They want to make decisions on your behalf. They want to decide how your tax dollars are best spent. And in some cases, the privilege of representing you will come with compensation and full health benefits – better than many of their potential constituents receive. “They” are the candidates for office in the Aug. 17 primary election.
We are your sons and daughters, nieces and nephews. We are your grandchildren. We write to you because we have a very specific need we would like to communicate with you in hopes that we can work together to make this happen. Our community needs to have a place for us, the youth of the island. We would like a cozy place to gather and hang out in the evenings that is not a bar or a party and doesn’t cost us a half a day to a day’s pay simply to be there.
I am responding to Bert and Dave Moorhouse’s guest editorial about Friday Harbor Brickworks, the future year-round home of the San Juan Farmers’ Market and a community and tourism-related events center. The San Juan Islands Agricultural Guild and its many supporters are thrilled to be recipients of the state capital funds that, in addition to the Land Bank’s purchase of a historic preservation and conservation easement and generous private donations, will help to make this project a reality.
There are ways to reduce pollution and increase fish populations while retaining private property rights. We need to look at the goals, the problems need to be identified and real solutions to those problems put into place.
Relay for Life is July 24-25, 5:30 p.m. to 11 a.m., on the Friday Harbor High School football field. Last year’s event raised $72,000 for the American Cancer Society. Money raised supports local services, as well as research leading to cures and improved quality of life. Money you raise pays for hotel discounts for islanders who must go to the mainland for treatment.
If you want to revitalize downtown, you ask the chamber of commerce and the business community what the best way to accomplish that would be. If you want to support a special-interest group with government monies, such as the Agricultural Guild, it should be done in an appropriate manner.
Government should offer a hand up rather than a hand out. Handouts lead to lifelong enabling that leads to dependency, rather than sustainability.
Supporting local farmers is a key component of both a healthy community and a healthy economy. Investing in a local farmers’ market, in the downtown core, is fundamental to this effort. In Friday Harbor, a local farmers’ market in the downtown core will support our local producers, their ability to preserve agricultural land; provide them a direct marketing opportunity; provide consumers fresh, local food; create a local gathering place; provide other businesses an influx of customers, and promote tourism.
Often, high school graduation is viewed by many as a chance to celebrate with drinking alcohol or using illegal substances. Thankfully, our community once again stepped up to help offer our graduating seniors another option: Project Grad Night, an all-night, alcohol and drug-free party exclusively for them!
The Youth Leadership Initiative in Grade 6 is a local effort to commence local, state and national connections for youth in coalition work. The Coalition for Anti-Drug Communities of America (CADCA) sponsors an annual National Youth Leadership Initiative in Washington, D.C. This week-long training in the capital is an opportunity for selected youth and their adult coalition advisers to come current with training and learn how to build their coalitions at home to effect community change.
June 9, a Journal employee once again loaded up a pickup truck with recyclable materials and headed to the solid waste transfer station. The employee’s vehicle waited in line as three other motorists emptied their recyclable containers into the big bin. Then, the Journal employee backed in, dumped four containers of office-related paper and plastic, and two containers of paper and plastic from home, into the bin and drove off. All for free. Which begs the question, “Why?”
Would you sign a legal contract with an organization willing to undermine the voice of citizens and pad the coffers of local government to get their way? May 25, our illustrious County Council did just that. Not only is the council going to decide the status of our property rights, they are going to do it without the input of the citizens who will be directly affected.
Congratulations on reaching this milestone in your life. As you stand on the threshold of adulthood, prepared to take on the world, here are some things we want you to know. A lot of resources have been invested in preparing you for this moment. If we failed in anything, it was in this: Not anticipating that the world you would inherit would be so different and uncertain than the one that existed that first day of school.
The State of Washington is tightening its belt out of fiscal necessity, eliminating jobs and cutting spending where ever possible. Even the ferries are rusting because the ferry system is short of funds. San Juan County is out of money, cutting expenses and furloughing employees to save cash. The Town of Friday Harbor is furloughing employees to cut expenses. The San Juan Island School Board is so cash-strapped that Island Rec is funding athletic programs. With the current above-mentioned examples of government cash shortfalls, our state senator, Kevin Ranker, has managed to convince the state Legislature to partially fund the Permanent Farmers Market site to the tune of $375,000. This bill was pushed through the Legislature with only an elite few San Juan County citizens privy to its existence (thanks to our County Council member, Lovel Pratt).
