The latest public works’ project on Orcas Island has excavators uprooting trees, tearing out stands of shrubbery and creating a huge swath of broken soil behind the Village Green bandshell to build a constructed wetland for stormwater treatment.
Some wonder if this really an improvement, noting an existing wetland indicated on county maps.
The Orcas Island Vikings faced off against St. Margaret’s in San Juan Capistrano, California the evening of Sept. 16. They were looking for valuable experience playing a top-quality football team, and they found it.
San Juan County will be well represented at the upcoming 2011 Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference to be held in Vancouver, B.C. this October.
The Orcas School District has been awarded $68,584 to upgrade or replace its fire alarm systems through an Urgent Repair Grant program created by the state legislature.
Their goal is to establish radio contact with all 39 Washington counties.
“It’s a way for amateurs to try and keep their operating skills up,” said Mike Mikuchonis of Lake Tapps, Wash., whose wife Gail is from Olga’s Willis family.
Mikuchonis and a handful of other amateur radio operators will meet at the Willis family’s Woodside Farm on Sept. 17 and 18 to take part in the Washington Salmon Run or QSO party.
The state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction recently released “report cards” for Washington state public schools.
Encompassing both OASIS and Orcas High Schools, the Orcas School District was calculated to have less-than-glowing graduation rates of 65 percent, and 78.9 percent for fifth-year grads. Washington state averages are 72.7 and 80.7 percent, respectively.
Orcas Schools Superintendent Barbara Kline says the report card emphasizes rigid timeliness at the expense of perhaps plodding but persistent successes.
County planner Shireene Hale laid out the initial version of the county’s new wetland regulations at a Sept. 8 town hall meeting. Hale and Orcas county council members Patty Miller and Richard Fralick fielded a barrage of questions from concerned citizens.
“The reality is, you are responsible to determine whether or not there is a wetland on your property,” said Miller.
The grass will indubitably appear greener at the Orcas Island Golf Club this Saturday, Sept. 10, as community members gather to celebrate and support Orcas Center’s cultural contribution to the island.
“You don’t have to be a serious golfer to enjoy the evening,” said Orcas Center’s executive/artistic director Kara O’Toole, saying the day is designed to supply fun for all ages.
Last year an Orcas child almost fainted during an after-school sports activity. She told concerned adults that because it was a half-day for school – meaning no cafeteria lunch – she had had nothing to eat since her school breakfast.
Orcas veterinarian Jill Bates’ first novel will make its debut at Darvill’s Bookstore on Thursday, Sept. 15.
“My cheeks are so big I can’t fit through the door, I’m smiling so much,” said Bates. “[Writing the book] wasn’t hard work; you had to drag me away from it.”
For her work in Cambodia, the University of Washington has awarded its 2011 faculty award for outstanding public service to Orcas resident Tracy Harachi, associate professor at the UW School of Social Work.
“It’s been very awkward for me to receive this award,” Harachi told the Sounder. “If I hadn’t met all these wonderful people along the way this project wouldn’t have happened.”
A young male northern elephant seal was discovered washed ashore on the sand beneath the West Beach Resort pier early last Thursday morning. He looked exhausted, with strands of bull kelp wrapped around his head.
“His respiration rate was a little fast for that large of an animal,” said Ashley Briese, a third-year veterinary student from Oregon State University on an 8-week internship with the SeaDoc Society.
The county Critical Areas Ordinance update now in process is intended to protect critical habitat from degradation by humans.
Some folks call the new version heavy-handed, immensely expensive, or bound to drive out the county’s middle and lower class – while others wonder if the measures may be too little, too late for threatened species.
“Every new layer of cost and regulation imposed by the county translates to less work for local families who depend on the construction trades to make a living,” said former county commissioner John Evans.
