The
INSIDE Guest column
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Nat’l Public Lands Day
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Jingle Bell Dinner
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VOLUME 37, NUMBER 40 • OCTOBER 7, 2014
Silent Witness Project for healing By Migael Scherer
Contributed photo
Special to the Weekly
With a striking display on the Community Center lawn, Lopez joins communities across the nation to commemorate National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Twentysix red silhouettes bear silent witness to the 26 men and women killed last year in Washington State as a result of domestic violence. Each silhouette includes the person’s name and
le n sa o s t e Tick
now
Jingle Bell Dinner
Silent Witness silhouettes surround DVSAS Advocate Kristina Moen on the Lopez Community Center lawn. The installation will be on display through October, Domestic Violence Awareness Month. age, as well as the date and description of their death at the hands of a partner, husband, ex-husband or acquaintance. Ten men and 16 women are represented,
LOPEZ LOBOS Home Games This Week: 10/10 Soccer vs. Grace 2:30 10/11 Football vs. Clallam Bay 2:00 ‘The Pack’
Lopez Community Center
Saturday, October 11th 3:00 to 7:00
Tickets available at Paper Scissors on the Rock
Family Fun Music, Food, Libations, Games
Saturday, November 29, 6pm
For more information: 468-4446, admin@lihhs.org
All proceeds to benefit Lopez Island Hospice & Home Support
at WOODMEN HALL Including the CHICKEN DROP!
Music by The Field Boats (Indi-American music with Northwest Heart)
The Shark Reef Rounders and Gary Alexander
ranging in age from 21 to 97. The powerful installation includes a weatherproof box with brochures and schedules of activities for the month. The Silent Witness Project is part of a larger campaign in October to promote conversations about healthy relationships, with goals of awareness, education, hope and healing. Silent Witness began in 1990 with a group of Minnesota writers and artists, and now encompasses 50 states and 23 countries. Noting that a Silent Witness display had been installed the past two years at the Courthouse in Friday Harbor, local Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Services Advocate Kristina Moen wanted “our own project on Lopez”, and inspired others to join her. The
Fire Prevention Week October 5 – 11, 2014
San Juan County Fire District 4
Would like to thank the following Lopez Island Firefighters for their Time, Effort, and Commitment to their Lopez Island Community! Sam Fowler Ken Bair Jim Ghiglione Tyler Brower Harrison Goodrich Orrin Burt Rande Gruenwald Rodney Burt Ralph Hayden Ken Burtness JK Honeywell Connor Christie Mike Christie Michael Kaminskas Jennifer English Eddie Kramer Tom Felber Justin Merrifield Laine Nichols
Caleb Pal Stuart Post Tracie Red Elk Sally Reeve Mike Reinmuth Tommer Roush Bree Swanson Richard Tetu Dick Wilkie
board of the Lopez Center for Community and the Arts gave permission for use of its highly visible site. All work on the installation was by volunteers, using materials donated by Lopez residents and businesses. Orcas will also have its first installation this year on the Village Green in Eastsound. “We encourage people to walk among the silhouettes and read their stories,” Moen says. “They were someone’s mother, sister, child, friend, brother, grandchild. Leave flowers if you wish.” A public vigil will be held on the Lopez Center lawn at 5 p.m. on Wed. Oct. 22, with a short ceremony to remember the victims. Other activities this month include the movie “Sleeping with the Enemy” Saturday Oct. 18 at 7 p.m. in the Lopez Library, and prevention activities at Lopez Island School from Oct. 20-24. On Thursday Oct. 16, Open Mic at the Joinery will donate a portion of its proceeds to DVSAS. All Lopez residents are encouraged to “Share the Warmth” by donating 25 cents for every warm beverage consumed throughout the month, via donation jars in Caffe La Boheme, Holly B’s, Isabel’s, Lopez Village Market Deli and Southend General Store. Domestic violence takes many forms of power and control – verbal, emotional, physical. In Washington State, fatalities dropped last year from 35 in 2012 to 26 – the lowest in 17 years of data collection. “This is the ray of hope we have been waiting to see,” says SEE WITNESS, PAGE 4