The Thurston County Democrats hosted their 1st Annual Yelm/LD 2 Pancake Breakfast this morning at Gordon’s Grange in Yelm. Featured were keynote addresses from Thurston County Auditor candidate Mary Hall and District 10 Congressional Rep. Denny Heck (D-Olympia) delivered to over 30 persons in attendance, open to the public, of which several joined from the local community.

Mary Hall

Mary Hall, Thurston County Auditor candidate

Thurston County Auditor candidate Mary Hall shared her 16 years of experience in conducting over 80 elections and vision for evolving the Auditor’s Office that included:
* Election Day registration,
* Increasing voter participation among youth by pre-registering 16-18 year olds,
* Eliminating any barriers to voting.

Denny Heck

Rep. Denny Heck

Rep. Heck spoke repeatedly of the importance of electing Hall as Thurston County Auditor in 2013 and again in 2014. He said, “We need an Auditor with Mary’s ethics, experience and oversight.”

Heck then shared his views of Congress with these points:
1. “The number one issue on which the 113th Congress should be judged by is in passing Comprehensive Immigration Reform.” Heck was passionate in his description that this single issue will provide a “steroid shot” to the US economy, saying the first thing most immigrants would do if legally allowed to live here, would be to buy a home.

2. Gave a moving testimony on meeting Olympia soldier Luke Cifka at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center who lost both legs in Afghanistan.

3. Was honored to be only the second Freshman in the minority Party in 20 years to have a Bill signed by the President.

Also addressing the gathering were:
– Thurston County Democrats Chair Roger Erskine, who hosted the event,
– Steve Klein, Yelm Community Blog host, organizer of the working group to bring the Democrats to Yelm,
– Karen Valenzuela, Thurston County Commissioner,
– Robert Satiacum, 2nd LD Democrats Chair.
(Commissioner Sandra Romero had a previous engagement and could not attend, however was acknowledged for her contributions to this meeting’s success.)

Also introduced were:
– Jeff Davis, for Port of Olympia Commissioner, District 3,
– Bill Hashim, Yelm Community Schools Board candidate, District 1 (non-partisan candidate),
– Nicole Hill, Tumwater City Council & Conservation Projects Director with the Nisqually Land Trust
and several other Democrats visiting Yelm.

There was an opportunity to have personal exchanges with each of these individuals.
Everyone was enthusiastic about the Democrats visiting this part of LD 2.

“The decades-long effort to privatize public services and assets is hitting some bumps, with state and local governments reconsidering whether for-profit companies should be allowed to indiscriminately profit off of taxpayer dollars with limited accountability.

In New Jersey, legislation to ensure that public services won’t be privatized unless it will result in actual savings for taxpayers has passed both chambers of the legislature. In Texas, a bipartisan coalition is fighting against a private prison in Montgomery County, and Kentucky is rejecting private prisons altogether. And in Fresno, California, voters rejected a proposal backed by the city’s popular mayor to privatize trash collection services.

‘The fact is, when taxpayers see what they lose by handing over control of their roads, prisons and other services, they dont want anything to do with outsourcing,’ says Donald Cohen, chair of In The Public Interest, a resource center on privatization. ‘We hope that what were seeing in places like New Jersey, Texas, Kentucky and Fresno is part of a trend to restore control of services to American taxpayers,’ quoting The Center for Media and Democracy.
Read more

“This Stephen Colbert comedy sketch about the police state was released back in 2008. Today we know its predictions are mostly true. So the question begs, is this sketch still funny?”

Click here for this amazing comedy sketch video.

From the Special Announcement of the Nisqually Land Trust

“We’ve done it!

The Nisqually Land Trust has been awarded accreditation by the Land Trust Accreditation Commission.

We are excited and honored to announce that your Nisqually Land Trust has been awarded national accreditation by the Land Trust Accreditation Commission. Accreditation is independent confirmation that the Land Trust meets rigorous standards for excellence, upholds the public trust and ensures that our conservation efforts are permanent.

Since the program began in 2008 fewer than 15 percent of land trusts nationwide have been awarded accreditation.

Nearly 25 years ago, the Land Trust began with a dream and a promise: to protect the most precious natural resources in the Nisqually River Watershed forever through cooperative, voluntary conservation.”
Read more

Editor’s Note:
Congratulations to the staff, trustees, contributors & members of the Nisqually Land Trust!

Meet Rep. Denny Heck & Thurston Auditor candidate Mary Hall this Saturday in Yelm
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Rep. Denny Heck

Mary Hall for Thurston County Auditor

The Thurston County Democrats will be conducting a special event in Yelm this Saturday morning with Rep. Denny Heck and Thurston County Auditor candidate Hall meeting their Democratic voting base in Yelm & LD2:

WHEN:
Saturday, August 24. 8:30am-10:30am

WHERE:
Gordon’s Grange, adjacent the Yelm Food Co-op
308 East Yelm Avenue
Please park on 3rd St., as the parking lot is reserved for the Yelm Co-op & Gordon’s customers.

WHAT:
LD2 Pancake breakfast featuring guests Rep. Denny Heck & Thurston County Auditor candidate Mary Hall.

WHO:
Open to the public

The public is invited to this special event as our Democratic Congressional Rep. Heck & Thurston County Auditor candidate Mary Hall share their vision with in the 2nd Legislative District (LD2).

ABOUT MARY HALL
In the August 6 Primary Thurston County Auditor’s race, Mary Hall went from “no name recognition” to nearly half of the primary votes cast! Trailing the incumbent by only 5% is remarkable, especially one who has also been a well-known long time conservative politician in the state legislature.
With her win this November, Mary will continue Thurston County’s long tradition of having a qualified Auditor with strong elections experience.
Read more
This “Democrats Pancake Breakfast” is designed to ignite the democratic voters of LD2 as we head into the pivotal November election.

ABOUT REP. DENNY HECK
Rep. Heck is making his first official visit to Yelm since his Fall 2012 election to Congress representing Washington’s Tenth District. Congressman Denny Hecks first bill was approved on July 31 by the U.S. Senate by a unanimous, bipartisan voice vote. “The bill, cosponsored by Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick (R-PA), gives the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) authority to quickly make common sense reforms to the federal reverse mortgage program necessary to stabilize it.”
Read more

– “President Obama signs Rep. Hecks first bill on reverse mortgages into law”
From Brad Shannon in The Olympian.
Read more

ROGER ERSKINE, Chair of the Thurston County Democrats, told the Yelm Community Blog,
“I am excited about our party’s formidable Auditor candidate Mary Hall being joined by Rep. Heck in their upcoming visit with LD2 voters in SE Thurston & SW Pierce Counties. I am enthusiastic about the the quality of our party’s candidates as they engage with the public to change the status-quo in our district.”

This “Democrats Pancake Breakfast” is designed to ignite the Democratic voters of LD2 heading into the pivotal November election.

Photo credit: Elaine Thompson, AP

“Puget Sound lost a champion when Congressman Norm Dicks retired last year. Two freshman U.S. Representatives have formed a special caucus to fill the void.

At the Center for Urban Waters in Tacoma, Congressmen Derek Kilmer and Denny Heck [August 20] have the attention of several dozen experts whove been working on restoring health to Puget Sound. After two hours of speeches about accomplishments and challenges, Heck has a basic question.

‘If we do nothingif we do nothing new, nothing different than what we’re doing now, what’s the Puget sound going to look like in…50 years?’ Heck asked the room. ‘Whats going to happen out here?’

He wants to take the answer back to the other Washington to build a case for more funding to fuel the work of the Puget Sound Partnership, the umbrella organization setting priorities for the Sounds cleanup.”

“Heck and his co-chair on the new caucus are doing their best to keep those funds flowinga job theyve inherited from Dicks, who left congress last year.”

“The new caucus has given hope to many people who’ve worked on the issue for years. David Troutt of the Nisqually Tribe, who chairs the Puget Sound Salmon Recovery Council, says the Sound needs advocates in Washington, D.C.,” quoting Bellamy Pailthorp for NPR’s Tacoma affiliate, KPLU.
Read more

It’s time for Standing Room Only’s Summer Musical: INTO THE WOODS

Where: Outdoor Stage at Gordon’s Garden Center.
When: August 23-28. All shows start at 8 p.m.
Cost & Tickets: $15. Available at Gordon’s Garden Center, Yelm Food Coop & Willow Spa

INTO THE WOODS combines classic fairy tales into a single hilarious and profound adventure. Book by James Lapine, with Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. A baker and his wife are assigned deceptively simple tasks by the terrifying witch next door, in order to lift a curse that prevents them from having a child. In the course of their quest into the woods, they encounter Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, Cinderella, Jack of the Beanstalk and more princes than the usual fairy tale.

SRO’s production is directed by Nancy Hillman and stars Dave Champagne, Kellie Petersen, Dawn Young, McKenzie McDermott and many, many others! Call 446-2188 for reservations.

Blog writer Steve Klein is in his 28th year as a student of Ramtha’s, has been employed by JZ Knight for 10 years having resided in Yelm since 1988.

Check-out the Nisqually Valley News calendar for updated local area happenings.
Click here

Check-out Yelm.com for local area happenings by season, upper right corner.
Click here

From Yelm’s New Life Christian Center:
Our mission and purpose is to live as a church family with our Father through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Mission
At New Life Christian Center our mission and purpose is to live as a church family with our Father God through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Our goal is to grow in the principles of the Word of God, discovering and developing our gifts and callings in order to lead victorious lives reaching the world with the reality of the gospel.
Description
Our mission and purpose is to live as a church family with our Father through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

New Life Christian Center
We would like to personally invite you to New Life Christian Center. Here at New Life we experience life together across all generations. We are a family church with something for everyone. Our children and youth programs are awesome! We have a men’s ministry, women’s ministry and many other events that a person can be involved with. The church is located in a beautiful country setting in Yelm Washington. We would love for you to come be our guests and consider being part of our church family.

Pastors Oliver & Kellie Halterman

New Life Christian Center
13036 Morris Rd SE
Yelm, WA 98597
Phone: (360) 458-2690
Website: www.nlccyelm.com
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