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Serving Orcas, Lopez and San Juan County
WEDNESDAY, February 29, 2012 n VOL. 45, NO. 9 n 75¢
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Driver of hit and run surrenders
Islanders push for GMO-free county Petition circulating to ban Genetically Modified Organisms grown in SJC by Cali Bagby Staff reporter
A petition seeking to make San Juan County free of genetically modified organisms has hit the streets. Initiative Measure No. 2012-4 needs 1,560 signatures of registered voters in the county, validated by June, in order to be on the November ballot. The county council could also choose to enact it as a law. The measure would make it unlawful to propagate, cultivate, raise or grow plants, animals and other organisms that have been genetically modified and provides for penalties and destruction of such organisms. “Given the San Juan Islands’ isolation from the mainland we are in an excellent position to truly be GMO-free,” said Ken Akopiantz of Horse Drawn Farms on Lopez Island. “In protecting our island from the genetic pollution of GMOs we would be supporting our local farmers.” Akopiantz is the sponsor of the petition, and said he has had the support of a broad spectrum of
community members, including teachers, farmers, health care professionals, scientists, food retailers, and other concerned citizens. Milene Henley, San Juan County auditor, said this is the first time she has heard of an initiative for a GMO-free county. Akopiantz said he has been opposed to GMOs for a long time, but when he heard Percy Schmiser tell his story at an event on Lopez Island in October, he said he knew something needed to be done on the islands. Schmiser, a Saskatchewan farmer, became an international spokesman against GMOs in the late 1990s, when he battled the giant Monsanto Company over the appearance of “Roundup Ready Canola” plants in his fields. Akopiantz said there are numerous reasons to be opposed to GMOs: when they are released into the environment they can’t be controlled, they are not sustainable, create chemically dependent farmers and promote energy intensive farming practices. “The adoption of GMOs consolidates the control of our food
Local land could become federally protected by Clare DeLong Special to the Sounder
Absent an executive order from President Obama, legislation to designate federally managed land in the San Juan Islands as a National Conservation Area will continue to meander its way through Congress, U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell says. “We’re hoping we can move the legislation sometime in the next year,” Cantwell said at a
Meredith M. Griffith photo
The petition calls for a ban on growing anything genetically modified. supply as farmers are ever more dependent on the costly inputs of herbicides and fertilizers and they can no longer save their own seed,” Akopiantz said. “Producers of GMO seeds claim that GMOs are needed to meet the food needs of our ever growing population. The issues of hunger and disease are predominately ones of poverty, food distribution and inequality.”
Clare de Long photo
Senator Maria Cantwell during the meeting.
Feb. 18 town hall meeting in Anacortes, “but as you can see, back in Washington [DC] everything is not moving as quickly as we would like.” More than 100 citizens of San Juan and nearby counties turned out in torrential rain to participate in the meeting hosted by Sen. Cantwell and U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, to discuss the proposal for turning
The most prevalent commercialized GMO crops in the U.S. are soy, cotton, canola, corn, Hawaiian papaya, alfalfa, zucchini, yellow squash and tobacco, per the Institute for Responsible Technology. According to The Center for Food Safety, GMOs have not
See GMO, Page 6
roughly 1,000 acres designated to the Bureau of Land Management in San Juan County into a National Conservation Area. It is the second time Salazar has visited the area in the past year, and he expressed optimism that the land may be redesignated as part of an initiative to place permanent protections on BLM-managed public lands in areas where there is strong local support. The San Juans are among 18 areas across the nation identified by the Department of the Interior for permanent protection. Despite debate on the issue at the town hall, it appeared clear that attendees favored longterm protection for lands that, as State Senator Kevin Ranker (D-Orcas) noted, at present have none. Without a long-term management plan, the future of these areas is uncertain. Those supporting the measure cited Lopez Hill on Lopez Island, and Mitchell Hill on San Juan Island, which might have been sold to a developer by the Department of Natural Resources had local residents not intervened.
See CONSERVATION, Page 6
Gary Shawn Mobley of Eastsound surrendered to authorities last Tuesday after an extensive search for him following a hit and run the previous week. Mobley, 42, allegedly drove into the side of a 1995 Mitsubishi Montero heading east on Fowler’s Corner in the early morning hours of Feb. 16. The driver of the SUV, a 35-yearold man, sustained serious injuries and was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center after an extensive extrication process by Orcas Fire and Rescue. He is currently in intensive care. His passenger sustained minor injuries. Mobley ran from the crash and was at large until Feb. 21. Tips from the community kept deputies busy throughout the weekend in an effort to locate him. He has been charged with Assault in the Second Degree, Vehicular Assault, Felony Hit and Run and Reckless Driving. Mobley was transported to Friday Harbor and lodged in jail pending a court appearance. His bail was set at $50,000.
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