Not long ago the Sounder had a cartoon caption entitled, “In The Argument Over Airport Access Rights.”  It was a two panel drawing of “The Losers,” and “The Winners.” The “Losers” were the Port of Orcas and property owners adjacent to the airport. The “Winners” were the “Lawyers.”

A new group now needs to be added to the “Losers.” That will be the “Taxpayers.” It is regrettable that the cartoon was so prescient.

In order for the owners of the property adjacent to the airport to protect their deeded access to the runway it appears the Port of Orcas and the FAA are backing the landowners into a corner which will inevitably lead to expensive lawsuits defending the Ferris Deed. This will not only be costly to the landowners; it will ultimately result in taxpayers paying to defend the Port’s and FAA’s position.

In all likelihood, the landowners will prevail. The 1959 Ferris Deed is a legal document clearly stating that the property owners shall have the right of access and the use of the airstrip for aviational purposes only.

In the last election I had the opportunity to work with an amazing group of people who willfully subject themselves to public scrutiny simply to provide for the educational needs of our children.  First, as a critic of the School District’s bond proposal and then after due consideration, a supporter, I came to appreciate the hard work and dedication that our volunteer School Board members have put into this process.

The Orcas voters have now made a clear statement that they cannot/will not support the current School District development plan.  Those of us who supported the initiative may not like the outcome of the vote, but I do believe that we understand the resistance to the project as it was proposed.  We know that in order to make many of the badly needed repairs and improvements to our campus we will need to reach farther out to the community to develop a new plan that balances the economic, educational and functional needs of our schools.

The Orcas Island Recreation Program would like to thank the United Way of San Juan County for helping support our summer programs with a generous grant. Because of their support Orcas Rec was able to plan, organize, and implement a variety of great programs this summer.

Some of the programs included a Nature Day Camp at Moran, the Young Writers, Artists, and Scientists Weekend at Canoe Island, the Ceramic and Pottery Workshop, Mosaics Fun Class and more! Orcas Rec would also like to thank all of the helpers, volunteers, and skilled instructors who helped with these programs. Thank you for being such great role models for our kids and for sharing your passion with them, we appreciate your time and talents.

Orcas Rec would not have been able to offer these fabulous programs without support from the United Way. Thank you for caring about our Island kids!

Linda Sheridan
Orcas Rec Coordinator

Haven’t sent in your ballot yet?  Good!  Vote for Tom Pasma for State Representative!  We haven’t heard much about this race here, possibly because none of the candidates comes from San Juan County, but Tom Pasma has strong ties to our islands.

For many years Tom has volunteered his services as 4H auctioneer.  He’ll be at the San Juan County Fair next Saturday working hard – for free – to help 4H kids gets top dollar for their lambs, pigs, steers, rabbits, poultry and eggs.  The auction supports the kids and the 4H program.  Tom is an expert at using his charisma and energy to get the crowd involved in the kids’ stories, and in supporting their work in local agriculture.  If he can get people to bid over $600 for a dozen duck eggs, imagine what he could do for us in Olympia!

Tom believes deeply in helping kids work with animals, understand where their food comes from, and learn about farming and ranching as a way of life.  Over the six years I have seen him in action, I have been continually impressed with his commitment, his intelligence and his professionalism.  Tom really cares about sustainable agriculture and about the kids in his district.

Orcas Island is a place with a unique fabric of community; our lives interwoven together. I believe that strong schools are an essential part of this fabric of community. The Orcas Island school bond is an opportunity for us to keep our community strong by voting “yes.” There are several groups of islanders that I would like to speak to with special encouragement to vote yes; these three groups are the senior islanders without school age children, my peer group; more affluent islanders, and working families with children struggling to meet financial obligations.

We seniors benefited from an education when we were young, and now it is our turn to support education for the next generation. Some say that “we don’t need good buildings for good education”, or “we didn’t need that stuff when I went to school.” However times have changed since we went to school. This generation of students is being challenged to prepare for participation in a competitive, high tech, global economy that requires infrastructure far beyond what we needed. We should provide what is needed now.

I want to cordially invite you to an opening reception for the ‘Art of the Journey’ exhibit on Saturday from 5 to 6  p.m. Orcas Pallettes exhibitors for this show are Andrea Hendrick, Jacqueline Kempfer, Suzanne Lamb, Sue Watkin, Rich LaValle, Susan Slapin and Liz Waterman.

The exhibit at Orcas Senior Center is a richly varied sampling of art, poetry and photography, tied together by many personal interpretations of the concept of ’journey’. It is a wonderful creative complement to the more historically focused “Journey Stories” exhibit at the Historical Museum.

I’d also like to let you know that there is another special Journey Stories – related event in the exhibit space prior to the reception, from 3 to 5 pm. It is a free performance of ‘journey storytelling’ by the professional story theatre called Eth-Noh-Tec, entitled Journies that Shape our Lives. The event promises to be fascinating, and I’d encourage you to make an afternoon of it and attend both events.

Andrea Cohenm
Orcas Island Historical Museum “Journey Stories” Chairperson

Larsen votes to pay for wars

Ballots have arrived in the mail.  Please, before you vote for U.S. Representative, be aware that the incumbent, Rick Larsen, has voted “yea” for $1 trillion for wars.  Taxpayers of San Juan County are responsible for $53.7 million for military occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.  What do Larsen’s “yea” votes really mean for the people of Afghanistan and Iraq, for our own soldiers and their families?

Each time I try to write about all that war entails – the troop deployments and air strikes, military contractors, money spent for military base building, armaments, and fuel, the training and arming of foreign soldiers and police, destroyed civilian infrastructure, night raids and check points, detentions and interrogations, people fearing for their lives, traumatized, burying dead family members, sickness and poverty – words fail to capture the fullness of the fear, devastation and suffering of war. Representative Larsen, our incumbent, has consistently voted “yea” for us to pay for all of this.  Can you imagine other ways, more effective ways, to spend our money to increase human security?

As of Friday, August 5, 128 people have completed the 2010 Summer Community Survey. Our goal is to double that number by the time of the August 14 Library Fair.

The survey is located on the library’s home page: www.orcaslibrary.org. You can complete it online by clicking the icon that says: SURVEY.  It takes about 5-6 minutes to complete.

Some of the questions address issues about the library’s collection, use of space, and support for community discussion. There are also open-ended questions that encourage you to tell us how we can make the library better. Please note that this is not a secret attempt to build support for a building addition, which is not in the Library’s current planning.

The results of the survey really do matter. For example, recent surveys have shown support for the Library to add Sunday hours, which are now in place for the rest of this year, thanks to donations from Bob Henigson, Bob Lundeen, and the Friends of the Library. Very likely, we will continue those hours on a regular basis.

Want to be a Soccer Sponsor for Orcas Rec? Now is your chance!

We had one of our sponsors drop out unexpectedly and we are looking for a business to sponsor the Fall Youth Soccer Program for $350. Your business name will be proudly displayed on the back of one team’s jerseys and worn on the field and all over town this fall. If you are interested in being a sponsor call Orcas Rec at 376-5339 today.

Linda Sheridan, Coordinator of the Orcas Rec Program

Dear Editor,

I want to make a few observations about the school bond election coming up soon and hope the school board and the educators on our island will take heed.

First, I will vote approval because I am a firm believer in public education and trust the administrators of the system.  At the same time I am disappointed in much of the rhetoric they are delivering to the public in support of their request for additional funds.  Too much attention to the brick and morter and pitifully little about improving the quality of the educational opportunity being offered the students.

Orcas Island Schools rank 51st of the 275 schools within 75 miles of Orcas Island.  Not bad?  No, but consider that of the 40 developed nations in the world, the U.S. ranks 25th.  How bad is it that the world’s most affluent nation is in bottom half of educational rankings.  So is being the best of the worst OK?  I don’t think so.

The Vote “Yes” committee is admirably well organized and energetic, but we take issue with their signs that say to vote “yes” for Orcas schools.  In addition to the public school, there is the Orcas Christian School, the Salmonberry School and the Montessori school.  Parents and community members work hard to keep these organizations viable as well, not to mention the home schooled population on the island.

According to the Jan. 2010 letter by Superintendent Barbara Kline, the mill rate of the Maintenance and Operations levy is going from .36 to .61.  Add to this the proposed .54/1000 for the bond and you have a pretty big .79/1000 increase for a total of 1.15/1000.   I don’t think the M & O levy will go down in future years and the bond is for 25 years.   With the aging population (sorry everyone) it means more of the tax burden will fall on the next generations.  When you add the Social Security/Medicare/national and state debts burden they will be assuming it’s a huge portion of their current and future labor.  We need to look at the big picture, not just our school district or our island.

We’ve had three children graduate from the Orcas Island School District.   Although we have always voted for the Maintenance and Operations Levies for the public school and have supported the school in many other ways we plan on voting “NO” for the school bond.  We believe that the current plan is still too much for this community at this time.   Because the community has voted “yes” for every MAINTENANCE and Operations levy and yet the school district hasn’t displayed using the maintenance portion of the levy responsibly, the district has lost credibility with many of us.

The district needs to focus on which problem that it faces is the most critical, and then ask the community to help with that with a more appropriate bond amount for the current economic situation.  This is a time for taking a hard look at our needs, not our wants.  We have a very generous community but this is asking too much.  If the district asks for the appropriate project then they will most assuredly get a community consensus of “yes” versus a marginal vote of approval if any.

Updated Aug. 4 at 10:30 p.m.

In response to the continued negative campaigning by S. Vierthaler and others:

Gentlemen,

It really is quite simple.

If the people of this county want accountability from their Sheriff’s Department in the form of quarterly reports to the County Council and through a Citizens’ Advisory Committee, they will vote for Jeff Asher.

If the people of this county want a Sheriff who will skillfully and effectively go after drug traffickers that are targeting our children, they will vote for Jeff Asher.

If the people of this county want to preserve, or possibly increase, the number of deputies on the street through increasing our Reserve Officer Corps, tight budget management, and Federal grants available for this purpose, they will vote for Jeff Asher.

If the people of this county want the benefits of increased training that will keep our deputies current on the constantly changing, judicially imposed requirements regarding how law enforcement agencies must execute searches and other complex challenges, they will vote for Jeff Asher.

Dear Friends,
As part of the Orcas Island Historical Society and in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institute, Nancy Wang has pulled together a “Journey Stories” program called “Journeys That Shape Our Lives” on Saturday, August 7.

Nancy Wang & Robert Kikuchi-Yngojo are talented & creative storytellers who have preformed all over the world. Please explore:   ethnohtec.org

Anji Ringzin has been presenting Rumi poetry around the state since the early 90s.  For Anji’s Rumi reading of Rumi’s poems with interspersed info about Rumi’s life, Robert will accompany her on his bamboo flute.

I will speak about the Zen Peacemakers annual Bearing Witness Retreat at Auschwitz which I have been attending annually since 1995 and attempt to somehow articulate what these sojourns to Auschwitz has taught me about the limits of compassion and the malleable boundaries of our humanity. Please explore: zenpeacemakers.org/sa/auschwitz

Ginni Stern

We are writing to you as two teachers at Orcas Schools who work in all of the buildings and serve students K-12^th grade.  We know firsthand the condition of the elementary, middle, high, and Waldron schools and can honestly tell you they ALL need serious help.  From heating issues, non-flushing toilets due to lack of water pressure, brown water in the taps, hot water issues, failing siding, HVAC systems, lack of integrity in sheer walls, shoddy construction materials, leaking roofs, lack of ADA accessibility, and the list goes on.

We also want you to bear in mind that all island children have access to these buildings even if they are homeschooled or in private schools. Many children who are not counted in the district’s enrollment, which is where the district’s state revenue is derived, come to play sports, attend college fairs, enjoy assemblies, take just one class at the high school, or receive special ed assistance. Everyone is always welcome and we teachers are happy and feel valued to help.

I find that I too must add my name to the growing list of San Juan Co. Sheriffs Department employees who DO NOT support Asher for Sheriff. I have been with the Sheriffs Office for 34 years and a sergeant for the past 20 years. I have been asked so many times about who I like and dont like that I feel this may help those that are unsure.

First, I agree with the recent letters to the editor from Under Sheriff and Sgt. Brennan and their non -support of Asher. In fact I know of no support for Asher from any of the officers in our department and that alone should speak volumes to the voters. Yes the dive team has written letters of support for him and I would expect nothing less from them since they are on the dive team. I know many of them and they are good, hard working men and women who spend a ton of their own time and money training.

We believe the process the school board undertook was thorough and thoughtful.
We believe in the success of our students.
We believe in a safe and clean learning environment.
We believe public education is an important cornerstone to democracy.
We believe in our community support.
Please join us by voting YES for the School Bond.

Orcas Education Association Executive Board
Anne Ford McGrath
Lorena Stankevich
Marny Gaylord
Pam Jenkins

Understanding the logistics of the school bond has been a challenge for me. My job as a Librarian means that I have to do the research and check the facts. Here are the facts.  For a property that has been assessed at $250,000, it will cost approximately $11 a month to pay for the bond; for a $500,000 property it will cost approximately $23 a month; for a $750,000 property it will cost approximately $34 a month; for a $1 million property it will cost approximately $45 a month.

According to county assessor figures, on Orcas, roughly 19% of our properties fall in the less than $250k assessed range and account for 4% of our School bond tax; there are 6% of properties that fall in the over $1M range that account for 19% of the bond tax. 45% of our properties belong to owners who have off-island addresses. Eligible seniors and the disabled community can get relief from their property tax, and only need apply.

Here on Orcas Island, we will pay an estimated rate for this bond of 54 cents per thousand property value.

I will be voting no on the school bond despite the tent revival evangelism of its proponents. Tens of thousands of schools in this country are in the same position the Orcas schools are in. They will not be replaced in this economic environment if ever. Even if they are replaced the amount children will learn will not improve. I could fill a whole car with well documented studies on why the government monopoly public education system is a failed paradigm.

The children who excel in school excel despite it not because of it. Now, there are those who will say that not all children come from healthy environments and the school is keeping them from falling off the cliff. If this is the case then let’s call it what it is, a glorified Children’s House, and quit pretending education is happening. IT IS NOT!

My son Oliver (who never attended a day of school, public or otherwise) got a GED after 30 days of study. His percentile ranking against all high school graduates nationwide on the five exams was, 93, 75, 66, 66, and 50.

Dear Editor,

I’m writing to ask whoever has been taking down the “Kalb for Congress” yard signs to please stop doing that. It’s theft, and goes against our democracy. These signs have disappeared from three locations, while all other signs – Democrats and Republicans – were left in place. Please have respect for your neighbors’ right to know all the candidates.

Bill Griswold
314 Terrill Beach, Eastsound