Journal letters to the editor

Opposed to contract with Waste Management

There are events that may never occur in a lifetime. In my life, being seen in a suit and tie would be one and attending a county commissioners’ meeting might be the other.

Well, if you live long enough ... so, I just turned 51 and found myself among a large contingent from Lopez, Orcas and Spring Street School, crammed into a hearing room.

Today’s topic was hot! Signing a contract with a corrupt, faceless, multinational corporation. The audience was cordially welcomed (at great length, dramatically reducing question time) by Mr. Evans, a very amiable fellow, but I wouldn't buy anything from him over the phone.

Next, the lawyer person, Randy, testified. By his nervous state you'd think he was representing Slobodan Milosovic. Basically, he said he couldn't do his homework, so he handed off to a $300 an hour garbage specialist lawyer. The result being a contract with Waste Management, Inc. This sounded familiar somehow.

Commisioner Nielsen seemed to be having a very bad day. Mad at protesting Lopezians? Death in the family? No lunch? Commissioner Rhea Miller was more at ease (Lopezians outnumbering everyone). She explained that she had presented other options involving local control and effective recycling. I guess those ideas were not good, cause the vote went in favor of Randy’s garbage lawyer guy.

Well, suddenly, the sheriff showed up! Being a child of the ’60's, I prepared to be hauled away for protesting. Then I realized that in the audience was a tall woman with a burka-like mask of dollar bills and crouched on the floor was a tall man with a long beard! Two likely candidates for the elusive Bin Laden.

Knowing that our sheriff could instantly recognize fellow islanders, I relaxed and pondered Mr. Evans’ report that no money was available for local recycling improvements. Should I stay for the next agenda item — a $350,000 allocation for tourism?

Allan Smith, Friday Harbor

An open letter to the County Commission:

Regarding the contract with Waste Management, Randy Gaylord has said that he felt outgunned in negotiating the Waste Management contract, and needed outside help. Does that worry you at all? What is in that contract that is so dangerous?

It should be real simple: We supply the garbage and the contractor hauls it away for a flat fee. Case closed. What’s to be “negotiated”? If Waste Management’s contract is so complex and convoluted that Mr. Gaylord’s very competent office feels overwhelmed, that should set off alarms all over the place. Sure, we’ve used outside advice before. In those situations, though, we were placed in extreme adversarial positions. Is that the case here?

There is a reason Waste Management has such a powerful legal team. Mr. Gaylord has every right to be worried. There are large organizations, consisting of entire counties and cities, whose only purpose is to warn others, such as ourselves, of the real problems of contracting with Waste Management. Why is that? Have you addressed these issues in the contract?

I’ve heard people say, “Oh, well, if this doesn’t work out we can always back out of the deal.” That’s not true, is it? Sure, we could end our relationship with Waste Management, but that would trigger a severance clause that would make our present monetary shortfall seem trivial.

This must not be a flat fee contract, as the simple $45 per ton figure would indicate. What circumstances trigger an increase in fees? Very likely, it is a situation over which we have no control, like a slide in the price of recycled paper, for example. Are we just betting and hoping that this will never happen? If any of the above is true, one more lawyer will not save us.

Yes, we must address the problems of our solid waste. You are under fiscal pressure to do something — anything. This contract with Waste Management is just not the answer. Do the right thing and just say “No.”

E. Blankenburg, Friday Harbor

Mixing hatchery, wild salmon is bad for orcas

For some reason the people who are studying the orca populations really haven’t caught on that the real problems are those that are not natural and are causing harm to the orca populations.

The Canadian government has just lifted the moratorium on salmon farm permits. Although they refuse to admit that the farmed salmon are escaping from damaged ocean pens and the diseased Atlantic salmon are being eaten by the orcas and seals, thus the salmon are passing on unnatural medications that they are treated with for disease, on to the food. that the orcas and seals eat. Many of the pens have been damaged, letting thousands of diseased fish go free to mingle with the wild salmon stocks. In Norway and Scotland, many of the streams are barren because disease has been passed on to the wild natural runs of fish.

Maybe we had better listen more to Mother Nature than a bunch of grant-hungry researchers who track the pods of whales and send the commercial whale watching groups out to chase the whales in endless frenzies that surround the fleeing pods of whales with noisy engines and propellers, depth sounders and private yachts. For the whales, it is probably like trying to eat lunch in the middle of I-5, also a very unnatural environment.

Back off on the whale watching, put the salmon pens on land and filter the waters properly after using them.

Bert Stammerjohan, Friday Harbor

Opposed to transient rentals in Mineral Heights

In what one might hope will set an example for others, a San Juan couple, relative newcomers to the island, have renounced their right to a transient rental permit which they “inherited” along with the property title when they bought their home in Mineral Heights.

In this selfless action, the couple, Fred and Carolyn Bowen, have demonstrated a commendable sense of civic responsibility sadly lacking in so many other property owners and off-island entrepreneurs who have joined the stampede for these permits that give the county’s blessing to the introduction of commercial interests into residential communities, often in direct conflict with individual communities’ covenants.

The Bowens say they have taken this step because of their concern about “the potential negative effects of transient rentals in residential communities on this beautiful island” and add: “In effect we have come to the conclusion that the good of the many outweighs the good of the one.”

In a letter to the Permit Center, the Bowens have stated that they believe the quality of a homogeneous neighborhood, where permanent neighbors determine the quality of life necessary for long-term happiness, is paramount to individual interests for short-term financial gain.

Further, they appeal to the Permit Center in the future to consider carefully the detrimental effects in all San Juan island residential neighborhoods of transient rental permits and “so preserve the island lifestyle that we all so much desire and can never retrieve once lost.”

One can only applaud the Bowens for their admirable rejection of an opportunity for self-gain that is detrimental to the interests of others — and for their sense of civic responsibility.

Ramsay Milne, San Juan Island

Vote ‘yes’ on the M&O levy

Please support our school maintenance and operations levy. I am so proud of our San Juan Island School District. Our schools are well represented by outstanding students, teachers, administrators, school board members and sound fiscal management.

The school levy is not a new tax, it continues an existing tax that provides essential full funding for our beautiful schools and the excellent academic environment they house. In fact, the levy for the next four years would be lower than the past four years.

While my husband and I have no children, we are committed to the youth of our community, just as our parents and grandparents were committed to us. Our youth represent our future, let’s not shortchange their education.

Schools are the heart of our community. Please join me in lending your whole-hearted support for our San Juan Island schools! Vote “yes” by mail by March 12!

Darcie L. Nielsen, San Juan Island

We are the parents of two teen-age boys who have been in the San Juan Island School District schools since kindergarten. They are now in the eighth- and 10th-grades.

As with all parents, we consider the education of our children to be one of, if not the, most important job we assumed when we decided to have a family. Our experience with the San Juan Island schools has been truly a most rewarding experience for our entire family.

There is no doubt in our minds that this school system works extremely hard to maintain the “Excellence in Education” standard as a reality for each and every student, every day, all day. They can’t do this without our continued support.

Please join us in voting an enthusiastic “yes” for our schools, for our kids, and for the health of our community.

Bill and Maude Cumming, Friday Harbor

Write to us

The Journal welcomes public comment on issues of local interest.

Letters to the editor must be no more than 300 words in length, and must be signed by the writer. Include address and telephone number for verification purposes. Anonymous letters will not be published.

Send letters to Editor, Journal, P.O. Box 519, Friday Harbor 98250. Or send by email.

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