The
INSIDE Letters to the editor
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Guest column
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George Willis photo
Music workshop & concert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 6
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VOLUME 37, NUMBER 8 • FEBRUARY 25, 2014
Historical society receives artifact collection By Gary Alexander LIHS Trustee
Lopez Island’s Lovejoy family has donated their incomparable collection of Native artifacts to the Lopez Island Historical Society. The collection contains more than 200 stone, bone and antler items, including hunting and fishing tools, personal adornments, tools for scraping and sewing hides, and much more. Virtually every aspect of Native life is represented in this collection. The items were originally found by Norman P. Hodgson beginning in the late-1800s, and have been lovingly cared for by four generations of Hodgsons and Lovejoys. N.P. settled on Lopez
“Virtually every aspect of Native life is represented in this collection.” after hunting fur seals and fishing along the Canadian coast and north to Alaska from 1887 to 1891. He farmed the family estate, bought the Richardson store and was partner in the Hodgson-Graham Cannery. Hodgson acquired his collection by diligently following the plow run by his hired hands, looking for unearthed artifacts in the furrows. When N.P. lay sick with cancer in 1933-34, his daughter Gertrude would hold up an artifact and N.P. would describe it and where he found it. Gertrude took
Do you know about the This county–wide program provides short term counseling services for community members, couples, families and seniors who are uninsured and make up to 350% of poverty level (up to 12 sessions per year).
For more information call the Lopez Family Resource Center at 468Ǧ4117. All information is kept confidential.
Lopez School Drama Club ✧
presents ✧
9th Annual Festival of One-Act Plays
Dinner Theatre at the Galley!
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday March 5, 6, 7 Dinner from 5pm; Show at 6:45pm Call the Galley for reservations:
Dinner and Show: $30 Show only: $5 at the door (available 6:30 pm)
notes and then created a catalog and map of the farm where each artifact was discovered. LIHS Director, Mark Thompson-Klein said, “We are honored that Steve and Holly Lovejoy have donated this important part of Lopez Island heritage to the Historical Society. We’ll work with our friends from the Burke Museum and Samish Indian Nation in the coming year to identify and create permanent exhibits and storage for all the items.” When he presented LIHS with the collection, Steve Lovejoy said, “Our family has been involved with the Historical Society since it’s inception, and it has always been the intention of my grandmother,
Contributed photo
Norman P. Hodgson, c. 1925 Gertrude, and my parents, Clark and Phyllis Lovejoy to donate their artifact collection to the museum. We are grateful to have the opportunity to follow their wishes.” LIHS intends to display some items from the collection this summer, while designing and building a permanent exhibit that will open next year. LIHS is currently seeking donations to fund the massive job of identifying, cataloging, storing and displaying these marvelous artifacts. You can contact the museum at 468-2049 or by email lopezmuseum@ rockisland.com for more information.
Steamed over stormwater? Here’s what you need to know By Steve Wehrly Journal reporter
Do you have a stormwater problem? If so, Public Works would like to know. The San Juan County Stormwater Utility is in the middle of a two-year assessment which will provide additional guidance for stormwater management
efforts already underway. The first step in the assessment, according to stormwater Manager Ed Hale, is to get a reliable definition of existing conditions. “A good source of information is the knowledge of individuals who observe stormwater runoff conditions where they live,” he said.
Home & Garden April 2014 Providing a full schedule of activites and events plus, informative feature stories. This special section of The Journal, The Sounder, & The Weekly will be distributed to over 7500 readers throughout San Juan County and also online in our new Green Editions!
Copy & Sales Deadline: Monday, March 31, 2014, 12 pm Publication Dates: Week of April 15, 2014 For more information call Cali Bagby at the Islands’ Weekly 376-4500
Hale is asking islanders to help, and he and the staff have developed a computerbased reporting application, which is available to anyone with computer access to identify and report stormwater problems. The application can be accessed from the county web site or at sjcgis.org/ StormwaterIssueReporting. To keep local waters clean, Hale says the county should strive to exceed the minimum state requirements. The website stormwater reporting pages open with a map of the county that can be toggled to an aerial photo. Zoom in, mark the spot where you feel there is a problem, and provide a short description. The information will guide engineers who will evaluate the problem and how it fits with managing stormwater in that particular area. You will be asked to submit your name and phone number so the engineers can contact you, but
your name and information will not be visible to others, Hale said. The site also provides access for anyone to look at descriptions of stormwater problems submitted by other citizens and county staff. This data, and other environmental and development data, will be used to create stormwater management plans in cooperation with the Citizen Stormwater Advisory Committee, which was formed in 2010 to provide a citizen perspective to the San Juan County Council. If you are aware of a location that suffers from poorly managed stormwater, Hale asks you to “please take a moment and visit the site and let us know.” If you are interested in ongoing stormwater management issues, you can attend the monthly committee meetings, which are generally held on the second Thursday of the month, beginning at 8:30 a.m. in the Legislative Building council chambers.