As Jeffri and I expanded Crow Valley Pottery in early 2007, from our long-time, solo-location at the Cabin in the valley, to our second shop in the heart of Eastsound, our perspective – on Orcas as a whole and Eastsound in specific – changed. As expected, the new location brought many great new things … a warm and dry year-round location, increased shop traffic and the opportunity to expand our offerings. But what we really did not expect to find was perhaps a clearer reality of life on Orcas Island. Maybe we were a bit insulated out at the Cabin (we were) and perhaps we really did not want to acknowledge some of the changing realities of Orcas (also true). But one thing is for sure … our eyes were opened wider recently when a group of Orcas teenage girls were caught in the middle of a shoplifting spree. They had victimized numerous shops in Eastsound, including ours. And I’m told that some of their haul was quite substantial (not that it should matter).

So we were then faced with the decision of whether to press charges or not, as presented by the San Juan County Sheriff. Jeffri and I really struggled with this because on the one hand- was this just ‘girls being girls’ in the context of a small town? Should the fact that this is a small community have any bearing at all? What if their parents are really good customers? All good questions. But unfortunately, it uncovers a much bigger question. What about the ‘Quality of Life’ here on Orcas? That is, the little things that really are not so terrible, don’t really hurt too many people, don’t really register in the scope of more serious issues.

I stand in front of our Eastsound shop and watch car after car barely slow for the stop sign. Small town; no harm really done. The open loads to the dump, with frequent litter. Apparent abuse of something so small as handicapped-designated parking spaces. Frankly, none of these are huge issues. And we know that the sheriff’s department can’t be everywhere all the time. And to talk about ‘personal responsibility’ would be preaching, wouldn’t it? Folks that study such matters call these ‘Quality of Life’ issues, because individually they are not so massive, but grouped together they do indeed represent a marked deterioration in the things that make a community desirable to live in (and to visit, for that matter).

While Jeffri’s family has long-established roots on Orcas, my 15-plus years on the island have also seen many changes. We lock doors. Alarm the house and businesses. Take car keys. Don’t leave things out to tempt sticky fingers. Yes, all normal practice by mainland standards. So, what about the original issue of shoplifting? Few of the other victims have opted to press charges. Tough decision …. small town, and all that. Several folks we have talked to – that have teenagers – insisted we follow through with charges. Virtually all of them stated that they get little support as parents anyway, as far as follow-up and consequences from schools and society, versus what they teach their kids. They claim that we’d actually be doing the teens (and them) a disservice by not reinforcing the wrong of their actions.

More importantly, would we be contributing to the further decline of ‘Quality of Life’ here on Orcas by ignoring the whole thing?

Michael Rivkin and Jeffri Coleman own Crow Valley Pottery.