March 2009 Archives

PCI-Pest Control
"Professional Pest Control Service for the South Puget Sound Area"

"We provide complete professional service for residential homes, including, Annual Inspections, Quarterly Pest Control Programs, and prompt effective elimination of active infestations of carpenter ants, termites, spiders, mice, rats and many other pests.

Serving the pest control needs of Yelm, Ranier, Roy, Lacey, Olympia, Spanaway, Graham, Dupont, Lakewood, Tacoma, Tumwater, Parkland, Puyallup, Rochester, Tenino, Centralia, Chehalis and all rural areas of Pierce, Thurston and Lewis County," quoting their website.

I made the switch, why don't you!

PCI Pest Control
Matt Purcell, Owner
11339 Bald Hill Road SE
Yelm, WA 98597
Toll Free: 1-877-720-8800
Local: (360) 458-8624

TELL PCI-PEST CONTROL YOU READ ABOUT THEM ON THE YELM COMMUNITY BLOG!

"After 100 years, Wilcox Farms honored by Washington State Senate"

"Look in the egg section of any Pacific Northwest grocery store and chances are you’ll find cartons from Wilcox Farms in Roy, Wash. This year the family farm will celebrate its centennial, prompting the Washington State Senate to pass a resolution Wednesday [Feb. 18] honoring Wilcox Farms.

Sen. Randi Becker, R-Eatonville, represents the Second Legislative District where Wilcox Farms is located, and sponsored Senate Resolution 8619," quoting the Washington State Senate Republican Caucus website.

Photo courtesy of the Senate Republican Caucus

"'Brothers Jim and Barrie Wilcox are the third-generation owners and have been overseeing operations at the farm since their father’s death in 1981,' Becker said. 'They are both born and bred Washingtonians, having graduated from the University of Puget Sound and Washington State University. Their kids, Chris, Brent and Andy, are fourth-generation farmers. The Wilcox family ranges in age from three to 73, and it’s such a rare thing to find a family-run, 100-year-old organic farm these days. That’s why I’m so proud that the Wilcoxes are from my district.'

Wilcox Farms is also known for its environmental achievement, having received numerous awards for environmental stewardship and conservation. The company offers organic eggs and organic liquid eggs that come from cage-free hens without added hormones or antibiotics."

"Public Hearing to receive comments on the Update to the City of Yelm Comprehensive Plan"
"The Yelm Planning Commission has scheduled a public hearing to receive public comment on the proposed updates to the City of Yelm Comprehensive Plan Chapter II. Growth Management Act Planning Parameters, Chapter III. Land Use, and Chapter IV. Housing. The meeting will take place at the
Yelm Public Safety Building
206 McKenzie Avenue
Monday, March 16, 2009, 6:00 p.m."

2009 Comprehensive Plan Update - DRAFT
"The City of Yelm is updating its Yelm Comprehensive Plan and Joint Plan with Thurston County. The proposed comprehensive plan amendments will bring the references to population up to date so they are consistent with the figures adopted by Thurston County in 2008 with Resolution No. 14034 and Ordinance No. 14035. The resolution and the ordinance include the population forecast and allocation data for the County. These were adopted on March 3, 2008 amending the Thurston County Comprehensive Plan. The amendment includes population figures in Chapter II Growth Management Act Planning Parameters, Chapter III Land Use, and Chapter IV Housing, as well as Chapter I Introduction Exhibit B which is the Thurston County Resolution."

"It’s been my dream to have a wine shop in which I can showcase my cooking and wine talents .... where every tasting and meal is a wonderful experience.

My friends call me the Gourmet Goddess. Come find out why."

OPENING TODAY, MARCH 14TH IN YELM!

Anne’s. A Wonderful Wine Experience
&
Gourmet Goddess Catering
704 W. Yelm Avenue
Yelm WA 98597
360-894-0923

TELL ANNE'S YOU READ ABOUT THEM ON THE YELM COMMUNITY BLOG!

Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill (ESSB) 5716 passed in the State Legislature yesterday (March 12) that would allow citizens to elect City Councils by district.

"Sponsor Bob McCaslin of Spokane Valley says it would spread out a city's elected representatives to bring geographic diversity. He says it would prevent everyone on a city council from coming from the same apartment complex," quoting the AP from The Olympian.

"The election could be initiated either by resolution of the council or by a petition signed by 10 percent or more of the voters. Compiled By Brad Shannon And Adam Wilson," of The Olympian.

UPDATE: March 16:
The Washington State Legislature website says the bill passed the Senate by a vote of 45-4 and next goes to the House, where the first reading occurred on March 13.
CLICK HERE for the actual Bill.

UPDATE: March 19:
Mike McCline, a staffer in Sen. McCaslin's office verified the Bill would only apply to creating wards within the existing limits of the municipality. Neither City Council legislation or voter petitions could create wards that extend beyond the municipality, nor could voters from outside the existing municipality be included.

YELM, BALD HILLS, LAWRENCE LAKE, LACAMAS, FOUR CORNERS, SMITH PRAIRIE AND VICINITY - WHAT SAY YOU?

TIME FOR A CHANGE?

STAY TUNED!

The local weekly newspaper ran a front page story last week listing the public records requests made to the cities of Roy, Rainier & Yelm for 2007 & 2008. They reported the City of Yelm had Ed Wiltsie & JZ Knight attorney Keith Moxon as the ones with the most requests for such information. The report went on to say the city says an astounding number of hours were spent by city employees filling these request.

However, what the story omitted is that the City of Yelm could save alot of employee time if they would develop their website to store much of the public information there. This city could be more public-friendly in making more documents available online -- i.e. the Yelm Water Mitigation Plan, which this writer had to request under a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Public Records request. That the city spent over 2/3 of a million dollars of taxpayer money without a contract on that Plan from the developer on how the taxpayer is to be repaid, should be easily accessed by all online (a full report on this in an upcoming entry!).

Further, the local newspaper did little to research why so many records requests were initiated in those years in the first place. Ed Wiltsie wrote a Letter of the Editor of the local paper and the Yelm Community Blog explaining this issue in-depth. His unabridged letter follows for all to read:

Dear Local Weekly Newspaper Editor:
Your article relating to Public Records Requests in the 06 March 2009 issue is revealing in many ways.
I would have expected many more Yelm Residents and Residents of the adjacent community to have made records requests during 2007 and 2008. In fact, I am surprised and dismayed considering the monumental changes facing the City.

In 2006/07, one of the largest subdivision to be proposed in Thurston County was approved for construction, Tahoma Terra, bringing over 1000 new homes on 220 acres to a community with a little over 1000 homes and with the potential for nearly doubling the city’s population.

In November 2006, the erosion control that was supposed to have been in place for the construction of Tahoma Terra failed, delivering tons of silt laden water to Thompson Creek and coating numerous downstream residents with muck and fouling several water wells. This occurrence required corrective action by Washington State Department of Ecology (WSDOE), exposed that the city had no records of having inspected these facilities or other related construction, and drew considerable attention from WSDOE,
WSD Fish & Wildlife and Thurston County, prompting a rather large meeting of officials from these agencies, the City of Yelm and numerous Thurston County residents that had been damaged by the flood event. This event also spurred a major study of Thompson Creek starting immediately downstream of the Yelm city limits, in an attempt to create a bench mark for Thompson Creek hydrology, identify actions to be taken to prevent a recurrence of the November 2006 event and provide a means of accurately assessing the impacts of upstream (City of Yelm) development in the future.

In 2007 and 2008, formal efforts were initiated to develop Thurston Highlands, a 1200 acre site with 5000 new homes, which would increase the population of Yelm by over 400% in addition to the Tahoma Terra nearly 100% increase.

It does not do much good for Yelm Residents to complain after the fact, about traffic, increased cost of developing additional water ($600,000+ paid by Yelm to investigate water availability within the Thurston Highlands site), increased cost of sewage treatment and other city services.
Residents of Yelm please take a look at your future. Development is a positive thing, but
excessive, rapid development chokes the system and ultimately loads cost on to the city’s
residents.

Bear in mind, the present economic conditions as they impact the potential for construction of the Yelm By-Pass. At present, completion of construction of the By-Pass is scheduled for 2015, provided that Washington State approves the remaining $60,000,000 of funding required while the State faces a deficit in the billions, and the project has been eliminated from the Obama Incentive Program Funding.

E. A. Wiltsie, PE
Yelm, WA.

Dear friends of the honeybee



The bee season 2009 is approaching fast.
This is the time to make the decision to get involved.
There are three
ways to participate:



1) Become a beekeeper
yourself and get prepared before the bees arrive by attending the class
on Friday March 13th
at Gordon's Grange (7-9 pm, costs $10).
To get started with one beehive costs around $295.00, including bees and basic equipment.

2) Hire a beekeeper!
Have your own bees on your property and let us do the work for you.
Having bees around is very rewarding and a huge step towards self-sufficiency. Remember that everything the bees do and produce is beneficial. They produce extremely valuable food (honey and pollen), they provide medicine for the household (honey, pollen, propolis, and bee venom), they produce beeswax to be used in many applications, and
they pollinate your and your neighbors garden and orchard for higher yields and better quality crops. If you really want to know all about these products from the hive, visit [http://www.fao.org/docrep/w0076E/w0076E00.htm] now . All these benefits are yours without any work. We will bring the beehives and set them up and we will care for them with regular visits (every three weeks). If you are interested in this option let us know ASAP and we will discuss the details (360 894 6038).
Let your friends know that this unique option
exists!

3) If you don't want your own bees, support foraging bees from your neighbor by tolerating wild flowers (i.e. dandelions, clover etc)..in your yard. If you are going to plant new flowers, shrubs or trees choose those that are good nectar and/or pollen sources for the honeybees. We have created a list of 126 plants that you can purchase for $5 in class or $9 by sending a stamped
return envelop to
Thomas Mani
16100 Lemuria Lane SE
Yelm, WA 98597.



Yes, we can bring them back! Although the bee population is still declining worldwide, we can create a (honey)bee paradise
in our local area. It is to the betterment for the whole community!


Hope to see you or to hearing from you

Thomas

Yelm Timberland Regional Library
Photo courtesy of Guustaaf Damave

YELM TIMBERLAND LIBRARY PRESENTS: MEET THE AUTHOR TOMORROW NIGHT!
"Inspired by her daughter's dyslexia and difficulties with reading, writing and spelling, Diane Frank worked for ten years on a phonetic dictionary to make the printed word more accessible. Visit with the author and take a look at “Gabby's Wordspeller.” While compiling her book Ms Frank traveled throughout the U.S., Canada, Great Britain and Mexico, noting variations in pronunciation. She also consulted with teachers and learning development specialists. Copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing," quoting the Yelm Timberland Regional Library website.

Yelm Timberland Regional Library
Thursday, March 12th
Start Time: 7:00 PM
End Time: 8:00 PM

"National Geographic Partners With Oregon and Washington to Launch Geotourism Project for Central Cascades"

"National Geographic Society's Center for Sustainable Destinations has joined organizations in Washington and Oregon to publicize the world-class natural and cultural attractions of the Central Cascades. The pilot project seeks to contribute to the economic health of communities by promoting geotourism: tourism that sustains and enhances the geographical character of a place -- its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage and the well-being of its residents.

A community-based nomination process launched today [January 14, 2009] will be used to create a National Geographic "Geotourism MapGuide" for the region. The "Central Cascades" area designated for the map stretches from Mount Rainier National Park to Crater Lake National Park, including communities plus private and public lands in both states. The printed Central Cascades MapGuide will be available in September 2009. A parallel interactive Web site is also being developed," quoting Sustainable Northwest.

This writer wrote to Yelm's Community and Government Relations Coordinator Cindy Teixeira to get official comments about this from the City. She said the Yelm Chamber of Commerce is the lead organization on this and is working closely with the city.

In writing to the Yelm Chamber of Commerce, Executive Director Cecelia Jenkins informed the Yelm Community Blog that Yelm had a training session with National Geographic in February and had the largest delegation there. The next meeting of the Yelm group is tomorrow [March 11], with the finished articles and photos being sent in time to meet the March 28th deadline.

Checkout the nominations: CLICK HERE

"Beyond open-to-the-public map point nomination, the MapGuide development process calls for oversight by a regional committee. The Central Cascades Stewardship Council was formed and met for the first time in Stevenson, Wash., on Dec. 4, 2008. It represents geotourism perspectives that include community leadership, historic preservation, natural resources, public lands management, indigenous peoples, traditional and local arts, agriculture, tourism promotion and local businesses," quoting Sustainable Northwest.

Yelm has long considered itself Thurston County's entrance to the Mt. Rainier area, so more promotion of that designation and tie-ins are expected.

And this from the Pierce County Business Examiner Blog.

From Yelm's European Baker Extraordinaire Sebastian Schefer

"Hello everyone,

After our 2 month trial period, we see that we are not getting enough volume going in order for me to bake every Monday.

What I would like to offer to you now is that I take and collect your Prairie Bread and Bavarian Bread orders until it allows me to do a full batch.That's about 26-28 loafs. At that point I will get back to you saying your order is now ready to be filled.

The Plowman Bread is always available since it is made for a Wholesale Customer on a regular basis.
The special order items stay the same; no changes.
One week notice and you'll get your sweets.

We do have some Breads in the freezer left, so first come first served.
Thank you so much for your continued support."

Sincerely,
Sebastian Schefer
email me: sebastiansbest@yahoo.com
phone: 360-292-5497

SHE'S BACK.......
Former Yelm Drew Harvey Theater Director Nancy Hillman has returned to the area. For 10 years, Nancy directed memorable and noteworthy musicals and plays that utilized the talent in our community. People were drawn to the Yelm area from as far away as Seattle, Puyallup, Tacoma, Olympia & Lacey's Panorama City sending busloads to a lunch at Arnold's and a matinee.

Though the Mayor and City Council turned a deaf ear to Nancy's requests to consider a community-supported theater beyond her efforts at the Drew, Hillman did not stop in her quest to bring the delightful artistic talents of our neighbors to the whole community. Seeing young children and teens shine and develop stage presence in front of the public was certainly a gift and jewel for our town.

Now, Nancy returns to Yelm in Seasoned Readings Presents Time Flies, the first of many nights of laughter as she & her team bring us a collection of short-plays by David Ives.

Yelm's Blue Bottle is the place that will host Nancy along with Dave Champagne, Joel Derefield, Melissa Derefield, Ted Fredericks, Anne Schuchmann, Galen Wicks, Patrick Wigren, & Mandi Wickline.

Come gather around, sit back, relax and enjoy!

When: March 9th - 8 p.m.
Where: Blue Bottle Expresso
309 Yelm Avenue East, Yelm

Time Flies will also be presented at the Blue Bottle
March 18 &
April 15.
Eating time, 7pm
Showtime, 8pm

Remember that Daylight Savings Time begins when you retire this Saturday night (Sunday, March 8 at 2am), so you will set your clocks ahead one hour in most of the USA.

New talk by SEPP HOLZER
6.30 - 8.30pm
Deschutes Grange on Vail Rd, Yelm
March 10th
$20 at the door.

"His farming methods have come to be known as Sepp Holzer’s Permaculture. The leitmotif of his school of thought is “listen and observe.” Observe the order of nature and cooperate with the natural circulation system at hand. Plants will look after each other for water and fertilization if you notice how they work together.

The sexiest aspect of this method of farming is NO IRRIGATION, NO WEEDING, NO PESTICIDES AND NO FERTILIZING.
Quoting the press release on Holzer,
'For more than 40 years now, Sepp Holzer has been transforming his family farm in the coldest part of the Austrian alps into a paradise of fishing ponds, tens of thousands of fruit trees, shrubs, vines and highly productive vegetables and herbs. Applying the principles of his self-taught Permaculture, he creates a self-sustaining landscape in which he produces many varieties of the best quality fish, fruits, nuts, vegetables, mushrooms, pork, poultry and even citrus without irrigation, fertilizers, pesticides or weeding. He also has successfully been fighting local and federal authorities and regulations for the right to practice and apply his Permaculture on his own property,” quoting MastersConnection.

Yelm's own MastersConnection has more:
Permaculture Workshops: Huegelbeds, Mushrooms, Companion Planting Workshop, Day One.
And:
Sepp's Permaculture Workshops - There's A fungus "
Both of these informative MastersConnection pieces written by Mary McCann for MastersConnection, LLC
©All Rights Reserved.

Dreaming Lhasa
A benefit for Olympia’s Nalanda Institute, Center for Buddhist Study and Meditation
Sat, Mar 7, 2:30 PM
Olympia Film Society
Capitol Theater
206 5th Ave SE
Olympia

Regular ticket prices: $5.00 OFS members and $8.00 General (non-members)

Directed by Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam, 90 min English

"Dreaming Lhasa is a beautiful and moving look into Tibetan exile life that becomes a universal reflection on justice, relationships, and personal responsibilities. Karma, a Tibetan filmmaker from New York, goes to Dharamsala, the Dalai Lama's exile headquarters in India, to make a documentary about former political prisoners who have escaped from Tibet. She wants to connect with her roots but is also escaping a deteriorating relationship back home. One of Karma's interviewees is Dhondup, an enigmatic ex-monk who has just escaped from Tibet. As he confides his real reasons for coming to India, we journey deeper into Tibet's fractured past but also into self-discovery and universal themes. This sensitive and intriguing film will both delight and inspire.

After the film Geshe Jamyang Tsultrim, Tibetan Buddhist teacher and former monk will answer questions for those interested," quoting the OFS site.

“Beautifully shot imagery… delicate and graceful exploration of cultural identity”
San Francisco Bay Guardian

The connection of this film to the Yelm area is that Bald Hills Fire Commissioner Bill Owen's wife Grace is assisting with publicity for this grand event!
Best wishes for a grand benefit, Mrs. Owen!

Water System Plan Open House

Power Point Photos for Water System Plan Open House
The City is hosting an open house to present the update to the 2002 Water System Plan, including a description of the existing water system, proposed construction projects, and proposed water rates and connection charges.

The Open House is scheduled for Thursday, March 5, from 5 to 7 PM at the Public Safety Building. 206 McKenzie Avenue, SE.

FAQs for March Meeting

Key point from the FAQ pages:
"If the new water rights are not secured, the City of Yelm will face some difficult choices. The water planning document that is being prepared assumes that new water rights will be secured. If it is determined that a new water right cannot be secured in the foreseeable future, the water system planning process will need to
be revisited."

The city does not identify what those choices will be.
They currently have a Court Order stopping them from issuing further permits in 5 developments, in a decision they have appealed. They are near their pumping capacity under current Dept. of Ecology appropriations, as discussed here last month.

Also from the FAQ document:
"The development charges and revenue generated from the new connections within the MPC [Master Planned Communities] will be used to pay for the growth to the maximum extent possible.

Even if connection charges for an MPC cover the cost of initiating service, the new connections will ultimately increase overall system costs because the system will have to be expanded. How will this longer-term cost be paid for?

Water rates will be collected to adequately fund the O&M of the expanded water system. As the service area expands, the water rate structure will be reevaluated to ensure that the costs are paid for in a fair and equitable manner."

HMMM! That means the additional impact of serving Master Planned Communities on the city's water infrastructure will ultimately be borne by the local City of Yelm property owner.

Did anyone look at how the city is funding this Plan?
I know the community would be shocked to see the debt servicing on the city's plan.
CLICK HERE for an eye-opener from the City's own PowerPoint.
The new debt servicing beginning in 2010 is astronomical! How in the world is this going to get financed?

COME OUT AN TELL THE CITY YOUR THOUGHTS!

The 2009 Dollars for Scholars Auction in Yelm is this Saturday, March 7.

The event will begin at 4 p.m. at Yelm High School.
The session will open with silent bidding, followed by the always-popular
Yelm Community Education Foundation (Chamber Education)
2009 Taste of the Prairie Scholarship Fundraiser
from 5 - 6:30pm
CLICK HERE for the menu

The Almost-Live Auction is at 5:30 p.m., with the Live Auction at 7 p.m.

The Dollars for Scholars auction goes to support Yelm Community Schools graduating Seniors from "more than 5,300 students in nine schools" and Seniors graduating from the K - 12 program of the Rainier School District's enrollment of 940 students in Thurston County.

About 100 students applied and received Scholarships last year between the 2 districts.

Dear Readers;

This month marks the third anniversary of the Yelm Community Blog.
I want to thank all of you for your interest and support.
This is the only Yelm community website that has all news stories archived for public view dating back 3 years.
Your support, RSS feeds and daily viewership have continually kept this site on the first page of Google in searching for Yelm and usually ahead of even the city's official newspaper website, the Nisqually Valley News (NVN)

Speaking of the NVN, they have revamped their website AGAIN, for the 3rd time in as many years. This means that all previous links to their stories before last weekend no longer work and none of their links can be accessed through an archive search. You can still access excerpts of some NVN stories here on the Yelm Community Blog that were quoted the last three years.

NVN Editor/Publisher Keven Graves wrote me yesterday to say that they now require written permission to use any material from their "revised Web site". You will note they are not even linked from this story, as this writer will be using less of their items.
The law says their links can be used by anyone without permission, as acknowledged on these sites:
CLICK HERE
CLICK HERE
CLICK HERE

While Mr. Graves has clearly made public his disdain for Blogs, and this Blogger in particular for these three years, restricting and enforcing access being circulated from his newspaper's website makes no sense.
If this is some attempt to reprisal towards me, he just shot himself in the foot.
This Blog has been one of the major sites driving traffic to his links for three years, indeed one of the largest community-based websites to do so. In a world where newspapers are dwindling (San Francisco Chronicle, the Seattle P-I may close and Denver's Rocky Mt. News did shut down), newspaper's websites are paying their bills with advertising dollars on their links driven by the number of views and viewers.
The Yelm Community Blog will now quote the NVN on a very limited basis.
With a third revision of their website, one would think they want more traffic there, not less.
This Blog has always quoted and given credit for the source of NVN excerpts, plus the link for the reader to access for themselves.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST AND CONTINUED SUPPORT.
THIS BLOG HAS NEVER TAKEN A CENT FROM ANYONE FOR ADVERTISING, NOR SOLD ANY MATERIAL.
THIS SITE IS PROVIDED AS A COMMUNITY SERVICE TO EXCHANGE IDEAS ON STORIES OF LOCAL INTEREST, PROVIDING AN ADDITIONAL RESOURCE OF YELM-AREA INFORMATION AND DIFFERENT POINT OF VIEW.

UPDATE THURSDAY, MARCH 5 @ 2PM:
The local weekly newspaper's Op-Ed piece this week says about the newspapers revamped website:
"Blogs are an interesting and dynamic facet of nay community, and we'll include yours - if you are willing to exchange links. Shoot an e-mail and we'll talk."

WOW! Keven Graves saying this? Has this man REALLY changed his views about blogs since he has put them down for years?
HMMM!

I wrote to Mr. Graves on Tuesday, March 3rd requesting the Yelm Community Blog be linked under his newspaper's Community Links. He responded that because the Yelm Community Blog is a non-profit, he will add the link.
Then, he asked for an NVN link to be placed on the Blog's link page.
Anyone can see this blogger has no Links page, takes no money from anyone and is beholding to no one.

Graves responded, "If we're to provide a free link to yelm.com, I would like a reciprocal link. I believe it's a reasonable exchange."

I wrote to him:
The Yelm Community Blog has never had a Links page, is non-profit as you previously stated and is beholding to no one. Other non-profits you have on your Community Links (i.e. Yelm Animal Alliance, Thurston County Humane Society) have no Links page either and you also have profits like Yelm Cinemas that has a Links page only for movie related sites, so yours is not there.

Can you share your thoughts as to why the Yelm Community Blog is to be excluded, when others are not that are in the same circumstances, & in particular, after your Op-Ed today inviting blogs to join your revamped site?

He refused without sharing links.

IS THIS BLOG A THREAT TO HIS NEWSPAPER?
HE BEHAVES AS IF SUCH IS THE CASE!

As reported here on February 10th, Mayor Ron Harding told the Yelm Chamber Forum in his State of the City Address,
"If the economy continues a decline, we'll have to assess service cuts by year's end.
Revenues were up only 3% in 2008; we expected higher.
We did fall quite a bit short with revenue last year
We are expecting a continuing economic decline."

He further went on to say that he did not know yet what kind of cuts in city services would be coming; that would be determined later this year if the economy continued to slide.

THURSTON COUNTY SWINGS BUDGET AX HARD
Fewer Deputies On Street, Crimes To Go Unprosecuted, All Parks To Close

"Saying they simply don’t have enough money to pay the bills, Thurston county Commissioners on Friday [Feb. 27] announced a new round of drastic budget cuts.

The cuts totaling $5.7 million are hitting law enforcement the hardest.

The Sheriff’s Office will lose nearly $2 million in funding. Sheriff Dan Kimball tells KIRO-TV that could mean as many as 30 job cuts including up to 15 road deputies.

A total of $3.8 million in cuts to Law, Safety and Justice means the Thurston County Prosecutor’s Office will also lose five deputy prosecutors. Prosecutor Ed Holm tells KIRO-TV it means some crimes will go unprosecuted. He says he simply won’t have enough people to prosecute certain crimes like misdemeanor theft, low level drug crimes, and failure to register as a sex offender...

There are currently 13 parks in Thurston County. County leaders tell KIRO-TV they have no plans to sell the parks and hope to eventually re-open them, but for now they simply cannot afford to keep them open.

The budget reductions also include cutting 16 jobs at Thurston county Development Services, wiping out about $60,000 in funding for the county fair and eliminating most of the county’s Public Health personal health services programs," quoting Seattle's KIRO-TV 7.

Stark forecast for homebuilders
Speaker tells Master Builders 70 percent of small builders may not survive 2009
From The Olympian

Yelm True Value Hardware,
Family Owned and Operated Since 1941

Department Listings:
* Electrical
* Plumbing
* Paint Dept.
* Hardware
* Tools
* Automotive
* House wares
* Lawn and Garden
* Seasonal
* Key Dept.

Yelm True Value Hardware
207 Yelm Ave E
P.O. Box 577
Yelm, WA 98597
360-458-2291

Planting at Red Salmon Creek

The Red Salmon Creek property is vital to wildlife restoration in the lower Nisqually River Watershed. This is our final large planting at Red Salmon Creek and we will be setting 4,500 trees and shrubs between Red Salmon and Washburn Creeks. These creeks feed into the Nisqually delta near our property. This is excellent habitat for salmon, bald eagles, buffleheads, beaver and countless other species.

The plantings are scheduled from 9:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. each day, March 6 & 7. Tools will be provided, but feel free to bring your own shovel and gloves if you have them. Please bring rain gear, boots, and work clothes you don’t mind getting muddy. Make sure your friends bring their essentials as well.

Directions to Red Salmon Creek:
From I-5:
a. Take Exit #116 (Mounts Road).
b. Head west off the exit, and drive through the Fort Lewis Golf Course.
c. Follow Mounts Road for approximately 1¼ miles to the driveway on the left just before going under the railroad tracks.
d. Parking at the project site is very limited. Please park along the road shoulder above the railroad tracks and walk down to the site, which is at the end of the driveway.

Feel free to contact me with any questions.

Joe Kennedy
Land Steward
Nisqually Land Trust
P.O. Box 1148
Yelm, Wa 98597-1148
Office (360) 458-1111
landsteward@nisquallylandtrust.org