I am first a parent of two students who have very successfully navigated their ways through the Arlington School system and benefited tremendously from their experiences.
I was pleased, but not surprised, to see the Arlington Firefighters endorsement of Barbara Tolbert for Arlington City Council Position 3. Arlington would be well served having Barbara on the Council. Barbara Tolbert has been involved and contributing to our community for many years.
The Sunday documentary Breaking Point on the Discovery channel was excellently narrated by Ted Koppel. Those who viewed it had to be as affected as I was by the extreme folly of the waste involved. The mass incarceration in America is such a waste of human life and of the taxpayers money. We incarcerate more people then any other country in the world.
Imagine for a minute you are the CEO of a large corporation. You have an asset that is underutilized at only about 45 percent of its capacity. Increasing its use by a mere 5 percent would generate well over $100 million in annual revenue and $20 million in local tax revenue with very little investment. And it would provide incredible benefits to your stockholders beyond the revenue it generated.
In response to the firefighters articles, I would like people to know that I am still alive and well excuse the pun.
I appreciated the Times article on the upcoming transformation of the Graafstra properties (Graafstra Farm to be developed into Haller Point, Oct. 17). Mr. Graafstra deserves a good retirement after decades of very hard work, but it is sad to see the farm go.
Mr. Jim Tagert seems ready to lay every shortcoming of our law enforcement system at the feet of the Washington State Legislature.
As a parent, a person who writes laws for a living, and as a taxpayer, I urge area voters to approve EHJR (Engrossed House Joint Resolution) 4204 Simple Majorities for Schools.
Vote before May 20
There are people in our community who serve us and they cannot be thanked enough. I am speaking of the owners or our Arlington Health Foods, Inc. They are on 317 N. Olympic Avenue. Roger and Claire know whats what for our good health and when you read of some new exotic discovery from Jonathan Wright you rush down to order it and they already have it. They have aided in my good health and the good health of so many more. Here is a toast to their continued business a berry juice cocktail all organic of course.
In November, Snohomish County voters will be asked to fund Edmonds Crossing, a proposed new ferry terminal, that is on the Regional Transportation Investment Districts (RTID list of road projects. The cost will be $157million: $127 million from RTID and $30 million from Sound Transit.
The student walkout at Totem Middle School is breathtaking. It challenges the imagination to picture 200 students demonstrating in support of increased discipline in a public school.
The PEW Charitable Trust reported this week that one in every 100 Americans is incarcerated. That is upsetting. It makes me wonder how many people we can afford to incarcerate under our present punitive laws.
