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.}