The Orcas Island Prevention Partnership (OIPP) is continuing its “Spotlight on the Positive” campaign for the parents of Orcas 6th-12th graders.
Their reasons for not completing high school until now are as varied as their futures undoubtedly will be – from needing to work for a living, to international travel interrupting senior year, to hospitalization, to personal family matters, to “not being able to get it together.”
If you are the individual who kidnapped the small flock of pink flamingos from my property on Olga Road, just past the south park entrance, you may not have realized that you flocked yourself.
The birds were there to support a very important cause, Breast Cancer.
It is not being overly-dramatic to say that, with the closing of the Coldwell Banker Orcas Island (CBOI) office, an era has ended: the era when the real estate business flourished on Orcas Island, when prominent Realtors and Brokers such as Wally Gudgell, Stu Stevens and Rusty Post started their careers with Pat Pomeroy and Coldwell Banker Orcas Island.
Immigration
Since the war for independence from Great Britain 232 years ago, almost 1.5 million Americans have died in wars and skirmishes: the American Revolution, War of 1812, Mexican War, Civil War, Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, Persian Gulf War, Iraq War. Spread over the life of the United States, that’s equal to 6,465 military deaths a year.
Dear Senators Murray, Cantwell, and Representative Larsen,
We are at a crossroads as a school district and a community. Through declining enrollment, cost increases, state underfunding and, yes, past instances of spending beyond our means, our school district is facing record shortfalls. We cannot easily change inflationary factors, nor can we effect legislative changes overnight. We can, however, work on enhancing enrollment through outreach to our friends and neighbors. And we can work on ways to more efficiently provide the programs and opportunities we want our kids to enjoy. I believe our current School Board is committed to “righting the ship” responsibly and creatively.
By now I trust all Orcas residents have had a chance to pick up one of the Orcas Island Chamber of Commerce’s 2008 Visitor’s Guides. If you haven’t yet, I encourage you to do so. The content may surprise you.
Formerly known as Decoration Day, Memorial Day has its origins in May of 1866 in Waterloo, New York, where its citizens honored the Union war dead with flowers and flags placed at gravesites. First resisted by the South, the holiday gradually became a national “Decoration Day,” and, finally, our national official “Memorial Day” in 1967, with its traditional date of May 30 changed, in 1971, to the last Monday in May.
While the federal and state governments fund Basic Education and “Title I” elements of public school programs, Orcas Island School District (OISD) has known for about a month now that their budget faces a projected $667,000 shortfall for the 2008-2009 school year.
Democrats in seven more states and two territories will vote or caucus in primaries by June 3. On Aug. 19, San Juan County residents will vote for candidates for three County Council positions, for Superior Court judge and for state legislature. On Nov. 4, we’ll make our final choice for those positions and for president.