Ghost stories • Get into the spooky spirit with island tales • Page 11
SOUNDER THE ISLANDS’
Serving Orcas, Lopez and San Juan County
WEDNESDAY, Oct. 31, 2012 VOL. 45, NO. 44 75¢
Lurking in the dark
The coal terminal controversy continues by STEVE WEHRLY Journal reporter
Keri Lago photo
These crazy zombie kids from Grace McCune’s “Musical Theater Youth Troupe” scared islanders silly and won the Sounder’s online photo contest for “Cutest Trick or Treater.” The children performed a frightening show of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” last year. McCune and Keri Lago, who took the photo, will share the grand prize of dinner for two at Agave Restaurant, which sponsored the contest. Thank you to everyone who submitted a photo.
Coal isn’t the only fuel firing the first stage of the Gateway Pacific Terminal protest. Bunker fuel spills, noise pollution, and bilge and ballast water contamination were three of more than two dozen detrimental impacts listed at a recent workshop. The scoping workshop put on by Power Past Coal, a coalition of environmental and community groups, and Friends of the San Juans was held Thursday, Oct. 25, in Friday Harbor. A similar event on Lopez drew about 60 people the day before, and another 60 people were expected for an evening workshop on Orcas Island following the Friday Harbor meeting. Dick and Janet Wright, of San Juan Island, had immediate responses to the “Why are you here today?” question. “Irreparable damage to the ecosystem,” said Dick.
Fire department still hammering out budget Chief asked to trim down preliminary numbers by COLLEEN SMITH ARMSTRONG Editor/Publisher
Orcas Fire Commissioners are taking a conservative route with the upcoming budget. After Fire Chief Kevin O’Brien presented his preliminary 2013 numbers, which included a 6.28 percent rise in expenditures, commissioner Clyde Duke asked him to keep cutting and stick with the same budget as 2012. “I respect the commissioners’ desire to keep the budget at zero or low growth,” O’Brien said. “I can scale back on new programs we were looking at. We can do it.” One area that Duke doesn’t mind increasing is health benefits. Orcas Island Fire and Rescue is the only district in San Juan County that does not have medical coverage for staff families. O’Brien wants to provide medical
Orcas Fire & Rescue at a glance • 2012 call volume is up 9 percent • The department’s survival rate for heart attack victims is 80 percent with use of a defibrillator • 75 percent of calls are in Eastsound insurance starting in 2013 for family members of full-time staff, while Duke wants to see more health benefits go to volunteers as well. Currently, they can submit vouchers for specific medical procedures, but do not have health care coverage. “It has to be a full deal – all participants,” Duke told the Sounder. “We need to do more for our volunteers.” O’Brien says maintaining the department is complex and not like it was 30 years ago. “It’s run like a business with a core of career
staff who provide support to the 49 volunteers,” O’Brien said. “Our volunteers put in a lot of hours. We can’t do it without them. The standards and laws for firefighters and EMTs are significantly more difficult today than in the past.” There are seven full-time staff members as well as a handful of part-time people who do things like admin work, maintenance and daytime shifts at the station. There are four disciplines that volunteers work in: firefighting, EMS services, rescue and wild land. The majority of volunteers are crosstrained in more than one area, which means a minimum of 100 to 140 hours per year. In addition to call response, volunteers participate in weekly drills, meetings, off-island training and the department’s wellness program. His proposed 2013 operations budget was $1,619,723 with an estimated revenue of $2,103,100. The operations budget for 2012
SEE OIFR, PAGE 9
“We could witness a totally changed Northwest culture,” said Janet. “We’ve lived here for 40 years and have never seen anything that threatened our lives like this.” The workshops were part of preparations for a Nov. 3 scoping meeting in Friday Harbor and the 120-day scoping comment period announced recently by the Army Corps of Engineers, Whatcom County and the Washington Department of Ecology. These are the three “co-lead agencies” responsible for producing an Environmental Impact Statement studying impacts of the Cherry Point bulk loading terminal near Ferndale proposed by SSA Marine, the Seattle port facilities operator. Those three agencies previously determined that plans for the export facility must undergo a full environmental review by federal, state and local officials before development permits would be issued. That review, as set out by the National Environmental
SEE COAL, PAGE 9
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