Yes, there was a lot of traffic on state highways over the July 4th weekend, according to the The Washington State Department of Transportation. WSDOT released preliminary traffic counts today in the following press release:

OLYMPIA - Preliminary data from WSDOT's Transportation Data Office
revealed more drivers hit the roadways for Independence Day weekend
2009, with just one minor exception. WSDOT's traffic counts show a
slight decrease in travel from the Bellingham area north to the Canadian
border.

WSDOT's initial traffic counts show increase of nearly 15 percent in
holiday traffic on I-90 Snoqualmie Pass compared to 2008, while on US 2
over Stevens Pass there was a 12 percent increase. On I-5 near Olympia,
there was only a 6 percent increase. Further north, on I-5 from
Bellingham to the Canadian border, there was a 1 percent decrease from
2008.

While most traffic counts increased, there were no major delays in the
mountains most of the weekend. A collision Friday on Snoqualmie Pass
slowed drivers in the early evening, but Sunday's commute back into
Western Washington showed only minor delays.

Thursday and Friday traffic on I-5 showed typical commute wait times.
I-5 drivers in the Olympia area heading north experienced delays Sunday
afternoon, while those heading south slowed due to a collision near
Centralia.

WSDOT provides travel information for areas known to be three-day
weekend travel routes so drivers can make the best decisions for their
travel plans.

This is just one of the tools WSDOT offers on its Web site to give
drivers the opportunity to know before they go and know on the road. You
can find these travel tools at www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic.

The Fourth of July fell on a Friday in 2008. The numbers below show the
2009 Fourth of July weekend travel roundup from across the state in
comparison to 2008:

I-90 Snoqualmie Pass
*183,000 vehicles traveled both directions over Snoqualmie Pass between
Thursday and Sunday, an increase of 15 percent (20,000 vehicles).
*4,800 more vehicles Thursday
*19,000 more vehicles Friday
*4,100 more vehicles Saturday
*4,800 more vehicles Sunday

US 2, Stevens Pass
*31,400 vehicles traveled both directions over US 2 from Thursday
through Sunday, an increase of 12 percent (3,900 vehicles) *1,500 more
vehicles traveled Thursday
*1,000 more vehicles traveled Friday
*400 more vehicles traveled on Saturday *1,000 more vehicles traveled on
Sunday

I-5 Thurston/Lewis counties
*269,400 traveled both directions of I-5 south of Olympia into Lewis
County between Thursday and Sunday, an increase of 6 percent (9,800
vehicles).
*Comparison data from Thursday is unavailable due to a 2008 equipment
failure *3,400 more traveled Friday *5,600 more vehicles Saturday *800
more vehicles Sunday

I-5, Bellingham to US/Canada Border
*121,700 vehicles traveled both directions on I-5 from Bellingham to the
Canadian border between Thursday and Sunday, a decrease of 1 percent
(700 vehicles).
*2,900 more vehicles traveled on Thursday.
*1,100 fewer traveled Friday
*1,200 fewer traveled Saturday
*1,400 fewer traveled Sunday

Calendars are tough to toss.

They're like friends who keep us organized, never talk back and always cheer us up. I'm thinking of surrounding myself with song birds in exotic locations in 2009, having spent 2008 enjoying native plants in unlikely locations. My desk is way more cheery than the view out the window.

So why would I just flip those gorgeous photos away like used cereal boxes?

The kittens, puppies, trains, planes, automobiles, surfers, fish, mountains and firefighters on our walls had nothing to do with the events that unfolded during this miserable year. They deserve a better end than getting bundled into a big wad of recycling with ordinary newspaper.

Western State Hospital patients are giving us just that. The hospital offers art classes as therapy, and collages are a favorite medium. To replenish supplies, the Department of Social and Health Services is harvesting calendars, greeting cards, magazines, anything with pretty pictures.

You can bring them to drop boxes at:

* Western State Hospital Administration, Building 18, 9601 Steilacoom Blvd. S.W.

* DSHS Health and Recovery Services Administration reception, 626 8th Ave S.E., Cherry Street Plaza, Olympia.

* Frontier Bank, 1102 Commerce St. Suite 100, Tacoma.

* The News Tribune lobby, 1950 S. State St., Tacoma.

It's tough to imagine a story more wrenching than that of the teen accused of drowning her newborn son in Port Angeles, then putting his body in the trash.

The girl was pregnant in October, when she moved from Pueblo, Colo., to Port Angeles to live with her father, who has a long, long criminal history. She may not have known that,in this state, she could have her baby, transfer him into caring hands, and walk away. The solution to her desperate problem was as close as a fire station or hospital.

She is in jail, as is her father, who is accused of helping her throw the baby away.

Searchers found the baby's body in a shipment of trash taken to Graham.

The state's Department of Social and Health Services communications staff is reminding reporters that Washington's Safe Haven Law was enacted to prevent these tragedies. They want us to get the word out, and we are happy to oblige.

Since 2002, it has been legal for parents to leave newborns at hospitals and staffed fire stations. The baby can be up to 72 hours old. The parent or parents do not have to give their name, or any other information. Yes, people will ask them questions, but the parents can just walk away.

This law is the emergency exit from an untenable situation: The baby lives. No one goes to jail.

If you'd like more information on the law, or if you'd like to order posters or get a list of resources, DSHS has a helpful Web site:

http://www1.dshs.wa.gov/ca/safety/sfAbLaw.asp?1

In Saturday's column I railed against the corporate CEOs, CFOs and directors who have taken millions in salaries and bonuses, not to mention extravagant perks, as they steered the businesses toward disaster.

Readers had plenty to say. Here's a sampling of their e-mails:

Thank you so much for your article! Finally, the confusion, disbelief, and anger that is giving most of us deep hurt in our guts has made it to print. I only wish that it had been the page one headline as well as the lead editorial. The people are really weary of all the hype and sensationalized headlines and accounts of this crass fiasco. I personally feel though, that the members of Congress, much more so than even the CEO's, are the ones, regardless of the administrations' party, that are the real culprits. Integrity and responsibility has yet to be a consideration to any of them. Until we all take a much more pro-active effort to make our elected representatives transparent and responsible, the government we get is to a large extent of our own making and the status quo is most likely to continue.
We enjoy your columns very much; keep up the good work.

Gene Beavin
Gig Harbor

P.S. If you haven't already read it, you may perhaps enjoy Peggy Noonan's "frisbee" article in yesterday's WSJ.

=> Read more!

Our sister paper, The Olympian, reports the Lady Washington and Hawaiian Chieftain will be in the capital week after next.

They'll be at Percival Landing on Aug. 29 to Sept. 1 as part of Olympia Harbor Days.

Click here for more info.

Hunter Ellis joined the Washington National Guard last September. The 19-year-old Olympia resident felt the call of service – his family has a history in the military – and graduated from basic training on July 31.

Still, he wasn’t certain if he would be able to join the 81st Brigade in time for its deployment – until Monday.

“Yesterday was the first day with my unit,” he said. “And I’m excited. I want to go and do my job. It’s what I was trained to do.”

My invitation to the weekend's festivities at the governor’s mansion might have been lost in the mail, but there are no hard feelings.

But if you want a recap at Saturday’s power wedding, the Vows section of the New York Times has a quick recap.

Courtney Gregoire, Scott Lindsay [NYT]

Talking to supporters in downtown Tacoma and calling the cleanup of the Thea Foss waterway an inspiration to other seaside communities across western Washington, Gov. Chris Gregoire launched a two-day campaign boat tour that focused on her work with a new state agency created to promote the cleanup of Puget Sound.

Gregoire also announced that, should a bill introduced by U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks and U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell become law, an office of the Environmental Protection Agency overseeing the cleanup will be located in the to-be-built Urban Waters building in Tacoma.

“This is undeniable what’s going on right here,” she said. “I don’t want to put the money in more studies. I want to get things done. We had studies when I was at (the Department of) Ecology. It’s time for us to move forward.”

And Gregoire is relying on the Puget Sound Partnership, created last year with the goal to clean up the Sound by 2020, to coordinate the work. She said the Sound should be on par with Chesapeake Bay as a working, livable, healthy body of water.

Gregoire’s stop in Tacoma lasted less than an hour, and the tour continued to Des Moines, Seattle and Edmonds. Tomorrow she will cruise from Bainbridge Island to Twanoh State Park on the Hood Canal and finish in Bremerton.

“How do you do a bus tour and talk about Puget Sound?” she said. “We wanted to bring attention to the good things going on in the Sound.”

=> Read more!

Gov. Chris Gregoire asked us press hacks if there was a card-everyone-who-enters-a-bar law. Why? Because after attending some of last week’s Capital Lakefair festivities, she entered Hannah's Sports Bar & Grill. The guy manning the front door asked to see her ID.

She left hers in the car. And even when the doorman was told who he was carding, he was adamant. She needed to show ID.

“Do you guys see something that I don’t see in the mirror?” she asked, laughing.

Tacoma might not be better than Cedar Rapids, Iowa, but hey, at least we’re better than Phoenix!

Forbes released a list of best places for businesses and careers. Our fair city was ranked 43rd – one spot ahead of that behemoth in the desert.

Other Washington cities: Olympia at eighth, Spokane at ninth and Seattle at 20th. Not shabby for the Evergreen State.

And, in case you don’t want to actually click the link, Raleigh, N.C. was first, followed by Boise, Fort Collins, Colo., and Des Moines, Iowa.

There are a few things that will ruin your morning. A NyQuil hangover. A real hangover. The breakfast sandwich at the Tacoma Dome.

And then there’s this little ditty that my RSS feeder kicked up: According to a computer simulation, a 9.0 earthquake would not only be not good for Washington, but Tacoma (and Seattle, Olympia and Vancouver, Wash.) would be especially bad off.

“What the scientists learned from this simulation is not reassuring,” read PhysOrg.com.

It continues:

The long-duration shaking, combined with high ground velocities, raises the possibility that such an earthquake could inflict major damage on metropolitan areas -- especially on high-rise buildings in downtown Seattle. Compounding the risks, like Los Angeles to the south, Seattle, Tacoma, and Olympia sit on top of sediment-filled geological basins that are prone to greatly amplifying the waves generated by major earthquakes.

Robert "The Traveller" Hill is getting some love out in western Idaho eastern Washington.