The Green Party of San Juan County asked local candidates for their views on the following topics.
Jawaad Darcelle Reaves, 21, was ordered held Monday on $100,000 bail in connection with the death of his older brother, Jermaine. Reaves is being held in San Juan County Jail and the Prosecuting Attorney’s office has until Wednesday to file charges.
Friends of a Friday Harbor man who died from a shotgun wound to the chest early Sunday have organized a series of fund-raisers to help pay for his funeral expenses. The Jermaine Reaves Memorial Fund has been established at Islanders Bank. A potluck barbecue is scheduled Thursday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., at the Harbor Ridge neighborhood on Roche Harbor Road. Shannon Smith said donations to help pay for the cost of food are welcome, as are donations to the Jermaine Reaves Memorial Fund. A memorial is planned Friday, 6 p.m., at Bella Luna Restaurant. The memorial is open to the public.
A Friday Harbor man was reportedly shot to death early today. His brother is being held for questioning in San Juan County Jail. At 2:40 a.m., sheriff’s deputies went to an apartment at 500 Tucker Ave. to investigate a domestic violence report believed made by a neighbor. When they arrived, they were met in the parking lot by Jawaad Darcelle Reaves.
The San Juan County Council’s Stormwater Subcommittee is ready to schedule community meetings on Lopez, Orcas and San Juan islands to provide information and receive public input on its proposal to re-establish and fund a Stormwater Utility. The ordinance establishing the previous Stormwater Utility was overturned in a referendum election last November.
She was believed to be the oldest whale in the Southern Resident Killer Whale community. The Center for Whale Research, who estimates her birth year as 1910, designated her K7. She was given the name “Lummi” through The Whale Museum’s Orca Adoption Program. Lummi was a great-great grandmother – the leader of a five-generation intact family. She did not return to the Salish Sea with her K pod family this year.
If the school district could somehow figure out a way to franchise Sharon Sandwith and Donna Smith, its financial woes might be over. San Juan Island School Board President Boyd Pratt did some figuring, and determined that the two served 1.4 million meals — including 32 tons of hamburger, 39,600 heads of lettuce and 5,200 sheetcakes — to 23,400 students over the course of their food service careers at Friday Harbor High School. Oh, and they gave a total of 756,000 hugs too. Try and top that, Ray Kroc.
The San Juan Island Community Foundation will award more than $700,000 in grants to local non-profits at its annual “Breakfast of Champions” Friday, 7:30 a.m., in Mullis Community Senior Center.
Auditor Milene Henley told the County Council on Tuesday that the county will have $1 million less in revenue to spend next year. Henley said decreases in sales tax revenue, a reduction in new construction and an anticipated lower collection rate for property taxes will probably cause year-end total revenues for 2008 to fall short of revenues projected in the 2008 budget.
The San Juan Island School Board hosts a reception celebration today at 4:30 p.m. for Sharon Sandwith and Donna Smith, who concluded their employment in the district’s food service program late this summer. The reception, in the Friday Harbor High School Library, is open to the public.
It would appear state transportation officials are leaving no stone unturned in a far-flung search for new sources of revenue that might help Washington State Ferries better cover its costs. For now, that includes the prospect of having ferry-served communities share the financial burden of operating boats and maintaining terminals by taxing themselves and putting the revenue they raise into the ferry-funding equation.
How to provide and pay for convenient, regularly scheduled public transit and passenger ferry service is a complex subject. But there were no naysayers Sept. 17 at the regional Transportation Summit – only about 180 islanders and others offering ideas on how to make those services happen here.
About this series: The Journal’s series of Candidate Q&As for the Nov. 4 election begins this week with candidates for San Juan County Council, Friday Harbor. Upcoming in this series: Oct. 1, County Council, San Juan South — Gordy Petersen, Lovel Pratt. Oct. 8, State Senate — Kevin Ranker, Democrat; Steve Van Luven, Republican. Oct. 15, Congress — Rick Bart, Republican; Rick Larsen, Democrat.
