THIS WEEK’S NORTH Olympic Peninsula business meetings (all are open to the public):
Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce — Weekly luncheon meetings are held Mondays at noon.
This Monday only, the meeting will be held in the second-floor meeting room of The Landing mall (the chamber’s luncheons are normally held at the Red Lion Hotel’s upstairs meeting room).
The program will be a preview of Clallam County and Port Angeles city budgets for 2014 presented by Jim Jones, the county administrator, and city Chief Financial Officer Byron Olson.
Smugglers Landing restaurant will cater Monday’s lunch at The Landing; lunch cost is $13 per person.
Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce — Weekly luncheon meetings are held Mondays at noon at the Port Townsend Elks Lodge, 555 Otto St.
This Monday’s program will be a forum for candidates running for the Jefferson Healthcare hospital (officially known as Jefferson Public Hospital District No. 2) board of commissioners.
The candidates are Matt Ready and Mark Mauney for Position 3, and Jill Buhler and Savannah Hensel for Position 5. Nikki Hay is unopposed for Position 2 commissioner.
Lunch at $8 will be catered by Subway.
The meeting sponsor will be Peninsula Credit Union.
Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce — Luncheon meetings are held the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month at noon at SunLand Golf & Country Club, 109 Hilltop Drive, Sequim.
This Tuesday’s speaker will be Olympic Medical Center CEO Eric Lewis on local health care, including the upcoming Affordable Care Act, known familiarly as “Obamacare.”
The meeting sponsor is The UPS Store.
Luncheon costs $15 per person; coffee or tea is $3.
Luncheon reservations are requested and can be made until noon Monday by phoning the chamber at 360-683-6197 or emailing info@sequimchamber.com.
Forks Chamber of Commerce — Luncheon meetings are Wednesdays at noon at JT’s Sweet Stuffs, 80 N. Forks Ave.
This Wednesday’s featured speaker will be Sherrill Fouts, director of the Forks Timber Museum.
Lunch costs $8; a bowl of soup, $4.75; and a cup of soup, $4. The entree is taco tiki chicken.
Port Angeles Business Association — Breakfast meetings are Tuesdays at 7:30 a.m. at Joshua’s Restaurant, 113 DelGuzzi Drive, Port Angeles.
This Tuesday’s speaker will be Steve Gray, Clallam County deputy community development director, on the county’s shoreline management plan.
There is a $3 minimum charge by Joshua’s for those who do not order breakfast.
________
Naval shipyard in Bremerton hiring trainees
BREMERTON — Puget Sound Naval Shipyard is hiring 1,073 helper trainees in all trades.
The official job announcement will be posted at www.usajobs.gov Monday morning (Sept. 23) and will be taken down Wednesday night (Sept. 25), shipyard spokeswoman Mary Ann Mascianica said. It will list requirements and how to apply.
Starting pay is $15.11 an hour.
Mascianica said the new helpers will boost the shipyard’s workforce to more than 11,500.
Major projects are underway on the aircraft carrier John C. Stennis, ballistic missile submarine USS Kentucky and fast attack submarines USS Jimmy Carter and USS Connecticut.
Helpers work full time at the shipyard and can attend classes on their own time to get ahead.
About 85 percent of incoming apprentices have been helpers.
________
Emotional eating
PORT ANGELES — KIC Coaching’s Kristin Halberg will present a “Stop Emotional Eating” lecture at the Olympic Peninsula YMCA, 302 S. Francis St., at 6 p.m. Wednesday (Sept. 25).
Halberg’s free talk will “outline how and why the ‘Stop Emotional Eating’ and stress-reduction programs work, introduce a couple of the tools and techniques you’ll learn in the full program, explain ‘coherence’ and how bringing your heart into a ‘coherent’ state will increase your vitality and well-being.”
To learn more about how to transform stress and improve weight loss, a free 30-day coherence challenge starts Oct. 1.
For more information, visit www.kiccoaching.com/index.html, phone 425-343-2374 or email kristin@kiccoaching.com.
________
Fresh recipe demo
PORT ANGELES — Oven Spoonful chef Dave Long will demonstrate how to prepare warm spinach salad and tomato soup at the Port Angeles Farmers Market this coming Saturday (Sept. 28).
Long will use fresh, local ingredients available at the farmers market in his recipes.
“Dave’s demonstrations are always a lot of fun, informative and delicious,” said market manager Cynthia Warne.
“These demonstrations are a great way to learn simple recipes using fresh, wholesome ingredients that are quick and easy to prepare.”
Saturday’s demonstration begins at 11 a.m. and runs until 1 p.m., and is free and open to the public.
The Port Angeles Farmers Market is held at The Gateway center, corner of Front and Lincoln streets, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Saturday.
For more information, phone Warne at 360-460-0361.
________
Insurance company awarded for volunteer service with Dungeness Valley free clinic
SEQUIM — Castell Insurance has been honored with a Safeco Insurance Make More Happen Award for volunteer service with the Dungeness Valley Health & Wellness Clinic.
The award includes a $2,000 grant for the clinic on behalf of Castell Insurance.
“It’s partnering with agents like this that makes it happen,” said Trish Nelson, territory manager for Safeco Insurance.
“As a locally owned business, we are committed to supporting our community with our time, energy and resources,” said broker Phil Castell.
Castell Insurance was selected for the award after James Castell submitted a photo and application showing the agency’s support of the Dungeness Valley Health & Wellness Clinic’s annual Fun Walk.
“I figured it was a long shot to be selected as a winner, but there’s no harm in trying, and it worked out for the best,” said James Castell.
“We’re very grateful, especially when it comes from someone in our own community, it means so much,” said
Jean Stratton, executive director of the Dungeness Valley Health & Wellness Clinic.
The clinic is a nonprofit organization locally known as the Sequim Free Clinic.
Volunteer physicians, nurses and support staff provide basic urgent care to uninsured and underinsured community members.
The annual Fun Walk and Health Fair is an event to increase awareness of the clinic and its services as well as raise funds to continue its efforts in the community.
________
Jazzercise expands
PORT ANGELES — Jazzercise franchise owner/certified instructor Anne Amar has expanded her business on North Olympic Peninsula.
Amar just celebrated her first year of teaching Jazzercise classes Aspire Academy of Expressive Arts, located on Harrison Road in Sequim.
She is acquiring the Port Angeles Jazzercise facility, 128 E. Fifth St., from owner Robyn Caynak and will operate both locations as Peninsula Jazzercise beginning Oct. 1.
Caynak and her associate, Andrea Piper, will continue in Port Angeles as instructors.
A 60-minute Jazzercise class offers a fusion of jazz dance, resistance training, Pilates, yoga, kickboxing and Latin-style movements set to a variety of popular music.
To celebrate the new location, there will be an open house in Port Angeles from Monday through Saturday.
New students can try a class for free, and there will be prize drawings in each class.
The free class trial also will be available that week at the Sequim location.
Visit www.jazzercise. com for class times, phone 360-797-3622 or email peninsulajazzercise@gmail.com for more information.
To cap off the week, Amar will give a free Jazzercise class/demonstration at the Dungeness River Festival at Railroad Bridge Park in Sequim at 12:30 p.m. Saturday (Sept. 28).
________
Art classes to be offered in Sequim
SEQUIM — In addition to hosting garden parties May through September, The Cutting Garden at 303 Dahlia Llama Lane is expanding into use as an art center from October through April.
Catherine Mix, Irene Loghry, Pat Starr and Martha Rudersdorf are artist-teachers who have won awards for their artwork and praise for their teaching fun-filled classes.
Classes are limited to 12 students, which allows for individual attention.
Weekly classes will include watercolor, pastel and clothed-model figure drawing.
Two-day workshops are focused on watercolor and pastel painting.
Students can find a catalog and online registration at www.cutting garden.com/events.html.
Teachers who would like to offer classes can phone Mix at 360-670-8671 or email catherine@cuttinggarden.com.
________
Owner named to state panel on insurance
SEQUIM — Phil Castell, owner of Castell Insurance, has been appointed to the state Life & Disability Agent/Broker Advisory Committee by state Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler.
This appointment is his second two-year term on the advisory committee, with Castell serving as one of four at-large members.
Castell Insurance has been a local industry leader in preparing for the changes coming to health care with the federal Affordable Care Act.
Its agents have been to multiple training seminars and obtained certifications to help people understand health care reform.
Castell Insurance is located at 426 E. Washington St.
For more information, phone 360-683-9284 or visit castellinsurance.com
________
PT florist will be competing for design title
PORT TOWNSEND —Floral designer Sharrai Morgan of Holly’s Fine Flowers is among the contestants participating in the U.S. floral industry’s longest-running annual, live, national floral design competition.
Morgan, a member of the American Institute of Floral Designers, was slated to compete Saturday (Sept. 21) in the 46th annual Sylvia Cup Design Competition at the Society of American Florists’ 129th annual convention in Phoenix.
The grand-prize winner receives $3,000, first runner-up wins $500 and second runner-up will be awarded $250.
“It is an honor and a thrill to compete in this prestigious national contest,” Morgan said.
The Sylvia Cup Design Competition is similar to Food Network’s “Iron Chef.”Contestants get two hours, the same amount of flowers and supplies, and a surprise task.
A panel of experts will evaluate the contestants’ work for originality, color and mechanics.
For more information about the Sylvia Cup, visit www.aboutflowers.com/competitions.
________
New leader named
SEQUIM — Supriya Jayadev is the new executive director of Mosaic, a nonprofit serving the adult developmentally disabled population of Clallam County.
Jayadev holds a Bachelor of Science in biology from San Jose State University and a doctorate in cell biology from Duke University.
Jayadev’s career started with a position at the National Institute of Environment Health Sciences and continued in pharmaceutical research and development.
Through her 11-year tenure in the pharmaceutical industry, Jayadev transitioned from a “bench scientist” to a leader within the research and development organization.
Jayadev left the pharmaceutical industry and moved with her family to the Olympic Peninsula in July 2011.
In Clallam County, she has been involved with the Parent Service Organization of Five Acre School, serving briefly as treasurer for that organization.
Mosaic board members stated that “after a two- year vacancy in the executive director position, they are thrilled to welcome Dr. Jayadev to Mosaic.”
For more information, visit www.clallammosaic.org, phone 360-681-8642 or email info@clallam mosaic.org.
________
Fall gardening group offers locals $1,500
The Master Gardener Foundation of Jefferson County is offering up to $1,500 to gardening groups and educators who have a project that adheres to environmentally sustainable principles and benefits the community.
Examples are community gardens, school gardens, a garden at the Dove House, Rothschild house or school projects that engage youths in sustainable gardening.
Applications are due Oct. 1 and can be found at the website JCMGF.org or by contacting Shirley Williams at 360-301-4087 or gswilli@earthlink.net.
________
E-book service
PORT ANGELES – A new e-book service has been launched by the North Olympic Library System.
NOLS has signed an agreement with the 3M Cloud Library that initially will add 400 new e-book titles for all ages to the NOLS collection.
Among the titles for adults will be The Cuckoo’s Calling, by Robert Galbraith (aka J.K. Rowling); Bad Monkey, by Carl Hiaasen; and The Boys in the Boat, by Daniel James Brown.
With a valid NOLS library card and the 3M Cloud Library app (downloadable from the NOLS website at www.nols.org), books can be downloaded to computers, e-readers, tablets or smartphones.
Unlike the library’s existing e-book service, the Washington Anytime Library, 3M Cloud Library titles are not shared with other libraries in a consortium; thus, titles are more readily available to local readers.
All three of NOLS’s e-book services — 3M Cloud Library, Washington Anytime Library and One Click audiobooks — are accessible from the library’s website at www.nols.org under “E-BOOKS.”
A valid NOLS library card is needed before downloading books. Visit a local branch to obtain a free card. Photo identification and proof of address are required.
For more information about the 3M Cloud Library, email Lorrie Kovell at lkovell@nols.org or phone 360-417-8500, ext. 7750.
For questions regarding downloading e-books from the library, email eHelp@nols.org.
________
Medical marijuana ruling by state’s high court
OLYMPIA — The state Supreme Court says defendants busted for marijuana can argue they needed it for medical reasons, even if they failed to follow the requirements of the state’s medical marijuana law.
In a 5-4 opinion Thursday, the justices said voters did not get rid of the “medical necessity defense” when they passed the medical pot law in 1998.
The law allows people to use marijuana for medical conditions, and it allows them to have far more of the drug than the ounce adults are allowed to possess under Washington’s recreational marijuana law, approved last year.
People are required to obtain an authorization to use marijuana from an appropriate health care professional before they can avail themselves of the medical law.
Justice Barbara Madsen wrote for the majority that people who fail to follow the medical law can nevertheless argue in court that they needed the marijuana for medical reasons, but in order to do so, they must also show that complying with the medical marijuana law was not a viable alternative for them.
________
More cash for state
OLYMPIA — Washington state government has been raising more revenue than initially expected as the economy continues to improve, officials said last week.
The Economic and Revenue Forecast Council projected that tax collections over the next two years will be more than $200 million greater than expected when state lawmakers adjourned at the end of June.
Total revenue over that time period is now forecast to be nearly $33 billion — 8.7 percent more than the previous two-year budget period.
Leading budget negotiators from both parties said the revenue boost is relatively small.
Democratic Rep. Ross Hunter said it doesn’t create any major opportunities, especially since there are problems that need to be resolved and ongoing litigation that could impact the budget.
“This doesn’t drive a lot of behavioral change,” Hunter said.
State projections still aren’t accounting for any money that could be raised from looming introduction of taxed marijuana sales.
Hunter said lawmakers have no idea how much money that sector could raise for the state, and he doesn’t want to include it in budget projections until the state can actually count the dollars.
The extra money in Wednesday’s forecast could help lawmakers as they search for ways to put more dollars into the public education system.
Still, forecasters say there are a number of economic risks, including congressional gridlock, rising mortgage rates and possible economic turmoil in Europe.
“We do feel that there are substantial downside risks,” said Dr. Steve Lerch, executive director of the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council.
