponents are adamant that will be the next step.
Friday Harbor’s Jordyn Taylor shot 37 to medal in his second consecutive match at par-35 San Juan Golf and Country Club, March 31 vs. the Orcas Vikings. All told, the Wolverines finished 41 strokes ahead of the Vikings, 217-258.
San Juan Island’s community chorus sings its way through the century on April 4 at 7:30 p.m. and April 5 at 5 p.m. at the San Juan Community Theatre. Led by Angel Michaels, the San Juan Singers share music that dates back to 1900 and all the way through 2001, representing a variety of aspects of life.
Members of Cub Scouts Pack 90, Den 6, recently visited The Journal as part of a field trip.
While there, Journal marketing artist Rebecca Cook explained the process of designing an advertisement. The Scouts then visited the newsroom, where reporter Scott Rasmussen explained the news-gatherinf process.
A Friday Harbor High School student has been named a top prize winner in a national essay contest that drew more than 31,000 entries.
As a participant in the Pacific region, Catherine Bevens of Friday Harbor High School was awarded third place and $1,250 in the Being an American Essay Contest sponsored by the Bill of Rights Institute, a non-profit educational organization based in northern Virginia near Washington, D.C.
Our current recession, with 10 million people unemployed, has brought back childhood memories to me of the Great Depression during the 1930s. I was a kid in grade school in Friday Harbor during this time.
The national unemployment rate hovered around 23 percent for several years. It fell off for a while, but by 1938 the rate was back up again.
Neighbors say the discovery of a colony of mutant crabs living at the Sutton Road solid waste transfer station is proof that the site is contaminated. Scientists from the state Department of Ecology believe the population is descended from crabs that migrated from the harbor up a stream to a wetlands outside the transfer station site, where they adjusted to living in fresh water. Over time, however, they mutated because of exposure to nitrates and other pollutants that reportedly leach from the transfer station into the wetlands, experts say.
The San Juan Island Chamber of Commerce has announced it will spend some of its federal stimulus money to start a program to help islanders feel better about the economy. Chamber Director Debbie Pigman said the program will employ Disney characters as morale boosters.
Minimally fixing up the current transfer station has been widely advocated, because at first glance it appears to be obviously the cheapest option. In fact, it would be wasting money. To see why requires delving a bit deeper. There is another option that is not only cheaper but also better.
Local churches are planning services leading up to Easter. To list your service on SanJuanJournal.com and in the April 8 Journal, call 378-5696 or e-mail amonin@sanjuanjournal.com
