Although San Juan County residents voted 68 percent to legalize the use and sale of marijuana to adults back in 2012, the actual implementation of I-502 has been rocky.
Driving on our rural roads has unique dangers – like deer waiting to leap in front of you and bicycle riders weaving into traffic.
An EMS cost recovery program has been working successfully for the Lopez and San Juan Island districts for the past five years.
This labor day weekend the “Stand Up Men” of San Juan Island Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Services (DVSAS) is partnering with the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office to raise awareness and safety on our island.
The Islands’ Sounder, Journal of the San Juans and the Islands’ Weekly welcome new circulation manager Bridget Wright.
According to the Encyclopedia Brittanica, when the first person expressed juice from a succulent leaf to apply to a wound, it was being practiced.
The earthquake that will devastate Seattle and will destroy the coast of the Pacific Northwest could strike now or in 50 years ... or maybe 600 years.
The Orcas School renovation will be done by the end of August, and after we got a sneak peak last week, we can tell you that it is positively stunning.
It’s one of the most dreaded pieces of mail you can get: a jury summons. With a grimace, you think of what that little postcard means – time off work, rearranging appointments and having to take the ferry to Friday Harbor.
Orcas Islanders love their beautiful public library as a center of equal access to information for all learners and a welcoming place for reflection, work or gathering with others.
I would like to personally thank the many people who work tirelessly, behind the scenes, to make the County Fair the huge success it is.
These are principles that we stand by. Every day as stories are published we are ready to defend them if need be.
With advice and the necessary materials needed gifted from Paul at Island Hardware and a couple of new friends he met on the island, Rhys and Carson, Jacob has made the necessary repairs.
One hundred and fifteen people attended this first community brainstorming session put on by Islands Climate Resilience
A day after the OPALCO board approved an emergency 10 percent increase in our electric rates, effective at the start of this month, its management issued a press release announcing the “Temporary Revenue Recovery Add-On.” In it, General Manager Foster Hildreth “explained” that the emergency increase was needed because “Members have not been paying their full share” of OPALCO’s costs.
The Oxford English Dictionary announced in June that approximately 500 words have been added to its dictionary.
Traveling to Australia – and living there for a year – was the best time I’ve had in my life.
The people from all over the world, the weather, the beaches and the work culture all added to an experience that is hard to put into words. What I can articulate is that international travel, particularly independent from family, was eye-opening, rewarding and leaves you wanting more.
When I first began my work as the Lopez Island Fire Chief July 1, 2008, I was challenged to improve communications for our first responders and thereby improve public safety for all.
Last year people in our community were desperate for housing. Now a full year has passed. Has anything changed?
Waking up at 3 a.m. is not unusual for me. Symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder are a recurring part of my life as a survivor of domestic sex trafficking in my childhood and my young adult life.
For thousands of years we mostly upright humans have prayed to it, started wars over it, killed people in it and with it, built fancy huts to be close to it and tried to figure out ways to get out of it or get more of it.
Keaton Farris should not have died.
At age 25, he should be hanging out with his friends on Lopez Island or in Coupeville. He should be teasing his sisters or traveling the world.
The reservation system was created because the demand for car space on peak sailings vastly exceeded the supply, causing congestion and long waits. The reservation system helps spread demand to off-peak sailings, which should allow more cars to be transported.
Our family move to Orcas in the early 1990s began with missing the ferry. We arrived in Anacortes, waited two hours for the boat, only to see it come, load and go.
We’ve been hearing mixed reviews on the new ferry reservation system. Some love the convenience of ensuring a spot on the ferries and say that travel is being spread out more evenly. Others are seeing a downturn in summer business from those unable to get a reservation.
They glisten across the night sky and symbolize Independence Day.
But they are also dangerous when handled by amateurs.
Did you know that today there are 21-36 million people enslaved around our modern world? Did you know that means there are more slaves today than there ever were before? Did you know that human trafficking, only one of many forms of slavery, affects 2.4 million people worldwide each year?
As we navigate our first summer with the ferry reservation system, social media is rife with complaints about how it’s faring. But what we’re taking away from that discussion is something entirely unrelated: islanders are spending quite a bit of time and money on the mainland.
Q: Sadly, my wife Margaret, age 81, has dementia. Our doctor has her on medications that work extremely well to keep her more alert – she plays scrabble several times a week, enjoys her favorite TV programs and will interject a comment occasionally.
Living with a mental illness can be a deeply private, painful experience. It is difficult to talk about or know how to get help. And for the family members of an ill person, the emotions range from sadness to anger to guilt.
We think it’s the responsibility of state Legislature to fully fund K-12 public education.
The love we are given by our mothers can set the course for the rest of our lives. Whether it is something as easy as baking cheesecake or understanding the importance of loyalty, our readers shared some of the lessons they have learned from their mother.
In my eighth grade class, we had an assignment to do a study of one of our world’s problems. I chose to research the problem of energy-wasting light bulbs.
None of us gets old overnight. We don’t go from, say, age 60 to age 80 in a day. There are years in between and steps we need to take while we’re healthy that will allow us to age with grace. The first rule: live in the right house.
We couldn’t be more proud to feature a very special section within this week’s paper: the Viking Voice.
The Governor’s Salmon Recovery Office recently reported that nearly half of the 15 salmon populations listed under the federal Endangered Species Act are increasing.
Having recently fought and won a war against a government that had repressed dissent, arrested colonists without warrants and incarcerated them without trial, the authors of our Constitution were determined to ensure that citizens of our newly invented nation would have the liberty to express any view, even to a powerful government.
If you’re having trouble making sense of the many facts, figures, moving parts and the overall financial state of the union at Orcas Power and Light Cooperative, you’re not alone.
When we received an email alert last Friday that the ferries to Orcas were full until the 8:55 p.m., we knew it signaled something significant: the start of the tourist season. And those high traffic numbers will continue with the Shakespeare Festival starting this week.
Wouldn’t it be swell if you could forget about all those complicated issues of the day, ignore the campaigns of this candidate or that one, and just remain steadfastly unconcerned and uninformed about any upcoming election or about what direction would be best for your ballot to be cast?
