Refusing to address issues and his proposals with much specificity - Dino Rossi running state government like a business might very well look like the Huffpo article below.

 

It's the sort of "conservative" logic that fits right n with Rossi's rhetoric about correcting how citizens' taxes might be wasted. It also coincides with Rossi's historical voting patterns on social programs and services in the State Legislature.

 

It's one thing to represent a single legislative district according to a promised political philosophy.

 

It's another to   propose sitting in the governor's chair and pretending the affluence and political preference of Sammamish is typical in the rest of the state.

 

That sort of affluence moves down to WIllapa Bay when it retires and wants cheaper housing and a view.

 

Of course the non-affluent and not-so-gullible Willapa Bay and Pacific County voter just might be smarter than Dino about the proper place of government and economic politics.

From HUFFPO:

Under Sarah Palin's administration, Wasilla cut funds

that had previously paid for the medical exams and began charging victims or their health insurers the $500 to $1200 fees.

 

Although Palin spokeswoman Maria Comella wrote USA Today earlier this week that the GOP vice presidential nominee

 

"does not believe, nor has she ever believed, that rape victims should have to pay for an evidence-gathering test...To suggest otherwise is a deliberate misrepresentation of her commitment to supporting victims and bringing violent criminals to justice,"  

 

Palin, as mayor, fired police chief Irl Stambaugh and replaced him with Charlie Fannon, who with Palin's knowledge, slashed the budget for the exams and began charging the city's victims of sexual assault.

 

The city budget documents demonstrate Palin read and signed off on the new budget.

 

A year later, alarmed Alaska lawmakers passed legislation outlawing the practice.

Posted SwanDeer Project at 8:22 AM PDT

Updated: Sunday, 5 October 2008 8:47 AM PDT

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Let me get this straight about Dino Rossi's campaign ads, public declarations, debating and talking points...

Dino wants me to believe that the state's budget shortfall is Christine Gregoire's fault and due to totally inept financial management and governing priorities?

Dino may deny having ever made such a declaration, but the the strongest, most direct and most deliberate implication of his campaign strategy is precisely that notion.

As an independent voter, I find that extremely insulting. I find in his statements the presumption that I and my neighbors are too stupid and gullible to challenge his declarations. It is apparent that Rossi is trying to drive home a message he somehow believes he can totally control.

I remember a long time ago when my brother-in-law drove over to Vancouver from Portland for a barbecue at my place and got pulled over by the police for a traffic violation. When asked by the policeman for my address, not trusting the cop, my brother-in-law (who's native tongue is not English) responded,

"I don't know the address. All I know is that I drive down this road and turn right at the big rock."

Is that not what candidate Rossi is asking of Washington Voters?

Isn't he asking us to move on down this election road but also to turn Right at the big rock of misinformation and deception Rossi considers fair and honest campaigning?

Case in point is the idea that the state is in budget trouble because of Christine Gregoire's failings and not because of economic breakdown on the state and national level driven by 8 years of unwise Republican governance.

Why am I repeatedly assaulted by misleading statements and false promises from Rossi - whose party is indisputably responsible for this most massive economic crash since the Great Depression?

Dino Rossi may not admit it but he - not just his party - is on the wrong side of the change discussion. Rossi confirmed it by hypocritically trying to coat-tail Obama's acceptance speech in Denver immediately afterward because there was no other way for him to encounter a large group of interested voters.

"I - like Barack Obama - represent change," Rossi implied.

Railing against a sitting state governor for whose job he and his party lack justifiable credentials, Rossi tried to snake oil voters with totally transparent hypocrisy.

I am insulted because Rossi thinks that I and my neighbors are completely oblivious to the realities and causes of our own economic plight.

I am insulted because Rossi thinks that I and my neighbors are unaware of where things were 8 years ago when we bought houses, employment was better and small businesses on Willapa Bay were much better off.

I and my neighbors know this is so because of Rossi's desperate attempt to not only try to blame Democrats, but even to go so far as to appear somehow distanced or even disconnected from his own party, it's presidential incumbent and current presidential candidate.

I wonder if candidate Rossi personally knows any specific poor people or unemployed workers in this state. If so, why does he not speak in specifics about the plight of the poor and sprinkle his speaking with annectdotal references?

Certainly his principal unprincipled financial base, the BIAW does not know or care about unemployed workers or poor families.

If Rossi and the BIAW really cared about the poor and the unemployed would their economic policies be so rigidly founded on cheap labor, opposition to higher wages and employer-sponsored health coverage improvements?

This absence of personal connection to individual families, workers, the elderly, the poor, to those without health coverage, as well as those with incomes restricted by disability is both glaring and tragic.

The economic philosophy of Rossi, the BIAW and so-called "conservative" Republican party stands abjectly and nakedly as highly inappropriate in a society based on personal income and consumption.

These people talk about supply and demand; about how "an unfettered and totally capitalistically free market in and of itself will solve a society's social problems." They speak of a political economic viewpoint that has revealed itself in headline news all over the world as totally discredited.

Rossi, the BIAW and his party today ask Americans to agree to total welfare bail out of irresponsible big business ...

- not families
- not individuals
not small business persons,
not states, counties or smaller municipalities

... but corporations who bear totally responsibility and accountability for their own deregulated economic policies and decisions.

Regardless of whether or not this candidate is actually acquainted on an intimate basis with any poor person,
any poor family,
any unemployed individual,
any uninsured,
elderly or low-income voter in this state,
Dino Rossi has already demonstrated and proven that he is the least qualified, most out of touch and ideologically misguided candidate to govern in Washington State in this election.

Cross Posted on my Daily Kos Diary.

Tags: Dino Rossi, Christine Gregoire, Washington State, governor, campaign, election

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Posted SwanDeer Project at 2:29 PM PDT

Updated: Sunday, 21 September 2008 2:53 PM PDT

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Hi Everyone,

Just a heads up on what I have been working on. I hadn't heard back from Grays Harbor Transit and was able to finally speak with Mark Carlin, Manager today. I found out that once upon a time in a land far far away there was a Grays Harbor Transit bus that actually came to Tokeland. It was supported by Pacific County monetarily but was dropped to lack of ridership. This is prior to the fabulous Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe Wellness Center opening its doors.

My point in writing today is to equip those of you that can attend Pacific County's Transit Board meeting on July 10, 2008 with information to present that could perhaps restore or at least get another trial run established. The meeting is at 10:30 at the Pacific County Transit Maintenance Facility 2750 Pacific Way Seaview, WA 98644. If any clients could be there it would be helpful as well.

Re-establishing this mode of transportation could bring business, health and quality of life not only to those who need our services (medical, dental, mental health, chemical dependency and others) but there are folks here that could benefit from getting a bus to WorkSource and utilizing some of there excellent back to work or work enhancing programs, Grays Harbor College for Ged and higher education opportunities, getting to the grocery stores, other medical resources. I have clients who need to participate in sober support meetings and/or supportive activities that could benefit from this transportation.

Engaging clients in these types of activities are on its way if not already a mandate from the state for chemical dependency providers and yet we can't motivate our clients in and of ourselves, we need each other in order to make this work.

I apologize if this seems like I am preaching to the choir but I am going to be gone for this meeting and really wish I could be there to have my shot at the soap box but I will go to Young Life camp with 130 15-18 years old kids from Grays Harbor and help provide them with hope for their lives so maybe they'll never need my services. I will turn this wheel over to you our community's awesome providers!

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you,

Coleen

Coleen Chapin-Glasscock BA, CDP

Chemical Dependency Program Manager

Shoalwater Bay Wellness Clinic

Posted SwanDeer Project at 12:01 AM PDT

Updated: Friday, 4 July 2008 8:37 AM PDT

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Oregon & Washington roadwork

Oregon
This week, the Oregon Department of Transportation has announced that work will continue on U.S. Highway 101 on the Youngs Bay Bridge. The project consists of repairing structural members, upgrading electrical and mechanical components and painting the bridge over Youngs Bay. The scheduled work includes installation of a new walkway at Piers 2 and 3 as well as coating the bridge steel at the lift span.

Youngs Bay Bridge closures to all traffic are expected to occur between Sunday night and Friday morning from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. A detour route will be provided along U.S. Highway 101 Business and West Marine Drive over the Old Young's Bay Bridge and the Lewis and Clark Bridge. Expect minor delays.

Also this week, a project consisting of replacing and upgrading traffic signals on U.S. Highway 101 at its intersection with First, Third and Fourth streets in Tillamook and Harbor Street in Warrenton. The scheduled work includes installation of drilled shaft footings for the traffic signal poles. Traffic will be controlled with flaggers. Expect minor delays.

For information, call 5-1-1 or go to (www.tripcheck.com)

Washington
ILWACO, Wash. - The Washington State Department of Transportation will be working on multiple slide removals on State Route 6 this week. Temporary lane shifts on can be expected in both directions as crews repair the slides. Maintenance work will be done between the Raymond East Bridge and the Willapa River Bridge.

Work will continue on shoreline erosion repairs on SR 401 at milepost 3.70. There will be daytime single-lane closures with flaggers. Advanced warning signs will be in place alerting motorists of the closures ahead. The work is dry-weather dependent.

Shoreline erosion repairs between mileposts 0.40 and 2.74 on U.S. Highway 101 will also continue this week. There will be daytime single-lane and shoulder closures with flaggers, and advanced warning signs will be in place alerting motorists of the closures ahead. Work is dry-weather dependent.

For information, contact Denys Tak at (800) 545-1393.

The paving project on U.S. Highway 101 from the Astoria Bridge to SR 4 and SR 401 is substantially complete. Additional traffic impacts may occur for the next few weeks as crews complete final project items.

Posted SwanDeer Project at 6:58 AM PST

Updated: Friday, 29 February 2008 8:40 AM PST

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Picked up the mail yesterday which included a letter from my local agent who writes my auto and homeowners insurance.

Although it is on a letter bearing his personal agency letterhead, he didn't write the letter and he didn't sign it. His insurance company wrote it and no doubt told him what to say and how to say it. Among other things it says,

"Washington's trial lawyers sponsored a self-serving bill in the state Legislature this year that will significantly increase frivolous lawsuits ..."

According to Dictionary.com,
frivolous lawsuits would be
"characterized by lack of seriousness or sense: as in frivolous conduct."

They would be lawsuits that are
"self-indulgently carefree; unconcerned about or lacking any serious purpose."

These would be lawsuits filed by self-serving trial lawyers on behalf of persons
"given to trifling or undue levity: as in a frivolous, empty-headed person."

Oh! And these would be lawsuits
"of little or no weight, worth, or importance; not worthy of serious notice: as in a frivolous suggestion."

Now given the seriousness of the situation (I assume it to be serious enough that the State Legislature might have been on to somebody) do we not need to learn more about these notorious and rampant frivolous lawsuits?

Or are we to believe that the wise folks behind "Reject 67" consider themselves absolutely smarter than 60% of the State Legislature as well as 100% of those of us who voted them into office?

My auto/homeowner insurance agent has passed on to me a threat from his casualty company. And I quote,  

Passage of R-67 will increase insurance rates for every person and business that purchases insurance in Washington

Would I be remiss in not taking that as a threat from my insurance company? If R-67 passes, my rates will go up?

So I should vote against R-67 or else?

I also received a flyer from "Consumers Against Higher Insurance Rates" telling me R-67 is bad for consumers. Among other things, the initiative would make it more difficult for insurance companies to do their preferred thing: focus on reasons for saying no by investigating and denying "suspicious" claims without risking a lawsuit.

The flyer declares further that insurance companies would have to spend more money fighting arguable claims thereby having to raise our rates.

"Arguable claims?"

Consumers Against Higher Insurance Rates seem to be assuming that there is no such thing as an arguable claim; that ALL insurers have nothing but the highest good of the consumers in mind and would never deny a claim arbitrarily nor place their own self-interest above that of their customers.

Right?

Isn't this like saying insurance companies should not be accountable for their self-serving decisions; that if held accountable, they will raise their rates and ask consumers to pay for the consequences of greedy, self-serving and possibly frivolous decisions?

Isn't that economic extortion?

The current remedies now touted by the money opposing R-67 insist that we don't need the initiative because "Washington's consumer protection laws already are among the strongest in the nation."

These laws consist of the dissatisfied entering the world of the state bureaucracy to file complaints with the Insurance Commissioner as well as filing claims under the Consumer Protection Act.

No doubt the Anti's insist that the time to process such claims and complaints would be very short and not harm specific Washington citizens in urgent need.

At least that's the assurance Anti R-67ers want us to believe.

Well, if those processes and procedures are so dang effective, why are we even being asked to vote on a ballot initiative in the first place?

It seems that in this venue, SOMEBODY is being frivolous about the genuine concerns driving R-67.

I read my current Voter's Pamphlet this morning to see who is talking about frivolous lawsuits.

The Explanatory Statement doesn't mention frivolous lawsuits.

The Statement For Referendum Measure 67 doesn't mention frivolous lawsuits.

The Statement Against Referendum Measure 67 mentions frivolous lawsuits eight times, three in the first paragraph.

Shades of Mr. Luntz of "death tax" fame! Do we need to learn more about framing, catch phrases and seriously misstated talking points? Might there be a tomfoolery brainwashing attempt on out-of-touch old codgers who live on Willapa Bay?

So which team ya gonna yell for?

According to the Voters Pamphlet, the all-stars playing on the R-67'ers team include:

• the Washington State legislature (who certain political and economic lobbyists consider to be the ultimate frivolists.)

   

• Among the more frivolous characters on this legislature team are the Chairs of the House Financial Services Consumer Protection Committee and House Environmental Health Committee.

   

• The President of SEIU 1199 (that's a Union whose primary goal is advocacy and protection of citizens, especially working class citizens). Now that's a frivolous pre-occupation eh?

   

• The frivolous Government Relations Director of Northwest Paralyzed Veterans. Paralyzed Veterans? Well don't that beat all? Who would expect frivolity from paralyzed veterans? How COULD they be "given to trifling or undue levity: as in a frivolous, empty-headed person.?"

   

• The President of the Washington State Council of Firefighters. Aw hell, everybody knows that firefighters don't do anything all day but be frivolous.

   

• The Director of the Alliance for Retired Americans. What a frivolous joke. Retired Americans are so loaded with cash, any attempt to cut their own medical costs is certainly frivolous .

   

The all-stars for the "Reject 67'ers" include:

• The President of the Washington State Medical Association whose website says that

  The WSMA is a private, non-profit membership organization for physicians. We are funded by physician membership dues, not by the state. The WSMA works on behalf of our members and their patients to provide educational seminars, physician advocacy efforts, lobbying and other services.

  Nothing frivolous about who they're worried about. Of course I have to admit that there's nothing frivolous at all in that paragraph about worrying about patients and patients' ability to pay.

   

• The President of the Washington Association of Business whose website says that

  AWB speaks for Washington businesses
  With a diverse membership consisting of businesses large and small, urban and rural, and from all parts of the state, the Association of Washington Business lobbies in Olympia for public policy that encourages economic growth, boosts productivity and creates jobs.

  Nothing frivolous about who they're worried about. Of course, I have to admit, that there's nothing frivolous at all in that paragraph about worrying about workers' ability to pay for insurance.

   

• The President of the Professional Insurance Agents of Washington (PIA Washington/Alaska) whose website asks:

  "How is it going to look when those coming to the state either pay rates that are outrageously high or cannot get insurance at all because this law has chased away all of the insurance companies?"

  Well, I used to be a professional insurance agent (six years) and in order to stay in business I needed my insurance company that stayed in business by investigating suspicious claims, looked for ways to deny and kept me employed. Nothin frivolous about that.

   

• Washington State Director, National Federation of Independent Business whose website says

  While big labor can just take money from union dues to fund political operations, NFIB depends on the generosity of its members to make voluntary contributions in financial support of the organization's political operations.With those contributions, NFIB's SAFE Trust PAC supports proven business candidates who have committed to keeping small business in business.

  Now, I of course want to see small business stay in business. In fact, I want to become a small business owner. But what I don't understand is how small businesses paying constantly rising insurance rates can prove that consumer frivolity is the reason for callous and irresponsible insurer behavior in looking for ways to say no.

   

• Executive Director, Liability Reform Coalition whose website says they're

  "Committed to Ending Lawsuit Abuse."

  Get a load of LRC's Board of Directors:
  Attorney At Law (Not a self-interested trial lawyer I'll bet)
  Weyerhaeuser Company Vice President of Government Affairs and Corporate Contributions (Contributions? To whom?)
  Mr. -------, State Farm Insurance, Sacramento, CA 95814 (Sacramento? California? I wonder what non-frivolous interest he has in Washington State Initiatives)
  Leadership Council, National Federation of Independent Business
  Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital
  Group Health Cooperative
  LMN Architects
  Washington State Medical Association
  Avista Corporation Director, Government Relations
  Retired physician (who ran for State Representative as a Republican in 2004 and said that "After 30 years in medicine, ------ knows that we must free patients and doctors from the cost of frivolous lawsuits." Secretary of State Voters Guide
  SAFECO Corporation
  Liability Reform Coalition

  Not a patient advocate in the lot. Lot's of big players but nobody advocating for the little guys.

   

• President, Washington Construction Industry Council. Couldn't find WCIC via google but I did find this same individual in the voter's pamphlet listed as the Executive Director of the American Council of Engineering Companies of Washington whose website has an icon - Reject R-67 - that when clicked takes you to those guys who sent me the flyer: Consumers Against Higher Insurance Rates.

  Click on the link to see the long list of businesses and associations worried about how much insurance you pay. The list of individuals might include someone you know.

   

Apparently R-67 would not he good for business and  what would not be good for business would not be good for Washington right?

Well, at sixty one, I'm fighting off retirement cause my wife and I need the medical. Under the current system in which insurers have constantly raised the rates regardless of frivolity, I've been notified that when I retire, my monthly insurance premium payment will be $893.

That's about the size of my mortgage payment which , when combined with that same non-frivolous insurance premium that presumably protects my wife's and my health, will probably effectively suck up the entirety of my employment-based retirement.

There's of course Medicare about which I haven't changed my mind since February 16, 2006.

Course living on Willapa Bay I can find plenty of wood to burn for heat and light so reasonably I can pay insurance premiums without worrying about utility bills. (But those who don't appreciate my writing will have their day when I can no longer write online, eh?)

Since I won't need the car I can't afford to insure and won't have any way to drive to the hospital for medical treatment, I might as well concede to the Anti-R 67er's, sell the house, sell the car and move to the streets of South Bend where the hospital is just up the hill.

Unless I'm too decrepit, I can walk up that hill myself rather than pay for the ambulance my insurance company won't cover.

How can I be so frivolous about all this?

It really isn't a matter of frivolity is it?
what would you do?

Leave things the way they are with insurers having unlimited ability to raise premiums based on lies about non-existent or a minimal number of frivolous lawsuits?

That sure as hell won't lower my insurance premiums will it?

It sure as hell is no guarantee - based on current insurer denial behavior (whether you've seen Sicko or not) - that any particular coverage I might need will be there in the true spirit of community-shared risk.

Personally, as a life-entrepreneur who earnestly desires to pay as I go and get what I pay for, I'd rather direct the extortion in the opposite direction and tell the insurers,

"You've denied one claim too many. You and your medical associations have used human pain as a weapon of extortion one time too many.

Now - in court if necessary - you'll have to explain yourselves and if you're no good at explanations, you'll pay."

If, as the silly flyer from Consumers Against Higher Insurance Rates warns, rates could increase as much as $205 a year for a typical Washington family, that would be $17.08 per month.

You know, I would gladly add that much to my retirement premium of $893 just to poke the lying insurers in the eye; to see them suffer - even just one time in court - a dose of wallet pain equal to what we live with.  

Posted SwanDeer Project at 6:54 AM PDT

Updated: Saturday, 20 October 2007 6:57 AM PDT

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Wow!

I only moved to Willapa Bay in 99. I've not heard these stories about the Chester Tavern and it's founder.

New York Times Travel Section 

Bites:  South Bend, Wash.

Chester Tavern

 

By MATT GROSS
Published: September 30, 2007

Consider the fried oyster. To snobs, it ranks far below oysters on the half shell, somewhere down the totem pole past oysters Rockefeller and oyster stew, the victim of a cooking technique fit only for bivalves of dubious provenance. Fried oysters play starring roles only in a po' boy, where the bread and remoulade further mask the flavor of mollusks that have had their unique molluskness cooked into oblivion.

Not so at the Chester Tavern. In this unprepossessing bar in South Bend (1005 West Robert Bush Drive, 360-875-5599), on Willapa Bay near the Washington coast, oysters are deep-fried with the kind of fanatical care you might expect in the self-proclaimed "oyster capital of the world." (One in six oysters consumed in the United States come from the bay, according to the local Chamber of Commerce.)

No overbattered blobs here. The three-inch oysters - selected by the graders at the Coast Oyster plant - get a mere dusting of cornmeal and are fried in clean, unfiltered vegetable oil at 350 degrees, hot enough to seal in the sublime juices.

The result is sweet like corn bread, briny like the sea, creamy as a raw oyster and greaseless enough for even the calorie-concerned to down a dozen. Seven dollars buys six oysters with French fries, and $3 more gets the perfect chaser, a Fish Tale organic amber ale.

For what may be the best fried oysters in the country, this is a bargain well worth the roughly two-hour drive from Seattle (or even a $318 round-trip flight from New York on JetBlue).

The genius behind the shell is Tim Sedgwick, who worked in the garment business in Seattle until 1994, when he bought the bar and began developing his oyster recipe. Oysters have since become the family business - Mr. Sedgwick's daughter Amy was nominated for a regional Emmy for her public-television documentary "Shucks: An Oyster Story."

Mr. Sedgwick is no monomaniac, however. Researching the history of the tavern, which dates from 1897, also occupies his time. A secret poker room once stood outside the building, he said, and big black-and-white photos over the pool tables show Oscar Chester, the original owner, who happened to be the town sheriff.

"He would go up into the hills and break up all of the moonshiners," Mr. Sedgwick said. "And he himself had the biggest still up in the mountains! He'd break them up, and they'd have to come down to the Chester and drink."

Of course, had Chester had Mr. Sedgwick's oyster recipe, those moonshiners would have come anyway.

Posted SwanDeer Project at 9:06 AM PDT

Updated: Saturday, 29 September 2007 4:13 PM PDT

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Worship a procedure at the expense of common sense and someone could get hurt. Where the rubber meets the road is where government must focus; not the endless meetings where bureaucrats argue about the wording on speed limit signs. 

 Woman missing for 8 days found alive in crashed car; red tape delayed search

The Associated Press

MAPLE VALLEY (Washington), Sep 28: During the eight days that Tanya Rider lay seriously injured in her crashed SUV, her husband was fighting red tape to get authorities to launch a search for her.

Rider, 33, was found alive but dehydrated at the bottom of a steep ravine on Thursday, more than a week after she failed to return home from work.

Authorities were able to detect the general location of her cellphone that morning, then searched along the highway she travelled from work in suburban Seattle to her Maple Valley home. They noticed some matted brush, and below it they found her smashed vehicle on its side, State Patrol spokesman Jeff Merrill said.

“She looks very pale, very dehydrated. She didn't have a lot of cuts but had difficulty breathing,” Merrill said.

Friday morning, Rider was in critical condition and fighting for her life at Harborview Medical Center, her husband, Tom Rider said. He said she was suffering from kidney failure and sores from lying in the same position for a week and that she could lose her leg.

“All I know is that she's here and she's alive, and that, in itself, is a miracle,” he told CNN. “She's alive after eight days. If God was going to take her, he would have taken her before that.”

Tanya Rider left work at a Fred Meyer grocery store in Bellevue on Sept. 19 but never made it home. When her husband couldn't reach her, he said, he called Bellevue police to report his wife missing.

Bellevue police took the report right away, but when they found video of Tanya Rider getting into her car after work, they told her husband the case was out of their jurisdiction and he should notify King County, he said.

Tom Rider said he tried that but ``the first operator I talked to on the first day I tried to report it flat denied to start a missing persons report because she didn't meet the criteria.”

“I basically hounded them until they started a case and then, of course, I was the first focal point, so I tried to get myself out of the way as quickly as possible. I let them search the house. I told them they didn't have to have a warrant for anything, just ask,” he said.

Thursday morning, they asked Tom Rider to sign for a search of phone records. The also asked him to take a polygraph test.

“By the time he was done explaining the polygraph test to me, the detective burst into the room with a cell phone map that had a circle on it,” he said. He said the detective started explaining the blip they had found and within minutes, news arrived that Tanya Rider had been found.

Her car had tumbled about six metres down a ravine and lay buried below heavy brush and blackberry bushes. Rescuers had to cut the roof off to get her out.

“I know there were delays (in finding her) because of red tape,” Tom Rider said.

Tanya Rider was still behind the wheel and pinned against the front end of the car, Merrill said. All the air bags had deployed, he said, but she couldn't escape because of her injuries and the crushed state of the SUV.

A King County Sheriff's spokesman expressed sympathy but said the agency followed standard procedure in the case.

“That's a terrible, terrible experience ... a heart-wrenching experience, and my heart goes out to him,” Deputy Rodney Chinnick said Friday.

“It's not that we didn't take him seriously,” Chinnick said. “We don't take every missing person report on adults. ... If we did, we'd be doing nothing but going after missing person reports.”

He said adults are entitled to privacy if they decide to do something out of the ordinary and that Rider's initial missing person report did not contain either of the two elements that would trigger an immediate search: evidence of foul play or unusual vulnerability such as age, mental condition or lack of critical medications.

“Not showing up at home is not illegal,” he said.

Posted SwanDeer Project at 7:37 AM PDT

Updated: Saturday, 29 September 2007 7:40 AM PDT

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Centralia Chronline.com

Willapa Hills Trail Will Benefit Many, Unify Communities

Hiking, walking, bicycling and riding horses are big-time leisure activities for folks in the Lewis County area.

The more trails and pathways there are to accommodate these past-times the better, what with increasing population and the increasing need for exercise for health and fitness. Chalk up a big coup for these wholesome outdoor activities for all age levels - the kickoff this week for impending construction of the Willapa Hills Trail between Chehalis and South Bend. It's a big deal and we commend all those who helped bring it about.

All levels of government - local, state and federal - are increasingly initiating and supporting public and private efforts to expand and link trails and pedestrian pathways in both rural and urban communities.

The 56-mile Willapa Hills recreation trail along the abandoned Burlington Northern Railroad line is an exciting example.

The project, which began in 1993 with the purchase by Washington State Parks Department of the line, has been funded by the state and federal governments to the tune of $1.4 million. It has taken a huge step forward with the first phase, the five-mile section between Chehalis and Adna, going out to bid. The work will include resurfacing the rail bed, building four wooden trestles to replace potentially dangerous existing ones, paving parking lots at trail heads in Chehalis and Adna, and paving another mile of trail.

A formal groundbreaking ceremony to launch the upcoming start of construction of the first phase was held Thursday at the trail's starting point near Chehalis. Among supporters and dignitaries attending were our 3rd District U.S. Rep. Brian Baird, D-Vancouver, and Lewis County Commissioner Ron Averill, R-Centralia, and Joe Taller, a member of the State Parks Commission.

Trails are a relatively inexpensive way to encourage public health, economic vitality and community involvement, Taller said. "Trails give opportunities for a healthy environment. People start exercising," he said.

Averill, from the local perspective, seconds those observations, believing the trail will be a plus for the Lewis County economy. "I'm pleased we'll have this in our backyard," he said. "I think it will bring people into the county ... And, we don't mind if they leave a little green behind."

Indeed not.

And Baird had good cause as well to be delighted with the start of the trail project. He was instrumental in obtaining nearly half the $1.4 million for the project in federal funds. That, plus the remaining $720,000 allocated by the state Legislature, will enable the project to begin years earlier than the 20 years or so anticipated when the state acquired the rail line.

A note of caution, however. As Averill observed, many property owners along the trail had initial apprehensions about it from a security standpoint, such as vandalism threats to their property. Apparently, many of those concerns have been addressed to their satisfaction.

The safety of those using such trails, their ongoing maintenance and the threat some might use them to vandalize pertain to lots of other public trails throughout our region, but the benefits outweigh the risks.

In any event, Taller noted that more communities are making trails a high priority because of their benefits. "We're beginning to see a network of trails, like a highway system developing," he said. "Eventually, you'll see all these trails link together. It's tremendous what's happening."

With its early start, we hope the entire Willapa Hills Trail project can be completed at least within the next decade, with some of it usable within the next few years.

Meantime, regarding linked trails, The Lewis County Community Trails group in June unveiled its plan for a comprehensive system of paved recreation trails to link Centralia and Chehalis and their respective trail systems, including proposals to expand those as well. The overall plan includes linking this system with the Willapa Hills Trail.

The public benefit of these trails will likely be immense.

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Willapa Magazine has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article.

Posted SwanDeer Project at 11:02 PM PDT

Updated: Sunday, 2 September 2007 6:52 PM PDT

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By Anne Radford - Daily World Writer

RAYMOND - For the next five days, Raymond's unofficial town song is "Happy Birthday."

After months of planning, the city's Centennial Celebration is here, and the whole town is ready to party. Some activities started today, but things really get rolling this weekend.

The celebration's "about camaraderie and learning historical information about our city," says Jeanne Jones, one of the centennial coordinators.

Mayor Bob Jungar predicts a full house all weekend - music to the ears of local businesses. In addition to the centennial, an All-School Reunion and the annual Willapa Harbor Festival are also on deck.

Celebrants may have a hard time fitting everything in this week - from sidewalk sales, vendor booths, a High School open house, food, entertainment, a parade and a big fireworks show.

Click here for A partial list of the activities:

click on images to find cool tourist stuff.

Posted SwanDeer Project at 9:23 PM PDT

Updated: Thursday, 2 August 2007 6:54 AM PDT

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By LARRY LANGE
P-I REPORTER  Saturday, July 14, 2007

Next week the first bridge in more than 20 years to charge drivers a toll in the state will open to traffic -- and it might not be the last one.

Dedication of the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge is likely to usher in a new era of tolled bridges and maybe even special high-occupancy-toll, or HOT, lanes that drivers could use to avoid the most crowded parts of highways, transportation experts say.

The state's gas tax, now 36 cents a gallon, isn't expected to pay the full costs of building and maintaining new highways, bridges or other transportation improvements, state transportation officials say, making contributions from tolls inevitable. And there are moves to impose tolls permanently to meet ongoing maintenance costs.

Historically, tolls stopped when the construction debt on a bridge was paid, but that also might be changing. The last tolls on a state bridge were taken off the Hood Canal Bridge in 1985, six years after tolls ended on the Evergreen Point Bridge on state Route 520.

The Narrows Bridge "is just the beginning," said Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island. "Any of your megaprojects will have a toll, a bridge or a major highway."

Posted SwanDeer Project at 6:09 AM PDT

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Willapa Hills Audubon Society Press Release 

Sky Time in Gray’s River and musings by Naturalist extraordinaire,

Robert Pyle

Tuesday, May 15, 2007, 7:00 PM

Longview Public Library, 1600 Louisiana, Longview

WHAS will partner with Lower Columbia College and The Longview Library to bring Robert Michael Pyle to Longview as a Northwest Voices author.

A professional writer since 1982, Dr. Pyle has published hundreds of papers, essays, stories, and poems, and been the recipient of multitudes of awards. He is also an expert lepidopterist, and a lifelong naturalist and conservationist.

Rural Southwest Washington is extraordinary and we will discover its hidden wonders as we hear thoughts and readings from Pyle’s newest book, “Sky Time in Gray’s River: Living for Keeps in a Forgotten Place.” It is always wonderful to hear this voice from our own Willapa Hills.

"Meet the Author" at 6:30 before Bob Pyle's program

Posted SwanDeer Project at 6:13 AM PDT

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From the Chinook Observer 

Huge highwayproject planned this summer
Traffic signal will be installed at dangerous Sandridge-US101 intersection

Observer staff report

SOUTH PACIFIC COUNTY - A new traffic signal at the dangerous intersection of U.S. Highway 101 and Sandridge Road is among many highway improvements slated for south Pacific County this summer.

There have been dozens of wrecks at this intersection over the years, and almost as many calls for safety enhancements.

The biggest traffic impacts of the $7.4 million project will result from the complete resurfacing of nearly 27 miles of U.S.101 from the Astoria Bridge, through Chinook and Ilwaco, and extending up around the bay to Johnson's Landing near Naselle, where the highway intersects with State Route 4.

In Ilwaco, the existing signal at the intersection of U.S. 101 and S.R. 100 will be replaced, and sidewalk ramps will be upgraded to Americans with Disabilities Act standards.

According to the Washington State Department of Transportation, just over 12 miles of S.R. 401 will also be resurfaced in Pacific County. Improvements to nearly five miles of pavement along S.R. 4 in Wahkiakum County will take place. Planned improvements include resurfacing the pavement, replacing guardrail and signs where needed.

"The pavement is beyond its useful life span and in need of repair. Deteriorating pavement is likely to crack and develop ruts, causing an unsafe driving surface for motorists," according to WSDOT.

Throughout the summer, motorists should expect single lane closures along U.S. 101, S.R. 4. There will be no lane closures during the following events: Sandsations - July 20 and 21; Kite Festival - Aug. 20 through Aug. 26; and Rod Run - Sept. 7 through Sept. 9. There will also be no lane closures during observed holidays or after noon on a day prior to an observed holiday.

A majority of construction will be completed by fall by Lakeside Industries, Inc. of Longview. However, work is weather dependent, so work may continue into 2008. Regular updates will be printed in the Chinook Observer and posted on WSDOT Southwest Region Weekly Travel Advisory Web page: (www.wsdot.wa.gov/Regions/SouthWest/Construction). The traveling public can also get the latest travel information by calling 511 from most phones.

Posted SwanDeer Project at 3:53 PM PDT

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Bad science condones the use of dangerous pesticides in the bay.  Many of us believe that spartina actually benefits our ecosystem.  And with rising seawaters our bay shoreline is going to need some protection against erosion.  Spartina like any marsh grass is a successful filtering agent for runoff.  The flats that spartina inhabits are rich in nutrients as the grass is itself.  Organic beds suffer the consequences of pesticide drift. The meeting is Tuesday at 7pm in South Bend at the Commissioners Meeting Room in the Annex across from Coast Oyster.

Washington Environmental Council recently sent out an environmental ‘concerns’ survey which contained much of the information that was given in the meeting on NO on LNG.  However, no question regarding LNG was in the survey.  We need to let them know that if they are serious about the environment, they should join the opposition to LNG.  Contact these folks and tell them how important this issue is to our community and the environment: 

Joan Crooks, Executive Director

Washington Environmental Council

615 2nd Avenue, Suite 380

Seattle, WA 98104

Tel  206-622-8103 or 206-622-8113

www.wecprotects.org

Our Commissioner, Diana Thompson, invites all of you to attend.  Get involved in the decisions impacting energy conservation and energy consumption in our community.  The schedule is first and third Tuesdays at 1:00 pm. The first Tuesday is at the PUD in Raymond and the 3rd Tuesday is at the PUD building in Long Beach (Sandridge Rd.). 

There will be an opening in the next election cycle for another progressive candidate to join Diana.  Get involved now.

Posted SwanDeer Project at 8:58 AM PDT

Updated: Monday, 23 April 2007 9:03 AM PDT

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Based on Fair Use law, the entire Longview Washington Daily News online  article is published here. 

Legislative session to end today

By Don Jenkins

Apr 21, 2007 - 11:51:32 pm PDT

 

OLYMPIA -- The 2007 Legislature wraps up its 105-day session today.

The Democratic-controlled Senate and House approved several major policies, including granting same-sex couples legal status, banning drivers from holding cell phones and requiring new power plants to limit their release of heat-trapping gases.


Here’s a quick summary of some of the issues lawmakers addressed:

Columbia Theatre: Lawmakers approved diverting about $400,000 from the state general fund for the next 20 to 25 years to pay back the bonds on a $12.6 million expansion of the Columbia Theatre in Longview. The state contribution will share about half the load with support from the city and private donors. The capital budget included another $750,000 for the theater. 

 

Horse arena: Private investors from Lewis and Thurston counties won support for a $60 million to $80 million, 7,000-seat horse arena along Interstate 5 near Winlock. The public will pitch in sales taxes to buy land and extend utilities to the undeveloped property. The theater and horse arena projects are in the same bill, which Gov. Chris Gregoire has yet to sign.

School levies: Late in the session, Senate Democrats got the final Republican vote they needed to ask voters to amend the state constitution and allow school levies to pass by 50 percent plus one. The public will make the final call in November on whether to eliminate the 60 percent supermajority requirement.

Climate change: Gregoire issued an executive order setting goals to reduce heat-trapping gases and convening a task force to figure out how to do it. Lawmakers went further and mandated new power plants to comply with low-carbon emission standards. The law doesn't rule out new-generation coal plants, such as the one proposed at the Port of Kalama by Energy Northwest, but meeting the bill's requirements could make operating such plants more expensive and raise the cost of the electricity they produce. Cell phones: Lawmakers banned drivers from holding cell phones to their ears. Talking on a phone is still OK. It's the hand position that will determine whether a driver is an outlaw.

Sonics foul out: The Seattle SuperSonics sent Lenny Wilkens and Boston Celtic legend Bill Russell to Olympia to lobby for a new arena. But the Hall of Famers weren't enough to overcome a distaste for subsidizing a new arena for the team's billionaire owners.

NASCAR stalled: A NASCAR-associated company faced political reality and abandoned efforts to get public funding for a racetrack in Kitsap County. No Kitsap County legislator supported the plan. NASCAR has now been scorned in Kitsap and Snohomish counties. Lewis County frequently gets mentioned (though not necessarily by NASCAR) as the next prospective site.

NASCAR add: NASCAR brought Richard Petty to visit lawmakers. Asked what he thought about that, House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, implied, in a wisecracking way, that Petty had been picked up for drunken driving. Chopp quickly added he wasn't sure about that and that reporters should check it out before reporting his crack. Reporters did check and reported Petty had never been stopped for drunken driving. After that, Chopp ended his free-wheeling sessions with the press that up until then had been the public's best source of information on a broad range of issues.

Rainy-day fund: Democrats embraced an idea espoused by Republican Sen. Joe Zarelli of Ridgefield and adopted the rainy-day fund. If voters approve amending the state constitution, lawmakers will make mandatory annual deposits into the hard-to-touch fund.

WASL: There was wide agreement between Gregoire and lawmakers to delay making students pass the math part of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning until at least the class of 2011. Other issues regarding the high-stakes and controversial test were still unresolved Saturday.

Sex-ed: Public schools' sex-ed classes will be required to cover contraception, not just abstinence, under legislation Democrats passed over stirred-up Republicans.

Domestic partners: Republicans also fought but lost a battle to prevent same-sex couples from gaining legal recognition. Senate Bill 5336 allows same-sex couples to register and receive some of the same rights granted married couples.

Metal thefts: Lawmakers made it tougher for thieves to convert metal to cash. Scrap dealers will have to collect more information from sellers and wait 10 days to pay, and then must pay by check. The bill also will add a year in prison to metal thieves convicted of theft or possession of stolen property and who created a public hazard or caused the victim to suffer exorbitant replacement costs.

Festivals supported: Lawmakers passed a bill to ensure cities can support hometown events, such as the Kelso's Highlander Festival and the Cowlitz County Unique Tin Car Show, with lodging taxes. An attorney general's opinion last year said cities couldn't contribute to events organized by nonprofit groups. Ship designated: The Lady Washington, a sailing ship based in Aberdeen, was designated the state's official ship. Lawmakers also made the Walla Walla sweet onion the state vegetable and the Pacific chorus frog the state amphibian.

State poet: The Washington State Arts Commission will establish a poet laureate program. The appointed poet will promote poetry throughout the state through lectures, workshops and readings.

Fund raising allowed: Kalama Rep. Ed Orcutt's bill to reinstate a 30-day, post-session ban on fund raising by state lawmakers failed. Legislators eliminated the waiting period last year when they moved the primary election from mid-September to mid-August. Orcutt said it's unseemly for lawmakers to accept campaign checks right after adjourning.

No elk study: Orcutt, a Republican, introduced a bill to force the state Department of Fish and Wildlife to hire private biologists to evaluate the department's elk management plans. The bill stemmed from Orcutt's dissatisfaction with state biologists' handling of the Mount St. Helens elk herd. The House Agricultural and Natural Resources Committee approved the idea, but House budget writers balked at funding the reviews, and Orcutt's bill died.

Farmlands: Farming activities will be protected from revisions to county environmental protection ordinances until at least mid-2010. Farmers sought a permanent exemption, but the best they could do was a three-year timeout on new restrictions. A resolution center run by the University of Washington and Washington State University will mediate talks between agricultural interests and environmental groups to seek a way to balance preserving farmlands with protecting water, fish and habitat.

Initiative 747 unguarded: Democrats turned down Republican proposals to reaffirm Initiative 747, a property-tax limitation measure voters passed in 2001. A King County judge last year invalidated the law on a technicality. The state Supreme Court will hear an appeal next month.

Fleeing police: Rep. Dean Takko, D-Longview, proposed getting tough with drivers who endanger the public while fleeing police. The House agreed to a year in prison for such an offense, but the Senate Judiciary Committee cut the penalty to three months. Takko said he'd rather abandon the effort for now than accept a punishment too light to be a deterrent.

Uninsured drivers: Takko also proposed requiring drivers to prove they have liability insurance when registering a vehicle. The idea was reworked to call for a random sampling of 3 percent of the drivers each year, with fines for motorists who didn't answer or couldn't show they had insurance. The bill died before getting to a floor vote.

Pipeline info: Pipeline operators asked lawmakers to keep from the public information about pipeline equipment and routes. Pipeline operators began providing state regulators with the information after a pipeline eruption in 1999 killed three people in Bellingham. Advocates for open government argued the public would be ill served by more secrecy, and a House bill stalled before coming to a floor vote.

Election-day registration: The Senate passed a bill to allow voters to register on election day, though the Secretary of State’s Office and county auditors warned giving voters that much leeway might invite fraud. The measure stalled in the House.

Iraq War: Some Democrats wanted to debate resolutions calling for the impeachment of President Bush and opposing the troop buildup in Iraq. Republicans said Olympia was no place to debate national issues. Ultimately, however, it was Democratic leaders, including the governor, who discouraged resolutions from coming to the floor of the Senate or House.

Posted SwanDeer Project at 7:58 AM PDT

Updated: Monday, 23 April 2007 8:00 AM PDT

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Ron Allen, a Native American leader who builds tribe, county -- and respect

Ron Allen, chairman of the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe, pauses outside the Jamestown Tribal Center in Blyn. -- Photo by Diane Urbani de la Paz/Peninsula Daily News

By Diane Urbani de la Paz, Peninsula Daily News


BLYN - This isn't a conversation. It's a headlong leap onto a bullet train.

Ron Allen is the engineer, hurtling back and forth between the Pacific Northwest and Washington, D.C., negotiating on behalf of a small tribe while developing an ever-larger vision for the North Olympic Peninsula.

Allen, in his third decade as chairman of the Jamestown S'Klallam tribe, is also officially an elder - he will soon be 60 - but he's not about to slow down.

No, he has too many passions and too many trips to take.

In recent months, Allen's been to meetings in Washington, Oregon and British Columbia, and to conferences in Las Vegas, Nev., and Colorado Springs, Colo., learning about tribal reservation infrastructure and resort marketing.

He's also been to Washington, D.C., where he helped establish the National Congress of American Indians' National Policy and Research Center.

The center is both a think tank and a clearinghouse for research on Native American issues, from housing to health care to high-school dropout rates to trust lands.

... Last year, the Jamestown tribe purchased a health and medical supply company in Sacramento, Calif.

It bought the Dungeness Golf Course north of Sequim and renamed it the Cedars at Dungeness.

This is all part of Allen's plan to, as he puts it, "take control of our destiny."

"We totally depended on federal funds in the 1980s," after the tribe achieved federal recognition in 1981, he said.

"We started off with $30,000 the first year and went to $180,000 the second.

"Last year, we received about $8 million, which is about 40 percent of our revenue base."

Self-reliance
Allen's goal: Shrink that further, by building up tribal businesses.

"We are doing that as fast as we can," he said.

"You've got to make the pie bigger. When I make the money from the federal government a smaller piece of that pie, then we're achieving self-reliance."

He's also been to Washington, D.C., where he helped establish the National Congress of American Indians' National Policy and Research Center.

Posted SwanDeer Project at 7:50 AM PDT

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Editorial in the Daily Astorian

04/05/2007 

Witness the vanishing forests:

You have only to drive to South Bend, Wash., for confirmation of a major trend reported this week in the Tacoma News Tribune:

"Hundreds of thousands of acres of Western Washington forests are being converted to home sites, hobby farms and commercial developments."

"We're dismantling the forest, tearing it up, breaking it down into little parcels. It isn't the forest it used to be," said Boyle, a one-time Nahcotta, Wash., resident and now part-time leader of a University of Washington College of Forest Resources think tank.

Pacific County's distinctly lackluster land planning does make some faint effort to preserve forest in its land-locked interior, an area said to be a "paramount economic resource." When the county's comprehensive plan was adopted in 1998, about 65 percent of its land area was managed for long-term forestry production, with about 85 percent of that in private hands.

But forests near Willapa Bay and other major water bodies were zoned with an eye toward the very kinds of carving-up decried by Boyle. Five-acre "ranchettes" were envisioned for virtually the entire eastern and northern shores of Willapa Bay, as well as the banks of the Columbia River from Chinook Point east to the Wahkiakum County line.

This "Transitional Forest" is, in essence, a sacrifice zone targeted for high-end dwellings. While in a sense this is the way of the world, Willapa Bay's importance as the literal and figurative heart of Pacific County deserved more care than it received. What was once a pastoral and soul-restoring drive through the woods around the bay is now increasingly a pained tour through a tortured landscape.

Rampant forest clearing followed by subdivision of Willapa's shores has many parallels throughout Washington. The News Tribune article reports that by 2010 or 2012, an additional 300,000 acres of Western Washington timberland is targeted for conversion to other uses, according to a University of Washington estimate. A UW forestry professor says the big timber companies lack incentive to keep forests for logging: "It's not profitable to grow wood. It's not the way to make your money - certainly not in North America."

Private land trusts are working intently with some timber firms to save the most environmentally significant forest tracts, but there just isn't enough time or money to make a real impact.

Gov. Chris Gregoire has asked the Legislature to fund a $4 million "high-risk forest conservation program," to buy or lease rights to develop up to 5,000 acres of family-owned forest land. Other options include subsidizing timber companies to keep forests as tree farms or forming public development authorities to buy and manage timberlands, using municipal bond financing.

In Pacific County, citizens and officials need to revisit their comprehensive planning process to at least encourage different forms of forest conversion. It would be far preferable to cluster a group of homes together than to chop up Willapa's forest into little five-acre kingdoms.

Entire editorial published in accordance with Fair Use Law 

Posted SwanDeer Project at 7:53 PM PDT

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States seek permission to kill salmon-gobbling sea lions

By Les Blumenthal

Published 4/115/07 in McClatchy Newspapers

 

Janet Jensen/Tacoma News Tribune/MCT

A sea lion catches an endangered chinook salmon migrating up the Columbia River just below the spillway at Bonneville Dam in Oregon.

 WASHINGTON - For three years, the California sea lions dining on endangered salmon below Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River have been blasted with rubber buckshot, chased by boats, harassed by firecrackers and rockets and subjected to irritating acoustic frequencies blaring from underwater speakers.

WASHINGTON - For three years, the California sea lions dining on endangered salmon below Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River have been blasted with rubber buckshot, chased by boats, harassed by firecrackers and rockets and subjected to irritating acoustic frequencies blaring from underwater speakers.

 It's known as "non-lethal hazing," and it hasn't worked. In increasing numbers, the sea lions continue to feast on salmon runs that are struggling to survive.

  But now the sea lions could face a death sentence.

 

 Washington state, Oregon and Idaho together have asked for permission to kill more than 80 sea lions a year. Legislation to expedite the request was introduced in late March in the U.S. House of Representatives.

  In the battle between 400-pound bull sea lions and the thousands of salmon heading upstream to spawn, both sides have picked up important allies. 

 

 Backers of the salmon include the three Northwest states, the region's Indian tribes and four of the region's members of Congress.

  Backing the sea lions: the 10 million-member Humane Society of the United States.

 

 The confrontation involves two of the nation's pre-eminent environmental laws, the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

 

  It's a standoff no one really wanted.

 "It's a frustrating dilemma," said Rep. Brian Baird, D-Wash., who supports eliminating some of the sea lions. "I am not happy about it, but the trend lines show salmon runs decreasing and sea lion populations growing."

 

  State wildlife officials agree. 

Click here to read entire article: Published 4/115/07 in McClatchy Newspapers

Posted SwanDeer Project at 12:42 PM PDT

Updated: Sunday, 15 April 2007 1:15 PM PDT

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