Thursday night, as every night before retiring, I check my e-mails and the online Journal of the San Juans for messages and late news. Helen and I had returned from a great night of trivia at the Ale House when our team, the Hellbox, took second place among 10 teams, after never getting one of the top three prizes in months. We were happy at our resurrection. Then the hammer fell: News of the tragic loss of Superior Court Judge John Linde, 62, in Hawaii. My attorney and friend for some 30 years.
Our five senses combine in another sense that is important to all of us as human beings: a sense of place. It is a powerful sense, it takes time to develop and can be lost when folks move around a lot from place to place and job to job. I have been blessed with a strong sense of place for my home, the Nisqually River. I know my place, my home. It’s where I feel the best. Place is an important part of treaty tribal fishing rights, too. Our rights are place-based.
In honor of Veterans Day, Spring Street International School invited two speakers to come and be part of a forum that honored veterans and engaged students in the meaning behind this national holiday. Some families were likely asking why we don’t just give everyone the day off as most schools do. While I would have loved a day off just about then, I think it is much more important that as educators we use holidays like Veterans Day to pause, reflect, honor, and remember why this is such an important day.
There has been no public panic, and for that we are thankful. But there has been and is cause for concern: H1N1 has arrived on the islands. As of Friday, there have been five confirmed cases of swine flu on the islands, but officials believe there have been more. One child has been hospitalized with H1N1. Health officials will try to determine whether H1N1 was a cause of a young woman’s unexpected death last week.
It is often pointed out that one of the spinoffs from locating the permanent farmers market on Nichols Street will be the rescue and restoration of the last remaining industrial building in Friday Harbor. There is also another important spinoff: The creation of a Downtown Commons — part small park, and part town square.
Congratulations to Mayor-elect Carrie Lacher. As the first woman elected mayor of Friday Harbor, she completes an important chapter in the town’s history. Now the hard work begins. Major challenges loom, particularly how to meet infrastructure needs amid declining revenues. Programs, services and employee hours are proposed to be cut to make the 2010 town budget balance. If she follows through on her campaign pledges, and continues a collaborative approach to tough issues, her mayoralty could be distinguished by its successes. But she’ll have to be courageous. Here’s a course we’d like the new mayor to take.
The San Juan County Council wants to take you on a field trip. The council is preparing to update the county’s environmental regulations, beginning with codes covering upland wetlands and fish and wildlife habitat areas, followed by marine shoreline regulations.
The Friday Harbor Town Council meets today at 5:30 p.m. for a budget work session. The meeting is open to the public. This meeting is a continuation of an earlier meeting, in which the Town Council discussed ways to cut personnel expenses 20 percent in order to help balance the 2010 budget. Cuts to programs and projects are proposed. One alternative to cutting hours has not been considered: The council should help shoulder some of the burden.
The rules for election of water district commissioners are a good example of why we should change the rules for cemetery districts. Water districts are municipal governments, but the rules for election to district commissions are different than for other junior taxing districts.
Some compelling facts are that the fairgrounds is already owned by the county, meets the conditions for hotel/motel money and capital funding for both local and state, and has a historic building on the grounds that would be perfect for developing. If the proposed site for the Farmers Market is approved, the market will compete with the fair, parks, theater, and all the other entities needing and qualifying for those funds. Why keep cutting the pie at the peril of other established departments? Why not go for the larger view of sustainable communities and instead of purchasing additional sites needing more tax dollars and funding?
From ancient times, markets have been in cities, towns and villages because they are a vibrant part of the landscape that connects farmers with their customers. To relegate the farmers’ market in this community to the fairgrounds like another entertainment, sideshow or traveling antique show will damage the relationship between the town, the country and our visitors.
Now there are so many veterans, lost and found, that the whole world is again changed just as it had been altered in previous wars. The thing I know and the thing I want to tell you is this: I want us to give them love. I want us to give them respect. I want us to help them as much as we can. As much as they CAN let us. Because they are OUR HEROES. Now and forever, veterans from all wars.
It is way past time for the council to make ferry matters among its highest priorities, to inform itself, and to advocate strongly and clearly on behalf of our interests. It could start by demanding that the lost Capron funds either be returned to the county or, at the very least, be credited toward lowering our interisland fares rather than used to make up for overall ferry financing.
