The crowd was small, but the enthusiasm was big, at the San Juan Historical Museum’s Back to the Farm fund-raiser dinner-dance, Saturday afternoon. Jazz pianist David Bayley played Joplin on the Scribner Cabin porch while a small crowd trickled in and a breeze carried the scent of Jason Black’s barbecued pork across the old King Farm.
I gotta do this. Particularly after last night’s council meeting in which, in my opinion, town residents just got to spend $300,000 more than they needed to. Check out the minutes of the meeting. Robert Low has his hat in the ring for mayor. I can’t think of a better, more informed, more qualified person to head up the town. I know. I don’t live in town, but those who read this must understand that what goes on in town affects us all.
Please join us for a benefit dinner to help defray medical costs for long-time high school teacher, Greg Sawyer, as he is preparing for a kidney transplant operation. The event is Oct. 2, 5 p.m., at the Roche Harbor Pavilion. Dinner is $10 for kids/students and $15 for adults. Through this event, we’re hoping to raise awareness throughout the community regarding organ and tissue donation. This will be geared to all ages and we encourage you to bring your family and invite your friends.
Coast Salish storyteller Johnny Moses will visit the San Juan Island Library on Saturday, 6 p.m., in a free event open to the public. Moses, whose traditional name is Whis.stem.men.knee (Walking Medicine Robe), lives on the Tulalip reservation. He carries the Si.Si.Wiss (sacred breath, sacred life) medicine teachings and healing ceremonies of his Northwest Coast people. He is a master storyteller, oral historian, traditional healer and respected spiritual leader.
Minutes before the 5 a.m. start, instructions are given in French. Local ultra-marathoner and county prosecutor Randy Gaylord listened intensely, but couldn’t understand a word that was spoken. A few seconds before the hour, the countdown begins, in French, from 10 to one, and at the shout of “Allez!” all 800 runners, wearing headlamps, begin running in the dark and cold, as the temperatures were in the 30s and cloud deck low, similar to the Pacific Northwest. This would be a long day for all of them.
Lopez Island grower Gary Franco has sued San Juan County over its ordinance requiring some vendors to obtain a permit to sell in public places. Franco teamed up with the Institute for Justice — an advocate for the rights of entrepreneurs — in the suit, announced today in a press conference on the courthouse steps.
An increase in ferry fares is the top story in this week’s Journal of the San Juan Islands, available now on newsstands and in subscribers’ mail Wednesday.
An increase in ferry fares is the top story in this week’s Journal of the San Juan Islands, available now on newsstands and in subscribers’ mail Wednesday.
This November, San Juan County residents will have an opportunity to vote “yes” for our children and seniors. Proposition 1 (aka the Lid Lift Levy) will be on the ballot. This is quite a controversial issue considering the economic climate we currently find ourselves in. As much as voters may want to “just say no,” it is vital for this levy to pass or our county 4-H program will be lost.
A pilot program had San Juan Island schools tossing out the mystery meat in exchange for fresh, in-season cafeteria food last year, and officials assure it will stay the same in the 2009-10 school year. However, Superintendent Walt Wegener said the school district will now take control of the lunch program.
About 50 people — EMTs, fire fighters, paramedics, and residents — attended a solemn but brief commemoration of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, today at the base of Spring Street.
A 15-year-old Lopez Island boy accused of causing a high-speed collision in which a Canadian man was killed while jogging on Lopez Sound Road — and two others were seriously injured — in late July, pleaded innocent today to six separate criminal offenses, including vehicular homicide. The boy was released on a $10,000 bail/bond pending trial and under court orders to attend school, have law-abiding behavior, not get behind the wheel of any motorized vehicle, and to abide by daily curfew of 4 p.m. to 6:30 a.m.
The San Juan County Sheriff’s Department has released a photo of one of the suspects in the Sept. 7 burglary of Island Market in Eastsound. Undersheriff Jon Zerby said anyone with information about this suspect should call the Sheriff’s Department at 378-4151. Zerby said an enhanced photograph will be distributed as soon as it is available. Colleen Smith Armstrong reports on IslandsSounder.com that several business and ATM machines have been burglarized on Orcas Island since Sept. 1. “We feel the recent break-ins are all connected,” Sheriff Bill Cumming said. “Each and every incident stands by itself, and we have to connect them all. But there are similarities that suggest these may be the work of the same person or persons.”
