The San Juan Island School Board has voted to issue notice to employees that the district expects to eliminate six positions in the 2009-10 school year. The board made the vote Tuesday, anticipating a $1 million budget shortfall because of expected reductions in the state education budget. Though the state budget reductions will not be known until the legislative session concludes April 26, state law and teachers’ union contracts require that districts provide anticipated reduction-in-force notices to affected employees by May 1.
Where children once played, horses tread. Crumb rubber, removed from the Friday Harbor Elementary School playground on March 7-8 after a citizens committee raised money for its replacement, was sold to Roxanne Christensen of Horseshu Ranch on Douglas and San Juan Valley roads.
Who will be the next mayor of Friday Harbor? Mayor David Jones told The Journal Wednesday that he will not seek a second term. Jones’ four-year term ends Dec. 31. His retirement as the centennial-year mayor leaves a big question mark on who might run to succeed him. It also raises the possibility that a political ceiling will be shattered.
The San Juan County Public Works Department has violated state law by allowing contaminated water at the Sutton Road waste transfer station to come into contact with groundwater, according to an administrative order hand-delivered to Public Works Director Jon Shannon by the state Department of Ecology. The county is also in violation for not having an Industrial Stormwater General Permit from Ecology.
The National Marine Fisheries Service today proposed to list three populations of rockfish in Puget Sound and the Strait of Georgia for protection under the Endangered Species Act. A final decision on the three will be made a year from now.
Weston D. Callender, born in Seattle, Wash., June 20, 1948 and a long-time resident of Friday Harbor, peacefully entered into rest April 15, 2009 in Mount Vernon, Wash. He was 60.
The number of drinking and driving crashes is on the rise in San Juan County. According to San Juan County court records, 44 DUI cases were cases filed in 2004. That number climbed to 61 in 2007 and 94 in 2008. Nineteen DUI cases were filed in the first quarter of 2009. A program hopes to turn the tide by reinforcing images of the consequences of driving while intoxicated.
The number of drinking and driving crashes is on the rise in San Juan County. According to San Juan County court records, 44 DUI cases were cases filed in 2004. That number climbed to 61 in 2007 and 94 in 2008. Nineteen DUI cases were filed in the first quarter of 2009. A program hopes to turn the tide by reinforcing images of the consequences of driving while intoxicated.
The skipper and passengers of a Bayliner reported missing late Tuesday apparently tied up in West Sound for the night, but failed to let anyone know of the change of plans.
SanJuanJournal.com now has an online Events Calendar. Readers can upload their event listings directly onto the calendar. To use the Community Calendar, simply click on “Add Event.” You’ll be asked to create a login and password that will be yours to use anytime you want to add to the Calendar. Just follow the simple instructions and your calendar item will be posted.
Eight Good Stewardship awards were presented at “Sustainable San Juans: Greening Your Home, Business and Food,” an Earth Day event held Saturday in Friday Harbor. The awards were part of a three-day celebration of environmental stewardship sponsored by the San Juan Stewardship Network and the San Juan Island Community Foundation.
A San Juan Island man was sentenced to 10 days in jail for driving with a suspended license, but was found innocent by a jury of a more serious drug-related offense.
A San Juan Island man accused of cutting his dog’s throat — and of assaulting a neighbor who tried to take it to a veterinarian for treatment — will stand trial in early June on a series of charges, including animal cruelty.
