Happy Thanksgiving Day, San Juan Island. The holiday season begins today with some potentially positive signs: Ferries from Anacortes to Friday Harbor have been packed for two days and some businesses are hopeful that the first day of holiday shopping season — Friday — could bolster the local economy and reverse two months of lagging sales.
The San Juan Initiative will present recommendations to improve the protection of more than 400 miles of shoreline in San Juan County to the County Council on Dec. 9.
In February, the Look Good … Feel Better program will have its first workshop in Friday Harbor. If you or a friend are receiving treatment for cancer and would like to be a part of this transforming program, call Friday Harbor volunteer Geri Chutuk, 378-5872. She’ll be back on-island after Jan. 15 and invites anyone interested in the program to contact her then.
Jermaine Reaves always wanted to be a superhero, according to his friend of three years, Aaron D’Errico, who has created an animated superhero picture of Reaves.
San Juan County will get $106,287 from the state Recreation and Conservation Funding Board, a share in some $12.3 million in grants to 33 counties to improve trails and boating facilities. The San Juan County Public Works Department will use its grant to buy Orcas Landing at the south end of Orcas Island, to provide the public access to the waterfront.
Council members-elect Lovel Pratt and Richard Fralick have both spent time watching and participating in San Juan County Council meetings as private citizens. Today, they began an intense two-day tour, looking behind the scenes at county facilities and meeting with county department heads and staff.
Salmon recovery efforts throughout Puget Sound will receive a $700,000 boost, thanks to grants awarded by the Puget Sound Partnership. Each of the Sound’s 14 watersheds, including the San Juan Islands, will receive a $50,000 grant — issued as part of the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Estuary Program – to implement salmon recovery efforts.
Patricia Joanne Saylor passed away on Monday morning, Nov. 17, 2008, at St. Joseph Hospital in Bellingham with her children and husband, Dick, at her side. She was hospitalized the week before due to complications following a serious fall. She was 74.
The Friday Harbor Town Council last night postponed until Dec. 18 a possible vote on the annexation of the Buck property, about 48 acres east of the town limits and near the former gravel pit.
Looking for the bright side in today’s real estate market? Here’s the best you’re going to get: If you don’t have to sell your home, be thankful. And if you are of the fortunate set that can afford to invest in real estate, now’s the time, because prices are dropping.
Six local high school and college students spent their summer taking water quality samples at 32 sites on Lopez, Orcas and San Juan islands. Funded by the San Juan Nature Institute, the students analyzed the samples at the U.W. Friday Harbor Labs. Aided by Russel Barsh of Kwiaht and Dr. Jack Bell, they designed a sampling protocol, learned analytical methods, tested matched sets of sediment and water samples, and collaborated on a final report.
San Juan County will have a little more cash at the end of the year than was expected just several weeks ago, according to Auditor Milene Henley. And though it offers a bit of wiggle room for the County Council in crafting next year’s budget, Henley on Tuesday warned that the county will likely to run out of money by 2012 unless new revenue streams can be found.
The U.S. Coast Guard and Washington State Patrol responded to the report of a possible threat against a state ferry scheduled to depart Bremerton today, the Coast Guard reported.