NEWS BRIEFS — Jefferson Healthcare commissioners to meet today in Port Townsend . . . and other items

PORT TOWNSEND — The Jefferson Healthcare hospital commissioners will review Jefferson County health care services data at a workshop today.

The workshop is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the home health conference room at 2500 W. Sims Way, Suite 300 on the third floor.

Commissioners will discuss community needs.

Asthma and inhaler use forum topics

SEQUIM — Dr. Kip Tulin will discuss the use of inhalers at a free WOW! Working on Wellness Forum at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 9.

The presentation, “Wheezin’ and Squeezin’: Asthma and Inhaler Use,” will be at Trinity United Methodist Church, 100 N. Blake Ave.

Tulin invites community members to “come and learn if you are using your inhaler properly so you can get the most bang for your buck . . . some pointers on effective use of inhalers for asthma and COPD.”

Tulin volunteers as a physician and is the medical director of the Dungeness Valley Health & Wellness Center.

He retired after 30 years as a pediatrician in central California and moved to Sequim in 2010.

His main interest in medical care is the promotion of a healthy, balanced lifestyle.

WOW! Working on Wellness is a health education program of Dungeness Valley Health & Wellness Clinic — Sequim’s free clinic, which provides basic urgent care and chronic health care services to uninsured community members.

The basic urgent care clinic is open to patients Monday and Thursday evenings beginning at 5 p.m.

Individuals interested in supporting the clinic can phone 360-582-0218.

Marine life classes

PORT ANGELES — The Feiro Marine Life Center will present an eight-week program on Pacific Northwest marine life starting Tuesday.

Classes meet Tuesday evenings at the center on City Pier from 6 to 8 p.m.

There is a $50 registration fee, and scholarships are available.

The program includes opportunities for hands-on learning including participation in plankton tows and beach seines, as well as a field trip to explore a local tidepool.

This training meets the requirements for participants to volunteer at the center.

Volunteer opportunities may include working with visitors to the center as a naturalist, helping with school groups, sharing computer skills with office staff, helping with exhibits and displays or cleaning and caring for the exhibits.

For more information or to register, phone the center at 360-417-6254 or visit www.feiromarinelifecenter.org.

Jefferson County scholarships

High school seniors from Jefferson County schools and college students who graduated from Jefferson County high schools are invited to apply for scholarships sponsored through the Jefferson County Community Foundation.

The following scholarship applications are online at www.WashBoard.org, a website for Washington state students seeking financial support for their college educations. Specific requirements and deadlines are included there once registered on the site.

■ Jefferson County Technical Trades Endowed Scholarship: One scholarship of $1,000 for a candidate seeking a career in technical trades (i.e., marine, pulp and paper, woodworking, electrical or refrigeration).

■ Barbara Marseille Endowed Arts Scholarship: One scholarship of $1,000 for a high school senior, undergraduate or graduate student studying fine arts, architecture or the performing arts.

■ Port Townsend Friends of the Arts Scholarship: One scholarship of $2,500 for a graduating senior and one scholarship of $2,500 for a student who has completed at least one year of college; for candidates who demonstrate an aptitude for and are considering a career in fine arts or the performing arts

■ Deb Johnson Memorial Endowed Scholarship: Two scholarships, $500 each, to students who have good academic records, evidence of community service and are active in sports.

Committees of local citizens review applications for each scholarship fund and then make recommendations to the foundation board of directors for approval.

For more information, phone 360-385-1729 or email Carla@jccfgives.org.

Navy League recognizes Coast Guard Enlisted Person of Quarter

PORT ANGELES — The Navy League of the United States Bremerton-Olympic Peninsula Council recently recognized Coast Guard Air Station/Sector Field Office Port Angeles 2013 fourth-quarter Enlisted Person of the Quarter, Yeoman 2nd Class Valerie Higgins.

At the ceremony, Navy Leaguer Ken Sweeney presented Higgins with a soaring eagle statuette engraved with her name following introduction by the station’s commanding officer, Keith McTigue, and command master chief, Lawrence “LP” Moroles.

“Higgins is an absolute professional that can [be] entrusted to consistently provide dedicated service while performing yeoman duties, Junior Officer of the Day duties and mentoring young Coast Guard members,” Moroles said.

Award nominees reflect the Coast Guard’s core values of honor, respect and devotion to duty. Only those enlisted personnel who demonstrate sustained exceptional standards of proficiency and conduct, and whose military appearance and bearing are consistently impeccable, are nominated.

For more information about the league and local chapters, visit www.bremolympicnlus.wordpress.com.

Crystal Apple award given in recognition

SEQUIM — Dick Hughes recently was awarded the Sequim Education Foundation Crystal Apple Award in recognition of nine years of service to the foundation.

The SEF Crystal Apple Award is reserved to recognize those individuals making outstanding contributions to its mission.

“I have known Dick Hughes since he joined the Sequim Education Foundation and became board president in 2005,” said past board member and fellow award recipient Patsene Dashiell.

“He revved our board into a higher gear almost at once. Dick’s enthusiasm for getting things done and pushing the board to be at our most excellent has resulted in the board starting numerous programs to inspire students.”

Vice President Elna Kawal presented Hughes with the award.

“Dick has been the driving force behind making SEF what it is today,” she said. “He has spent countless hours expanding SEF’s programs, volunteering at every event and making SEF known throughout Sequim. He will definitely be missed.”

For more information, visit www.sequimed.org.

Law competition

PORT ANGELES — Nora Gay, a member of the Port Angeles High School class of 2005, recently competed at the National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition hosted by Pace University School of Law in White Plains, N.Y.

Gay is a second-year law student at the University of Texas at Austin law school.

The UT Law students team composed of Gay; Lindsay Dofelmier, the Energy Center’s summer 2013 intern; and David Fisher, the inaugural Energy Center Fellow; were the first-ever from UT Law to compete in the competition, which drew nearly 80 teams from law schools around the country.

The team represented fictional parties Jacques Bonhomme, Shifty Maleau and the State of Progress in a Clean Water Act case, which required them to prepare arguments for each party on issues ranging the scope of the act’s citizen suit provision to the determination of point sources and navigable waters.

They were awarded three “Best Oralist” awards between them at the competition.

Seeking teen poets for ‘Slam’

PORT ANGELES — The deadline is 5 p.m. Tuesday for students in grades 9 through 12 ready to enter the North Olympic Library System’s 2014 High School Poetry Slam, a free National Poetry Month event.

Students are invited to submit up to three poems, with a total length of up to 60 lines; if selected, the poet must perform his or her work for the judges at the Slam at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 10, at the Port Angeles Library.

Entry forms are available at the library system website, www.NOLS.org, and from youth services librarian Jennifer Knight at the Port Angeles Library, 2210 S. Peabody St. Knight can also be reached at jknight@NOLS.org.

Prizes for Poetry Slam winners include an iPod Shuffle, a tablet computer and a $50 gift certificate to a local bookstore.

For more about the poetry competition and other free activities at the library, visit NOLS.org and click on Events or phone 360-417-8500.

‘Find Your Voice’

PORT ANGELES — The search is on for writers — students and other members of the local community — to submit their original plays to Peninsula College’s Find Your Voice New Play Festival.

The deadline to submit a play of no more than 10 minutes in length is 5 p.m. Wednesday.

The festival welcomes any genre. It requires, however, that three distinct items appear in either the title, the stage directions or the dialogue. This year the items are “space,” “green” and “sloth.”

For complete details on how to submit a script, contact Peninsula College drama professor Lara Starcevich at laras@pencol.edu or 360-417-6478.

Selected plays will be produced at Peninsula College’s Little Theater on June 6 and 7.

Puppet theater

PORT ANGELES — Jefferson Elementary School’s Tears of Joy Puppet Theater will stage “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” in the school gym, 218 E. 12th St., at 6:30 tonight (Friday, March 21).

Doors open at 6 p.m.

Tickets are $3 per person or $10 per family. Concessions will be available.

For more information, phone 360-457-4231, email jeffersonwolvespto@gmail.com or find the event on Facebook.

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