Thanks for the story regarding the Navy’s plans for increased overflights (“Learn about, and comment on, Navy plans,” page 6A, March 18 Journal). You bring up some important questions for the Navy to address.
The Town of Friday Harbor will keep its options open while the county determines what to do about its solid-waste transfer station on Sutton Road, according to town officials. During a joint meeting Tuesday of the town and county councils, Town Council members said tipping fees will be a deciding factor on whether the town continues to be a refuse customer of the county or starts up its own solid-waste operation at the town-owned Sutton Road site.
The Washington state ferry Elwha is out of service for repairs. The 8:35 a.m. sailing to Orcas and the 9:50 a.m. sailing from Orcas to Anacortes were cancelled. The Yakima and the Sealth will pick up additional traffic in the islands, Washington State Ferries reported.
On March 19, Jacque Grone suffered a brain aneurysm and was flown off-island to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. After extensive surgery, she remains in intensive care. The recovery and rehabilitation will be extensive but her doctors say her prognosis is very good.
The search for a new full-time superintendent for San Juan Island School District is in full swing. Search consultant John Fotheringham of Northwest Leadership Associates was hired to meet with faculty, staff, parents, students and other community members on March 19. The field of candidates will be narrowed from five to three at an executive board meeting on April 2. The candidates will be interviewed on April 11. The two finalists will spend all day at the district on April 13-14. The new superintendent will be chosen sometime this spring.
Amid frigid temperatures and frigid economy, a ray of sunshine peeked through the clouds. But don’t break out your shades yet.
There were six closed sales and seven pending sales on homes listed with the Northwest Multiple Listing Service in February. The median sales price was $520,000, up from $492,500 the same month a year ago and $480,000 for all 12 months of 2008.
The job picture in San Juan County is … well, it could be worse. The state’s unemployment rate rose in February to 8.4 percent, up from 7.8 percent in January. But San Juan County’s jobless rate was 7.5 percent in February – the second-lowest in the state, according to the state Employment Security Department.
Legislation establishing a permanent funding source for an emergency response tug at Neah Bay was signed into law by Gov. Christine Gregoire today, on the 20th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill.
The San Juan Islands are critical habitat for salmon and their prey. Just how important our nearshore environment is is the subject of considerable monitoring and study by a group of local volunteer Beach Watchers. And for their work, the 44 volunteer “Beach Seiners” were honored March 10 at the State Capitol.
After fighting to keep it on the schedule, the Anacortes-San Juan Islands-Sidney international ferry run is here to stay (for now), and islanders are invited to celebrate.
The stage is set for Friday Harbor to grow. The Town Council on Thursday tentatively approved annexation of the Buck property, a 48-acre parcel on the southeast side of town and the future home, as proposed, of a mixed neighborhood of 240 market-rate and permanently affordable homes.
San Juan Island hospital district commissioners approved a contract Wednesday that gives PeaceHealth the right to build and operate a hospital on San Juan Island for 50 years. The vote was 5-0 and was applauded by the audience of more than 40 islanders and supporters who crowded the meeting room in the Frank Wilson EMS Building.
The Friday Harbor Town Council meets tonight at 5:30 in Mullis Community Senior Center, 589 Nash St. There will be a public hearing to consider annexation of 48 acres near the former gravel pit. A neighborhood of 240 permanently affordable and market-rate homes would be developed over 20 years.
