Radio Connects Us All

On Thursday, May 21, City Manager John Mauro talked with Tim Quackenbush, host of KPTZ’s Discovery Road mainly about how the City of Port Townsend will be implementing Gov. Inslee’s phased Safe Start Plan over the upcoming Memorial Day weekend and beyond.

Make a note for next Thursday: John Mauro will again be taking questions via live phone calls from 10-10:30am. Call 360-215-7270 to ask your question. And, enjoy the ride!

On Tuesday, May 19, KPTZ aired a joint COVID-19 emergency situation meeting. Jefferson County Commissioners, Port Commissioners, County Board of Health, and Port Townsend City Council convened together to address the option of applying for a variance for Jefferson County to move sooner to the governor’s Safe Start Phase-2 reopening activities. Our elected leaders reviewed public comments and heard from representatives of some of the different sectors.  

In addition to hearing from Dr. Tom Locke of Jefferson County Public Health Officer, featured speakers included Brian Kuh of EDC Team Jefferson, Arlene Alen of the Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce, Debbie Williams and Frank Redmon of the North Hood Canal Chamber of Commerce, and Dave Robison of the Fort Worden Public Development Authority. This meeting was preparatory to the BOCC vote this Friday on whether to accept Public Health recommendations for the Washington Safe Start, Phase 2 options.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Jefferson Community Foundation President and CEO Siobhan Canty is a regular guest of Chris Bricker on Morning on the Salish, at 10:30am Tuesdays. Each week Siobhan shares updates on JCF’s work to strengthen the landscape of services available to people and the COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund, which has raised more than $436,279 to date. If you belong to a nonprofit working to help those in need as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, grant applications will be accepted on a weekly rolling basis for emergency funding. Go to JCFgives.org to learn more. 

On today’s Morning on the Salish, Lynn Sorensen, RN, BSN and Chris Bricker expressed how they feel constantly on overload – or have a case of COVID or Pandemic Fatigue from the constant news and media barrage about the pandemic. They agreed how important it is to take a periodic sanity break in order to not burn out. Turning off the relentless news and going for a walk, or working in your garden can help create balance in this upside down world.

We are still in the early stages of this pandemic according to Dr Tom Locke and now is not the time to let our guard down or relax the prescribed mitigation practices of hand washing, social distancing and wearing masks.

Their conversation concluded by reading the poem Pandemic written by Rev. Lynn Ungar.