Monday
Patrick makes history
Cloudy with chance of rain, high near 45 B10
First woman to win Daytona 500 pole position B1
PENINSULA DAILY NEWS February 18, 2013 | 75¢
Port Angeles-Sequim-West End
Chances of white spring are in doubt
Visitors having barrels of fun
Forecasters say outlook for snow isn’t very good BY ROB OLLIKAINEN PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
It’s getting more and more likely that much of the North Olympic Peninsula will make it through the winter without a significant snowfall. The chances of a late-season snowstorm in the region’s population centers are diminishing with each passing day, said Johnny Burg, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Seattle. “When we had our cold stretch, it was pretty dry,” Burg said, adding that chances for snow in Western Washington decrease rapidly in March. Port Angeles native Scott Sistek, a meteorologist with KOMO News, a Peninsula Daily News partner, addressed the undramatic winter weather on his blog at www.komonews.com/weather.
Wild weather missing in action ARWYN RICE (2)/PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
Mishara Junkin, 45, and Hilary Skillings, 38, both of Bremerton, and Jennifer Ashmore, 41, and Ellen Kisiday, 44, both of Silverdale, from left, taste wines at Olympic Cellars in Port Angeles on Sunday. The four “pinkie swore” in September that they would take the wine tour this year, Kisiday said. Junkin was the quartet’s designated driver.
Red Wine and Chocolate Tour continues today
“Even taking snow out the equation, the other two big winter events, heavy rains and strong winds, have mainly been MIA as well,” Sistek wrote Wednesday. “What we’ve been left with are a lot of mundane cloudy days with some light rain at times.” Sistek hinted that the potential for snow remains, citing a two-week forecast that calls for chilly weather up and down the West Coast. TURN
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BY ARWYN RICE PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
PORT ANGELES — The 2013 Red Wine and Chocolate Tour already has been a banner one for North Olympic Peninsula wineries, with a large contingent of visitors from the Puget Sound area and beyond sampling their wares, winery owners said Sunday.
Sweet pairings Today is the final day for the tour of eight local wineries, which are presenting pairings of red wine and chocolate from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The tour has taken place over the past two weekends. “Saturday was the busiest day we ever had,” said Sara Gagnon, owner of Harbinger Winery in Port Angeles. TURN
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Annie Lambert, a volunteer server at Camaraderie Cellars in Port Angeles, pours wine for Nichole Walston, 34, from left, of Port Townsend and Erin Murray, 28, of Port Hadlock on Sunday.
PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
U.S. Highway 101 near Lake Crescent got a dusting last spring but may not this year.
Bill to allow net pen bans has ‘uphill battle’ Public hearing in Olympia draws comments from opposing sides BY JEREMY SCHWARTZ PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
A bill that would allow coastal counties to ban marine aquaculture net pen facilities has an “uphill battle” ahead of it after a hearing in a state House of Representative committee in Olympia last week, said the North Olympic Legislator who is sponsoring it. State Rep. Kevin Van De Wege, D-Sequim, is sponsoring HB 1599, which would allow county governments to include outright bans of net pen fish-farming facilities pro-
posed for shoreline areas in their state-required shoreline management plan updates. Jefferson County commissioners David Sullivan and Phil Johnson spoke in favor of the bill. Net pen aquaculture is the raising of fish, usually Atlantic salmon, in pens along shorelines. Washington state has nine such facilities, including an American Gold Seafoods facility in Port Angeles, according to the state Department of Ecology. HB 1599 received a public hearing at a Friday meeting of the
House Local Government Committee, and Van De Wege thinks testimony against the bill from Ecology and representatives of the net pen Johnson aquaculture industry means it may be a challenge to get his bill passed in the House. “The fish farm [representatives] and Ecology are going to fight hard against it,” Van De Wege said. “It has an uphill battle.” State Sen. Jim Hargrove, D-Hoquiam, has introduced a
uled for a hearing. Van De Wege and Hargrove, along with State Rep. Steve Tharinger, D-Sequim, represent the 24th Legislative District, which comprises Clallam and Jefferson counties and a portion of Grays Harbor County. At the hearing, Van De Wege 14706106
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said his bill is not about whether net pen farming is good or bad but about local jurisdictions having control over their own shorelines. In a later interview, he said Ecology’s point at the hearing was that SMPs are not designed to ban specific water-dependent uses, such as net pen farming.
Lawyer for American Gold Zachary Hiatt, a Seattle attorney representing statewide net pen farm operator American Gold Seafoods, spoke in opposition to the bill, saying that net pen facilities already are highly regulated by the state to ensure they do not hurt surrounding waters. TURN
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INSIDE TODAY’S PENINSULA DAILY NEWS 97th year, 42nd issue — 2 sections, 18 pages
CLASSIFIED COMICS COMMENTARY/LETTERS DEAR ABBY DEATHS HOROSCOPE MOVIES NATION PENINSULA POLL
B5 B4 A6 B4 A5 B4 B10 A3 A2
PUZZLES/GAMES SPORTS WEATHER WORLD
B6 B1 B10 A3