The Wolverines, in what’s proven to be a roller-ride of a season, headed way off course in a 52-0 loss on the road Friday at Nooksack Valley.
For the second time in three years, voters will decide the fate of countywide legislation. Approved by the San Juan County Council in June 2008, an ordinance that would make it illegal to use any and all types of so-called consumer fireworks — including those labeled “safe and sane,” such as fountains, snakes, pinwheels and sparklers — remains in limbo pending the outcome of the Nov. 3 general election.
The Wolverines, plagued this season by injuries and illnesses, turned in what may have been their best performance of the year as a patchwork lineup gave a talented Shoreline Christian squad all it could handle despite coming out on the losing end of three consecutive games Tuesday in Turnbull Gym.
Beloved. Endangered. Exploited. Revered. Puget Sound’s killer whales may be all that and more. But it will be an uphill battle for federal officials in their bid to create bigger buffers between boats, kayaks, canoes and the struggling population of Southern Resident killer whales. And in the realm of public opinion, a proposal to establish a half-mile “no-go zone” off the west side of San Juan Island during the summer season has proven even less popular.
When the powers that be in tiny Idyllwild, Calif., cancelled Halloween for fear of fire in an unusually dry autumn, Amy Windrope jumped in to fill the void. A stay-at-home mom at the time, she recruited like-minded parents, decorated the Windrope home for the holiday, and hosted a Halloween celebration at her house. The credibility she had amassed earlier by creating a children’s play group helped her to pull it off.
Jeremy Talbott learned early on the value that sports and recreation can play in a young person’s life. It’s one of the reasons Talbott is making a first-ever run at elected office — to ensure the opportunities that he once had are available and accessible to the children and adults of San Juan Island. Lessons learned about team work, perseverance and playing by the rules can prove invaluable in a child’s formative years and later in life as well, he said.
Dogged by injuries and far from home, the Friday Harbor volleyball team tumbled in three straight as La Conner collected a lopsided win at home Oct. 1 and remained undefeated in league play. The Wolverines, who lost 6-foot junior Kelsey Barnes to a season-ending injury before the start of the 2009 campaign, were without senior setter Kayla Marvulli, injured and unable to play, and had a single substitute on the bench.
The Friday Harbor football team hit another peak in its roller-coaster season with a 56-0 rout Saturday on the road over Seattle Lutheran. This one was never close, as the Wolverines led 35-0 at intermission and cruised to victory in the final 24 minutes of play.
No more is Western Washington’s most infamous teenage fugitive simply a suspect in San Juan County — he’s a wanted man. On Friday, a $20,000 warrant was issued in San Juan County Superior Court for the arrest of Colton Harris-Moore in connection with the Sept. 8 break-in at Island Market in Eastsound. The 18-year-old Camano Island man is accused of one count of second-degree burglary, a Class B felony, for allegedly breaking into the store.
There’s one thing it appears everyone can agree on: The Southern Resident killer whales, declared endangered four years ago under federal law, are in need of better protection than they’re getting out on the water today. Nevertheless, criticism came from nearly all corners on Tuesday as the San Juan County Council gathered input about a recent federal proposal that would create bigger buffers around killer whales in the inland waters of Washington state and that would ban boats, kayaks and canoes (with several notable exceptions) from entering a half-mile “no-go zone” along the southwest shore of San Juan Island.
Down by two and with their backs against the wall, the Friday Harbor volleyball team fought its way back in Tuesday’s inter-island match at home against Orcas by tallying a win in a hotly-contested Game 3.
San Juan County’s Marine Resources Committee on Tuesday offered its support for bigger buffers to better protect the Southern Resident killer whales from the hazards of encroaching vessels in the heavily-traveled waters of Haro Strait. But the advisory panel didn’t endorse the proposed half-mile no-go zone off the west side of San Juan Island. In fact, members of the MRC offered to take the lead in crafting an alternative, a so-called “integrated plan,” which could bring about a level of protection the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration expects to achieve with its proposed no-go zone.
Financial stability may be tough to achieve in troubled economic times like these. But it appears the San Juan Island Prevention Coalition will be on solid ground for the remainder of the year, and the next, and the three after that, thanks to a five-year federal grant totaling $625,000.
