Pirates reign
Yacht club’s boat parade draws motley crew page 20
Scene
SJCT’s “Sound of Music” opens Thursday page 11
Editorial
President Obama visits Seattle Thursday; an ideal time to back the National Monument movement page7
Journal
The 75¢ Wednesday, May 9, 2012 Vol. 105 Issue 19
of the San Juan Islands
Rose steps down.
www.sanjuanjournal.com
CRC’s magic number: three By Steve Wehrly
County boss lands job downsound By Scott Rasmussen
The tenure of San Juan County’s first full-time administrator is near its end. After nearly six years of coaching council members, building budgets and managing county government’s dayto-day operations, Donald “Pete” Rose is headed back to familiar territory: the Seattle area, as city manager of King’s County Lake Forest Park. Rose, who last week announced his resignation, effective June 8, said he will carry a more complete, versatile set of instruments in Pete Rose his professional “tool box” when he leaves San Juan County for a new assignment in a 20-plus year career in public administration. Managing the many county departments while balancing the sometimes competing interests of six council members and eight independently elected officials has forced him to sharpen his skills in the “art of persuasion,” he said. “My time with San Juan County has been a continuos learning experience,” Rose said. “I appreciate the opportunity given to me to serve the county council and the people of San Juan County. I hope that I See ROSE, Page 3
Journal photo / Scott Rasmussen
The Charter Review Commission’s Ron Zee keeps track of the group’s effort to craft three ballot measures for the upcoming election in November, Saturday, at the Grange Hall in Friday Harbor.
Skepticism reigns over Navy plans
See CRC, Page 4
The unexplained death of a 3-yearkiller whale, L-112, framed the discussion between the County Council and U.S. Navy representatives, May 1, in Friday Harbor.
By Steve Wehrly
In a game of chicken on the ocean, Navy vs. Orca might be a one-sided contest. Despite assurances from federal officials, San Juan Island residents and officials seem skeptical that Navy training exercises adequately protect local whales. “The people in the San Juans have a special protective feeling about the southern resident orca whales here,” Councilman Howie Rosenfeld told representatives of
Three ballot titles for three ballot propositions for three charter amendments, for three council members from three islands. The number “three” keeps popping up in the deliberations of the San Juan County Charter Review Commission. That’s not counting three more hours of debate by the commission on Saturday about the three ballot titles that Prosecuting Attorney Randy Gaylord must weigh-in on before the package goes to the County Council for final action for the November ballot. The commission has approved three amendments to the charter passed in 2005. First, the county council would be reduced to three members from the present six. Second, the revised charter would assign executive responsibility to the council, not to a county administrator; the council will appoint a county manager to run day-to-day operations of the various county departments. Third, all meetings of the council, including its subcommittees, must be open meetings: nothing can be done behind closed doors. The most important message to the voters, according to Lopez/Shaw commissioner
REAL ESTATE in the
San Juan Islands
Properties Bought & Sold............page 4
Photo courtesy of the Center for Whale Research
the Navy at a public meeting in Friday Harbor last week. Saying the local tourism-based economy is “based on healthy whales,” and that local whales travel all along the Oregon, Washington and even California coasts where Naval exercises take
place, Rosenfeld asked, “What chance do the whales have? If there’s a conflict, who’s gonna win?” The U.S. Navy’s Pacific Fleet environmental program manager, See ORCAS, Page 4
2011 Special Award; Second Place: General Excellence from the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association
MAY 2012
George Willis photo
Look Inside
for the May issue of Real Estate in the San Juan Islands