Letters to the editor

Fire commission – We are ruled by laws, not opinion

Well, Ted, I guess you are going to have to find another hot topic on the island to fill your headlines and editorial pages. The action that the fire commissioners took Jan. 11 should put this particular controversy to bed. Don’t get me wrong; this is not an admonition of your work. Quite the contrary. Your involvement with this was crucial in bringing the public up to date on the details of a very complex issue.

This began, for me, as an issue of my serving as fire commissioner while remaining an EMT, as I had promised during the election. What resulted was a far more important issue...that being process and integrity and how we must all remain cognizant and vigilant of our elected officials. These particular officials — John, Duff and Harvey — I believe are men with the public good as their primary purpose. I also believe that this particular circumstance they got caught up in is a very complex issue, one in which they were unfamiliar with the law and, in fact, were given misinformation by more than one state bureaucrat who, as it turned out, did not know the law.

What I have learned from this is that the law is often mistaken for, “This is how we have always done it,” and that the law is very different from “my opinion.” We are, thank God, a country governed by laws. Not opinion, not public perspective, and not a bureaucrat’s opinion. The laws may not always be right as things in our society change. In that case, there are other laws that allow us a vehicle for change. Our forefathers were brilliant men and women. John Adams would have been proud of the citizens of Orcas Island on Friday.

Law triumphed over opinion on Friday. This was neither a capricious nor an arbitrary act that the board took. A board member that took the time to understand the law once the relevant RCWs were placed before him decided this action. I commend Mr. Olsan for his ability to comprehend the law so quickly, as he had just returned from an extended trip to New Zealand. Commissioner Olsan opened his ears on Friday; his heart and mind followed.

What may have appeared to some as an act of stubbornness on my part in not accepting the commission’s ruling of Dec. 3 (not allowing a volunteer to serve as a commissioner) was simply a need to take the time to investigate the law and reflect on what was best for my family and the community.

My family and I are honored to be part of this community. Suzanne and I are truly grateful to those of you who came to the 8 a.m. meeting Friday and spoke with such eloquence and passion on my behalf. I intend to continue to dedicate myself to work as an EMT while bringing that same dedication and energy to the board of Fire Commissioners.

Bob Phalan, Eastsound

Misconceptions – Grange, fire department, etc.

As this is the age of self-responsibility and empowerment, and also the age of climate change, as well as global corporate take-over, I would like to address some important local misconceptions: 1) Whoever (was it you?) credited Doug Bechtel, the thespian director of OPALCO, with saving the Grange, or implying so, is wrong, or at least curiously myopic and biased. I enjoy Mr. Bechtel’s work on our local stages, and anyone plucky enough to direct plays has got my enthusiastic support from the get-go! However, it was a small but hardy band of struggling local rural families who saved the Orcas Grange from self-extinction early this summer. I myself paid your newspaper week after week for the urgently needed membership drive and ads for the Great Ideas and Info Exchange that breathed life back into our withering connection to the relaxed, affordable, sociable good-ol’-days of our beloved Orcas Island (July 1, 2001).

2) If there is any conflict of interest in the District 2 Fire Department, that would be ours, (and there certainly is!) then one salient point is that two out of three fire commissioners are real estate agents, (and our Commissioner John Evans is a volunteer!), aggressively selling tax-parcels as house sites. Tax-parcels really should be left as the rural farm fields and forests, historic homes and boarding houses, and island ecological habitat (watersheds, ridgelines, shorelines, forests and wetlands), that they really are.

Dorothy A. Mudd, Eastsound

Cambodian baby – The White House wasn’t involved

I would like to let you know that your article of Jan. 9, 2002, Zoerbs’ baby is safely home...,” contained some inaccurate facts.

The White House was not involved in the decision to grant humanitarian parole to the 13 orphans, as announced on Dec. 21, 2001. This decision to parole was made solely by INS Commissioner James Ziglar. The Commissioner also made the decision on his own to suspend further orphan petition processing in Cambodia due to extensive irregularities in the adoption process there.

Also, the adoptive parents were never told by the U.S. government that they would not be allowed to adopt their babies. The adoption process was handled between the families and the Cambodian government. Prior to Dec. 21, 2001, the parents had only received Notices of Intent to Deny (NOID) the visas that would allow them to immigrate the Cambodian orphans to the U.S. INS was awaiting responses to the NOIDs when the decision was made to parole the orphans into the U.S.

Bill Strassberger, INS Public Affairs Officer

Editor’s Note: One of the fathers in the 20/20 show interpreted a remark from the State Department to mean that the babies were not adoptable. However, this was never official policy. As for the report the White House granted the humanitarian parole, that was reported on the Internet, and many of the parents believe it to be true.

Angels – Donor gave us a new weather station

Angels abound on Orcas! The Orcas Island School District would like to say Thank You! to the anonymous donor who gave us a wonderful new weather station. We plan to set it up in the middle school. It will keep all our students singing in the rain for years to come. We greatly appreciate the generosity of this community.

Hilary Canty, Elementary School Office Manager

Library Fair – Seeks fresh ideas

The 46th annual Friends of the Orcas Library Fair will be held in August 2002. We are having an open “idea” meeting at the library on Tuesday, Jan. 22, from 3 to 5 p.m. We are inviting everyone who might want to offer an opinion on changes they might like to see in the 2002 fair. Share thoughts on improvements or classic things to be retained. For instance, would you like the “Beer Garden” to be a sushi bar, or a chili parlor, or keep the familiar friendly atmosphere we have? Come to the meeting and share your ideas with us.

I want to stress that you will not be committing yourself to working on the fair unless you want to. We just think it is time to shake things up a bit and want your idea.

We have a great roster of chairmen in place already, but are putting this letter in the paper to catch newcomers to the island, or people who have never been asked to participate who might like to do so. Please call me if you have any questions at 376-3224, or fax 376-2800. Thanks.

Barbara Wheeler, Library Fair Chair 2002

Mail your letters to The Sounder, P.O. Box 758, North Beach Road, Eastsound, WA 98245. Fax your letters to The Sounder at (360) 376-4501, or send by email.

• email
• letter
• print
• follow