Tug a landmark that shouldn’t go to a landfill
The Enchantress rests in Fidalgo Bay, just east of Anacortes. She sits in 7 to 14 feet of water covered in a crust of barnacles and marine life, home to a family of otters and perch for a pair of nesting eagles.

The state Department of Ecology deems her a hazard to the bay on trumped up and unsubstantiated charges while turning a blind eye to more pressing problems. Their costly, counterproductive and disrespectful destruction of this World War II tugboat was put on hold in February to allow S.O.S. time to: 1) Become a 501-C, 2) Come up with a plan to raise, haul out and restore the boat, and 3) Have all the funding in hand to do it. They gave us six months to accomplish all of this.

On Sept. 4 Ecology goes before the Port of Anacortes to ask that they sign a contract to tear up this tug and turn her from historic habitat into 300 tons of landfill. S.O.S. believes this is a terrible waste of an important landmark and of public funds.

We would like Ecology to delay their plan and put the Enchantress at the end, not the start, of the Fidalgo Bay cleanup project. This would allow approximately two years to develop and implement a better and less expensive approach.

As the only visible shipwreck in northern Puget Sound, this picturesque old tugboat is constantly photographed and much beloved by locals and tourists alike. She deserves better than to be treated like garbage. If you agree, come to the port meeting and say so. Help! Save Our Shipwreck!
Bill Mitchell
Anacortes

Reusable bags are available, so let’s use them
Now that many people realize how dangerous plastic bags are to the environment, it is encouraging that many of our local stores are selling inexpensive cloth bags that can be reused many times.

I contacted six of our local, high-volume stores about selling reusable shopping bags.

Both of our hardware stores have reusable bags for $1. They have also located the bags right by the check-out stands to help customers think about this option. Great!

Both of our large grocery stores sell reusable bags. One sells the $1 bags and also locates them by the check-out stands. The other grocery sells more expensive bags. Unfortunately this store hides them in the tea section.

One of our chain drug stores also carries the reusable bags and has them located by the check-out stand.

A wonderful surprise was that clerks at these stores tell me there is such a big demand for these bags that they have trouble keeping them in stock. People are really trying to decrease our impact on the environment.

Hopefully our city will consider adopting an ordinance that will reduce the number of plastic bags in our community. These bags stay in landfills for years and many of them get into our waters and kill animals.

We’ve all heard of marine mammals eating the plastic bags thinking they are jellyfish and then dying. The bags get wrapped around marine animals, killing them. The plastic bags are 10 percent of the debris that wash up on the U.S. coastline. I can’t believe the number of bags.

Let’s all change to these reusable cloth bags to make Anacortes a better place.
Martha Hall
Anacortes

Collapsing hillside hurting neighbor who needs help
I have been an Anacortes resident for more than 18 years and have been following the Morand issue. I’m sure Mr. Morand is a nice person, but the fact is his actions and inactions are jeopardizing the properties of his neighbors.

Soil erosion as a result of Mr. Morand’s actions has caused the undermining of Anaco Beach Road, the destruction of Mr. Sonnenberg’s property and threatens the seawalls of adjoining properties. If Anaco Beach Road collapses due to his activities, we will have only one paved road out of Skyline.

I am disappointed that the process has not allowed Mr. Sonnenberg, the party most harmed by Morand’s actions, to speak at recent City Council meetings when the Morand issue was discussed.

I am sure that if the mayor or council members were in Mr. Sonnenberg’s position with a hillside collapsing onto their property, this matter would have been settled long ago.

I urge the mayor and City Council to act promptly to save Mr. Sonnenberg’s house.
John Leone
Anacortes

Backyard habitat milestone isn’t the end of the effort
On a between-rainy-days sunny Saturday, Aug. 23, 100 -125 people came out for a wonderful celebration commemorating that Fidalgo Island/Anacortes has been designated as a Community Wildlife Habitat by the National Wildlife Federation. We are the fourth community in the state and the 26th in the country to earn that distinction.  

We heard brief talks on how our wildlife habitat project started and how the Camano Island Habitat project inspired us. The Fidalgo Wildlife Habitat volunteers were introduced and given Conservation Awards by Kristi Carpenter of the Skagit Conservation District. We listened to music by Frank Orr, Jean Bailey and David Jackson. Town Crier Richard Riddell shouted out Mayor Dean Maxwell’s proclamation, followed by the presentation of the community certificate by Anne Bikle of the National Wildlife Federation and Chris Anderson of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Donna Schram and Heidi Nichols of the Skagit Valley Habitat Group and Laura Harvell-Spehar of the Edmonds group talked about how the habitat project is spreading. It was great fun.

Thank you to all who attended and to everyone who made the event possible — the dedicated volunteers who serve on the steering group and the many people who have certified their yards, attended our educational events, and participated in community habitat projects. The support of the community has been inspirational.

This is not the end of our wildlife habitat project. Fidalgo Backyard Wildlife Habitat will continue to encourage folks to certify their yards, businesses, church and school grounds as wildlife habitats, to be involved in community habitat projects, to sponsor educational events such as our annual yard tour, to have information displays, to put out the monthly e-mail newsletter and to promote certification of neighborhoods.

You have various options to get information about the wildlife habitat project: the display in the 800 section of the library, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Web site ... google wdfw/backyard, National Wildlife Federation Web site ... google nwf/backyard.

I invite you to be involved in the coming years as we continue to foster a community living in harmony with nature.
Rich Bergner
Fidalgo Backyard Wildlife Habitat