County hits 2011 budget marks at 4th quarter end — challenges remain
As a resident of Lopez and as an attorney, I was asked by County Council member Jamie Stephens to analyze whether our Lopez Port District is authorized to operate our Transfer Station. Specifically, I was asked to comment (i) on the opinion of the Port District attorneys (who are located in Bellingham) and (ii) on the opinion of our County Attorney, Randy Gaylord.
Because we are in the “Month of Love” we here at Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Services think that now is a great time to Stop the painful cycle of abuse and start truly loving each other.
We have shared a story to show how one brave young woman took the tough steps to break the cycle in her family. You can too.
At a recent public meeting of the Port of Lopez, I answered many questions about the limits on the powers of a port district to operate a solid waste handling facility. Last fall I asked the County Administrator Pete Rose that same question. On Nov. 1, I said it would be good to ask the port’s attorneys to provide an answer.
Washington State has issued a new set of guidelines for prescribing opioid (narcotic) drugs for non-cancerous chronic pain.
These guidelines went into effect Jan. 1 of this year, and they change many aspects of medical practice around chronic pain management.
Let’s make 2012 the year we join together and shatter the silence
They don’t catch oysters or even prefer them for dinner. And whoever named anything oystercatcher has never caught oysters, because you don’t. You put on big rubber boots, wade into thick mud at the water’s edge and step between slick rocks, risk broken ankles or cracked knees to pick them. Or you tong them with long ‘rakish’ like tongs -- from a boat -- or dredge them with a weighted net if you are a very serious oystermonger. There is no chasing or lying in wait to get your oyster.
San Juan County Prosecuting Attorney Randall K. Gaylord announced that budget cuts in in March 2012 will force him to lay offthe one deputy prosecutor handling misdemeanors from full-time to about half-time.
We would like to thank County Council members Fralick, Miller, Pratt, Rosenfeld, and Stephens for their decision on Dec. 5 not to support an effort by Councilman Peterson to weaken the proposed update to our county's existing critical areas ordinance.
Our islands are each like a big terrarium. If you take out all the resources (in this case, cash), the terrarium denizens (in this case, our businesses and the jobs they create) won’t survive. Even the seasonal inflow of tourist dollars can’t offset the negative impacts of our own off-island shopping
You can’t turn on the TV, computer or radio or open a newspaper or magazine without the sickening details of this “respected” adult and the accusations of the crimes committed against vulnerable children.
Basic Health is going on the chopping block in a special session of the state legislature convening Nov. 28. Yes, Basic Health has been threatened the last two years, yet this year the situation has become dire. The governor has ordered that there be $2 billion in budget cuts statewide — and that they need to be drastic, like cutting out entire programs (not just nibbling around the edges as in recent years) in order to take care of the growing financial crisis.
Kyle Loring says the Shoreline Master Program update is our opportunity to preserve vital shoreline resources for fish, wildlife, and people
Bill Evans, superintendent of Lopez Island School District, looks at the state of the school
John and Patsy Sangster ask where is the democracy in paving Watmough Road
Safety issues for dogs riding in the back of pick-ups
The letter discusses the controversy of chip-sealing Watmough Head Road
The Port of Lopez and their plan to reform the county solid waste system.
Lopezians discuss why the road on Lopez should be paved
Lopezians discuss why they are opposed to paving a road on the island
As our island population ages and circumstances change it is very important to a substantial portion of our community that we have an active real estate market.
WASHINGTON -- I come from a family where the “joke,” if you came home with a 97 on a math test, was to ask what happened to the other three points. The punch line, if you scored 100, was to ask whether there was any extra credit.
To think that Randy Gaylord would accept,(much less be given), a $19,000/year raise is not only obscene, it is totally inappropriate, given the stark realities we are facing these days of budget cuts, lack of money, ferry woes, transfer station problems, increased fees all across the board.
WASHINGTON -- “High Capacity Magazines ... When ten rounds isn’t enough,” the…
The San Juan County Solid Waste program is in trouble. For starters we suggest the following:
WASHINGTON -- The vice president calls, more than an hour after the appointed time but with an impeccable excuse: He was presiding over the Senate’s vote to ratify the New START treaty.
WASHINGTON -- I’m hoping for the moment when a federal judge picked by a Democratic president strikes down the health care law. Or when a Republican-appointed judge upholds it.
WASHINGTON -- The speaker got weepy.
A few of our County Council members are determined to help out the enormous US wireless industry by drafting a new ordinance that makes it easier to locate cell towers in tiny SJC. Bad idea, County Council! Improving cell phone service is essentially a form of manslaughter.
WASHINGTON -- Maybe I’m getting carried away because it is the season to believe in miracles, but the tax-cut deal just might turn out to be a blessing in disguise.
WASHINGTON -- My family, as it happens, is taking the bus to Grandma’s this Thanksgiving. But our choice of transportation has nothing to do with anxiety about leering security screeners or fear of pat-downs.
WASHINGTON -- It was, or so I thought, a dandy column idea: an imaginary, missing chapter of George W. Bush’s “Decision Points,” in which the former president would admit to having made the wrong call on taxes.
WASHINGTON -- The day after his shellacking, the bruised president offered a sober, tripartite analysis of voters’ message. First, he said, voters are fed up with Washington partisanship and special-interest politics. Second, they feel insecure and uncertain, about their economic circumstances above all.
The President of the United States:
WASHINGTON -- Excuse me, Mary Fallin, did I just hear you say, “Woman up”?
WASHINGTON -- In this, the year of the Mama Grizzly, let’s stop stirring the moose chili for a moment to ponder three words -- “man up” and “whore” -- and what they have to tell us about the muddled state of gender politics.
WASHINGTON -- I’m not a witch.
WASHINGTON -- The Wal-Mart Moms were pessimistic, bordering on despondent, about the state of the country. Like, well, moms dealing with bickering children, they were exasperated by Washington lawmakers seemingly incapable of learning to get along.
WASHINGTON -- It was a jarring moment from an ordinarily smooth pol. Haley Barbour, governor of Mississippi, chairman of the Republican Governors Association and 2012 presidential prospect -- which helped explain the big turnout at a breakfast Wednesday sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor -- was asked why so many people seem to believe that President Obama is Muslim.
The cast of characters here at Energy Matters suffer from a clear obsession for saving energy.
