“The future of medicine”
“This is our future in medicine. Amazing!”
“iDoctor: Could a smartphone be the future of medicine?”
Aired Thursday, January 24, 2013
Click here for the video from NBC News, Rock Center with Brian Williams
February 28, 2013
February 27, 2013
6th Annual South Sound Sustainability Expo – Saturday
Hope You Can Join Us at the 6th Annual South Sound Sustainability Expo on March 2.
March, 2, 2013 , 10:00 3:00 | Greater Tacoma Convention & Trade Center | FREE
This 6th annual public event providing residents and business owners in the South Sound a place to discover the services, products, companies, and agencies addressing sustainability needs in our community. Expo attendees will learn about a variety of local goods and services, including:
– transportation alternatives,
– alternative energy sources,
– green construction,
– global climate change initiatives, and
– energy conservation,
– how to be economically efficient while being sustainable.
– waste minimization and recycling,
Workshops throughout the day on sustainable topics:
– 10:30 AM – Designing a Sustainable Landscape
– 12:00 PM – Solar Power Basics and Incentives
– 1:30 PM – Spring Gardens: Starting with Seeds
– Kids Corner with fun environmental activities, games and art projects all day long.
Click here for the schedule.
New for 2013 includes:
– Mini Tacoma Farmers Market
– Art Envirochallenger Exhibit
– School of the Arts (SOTA) interpretive environmental dance performance
– Great Raffle Prizes! donated by our many generous participants.
South Sound Sustainability Expo
Tacoma Convention and Trade Center
1500 Broadway
Tacoma, WA 98402
10:00am to 3:00pm.
March 2nd, 2013.
Free Entry.
February 26, 2013
“Charge: Facebook helped cops nab Yelm child pornographer”
Levi Pulkkinen reports in the Seattle P-I:
“A Yelm man alleged to have been making child pornography and sharing it with an undercover agent now faces federal charges.
Arrested Friday, Jeremy M. McArdle is alleged to have taken sexually explicit photos of at least one child and shared them online. Federal prosecutors in Seattle contend McArdle bragged via email about acquiring a spy pen to make child porn.
Investigators claim they were able to identify McArdles victim after examining his Facebook page.”
Read more
February 25, 2013
Questions remain for County’s Deputy Auditor Harding –
Will Yelm citizens want only a part-time mayor?
Thurston County Deputy Auditor, Yelm Mayor,
and Bachelor Business Degree (BBA) candidate Ron Harding
Mayor Ron Harding admittedly has never held a corporate business management position and has no idea the demands required of him in a full-time salary as the newly appointed County Deputy Auditor.
Click here for his new job description.
Ron Harding is going to have his hands filled and be on a steep learning curve in his new position. And, with no business experience outside of Yelm in time-management in a business environment AND in the “real world”, except for his local contracting business and family wholesale flower company, this lack which The Olympian Editorial Board wrote when he first ran for mayor in 2005, he will find little room for anything else, including being mayor.
Harding also will not be able to play his usual Yelm games in the deputy auditor position. County constituents are far more vocal than Yelm’s and already on to his manipulations and not afraid to say so.
So, currently at age 46, Ron Harding is now going to have:
– a full-time Deputy County Auditor day job & salary,
– a part-time job to run the City of Yelm as mayor and serve on the city’s several committees, guiding the City of Yelm Administrator and Community Development Dept., among others,
– part-time jobs dealing with his contracting and family floral businesses,
– pursue a bachelors degree in business, according to The Olympian,
– have a private family life,
– AND, presumably run for re-election as Mayor of Yelm for a third term again this Fall or some other political opportunity?
Come on now! REALLY?
How will Yelm citizens feel with only a part-time mayor?
A letter writer to The Olympian summed-up this whole situation best:
“HagsBags
What?! Harding applied for the appointment, took 1 of the 3 nomination spots, and then bowed out to Alexander once Harding had already blocked out other people who were genuinely interested in getting the appointment.
What the heck is going on? This absolutely reeks of a pre-arranged (sic) deal between Harding and Alexander. They rigged the appointment, and these are the 2 guys who are going to oversee elections in Thurston County. You have got to be kidding me.”
Read more
February 24, 2013
Federal Reserve System is 100 in 2013
– “Two Awful Anniversaries: Income Tax and Federal Reserve”
This story appears in the March 4, 2013 issue of Forbes.
By Steve Forbes
“This year marks the 100th anniversary of the federal income tax (February) and the Federal Reserve System (December), both of which today are doing immeasurable harm. And, thankfully, both will be undergoing enormous changes.”
“Amazingly, our central bank has no concept of the proper role for such an institution, which is to give us a stable currency and deal with financial panics quickly and decisively. Since the late 1990s the Federal Reserves actions have been unhinged. Its deliberate policy of weakening the dollar was the prime cause of the 200809 financial crisis. If the dollar hadnt been weakened we would never have had the housing bubble. The Feds current policies have severely restricted economic growth.”
“Why should the dollar be linked to gold? Because more than any other thing on earth, gold keeps its intrinsic value. Its like the North Star, always constant. Thus its a handy measuring rod for keeping the value of money steady.”
Steve Forbes is the co-author of Freedom Manifesto: Freedom Manifesto: Why Free Markets Are Moral And Big Government Isnt
Read more
– “Money, Banking, and The Federal Reserve System”
in Documentaries, Front Page
Click here to watch the full documentary now
February 23, 2013
COUNTY COMMISSIONER ROMERO’S COFFEE
Monday, February 25 in Yelm
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
FROM COUNTY COMMISSIONER ROMERO’S e-mailer:
Please join Thurston County Commissioner Sandra Romero, as she hosts her monthly informal coffee hours in Rainier and Yelm on Monday, February 25th:
Healthy Living
with Public Health & Social Services Director Don Sloma
Meet with District 2 Commissioner Sandra Romero and her guest, Don Sloma, MPH, and learn about some of the programs PHSS has to offer you and your family.
There is a lot happening in Thurston County and we want to hear from you!
These coffees give you the opportunity to talk about issues of concern, ask the Commissioner questions about the county, and share ideas.
Commissioner Romero provides participants’ coffee that she pays for herself. She is the representative of District 2, which includes Yelm, Lacey, and Rainier.
What:
Citizen meeting with 2nd district County Commissioner Sandra Romero
When:
Monday, February 25, 2013
Where:
– Rainier: 9:30am 10:30am at Rainier City Hall, 102 Rochester St W
– Yelm: 11:00am Noon at ** new location ** Tacos Gaby.
Read more
February 22, 2013
Harding not resigning as mayor in new job as
Deputy County Auditor
Thurston County Deputy Auditor &
Yelm Mayor Ron Harding &
Bachelor Business Degree (BBA) candidate
DON’T YOU FIND INTERESTING THAT MAYOR HARDING’S NEW JOB WAS NOT ANNOUNCED TO YELM FOLKS IN TODAY’S LOCAL NVN, HIS YELM CONSTITUENTS SNUBBED?
Lisa Pemberton is reporting in The Olympian:
“Thurston County Auditor Gary Alexander has selected Yelm Mayor Ron Harding as his deputy auditor.”
“He plans to continue to serve Yelm as its mayor.”
Read more
This results in several questions:
1. Can Harding continue to hold both jobs?
when the job description for the Deputy County Auditor states:
“Assures drafting and introduction of appropriate ordinances, resolutions and statutes to improve the operation of the office.”
Isn’t this a conflict-of-interest, to continue to hold both jobs, since many county ordinances may involve the City of Yelm, located within Thurston County, in some manner?
2. How can Harding be a Deputy Auditor when he can’t handle his own financial statements?
and has twice failed to report key information on his F-1 personal financial affairs statement of elected officials filed with the WA State Public Disclosure Commission (PDC):
– February 22, 2013, the NVN notes his role on the Yelm Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors was not disclosed, as required.
– On December 6, 2005, Mayor-elect Harding was notified by the PDC of his failure to disclose real property and Rental Income from the rental property.
3. Harding resigned from Auditor consideration “for doing the right thing for our residents.”
How is accepting a job as Deputy Auditor any different?
What happened to doing the right thing?
4. Does Harding have the skill-set to be a Deputy Auditor or Chief Auditor if Alexander resigns?
You decide when you read an excerpt of his record in Yelm.
Read more
5. If the Yelm residents WERE his main concern, why did Harding OMIT
on February 12 telling the business community at his State of the City Address or the Yelm City Council that evening or the NVN on February 15 and 22, after he was hired as Deputy Auditor February 11?
Harding’s own city is the last to know, except for Yelm Community Blog or The Olympian readers.
February 22, 2013
Harding withdraws from Auditor consideration –
cites doing the right thing for Yelm residents –
now accepts Deputy Auditor job & remains mayor –
“Where did “honor” go?”
On Friday, February 1, Harding told the NVN:
“‘The City of Yelm has several high impact issues still unresolved,’ Harding wrote to the commissioners. ‘Some of these include our 510 loop project, connected road corridors within the city, finalizing our future water rights, and setting up the distribution system to deliver that water, and of course we are currently in the middle of redesigning a new park master plan with a much needed community center to better serve area residents.’
‘I feel a pressing responsibility to see these issues to completion.’
‘The commissioners and I have enough history that each of you knows my passion for doing the right thing for our residents,’ he said.
‘I feel that even though becoming the next auditor would be a great honor, leaving my responsibilities as mayor at such a critical time would not be honorable.’
‘I want only the best for Thurston County residents because our residents deserve the best.'”
THREE WEEKS LATER, “THE BEST” FOR YELM’S RESIDENTS TOOK A BACK-SEAT TO HARDING’S POLITICAL AMBITIONS!
These commenters to The Olympian story said it best”
-TL
“Sounds like double talk coming out of Mayor Harding’s mouth. First he says Yelm deserves a full time Mayor, which sounded to me like trying to save face by backing out when he heard he would not be selected. Now all of a sudden he has time to do both jobs? The city of Yelm deserves better and Harding does not seem sincere about needing to see Yelm through supposed big projects. Sounds now like he wants a big county salary and run Yelm in his spare time.”
– gloopy
“Mr. Harding recently withdrew his candidacy to become Auditor, and in a previous article in The Olympian stated he felt it would be “less than honorable” to compromise his duties as Mayor of Yelm by accepting the Auditor position had he been selected. Then, he turns around a few days later and accepts the position of Deputy Auditor after clearing the way for Alexander’s appointment by withdrawing. Where did that “honor” go?”
– MHW
“Does he have any experience as an auditor?”
Read more
The answer is he has no auditor experience.
The Olympian article states “Harding [is] pursing [a] bachelors degree in business,” too.
Come-on, Harding is going to have a county salary, run Yelm plus his contracting and floral businesses in his spare time AND pursue a bachelors degree in business?
AND, presumably Mr. Harding will run for re-election as Mayor of Yelm for a third term again this Fall.
Sounds like all of this is “less than honorable” and will compromise his duties as Mayor of Yelm !
February 21, 2013
NVN anounces new Publisher/Editor
Christine Fossett, President and Chief Operating Officer of Lafromboise Communications, Inc. has announced a new Publisher/Editor for their Yelm-based Nisqually Valley News (NVN), with the selection of the company’s Executive Editor Michael Wagar at the Lafromboise-owned Centralia Chronicle.
We wish Mr. Wagar well in his new position and look forward to his fresh imprint on reporting our local news.
February 21, 2013
18th Annual ‘Dollars for Scholars Auction’ Mar. 2
From Yelm Community Schools:
The 18th Dollars for Scholars Annual Auction will be Saturday, March 2nd,
Yelm High School Commons and Performing Arts Center
4 p.m. – Doors Open / Silent Auction
4 – 6 p.m. – Spaghetti Dinner ($5)
5:45 p.m. – Silent Auction tables begin closing
6:45 p.m. – Live Auction
Read more
Click here for Dollars for Scholars Overview.
If you would like to donate, please call 360.458.6106 or send your check directly to:
Yelm Dollars for Scholars
PO Box 837
Yelm, WA 98597