Leters - Jan. 13, 2011

Kindness

I would like your readers to know about a local hero, at least that’s how I see him. I am a truck driver from Spanaway, and as I was on my way home Monday morning when I found myself in terrible pain and I had no idea what was wrong. I stopped my truck on the north end of Colfax and decided that I should get to the Emergency room. It was about then that I met Ernie Miller. I asked if he could help me get to the hospital and he didn’t hesitate: we climbed in his pickup and away we went. When we got there he helped me in to the emergency room and gave me his card and told me that if I needed a ride back to my semi to give him a call.

Come to find out, I had kidney stones. The staff at the hospital was great and they helped me thru my pain and got me ready to head back down the road. I was ready to be released from the hospital, but unless I had a ride they would have had to keep me for 24 hours. As I said before, I live in Spanaway which is by Tacoma so for me to get my wife to come and pick me up would have been difficult to say the least. I pulled out the card in my pocket and called Ernie and he said he was on his way.

Now what Ernie did for me may not sound like much but to me it was a God send. While traveling across the country getting sick in a place that you don’t know anyone is a trucker’s worst nightmare. Even at home where I live if I were to ask someone for the kind of help that Ernie gave me (without hesitation I might add) most of the time you would be out of luck.

So if you see or know Ernie please just let him know that his good deed has not gone unseen. God bless you and small town communities.

Moving forward

Congratulations on the Port of Whitman moving forward with its project to run fiber optic cable through the length of the county. This provides one of the ingredients (communications) necessary to permit resilient communities to grow. The others are transportation, food, energy, and security.

Transportation: Rail in our case for the movement of materials. When (not if) gas hits $25/gallon we’ll see how truly blessed we are to have our rail infrastructure, or at least what remains.

Food: We could ensure our food security by embracing the technology developed by Verdant Earth Technologies of Tucson, Arizona, which is essentially a greenhouse in a shipping container (using LEDs for lighting). The claim is that 90 days of growing can be accomplished in 30 days using 24 hour a day illumination. Local production would result in more jobs plus quality fresher products.

Energy: It’s unfortunate that our one great source of renewable (24 hours a day / 7 days a week) energy — hydroelectric — is contracted to consumers a thousand miles away. The efforts to harness the wind, while admirable, have selected the wrong technology. The solution being implemented is political (tax incentive driven) and one that can only provide intermittent energy, not the 24/7 delivery a technology driven base would require. A sustainable solution would be using ‘solar updraft towers.’

Security: In this instance we’ll limit this to opportunity. Opportunity for us and future generations to have prosperous lives. Here’s some video of what the introduction of a new technology can accomplish . Conversely these are our future competitors (for jobs and raw materials).

Vision: This is what we need. One future that I really like would be to make the region the home to world class ‘rapid prototyping’ and ‘rapid manufacturing.’ Manufacturing could be accomplished using the concept of a ‘mobile parts hospital’ (MPH) which is essentially a computer-controlled machine shop in a shipping container (specifications are downloaded over the internet and parts made to order).

The new fiber optic highway is an enabling technology. How it can/will be used to change our world is a question each of us has to answer.

Chuck Petras, Farmington

Observations

Having observed our county government at work for a period of time it is necessary to point out some areas of interest.

There was no plan in place to reorganize financial management at the courthouse with the surprise dismantling of the commissioners finance office. Months of valuable time was lost.

Why doesn’t one of our elected officials step forward and explain clearly to the citizens of the county why there was a $600k to a $200K discrepancy in our accounts? Plus, what allows the commissioners to simply write it off?

There is a serious conflict between several of our commissioners and the auditor. The commissioners are Partch and O’Neill.

It was said several years ago that the county owned two city blocks in Colfax. With the acquisition of the Nolan and Harrison buildings the county has not only bought the buildings, but have refurbished them with our tax dollars. Grants are tax dollars and the capital funds are also your tax dollars. Don’t forget we have more space to maintain. Your tax dollars will maintain it.

I can remember the auditor stating that mail ballots was going to be a great cost saver and more efficient. What do we think now?

The Elks building. You own it. This tar baby isn’t going away.

Partch flip flopped on protecting our scenic hill tops. We should support landowner rights, and houses look a lot better than wind generators. Possibly we should have both. Partch ought to clearly state why the flop.

We are short on money, yet we see county patrol cars working the state highways. Is this a revenue maker or are we just passing through? This has become more noticeable the last several years, especially when you see the patrol vehicle partially concealed.

Explain to the citizens the square footage of the old county shop buildings and what we sold them for per square foot.

New World. A million of your tax dollars will be spent on this project when it is all over. Don’t forget the cost of county employee labor over the past five years when you reconcile this in your mind. Partch again. He sat there and did nothing for nearly five years. Where was the implementation plan? He needs to explain.

Attend a commissioner meeting sometime and listen to Partch dominate the meeting. All of the above falls squarely at his feet. When you vote and he is the only person on the ballot and you don’t like what you see, leave the box blank.

As citizens of the county we ought to speak up. We pass all kinds of levies in our communities, yet we let Partch run freely with your money.