Contributed
INSIDE
photo/ Robert S. Harrison
Lane Langford and friends make music for a good cause. Read more on page 8.
Letters to the editor
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Senior spotlight
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Salish Sea Festival
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Lopez EMTs are on-call 12 hr shifts every day for 2 out of 3 weeks Paramedics are on-call for 48 hour shifts every 4 days Firefighters are on-call 24 hrs/day, 365 days/year
EMTs & Firefighters are volunteers
VOTE
as if your life depended on it… someday it might.
√ YES for Lopez Fire and EMS Paid for by YES Lopez. Visit our website for more information:yeslopez.com
Diana Bower
Buying local farm products is a healthy way to nourish yourself, your family, and your community. Use this guide to find homegrown and homemade goods on Lopez Island, Washington
The
Islands’ eekly W
VOLUME 36, NUMBER 6 • February 5, 2013
Putting it all together By Colleen Smith Armstrong Islands’ Sounder editor/ publisher
It’s all about to change and it’s up to county voters. With the Charter Review changes now in effect, the council will consist of three members – one from each district. Before those candidates are chosen, there is a primary and a general election. The primary is on Feb. 12 and ballots are out now. There are six candidates total: Greg Ayers, Lisa Byers and Council Member Rick Hughes from Orcas and Council Members Bob Jarman, Marc Forlenza and former Councilwoman Lovel Pratt from San Juan. All voters, on all islands, will cast their ballot for these six candidates. Two from Orcas (District 2) and two from San Juan (District 3) will go on to the general election on April 23. Council Member Jamie Stephens and Brian McClerren are vying for the seat from Lopez, which is part of District 3, along with Shaw and surrounding outer islands, Two weeks later, on May 7, the April election would be certified, and
the new council members would take office the following Monday, May 13. At that time, the terms of the six sitting council members would end. Each member of the three-person council will be paid an annual salary of $75,000 plus benefits.
Candidate bios
District 1, San Juan and surrounding islands
Marc Forlenza Economic development and job growth top Friday Harbor businessman Marc Forlenza’s list of priorities. He intends to meet with business leaders locally and in Seattle, and with representatives of state government, as a means to help create new economic opportunities in the islands. He supports expansion of the broadband initiative, spearheaded by Orcas Power and Light Cooperative, to foster new educational and telecommuting opportunities. Part-owner and manager of the Technology Center on Mullis Street,
Forlenza claimed a seat on the county council in the November election, defeating two-term incumbent Howie Rosenfeld by 99 votes. In the race against Rosenfeld, Forlenza opposed the Charter Review Commission’s proposed changes to the charter, Propositions 1-3, and along the way drew the endorsement of Local 1849, the largest labor union of county employees. His campaign website is http:// www.campaignforlenza.com/.
Bob Jarman A San Juan Island resident of 38 years, Bob Jarman is a two-term incumbent on San Juan Island Fire Department’s elected commission and for more than 30 years worked in various roles and capacities with the local phone company, operated now by CenturyLink. In his first-ever bid for the county council, he defeated first-term incumbent Lovel Pratt by 90 votes to claim the South San Juan position in the November election. Jarman believes the health of the See electionS, page 6
Coal project sparks nearly 100K EIS comments Almost 100,000 comments were received by the agencies conducting the environmental impact statement scoping process for the Gateway Pacific Terminal. The public comment period, which ended Jan. 22, accompanied hearings across the Northwest conducted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Washington
FARMERS! If you want to be included in LCLT’s 2013-14 Farm Products Guide, please call 468-3723 by February 25, 2013 or email lcltda@rockisland.com
Department of Ecology, and Whatcom County, the “lead agencies” considering the project. More than 450 people attended a Nov. 4 hearing in Friday Harbor. Most comments either opposed the project outright or asked for broad environmental review of the coal export terminal proposed by Peabody Energy and SSA
Marine at Cherry Point, Wash., north of Bellingham. Residents, businesses, organizations and elected officials called on the agencies to look at impacts from the mines, the transport of the coal along rail and shipping routes, and from burning coal at destinations in Asia. Friends of the San Juans led local efforts to assist islanders
in crafting EIS comments. “Hundreds of submissions are from San Juan County and I feel confident that we have successfully expressed concerns for the Salish Sea,” said Friends Community Engagement Director Katie Fleming. The terminal, one of five proposed for Washington and Oregon, would be the largest coal export terminal in North America, with Peabody Energy exporting coal mined from the Powder River Basin.
Thai Dinner Fundraiser
for Baseball & Softball teams of Lopez
Food by Mary Jenison
Sunday, Feb 10 5-8 pm at Lopez Center
$15/ adults $35/ family