Click below to read an early edition of my Snoqualmie Pass story:

=> Read more!

Drivers crossing Snoqualmie Pass after its opening should still be prepared for a possible closure, said Trooper Jeff Merrill, a spokesman for the Washington State Patrol. That means packing extra food, water and blankets.

I caught up with Trooper Jeff Merrill, a spokesman for the Washington State Patrol, and asked him about the WSP’s role in the closure of Snoqualmie Pass. Here’s what he had to say:

“We have close to 10 to 15 troopers intermittently working the pass during the closure, during the evacuation, helping people off the summit and back down the west and east side. We’re trying to keep the disruption to a minimum for those who live and work here, even though it is a huge inconvenience to the public who can’t commute east to west over the summit.

We’re operating road closures, assisting WSDOT in the closure of all the ramps and roads. We’re also ensuring folks can get ferries to the top and back down the pass.

This is one of those things that if you have to travel a mountain pass, it’s expected that you may fall victim to the weather. This is one of those storms we knew was coming and that dumped a record amount of snow. It’s record snowfall in the summit area. As a result, it’s really hampered our ability and WSDOT’s ability to keep the pass open. It’s a continual hour-by-hour evaluation as to whether we can keep it open safely.

At this point, we’re not certain when we’ll be able to reopen the pass. It’s one of those things that when it does open, it might only be open for a short period of time. So folks that are traveling up and over the hill need to be prepared.

If the snow doesn't slow down, we'll be behind the eight-ball contunually. The snow is coming down fast and furious now, and the temperature is dropping, and those are recipes for continued avalanche concerns. That's where we're at right now."

Heading up Snoqualmie Pass:

SNOQUALMIE PASS – Red Mountain Coffee is one of those ski-resort shops that sells everything from polished rocks to T-shirts to snacks like pizza, coffee and cookies.

And it’s also become a hub for locals, state troopers and workers looking to repair the damage following this week’s avalanches on Snoqualmie Pass. The sudden closure of Interstate 90 on Tuesday left visitors to the ski slopes and workers who live down the pass stranded. Many businesses closed; most of Red Mountain’s employees live in the area and could report to work.

“Business has been a little bit slower, and it’s just kind of different here,” said barista Sarrah Powers, a 16-year-old student at Mount Si High School. “We’ve been getting a lot more locals in here because their food is running out. And there are a lot more police officers and DOT workers – people who are trying to keep the road open.”

The initial closure left dozens of people stranded in the restaurant. Owner Terri Harcus said she couldn’t just turn them away, so many stayed for hours until they could get an escort down the mountain.

“Every foot of space was taken up by somebody,” she said. “Most people were sitting on the floor, just waiting.”

=> Read more!

Drew and I are heading up the pass as part of a convoy led by a Washington State Patrol car. The road is already icy and slippery a few hundred yards past the barricades.

I asked a State Department of Transportation worker what the weather is like where we're going. She pointed to my sunglasses. "You won't be needing those," she said. "It's snowing like hell up there."

Every media outlet in the area is here, and TV guys seem to just be eating it up:

Here's a video the State Department of Transportation put together showing what avalanche-control work looks like:

Photographer Drew Perine and I are heading north for avalanche coverage. More details to come.

Bradley Huson is fiery. He garnered 163 votes – the most last election among the four candidates standing for two open seats on Ruston’s town council – and says he has mandate from the voters to change the status quo.

Nor does he pull any punches or hesitate to use the tools at his disposal to get what he wants. At the last town council meeting, he proposed (and the council approved with a 3-1 vote) a set of rule changes that limited public input. The changes followed public outbursts at a previous meeting – and were followed by outbursts when he proposed them. But they were necessary, he said, and he’s unapologetic.

“We’re not going to have any more outbursts like that because I have had it with the (bull),” he said. “Somebody has got to take control of that meeting and run it in a businesslike fashion. I deal with rich, crazy people all day, and I’m not going to deal with crazy people all night. There’s nothing in it for me. The only reason I ran for this office is to get something done. I’m not going to sit with a bunch of psychos in the evening under fluorescent lights and has over crap that makes the meetings five times longer than it should be. It’s ridiculous. … I feel that we have given everyone every opportunity to conduct themselves as human beings. These people are crazy, and I’m just not going to stand for it anymore.”

I asked him if he understands why some would be upset. Sure, he said:

“They’re like caged animals. They have no political power. They’re scared and they’re like caged animals. When you throw a bunch of animals in a cage and scare them, that’s how they behave: like the town council meeting. That’s what the problem is. The Karen Picketts, the Torbets, those people have lived in town forever. This is the first time in the history of this town that they have absolutely no power. They have no voice. The only voice they have is the mayor – and he’s not going to be behind them 100 percent of the time. They’re a frightened group of people because they don’t have any real power. They’re frightened, but they’re also not that bright. Don’t antagonize the people who have to make the decisions on your behalf. Don’t (tick) people off. Even the stupidest child knows that if you (tick) off your parents, you won’t get great Christmas presents. So don’t (tick) off your parents. Be nice to them. Be nice to the people who have control over the things you would like to happen. It doesn’t make any sense.”

And there are no plans to drop the rule changes anytime soon.

“Until I’m satisfied we’re getting the business done that needs to get done, and everybody behaves themselves, I’m all for keeping them permanent,” he said. “That’s how a lot of other jurisdictions do business. They don’t allow a free-for-all of public comments about what color of toilet paper they have in the men’s room at the police department – which is really what it comes down to at our public meetings. ... The whole ramped-up, steam of consciousness BS at council meetings is over. It’s over. I don’t have the time to sit through it. I don’t have the patience to sit through that kind of thing.”

=> Read more!

Once again, I will be your faithful reader representative today. I'll bring interesting tidbits if I find them, but yesterday it was slim pickings...

But fear not: In a few minutes, I'll be posting my interview with Ruston Town Councilman Bradley Huson. This guy pulls no punches.

I was hoping to bring fun stories from my Reader Rep shift. But I have nothing...

I'm back. And while you guys worried about cold and snow, I had two lovely days of upper-60s temperatures and sunshine.

Where does this gloating land me? Into the reader representative's seat. I'm filling all day today. If you're unfamiliar with how it works, it's like this: For a week at a time, one newsroom employee is required to field phone calls and e-mails from the readers about anything from why we need Drabble on our comics page (and we do) to the usual claims of bias to the y'all-screwed-up calls. The shifts are on a rotation, and everyone in the newsroom -- from upper management to yours truly -- has to do a week.

I’ve had enough of the cold rain. I’m heading down to warm Los Angeles for a few days. I’ll be back Wednesday.

Karen Pickett met me at Shari’s, and her soft-spoken voice belies a ton of passion for Ruston and its political scene. Pickett, a former councilwoman, recently launched the Ruston Home blog.

“It wasn’t anything too preplanned. I just wanted something where we could have some online dialogue – like a bulletin board or something,” she said. “It just popped in my head in November to start a blog.”

It’s not meant to go head-to-head with Ruston Connection.

“Some people said it’s like picking a fight – or continuing a fight – against the Ruston Connection,” she said. “I don’t see it that way. I just wanted to get people talking.”

She believes there is good reason for the anger in town.

=> Read more!

I sat down at Don’s Market & Deli in Ruston to chat about the town’s politics. The first person I talked to was Craig Fletcher, who offered up this theory on why Ruston politics are so sticky:

“It’s a bit more vicious because we know these people intimately,” he said. “Some of them are former friends. Some are current friends.”

=> Read more!

Janaia Secrest might have worn a purple jacket to the college South Sound College Fair on Saturday, but that doesn’t mean she is on a predestined path to Montlake.

“I actually want to go to Washington State,” said the senior at Foss High School, showing off a house key emblazoned with the Cougars logo. “But I looked around at a few different places today.”

She wants to study philosophy or political science and is also applying to the University of Washington and Saint Martin’s University in Lacey. She stopped by Saturday’s event to find out more about 25 Western Washington colleges and universities that set up booths in the UW Tacoma’s main academic building.

“There’s a ton of information in there,” she said. “It was definitely worth the time.”

Organizers of the college fair expected 300 to 400 students to attend. Most visitors were high school students and their parents, but community college students and people interested in graduate work also talked to recruiters.

=> Read more!

The University of Washington Tacoma offers stacks of free papers to its students. The sign advertised issues of The News Tribune, the New York Times and USA Today.

But look what's in the New York Times bin. It's like ordering fillet mignon and getting a double cheeseburger from McDonald's.

I'm going to be at a college fair at the University of Washington Tacoma today, so check back in later to see what that was like.

I'll also post some more Ruston interviews.

I've got more Ruston content coming up, but it won't be today. On Thursday evening and Friday afternoon, I met with Karen Pickett, Bradley Huson and some folks at Don's Market.

I'll post the interviews after I transcribe them this weekend.

I sat down this afternoon with Dennis Mutuma. He recently arrived from Kenya to attend Tacoma Community College, but his schooling is only paid through the first quarter.

I'll have more at a later time about him, but he's got a great story - including securing an education despite a dysfunctional childhood, spending four months in prison when he was 10 and flying out of Nairobi on the day that election violence rippled across the country.

Keep your eyes peeled for this inspiring story.

(And, on a side note -- Who knew you could take the SAT in East Africa?)

I just got off the phone with Rae Anne Giron, who's coordinating the homeless count for Pierce County. She said didn't have any early indicators of trends.

But she said it appears there isn’t a major migration from Tacoma to unincorporated parts of Pierce County following the city’s aggressive panhandling ban and its closure of homeless camps.

“I spoke with (Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness) teams, and they haven’t seen areas of major growth in the unincorporated parts,” she said. “Individuals are more attracted to metropolitan areas, and they’re used to the services they can find there. So if they’re moving, they’re likely moving to other metropolitan areas.”

Olivia Reibev had knocked on three doors at Lakewood’s Biltmore Motel before someone answered. Reibev, a student at the University of Washington, introduced herself and said she was a volunteer with Pierce County’s homeless survey. She asked the woman who answered if she considered herself homeless.

“Well,” the 55-year-old woman said, “I wouldn’t be living here if I wasn’t.”

The Lakewood volunteers were counting a portion of Pierce County’s residents who often go unseen – people who are living for extended periods of times in motels because they don’t have anywhere else to go.

The volunteers, toting clipboards with a stack of golden survey sheets, interviewed people at 12 motels Friday. A police officer remained off-site with cell phones at the ready if needed. And the volunteers – who were split into two teams – had mixed results: Some didn’t want to talk, others rambled about their life stories, and many weren’t in their rooms or didn’t open their door.

Volunteers handed out business cards to help put them in contact with someone who can connect them with social services, and a resource guide of available services was left in the office of each motel the teams visited.

=> Read more!

Photographer Russ Carmack and I have been out following part of Pierce County's homeless count in Lakewood. I'll post some more about that in a little bit.

I also have a few more Ruston interviews today, and a story that links Kenya and Tacoma.

Sam Tower watches homeless people walk past his house every day. So when the Hilltop resident read that Pierce County was searching for people to help with its annual census, he volunteered.

“I just thought I’d help out and see what I can do,” said Tower, who lives near the intersection of South 15th Street and Fawcett Avenue. “My place is between Nativity House and the shelter.”

Tower and several other volunteers circulated Thursday around Nativity House, a daytime drop-in shelter, carrying golden survey sheets. They sat down at the tables with the homeless, asked a series of questions and filled out the questionnaires.

The state requires such surveys for planning and funding, said Rae Anne Giron, a community services planner with the county. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development also required bi-yearly surveys.

“We know we can’t find everyone in the county,” Giron said, “but we do the best we can with the resources we have.”

Sixty-five volunteers signed up for the count and three organizations – Hospitality Kitchen, Tacoma Rescue Mission and the Metropolitan Development Council – provided their own volunteers. The count focused on permanent locations, like shelters and the feed at the Puyallup Armory, on Thursday. Volunteers will enter homeless camps Friday.

The count is done in January because it’s a colder month, and that means the homeless are more likely to reside in more concentrated areas.

It’ll take about a week to process the data, Giron said. The surveys ask for initials, a month and year of birth, race and questions about where the person will sleep that night and what were some contributing factors to homelessness.

Ann Shahan used the opportunity to connect some veterans with help. She’s the homeless coordinator for the Veterans Integrated Service Network 20, part of the Veterans Administration Northwest Health Network.

She and volunteer Bonnie Daly surveyed people visiting the needle exchange and methadone clinic at the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department building. If a respondent said he or she was a veteran, Shahan asked if they were enrolled in the VA’s programs.

“I’ve sent a couple of folks to a referral source to some our programs,” said Shahan, whose office is at American Lake. “But overall, the people are more than willing to chat.”

It was a black decaf coffee for Ruston Mayor Michael Transue when we sat down yesterday to talk about the political tensions in his small town north of Tacoma. We were sitting in a booth at the Ruston Inn, where others made sure to head out of their way to praise Transue for his work.

Transue is an unpopular guy with some members of the council. Bob Everding resigned his seat in protest of the mayor’s style. Councilman Bradley Huson calls Transue “lazy and a micromanager.” Wayne Stebner accused Transue, a lobbyist, of using the mayor’s chair to advance his clients’ interests.

The situation seems to have hit critical mass.

“I don’t know if I’d say it’s the worst it’s ever been, but it’s close,” Transue said. “Folks have very definite opinions on issues – you can see that in the meetings – and they’re well-dug-in positions. I think having folks with those diverse opinions makes it tough sometimes. I think there are 5, 10 15 percent take one view, then 5, 10, 15 percent take the other view. And then everybody else is in the middle. It’s the bell curve. When those polarizations occur, that’s when tempers flare.”

Several councilmen have been critical of Transue for letting outbursts at town council meetings continue. The mayor’s unrepentant.

“I know some criticize me for being too lenient, but it doesn’t feel right to me to kick people out of meetings, to have a police officer there to boot people out,” he said. “I don’t think it’s healthy. I don’t think it’s helpful.”

A Ruston police officer used to attend the meetings for security, but there hasn’t been one there lately. That’s riled some of Transue’s opponents. He says he handles it on a case-by-case basis.

“It’s a resource issue,” he said. “I’m going to always weigh whether someone should be doing law enforcement work like DUIs, bar checks, speeding tickets, other public-safety things or working at the council meeting. I’ll let my officers make that call. When the council approved the budget, they removed a significant amount of overtime. One of the areas was in the police department.”

He’s well aware of the criticism by members of the council.

=> Read more!

Wayne Stebner sipped his lemonade slowly at the Antique Sandwich Shop near Ruston and spoke slowly. The councilman seemed to be choosing his words carefully.

The topic that day: the worsening political atmosphere in Ruston. Except there’s one hitch – he doesn’t believe it’s getting worse.

“There are some that say it’s getting worse, and some that say it’s getting better,” he said. “I feel that it’s getting better. There are changes that are going to occur, and they’re tough changes, but they will occur.”

He knows the brouhaha around the Commencement, a high-rise condo building in the small town near Tacoma’s North End, has caused heartache. But he said it’s in the past, and the people are moving on.

“Right now, it’s being built. They have every right to build it, and I don’t have a problem with that,” he said. “They have a lease on our school right now for the next 495 or so years. That sits rather sorely with a lot of residents in the community. Taking that lease back is probably not an option, even if residents would like that. And the way it occurred is sore with a lot of people. It was part of the old Ruston politics. And I came in on the wave of public sentiment to change that.

“That being said, I’m not going to go out on a limb and cause problems for the Commencement. But I’m going to hold them accountable.”

=> Read more!

For those who can’t get enough Ruston coverage, there’s more of that coming. And for those who are sick of it, I’ve got something for you, too.

I’ll be spending most of today with Pierce County officials during the homeless count. We’ll be heading into some of the camps to conduct the census.

I talked with Ruston Mayor Michael Transue and Councilman Wayne Stebner yesterday. I’ll be posting those shortly.

The Peninsula Gateway ran this editorial stating that if the new span of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge will be given a name (and, really, why would it?), then "Gig Harbor-area people should choose it."

Woah, woah my upper-middle-class friends. Hold on there. Gig Harbor-area folks? Last time I checked, the bridge connects to Tacoma, too. We might have lower property values, a higher crime rate and our city is rarely called quaint like you are, but that doesn't disqualify us from getting in on the naming action, does it?

Unless "Gig Harbor-area people" means Tacoma too. But that would be calling Seattle part of the Tukwila area.

The editorial later says, "We have no idea why state senators from distant places — Ken Jacobsen (D-Seattle) and Dan Swecker (R-Rochester) — feel justified in naming our bridge."

Fair enough. But "distant" is hardly the word I'd use to describe the relationship between Seattle and Gig.

And then later we get this:

(Oke) was an outspoken proponent of the bridge, even when 80 percent of his constituency voted against it. Some would say he pushed the bridge on peninsula residents when they didn’t want it.

Unfair or not, many peninsula residents associate Oke’s name more with tolls than the bridge itself.

Then why do you want to name it?!? Geez, you folks get a Costco, and everyone's head swells overnight.

I met with Ruston Councilman Jim Hedrick today at the Pritchard cafeteria in Olympia (where, in a completely unrelated story, Trib legislature guru Joe Turner was holding court). He expressed concern with how Ruston’s government functions, and the tensions among citizens.

He said he’s in an “obvious political minority” on the council. The other three councilmembers – Bradley Huson, Wayne Stebner and Dan Albertson – vote as a bloc, he said, and they love to flaunt their power.

“They clearly have contempt for the mayor,” he said. “And not because of the mayor’s stance on the Commencement as far as I can tell, but it’s because Michael isn’t going to sit in a group and let a few neighbors control everything.”

Divisive issues have split the town, including the Commencement condo building, the possibility of phasing out the fire department, other development and possible annexation to Tacoma. He believes some who oppose further development don’t see the future implications.

“I don’t think people realize the town is 100 years old, but it was tied to a huge industry connected to it,” he said. “The industry’s gone, and it has been for 23 years now. We’re not going to survive as a town unless we replace Stack. There’s no sales there, and we’re basically living on the property tax.”

He has big visions for the future of Ruston.

“I see the town kind of like how people talk about Fremont in Seattle,” he said. “It could be a really great thing, a destination spot where professionals want to move there. An urban village. At least I want to try to do that.

“But if we fail and we run the developers off, we’ll have to unincorporate. We can’t sustain ourselves on $3 million that we got from the Commencement.”

Some of the anger is justifiable, he said.

“There’s just a lot of contempt about how people are running the town,” he said. “It’s like an opera. Even before I got on the council, I was sitting in the audience and think, ‘All we’re trying to do is run a million-dollar enterprise.’ And nobody has the vision of what the future should be, and the this group that doesn’t want the Commencement, they don’t have a vision other than being against the Establishment. Except they are the Establishment now.”

Dan Albertson’s appointment to the council – he replaced Bob Pudlo, who resigned with two years left on his term – created doubt.

=> Read more!

I was reading over a letter Ruston Councilman Bradley Huson distributed after last night’s town council meeting, which was tense and at times chaotic.

Here are a few highlights, lowlights and mediumlights:

Huson says “the inmates of a women’s penitentiary have more of an idea of how to conduct themselves at a public meeting than the majority of citizens who regularly attend our town council meetings.” Ouch.

He labels public-records requests – one of the fundamental laws that helps citizens keep the government in check – as “fishing expeditions,” and said because of the law, he won’t be responding to e-mails or writing any letters.

He’ll be skipping all future council study sessions until “rules of engagement” have been established.

And he calls for a change in government from the strong-mayor system to one run by a city manager. “The form of the government in Ruston is broken,” he said. “There is too much going on in too many different areas to expect the mayor to be able to manage the town effectively or even just keep up.”

Click below to read the full letter:

=> Read more!

There's more Ruston coming your way today.

First stop is Olympia, where I'll be catching up with the mayor and a councilman, both of whom are lobbyists. After a quick stop at the newsroom, I'll chatting with more folks in Ruston.

If you're a Ruston resident and have opinions about the tense atmosphere in your town, please e-mail me. I really do want to hear from both sides.

I’m sitting at the Ruston town council meeting, and if you’re looking for an example of how contentious politics has become in this town, here’s a good one:

Councilman Bradley Huson submitted a motion to change the rules of meetings, and a big part limited the amount of public comment on motions. Audience member Jim Wingard stood up and yelled, “We still have a constitution in the United States that guarantees freedom of speech!” He pointed to Mayor Michael Transue. “I’ll see you in Superior Court next week!” He then turned to the council. “I’ll see all of you in court next week!”

While Transue stood up and tried to calm Wingard down, Huson motioned to adjourn the meeting (about 45 minutes after it began). Wayne Stebner seconded it. A woman in attendance started screaming at Huson, and others followed with shouts at the council.

The woman stormed out of the room, and Transue turned to Albertson and asked for his vote. Others in the audience asked for calm. Huson then leaned back in his chair, smiled and said, “As soon as they’re silenced, I’ll withdraw (the motion). If not, I’ll go home and finish my dinner.”

James Hedrick voted against the motion, and the deciding vote went to the final councilman, Dan Albertson. Transue scolded the audience for their disruption, and then Huson withdrew his motion.

Since then, it’s been business as usual.

Alfred Johnson entered the house lightly; his tan combat boots didn’t make a sound against the tile floor. He turned his head slowly, taking in the view of the large windows and hardwood floors.
A second later, a large smile spread across his face.

“Nice, nice,” he said as he moved to the kitchen, where he rubbed the island countertop. “This was worth the wait.”

Johnson, a sergeant first class with 2nd Battalion, 364th Regiment (Combat Service Support), and his family received their first glance inside their new housing at Fort Lewis’ Discovery Village, a public-private partnership of 458 units for enlisted personnel.

Johnson arrived at Fort Lewis in August 2006 and added his name to the mailing list the following month. His wife, Ericka, his three children and he will move into their half of the blue-gray duplex next week.

A celebration – complete with a band and speeches –on the cul-de-sac in front of their house concluded with a ceremonial handing of keys. The Johnsons’ impending move means all the units will be full.

“Military installations across the nation are taking part of this initiative to care for families by providing the best possible housing,” said Lt. Gen. Charles H. Jacoby Jr., the post commander, in front of about 100 people. “As an Army, we are investing our resources in our people because now, when it matters more than ever, every soldier and every family matters more than ever.”

=> Read more!

Have you driven past Fort Lewis on I-5 and noticed those colorful, Salishan-looking homes springing up on post?

They're part of an Army-wide effort to upgrade soldiers' housing. I'll be at Fort Lewis later this afternoon to talk to a family about to move into one of the units.

This week I’ll be digging a little bit into what makes Ruston’s politics so vicious. Here are other Web sites to check out from people who follow this stuff much more closely:

Ruston Home: “A space where everyone is welcome to share about Ruston ~ small town America surrounded by urban Tacoma,” the site says. A forum for folks to publish their takes on Ruston news.

Ruston Connection: It’s “a community advocacy for Ruston, Washington.” The site, which is registered to the wife of former Councilman Bob Everding, posts news and monthly newsletters.

Ruston Home also has several sub-blogs:

Ruston Truth: It says it has “No-holds-barred, honest commentary about Ruston politics and its players.” One author’s pseudonym is “cranky feller.”

Ruston Reports: This site posts jpegs of public documents.

Ruston Photos and History: The name is pretty self-explanatory.

UPDATE: I was told the original links didn't work for some reason. They should now.

Have you been paying attention to what's going on in Ruston? The police chief is fired last week, and then a town councilman resigns two days later.

I wrote up the short story about Town Councilman Bob Everding's resignation for Sunday's paper -- and was bombarded with calls and e-mails the next day. It seems like the residents have taken sides; you're either with the council or with Mayor Michael Transue. And it seems almost vicious at times.

I have a few examples. I talked with Bradley Huson, another town councilman, on Saturday. Here's what he said about Everding's resignation:

It’s a culmination with the lack of leadership on the mayor’s part for getting anything done in town. He doesn’t provide the town council with any information or adequate information to make any decisions. Michael Transue is lazy and a micromanager, and that’s a terrible combination. When you’re in a position of power, you should delegate. Michael doesn’t do any of that.

And here is an excerpt of a lengthy e-mail¹ from Jim Wingard, whose family has lived or owned property in Ruston for more than a century:

How could a thirteen person cabal take total control of a town of over 700 residents? (They are) very dedicated, well financed, mostly from California, have their own newspaper - Rustonconnection.org, and are using every lie in the book, running sleazy, filthy, vile campaigns against the citizens of Ruston who were trying to save the town from bankruptcy.

It's the angriest little town in Washington.

^{1 - Edited for grammar and punctuation, but content remains same.}

Listen to the band and watch some of the festivities below:

Listen to Laura Park, the diverse communities librarian in the Pierce County Public Library system, explain the Korea Heritage Day celebrations in Korean here.

The four women wore white robes with a purple sash and rocked in slow, deliberate movements. They performed the salpullee, a traditional Korean dance that manifests the emotions of a wife losing her husband – not exactly meant to pep up a crowd.

“The dancer starts by standing still, because the mind is empty,” dancer Savannah Flaspohler explained. “And then you slowly turn throughout the dance. The color of the dress – it’s simple white or cream – means it’s not a celebration. It’s sad. It’s mourning.
“But you have to let it go, so you’re standing there spiriting it away.”

The dance might have morose undertones, but the rest of Korean Heritage Day in Lakewood was a downright celebration.

Dancers swayed to music, tae kwan do students showed their skills and broke wooden boards, visitors snacked on Korean food, and a musical performance finished with audience members dancing with the band at the Pierce County Library on Saturday.

It’s the fifth consecutive year the library system has held a celebration of Korean culture celebration. The festivities are usually held in May, which is Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month, but were moved ahead this year because Gov. Chris Gregoire last year declared Jan. 13 as Korean-American Day. The first three Korean Heritage Day celebrations were at the branch in University Place, but the facilities there were too small for the growing crowds.

Lakewood is also home to one of the largest Korean populations in the state.
“Many people wanted something for the second-generation Koreans who grew up here and non-Koreans to become familiar with the beautiful Korean culture,” said Laura Park, a diverse communities librarian who emceed the event in English and Korean. “It’s a 5,000-year history. There’s a lot to share.”

=> Read more!

Ruston Town Councilman Bob Everding has apparently resigned, according to a letter attributed to him posted on a Web site Saturday.

Everding, a retired college dean and professor, called the council “presently dysfunctional” in a 335-word letter addressed to Mayor Michael Transue and posted on the Ruston Connection Web site.

“A hostile environment permeates town meetings as a small minority (mostly those who lost the last two elections) are allowed to disrupt meetings with angry tirades and threat,” said the letter, which could not be verified by The News Tribune.

Everding and other members of the council could not be reached for comment Saturday evening.
In the letter, Everding attacks Transue for his failure to seek compromise.

“Your determination that things be done only your way has divided rather than healed this community,” he wrote.

I'll be at Korean Heritage Day at the Lakewood Pierce County Library later. Photos and maybe video coming in a few hours.

Ismael Benavidez received his first glimpse of lawmaking Friday. It’s long-winded a process often likened to sausage-making – something no one really wants to see – but the junior at Sammamish High School left Olympia impressed.

“It was pretty neat to see how it all worked,” he said. “And I’ve learned a lot this week.”

Benavidez and about 600 other students were at the Capitol to meet with legislators as part of an education conference hosted by the Latino/a Educational Achievement Project.

They also visited the chambers, took a tour of the building, received a primer of how the political process works and discussed several bills that would benefit Latino students in Washington.

The LEAP conference began Thursday at the Hotel Murano in downtown Tacoma with a dinner and keynote address from Gov. Chris Gregoire. Students attended leadership and educational workshops. The conference concludes Saturday morning.

=> Read more!

Author Carla Seaquist has a fine essay in the Christian Science Monitor about returning to her home, Lewis County, which is still recovering from the devastating flooding in early December.

Her description of the scene there:

Now, roads are cracked or washed out; bridges, both wood and concrete, are gone; railroad tracks hover over beds no longer there; streams are choked with debris; here and there, hills gave way to mudslides. Into the night I saw people shoveling the thick mud out of their homes. Those done shoveling ripped out carpet and insulation and burned the wreckage in bins in yards where more mud awaited. To see all the destruction is heartbreaking.

It’ll soon be my turn to contribute to The News Tribune’s weekly 125th-anniversary series. That means I’ll be at the library to bone up on my South Sound history.

Later I’m going to check out the legislative day hosted by the Latino/a Educational Achievement Project. On legislative day (that's today), students and their parents will visit and have lunch with their legislators and other elected officials.

I ran across this last night, and it reminded my how bad the fashion was 20 years ago. This isn't really Tacoma or Washington related; instead, the entire nation should be blamed for allowing threads and hairstyles like this:

Paul Namkung is bracing himself for a big financial hit. His convenience store, K&J Food Mart on the Eastside, stocks 40-ounce bottles of Mickey’s, Olde English 800 and other high-octane beers.

They drinks make up for about 20 percent of his store’s revenue, he said. And, Namkung adds, it’s not like he owns a large chain of stores that could absorb the drop in revenues. It’s a one-store show.

“It will hurt people like me,” he said, “but if the city wants to make these new rules, there’s no stopping them. They’ll just do it.”

Bert Hayes, a community liaison officer with the Tacoma Police Department, said no stores in the original Alcohol Impact Area lost revenue. And some, he said, saw a bump in sales because the improved clientele drew more customers.

Tim Herzog’s Tacoma Avenue convenience store, Tim’s Handy Mart, is within the boundaries of the first AIA. He said a lot of people were anxious ahead of the change because they weren’t sure what would happen, but the change has helped improve the area.

“We never missed a beat,” he said. “The people they wanted to get rid of pretty much left. And all the stores in the area adapted because we were all on the same playing field.

“It was a fantastic idea.”

And if ban forces a business into closure, Councilman Rick Talbert said, that’s indicative of a larger problem.

“Quite honestly, if 40 or 50 percent of your sales are that product, you have to start questioning whether that particular business owner is being a good community member,” he said.

Bert Hayes cut himself off in mid-sentence, swiveled his chair around, opened a file cabinet in his office and began rummaging through its contents. He produced a spiral notebook with a well-worn cover and thumbed through its pages.

Hayes, a community liaison officer with the Tacoma Police Department, is passionate about fighting chronic public drunkenness. His logbook provided a stark demonstration of the scope of the problem on the Eastside and South End.

“Business owner complaining about narcotics and alcohol,” read Hayes. “Transient problem. Alcohol problem. Another alcohol problem. I just opened to a random page.”
And that was just the morning of April 1, 2006.

“I can go through any book and flip page after page after page after page and probably a full half of some of my months were transient-related, alcohol-related, panhandling-related problems. If we can eliminate these problems, it frees up a huge amount of time to devote to other problems.”

That’s the purpose of the proposed alcohol impact area in Tacoma’s East Side and South End. The AIA bans the sale of certain low-price, high-alcohol brands of drinks – like Olde English 800 and Johnny Bootlegger – that police and fire departments have directly tied to chronic public inebriation. Businesses that violate the law face fines, suspensions or revocations of their licenses, or both.

The City Council voted unanimously this week to approve the proposed AIA, which is bounded by Interstate 5 to the west and north, Portland Avenue to the east and the city limits to the south. The final step is a hearing in front of the State Liquor Control Board, which will likely be next month or March. If enacted, it would become Tacoma’s second AIA and Washington’s fifth.

The idea is simple: If the booze is too expensive, its customers will either look elsewhere or stop buying it. But it’s not just about alcohol, Councilman Rick Talbert said.

“What we want to do is have them seek treatment and get out of that lifestyle altogether,” he said. “It’s not just a guy passed out in the street. The fire department is called, the emergency rooms are filled, and you and I are paying for all those services.”

=> Read more!

Still want to check out more Tall Ships mastmaking? Joe Barrentine and Russ Carmack were with me yesterday and, as always, contributed some fine visuals. Here are links to Joe’s video and Russ’ slideshow.

Meetings. Lots and lots of meetings. That'll take up all of my morning and part of my afternoon, but I'll duck out later and check out what's going on.

Listen to Les Bolton, executive director of the Grays Harbor Historical Seaport Authority, talk about cutting a new mast for the Nina below:

(But don't worry -- videographer Joe Barrentine has a much, much better video on the way.)

Matt Bale stared through a plastic shield as a lathe sent particles of Douglas fir in the air. Small piles of sawdust collected on the ground. Inch by inch, a tall ship mast was being created.

Bale and his colleagues at the Grays Harbor Historical Seaport Authority are cutting a new
29-foot mast for the Niña, a reproduction of one of the ships that carried Christopher Columbus to the New World in 1492 that was damaged earlier this month.

“(The Niña) couldn’t get the structural work done and the mast done” in time for its next commitment, executive director Les Bolton said. “We received a call from the vessel’s operator. He asked us to build a new mast for him and get that back to him in 21 days – complete, stained, ready to install in the boat. We’ve got quite a project to do.”

The job requires stripping away all of the lumber’s sapwood and carving a block on the end that will allow the ship’s crew to run ropes through it to raise the sails.

The Niña, which is scheduled to appear at the Tall Ships Tacoma festival in July, needed repairs after a generator caught fire while sailing in the Gulf of Mexico earlier this month. It’s docked at a shipyard at Bayou La Batre, Ala., and is expected to receive and install its mast in time to reach its next scheduled stop at Biloxi, Miss., on Feb. 12.

The crew at the Grays Harbor Historical Seaport will turn the mast in the lathe for three days, and then cut for pulleys that run through the top of the mast. They will apply a hot-oil treatment for three days and then stain it before trucking the piece to Alabama.

The ship’s crew chose the nonprofit group in Aberdeen for good reason, Bolton said. It owns what he calls the world’s largest wood lathe; it can handle logs of up to 122 feet in length and 40 inches in diameter.

The lathe, which the Grays Harbor Historical Seaport Authority purchased from Cascade Pole in Tacoma about five years ago, was used to build masts for several tall ships in Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies.

“We’re the people that can do the work really fast,” site manager Kent Wall said.
“(The Niña’s crew) just knew us. We’re quite a name in the industry.”

=> Read more!

I hear that Club Friday, the Christian hop-hop club in downtown Tacoma, is a finalist for the 2008 Pierce County Executive's Award for Excellence in Hip Hop.

The club operates out of Brick City in downtown Tacoma. The building hosts all-ages clubs on the weekend and has attracted criticism from some with differing visions of downtown.

The awards will be handed out Friday night.

I’m off to Grays Harbor County today. Tall Ships Tacoma is six months away, and The News Tribune is going to be ramping up its coverage of the festival and tall ships in the area.

That’s why photographer Russ Carmack and I are heading to Aberdeen. A giant lathe (the biggest in North America, I’m told) is turning a mast as part of the repairs on the Niña, a reproduction of one of Christopher Columbus’ ships.

I stopped by the ferry station at Point Defiance Park to see if Washington State Ferries' crisis affected the Ruston-Vashon Island run.

Apparently, things were operating as smoothly as ever.

"Actually," one pedestrian crosser said, "I've noticed even less traffic than usual."

While the rest of the Tacoma City Council were listening about air particulates – and Mayor Bill Baarsma made it apparent he’s more concerned about the city’s image than about clean skies – Councilman Rick Talbert and I chatted about the proposed Alcohol Impact Area.

Talbert has been a driving force behind the AIA since its start, and for good reason: He’s an Eastside guy, and his neighborhood sits within the proposed boundaries. He foresaw the need for the AIA:

“When we passed the first AIA – it was my first year on the council – I was very supportive of it,” he said. “But I made the statement that the night we passed it was that the problem was not going to go away. It was going to shift to the south and to the east. And I told them I’d want their support on either expansion or creation of a new AIA.

“So, within a year, folks in the Lincoln Business District approached me and said, ‘We’ve got a problem.’ There was an inebriation problem right on 38th Street in the Lincoln Business District, but the numbers didn’t support that it was worthy of a full-blown AIA. Instead, the police department worked with business owners and some other folks and came up with a short-term solution.”

It wasn’t a permanent fix, he said.

=> Read more!

I just chatted with Bob McCautchan, an Eastside business outreach specialist for the City of Tacoma and the co-chairman of the group that brought the proposed Alcohol Impact Area.

As you might guess from his title, he’s big on the business angle of the AIA. But his main goal was making sure this was something the people wanted – not just the cops or politicians.

“In whatever we did, I wanted a community group or a business involved because I think that’s a big goal of the city that I totally subscribe to,” he said. “We ask the people what they want, and we provide the resources. It’s been my driving mantra since I began that I will always include business groups and bring them to the forefront.”

Seeing public drunkenness as just an alcohol-related problem is dangerous, he said.

“We need to get people to understand that it’s not just the (chronic public inebriants) that are the problem, but it’s the drug dealers that hide among them, it’s the prostitution, the cost to businesses where these people scare the customers away,” he said.

Many businesses were naturally opposed to a move that would lower their profits, but many fears are allayed during talks. And, he said, no stores in the original AIA went out of business because of it.

=> Read more!

I rarely link to other TNT blogs -- you should be reading all of them, right? -- but I'm a giant nerd when it comes to fighter jets, so you need to check this out: The Thunderbirds are coming to McChord Air Force Base for the Air Expo this summer.

Freaking. Awesome.

A backpack can’t always change the life of a student, but some are hoping it can at least greatly improve the weekend.

The Food Connection is distributing backpacks full of “kid-friendly” food to needy students at McCarver Elementary School in Tacoma. The students take the backpack home after school on Friday and return it the following Monday.

The program is entering its third week, and already it has the school’s counselor, Carol Ramm-Gramenz, excited.

“Our kids are highly impacted by poverty – between 93 and 95 percent are on free or reduced lunches,” she said. “We have kids who are in shelters or transitional housing or doubled-up housing. And so to have food they can call their own is a special thing. It’s very needed, and it gives them a bit of control over their lives.”

Kevin Glackin-Coley, the director of Food Connection, said a friend in Des Moines participated in a similar program, and he thought McCarver would be a good first school because of the students’ needs and its proximity to the food bank. Kids do better in school when they’re not hungry, he said, and he’d like to expand the program to Bryant Elementary and Stanley Elementary.

“We hope to make it an ongoing project,” he said. “We’ve had some great community support.”

=> Read more!

I'm starting the day at a bi-monthly roundtable of charities.

After that, it's back to the Alcohol Impact Area reporting. I'm meeting with Bob McCutcheon and Councilman Rick Talbert, both of whom played crucial roles in the formation of the new AIA. I'll tell you later today what they had to say.

I'm also looking for people with personal stories (positive or negative) about the original AIA. If interested, e-mail me at scott.fontaine@thenewstribune.com.

Live in and Tacoma and can’t get enough of yours truly’s coverage of Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium?

There’s a free day coming up.

Tacoma residents can enter the zoo for free on Friday. It’s a thank-you gesture for Tacoma voters, who approved a $35 million bond in 1999. To prove you’re a Tacoma resident, you need to bring proof of residency like a driver’s license with a current address of a utility bill.

An “I ♥ Qannik” t-shirt doesn’t count.

Watch Payton Foutz, the Rainiers' newest Rhubarb, at his audition:

For the first time in his 19 years in the Navy, Greg Renick watched a Seahawks playoff game at sea. There’s two good reasons for that, he said: Technology had advanced to the point of letting him watch it via satellite, and there were plenty of years when the Seahawks didn’t make it to the postseason.

Renick, a 37-year-old former resident of Woodinville, is a senior chief petty officer assigned to the USS Harry S. Truman in the Persian Gulf. He’s an operations specialist responsible for using radars, communications equipment and data information links to detect all aircraft, ships and submarines in order to defend the ship using our onboard aircraft and weapons systems.

He watched the game with several friends in their berthing compartment, a 12-foot-by-20-foot space that nine sailors share. It’s also 15 feet below the main portion of the flight deck where landing fighter jets hook onto arresting wires. That meant the football fans had to wear ear plugs during the entire game.

The E-2C Hawkeye squadron onboard is nicknamed the Seahawks, and Renick hoped it would be bring some good karma. Outside his berthing compartment, a banner hangs and displays pictures of families – including one in Packers attire.

“Seems like an omen now, after the fact,” he said.

Staff Sgt. Tommy Gwinn is fortunate: He doesn’t have to rely on the Armed Forces Network and hope it airs a Seahawks game. He has the NFL Sunday Ticket pay-per-view package.

Gwinn, a weather forecaster with the 612th Air Base Squadron, watches the games weekly with other Seattle fans in the Central American country. He lives in a "super-hootch": a four-room structure with a large common area.

Gwinn watched the game with another Hawks fan on a 52-inch big-screen TV. It quickly turned sour.

"We were so pumped after the first 5 minutes of the game when we went up 14-0," he said. "After it got tied, I bet we didn't say 10 words the rest of the game. It was quite disappointing."

Midnight is a quiet time at the Presidential Palace in Baghdad. Its marble-lined halls are largely empty, and the light in its immense rotunda is dim.

For three football fans, though, it was the place to be.

Maj. Brett D. McCreight works as a plans officer for the Joint Area Support Group-Central in the heart of the Green Zone. He’s also a big Seahawks fan, which is why he remained in his office early Sunday morning watching Seattle end its season with a 42-20 loss at Green Bay.

Two Packers fans – Lt. Col Ken Ryan and Spec. Jeremy Mills – joined McCreight for the game.

McCreight, though born in Colorado, is a lifelong Seahawks fan. He has family in Washington: a brother and sister-in-law in Olympia, grandparents in Spokane, and a brother, uncle and aunt in the Seattle area.

The three soldiers watched the game on the Armed Forces Network, which beams American sporting events to service members across the globe. But while watching the NFL playoffs might remind soldiers of the United States, there are telltale signs that they aren’t home.

Public-service announcements air during commercial breaks, and snowy, stable Wisconsin is about as far as one can get from Iraq.

McCreight, 33, has been deployed for almost eight months.

He had high hopes for the Hawks entering Saturday’s game. He said he was nervous when Chris Berman, an ESPN pundit with a habit of overreaching in his game predictions, picked Seattle to win.

When Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck connected with Bobby Engram to for an 11-yard touchdown pass to put Seattle up, 14-0, McCreight was excited.

“Big cheers in Baghdad!” he typed.

Mark Lee hasn’t watched a Seahawks game in person since Steve Largent’s final game in the Kingdome in 1989, but the Air Force master sergeant from Kennewick still watches his favorite team from his home in rural Germany when Armed Forces Network airs its games.

Lee is living in Beeck, a village near the border with the Netherlands while working as a software engineer the NATO Airborne Early Warning and Control Force E-3A Component. Several Boeing employees live and work in the area, which increases the small number of Seahawks fans.

“I've been a huge Seahawk fan since I was a kid,” he said, “and now my children love them as well.”

Andrew Henzel hadn’t slept in more than a day, but he mustered the energy to stay awake a few extra hours, and with good reason: The Air Force staff sergeant and Seahawks fan was reunited with his wife and father after a deployment to Turkey.

Henzel, a native of Walla Walla and member of the 488th Intelligence Squadron, is stationed at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk, England, but was deployed the past two months to Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey. He arrived Saturday morning and joined his father, who was visiting from Rainier, and his wife, a Chehalis native.

He hadn’t seen his wife in 60 days. It had been more than a year since seeing his father.

“During a deployment and especially through the holidays service members are always looking for those ties that bring you closer to home,” he said. “During this deployment Hawk games have done that for me and a few other Seahawks fans deployed with me.”

During the deployment to Turkey, Henzel and two Seahawks fans met every weekend in their dormitory’s common room to watch Seattle games. He called Seattle’s playoff victory against the Redskins last week “very intense,” and said there was a lot of yelling and cheering echoing throughout the dorm – even though it was 3 a.m.

He was disappointed with the Seahawks’ performance Saturday, he said, but valued the time with his family.

“I haven't gone to sleep yet and have been up for 38 hours,” he said before kickoff. “I told myself I wasn't going to sleep until after the game.”

I'm chatting with several people today. Later I'll post stories from these folks:

Maj. Brett D. McCreight, who is watching in Baghdad.

Mark Lee, who is working for NATO in Germany.

Andrew Henzel, back at RAF Mildenhall in the United Kingdom after a deployment to Turkey.

Thomas Gwinn, an Air Force weather forecaster in Honduras.

Greg Renick, who is serving aboard the USS Harry S. Truman in the Persian Gulf.

Daniel Jose, an airman stationed at NSA Souda Bay in Greece but serving in Turkey.

There might be a few more adding stories later.

They wanted to see Rhubarb cheer a game-winning home run, and he waved his arms as he bounded across the room.

They wanted to see Rhubarb upset with a tough loss, and he collapsed and pounded his fists against the door.

They wanted to see Rhubarb react to a cute girl in the stands, and he flashed his best come-hither look.

They wanted to see Rhubarb interact with a muscle-bound jock, and he flexed and pointed to his noticeably flat biceps.

They threw almost every kind of scenario at Rhubarb – how to act shy, flirt with a girl several sections away, dance to funk and calm a scared child – and when the audition was almost over, Payton Foutz removed the oversized reindeer head, wiped the sweat off his brow and flashed a bright smile.

“Man,” he said, “that was fun.”

Foutz, a 20-year-old South Hill resident, was one of seven people auditioning this weekend to play the part of Rhubarb, the mascot of the Tacoma Rainiers. Whoever is selected will make more than 150 appearances a year, including games and community events.

The candidates met with several employees of the Triple-A baseball club at its headquarters in University Place, and then put on the Rhubarb costume – complete with a baseball jersey on top of his brown fur and a head with a Rainiers hat and large antlers.

But before the interview began in earnest, Foutz, a recent Clover Park Technical College graduate loosened the atmosphere by distributing packets of Pez candies. He impressed the panel of judges by explaining he was an Eagle Scout and with his knowledge of American Sign Language – useful because Rhubarb, like most other mascots, can’t talk.

Foutz peppered the interview with a bit of humor. His mother is battling rectal cancer, he said, and he wanted to get a tattoo with a blue ribbon. The logical place?

“I got it right on my butt,” he said. “And yes, it hurt. A lot.”

He donned the Rhubarb costume and went through several drills. He first had to demonstrate position awareness of several of the costume’s body parts. He then showed his range of emotions. Judges put him in several scenarios – for example, they asked how he would interact with a drunken fan – and watched his reaction. They asked him to “walk like Rhubarb would walk” and then dance to 1970s-era funk music.

The judges finished by asking Foutz if he had thought of a unique move he could demonstrate. Foutz asked Tony Canepa, the creative director for the Rainiers’ parent company, Schlegel Sports, to stand in the middle of the room. Foutz then ran behind Canepa, placed his hands on his shoulders and leaped over him.

After a few last questions, Foutz was finished – and encouraged by the audition.

“I made them laugh the whole time,” he said. “I don’t think I answered any of the questions poorly – I was worried a wrong word would slip out.”

The Rainiers staff will make a decision in the next few days, said team spokesman Geoff Corkum.

Foutz’s hair was matted with sweat when he stepped out of the costume. He said he considers himself to be in good shape, but he had no idea how much of a workout it was.

“It’s a lot hotter and a lot harder than most people think,” said Canepa, who was a mascot during his college days at UNLV and later worked as a mascot with the Las Vegas 51s. “Plus you have to have great personality and showmanship, and you really want to entertain. You have to be somebody people want to hang out with.

“We’re really looking for someone who’s comfortable in their own skin.”

Coming later today, we'll be checking in with service members (and Seahawks fans) stationed in Iraq, Turkey, the United Kingdom and Honduras.

“Superhuman” doesn’t quite fit the scenario, so John Houck calls it a “superanimal” feat – but one he’s certain won’t happen.

For a tiger to escape the showcase exhibit at Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, it would have to leap up 13 feet past wire meshing and turn in midair to grab hold of a rock wall and pull itself over.

Houck, the zoo’s deputy director, calls it “so remote a possibility” that it could happen. Still, crews were working Friday afternoon to extend the wire mesh by more than three feet. It’s part of a thorough check of its animal facilities which have led to safety modifications to the tiger areas and a temporary closure of the polar bear exhibit.

“We don’t want any animal -- no matter if it’s a rabbit, a frog, a web-weaving spider or an elephant – to escape,” he said. “It might be different scales, but the same assessments go on for everything.”

But after an escaped tiger escaped its pen on Christmas at the San Francisco Zoo, attacked three people and killed one, the incident cast a critical light on enclosures of potentially dangerous animals. Zookeepers must balance safety with keeping the animals close enough for customers to get a good view.

In the tiger exhibit, the distance from the highest ground point to the end of the wire mesh was 13 feet. The Felid Taxon Advisory Group guidelines recommended a distance of 16.4 feet, so Point Defiance crews added about an extra three feet of mesh.

A fence that runs along the sides of the exhibit will also be extended.

=> Read more!

Bert Hayes dug in a file cabinet, chose a old log book at random and began reading.

“Business owner complaining about narcotics and alcohol,” said Hayes, a community liaison officer with the Tacoma Police Department. “Transient problem. Alcohol problem. Another alcohol problem. I just opened to a random page.”

And that was just the morning of April 1, 2006.

“I can go through any book and flip page after page after page after page and probably a full half of some of my months were transient-related, alcohol-related, panhandling-related problems,” he continued. “If we can eliminate these problems, it frees up a huge amount of time to devote to other problems.”

See why he’s such a supporter of the proposed Alcohol Impact Area in Tacoma’s South End and Eastside?

When Hayes met community leaders in Sector 4 – which encompasses the Eastside – they agreed that public drunkenness had to be reduced. Many calls for service were along walking paths to schools in the area, and it led to a score of other problems, from an increase in public dumping to public health problems.

“We didn’t originally think about the AIA program,” he said. “We just talked about how we were going to fight the problem on the street. It became apparent it was too big. It was a very big problem.”

The positive results of Tacoma’s original Alcohol Impact Area encouraged neighborhood leaders. They organized walking tours of the area and discovered discarded cans and bottles. (Olde English 800 was the most common.) The neighborhood groups, many of which rarely collaborated on projects, joined energies and grew in strength.

“I don’t have the time, nor do I think it’s proper for the police department to spearhead something like this,” Hayes said. “It has to be community-driven. And that’s what happened with it. They took the ball and started running with it.

“We had every almost every community group on the Eastside and others in the South End talking and building alliances. From that point, the communities took it over and ramrodded it through.”

The proposed AIA is part of a three-pronged plan with the housing-first initiative and panhandling ordinance to fight chronic homelessness, Hayes said. And a reduction in homelessness frees up police officers to work on other cases.

=> Read more!

I talked with Susan Reams, a communications consultant with the Washington State Liquor Control Board, about the proposed Alcohol Impact Area in Tacoma. She was helpful with a lot of background information, and there were a few points of the law that I didn't know before:

· The law allows jurisdictions to ban the sale of particular brands, but not categories of drinks. So MD 20/20 and Olde English 800 might be out, but the city can't outright remove fortified wines and malt liquor from the shelves.

· When the law goes into effect (usually a few months after approved), the drinks must be off the shelves immediately. In some cases of banned products around the country, stores are allowed to sell off their remaining inventory. Not so in Washington. Said Reams: "In Seattle, for example, we did mailing to licensees to tell them what was coming up and what to expect. We included a list of products so they could remove it from their shelves. That way they could return things to distributors and not order any more."

· And I just wondered why the City of Tacoma couldn't just designate its entire territory an AIA. The law says you can't do it, Reams said. For one, the law doesn't allow it. (According to the Washington State Code, one of the rules of the AIA is that it "comprises a geographic area that does not include the entire territory of the local jurisdiction.") However, there doesn't seem to be a maximum ceiling set.

So, if I'm reading things correctly, if the city jumped through the necessary hoops for everything else, it could designate everything but, say, a one-block area of Northeast Tacoma as an Alcohol Impact Area.

Candace Brown knows a few fliers aren’t going to end illegal human trafficking. But she wants commuters to realize that there might be something sinister happening beside them.

The frightened woman with no luggage waiting for a train might be a victim of human trafficking. So could a girl showing the signs of physical abuse who is being closely watched. Brown and three other members of the Tacoma chapter of Soroptimist International were passing out fliers to Sounder commuters early Friday morning on National Day of Human Trafficking Awareness to raise awareness of the problem.

“If all we’re doing today causes one person to notice,” said Brown, the chapter secretary, “we could save someone’s life.”

Human-rights groups estimate that 12 to 27 million people are living in a state of slavery or indentured servitude, and the United Nations estimates 800,000-900,000 are trafficked across international borders – overwhelmingly for the commercial sex business. About 80 percent of trafficking victims are women, and the sale of people is estimated to be $10 billion annually, according to the UN.

Members from other Soroptimist chapters passed out leaflets at train stations in Auburn and Seattle. They chose transit centers because trafficked women are often transported to their destination via bus depots, train stations and airports, Runbeck said.

The Tacoma chapter had 200 leaflets to distribute, and they were almost gone by 7:15 a.m.

Most of the commuters passing through Freighthouse Square, where the women distributed the fliers, seemed interested. Some asked for a few extras. That encouraged chapter president Jan Runbeck, who said many people often develop tunnel-vision and can miss the warning signs around them.

There have been reports of sexual trafficking in 20 states, according to Soroptimist International. An estimated 14,500-17,500 people are trafficked into the United States each year. The University of Washington Women’s Center is studying the problem of human trafficking in the Northwest, but statistics aren’t yet available.

“We know it happens,” said Bernie Bell. “It happens here. It happens everywhere. And people need to be aware of it.”

=> Read more!

At The News Tribune, we're always trying to find different ways to cover the Seahawks and the team's fans. We occasionally need help with coverage, and finding the right people for an article for Sunday's edition is proving difficult.

We're hoping to talk to service members who are deployed overseas and fans of the Seahawks. (We'll take a Packers fan or two as well.) We'd like to chat with them during or after the game -- it kicks off at midnight Sunday in Baghdad -- and tell the rest of our readers how football helps maintain that link to home.

So if you know someone from Washington or in a unit based at a Washington military installation, please e-mail scott.fontaine@thenewstribune.com or call 253-320-4758.

No, that isn't a typo in the time. I'm up earlier than usual today.

First stop is the Tacoma train station. A local civic group is out there this morning trying to raise awareness for illegal human trafficking. I'll chat with them and hopefully post some audio in a bit.

Shortly after I'll be heading to McCarver Elementary School, where a food bank has been providing backpacks full of weekend grub for needy students.

Later I'm heading to Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium. There have been some safety changes there I'll update you on.

And I'll be chatting with more folks about the proposed Alcohol Impact Area in the South End and Eastside of Tacoma.

Pat McGregor of the Whitman Area Neighbors was one of the driving forces behind the proposed Alcohol Impact Area that would encompass the South End and Eastside of Tacoma.

He bought his house in 1999 and has worked with neighbors to clean up the area, including driving out a drug dealer. He also lives just south of the boundaries of Tacoma’s original AIA.

“In about 2004, I started noticing an increase in street drunks in the neighborhood,” he said. “I had already known about the first AIA but wasn’t sure what we could do. I e-mailed (Councilman) Rick Talbert and asked what we could do. He said it was a long process if you’re thinking of creating an Alcohol Impact Area.

“We organized a walking tour of the Lincoln Business District. We just wanted to see what the issues were. We had about 50 people attend – business owners, residents, city staff, all kinds of people.

“It was easy for me to say there was a problem, but I didn’t have any information. I contacted the Tacoma Fire Department and Tacoma Police Department and said, ‘What are the stats? Do you even keep track of it?’ They both responded with these density maps, and you could see where the hotspots were.”

=> Read more!

One of the area’s funniest blogs, No Rhubarb, is back – and finds a reason to rip on the Tacoma Rainiers’ loveable mascot.

The subject line about Saturday's Rhubarb tryouts: "Feel Like Selling Your Soul To Satan?"

Classic.

I just got off the phone with Paul McNutt, one of the guys who helped a hard-luck farmer near Dryad, Lewis County.

This time, they're taking on a bigger project.

One of the farmer's neighbors has been in rough shape since an accident at the Port of Seattle. The floods last month forced him and his family to the roof of their house, where they watched everything they owned break under the pressure of the water.

Now a group of volunteers is building a new house for them. They're getting some help from a few Tacoma residents, too -- a painter and a man with an excavator volunteered to help any way they could after reading last week's story in the TNT.

"I asked the wife what she wanted out of the house," McNutt said, "and all she said is that she wanted a roof over her head. That's all.

"We want to make this like 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.' We want to get as many people as possible to help build this."

We're talking Alcohol Impact Area again today.

I'll be talking with some of the key players who contributed to helping the proposed AIA -- which includes basically the entire southeastern portion of Tacoma -- a near-reality.

Frank Castro, fleet manager for Tacoma Public Utilities, explains the advantages of a plug-in hybrid below:

I was stopped at a traffic light on South Tacoma Way when the engine killed. I instinctually cringed. Usually when that happens, a hefty bill isn’t far off.

Frank Castro then leaned over from the passenger seat to remind me that not only was this normal, the energy conservation when stopped was one of the benefits of driving a hybrid.

“Instead of idling and using up power,” said Castro, the fleet manager for Tacoma Public Utilities, “it just shuts it off. When it’s stop-and-go, it saves a lot of power.”

I was driving one of the utility company’s two plug-in hybrids Wednesday morning. The Toyota Priuses received after-market conversions of a Manzania Micro battery pack, which allow them to drive about 20 miles under only electricity. The cars are largely used for inner-city, short-distance driving, making the setup ideal.

Like other hybrids, though, it also relies on its internal-combustion engine when the battery runs low or when it needs a bit of extra power for acceleration or to drive faster than 35 mph.

The battery pack, which takes up about half of the trunk, holds five kilowatt/hours. It takes about six hours – and 30 cents at today’s rates – to recharge.

Learning to drive without the gasoline engine kicking in takes a bit of practice. Computer screens on the dashboard keep the driver aware of different power levels. When the engine switches from all-electric to gasoline, it emits a beep. (With an electric engine, the beep is one of the only audible sounds the car produces.)

During a quick zip around South Tacoma, I tried to drive as far as I could on the all-electric mode. At first, it wasn’t easy. Every time I accelerated, the beep taunted me. But after about 10 minutes my foot’s touch was light enough to cruise much of South Tacoma Way on all-electric.

TPU received the outfitted cars in December, and it also has 23 non-plug-in hybrids. They’re used as pool cars for the company’s employees.

The cars cost $23,000 each, and Tacoma Public Utilities paid $13,000 for the plug-in conversion kit. The plug-ins aren’t produced on a mass scale, Castro said, but if they were, they have the potential to save lots of money over the life of the cars.

=> Read more!

I don’t know if this guy is a regular at Tacoma City Council meetings, but the collective groan when he approached the podium made me think he is. Or maybe it was just the cool-guy shades inside (hello, Corey Hart), the Mardi Gras beads (bling with a retail price of $4), floppy hat (is he hunting crocodiles?) or suspenders on top of a polo shirt (Urkel’s cousin?).

But either way, he made a fool of himself. Enjoy this video (shamelessly ripped off my TiVoed broadcast of the meeting):

The video doesn’t show that when the speaker was approaching the podium, one councilmember’s voice was heard on the mike saying, “He better make this quick.” Another grumbled, “Oh brother.”

And I’m not sure whether I should give Bill Baarsma props for scolding the guy, or shake my head at Baarsma scolding the guy and then telling him that if he says something like that again, then he’ll be kicked out. That's the spirit!

Again, I get to do something pretty dang cool today. I'm going to be meeting some folks from Tacoma Public Utilities to test-drive one of their new plug-in electric trucks.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Want to know why some boundaries of the proposed AIA were drawn where they are?

Donald Lachman, who seems to be behind every major project or trend in the area, explained that one point of the AIA was to draw the boundaries to prevent customers from walking an extra block to purchase the high-octane alcohol. That, he said, is why the borders are extended far past some trouble spots.

Want free entertainment? Watch a Tacoma City Council meeting and check your e-mail. If you're lucky enough to be on a mass mailing list and the topic has piqued the interest of a certain councilwoman¹, you can read an e-mail, look at the councilwoman as she types on a laptop and then see her response pop up in your inbox.

And it happens again half an hour later.

I don't know why, but I find this funny.

^{1 -- Let's call her Julie A. Wait, no, that's too vague. Let's call her J. Anderson.}

Tacoma Councilman Rick Talbert said at Tuesday's council meeting that he supported the first AIA but knew it would push the problem southward (and into his district, which encompasses the Eastside).

“We were the first in the state and it was the right thing to do. And I said then, ‘When I come back to you in two years, four years or six years, I’m going to expect that same support.’ And, of course, there’s been nothing but from support from this body since it began.”

Lincoln Business District approached Talbert in 2003 shortly after the passage of the original area, he said, because they noticed an increase in littered high-octane-drink bottles. Talbert met with police and representatives from the business district, but they agreed it was too early to start discussions about another AIA.

The next year, Talbert said, police officials approached Talbert and Councilwoman Connie Ladenburg and said the problem was getting worse. Talbert said he got neighborhood groups involved, and soon he and others decided to push the liquor board for a large AIA.

“It’s not going to solve all the problems, and I’m not going to be naïve enough to think that the areas outside that boundary might not begin to see the same problems. But by taking such a large approach and taking so far to the south, east and west of where you see the concentration of problems … The message to the folks who are searching for this type of beverage is that Tacoma is just not the place to go. It’s just too difficult.

Unfortunately, the state won’t allow us to draw a line around our boundaries and say, ‘No more of this.’"

The bottles of Boone's Farm and MD 20/20 splash a rainbow of color inside the back refrigerators of Nite-N-Day Deli Mart on Tacoma's Eastside. The electric blues, reds, oranges and greens seem belie the products' controversial nature.

The wines -- along with malt liquor, which the store also sells -- will be gone if the proposed Alcohol Impact Area goes into effect.

Owner Chan Chong realizes the AIA is aimed to clean up the streets, but he points out that it seems to target the poorest area of Tacoma. He wouldn't have much of a problem if the ban on high-octane beer and wine covered the entire city, he said.

"Some of my customers only have 99 cents for a beer when they come in," he said. "This will just limit their choice of what they can get."

Paul Namkung is bracing himself for a big financial hit. His convenience store, K&J Food Mart on Tacoma's Eastside, falls within the proposed limits of the new Alcohol Impact Area. The store stocks 40-ounce bottles of Mickey's, Olde English 800 and Steel Reserve and other high-octane beers. If the proposed AIA is passed, he will be forced to stop selling them.

They drinks make up for about 20 percent of his store's revenue, he said. And, Namkung adds, it's not like he owns a large chain of stores that could absorb the drop in revenues. It's a one-store show.

"I don't like it," he said. If drinks with a high alcohol content are the problem, "then why is the state running liquor stores? Those drinks have a lot more alcohol."

And as much as he doesn't like it, he seems to have accepted the new rules.

"It will hurt people like me," he said, "but if the city wants to make these new rules, there's no stopping them. They'll just do it."

Thank you, Associated Press, for this gem:

SEATTLE (AP) — Comforted by buckets of fresh cantaloupe, apples and carrots, the Woodland Park Zoo’s 29-year-old Asian elephant, Chai, was artificially inseminated over the weekend.

This is in from my man Geoff Corkum at the Rainiers: You can be Rhubarb.

What: Tacoma Rainiers mascot tryouts
When: 10 a.m. Saturday
Where: Tacoma Rainiers administrative offices
3560 Bridgeport Way W., Suite 3E
University Place

The Tacoma City Council tonight will give a first reading to a proposed Alcohol Impact Area. With the coordinates provided by the city and a little help from Google Maps, it's obvious that the new district will swallow up much of the city:

I just met with Kathleen Olson, the chairwoman of the Global Neighbor Project. She was just giving me some background on the organization, which hopes to raise $50,000 this year as part of a three-year commitment for the eastern Lesotho village of Sekameng.

It seems like a really, really cool organization, and I plan on giving you updates throughout the year on it.

Now that's what I'm talkin' about...

The Tacoma City Council tonight will give a first reading to the proposed Alcohol Impact Area in the Lincoln District. I'll be at the meeting tonight, and I'll also swing by some stores in the impacted area to see what they have to say about pulling the product from their shelves.

I'll also be meeting about the Global Neighbor Project.

And I'll leave you with this video clip. Nothing like being on the receiving end of one of Nelson Muntz's haw-haws.

When I worked in sports, folks always asked what the press box was like. They hear stories of free food (that's true), cigar smoking and liquor guzzling (not as true) and a good view of the game (depends where you'd be sitting otherwise).

So I decided to snap a few shots from the Qwest Field press box. It's a pretty good one, and there are some that are far worse. But here's the view of the field:

And here's what it looks like after a game. Notice the long row of reporters nervously snapping away at their keyboards. (It is work for us.) I was seated in almost the exact center of it, so basically it's twice as long as this photo shows:

Buzzing Qwest Field before the game in a helicopter was cool enough. But getting to stand on the sideline during the third quarter of the game? That was more than just a cool experience.

“It was an amazing experience,” said John Culley, a medical technician.

About 10 Coast Guard members received deafening cheers when they stood near the southwest end zone. They waved 12th Man flags and motioned for the fans to get louder – which they did.

They performed a flyover of the stadium in an HH-60 Jayhawk and two HH-65 Charlies before the game. They then landed at Boeing Field and received a VIP treatment at the game.

After the quick stop on the field, a Seahawks staffer escorted them to the club level. As they walked through the restaurant, several customers cheered and shook their hands.

It was the first time on the field for many of the service members, including Lt. Keith Trepanier.

“I’m not sure how exactly this got set up,” he said, “but it was just awesome. Just, just pretty cool.”

Culley, who is stationed in Port Angeles, said it was tough to comprehend how large the stadium is until he stood on it.

“It definitely makes you feel small,” he said.

The freebie giveaway today was electric green caps. As my coworker Jeff Hendrickson says, "It's a color that was never in style, not even in the '70s."

That's true, but they really stand out against the dark blue of the other Hawks gear.

Renee Vinje was standing in line for a mocha when the Redskins scored their first touchdown of the game, and she said it might have been the best place for her to be.

Groans from the crowd echoed throughout Qwest Field's club level, where the bank manager from Kent was standing.

Still, there are few places she'd rather be than at a Seahawks game, win or loss.

"Oh yeah, I'm a 12-year ticket holder," she said. "I just love coming here. I love seeing all the fans and hearing how loud it gets. It's great."

Marcus Trufant (insert reference to his alma mater, Wilson High School, here) just scored on an interception return. The press box is shaking.

The place is going nuts.

Three security guards were just escorting out a Hawks fan who was wearing a Shaun Alexander jersey. I couldn't get all the details, but I think he was throwing things onto other fans.

His plea to the guards? "You can't arrest me! I'm not even from this country! I'm Canadian!"

Near the bottom of the globe, an American crew took off from a New Zealand runway to help a stranded British ship.

In one of the most treacherous reaches of the earth, a crew comprised of units based at McChord Air Force Base were the heroes Friday.

The Argos Georgia, a British fishing trawler, was stuck since Christmas Eve amidst floes near the Ross Ice Shelf deep below the Antarctic Circle. A broken engine piston left the ship without main power for six days. Dangerous icebergs weren’t far off. Two low-pressure systems were approaching the area, and Lt. Col. Jim McGann, the commander of Operation Deep Freeze, didn’t need Doppler radar to know that the trawler’s 25-person crew was in trouble.

“You could see two big sets of dark clouds coming in,” he said. “And once that gets rocking, those icebergs look even more dangerous. Those guys were going to be in a lot of trouble if they didn’t get any help.”

Other options to save the stranded crew would take at least 10 days, so on Friday night, a C-17 Globemaster III with an Air Force crew comprised of units from McChord Air Force Base took off from Christchurch, New Zealand, and airdropped the engine part to the trawler.

McGann received a call Friday from New Zealand Rescue Coordination Center asking for help. The request from the owner of the ship’s company went through several layers of bureaucracy – submitted through the British Embassy, and then approved by Pacific Command, Transportation Command and the Air Mobility Command – before the situation was designated an emergency and approved.

This time, the machine worked quickly.

“They approved it in 18 hours,” he said. “That’s pretty spectacular.”

The airmen purchased the engine parts from a local marine store and picked up parachutes from McMurdo Station. Crews palletized the equipment and attached buoys on them. The C-17 flew at about 135 mph and as low as 300 feet above at the surface as it approached the ship, and it dropped the 15-by-7½-foot pallet at just after 10 p.m. New Zealand time. The crew recovered the shipment in about five minutes.

The mission took about 10 hours.

“I’ve flown more than 50 missions down here, and yesterday’s mission was one of the most spectacular I’ve ever flown,” McGann said.

The 118-foot vessel, registered in the British overseas territory of St. Helena in the South Atlantic, was on a long-haul fishing expedition.

Operation Deep Freeze is a joint mission with crews from the 62nd and 446th Airlift Wings based at McChord Air Force Base assisting the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Antarctic Program. They’re there six months a year to airlift supplies to research stations in Antarctica.

“We have a motto: ‘Global Reach,’ ” McGann said. “And yesterday’s mission demonstrates that we can be anywhere in the world in hours. It demonstrated we can do it, and that we do do it.”

I just got off the phone with Lt. Col. Jim McGann, the mission commander for Operation Deep Freeze. I was talking to him about a mission to drop a crucial engine part to a fishing trawler trapped below the Antarctic Circle.

I mentioned I was at Qwest Field, and he got pumped. The game apparently isn’t on TV in Christchurch, New Zealand.

“What’s the score, man?” he said. I told him the Hawks were up, 7-0, and he let out a little cheer.

The B.C. Lions probably don’t see rowdy crowds like this.

A group of friends from British Columbia – and one guy who calls himself their “token American” were relaxing with red wine (in red plastic cups) and cigars in the Qwest Field parking lot before kickoff.

They were partying outside of a brown RV that has “been coming to games since 198-God knows when,” said Greg Taylor of Edmonds. “It was here at the Kingdome. But it’s definitely not new.”

Frank Robertson and Jeff Greenberg left their homes in Vancouver, B.C., before 5 a.m. to make it to the game. They arrived in Seattle at 7:30 a.m. and have been partying since.

They feasted on prime rib, kebabs, vegetable plates, Caesar salad, baked potatoes and sandwiches.

Like other fans, they didn’t hesitate to brag about the noise level at Qwest Field – or their participation in making it that way.

“With the crazy Canucks here, it’s going to be a party,” Greenberg said.

Chris Satterwhite is a Redskins fan. His wife, Christina, is a 49ers fan. And his son, Alec?

“Well, he’s a whoever-is-playing fan,” Chris said.

Four-year-old Alec corrected his dad.

“Go Redskins!” he yelled.

That gave Chris one of those proud-to-be-a-father smiles.

Chris’ father is fron Landover, Mich., raised him to be a Skins fan. They flew up from Reno, Nev., for the game and have tickets in Section 105 – right behind the Washington bench.
He knows Redskins fans will be outnumbered and outyelled. Still, he said, he’s been looking forward to this game for weeks.

“This should be a great, great experience.”

It started with a thousand bucks and a set of Mariners tickets. It’s turned into a weekly tradition.

Bothell’s Dustin Trioux drives his decommissioned short bus to each Seahawks home game. On Saturday morning, he and 10 friends were partying in the Qwest Field parking lot. There were plenty of drinks and grub – and some pregame trash-talking.

“It’s going to get so loud out there,” he said, “the Skins won’t know what to do. It will probably be as loud as it ever haws been.”

Trioux purchased the bus a few years ago in Lynnwood. The previous owner’s car broke down, and she was using the bus on a road trip. Trioux offered her $1,000 and some Mariners tickets for it, and she took it.

They repainted the stop sign black and added a decal of a Hawks helmet. And the bus’ number? Twelve, of course.

“It’s a fun, safe way to travel to the game with some friends,” he said.

Don’t worry – they’re still on speaking terms.

Kerry Beamish fell in love with the Washington Redskins three decades ago while watching quarterback Joe Theismann play. He arrived at Saturday’s game at Qwest Field dressed to root for his team – he wore a Redskins jersey, wrapped himself in a maroon-and-yellow blanket pinned together with a giant “Go Skins!” button. And – in case there was any doubt who he supports – his face was painted in Washington’s colors.

His son, Tristen, isn’t exactly siding with dad. Underneath a camoflauge jacket, he wore a Ben Obomanu jersey.

Kerry’s not holding it against him.

“His allegiances are Seahawks first, and then the Skins,” he said. “But he won’t switch for this game.”

I'm at Qwest Field for today's Seahawks-Redskins playoff game. I'm going to be posting vignettes about fans throughout today's action.

There's also a McChord AFB story in the pipeline.

Want to know how three regular guys decided to help a farmer in rural Lewis County? It happened like this:

Chuck Webster’s business, Sound Mobile Alignment in Tenino, specializes in alignments for tractor-trailers and took a financial hit when the floods forced the State Department of Transportation to close a stretch of Interstate 5. Some of his neighbors’ homes were flooded, but his remained dry.

Webster called a neighbor, Paul McNutt, and the two decided to rent heavy equipment and volunteer their help two days after the freeway reopened. They first tried the FEMA office in Rochester but discovered there wasn’t much tractor work needed. They headed to Adna, Lewis County, parked their cars in the fire department parking lot and drove down the street in the tractor and Bobcat and asked if anyone needed help.

They spent most of the day cleaning up – and there was plenty of work. Some houses were still submerged under 15 feet of water. In other places, where the waters receded, layers of mud and muck 8 feet thick remained. Roads and driveways buckled and crumbled in the floods. Trees and power lines bent under the wind and crashed through buildings and blocked roadways.

Some people were so emotionally shattered by the experience that they didn’t even seem affected by the destruction, Webster said. County officials, though, seemed more than gracious for the help: They would wave them through checkpoints blocking closed roads.

They soon heard of a sheep farmer who lost most of his livestock in the floods. They returned the next weekend, teamed with Paul Wendler, a concrete designer from Olympia, and the three helped clean the sheep farmer’s property.

“We basically did nothing but move mud for days,” McNutt said. “Twice we started before the sun was up and finished after the sun set.”

=> Read more!

Lui and I are back from the tractor dropoff. It's tough to describe, but so many parts of rural Lewis County are still in bad, bad shape. Houses falling over, fields covered in muck, crumbled roads, etc.

Here are two snapshots from Dilwyn Griffith's farm:

South Tacoma can be a goldmine:

I’m riding down Interstate 5 with Chuck Webster. He’s delivering a repaired tractor to a man whose property was devastated during the December 2006 flooding.

I’ll bring you more as the day goes on, but here are some quotes about his desire to help:

I didn’t do it for the notoriety. I did it because I just wanted to help. I was frustrated with the lack of large-scale help. And then I remembered watching Katrina and not being able to do anything about it.

It started with one weekend. We figured we’d just see who we could help. And then you meet another family that needs help, so we went down for another weekend. And then you hear a horror story that tops that, and soon you’re heading down pretty frequently. There’s so much to be done.

We didn’t know anyone down there. We just pulled up and asked if they needed help. They all said, ‘Yeah, but we’re flat broke.’ I told them it wasn’t a big deal. They wondered how. I was just doing it out of genuine concern for my neighbors.

As seen in South Tacoma:

If you read Jason Hagey’s article about the master plan for Point Defiance Park and have some questions for the experts at Metro Parks, there’s a meeting later this month for you to raise your concerns.

It’s from 6-8 p.m. on Jan. 17 at the Metro Parks headquarters at 4702 S. 19th Street in Tacoma.

The final approval of the plan to the Metro Parks board will likely happen next month.

The master plan can be read here.

We're going to give a trip to southwestern Washington another try today. I'll let you know as soon as I find out if it's on or not.

Until then, I'm going to set up a few meetings with people involved with the Global Neighbors Project, a charity which has linked the unlikely partners of Tacoma and Sekameng, Lesotho.

The flooded-out tractor still needs a few more repairs, so we're not heading down to southwestern Washington today. We plan on going tomorrow.

Until then, I had Tom Ecker explain what his shop did to have to repair the tractors that were rescued out of the muck after the December 2007 floods.

For years, Emmy Trotter had a prime view of dozens of cars backed up in front of her house in Tacoma’s North End, courtesy of a four-way stop at the intersection of North 26th and Orchard streets.

Student dropoff and pickup at Mont Downing Elementary School usually caused traffic crunches in the morning and afternoon. Sometimes it wasn’t worth the effort to attempt a left turn. So when the City of Tacoma installed a traffic light at the intersection last month, she was delighted.

“I love it because it keeps better control of the traffic in the neighborhood,” she said. “My husband requested a light for this intersection 30 years ago.”

But not all were as enthusiastic when the light was installed.

Neighbors and parents of students who attend the school were worried the light could increase traffic speed in the neighborhood. Principal Susan Goerger said she’s worried drivers might run a red light or make a quick left turn and not see children. Tacoma School District officials also raised concerns about it, a city traffic engineer said.

But two crossing guards who worked Thursday, the first day back from winter break, praised the change.

=> Read more!

I talked to Kurtis Kingsolver, a traffic engineer with the City of Tacoma, about the traffic light at North 26th Street and Orchard.

Here's what he had to say:

"This started a long time ago, probably eight or 10 years ago. When we look at signals, we have what we call signal warrants. There are nine different warrants. When you meet those warrants, it warrants a signal. That doesn’t mean we have money for it; it just means we have a signal warranted at that location. It’s been that way for many years.

"We discussed this with the school district, with the principal and with the crossing guards. The problem is that over the year, the school district cycles their principals around and it’s very likely the principal today wasn’t the one we talked to three years ago. Same thing with crossing guards – they kind of come and go as their kids move on to different schools.

"It was a real concern at the time by the school district and the crossing guard. When you have a four-way stop, it’s a good control, but people get irritated. And they start juking and jiving for position, and the crossing guard was continually in close calls. And so we moved forward with the signal, but it took several years to get it funded. We could have installed this seven, eight, nine years ago. But it took that long to get a grant for the funding. All of our signals are grant-funded, and this one was no exception."

Pierce County’s method of dealing with teenage criminals is winning praise from a Tennessean columnist.

After explaining systems in Missouri and Washington, here's what Dwight Lewis had to say:

Let's go, Tennessee: Let's get on the ball and come up with some similar reforms when it comes to our juvenile justice system instead of locking up more of our youngsters. Yes, those who commit serious crimes cannot be babied, but let's try to get to them before they commit such crimes.

Got a full slate today. I'm first heading to the corner of North 26th Street and Orchard to talk to more folks about the new traffic light.

After that, photographer Lui Kit Wong and I are heading to southwestern Washington to follow a man who fixes farm equipment destroyed by the December floods for free.

My RSS feeder just kicked up this story: Jack van Ommen, a Gig Harbor resident and Vietnam veteran, returned to the southeastern Asian country aboard his 30-foot boat.

School is back in session tomorrow at Mont Downing Elementary School in Tacoma’s North End, and families dropping their kids off will notice something new: a traffic light has been installed at North 26th Street and Orchard.

The light has split neighbors. Some have wanted it for a while. Others worry the increased speed – it was previously a four-way stop – will create potential danger to the schoolchildren.

“I wasn’t necessarily for it or against it, but I was surprised that they would put one in near the school,” said Susan Goerger, the school’s principal. “It seems to me it’s safer and easier for kids when everyone’s always stopping at the intersection. Now I’m worried people are going to run the light or make a left turn without stopping first and they won’t see the kids.

“I just see it as a danger to the children more so than a convenience for traffic.”

Teachers have talked to their students about it, crossing guards have received more training and the school has contacted families about the light.

“My biggest worry is the safety of the kids,” she said.

Emmy Trotter, who lived across the street from the school, said traffic has improved since the light was installed.

“I love it because it keeps better control of the traffic in the neighborhood,” she said. “My husband requested a light for this intersection 30 years ago.”

I drive South 56th Street more than a Seattle short-haul trucker plies Interstate 5. I’m also a big fan of Mexican restaurants and frequent Taqueria El Antojo on McKinley Hill. So when I was making one of my daily trips from my place in the South End to the fiancée’s place in University Place, I noticed that Taqueria El Antojo was opening a South Tacoma restaurant.

I was pumped.

I also noticed that the property fenced off was mighty small for a restaurant, but I didn’t think much of it. Soon a shed took up about a fifth of the property. A few weeks later, the sign said it was now open, but there was no restaurant in sight.

The next morning, I saw it. A taco truck.

Except it’s not just a taco truck. It’s more than that. It takes credit cards (a rarity in the industry) and the shed has a few tables and chairs so you can sit and your meal. They drive it away at night and return in the morning.

I don’t know what to call it: A super taco truck? A taco truck plus? A mobile restaurant?

Either way, I felt like Thomas Watson, Alexander Graham Bell’s assistant. I didn’t invent the new technology, but I felt like I was steeped in what Thomas Kuhn calls revolutionary science – right on the verge of a paradigm shift.

So to you, Taqueria El Antojo, I can do nothing but applaud. And order a quesadilla.

=> Read more!

What's controversial about this intersection at North 26th Street and Orchard in Tacoma? Stay tuned...

I ran across this story on Bill Simpson, the mayor-elect of Aberdeen who grew up in Tacoma and was in one of Wilson High School’s first graduating classes.

Dear Portland:

You’re a great city. Powell’s Books enticed me to spend way too much. The folks at McMenamins seem to have a good idea of how to help people have a good time. The urban core of your city is thriving. There’s no sales tax. Your residents seemed to foster a thriving inferiority complex when visitors compared it to Seattle, but that made you all the more charming. And there are plenty of microbreweries. Can’t complain about that.

But, fine city, I have two issues I must raise, both related to the pedestrian-friendly nature of the Pearl District – and it’s nothing that a few public-service announcements couldn’t help solve. To start, your residents need to remember that a non-blinking orange character on the walk/don’t walk signs mean that folks shouldn’t attempt to cross the street. There’s traffic zooming by, and someone’s gonna get hit. I might not be an expert on the history of pedestrian-crossing signs, but I believe an aim of such signs were to tell people when they should and shouldn’t cross. Yet many Pearl Districters apparently can’t decipher such difficult hieroglyphics.

The second issue (and again, nothing a few PSAs couldn't help) is that many of these same pedestrians who walk when instructed not to have apparently forgotten the age-old rule of looking both ways before crossing the street. I don’t mind the occasional jaywalk, but the pedestrians who don’t look either way before walking into cross traffic, well, it makes me believe Darwin's theories apply to yuppies.

Again, Portland, you are a great city. But do me a favor: Please remind your residents not to cross the street when there’s traffic zipping by and to remember other simple rules from their childhood.

Sincerely,

Fontaine

I'm back from a four-day weekend. That got me thinking: If I could somehow maintain my current salary and job yet somehow get a four-day weekend every week, that'd be preferable to this five-day-a-week thing. Don't get me wrong: I have so much fun reporting that it's tough to actually consider it work, but it's tough to go wrong with a four-day weekend.

If everything goes as scheduled, I'll bring a sneak peek at a story I'm working on about deep-brain stimulation, a relatively new surgery technique that has improved the lives of quite a few local residents with Parkinson's disease.

I'm also going to try to set up a ridealong with a Tacoma man who travels down to Centralia and Chehalis, finds flooded-out tractors, hauls them back here, repairs them and returns them. All for free.