Hi Ciscoe,
Thank you for another year of timely advice! I'm not always the most disciplined gardener, and sometimes I forget that it's time to do a specific task in the garden. Your weekly reminders have been very helpful in keeping me on track. This past week, I followed your recent suggestion and dug up my dahlia tubers. They were getting a little overgrown, and it's been too many years since I have divided them. I was so happy to see how prolific they've been. Hopefully there's a photo attached.
Many thanks for all that you do to educate and entertain (a.k.a. motivate) home gardeners. All the best to you, Sassy Susan and your families.
Judy in Kenmore
Sarah Winfield, manager of surgical services at Olympic Medical Center, was presented with the Patriot Award at the Board of Commissioners meeting on Nov. 2.
The Patriot Award is presented by the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) – an office of the Department of Defense – and recognizes a supervisor who supports a Service member.
Winfield was nominated by former OMC employee Solomon Jeancharles, Petty Officer First Class in the U.S. Navy Reserve.
“I’m honored to be part of an organization that actively supports the commitment of our service members and military,” Winfield said. “The recognition that I received should really extend to the whole Surgical Services team. When Solomon was deployed to go out on the Mercy Ship, during the height of COVID, we all joined together to send him off, stay connected as we were able and to welcome him home. It truly was an honor.”
The award was especially meaningful for Winfield, as she has a son-in-law in the U.S. Air Force. Winfield has worked for OMC for nearly seven years.
In his nomination of Winfield, Jeancharles wrote, in part, “I cannot be any more grateful for her support, her understanding, and the respect shown by the whole staff for my service to this country.”
Phil Sanders, Washington State Chair of the ESGR, presented Winfield with the award.
According to the ESGR website, “The Patriot Award reflects the efforts made to support citizen warriors through a wide-range of measures including flexible schedules, time off prior to and after deployment, caring for families, and granting leaves of absence if needed.”
Jamestown S’Klallam Tribal Chairman Ron Allen says the tribe will be joining efforts to challenge a decision by the State Department of Natural Resources to end steelhead net pen farming in the state. The Cooke Aquaculture company filed an appeal earlier this week on Wednesday in Thurston County Superior Court to overturn DNR’s decision to end net pen farming on state owned aquatic lands, saying the announcement by state Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz violated the company’s due process and was politically motivated. Allen says the Jamestown tribe will be filing its own challenge – similar to Cooke’s challenge.
He told KSQM shortly after Franz’s announcement last month to shut down the industry her actions were not scientifically sound.
“It’s based on politics and not science. It’s unfortunate that she’s making a decision to terminate an industry that’s been successful for 50 years in Puget Sound.”
He says her decision came even after other agencies concluded net pen farming was safe.
“In our judgment the state has made a decision that it is an acceptable industry and then NOAA, Fish and Wildlife and the Department of Ecology have all said that it is a safe, environmentally industry.”
Allen told the Peninsula Daily News that Franz did not consult with the tribe before announcing her decision. He says “There’s a formal process of consulting with the tribe about a decision that would affect our interest, and she knew what our interest was.” He notes that the tribe entered into a formal agreement with Cooke Aquaculture in 2019 to raise female steelhead trout in a net pen facility in Port Angeles Harbor – a project now with an uncertain future. He says their complaint will be asking for clarification on how the DNR decision impacts their tribal rights.
Dash Air Shuttle, the company preparing to soon start up commercial passenger air service from Port Angeles to SeaTac says it plans to provide an update on a start date in the next few weeks. Dash Air President Clint Ostler told the Peninsula Daily News he plans to make an announcement at the January 11 Port Angeles Chamber of Commerce luncheon.
The start of air service has been put on hold until after the federal Department of Transportation finishes an investigation into complaints filed by Kenmore Air alleging Dash was conducting unfair and deceptive business practices. Dash had originally planned to begin operations in August. Ostler says “We haven’t heard anything from DOT yet, but our attorney thinks this is good news and we need to move forward. We’re just getting everything ready to move as soon as we can,” he says.
Meanwhile, Dash Air posted on Facebook four days ago, “In preparation for takeoff, we’ve been practicing the van operation between the main terminal at Seattle-Tacoma Airport and Signature Flight Support. We’re looking forward to seeing you onboard early next year.”
The Port of Port Angeles has agreed to lease office space to Dash at Fairchild International Airport for $167 a month, a space that would typically cost $525 a month. The port voted to waive the initial cost of the lease as well as the $15 landing fee until August of 2024 to allow Dash to get established, according to the Peninsula Daily News.
Residents across the state of Washington now have an additional way to receive a few seconds of warning before earthquake shaking arrives, giving time to drop, cover and hold. A new earthquake warning app called MyShake has been made available to Washington residents.
It was originally launched in 2019 to send alerts to California and Oregon residents.
The MyShake app was created by seismologist and engineers in California and funded by the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services. The Washington State Emergency Management Division has been working with California’s Emergency Services to ensure the MyShake app has additional protective action information for tsunamis before it was rolled out in Washington state.
MyShake can be downloaded for free through the Apple or Google Play app stores.
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