Sound-friendly farming
Wilcox: Earth-friendly practices work for egg producer

Wilcox Family Farms Harvest Fest 2011

Start: Saturday, Oct 1, 2011 10:00 am
End: Saturday, Oct 1, 2011 04:00 pm
Please join us on Saturday, October 1st from 10am-4pm for our annual Wilcox Family Farms Harvest Fest!

Everyone is welcome to join us for free omelets, hay rides, and tours of our historic farm and eggplant. We hope you will come out and see where your farm fresh Wilcox Organic Eggs come from and visit the hens that produce them!

Admission is FREE.
Location:
Wilcox Farm
40400 Harts Lake Valley Rd.
Roy, WA

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JZ Knight was recently interviewed for Urban Male Magazine, the leading mens interest magazine in Canada (Similar to Maxim and Details). JZ’s excerpts were published throughout a six-page, color spread, including a cover quote on the title page of the story! The website and magazine will post the interview in October.

Information about Urban Male Magazine:

The newsstand circulation is just under 100,000 and since 4.5 men read each copy, the overall circulation is about 460,000 Canadian men.

UMM is distributed nationwide to all newsstands including Wal-Mart and 7-Eleven.

Read more from the advance copy of JZ’s interview in Urban Male Magazine, used with permission.

“County leaders will hold a community meeting to discuss the controversial $20 million jail the Nisqually Tribe is building on Yelm Highway.

Commissioner Sandra Romero has called the meeting to discuss the project with neighbors who have questions about the new facility.

‘The county has very limited impact on this situation which is really between the sovereign Nisqually Nation and the federal government. But what we can do is facilitate this meeting between concerned neighbors and representatives of the Tribe,’ Romero said in a news release.

Members of the Nisqually Tribe and county staff will be on hand to explain the project and answer questions.

The meeting will take place Wednesday, Sept. 28, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Nisqually Middle School, 8100 Steilacoom Road Southeast,” quoting KOMO-TV 4 News in Seattle.

Ed. Note: The proposed Nisqually Jail Project is to be located on the corner of Yelm Highway and SR 510 and potentially housing up to 576 inmates with 10% Tribal inmates, 90 % Local Jurisdictions that would include inmates from Lacey, Tumwater, Tenino, Rainier, Yelm, Tenino and more.
Is this is all about tribal revenue?
Listen and decide, tonight!

RESOURCES FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Read more from Nisqually Jail Impact:
“The Nisqually Jail is intended to generate income for the operators. What is the jails working relationship will be with Immigration and Customs Enforcement? Lets keep an eye on the seamy for profit schemes that are part of the prison for profit playbook Much of the planning for the jail is cloaked in secrecy. We need a clear statement from the Nisqually Tribe on how it intends to make its money and the types of prisoners it will hold.”

Read more from Justine Schmidt’s Op-Ed published in The Olympian titled Citizens were kept in the dark:
“A regional jail is being built by The Nisqually Tribe at Yelm Highway and state Highway 510. We understand that the Nisqually Tribe is a sovereign nation and that the laws of a sovereign nation are different from our county/state laws in building such a facility.

We have documentation, however, that shows some of our elected officials and the U.S. government along with others knew of the intended land use prior to the Nisqually Tribe acquiring the land from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (previously Fort Lewis land).”
Ed. Note: Ms. Schmidt addressed the Yelm City Council last night about this issue.

Read more from STOP the Nisqually Tribal Jail Yelm Highway, “A bulletin board and resource to inform neighbors about the project and to collect support to shut down construction.”

Read more from Stop the Nisqually Jail on Facebook.

Nisqually Jail Public Forum TONIGHT
Wednesday, Sept. 28, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Nisqually Middle School
8100 Steilacoom Road SE
Lacey, WA. 98503
Map it

THE YELM COMMUNITY BLOG ACKNOWLEDGES THURSTON COUNTY COMMISSIONER ROMERO FOR HER ACTIONS TO CALL THIS PUBLIC FORUM TO AIR THE ISSUES!

Yelm Public Safety Building & City Council Chambers

The Yelm City Council will vote tonight to approve expenditure of $48,413.00 of public funds for a water study for “development of a new Wellhead Protection Plan”, without public discourse and on land they do not currently own nor have access.
Yes, the city can say they are seizing the property, however a final deal has not been announced.

Questions to be asked:
– Isn’t this premature – to spend money for a project on land the city does not own?
– What happens if the city does not become owners of the land the well is on?
– Would you sped money for a study on land you did not own?
– Is THIS protecting the public’s interest?

An unaware and uninvolved public are Yelm City Council’s greatest allies in carrying forth their agenda, while Yelm property owners get stomach-punched with more taxes, fees and city-incurred restrictions.

“TRANSPARENCY IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT”

At the end of the last Yelm City Council Meeting, Mayor Harding told the Council that the city would be monitoring speeding traffic around town in the coming weeks, especially on side streets. We learned more about that in the local newspaper last Friday in the article titled “Police going after speeders on Yelm roads”.

The traffic situation has not gotten any better in Yelm, as comments from time-to-time in the newspaper indicate. Everyone knows that a Thursday or Friday afternoon from 3-5pm, traffic is backed up from the stoplight back beyond Yelm High School and Saturdays, can be grid-locked in both directions in the afternoon, as Yelm Ave. was last Saturday.

Now, police are monitoring speeders, who are merely attempting to get around the traditional bottle-necks on Yelm Ave., by using West Rd., Stevens St, Coats & Cullen. These roads comprise the Inner Loop and drivers have used these roads since little was done to handle additional traffic flows on Yelm Ave, over adding a center turn lane. This writer mentioned to the City Council in 2005 & 2006 that they were kicking-the-can-down-the-road of the traffic issue here by:
1. not widening Yelm Ave. to 5 lanes instead of 3, when the city was widening this arterial & adding new development that would double the size of this town, if not more so, if approved.
2. not biting-the-bullet and eliminating parking on Yelm Ave. between 1st & 2nd streets to allow more vehicles to flow through widened lanes at the light, each way.

Then, now-deceased Olympia engineer and then-Yelm-area resident Ed Wiltsie wrote a letter and presented this to the City Council in 2006 stating that the continued development here would force traffic onto side streets & into neighborhoods with children, causing a dangerous mix. Now, the front-page of this week’s newspaper says that is the case, causing the police to step up speeding patrols.

Quoting Mr, Wiltsie to the Yelm City Council,
“…it is noted that technically, any development approved within Yelm without the Y3 Loop being funded and implemented, worsens already unsafe conditions and is contrary to the purpose of the Citys Comprehensive Transportation Plan, Traffic Ordinances, Planning Commission and Mayor & Council.”
Ed. Note: Only 1.1 miles of a 4.3 loop has been funded and built.

Read more of Mr. Wiltsie’s thorough letter of Yelm violating the city’s on Comprehensive Traffic Plan – from 2006!

Read more of Mr. Wiltsie’s 2006 remarks and the city basically ignoring his comments.

Read more form this blogger’s comments on the traffic issue, from Feb., 2007.

In closing:
Keven Graves is quoted from his November 25, 2005 editorial in the local newspaper:
“We (he & then Mayor-elect Harding) agree that a transparent government is better government.”

The lack of addressing traffic issues from continued development by the City of Yelm and covered here for 5+ years is far from an environment of being “a transparent government”.

– An unaware and uninvolved public are Yelm City Council’s greatest allies in carrying forth their agenda.

From the Standing Room Only (SRO) Press Release:

Autumn greetings to all fans, participants, and supporters

This Fall, SRO is proud and thrilled to begin its season with a very special Acting Workshop, which will be offered at a discount price to every Standing Room Only Company member. This includes anyone who has participated on or off stage in our productions since the group began in 2008.

It will also be open to other members of the Community who wish to join the company by participating or auditing the Workshop.

The Workshop will be taught by Avriel Hillman, who will bring to our Community a profound and detailed knowledge of the major acting techniques now being taught in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Cambridge, Mass. Among the teachers with whom she has studied are Warren Robertson, Ivana Chubbock, Michael Howard, Larry Moss, Austin Pendleton, and the directors of the Moscow Arts Theater.

In addition, she has coached privately in Seattle and New York, taught several workshops at the Drew Harvey Theater, and produced, directed and acted professionally in Seattle and New York both on stage and in TV.

The Workshop will be offered for two weekends. It is recommended that you register as quickly as possible as the spaces are limited. It is preferred that you register for both weekends, but if that is not possible, we will make several spaces available for those who can only take the first weekend. It will not be possible to take the second weekend without attending the first.
Priority will be given to those who can attend both weekends.

MODERN MASTERS ACTING WORKSHOP WITH AVRIEL HILLMAN

WHERE: Gordon’s Grange in Yelm

WHEN: Friday evening through Sunday, October 7-9 & October 14-16

TIMES: Fridays, 6pm Saturday-Sunday, 10-6pm

NOTE: Times are approximate. It is the practice of the teacher to run a bit late if it is necessary for the actors. There will be a one hour lunch break. Fridays are flexible as well if there are work conflicts.

COST: SRO Members, $20/weekend
Non SRO Members, $40/weekend for auditors, $50/weekend for participants.
Auditors may participate for either weekend, or both.
Auditors and participants may take their second weekend at the SRO price.
Tuition must be received in advance to insure your space in the Workshop. Send check to Nancy Hillman PO Box 1234 Rainier, WA, 98576.

PLEASE TELL SRO YOU READ ABOUT THEIR WORKSHOP ON THE YELM COMMUNITY BLOG!

Yelm Timberland Regional Library

With the Thurston County Assessor’s Office noting assessments for “Commercial properties decreased for the second year in a row, down 6.2 percent” and continuing a descent, according to The Olympian, will the cost to purchase the Yelm Library in a condo arrangement also decrease?

The appraisal from March 7, 2011 valued the condo at $1.2 million. If the county’s trend continues downward to record assessment drops through the end of the year, another 6% drop would equate a value of $72,000 lower than the original appraisal. Six percent off the net price of $1 million dollars, taking into account Clapp’s lowering the price by $200,000, would equal a drop of $60,000.

Bottom line:
Since this whole saga began, with very little public information and only one option’s details ever shared with the public, that of buying the current library facility, the value of commercial real estate has had a huge decline. With purchase negotiations still continuing, has that decline been factored into the purchase negotiations, in the public interest to protect the Yelm taxpayer?

PROBABLY NOT!
THE YELM PROPERTY OWNER WILL SOON GET A HEFTY BILL TO PAY FOR THIS FACILITY, ONE THAT IS TOO LARGE FOR THIS CITY TO CURRENTLY BEAR IN SUCH DIFFICULT ECONOMIC TIMES. REGARDLESS OF THE HYPE THAT THIS AREA MUST HAVE THE CURRENT LIBRARY, YELM CAN NOT AFFORD IT!
Read more about an affordable alternative.

HMMM!

Photo credit: Mr. Wilcox’s Legislative Office website

“The governor announced Sept. 22 she will call for a 30-day special session of the Legislature beginning Nov. 28 to address the states budget shortfall. Last week, the states chief economist reported that revenues are still expected to be greater in the current budget cycle than the last. However, the 2011-13 budget passed in May by the Legislature exceeds the latest revenue projections by $1.27 billion.

Rep. J.T. Wilcox, R-Yelm, said he agrees with the need for a special session before January to balance the budget sooner and provide certainty to state government programs and services.”
Read more from Rep. Wilcox’s Press Release out today.

Autumn officially arrived in Yelm this morning at 2:05AM PDT
Read more from The Old Farmer’s Almanac.