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PENINSULA DAILY NEWS April 5, 2015 | $1.50
Port Townsend-Jefferson County’s Daily Newspaper
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the Sierra Nevada range. “It has been one for the record books,” said Barb Maynes, spokeswoman for Olympic National Park. The park has been keeping records for Hurricane Ridge since 1948, and the current snowpack is at its lowest ever, Maynes said. Peak snowpack is usually around April BY ARWYN RICE 11, according to Conservation Service data. PENINSULA DAILY NEWS The mountain range remains categoNATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION Despite a dusting of fresh snow on the rized as being in “moderate drought” by the This graph of snow levels at the Buckinghorse snow-telemetery site in peaks, the snowpack in the Olympic Moun- U.S. Drought Monitor’s most recent report. East Jefferson County, installed in 2008, shows its highest year for tains looks more like a record snow lack, snowpack in 2011 (blue), the lowest year in 2013 (red), the average fueling concerns about a thirsty summer. Rain but not snow since 2008 (green) — and this year’s snow levels in black at bottom. As of Saturday, the snowpack was at a “Plentiful water-year precipitation mere 3 percent of average, according to On March 13, Gov. Jay Inslee declared a data from the U.S. Department of Agricul- (since Oct. 1) in the Northwest was in winter, according to the National Weather ture’s Natural Resource Conservation Ser- sharp contrast to virtually non-existent Service. drought emergency for several regions in The lack of snowpack has long-term Washington state, including the Olympics. vice, which monitors snowpack to predict snowpacks, with the snow-water equivalents less than 25 percent of normal (locally impacts. summer water supplies. The Olympic Mountains have four “The lack of snow maintained concerns SNOTEL sites, which are Conservation It’s the second-lowest snowpack by per- less than 10 percent) across Oregon as well centage west of the Rocky Mountains, as southern and northwestern Washing- for spring and summer water supplies Service locations with a laser system that behind only California’s Lake Tahoe region, ton,” according to the Drought Monitor despite the generally favorable 2014-15 measures snowpack water content. water year,” the Drought Monitor report which measured 2 percent of the mam- report issued Thursday. TURN TO SNOWPACK/A7 moth snowfall expected near the lake in Rainfall has been about average this said.
Lack of Olympics snowpack close to worst in West
Brewfest serves up Legion tiff
Let the farmers market begin!
Post leader quits over profits, liability issues BY CHARLIE BERMANT PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
PORT TOWNSEND — The Marvin G. Shields American Legion post’s continued sponsorship of the annual Strange Brewfest has led to the resignation of its post commander. Joe Carey, 71, who had led the post for eight years and had committed to Carey another year as commander, resigned abruptly March 11 after he failed to persuade the board to discontinue the event, which has taken place at the post at 209 Monroe St. each January for five years. Carey unsuccessfully argued that the money earned from the Strange Brewfest, which features some 35 brewers, was not worth either continued repair requirements or the potential liability.
CHARLIE BERMANT/PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
State Health Secretary John Wiesman wears a floral-bedecked hat as he cuts the ribbon to open the Port Townsend Farmers Market’s 23rd season Saturday. About 500 joined him for the market’s biggest-ever opening ceremony. Story, another photo, Page A5
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Measles cases inspire many to take their best shot BY JAMES CASEY PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
Measles: It’s the rash that sparked the rush for shots on the North Olympic Peninsula. More than 1,000 in Clallam County from December through
RATES AS LOW AS
February were vaccinated with the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine — and for many, varicella, too (MMR/V) — after the first of five measles cases in the county was reported Feb. 1. An additional 151 people were vaccinated in Jefferson County,
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where no measles cases were confirmed this winter, during the same period. March figures are not available yet. Vaccinations should be all the rage, say public health officials on the North Olympic Peninsula. They blame last winter’s mea-
sles outbreak on people’s unwillingness to immunize themselves or their school-age children. “I would like to see the number even higher,” said Dr. Tom Locke, public health officer for Jefferson County and formerly also the health officer for Clallam County.
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Figures for 2014 from the state Department of Health showed that 56 percent of students in Jefferson and 89 percent in Clallam were fully immunized against socalled childhood diseases. TURN
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INSIDE TODAY’S PENINSULA DAILY NEWS 99th year, 80th issue — 5 sections, 60 pages
BUSINESS/POLITICS A9 B4 CLASSIFIED COMMENTARY A12-A13 C7 DEAR ABBY C8, C9 DEATHS A13 LETTERS C8 MOVIES A3 NATION A2 PENINSULA POLL TV WEEK
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