It is time to evaluate all the options we have with regard to the orca protection proposal by NOAA. The public comment period ends Oct. 27, less than a month from the end of our busy season. We need more time to analyze the whole of the situation and formulate alternative proposals. There are some good ideas floating out there of options and ways to deal with this.
The Friday Harbor Town Council should grant David Taylor’s request for a driveway at his house on Guard Street. For two years, Taylor has wanted to get in and out of his car without fear of getting struck by a passing vehicle. For two years, he has wondered how his property, facing a minor arterial road, came to be landlocked, without access from the front or rear of the property. And he’s wondered why he can’t have a driveway although his neighbor has one.
But this is only a beginning. Whether on island or the mainland, we should always ask for to-go containers made from compostable or recyclable materials. We should always seek to reduce the packaging that comes into our lives when we shop. “Reduce, reuse, recycle” must be our mantra.
When I thought about the experiences and challenges I’d face as your state senator, I didn’t think that in my first year I’d find myself on the front lines of a fight that’s been brewing over the last 40 years. From the Stonewall riots of 1969 in New York, to the protests last year in California over the passage of Proposition 8, to rallies at state capitals this year, same-sex couples have been fighting against discrimination and working toward equality all across America — with limited success.
Ecology has provided training on wetland science to more than 1,500 people from local, state, federal and tribal governments and business. Over 100 local jurisdictions have already based their wetland ordinances on our guidance.
With the recent news that NOAA Fisheries has proposed vessel regulations to reduce vessel disturbance to the endangered population of Southern Resident killer whales, it is important that everyone take the time to better understand the very real issues we are facing.
At one time, the Best Available Science told us only that the earth was flat and that it rotated around the sun. This was based on limited observations without correct scientific study. Unfortunately, we have a similar situation facing San Juan County today. It is of the utmost importance that as legislators you maintain the independence of science from policy pressures. This is the only way to ensure legitimacy and quality of science.
We’re starting to see some light on the horizon when it comes to restoring salmon, and we have good management to thank for it. But despite the ground we’ve gained, we are losing habitat faster than we can restore it.
Orca Relief would better serve the orca if they would stop splitting hairs over what you perceive as a loophole in the whale-watching rules and stop distracting the public from the real issues these whales are facing that may cause their demise: salmon depletion and pollution of their environment.
When tragedies happen in our island communities, anger, grief and shock can pull us together or pull us apart. Sometimes it’s a little of both.
We’re doing this for EVERYBODY’S GRANDCHILDREN, not just ours. The more we can find out about what is good for us and all creatures large and small, the better off we’ll be.
Since 1886, Roche Harbor has been a lime company town and a resort town. But the common thread – a thread dating back earlier than the settlement era – is that it’s always been a community of people. To all those who participated in the July 18 luncheon and book signing, thank you. And welcome home.
State law and the state Supreme Court indicate meetings and records of PeaceHealth’s governing board, to be appointed to oversee operations of the proposed hospital on San Juan Island, must be open to the public. Openness is a good thing. And we are encouraged by Jim Barnhart’s comments; he is CEO of PeaceHealth’s Suislaw Region in Oregon and has been appointed by PeaceHealth to lead the planning and development of the proposed hospital here. He said of open public meetings and public records requirements: “We, of course, would abide by any requirements that exist.”
