Monday, May 26, 2008
Photos from the Veterans Memorial
Final post about the unexpected but powerful veterans memorial that some students at Clover Park High erected; the photos can speak for themselves.
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Saturday, May 24, 2008
A Patriotic Memorial
I'm blessed to live in a great Lakewood neighborhood, across the street from Clover Park High School. So I've been driving at least twice a day past the powerful memorial to the Iraqi war dead that students erected at CP High. The News Tribune did a really nice job covering this story, both as a traditional story and as a video. Out of respect for good driving, I probably shouldn't say this out loud, but it is really hard to keep your eyes on the road as you drive past this stretch of Bridgeport. I encourage you to read and view the links in this post; it's worth learning more about this great project both in memory to those in died, and in honor of the high school students who came up with a brilliant and prominent project.In Memory of Jo Harrison
All sorts of us were crying Friday afternoon at the celebration of the life of Jo Harrison at First Baptist Church on 112th in Lakewood. Jo, as I wrote below, was the wife of Bill Harrison, the city's co-chair of the successful incorporation campaign and the city's first mayor. At the service, their two sons spoke movingly of her love ... of how she could garden at one moment, care for a kid who fell down and hurt himself at the next moment, and then be an elegant hostess another moment as the commanding general's wife at Fort Ord and Fort Lewis.
As I wrote below, I will never forget Jo's beaming face on the cover of the Lakewood Journal when we wrote about the voter approval of cityhood. The reception was a reminder of all of Lakewood's first days and years as a city, from former Council members Sherry Thomas, Ann Kirk Davis and Colleen Henry, to dear Bill Harrison himself.
Bill wore a tie of purple, Jo's favorite color. How appropriate for her favorite man to wear .. a man who devoted incredibly energy to keeping her at home during a prolonged illness. You could watch Bill age a year in a day, and yet he remained, as I told him, an extraordinary role model for any husband and father.
My favorite moment in the service, actually, was not a story about Jo. It was one of the Scripture readings. I'm sure I have heard it before ... but to hear another city pioneer Andie Gernon read it, I was reminded of Jo's role in the founding of our community as a unified and energized city. I took the liberty of putting the word 'city' in bold each of the two times it appears:
From Proverbs, 31: (speaking of a wife ...)
20 She opens her arms to the poor
and extends her hands to the needy.
21 When it snows, she has no fear for her household;
for all of them are clothed in scarlet.
22 She makes coverings for her bed;
she is clothed in fine linen and purple.
23 Her husband is respected at the city gate,
where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.
24 She makes linen garments and sells them,
and supplies the merchants with sashes.
25 She is clothed with strength and dignity;
she can laugh at the days to come.
26 She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
27 She watches over the affairs of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
28 Her children arise and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:
29 "Many women do noble things,
but you surpass them all."
30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
31 Give her the reward she has earned,
and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.
Andie did not even have to raise the tone of her voice at the word itself to accentuate the connection to our city. You could feel that connection in the room. The connection was there, and this passage honors Jo in the context of a city that was all the better to have known her.
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As I wrote below, I will never forget Jo's beaming face on the cover of the Lakewood Journal when we wrote about the voter approval of cityhood. The reception was a reminder of all of Lakewood's first days and years as a city, from former Council members Sherry Thomas, Ann Kirk Davis and Colleen Henry, to dear Bill Harrison himself.
Bill wore a tie of purple, Jo's favorite color. How appropriate for her favorite man to wear .. a man who devoted incredibly energy to keeping her at home during a prolonged illness. You could watch Bill age a year in a day, and yet he remained, as I told him, an extraordinary role model for any husband and father.
My favorite moment in the service, actually, was not a story about Jo. It was one of the Scripture readings. I'm sure I have heard it before ... but to hear another city pioneer Andie Gernon read it, I was reminded of Jo's role in the founding of our community as a unified and energized city. I took the liberty of putting the word 'city' in bold each of the two times it appears:
From Proverbs, 31: (speaking of a wife ...)
20 She opens her arms to the poor
and extends her hands to the needy.
21 When it snows, she has no fear for her household;
for all of them are clothed in scarlet.
22 She makes coverings for her bed;
she is clothed in fine linen and purple.
23 Her husband is respected at the city gate,
where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.
24 She makes linen garments and sells them,
and supplies the merchants with sashes.
25 She is clothed with strength and dignity;
she can laugh at the days to come.
26 She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
27 She watches over the affairs of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
28 Her children arise and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:
29 "Many women do noble things,
but you surpass them all."
30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
31 Give her the reward she has earned,
and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.
Andie did not even have to raise the tone of her voice at the word itself to accentuate the connection to our city. You could feel that connection in the room. The connection was there, and this passage honors Jo in the context of a city that was all the better to have known her.
A Good Spanking
When is a spanking good? When you deserve it. I deserved it. My campaign broke the law.
Wow. It feels unspeakably awful to type that.
So here's the short version ... Washington state has very strict rules about reporting who you get your campaign contributions from. That's as it should be. It is not uncommon for people to sometimes be a bit late in reporting contributions. Being late is not right ... it just is sometimes. A campaign for public office can be overwhelming. Those of you who know me personally know just how overwhelming it was. I still wanted to represent Lakewood, and I am glad I ran. I am grateful I was elected. But in some ways, I simply fell behind on a lot of of obligations. This was one of them. The reporting software that you have to use is pretty complex, but that's no excuse.
Last fall, my campaign was 15 days late in filing a statement.
The Public Disclosure Commission decided to hold hearings on those sorts of late filings, and assess civil penalties for violation of what is basically the state civil code.
And that was me, Friday, along with several other elected officials from around the state.
Now, those of you who know my background will find this hysterical. As a newspaper reporter, I used to write all the time about elected officials who got fined by state campaign commissions.
Well ... now I am one of those elected officials. Turnabout is fair play, and proper enforcement of the law as well.
There was not much to say during the hearing. Interestingly enough ... and I never knew this as a reporter ... hardly any elected officials actually physically go to these hearings. They just send letters or maybe call in.
But I went. I wanted to be there. I deserved the experience. And the 'public,' represented by the commission, had the right to expect me to be there.
As it was, everyone was very nice. They matter-of-factly stated my offense. I was sworn in to give testimony, but I didn't really offer any statements of fact. I apologized. I did wrong. It was my responsibility to file on time. I did not.
The other elected official who attended spoke before me, and he blamed his brother-in-law, his campaign treasurer, for not filing the statement. And that was surely true in his case. But I attempted no excuses. I looked into my past, and tried to imagine what Walter the reporter would want. Walter the elected official did exactly that: he told the truth, and he apologized.
The chair of the Public Disclosure Commission, who held the hearing, assessed me a $50 fine. I will pay it, obviously. I and my campaign did wrong.
So there you go. The state really does enforce the laws about campaign contributions. And it should!
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Wow. It feels unspeakably awful to type that.
So here's the short version ... Washington state has very strict rules about reporting who you get your campaign contributions from. That's as it should be. It is not uncommon for people to sometimes be a bit late in reporting contributions. Being late is not right ... it just is sometimes. A campaign for public office can be overwhelming. Those of you who know me personally know just how overwhelming it was. I still wanted to represent Lakewood, and I am glad I ran. I am grateful I was elected. But in some ways, I simply fell behind on a lot of of obligations. This was one of them. The reporting software that you have to use is pretty complex, but that's no excuse.
Last fall, my campaign was 15 days late in filing a statement.
The Public Disclosure Commission decided to hold hearings on those sorts of late filings, and assess civil penalties for violation of what is basically the state civil code.
And that was me, Friday, along with several other elected officials from around the state.
Now, those of you who know my background will find this hysterical. As a newspaper reporter, I used to write all the time about elected officials who got fined by state campaign commissions.
Well ... now I am one of those elected officials. Turnabout is fair play, and proper enforcement of the law as well.
There was not much to say during the hearing. Interestingly enough ... and I never knew this as a reporter ... hardly any elected officials actually physically go to these hearings. They just send letters or maybe call in.
But I went. I wanted to be there. I deserved the experience. And the 'public,' represented by the commission, had the right to expect me to be there.
As it was, everyone was very nice. They matter-of-factly stated my offense. I was sworn in to give testimony, but I didn't really offer any statements of fact. I apologized. I did wrong. It was my responsibility to file on time. I did not.
The other elected official who attended spoke before me, and he blamed his brother-in-law, his campaign treasurer, for not filing the statement. And that was surely true in his case. But I attempted no excuses. I looked into my past, and tried to imagine what Walter the reporter would want. Walter the elected official did exactly that: he told the truth, and he apologized.
The chair of the Public Disclosure Commission, who held the hearing, assessed me a $50 fine. I will pay it, obviously. I and my campaign did wrong.
So there you go. The state really does enforce the laws about campaign contributions. And it should!
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
A Death in the Family
How ironic, if that's the right word. I was just getting to write something with pride about how the school board had chosen to name a school after the co-chair of the cityhood campaign and first mayor, Bill Harrison. Then comes word that his wife, Jo, passed away this same week.
This is what I posted on the TNT web site in the thread about Jo's death:
"Jo and Bill were, and will always be, founders of Lakewood as a full community and city. When cityhood was finally approved by the voters, the Lakewood Journal was at the post-election party. Of all the happy photos of that night, our staff chose a photo of Jo and Colleen Henry for the cover of the paper ... you could just tell that Jo was so incredibly happy and proud of the cityhood effort, the community, and certainly by far, her husband Bill.
"My mom had the same condition that Jo did these last years, so I have small glimpse into the agonies the Harrison family has endured. They had to be strong to deal with it, and Bill was a rock. God bless Jo, and everyone in that family.
"How ironic this had to happen the same week that the school board was voting whether to name a school after Bill. Their family will be remembered as long as there is a Lakewood."
Jo had a form of Alzheimer's that is nastier than the usual version. This version comes with all the prolonged agonies of Alzheimers, but also the horrible variation of delusions. I don't know what Jo was seeing ... I did not want to ask Bill ... but my mother saw a lot of horrible things that were not there. She believed, for example, that people were coming through the water pipes at night and breaking her fingers while she slept. And there was more. It's a horrible, horrible illness. Like Bill, my father was determined to keep mom and home, and he did, but at a huge and agonizing cost. Imagine dealing with not only the loss of a mind and person you love, but trying to explain to them things that were not really happening.
It was awful, and it was awful for 10 long years. I wrote a story about just one day of the whole experience about a jillion years ago in a column in the Lakewood Journal.
My best thoughts, prayers and love to Bill ...
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This is what I posted on the TNT web site in the thread about Jo's death:
"Jo and Bill were, and will always be, founders of Lakewood as a full community and city. When cityhood was finally approved by the voters, the Lakewood Journal was at the post-election party. Of all the happy photos of that night, our staff chose a photo of Jo and Colleen Henry for the cover of the paper ... you could just tell that Jo was so incredibly happy and proud of the cityhood effort, the community, and certainly by far, her husband Bill.
"My mom had the same condition that Jo did these last years, so I have small glimpse into the agonies the Harrison family has endured. They had to be strong to deal with it, and Bill was a rock. God bless Jo, and everyone in that family.
"How ironic this had to happen the same week that the school board was voting whether to name a school after Bill. Their family will be remembered as long as there is a Lakewood."
Jo had a form of Alzheimer's that is nastier than the usual version. This version comes with all the prolonged agonies of Alzheimers, but also the horrible variation of delusions. I don't know what Jo was seeing ... I did not want to ask Bill ... but my mother saw a lot of horrible things that were not there. She believed, for example, that people were coming through the water pipes at night and breaking her fingers while she slept. And there was more. It's a horrible, horrible illness. Like Bill, my father was determined to keep mom and home, and he did, but at a huge and agonizing cost. Imagine dealing with not only the loss of a mind and person you love, but trying to explain to them things that were not really happening.
It was awful, and it was awful for 10 long years. I wrote a story about just one day of the whole experience about a jillion years ago in a column in the Lakewood Journal.
My best thoughts, prayers and love to Bill ...
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
A Good Decision in Ponders
Just real quick, for those who read the post about Pacific Highway: here's an update about Ponders from The News Tribune. For those of you interested in a different telling and far less nuanced description of the story, check out this brief from a Seattle paper.
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Monday, May 05, 2008
Updates: Pac Highway, County Exec, and an Upcoming Lakewood United Meeting about the Gambling Initiative
Greetings. This past weekend was about the first weekend since I felt really whole after I got what they vaguely describe as 'walking pneumonia" back in February. It was great to be out and about. We certainly fell behind in this blog, so let's do some catching up:
PACIFIC HIGHWAY: Tonight's Lakewood City Council meeting at 7 p.m. *may* be when the council makes the decision on alignment and the width of Pacific Highway between Bridgeport and Ponders. The overall goal is to reshape the road and widen some lots to allow for bigger and more varied businesses than what's there now.
You can read about the novel idea of changing the road to three lanes, based on a successful road in Fife, at this original posting, and then the update from the time we commissioned design studies is at this link.
We've since looked at designs that show a real attractive three-lane road on Pacific Highway, and larger lots on probably the railroad side to allow for more businesses and the creation of new jobs. I'm not entirely sure if we will make the final decision tonight or not.
COUNTY EXECUTIVE: Here's just one of many updates you will read this year about the election for Pierce County Executive: candidate Shawn Bunney's thoughts about economic development. As I have written before, even though Lakewood has its own locally elected government, the race for who will lead Pierce County government will be crucial. Pierce County government can make life easy or hard for us. And the way Pierce County government is set up, the county executive is pretty much like an emperor. So the post is crucial. The election this year will be crucial.
Just off the top of my head, I can think of three reasons that the Pierce County government can help or hinder Lakewood. And these only involve one important, but unglamorous part of county government, the sewer system:
1. Ask a developer about doing business in Lakewood, and you will often hear a lot about the sewer permitting system, which is controlled entirely by the county. How the county permitting system works with the city is crucial to economic development.
2. If we want to put more bathrooms in Fort Steilacoom Park, or something like a farmer's market in one of the barns, we will need to run a sewer line into the park. The county decides how much it charges for hooking up sewers, and the last cost estimate I heard was pretty large. It would be awful if the county charges too much for something that would be of such regional benefit; the new county executive will presumably have a say in such things.
3. And finally, construction will begin on a sewer line to Tillicum that will dramatically change that area. As you can already tell, county government runs the sewer system, and we need to hope its folks will continue to cooperate with Lakewood on what's sure to be a very, very complicated project.
I plan to work on questions that you might to ask a county executive candidate. You will probably meet several of them, as the race is sure to be a dogfight. Here's just one recent update on the race from The News Tribune. More to come.
GAMING UPDATE: The nonpartisan and always informative group Lakewood United will host a forum at 7 a.m. on Thursday, May 15, at Burs, during one of its regular sessions on the proposed gaming initiative. Former City Councilman John Arbeeny will be speaking on behalf of the initiative to ban minicasinos; yours truly will be speaking against it. A minicasino manager was scheduled to come in case there were questions about gaming itself, but he had to cancel. So I have a message into Lakewood United about whether they want to find someone from that industry to come speak or not. I plan to speak more about the importance of limiting government, as I am no expert on gambling; so it would be good to have someone there in case questions come up about minicasinos themselves. So I'll let you know how that turns out.
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PACIFIC HIGHWAY: Tonight's Lakewood City Council meeting at 7 p.m. *may* be when the council makes the decision on alignment and the width of Pacific Highway between Bridgeport and Ponders. The overall goal is to reshape the road and widen some lots to allow for bigger and more varied businesses than what's there now.
You can read about the novel idea of changing the road to three lanes, based on a successful road in Fife, at this original posting, and then the update from the time we commissioned design studies is at this link.
We've since looked at designs that show a real attractive three-lane road on Pacific Highway, and larger lots on probably the railroad side to allow for more businesses and the creation of new jobs. I'm not entirely sure if we will make the final decision tonight or not.
COUNTY EXECUTIVE: Here's just one of many updates you will read this year about the election for Pierce County Executive: candidate Shawn Bunney's thoughts about economic development. As I have written before, even though Lakewood has its own locally elected government, the race for who will lead Pierce County government will be crucial. Pierce County government can make life easy or hard for us. And the way Pierce County government is set up, the county executive is pretty much like an emperor. So the post is crucial. The election this year will be crucial.
Just off the top of my head, I can think of three reasons that the Pierce County government can help or hinder Lakewood. And these only involve one important, but unglamorous part of county government, the sewer system:
1. Ask a developer about doing business in Lakewood, and you will often hear a lot about the sewer permitting system, which is controlled entirely by the county. How the county permitting system works with the city is crucial to economic development.
2. If we want to put more bathrooms in Fort Steilacoom Park, or something like a farmer's market in one of the barns, we will need to run a sewer line into the park. The county decides how much it charges for hooking up sewers, and the last cost estimate I heard was pretty large. It would be awful if the county charges too much for something that would be of such regional benefit; the new county executive will presumably have a say in such things.
3. And finally, construction will begin on a sewer line to Tillicum that will dramatically change that area. As you can already tell, county government runs the sewer system, and we need to hope its folks will continue to cooperate with Lakewood on what's sure to be a very, very complicated project.
I plan to work on questions that you might to ask a county executive candidate. You will probably meet several of them, as the race is sure to be a dogfight. Here's just one recent update on the race from The News Tribune. More to come.
GAMING UPDATE: The nonpartisan and always informative group Lakewood United will host a forum at 7 a.m. on Thursday, May 15, at Burs, during one of its regular sessions on the proposed gaming initiative. Former City Councilman John Arbeeny will be speaking on behalf of the initiative to ban minicasinos; yours truly will be speaking against it. A minicasino manager was scheduled to come in case there were questions about gaming itself, but he had to cancel. So I have a message into Lakewood United about whether they want to find someone from that industry to come speak or not. I plan to speak more about the importance of limiting government, as I am no expert on gambling; so it would be good to have someone there in case questions come up about minicasinos themselves. So I'll let you know how that turns out.
