Doing Business the Island Way - March is your chance to learn about, and give input, to the San Juan County Economic Development Council

The first meeting is March 2 San Juan Island, noon at Key Bank. There will be additional meetings on March 3rd, 10:30 am, at the Orcas Fire Hall, and a third meeting on Lopez, to be held at the Lopez Library at 1:30 pm.

And if you miss any of those, there will be a county-wide meeting to discuss and rank projects on March 23, starting at noon and going to 5pm at Key Bank in Friday Harbor.

The San Juan County Economic Development Council was formed in 1964 to aid local business, (which they described at the time as rural enterprises)in an attempt to create new jobs as a means of helping working families. The question asked at the time was:

"Is it not un-reasonable to consider that if you have a method that must be improved, a product that must be built, a problem that needs to be solved or an idea that must be born, to provide your thinkers with one of the most pleasant places in the U.S.A. to accomplish these needs? For a problem or a plant, a laboratory or an idea factory, there is no place better than the San Juan Islands."

Forty-one years later they are still at it, and the recent Rotary Club's award for Business Excellence to Pelindaba Lavender farm (Read the Rotary story in the Service Organizations section of this paper) illustrates their success in obtaining their vision.

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There Are Still Some Left

There Are Still Some Big Ones Left On Private Land, Not Many, But Some.

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HAPPY 100TH BIRTHDAY, ROTARY!

STEPHEN and SUSAN ROBINS RECEIVE AWARD FOR PELINDABA LAVENDER FARM
NAMED BUSINESS OF THE YEAR By The Rotary Club of The San Juan Islands

By Mary Kalbert

Chris Spaulding, president of the club, said that "Pelindaba Lavender has amply delivered on its goals of preserving farmland as open space, providing a beautiful environment for the enjoyment of residents and visitors alike, and creating employment opportunities for fellow islanders. Its success in undertaking this vision throughout its farming, production, marketing and retail activities while exercising the highest environmental and aesthetic standards has met the Four Way Test in full."

The "Four Way Test" originated during the Depression with a Rotarian drafting a code of ethical business conduct that has since become a marker of true business excellence. To qualify for the Award, a business had to pass all four tests in everything it thought, said or did: "Is it the TRUTH? Is it FAIR to all concerned?" Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS? Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?"

Stephen Robins, co-owner of Pelindaba Lavender said, "We are honored to receive this award. It not only recognizes the importance of our vision statement as a guide to everything we do in all aspects of our venture, but also affirms the value and deep satisfaction of serving a community while realizing one's own goals."


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New Service Organizations Story

Comets give life and take it away. The story of Stardust at the Nature Institute.

----To Read the story, go to the ENVIRONMENT section on the left or top or click directly.
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A Guest Editorial submitted by Ray Bigler

Gordy Petersen is on the mark with his piece on "Lurching Toward Aspenization". For the past eight years or so, many of the decisions made by our county leaders has been to continually put us on a collision course to becoming another Aspen, Nantucket or Martha's Vineyards.

----To Read the Full Guest Editorial, go to the GUEST EDITORIALS section under NEWS on the left or top or click directly.

----To Read the Gordy Petersen's Column, go to the GORDY PETERESEN section
on the right or top or click directly.



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EDITORIAL - It Should Be A Law

If you like a little irony, and you weren't there, you missed an opportunity with the opening comments by Peter Delorenzi Wednesday night when he asked the Friday Harbor Town Council to lend their support to an upcoming American Legion fundraiser. The event will include a motorcycle and car show, as part of a fund raiser that is expected to draw 400 motorcycles, driven by veterans, to raise money in support of veteran programs at both the national and local level. The irony came because the Council was about to once again discussed the need for a noise ordinance.

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CONDUIT MAN

By Mary Kalbert

Eric Tubbs, a student at Skagit Valley Community College is a man with a mission. He looks around his apartment and points out the ten computers that he will repair and refit for students in the Adult Basic Education (ABE) program at the college.
----To Read the Full Story, go to the SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS section under NEWS on the left or top or click directly.

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Valentine's Day was Volunteer Appreciation Day at Mullis Community Senior Center

Amid a garden of 144 chocolate roses, Wendy Stephens, speaking for the Mullis Community Senior Center, thanked all of the volunteers.

----To Read the Full Story, go to the SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS section under NEWS on the left or top or click directly.

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Your Future in Five Minutes, and Is the Comp Plan Broken?

Commissioners, Planning Director and the EDC Write Their Vision For the Future

The BOCC recently held a work session to have "A Dialog around Alternative Strategies for a Destination Community". Some of those invited to attend were senior members of County departments, as well as representatives of the Planning Commission, the Economic Development Council, Roche Harbor, and others. The meeting was chaired by BOCC Chair Rhea Miller, and the Statement of Intensions (sic.), was to include an attempt by the invited group "To enhance community understanding about the ability of San Juan County to manage development, to improve understanding at the County level regarding community concerns, and to identify tools for growth management."

----To Read the Full Story, go to the GOVERNMENT NEWS section under NEWS on the left or top or click directly.

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Breaking News in S J County of State Wide Importance

Tom McCabe, Executive VP of BIAW, at Friday Harbor Lunch Meeting

As a result of research by the Building Industry Association of Washington (BIAW), the outcome of the governor's race could be changed.

The BIAW is a part of one of the largest building industry associations in the nation, has an Orcas based branch that recently embarked on a drive to expand to the other islands, hoping to have an increased voice in the government decisions that effect construction related businesses in SJ county.

As a part of this effort, the local Association recently held lunches on both San Juan and Orcas Islands. While the intent of the meeting was to provide general information about the organization and the specific advantages to being a member (see related story on the BUSINESS link at the left of this column) the 30 some participants -which included three past County Commissioners as well as other current and past members of county government- were also told of the Associations ongoing efforts to insure the recent state governor's race was determined by legally submitted votes. Toward the end of the presentation, the Association's Executive Vice President, Mr. Tom McCabe, was asked to tell the group about research the state Association was engaged in to determine if all of the provisional votes in King County were valid.

Mr. McCabe related the now well-known story of how a King County Judge granted the Democratic Party 48 hours to go out in the community over the weekend and acquire signatures on a large number of provisional ballots that had not been signed at the time the absentee ballots had been sent in. On the following Monday morning some 400 signed provisional ballots were turned in which, in effect, also turned the election.


Mr. McCabe stated that when he started looking through copies of the newly signed affidavits for the provisional ballots he found that the signatures on some of the provisional ballots did not match the signatures of the voters. At this point the Association became concerned enough to run the names of all of the 400 voters through a data base of known felons, and found that some of the voters were not only felons, which means their votes should not have been counted, but even the signatures on the ballots did not match the signatures on their prison booking records. Hundreds of votes by felons were discovered and at that point the research was expanded to include all of the ballots that were part of the 48 hour weekend search by the Democratic party.

The creative way that the Association came up with to obtain the true signatures of those new voters to compare to the signatures that were turned in on the affidavits could be the stuff of a movie or a book. Mr. McCabe showed the meeting participants a copy of a "survey" the Association had sent out along with a check for $10.00 to the addresses of the questionable voters asking them, for the fee, to fill out and -yes you guessed it- sign and return the survey. This then gave the Association a true signature to compare against the "signatures" on the ballots and the affidavits.

At this point, it would appear that if the invalid votes are thrown out, so will the validity of the governor's race. Mr. McCabe stated he did not know where this may end up, or what the outcome may be, but it has the potential of calling in to question the true outcome of the recent election for the governorship.



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Town Meeting and a "Walking Village"? Lichter Hard at Work on Orcas

Commissioner Alan Lichter will be hosting a town hall meeting on February 16th at the senior center, from 5-7pm. He plans to incorporate the same format as used by Navigating Our Future, and asking the question, "What kind of community do you want to live in" as the main topic of discussion.

The upcoming meeting may influence the outcome of another idea the Commissioner had. At a recent EPRC meeting, Commissioner Alan Lichter stated that he had asked the SJC Public Works Director to review the possibility of closing a portion of the North Beach Rd on Orcas from Main St to A Street, as a means of creating a walking village. Stay tuned for further information on this story.


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Planning for Health and Fitness Expo is Underway

The month of June may not be just around the corner, but planning is well underway for the San Juan Island Marathon on June 5

----To Read the Full Story, go to the BUSINESS section on the left or top or click directly.

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A Little Dust-Up At The BOCC

At the regular scheduled 1:30 P.M Tuesday meeting of the BOCC with the Public Works Director, regarding the County Facilities Budget, there was some -shall we say- disagreement, as to what was done by whom, and when, and who is going to empty the wastepaper baskets. And if there is a need to have more workers to, for example, dust the cobwebs, or empty the wastepaper cans in the Court house, then some cuts will have to be made in other areas.

----To Read the Full Story, go to the GOVERNMENT NEWS section under NEWS on the left or top or click directly.

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San Juan Business Park Hearing to be Re-Scheduled

A commercial development has been proposed on five acres of land near the south end of the Friday Harbor airport. Terry Lush and Inter Island Enterprises have applied for a Commercial Use permit to construct four commercial and industrial buildings, with a total of 40,000 square feet of floor space, plus some additional covered storage buildings. The projected number of potential workers has listed as 24. The proposed use of the structures includes automotive and repair, with associated equipment space, and retail sales. Up to 71 parking spaces will be provided.
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