Here’s a thought…
“Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each New Year find you a better man.”
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
COVID-19 still rising in Washington; no turnaround yet
OLYMPIA – [Friday] the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) released the latest statewide situation report, which outlines similar trends to our previous report. Transmission continues to increase overall in eastern and western Washington. Report findings include: COVID-19 transmission continued to grow across the state as of early July. Best estimates place the
Orcasional Musings | Are the Olympics coming to Orcas?
||| ORCASIONAL MUSINGS BY STEVE HENIGSON ||| Wednesday afternoon, Jean and I wandered over to scope out Orcas High School's new running track. We were very deeply impressed by what we saw. It looked as if it were ready for the next Olympics. First of all, there's the track itself.
Daily recap of COVID-19 news and updates
-- from Emergency Operations Center, Camp Murray -- Newest numbers. DOH experienced an outage with its reporting system today which caused interruptions in several functions. The data reported today is preliminary and only include cases through 7 p.m. on 7/30 (not 11:59 p.m. as is usual). DOH anticipates negative tests will
Sheriff’s Report | July 22 – 29, 2020
-- from San Juan County Sheriff's Office -- Wednesday, July 22, 202020-005921 Welfare Check 16:25:16 07/22/20Deputies responded to an Eastsound address for a report of a welfare check on a subject with odd behavior. The male subject was contacted, identified and found to not need any further assistance. An informational
Letter to the Editor | EPRC says unanimous ‘yes’ to original Prune Alley development plans
-- from Chris Bean-Hearne -- The EPRC voted unanimously at their zoom meeting on Thursday to forge ahead with their original plans for the development of Prune Alley despite the numerous complaints and with total disregard of the opinions of so many Orcas Islanders to those plans. One minor sop
State Health Department releases statement on data delays
-- from State Health Department -- We want to make you aware that DOH experienced an outage with our reporting system today (7/31), which means today’s report will be posted late. The outage caused interruptions in several functions, which means the data we report will be preliminary. Today’s data will
Inslee issues contact tracing proclamation, protects personal information
-- from Governor Inslee's Office -- Gov. Jay Inslee issued a proclamation today related to the state's contact tracing efforts and personal information protection. Proclamation 20-64 exempts personally identifiable information collected by COVID-19 case investigators from public disclosure. The proclamation does not provide additional exemptions for employees or volunteers who are
Record $5.2 million gift expands Turtleback Preserve
Precedent-setting donation also returns land to the Lummi Nation -- from Tanja Williamson for San Juan County Land Bank -- The San Juan County Land Bank and San Juan Preservation Trust today announced the acquisition and permanent conservation of a 36-acreaddition to the Turtleback Mountain Preserve on Orcas Island. Concurrently,
Today’s recap of COVID-19 news, updates, and stuff
-- from Emergency Operations Center, Camp Murray -- Newest numbers. The state of Washington reported 825 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours. This brings the total number of cases to 55,803 as of July 29 at 11:59 p.m. The total number of deaths are at 1,564. For the most
Senior Center continues helping, even with doors closed
-- from Lena Kassa for Orcas Senior Center -- What do you miss most about the Senior Center being closed during these days of the pandemic? The coffee and community that comes together inside the front door? The opportunity to visit with friends and share stories? Exercise classes? Access to
WSF shares crew updates, including Life Ring award winners
-- from Washington State Ferries -- Life ring awards Our staff and crew regularly provide emergency aid and assistance. The WSF Life Ring Award, the ferry system’s highest honor, is given to either individuals or an entire ship’s crew when the action by either was clearly the difference in saving a person’s
Dr. Frank James gives a peek into how virus decisions are made in San Juan County
-- by Minor Lile, Orcas Issues reporter -- As Public Health Officer for San Juan County, Dr. Frank James has played a prominent role in the community response to the Coronavirus pandemic. This past Tuesday we talked for about an hour in a conversation that touched on a wide range
Cemetery District meeting scheduled for next week
--- from Scott Miller for SJC Cemetery District #3 -- The August General Meeting for the San Juan County Cemetery District #3 (Orcas Island), scheduled for 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 5, will be held as a virtual Zoom meeting. The agenda is available online at the District website.
Recap of COVID-19 news and updates for this day
-- from Emergency Operations Center, Camp Murray -- Newest numbers. The state of Washington reported 793 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours. This brings the total number of cases to 54,985 as of July 28 at 11:59 p.m. The total number of deaths are at 1,555. For the most
Public input requested for Coffelt Farm Preserve survey
-- from San Juan County Land Bank -- Coffelt Farm Preserve Public Input Survey : The Conservation Agriculture Resource Team (CART-Coffelt) was formed at the request of the San Juan County Land Bank Commission to assess and develop recommendations for future farm operations at Coffelt Farm Preserve. The team consists
Letter to Editor | OPALCO manager’s salary keeps rising
-- from Alex MacLeod -- A year or so ago I reported that we OPALCO ratepayers had forked over nearly $400,000 in total compensation in 2017 to our general manager, Foster Hildreth. I wrote at the time that if his pay increased in 2018 at the same rate it had
