I probably won't do a story for the print edition on this e-mail we received. Still, I wanted to pass along the hard lesson some people learned about launching a boat at American Lake without paying the launch fee.

The email, which was sent by disgruntled Lakewood resident Morris Quimby, details his experience at the new boat launch a week after it opened.

If it's true, I'm amazed at the $500 fine the city levies if you launch without paying the $10 fee. Ouch.

Here's Quimby's account. Note the last line in which he says he's not one of the unfortunate boaters:

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It’s will be an all whale weekend at the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium.
Fans of the zoo’s last beluga whale Beethoven will get a chance to see him perform in four extended shows Saturday and Sunday before he leaves next week for SeaWorld in Houston, Texas.
“This will be the last weekend (to see him) as far as we know, “ John Rupp, curator of aquatic animals at the zoo, said today. “We are planning for his departure in the next week.”
The weekend shows will be at 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. both days.
Sometime next week, he will be shipped by FedEx air to SeaWorld where he will become part of the breeding program there.
Rupp said the zoo policy is not to announce the date and time of his departure.
Beethoven will remain in his pool until close to the time he leaves when he will placed in the private back pool, he said.
So this weekend is it for the 16-year-old male who has been a popular attraction in Tacoma for the past 11 years. It also ends the zoo’s beluga whale program that dates back to the mid-1980s.
Rupp said Beethoven is in fine health. “It really makes it harder on us emotionally,” he said. “He is in such good spirits and in such good shape. But moving him into a breeding area is the right thing.”
Beethoven’s beluga buddy Qannix died March 28 of a bacterial blood infection.
Rupp said Beethoven will be moved in a bathtub-like cradle made of wood and fiberglass. It will be lined with foam and filled with water.
The zoo had hoped to get California sea lions from the Columbia River to take over for Beethoven but the trapping season is over for this year. Rupp said they will have to wait until next year to get a sea lion.
In the meantime, he said the zoo is planning to use the beluga pool for harbor seals and design an exhibit around them.

A developer looking to build 1,700 homes over the Lipoma Firs Golf Course in Graham has adjusted its plans to address concerns of the local fire district.

Graham Fire and Rescue officials originally opposed the Lipoma Communities development because of worries that the new neighborhood would strain fire district resources. They also feared the Planned Development District would create fire hazards by building homes close together without adding fire safety measures like sprinklers or fire-resistant siding.

The fire district was ready to argue its case before the Pierce County Hearing Examiner Thursday. But before they could appear, fire officials and the developer reached an agreement on their own.

The developer has agreed to pay the fire district $500 for each dwelling unit during the first phase of the project, which consists of 309 homes.

In total, the fire district will receive $154,500 during the course of construction, said Gary Franz, deputy chief of Graham Fire and Rescue.

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The Swiss Pub will provide all the food for the memorial Saturday at the downtown tavern for co-owner Gayl Bertagni who died last Friday, family and friends said today.

In an e-mail, they said there was some confusion earlier in the week about bringing food to the memorial. There will be no potluck, they said, and apologized for the confusion.

"The best way to show your love for Gayl is to make a donation in her name to the Emergency Food Network and to support your local farmers," they said in the e-mail.

The memorial begins at 3 p.m. at the pub, 1904 S. Jefferson.

A trio of city officials from Orting, Sumner and Puyallup are the backbone of a new task force designed to address flooding concerns throughout Pierce County.

They're calling their new task force the Pierce County River Revitalization Task Force.

At least two of the council members involved -- John Knutsen of Puyallup and Sam Colorossi of Orting -- have expressed support for removing sediment from the Puyallup River in the past. (Sediment removal used to be called "dredging," but no one seems to call it that anymore).

I'm still waiting to hear back from Sumner Councilman Matt Richardson, who is to be the chair of the task force.

Knutsen told me today that unlike the existing Lower Puyallup Executive Task Force, the new river task force will focus on all the rivers and creeks in the Puyallup River basin, including the Carbon and White Rivers.

You can read the task force's mission statement below. This is what I received in a press release from Richardson on Friday. I'll be following up with a story in the next few days about what the task force hopes to accomplish and what Pierce County officials think.

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