One of my favorite sections of our many local media sources is the opinion page.

I like to see what my neighbors think about some of our local issues. It also gives me the chance to gauge the quality of information swirling around those topics. Recently, some of those issues have related to the Friends of the San Juans (something I know about as an employee) — and the rhetoric and opinions about Friends, often asserted as facts, have certainly been flying.

So I thought I would write a letter of my own to encourage folks to continue to ask questions about things they read or hear secondhand (or third or fourth hand, for that matter). Perhaps we could even check what we think we know before making public pronouncements.

As Mark Twain once stated, “it ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”

We can probably agree that we all know a lot for sure. But if you have questions about things you have heard about Friends of the San Juans, I encourage you to call us at 378-2319. Some of you already have, and it’s appreciated.

You can also visit our website, www.sanjuans.org, to learn more about such work as our efforts to protect and restore fish spawning beaches or to ensure that farmlands can continue to be used for farming.

Kyle Loring/San Juan Island

— Editor’s note: Kyle Loris in staff attorney of Friends of the San Juans