The OPALCO board is about to make a decision about their Broadband project. This project will cost approximately $30 million dollars, and will be paid for by the membership (us) over the next ten years.
County government should be restored to a more appropriate form and passage of all three amendments proposed by the Charter Review Commission will accomplish this.
San Juan County Arts Council would like to thank everyone who donated to our organization during the “2012 Fair Matching Grant” program sponsored by the San Juan Island Community Foundation at the San Juan County Fair.
You may remember the confusion and chaos which had escalated prior to Home Rule, when the Board of County Commissioners wore all the hats. Our prior governmental system was established in the 1800’s when the commissioners were elected to simply oversee the roads. Things have changed since then – notably we now have a $45,000,000 county budget, which necessitates professional management.
Wasn’t that a hoot?! Lopez, you really know how to put on a show! A huge thank you to everyone who helped make the 2012 Lopez Trashion-Fashion Show an event to remember.
Thank you to all Lopez music lovers for bringing the Miró Quartet to Lopez Island on Aug. 10 for the 15th annual Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival.
The Lopez and San Juan Islands’ community lost a good man, a good friend and a leader a few days ago. We also lost a role model educator, who epitomized what education should be about. We owe our friend Greg Ewert our deepest gratitude for consistently and unflinchingly showing us what good teaching, good schools and education in general should be.
Did you know that CAO provisions on Fish and Wildlife Habitat Conservation Areas and Wetlands pending before the county council would declare our entire shoreline to be a “critical” area, and turn shoreline setbacks into “buffers?”
Every September there is a nationwide United Way Day of Caring. I first experienced this event when my husband worked for a nonprofit in Seattle.
The county council has shown its leadership* by passing a new cell tower ordinance. We may now see phone companies sniffing about for “willing landowners” in your neighborhood. If you are approached by one of these companies, think long and hard before you sign that contract (25 or so pages of fine print) the companies don’t take risks, they put them all on you.
Did you know you can now add paper cups to your commingled recyclables? They must have no liquid in them so drink it up or pour it out, please, before recycling. Plastic cups are not recyclable; if you’re not going to wash them for reuse, paper cups might be a better choice!
The proposal by Peabody Coal and SSA Marine to build a terminal port at Cherry Point near Bellingham to ship approximately 100 million tons of coal per year to China is really a bad idea.
What do the visual arts, performing arts, music and dance have to do with education? Everything! Reports from the U.S. Department of Labor urge schools to teach for the workplace of the future; a workplace that calls for skills such as the capacity for working with teams, communication, creative thinking, self esteem, imagination and invention.
