Getting out in the community

Last weekend was more than full in La Conner: Friday the girls basketball teams were home against Anacortes, the Library was shaking the branches of its tiny trees raising money for the new building and a roomful of locals landed in the social hall of the Methodist Church to discuss the “plane truths” of the coming 36 Growler jets expansion at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island.

Saturday was even fuller, starting with La Conner Rotary’s Santa Breakfast of pancakes and photos and ending with Santa getting help from the town’s kids to light the Christmas tree on Gilkey Square.

As joyous as Saturday’s events were, the equally energetic Friday night gatherings to support building the new library and discuss stopping the jets’ expansion is where citizens of the community really shined.

Applaud your neighbors who time and again have reached into their pockets and jammed the Library Foundation’s cookie jar full of checks for a new library building. Alas, even if 10 times the 70 people packed into Rebecca Strong’s The LUX and made record bids in purchasing tiny trees and paintings, their heavy lifting to get a library built will be years in the making if local and state governments, corporations and tribes don’t make significant contributions.

Being all-in means helping the area’s institutions understand the future benefits their significant investments in La Conner’s library will bring to them and everyone in the western Skagit Valley. Only very large checks from them will get the new building built soon.

The 80 folks invited into Reverend Marcella Baker’s church are equally concerned about the region’s future. Southwest Fidalgo Island resident Tony Harrah led the organizing for the showing of “Plane Truths,” a 33 minute documentary on the repercussions the addition of 36 Growler jets and the resulting tens of thousands of additional flights will bring to our corner of the Salish Sea.

Saying that a long term environmental disaster is in the making with this expansion is more than a reference to wildlife in Olympic National Park and orcas and marine life in the Sound. Human health is threatened. While a jet crash into a subdivision or school will be the most immediately tragic accident, the effects of jet noise at 130 decibels to our hearing and our mental health will be immense, in the short and long term. Whether farmers, students or tourists, our physical, mental and emotional health will be shaken.

The tourists can, and will, leave early. Some residents will move, whether it is out of flight paths or out of the region. They might not depart before their property values suffer.

Fuel dumping and even over-rich fuel burning is a human health concern as well as a pollution problem. Petroleum chemicals in the environment will wreak short and long-term damage.

The single consistent immediate action advocated Friday was writing Rep. Rick Larsen, whose northwest Washington district includes Island and Skagit counties. Your letter or call to him will get his attention. This is what is called a hot button issue for him and his staff.

Press that button. Contact Rep. Rick Larsen: 2113 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515, (202) 225-2605.