The Executive Board of the Orcas Education Association, on behalf of our membership, would like to express our concern about the Reduced Education Program Resolution passed by the school board on Wednesday, April 30. Our position is that budget cuts need to be kept as far away from the classroom as possible. The proposed drastic reduction of 21.6 percent of the certified teaching staff , as well as the cut of one principal are untenable.
The Economic Stimulus checks will start flowing to Orcas residents sometime in the next few weeks. Individuals earning up to $75,000 will receive $600 and couples earning up to $150,000 per year will receive $1200. The theory is that these checks will have a trickle charge effect on the economy. The hope is that you will spend your check when it hits your account. Multiply this spending by millions and this increase spending should jump start the lagging economy.
As the coverage in the Sounder stated, and the editorial reiterated, “with a $667,000 deficit, everyone is going to be hurt.”
A public petition and much outrage was expressed following the Fire Comissioners’ decision in January to formalize the salary of a Battalion Chief/Assistant Chief at $90,000 a year.
Why is the Orcas Island School district facing a $667,000 projected deficit for the coming school year?
Hardy souls clean up park
Now that I am back from my travels of the past two months, many of my Pittsburgh friends are asking about the places I’ve been and the experiences I have had. Berlin, Munich, San Diego all get their fair share of comment, but then when it comes to Orcas Island, the storytelling begins. New stories, new experiences, and above all: transforming ones. Ironically, it’s always the “others” who hear the stories, but I thought maybe you also might be interested to know how very much the week spent on Orcas meant to me.
It snowed Saturday April 19 on Lopez. That may have been appropriate for the day of the Conservation Summit which brought together at least a dozen local environmental groups and about 85 interested citizens. The environment and its supporters have been on-the-run in the San Juans lately, ironic in a political climate where supporters of environmental protection will likely make substantial political gains at the state and national level in the fall.
Guest opinion by Andrea and Hugh Hendrick
Time and money: a sense of urgency and restraintWhen Franklin Roosevelt firsttook…
BY GLENN HARRISSpecial to the SounderHaving worked in public education for over…
Trail defenders miss pointThe recent spate of letters about the bicycle trail…
A helping handWorking together to accomplish goals – such as formulating a…
By PATTY PIRNACK-HAMILTON
The Orcas Island Fire District is not a democracy. It is a…
The Fire Department needs to improve communications, especially within the department.
Clarification:The Guest Opinion by Steve Hussey in The Islands' Sounder on March…
Participate in the Conservation District Board electionsBy STEVE HUSSEYAs many of you…
At Fire Commission meetings, among the multitude of concerns expressed – by the public, paid department employees and commissioners – is the fear that, by 2014 or earlier, the levy lift voted into effect in 1999, will not be renewed.
Orcas Island is blessed with a community of child daycare and preschools committed to the education of our children. And although each approaches this responsibility in its own way, all recognize the importance of what they do on the lives of the children.
I am so disgusted with the sloppy reporting in your paper. Every month I see “The Writers Roundtable’ notice. Well I went to this meeting – and the table is not round at all! It pretends to be oval, but anyone can see it’s just straight, rectangular tables arranged with an angled bend in the middle. If you were really interested in accuracy, you would call this group “The Writers Bent Table” but I guess you just don’t care. King Arthur would be so disappointed in you.
Since when did the hard-working immigrants become the bad guys? Consider the eight Mexicans who were stopped last month in the unprecedented domestic border checks while traveling from the San Juan Islands to Anacortes. One man, an Orcas resident for five years, was trying to get to the airport to pick up his wife and child who had been visiting family in Mexico.
St. Francis Catholic Parish will gratefully continue to accept donations for our recently established “Social Justice Fund.” We anticipate that such funds will be used to assist persons in our community who may be struggling with aspects of the immigration issue.
I would like to comment on the pertinent editorial last week about a collective failure to focus on the important aspects of the various issues that are confronting us. Another way to say that is we need to “keep our eye on the ball.” Too often we worry about “galley service” on the ferries rather than whether we will have ferry service in the future to meet our needs.
Doing something tangible – walking, “flocking,” working as a team, fundraising, pooling resources to fund the prevention, better treatment, and cure for cancer – creates an atmosphere of comradeship and effectiveness in the face of an ominous and life-threatening disease.
Doing something tangible – walking, “flocking,” working as a team, fundraising, pooling resources to fund the prevention, better treatment, and cure for cancer – creates an atmosphere of comradeship and effectiveness in the face of an ominous and life-threatening disease.
Say what you want about certain local sports fishermen, they are sincere… boy... they’re sincere!
Brace yourself, this ride is going to be more than bumpy as population and budget realities paint a daunting picture for the projected Orcas Island School District budget next year.
I was recently subjected to a most unpleasant and disturbing experience at the hands of a U.S. government agency, specifically the Border Patrol in Anacortes as I disembarked from a domestic sailing of the WSF arriving from my home island, Lopez, on the morning of March 30.
Since it began almost twenty years ago, OPAL’s core mission has been clear and consistent — to deliver attractive, environmentally responsible, and above all, affordable homes to Orcas islanders. The mission has remained the same but Orcas is changing. Looking toward the not-too-distant future we can see that our island population is getting larger, older, and on average wealthier. As land and building costs have skyrocketed, people who make our lives here either possible (teachers, construction workers, public employees) or piquant (artists, artisans, families with young children) have found life harder and harder.
I was never so proud as a few nights ago when I had the honor of supervising one of our new EMTs assist in evaluating a patient. I watched her do a Cincinnati Prehospital Stroke Score, apply ECG electrodes, take vital signs and obtain a blood glucose value. As I read the electrocardiograph, I watched over my glasses to witness sincere compassion. Firefighters and EMTs, especially out here on the islands, should be proud of themselves and proud of their craft.
Many, many thanks for all who helped me when I had that awful accident at Island Market on April 7 at 12:30 p.m. Sorry for the inconvenience to everyone and I really appreciate all of the assistance.