County officials handed out layoff notices to a pair of employees at the Community Development and Planning Department as demand for building and land-use permits hit a four-year low. San Juan County Administrator Pete Rose on Tuesday acknowledged that permit coordinators Christopher Laws and Allen Shayo were notified that their employment at CDPD would soon end. Both were given a standard 10-day layoff notice, Rose said.
The San Juan Island Trails Committee is working with town officials on a plan to develop and maintain an unopened, forested town road as a trail. On the maps, the trail is formally labeled Beach Court, and leads from Harbor Avenue to Jensen Alley, jogging around the Rouleau Apartments. Beach Court has never been opened as a road by the town, but neighbors and proponents say it has long been used as a trail.
The Orcas Island girls basketball team defied all expectations by knocking off the Pomeroy Pirates with a 3-point buzzer-beater and finishing fifth at the 2B state tournament Friday in Spokane. Trailing by two with 9.8 seconds left in regulation, junior Lanie Padbury grabbed a rebound off a missed free-throw and passed to Stephanie Shaw at mid-court, who in turn passed the ball back to Padbury with only a moment left on the game clock.
Carter Whalen of San Juan Island grabbed the lead and Chuck Payne trails by less than a pound as both anglers netted 20-plus pound fish during Week 5 of the annual Frank Wilson Blackmouth Fishing Derby.
Whalen earned a third $75 gift certificate for biggest blackmouth of the week by hauling in a 21.41-pounder. He also hooked the largest fish in Week 1 and Week 4, 18.75 and 14.44 pounds, respectively, and bumped Raymond Ploghoft, who reeled in a 19.87-pounder in Week 3, off the top the leader board with his most recent weekly winner.
“I have a gavel and I’m not afraid to use it.” San Juan County Councilman Rich Peterson is known for not taking the trappings of elected office too seriously. And the above remark, which he’s uttered more than once since being elected chairman for 2009 by his council colleagues, has been made with a knowing wink and tongue-in-cheek delivery. But all kidding aside, the council will face a number of difficult decisions over the next 11 months, such as whether to relocate the solid-waste transfer station on San Juan. With gavel in hand, it’ll be Peterson leading the way.
F.H. comeback spoiled in 30-point barrage by Coupeville’s Megan Smith
Fueled by a 25-point outburst after the break, the Wolves parlayed a distinct size advantage down low into repeated points in the paint and outpaced Friday Harbor by eight points in the second half to claim the postseason winner-takes-all contest.
To advance in post-season play, the Friday Harbor girls basketball team had to do what no other Wolverines squad has done in three years. Beat Coupeville.
The Friday Harbor boys basketball team took to the court for its final two regular-season games locked in a three-way tie for the league title and a better-than-even chance of claiming at least a share. But for the Wolverines, the post-season runs through Coupeville for the second year in a row regardless of where they end up in the Northwest 1A/2B League standings.
The two brothers moved to Friday Harbor to start a new life far from the tough inner-city streets of Tukwila. Now, one is dead and the other will spend 50 months in prison for fatally shooting his brother in a predawn altercation that left family and friends grief-stricken, perplexed and pleading for leniency.
Facial hair can come in all sorts of colors, shapes and size. But who would’ve thought day-glow green? Evidently, Dave Staehlin did. And though he caught the eye of many, Staehlin failed to capture the nod from judges on Monday when Friday Harbor’s beard-growing contest mercifully — for many — reached its conclusion.
The well went dry in the final minutes of play as Friday Harbor faded and the Vikings capped a 44-33 win with a burst of offense down the stretch Tuesday in Turnbull Gym.
A ragged game turned into a blowout after the break as the Wolverines buried Orcas under a 25-point barrage and then ran away with a 52-35 league win Tuesday in Turnbull Gym. Though short on style — the two teams together committed 46 turnovers — this one was never close.
