Courthouse Annex Building, Room #B102, 1 N.E. 6th St. Coupeville, WA SAVE THE WONN ROAD PUBLIC BEACH ACCESS Why you should be concerned: Wonn Road has been a public access to the water for over 100 years. In 1944, when Greenbank Beach was plotted, the road was dedicated to the public forever. In 2008, the Montgomerys, owners of the lots on either side of the road, built a stone wall across the road, claiming the land at the end of the road was theirs. In 2013, the County sued the Montgomerys to remove the wall. Island Beach Access (IBA), an all volunteer, grassroots organization, joined the lawsuit soon after. In response to the lawsuit, the Montgomerys have provided no evidence, documents or surveys that show they own the land between the wall and the tidelands. On Friday, January 8, the County revealed that they are considering a settlement with the Montgomerys. The settlement was negotiated between the County and the Montgomerys, without the knowledge or participation of IBA. The settlement would close the Wonn Road access at the wall for the rest of the Montgomerys' lives. Those in favor of settling say that the access will return to the County after both Montgomerys are dead, perhaps 30 or more years from now. The County Commissioners will be deciding whether or not to accept this settlement at their meeting on Tuesday, January 26. THERE IS STILL TIME TO MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD: Sign the Request to the Commissioners. Write or call your Commissioner. Let your friends and neighbors know about this egregious taking of public lands. From Commissioner Helen Price-Johnson: PROPOSAL DOCUMENTS CHANGED This message is to give you the latest information on the important public beach access issue before the Commissioners on Tuesday. There have been changes made to a settlement offer. Here is a link to the new document being considered. Public beach access is a high priority for me. My position has been consistent since 2008. I promised to fight to preserve Wonn Road for all citizens. I don't support this proposal because I think it conflicts with state law, sets a terrible precedent, and more. Montgomerys' settlement offer drops alternative properties At Tuesday's Board of County Commissioners' meeting at 11 am, Prosecutor Greg Banks will be back to present his edited version of a settlement agreement on the beach access at Wonn Road. In exchange for $50,000 for beach park improvements, a beachfront lot at Ledgewood Beach and a release of public records requests, the Montgomerys gain title to the 40 foot strip of uplands and tidelands next to their vacation home for the rest of their lives, or if sometime during the next 10 years a majority of the Island County Commissioners accept an alternative property in exchange. Also in the agreement is a "gag order" of sorts restricting any employee or elected official from "directly or indirectly" assisting in a future legal action. The four listed properties in the previous version of the proposal have been deleted. There are criteria suggested in an attached resolution, but it is important to note that the document is not legally binding to a future decision. This all began in 2008 when the Montgomerys built a stone wall across the end of Wonn Rd. cutting off historic public access to the beach near Greenbank Farm, claiming it was their private property. In 2009 the (then) Board of Commissioners voted to defend the public's right to beach access at a county road end terminating at the shoreline as per state law (RCW 36.87.130). A group of local citizens organized as Island County Beach Access (IBA) joined the County in the effort and began doing extensive research in support of the County's action. The Prosecutor's office finally filed the lawsuit in 2013, adding tidelands access to the suit, and IBA was given permission by the court to join in the action. IBA also argued that historic prescriptive easement should preserve public use at this beach property, even if the quiet title action is unsuccessful. In August 2014, Montgomery, IBA, the Prosecutor and Commissioner Jill Johnson met with a mediator to seek a resolution to the dispute. The Prosecutor negotiated a settlement agreement without IBA's involvement, and against my objection. When it was revealed, IBA urged the Commissioners to delay action until a thorough legal analysis can be done on the offer. The Prosecutor refused this request and so a restraining order has been requested from the Court. That hearing is scheduled for Friday, January 29, 2016. It is my belief that this proposed settlement conflicts with the state law noted above, does not resolve the issue of prescriptive easement, restricts First Amendment rights of those covered by the "No Assistance" section (2.g) and exposes the County to future litigation. The proposal is on the Tuesday, January 26 agenda, scheduled for 11 am public comment. Many constituents have already expressed concern about the proposal. Emails and phone calls, even an online petition of over 500 signatures opposing the settlement show the overwhelming public support for having the court decide this issue. Your input is welcome too. Island County Commissioner Helen Price Johnson (360) 679-7353 [email protected] www.islandcounty.net

I depend on watching Bernie2016TV to stay informed about and involved in the Bernie Sanders Democratic Presidential campaign. Our democracy is harmed when grass-roots political movements are censored, and our constitutional rights to freedom of speech and assembly are violated.

The Democratic Party is perpetrating a great injustice on the American people — That by limiting the debates as they have, the electorate has been deprived of ample opportunity to evaluate the candidates.

A climate disaster is unfolding in Aliso Canyon near Los Angeles. A monstrous methane leak from a SoCal Gas Co. facility that was first detected in October has now spilled more than 84,000 metric tons of methane into our atmosphere, the equivalent of burning 800 million gallons of gasoline. Methane is more than 80 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide over two decades. It is the largest methane leak in U.S. history. More than 2,500 residents of the adjacent Porter Ranch community have been forced from their homes, and two schools have shut down. Children and other residents were exposed to high levels of benzene, and have suffered headaches, nausea, and nosebleeds. While Governor Brown has declared a state of emergency, and crews are working to stop the outpouring, stronger action is needed now to make sure this disaster is never repeated. Please sign the petition to ask Governor Brown to use his authority to shut down and decommission the Aliso Canyon Natural Gas Storage Facility.

Our communities have waited too long for relief and a fix to this country's immigration laws. After fighting for comprehensive immigration reform for years, President Obama heeded our calls when Congress refused to act by signing an Executive Action that would give more than 5 million undocumented immigrants relief from deportation. This is just the first step to real relief and reform; however, conservative state leaders have banded together to unjustly prevent President Obama's action from being implemented with an injunction filed in court. Now, those states' lawsuit have reached the Supreme Court of the United States. Sign our petition now to show that you stand with us, our families , all those eligible for relief, and President Obama; and to call for the Supreme Court to affirm the constitutionality of President Obama's Executive Action on immigration!

The training and behavior of police has grown more and more lethal and militarized over the past few decades. Too many citizens have been shot and killed by police who were trained to shoot to kill instead of using non-lethal methods to control a situation.

In the fourth Democratic presidential debate, Bernie Sanders said that "less than 10 percent" of the Pentagon budget "actually goes into fighting ISIS and international terrorism." [1] The purported fact-checking site PolitiFact rated Sanders' statement as "mostly false," [2] based on the claim that the share of Pentagon spending devoted to fighting international terrorism is a fundamentally unknowable fact. [3] But PolitiFact could have talked to experts on Pentagon spending who say Sanders' statement was "mostly true." Carl Conetta, director of the Project on Defense Alternatives [4], wrote: "MOSTLY TRUE. Website PolitiFact says 'mostly false,' but they're wrong. Got buffaloed by Pentagon flaks. I say 'mostly true' because less than 15% would be 'certainly true'... which is to say a nation with a $90 billion defense budget devoted entirely to counter-terrorism operations could surely accomplish what we have - although they'd do it differently. Another way to look at this would be to ask, How much could we cut the budget if our terrorism concerns receded to the level of 1990? DoD would almost surely say, 'less than 10 percent.'" [5] Urge PolitiFact to correct the record by signing our petition. References: 1. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/01/17/the-4th-democratic-debate-transcript-annotated-who-said-what-and-what-it-meant/ 2. http://www.PolitiFact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/jan/18/bernie-s/less-10-percent-defense-budget-fighting-terrorism-/ 3. http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/34491-PolitiFact-sanders-is-wrong-about-pentagon-spending-because-understanding-the-pentagon-budget-is-too-hard 4. http://www.ciponline.org/about-us/experts-staff/carl-conetta 5. https://www.facebook.com/carl.conetta/posts/10205601655948597

My son Jason is a sophomore at SHS and is one of the older students in 10th grade. Jason and many other sophomores are involved in multiple after school activities. We don't think it's fair that these students that have their driver's licenses are denied the ability to drive to school. There are plenty of parking spaces available that no one is using.

A behind-­‐the-­‐scenes effort to terminate Dr. Charles Lester, Executive Director of the California Coastal Commission has just come to light. The attack on Executive Director Lester is an attack on the Coastal Act itself. This power grab is an attempt to undermine the Coastal Program, gain control over an independent staff, and make the Commission more developer-friendly without any public accountability or transparency. Ironically, this comes at a time when Director Lester has gained major accomplishments for the protection of the CA coast.

The Christie administration is trying to commercialize Liberty State Park by letting private developers build on open parkland. It would be like putting a hotel in Central Park. Liberty State Park and its views of the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan are priceless – and today it can be enjoyed by everyone at no cost. All that would change if Governor Christie hands over the park to developers: there’d be less open space, more traffic, and fewer places for families to visit for free. Developing Liberty State Park is part of the Christie administration’s bigger plan to charge fees to access our natural and historical treasures to offset growing budget shortfalls. If we don’t stop this attack on Liberty State Park, we could see hotels, conference centers, and more traffic where our open spaces across the state used to be.

Immigrants who serve or served in the United State Armed Forces deserve to be U.S. Nationals! Many former Army, Navy, Marine, Air Force Veterans who were Green Card holders have been deported or are currently in the process of being deported. Help them fight the immigration system to be rightfully called U.S. Nationals.

I work in Yellowstone National Park, where we had over 4 million visitors in 2015 and expect the numbers to rise in 2016 with the park's 100th anniversary. The majority of these visitors come to view the geysers and the wildlife - particularly to witness a grey wolf and/or a grizzly bear. WY needs to protect its wildlife - it is one of the main industries in this state, and it is part of what makes WY spectacular to visit. Local law enforcement is crucial for this protection. It would be wildly irresponsible for the legislature to put arguments with the federal government ahead of its responsibility to protect invaluable state resources.