Lady Vikings make Orcas history
by COLLEEN SMITH ARMSTRONG
Editor
The Lady Vikings soccer team brought home the first state title – in any sport – for Orcas School.
The Orcas community displayed immense pride in its team, holding a school assembly and a parade through Eastsound.
The Orcas Vikings won not once, but twice in a row in a shootout after going through two scoreless overtimes at the girls’ soccer state championships Nov. 21 against the Napavine Tigers, beating the Tigers soundly 4-1 in overtime to become the 2009 1B/2B girls state soccer champions.
To get there, the young women had to beat La Conner the day before. The games were hotly contested, low scoring edge-of-the-seaters. With the score tied 1-1 between Orcas and La Conner, and after playing two fruitless five minute overtimes, the whole thing landed right back in front of the goal in two sets of shootouts.
“It feels really good, we’ve worked really hard to get here all year and we did it,” sophomore Huxley Smart told the Sounder after the big win.
Manhunt for teen burglar proves unsuccessful
by COLLEEN SMITH ARMSTRONG
Editor
He is known as the Barefoot Robber, and he is still at large.
A Camano Island teen made national news in connection with crime sprees in San Juan County and Island County over the past year.
Colton Harris-Moore, 18, was convicted in June 2007 (while a juvenile) of three counts of residential burglary and was given three years confinement. He is suspected in about 50 burglary cases since escaping from a halfway house in April 2008. His lack of footwear has become a trademark, and he’s developed somewhat of a cult following on the Internet, with comparisons to Robin Hood and the film “Catch Me If You Can.”
Harris-Moore allegedly broke into seven Orcas businesses during the month of September, stole two boats, and stole a plane from Friday Harbor that was later damaged during a rough landing at the Port of Orcas. He is also wanted in connection with two break-ins on Orcas in the fall of 2008 and stealing a Cessna S-182 from a locked Port hangar the morning of Nov. 12, 2008. The aircraft was discovered later that day abandoned in a closed area of the Yakima Nation reservation in eastern Washington. He has also been connected to more than 20 burglaries in Island County.
The 6’3” and 205-pound teen has proven to be elusive. He has managed to dodge police in multiple counties, and is still at large.
Superior Court Judge Linde dies while
vacationing in Hawaii
by RICHARD WALKER
Journal of the San Juans editor
Superior Court Judge John O. Linde — in his youth the state’s youngest District Court judge, in the sunset of his career the county’s first high court judge — died while vacationing in Hawaii in early December. He was 62. The cause was determined to be cardiac arrest.
Linde was vacationing with his wife, Carol, and friends. He suffered cardiac arrest while snorkeling in Anaeho’omalu Bay. A charter snorkeling boat found Linde’s body about 75 yards off shore. The people on the charter boat took Linde to shore and performed CPR; he was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
About 600 people, including judges, legislators and local officials, packed Friday Harbor Presbyterian Church Dec. 12 for a memorial service, then went to the San Juan Island Yacht Club for a reception.
Linde was a private practice attorney in Friday Harbor when Gov. Christine Gregoire appointed him to the Superior Court in December 2007. He won election to a full four-year term in November the next year. He was sworn in as San Juan County’s first elected Superior Court judge on Dec. 31, 2008.
For Linde, the appointment was the perfect bookend for a distinguished law career: At one time, he was the youngest District Court judge in Washington state. Now, he was the first judge of the San Juan County Superior Court; the judgeship was created when the Legislature separated the Island County/San Juan County judicial district into two districts.
Linde was a San Juan County District Court judge for 21 years, and also served as court commissioner and Superior Court judge pro tem. He was principal in the Law Offices of John O. Linde in Friday Harbor beginning in 1987. He sold the firm to Skinner and Saar when he became Superior Court judge.
“I am shocked and saddened to hear of the loss of our friend and community member who has been such a huge part of our lives in Friday Harbor,” one resident wrote The Journal.
Coaching legend retires as head coach
by COLLEEN SMITH ARMSTRONG
Editor
After 20 years of leading the Vikings football team, Dennis Dahl handed over the clipboard at the end of November.
During his time as a coach, he was a friend, a mentor, and a role model for hundreds of Orcas Island boys. When the Sounder interviewed former team members, parents, and friends, they described Dahl as an incredible man who connected with his players during an important time in their lives.
Randy Gaylord became friends with Dahl through his son’s involvement on the team.
“Every person who has had him as a coach, and every parent who has had their kid on the team, has been very fortunate,” Gaylord told the Sounder. “He has been a great mentor, a great motivator and a great teacher during that difficult passage of when boys become men. He has knack for helping them through that transition gracefully.”
Although Dahl is no longer head coach, he intends to stay involved with the football program. He will retire from his position as the fourth through 12th grade PE teacher after the 2010-11 school year, as will his wife Bonnie, a special education teacher.
In typical Dahl style, he didn’t take credit for his coaching prowess.
“I don’t think of myself as head of the program,” he said. “I have help, and everyone does such a great job. I’ve gotten awards, but all that comes because I’ve been surrounded by really good people. No one gets anything without a lot of people behind them.”
One dead, two hurt in Lopez Island crash
by SCOTT RASMUSSEN
County reporter
Dozens of lives were forever altered when a 15-year-old Lopez boy climbed behind the wheel of a souped-up Chevy Nova and sped off in the heat of a July afternoon to see what the machine could do.
The boy was northbound on Lopez Sound Road and, according to authorities, barreling down the two-lane road at about 70 mph when, with a 17-year-old friend in the passenger seat begging him to slow down, the Nova came up over a rise in the road at about 2:30 p.m.
Approaching from the other direction was a Seattle couple on a bicycle tour of the island with their two young girls. On the other side of the road, 26-year-old Paul Jaholkowsky of British Columbia was out for a mid-afternoon jog.
The Nova first clipped the couple’s seven-year-old daughter at a high-rate of speed, mangling the ring finger of her right hand and breaking her wrist, and then hurtled across the road. Jaholkowsky died instantly, authorities believe, when he was struck head-on by the full force of the oncoming sedan.
Neither the 15-year-old, unlicensed to drive, nor his passenger were wearing seat belts. The 17-year-old was thrown against the windshield and then ejected from the vehicle as it slammed twice into an embankment before coming to a stop. The two boys and the girl were flown to a mainland hospital for treatment. Jaholkowsky was pronounced dead at the scene.
On Dec. 17, the boy, now 16, pleaded guilty in San Juan County Juvenile Court to a half-dozen offenses, including vehicular homicide, a Class A felony, and two counts of vehicular assault. Prosecutors are recommending that he serve up to two-and-a-half years in juvenile detention and perform 200 hours of community restitution after his release. Sentencing is slated for Jan. 6.
Port of Orcas “Through the Fence” issue
by COLLEEN SMITH ARMSTRONG
Editor
Under threat of lawsuit by its neighbors, the Port of Orcas Commission included an increase in its tax take for the 2010 budget.
The commission is asking for $208,200, which is an increase over 2009, when the port cut its budget by 40 percent.
The port’s dilemma is this: the FAA is requesting assessment of a fee from port neighbors for access to the airport. The port has been met with opposition by its neighbors, who feel a fee is unfair because their property deeds grant free access.
As Bob Waunch put it in a guest editorial in September, “Would you like to pay ‘access’ fees to use the roads in addition to your fuel taxes? We, as property owners with deeded access rights, do not want to pay ‘access’ fees to use the airport either – unless everyone pays the same fee – as stipulated in our deeds.”
While the Port is not currently designated noncompliant, it is in danger of that designation, which would bar FAA grant funding for at least three years, and the current grant award is in limbo.
The commission is increasing its tax take in anticipation of socking away funds for capital projects, in case they decide to no longer receive any FAA funding.
Port commissioner Bret Thurman told the Islands’ Sounder the tax take is appropriate for the services the airport provides to the public, but he believes the port needs to be proactive about sustaining itself.
“I think the port can do better to generate revenue,” Thurman said.
Orcas Parks and Rec District approved
by COLLEEN SMITH ARMSTRONG
Editor
Orcas Islanders came out in high numbers to support the formation of an Orcas Parks and Rec District during November’s election.
The initiative received 1,604 (71.9 percent) in favor and 627 in opposition (28.1 percent).
“I’m inspired how Orcas Island supports its people so strongly,” organizer Kevin O’Brien told the Sounder after the election. “I look forward to the community engaging with the new commissioners to create a program that best suits the needs of all Orcas Islanders.”
The district will be governed by five commissioners, who were also elected in this election: Bob Eagan, Martha Farish, Jim Bredouw, and Ian Lister all ran unopposed. Vicki Vandermay and Marian O’Brien were only separated by a few votes, and after a recount, Vandermay beat O’Brien with 794 votes vs. 790.
The district will be created and managed by the five commissioners who will canvass the community, set out goals, and put a levy before the voters at a later date.
Council approves street vendor ordinance
by COLLEEN SMITH ARMSTRONG
Editor
It was an issue debated by the community all summer, and it ended with action by the county council.
The council approved a street vendor ordinance that took effect on Aug. 1.
The council saw it as an interim step, and will consider banning sidewalk stands entirely on all public rights of way.
The ordinance requires non-exempt vendors using public places in Eastsound to obtain a six-month use permit from the county (which is free) and pay a daily fee of $50. The fine for an infraction is $250. If a vendor is cited for a violation, and he or she does not leave the premises after an hour, another $250 fine will be issued.
In September, Lopez Island farmer Gary Franco sued San Juan County over the ordinance. Franco teamed up with the Institute for Justice — an advocate for the rights of entrepreneurs — in the suit.
The county maintains that requiring a permit to vend is necessary to ensure public health and safety. There are exemptions: farmers who sell their own produce; vendors who do not remain in the same place for more than five minutes, such as peddlers and ice cream trucks; charitable, religious and fraternal non-profit organizations; and county-authorized events such as art fairs, farmer’s markets, fairs, and parades.
County voters approve Proposition 1
by SCOTT Rasmussen
County reporter
San Juan County shed about 22 full-time jobs in 2009 to offset a revenue shortfall of about $1 million.
That’s a loss of nearly 9 percent of the workforce and the single-largest, one-year labor reduction in the county’s 136-year history. It could have been worse.
On the eve of the Nov. 3 election, county officials were prepared to reduce spending by nearly $1 million more to cover an anticipated revenue shortfall in 2010. It meant draconian cuts in spending on discretionary programs, such as 4-H, parks and senior services, and the elimination of another nine jobs.
Local voters, however, said enough is enough.
Proposition 1, an initiative sponsored by the County Council, was approved by 57 percent of those who cast a ballot in the November election. It will generate roughly $960,000 in additional funding in each of the next six years by raising property taxes that support the county general fund by 12 cents per $1,000 of assessed value. It adds roughly $60 onto the property-tax bill of a $500,000 home.
Though successful, Prop. 1 was not without controversy. Council members were criticized for failing to reel in spending and for holding popular county programs hostage in exchange for a property tax hike. That the council approved a three-year labor agreement which provides union members a 3-percent annual wage increase did not go unchallenged either.
Even with Prop. 1, county officials will be challenged in the year ahead. That $960,000 is earmarked exclusively for support of 11 separate programs and positions. The council, after dipping into reserves to balance the 2010 budget, enters the new year with fewer cost-cutting options in hand.
Residents worry about CAO’s impact on property rights
by SCOTT Rasmussen
County reporter
San Juan County set out to revise its critical areas ordinance more than two years ago.
And as revisions go, it’s proven to be as convoluted and controversial as they come.
But in 2009, the tug-of-war over the CAO reached a fevered pitch and spawned a groundswell of opposition. It prompted the formation of a pair of property-rights groups who’s supporters weren’t about to let proposed rules calling for greater restrictions on where and how property can be developed go by unchallenged.
Ground-zero in the hotly-contested debate became the veracity of the state’s “best available science”, the lens through which CAO revisions are supposed to be made.
Working in tandem, the Commons Sense Alliance and the Citizens Alliance for Property Rights recruited scientific and legal experts of their own and in a series of public forums took the state’s science, as well as CAO revisions proposed by the county, such as 150-foot building setbacks form the shoreline, to task.
Cities, towns and counties, like San Juan, whose long-range planning is dictated by the state Growth Management Act, are required to periodically update their local rules governing critical areas. Those areas include wetlands, critical aquifer recharge areas, areas prone to frequent flooding, steep and unstable slopes, and fish and wildlife habitat.
Supporters of expanded CAO regulations insist the islands’ natural resources will be better protected with those restrictions in place. Critics counter that the revisions, as proposed, are a one-size-fits-all remedy to problems which are hypothetical or extrapolated from studies that don’t apply to local conditions.
In late July, the County Council postponed CAO shoreline revisions, agreeing instead to include those as part of the Shoreline Master Program revision, required by the state by 2012. But the clash continues, as the revision of the “uplands” portion of the CAO, with wetlands at the forefront, is still chugging along.
