Dr. Denise King, for four years the director of Skagit Valley College San Juan Center, is leaving in August to become dean of arts and humanities at St. Charles Community College in Missouri. King made her resignation public last week in an e-mail sent to more than 113 people.
The veteran excursion and whale-watch vessel Odyssey ran aground on Leo Reef Rocks off Lopez Island Wednesday, necessitating evacuation of nearly 80 passengers by other whale-watch charter boats and the United States Coast Guard.
The San Juan County Council has scheduled a special council session July 22 to consider putting a proposal on the November ballot that would increase the county’s property tax. State law limits annual property tax increases to 1 percent; an increase of more than 1 percent requires voter approval.
It appears that Washington State Ferries will be able to avoid drastic reductions in morning sailings from the San Juans this fall, thanks to a decision announced Monday by the U.S. Coast Guard. The Coast Guard has notified Washington State Ferries that it can continue to schedule “touring watches” on its Anacortes-to-San Juan Islands routes on a trial basis. Touring watches allow WSF to schedule crew members to finish a shift in the San Juans, spend the night, then begin a new shift here the next morning.
The Town of Friday Harbor and San Juan Island fire departments host their annual pancake breakfast at the town fire hall on July 18 and 19. They will serve from 7 a.m. to noon both days. Breakfast is a helping of ham, scrambled eggs, coffee, OJ and all the delicious pancakes you can eat.
The hour changes were made official Tuesday after the County Council voted to give County Administrator Pete Rose the authority to modify the hours county agencies are open to the public for periods of up to three months.
Two San Juan County residents, two Grays Harbor County residents and the San Juan County Green Party today sued Secretary of State Sam Reed and County Auditor Milene Henley, seeking to prohibit placement of unique bar code identifiers on ballots. The plaintiffs are Allan Rosato and Tim White of Orcas Island, Arthur Grunbaum and Linda Orgel of Grays Harbor County, and the San Juan County Green Party.
Most years, the Town of Friday Harbor’s utility payment assistance program gets only a few requests and money in the fund is carried over to the next year. Not in 2009. The fund was exhausted by July 2, with 11 households representing 23 individuals asking for help paying their water bills. That’s up from five households in all of 2008, according to Joyce Sobel of the Family Resource Center, which administers the program for the town.
The San Juan Island Community Foundation will award more than $50,000 in grants to local non-profits Wednesday, 5:30-7 p.m. in a ceremony at the San Juan Community Theatre. The event is open to the public. The funds will be used to support basic-food distribution, healthcare and children’s services. A portion of the funds will be dedicated to improving the capacity of our existing community organizations that are faced with rapidly growing requests for services.
Island a la Carte, the new local coupon book created by Mullis Community Senior Center, contains — by Virginia Otto’s estimate — about $2,000 worth of local savings. Here’s the kicker: The book costs $29.95. And proceeds help support Mullis Center.
San Juan County’s Department of Public Works will cast a line outside its ranks to hook an engineer to oversee the pending construction of an improved solid-waste transfer station on San Juan Island.
The expense of bringing an outside engineer onboard would be folded into the overall cost of the project and is expected to run somewhere between $100,000 and $150,000, according to Public Works Director Jon Shannon.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.
The San Juan Island Community Foundation is funding “Wednesday Lunch for All” at Mullis Community Senior Center, beginning July 22. There is no age limit; lunch is open to all.