Here’s a thought…
“If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don’t have to worry about the answers.”
THOMAS PYNCHON
With Marlow resignation, Fire Commission seeks candidates for vacant seat
||| FROM KIM KIMPLE for BOARD OF FIRE COMMISSIONERS ||| With a mid-term resignation from Commissioner Janet Marlow, the Board of Fire Commissioners is seeking candidates to fill the unexpired term. The Board will conduct a public process including advertising, interviewing, and selecting a candidate to fill the seat by
The millions of people stuck in pandemic limbo
What does society owe immunocompromised people? ||| FROM THE ATLANTIC via ORCASONIAN READER ||| when the coronavirus pandemic began, Emily Landon thought about her own risk only in rare quiet moments. An infectious-disease doctor at the University of Chicago Medicine, she was cramming months of work into days, preparing her
Hundreds of methane bubbles have been discovered rising from Puget Sound seafloor
||| FROM UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON NEWS ||| The release of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas responsible for almost a quarter of global warming, is being studied around the world, from Arctic wetlands to livestock feedlots. A University of Washington team has discovered a source much closer to home: 349 plumes
Letter to Editor | Looking back at local reaction to Sandy Hook’s school shooting
||| FROM FRED KLEIN ||| News that the parents of some of the 20 schoolchildren at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut who, along with six adults, were killed in a mass shooting event in 2012, have reached a $73M settlement with the insurance companies for the now bankrupt Remington
Guest Opinion | County residents will bear the burden
||| FROM VALERIE A. JUSELA ||| San Juan County’s residents face possibly crippling liabilities from county failures thus far to effectively regulate short-term or “vacation rental” permittees in our community. As a career business analyst in the areas of taxation, contracts, and insurance, I have found mounting evidence that dire
Reminder: You’re invited to talk tourism with the SJI Visitors Bureau
||| FROM AMY NESLER for SJI VISITORS BUREAU ||| Don’t miss this opportunity to make your voice heard! If you’ve been curious about how the San Juan Islands Visitors Bureau approaches destination marketing and management, here’s your chance to ask. Coming later this February and March, the Visitors Bureau will
Newest numbers from State Health Dept.
||| FROM STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH ||| Newest numbers. The Washington State Department of Health (DOH) reported a total of 1,410,658 confirmed cases as of 11:59 p.m. on Feb. 13.* There have been 11,373 COVID-19 deaths in Washington. Data notes *Effective Jan. 24, 2022, DOH updates the COVID-19 data dashboard on
Community Foundation is looking to hire a clerk
||| FROM ED ANDREWS for ORCAS ISLAND COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ||| The Orcas Island Community Foundation (OICF) is hiring a clerk to support our financial manager. The Financial Administrator position is a part time administration level position responsible for financial tracking and reporting of OICF. This position provides support to the OICF Financial Manager and other
Editorial | When the alarm bells get too loud to ignore, it’s time for action
||| BY LIN MCNULTY, theORCASONIAN EDITOR ||| Can you hear that fire alarm clanging? Is it becoming increasingly, frighteningly loud? By some counts, within just the last six months at Orcas Island Fire & Rescue, over 100 years of department experience has disappeared, either through terminations or (sometimes forced) resignations.
SJC Land Bank Commission is meeting soon and you’re invited
||| FROM TANJA WILLIAMSON for SJC LAND BANK ||| The San Juan County Conservation Land Bank Commission will hold its monthly meeting on February 18, 2022, from 8:30am – 11:10am. The public is invited to attend. Click HERE to download the agenda (includes ZOOM link) and meeting materials. To learn
There are some new faces at Community Resource Center
||| FROM MEGAN EHRMANTRAUT for ORCAS COMMUNITY RESOURCE CENTER ||| The Orcas Community Resource Center is excited to announce some new faces you may see around the office. Please extend a big welcome to Cheryl Helm, Kyra Dyer and Claire Nollman. Be sure to say hello when you see them! Cheryl
SJIMA show highlights how local artists prevail in time of COVID
||| FROM DIANE MARTINDALE for SAN JUAN ISLANDS' MUSEUM OF ART ||| The great Duke Ellington once said, “A problem is a chance for you to do your best.” Nowhere is this more evident than at the current Artists’ Registry Show at the San Juan Islands’ Museum of Art (SJIMA).
Parents invited to learn of options for entering first grade
||| FROM LORENA STANKEVICH for ORCAS ISLAND SCHOOL DISTRICT ||| The Orcas Island School District will present one more VIRTUAL 1st Grade Parent Orientations - Please join Elemententary Principal Lorena Stankevich and OASIS Principal Donald Johnston as they share options for families with students entering 1st grade for the 2022-23
Conservation District seeks to fill two positions
||| FROM PAUL ANDERSSON for SJI CONSERVATION DISTRICT ||| The San Juan Islands Conservation District currently has two positions up for renewal – one appointed and one elected. Conservation District board supervisors are public officials who serve without compensation and set policy and direction for the Conservation District. An election
Letter to Editor | To my fellow Orcas islanders, to all islanders
||| FROM DOMENIC VERBANO ||| As people start to awaken to how we have all been played, by the controllers of this world, I want to put out a call for us all to come together, again. We need to re-unite. They have tried their hardest to divide us: Democrats/Republicans,
Registration for San Juans Ag Summit is now live
San Juan Islands Agricultural Summit Date: March 4 & 5, 2022 Location: Virtual and in-person on Lopez Island ||| FROM KELSEY GREEN for SJI AGRICULTURAL SUMMIT ||| Registration is now live for the 2022 San Juan Islands Agricultural Summit! Find the schedule, more information, and register HERE. The tenth annual
