The next meeting of the Orcas Island Camera Club is May 6 from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Betty Lundeen Room of the Senior Center.
On Saturday, May 10, the University of Washington Friday Harbor Laboratories (FHL) will hold its annual open house. This event offers an opportunity to meet scientists and students at the Labs and check out the research and teaching facilities.
Beginning on Saturday, May 3, the Orcas Public Library’s Saturday storytimes will be held from 11:30 am to noon on the Village Green during the Farmers Market season. In case of inclement weather, storytimes will be held at the Library.
The Orcas Center Theatre Productions staff is putting out a call for monologues about “Pets: Why we live with them and why we don’t.”
A talk and panel discussion of the current situation in the West Bank, Gaza and Israel, will be presented on Saturday, May 10, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Lopez Center for Community and the Arts.
The first season of the lecture series Crossroads: Ideas for a New Century will conclude on Friday, May 2, at 7:30 p.m. with a presentation by Barbara Grosz, who will discuss Computing Collaboratively: How Our Computers Ought to Work.
Stephan Michael Bosch of Eastsound recently graduated from South Puget Sound Community College in Olympia. He earned an Associate of Technical Arts degree in fire and emergency services technology.
At a special meeting of the Lopez Island School District Board of Directors on April 16 the Board approved the selling of $1.6 million worth of new money capital projects bonds, as approved by the voters in February. At the same time, and in the same process, the District also refinanced its remaining approximate $1.4 million debt from a 1997 bond. As a result, the overall tax rate was actually reduced from the low tax rate projected by the District in bond presentations leading up to the February elections. The results of that election drew the highest approval percentage in the state for school district bond proposals in that February’s elections. The new projected tax rate has been dropped to $.28 for the combined new and refinanced bonds.
On April 21, WSDOT Ferries Division Assistant Secretary David Moseley announced the resignation of his second in command, Traci Brewer-Rogstad. Ms. Brewer-Rogstad rose through the ranks at the ferry system and has served the past two years as Deputy Director and Chief of Staff. “Traci has been a real super-star at the ferry system during her tenure,” noted Moseley, “and she has helped me immensely during my first few months on the job. Traci is the kind of leader who sets a standard by which we all hold ourselves to, and she will be missed.”
“I see renewable energy as being an important part of the solution to many of the big problems we are faced with as a society,” said Eric Youngren. “I am into ‘solar empowerment.’ I think that everyone should try to reduce their ecological footprint by using energy and resources wisely.”
On Saturday, April 12, the Orcas Island Medical Guild voted to help the Orcas Island Fire Department by funding the purchase of a Stryker Stair Chair. The device allows EMTs to safely transport patients down stairs, steps and grades. “The department already has one of these devices; but as the recent months have demonstrated, when the department gets calls for aid, they often have two or more calls at the same time. Having the same device on both ambulances ensures that they will be available and makes training consistent,” said Max Jones, Public Information Specialist for the Orcas Island Fire Department
