Derby darlin’
Geno James takes over lead of Wilson Derby; three weeks left to go page 16
Scene
Middle schoolers weave a tale of their own in Charlotte’s Web page 9
Editorial
With a change in leadership at NPS, islanders and the Parks Service have a chance for a fresh start. page 7
Journal
The 75¢ Wednesday, March 28, 2012 Vol. 105 Issue 13
of the San Juan Islands
Taylor takes charge
www.sanjuanjournal.com
Stormin’ Norman
On the road again
By Steve Wehrly
On the Saturday after the Seattle WTO riots in late 1999, Norm Stamper resigned as Seattle’s Chief of Police. “I was terribly sorry I did what I thought was right,” he told an audience of 50 Sunday afternoon at Skagit Valley Community College in Friday Harbor. For six years, he continue to think he was right to clear 6th and Union St. with tear gas and truncheons, even as he admitted that mistakes in judgment were made and people hurt by police misconduct. His book, “Breaking Rank,” published in 2005, recognized some of those mistakes, but it took a year of book tours, a year of “listening with my heart and my head,” and a year of WTO protesters telling him “I don’t respect you for what you did that day” before he admitted “I was wrong. It was the cop in me that made that decision, not the Chief.”
By Scott Rasmussen
Lee Taylor is expecting. About 250,000 visitors a year, or thereabouts. That’s roughly the number of people who visit the National Parks Service property on the westside of San Juan Island every year. Taylor, a 30-year Parks Service veteran and, as importantly, San Juan Island National Historical Park’s newly-appointed superintendent, knows visitors go “hand in hand” with the job. Still, she expects a few more visitors to drop by her new home than she has perhaps been used to in the past, once she puts down roots on the island. The first day of her new assignment is April 22. “I have friends on the island and I’ve been here several times,” Taylor said in a phone interview, See TAYLOR, Page 5
Journal photo / Scott Rasmussen
See Stamper, Page 4
Stacie Tagney, left, and Meghan Hoffman take to the front of the pack in Run Ladies Run’s spring fling, a combined 10K and (gasp) half-marathon. Ninety-six women paced the course in Sunday’s run, or walk.
Ferries go high-tech with laser tools
A state ferry worker measures vehicle length using WSF’s new laser-equipped measuring device.
By Scott Rasmussen
Lee Taylor
Contributed photo
Have no fear. The lasers are here. Washington State Ferries is going high-tech, swapping measuring tape for laser-equipped devices, as it embarks on a new era of ticket pricing. WSF Director of Operations Steve Rogers acknowledges that Ferries found a few flies in the
Courtesy Of Washington State Ferries
ointment when tickets began to be bought and sold for the new 14-foot-and-under category
of vehicles. The 14-foot-or-less category became See Laser, Page 4
2011 Special Award; Second Place: General Excellence from the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association
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