Local LWV Gives Annual Report

The following ” Year in Review” report was given by League of Women Voters of the San Juans President Diane Martindale at its meeting on Monday, May 12:

This year our League tackled major issues-separation of church and state, coal shipping in our waters, the dangers of increased vessel traffic, and voting rights. For all the work needed, League volunteers stepped up to the challenge.

The year started with attending the LWA state convention. I was given the opportunity to draft a resolution regarding the Catholic Church policies interfering with medical care at Peace Health. At that time the lobby team was unaware of all the measures taken here. The resolution passed unanimously directing the state lobby team to add this issue to their agenda. We would like to think that the resolution helped propel the statewide awareness of the church-state issues in WA that followed.

At a general meeting, just as one OPALCO broadband strategy was voted down, our League was the first to hear of the new prospective directions and alternatives in the County.

At our July board retreat we started to plan the year’s activities. Additionally, the winners of the May raffle were treated to an art and architecture home tour with gourmet treats and champagne along the way. (Be reassured, Clare drove and did not drink so that our winners stayed safe and happy.)

When the Supreme Court struck down Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act, we wrote a letters to news editors urging congressional action to restore key components of the voting act.

In September the board and guests participated in a facilitator training session led by Liz Illg to improve our skills at leading voter forums. Felicity Green spoke about building a sustainable society based on specific endeavors on Lopez.

We worked at tables on all three islands to make it easier for people to register to vote. Three voter forums were held in October.

Our November meeting, “Controversy and Clarity; Healthcare & Religious Institutions in Washington State” was an outstanding and press-heavy forum planned and executed by Sarah Crosby. Held at The Grange, we had standing room only, attesting to concerns in our community.

You may recall election day — our communications on the island were literally cut off. Leaguers stood in the rain on San Juan and Orcas with “Thank you for Voting “ signs and stickers, encouraging all to vote.

Before the end of the year LWV members took petitions to put a Gun Safety referendum on the Washington Ballot this November. Our signatures joined 345,000 others statewide.

December found us socializing at Brickworks and enjoying Boyd Pratt and “The Politics of Food.” The well-attended meeting in January provided a major theme for the year-understanding climate change and the many issues impacting the environmental health of our County. This follows upon last year’s effort of writing comments regarding the proposed coal port in Bellingham. Today’s program is one resulting from our consensus planning.

Betsy Blinks and Marty Huleatte completely updated the TRY flyer (They Represent You ) and League members distributed them around the County.

Clare Kelm updated the membership handbook and made the changes available to all members online.

In February Dr. Frank James, head of our County Health Department gave a genuinely fascinating “State of the County’s Health” address.

In March, LWV members studied in preparation for the national Agriculture Consensus Study. We picked up trash on a large stretch of Beaverton Valley Road on the
Great Island Clean Up Day in April.

Our general program was led by Lovel Pratt and Shaun Hubbard, entitled “Island Crossroads: Vessel Traffic, Oil Spills and You.” To increase awareness of our island issues statewide, four members of the State LWV joined us for the talk. Ed Kelm kindly took them up in the air over the islands for an hour tour. This visually drove home the proximity and vulnerability of our islands to increased shipping and the dangers of oil spills.

On our behalf, Ann Jarrell wrote an application to be accepted to comment on the Kinder Morgan expanded oil shipping project in Canada. We and the San Juan County Commissioners have been given standing to comment on
the increased shipping in our waters.

Ann was also our legislative liaison on LWV issues while the WA legislature was in short session.

Another priority this year was to create more awareness of the LWV, its work and programs. We now make flyers for each general program and post them around the islands and online. We have worked hard to follow up on press coverage and we post our meetings in the SJI Chamber newsletter.

We designed a skills inventory to match LWV needs with your talents and the issues that you care about. We worked so hard, we hardly had time to get to know each other. So, board member interviews were conducted by other board members and you have gotten to get acquainted with all of us, too, in The Voter.

We anticipate another full year as many of the issues require long-term vigilance. This board takes pride in its work of educating and registering voters and building support for LWV core issues.

On behalf of your board, thank you for your support.

The League holds monthly membership meetings on the second Monday of the month, from noon to 2 p.m., usually at the San Juan Island Public Library. For local LWV information, go to https://www.lwvwa.org/san-juan/index.html, where you can find past issues of the monthly newsletter, The Voter.

For information on Orcas sub-group meetings, call 317-7518.

For further information, go to lwvwa.org.