Marne Cook photo
INSIDE
A scene for the annual One Act Plays at the Galley, see more on page 6.
Energy Matters
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Charter Review Meeting
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A look at the CAO
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www.islandsweekly.com 360-468-4242 • 800-654-6142
Judy Beemer, on Orcas Island resident, receives numerous phone calls a day from telemarketers or automated surveys, but last week when she picked up the phone she was answered by a young man in his twenties, who said “Hi, Grandma.” Beemer has a grandson, but they communicate via letters — she hasn’t talked to him on the phone in years. So the call made her
suspicious. She asked the caller what his grandmother’s name was and got no response, and the caller eventually hung up. Beemer dialed the police and reported the call, and then she phoned the Orcas Senior Center. “I would feel so bad if I didn’t say something and someone got caught in this,” Beemer said. Beemer’s experience is reminiscent of a scam pop-
The only Symphony Orchestra in the San Juans!
ISLAND SINFONIA Presents a concert of well-known music from the Baroque period through the present, in the wonderful acoustics of Grace Church,on Sunday March 25th at 3:30pm Plenty of parking, bicyclists welcome.
ping up across the country requesting cash sent via Western Union. It’s often called the “Emergency Fund Fraud,” involving attempts to make the victim believe a family member, usually a grandparent, is in trouble and needs money for bail, fines or medical bills. Undersheriff John Zerby said this is just one of many scams, and that islanders should be wary of anything involving a wire transfer. “Money sent by Western Union is untraceable because it’s cash,” Zerby said. “You never see it again.” He’s not sure how the lists of targeted people are generated, but the elderly are often singled out. “They [the elderly] are often kinder,” said Zerby. “And if the scam involves a grandchild, those emoSee scams, page 4
Hope to see you there!
Tuesday, March 13
In a power outage, continued use of water, if available without power, will overflow your septic tank and/or cause backups and alarms. Your septic system needs power to discharge.
Contributed photo/ Paul K. Anderson
One of two coal trains passing through Fairhaven near Bellingham, Wash. on a Saturday afternoon. Special to the Islands’ Weekly
ANCESTORS
to its customers
Clock is ticking for Cherry Point
By Sophie Williams
Tax deductible donations of any size are greatly appreciated, and you are invited to a reception afterwards in the parish hall.
Notice from fishermaN Bay sewer District
Islands’ eekly W
VOLUME 35, NUMBER 11 • March 13, 2012
Phone scams targeting the elderly are back By Cali Bagby
The
GARDENS OF THE with RUSSEL BARSH
@ the Lopez Library 7-9 pm: Coast Salish
settlement patterns, economy and ecology of Lopez and outlying islands. SPONSORED BY:
www.sanjuanislandsnca.org
Lopez Center
If built, the Gateway Pacific Terminal will be the largest coal export terminal in North America. Tucked in the Cherry Point aquatic reserve between two oil refineries and an aluminum smelter, the new terminal will export 48 million tons of coal, as well as 6 million tons of other dry bulk materials annually. While communities near Cherry Point will bear the
Live Music & Dance Show!
Sunday March 25th, 7:00 pm
Jeffery Broussard and the Creole Cowboys
Buy your tickets now … $18 adult / $10 youth; Appetizers and Beverages for sale tickets: Paper Scissors on the Rock, Blossom Organic Grocery, Lopez Book Store, LCCA office and www.lopezcenter.org
brunt of the terminal’s economic, environmental and health impacts, this coal’s story is far longer than its port of exit. It begins in the strip mines of the Powder River Basin, where the government leases coal from public lands for next to nothing. It travels across the west in open rail cars, trailing coal dust and diesel fumes. At Cherry Point it stops in uncovered mountains of coal on top of 80 acres of in-
filled wetlands, before heading out through the Straits of Georgia and Juan de Fuca in huge cargo ships. The coal burns in China’s coal power plants, releasing greenhouse gasses and pollutants that drift back across the Pacific and onto our shores. The electricity also returns to the USA in the form of plastic consumer items: an incredible 70 percent of China’s electricity consumpSee coal, page 5