SOUNDER THE ISLANDS’
Serving Orcas, Lopez and San Juan County
More holiday events [9]
www.islandssounder.com
WEDNESDAY, December 18, 2013 VOL. 46, NO. 51 75¢
Banner year for marriage
Swan meets tragic end by CALI BAGBY Staff reporter
by SCOTT RASMUSSEN
The lone Trumpeter swan seen on the shores, and on the waters, of Crescent Beach was found dead on Saturday. “Volunteers had been checking on it, and it was becoming more lethargic,” said Penny Harner, who works for Wolf Hollow Wildlife Rehabilitation Center located in Friday Harbor. The swan was monitored between Dec. 11 and Dec. 14. “It’s unusual,” said Shona Aitken, Wolf Hollow education coordinator, in an interview with the Sounder last week about the swan’s location.
Journal editor
Turns out that 2013 is well on its way to being a banner year for love, honor and commitment in Washington state, and in the San Juan Islands as well. Credit the legalization of same-sex marriage, at least in part, for the spike in the number of couples tying the proverbial knot, both at home and across the state. “I think the numbers show
SEE MARRIAGE, PAGE 7
Cali Bagby photo
A Trumpeter swan that was seen on Crescent Beach last week. She died on Dec. 14.
SEE SWAN, PAGE 7
Frustrations aired over the telecom outage Washington State Utilities and Transportation Commission hears from islanders as part of its CenturyLink investigation
Scott Rasmussen photo
Above: Senator Kevin Ranker, David Danner and Phillip Jones of the Washington State Utilities Commission listen to testimony as part of the state panel’s investigation into the November communications outage. by STEVE WEHRLY Journal Reporter
As many as 50 local businesses suffered combined losses totaling $175,000 or more during the 10-day telecommunications failure of early November, according to Brendan Cowan, director of emergency management for San Juan County and the Town of Friday Harbor. The monetary losses of local businesses was among a long list of complaints and problems
brought before the state Utilities and Transportation Commission Monday, Dec. 9, as part of its investigation into the widespread outage and the response by CenturyLink, the single-largest provider of telecom services in the San Juans and owner and operator of the underwater fiber-optic cable that ruptured and shut down much of the islands’ voice, internet and 911 services starting in the early morning hours of Nov. 5. A lack of information about the
outage itself and what steps were being taken to repair the cable proved a source of frustration for many. Friday Harbor Town Administrator Duncan Wilson said CenturyLink showed a “lack of initiative” in getting information out to the public and the news media, calling the information that was provided “muddled at best.” Roche Harbor Resort General Manager Brent Snow was even more emphatic. “Communication [with CenturyLink] was weak and unacceptable,” Snow said. The UTC spent almost three hours reviewing the facts and frustrations of the 10-day telephone and internet service outage. David Danner, chairman of the commission, said the hearing was part of a “thorough investigation of the cause of the service disruption and of the adequacy of the emergency preparations and response” of CenturyLink, especially focusing on the disruption to 911 emergency services in the county. Economic Development Council Executive Director Victoria Compton said economic
damages, including two real estate transactions that were lost and business relocation expenses in response to the outage, might well be significantly larger than Cowan’s estimate. Mike Greene, president of Rock Island Technology Solutions, believes his company, a reseller of CenturyLink internet services, will have to refund $14,000 to customers and may suffer direct and indirect losses of about $31,000. At the hearing, CenturyLink announced it would credit its business and residential customers for the loss of service during the outage. “The credits that CenturyLink will be issuing will be for 15 days for both phone and internet,” according to Jan Kampbell, spokeswoman for CenturyLink. The company also said that the bill for fixing the fiber-optic cable totals about $2 million at this point. Neither the credit nor the cost did much to mollify more than a dozen islanders who came forward to testify. “Failure to communicate” and “redundancy” were common themes raised by local officials, business owners and citizens at
the hearing, which the UTC convened at 6 p.m. in the county council’s hearing room in Friday Harbor. “Frustration” at the lack of information was mentioned by
SEE OUTAGE, PAGE 5
Sounder deadlines Display advertising: Friday at noon Classified advertising: Monday at noon Legal advertising: Thursday at noon Press releases, Letters: Friday at 3 p.m.
How to reach us Office: 376-4500 Fax: 1-888-562-8818 Advertising: advertising@ islandssounder.com Classified: 1-800-388-2527, classifieds@ soundpublishing.com Editor: editor@ islandssounder.com