“The Gobblettes”
Photo courtesy: Yelm Food Co-op

– “Community Comes Together to Support Gift of Gobble”
“Since it began six years ago, the Gift of Gobble has been helping families through rough patches when they may not be able to afford a Thanksgiving meal. This year, one of those families turned around and donated, says Project Director Barbara Morando. “Now they’re doing very well and they wanted to contribute. They’ve also become members of the Yelm Food Co-op.”

The project fed 126 families this year and a team of volunteers exceeded their fundraising goal, raising over $8000,” quoting the Yelm Food Cooperative.
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Yelm Food Co-Op
308 Yelm Ave. E.
adjacent Gordon’s Garden Center
Yelm, WA 98597


Blogger Klein is a founding member of the Yelm Food Co-operative and founding Gift of Gobble contributor.

Thurston Economic Development Council (EDC)

– “Thurston EDC selects first ScaleUp business cohort”
“The Thurston Economic Development Council has selected the businesses for the first cohort of the ScaleUp Thurston program.

ScaleUp, which will begin early 2016 at the Center for Business & Innovation in Lacey, is funded through the U.S. Small Business Administration and is a 14-week program designed to help existing businesses “scale up” to the next level of growth,” quoting the Pierce county Business Examiner.


– Yelm-based PCI Pest Control chosen in first ScaleUp Thurston cohort program.
Read more about ScaleUp Thurston.


– About the Thurston Economic Development Council (EDC)
“The Thurston Economic Development Council (EDC) was founded 30 years ago with the mission of creating a vital and sustainable economy throughout our county that supports the livelihood and values of our residents.”
Read more


Blogger Klein has been a PCI Pest Control customer for over a decade.

Princess Basmah Bint Saud
Photo credit: Activist Post

Editor’s Note:
The Yelm Community Blog covered the Chemtrail issue last summer when they were so prevalent over Yelm. The world Chemtrail story and ongoing geoengineering program were ddiscussed at the Istanbul Security Conference earlier this month.

So many people do not believe these contrails (commonly know as chemtrails) are man-made for nefarious purposes. Logic certainly dictates otherwise when one has knowledge.
As Mark Twain said, “It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.”
BRAVO to HRH Princess Basmah Bint Saud for her stand and in speaking out on this issue.


– “Saudi Princess Speaks Out Against Chemtrails and Geoengineering”
“At the recent Istanbul Security Conference (Dec. 3-5), our intrepid citizen journalist Patrick Roddie caught up with a Saudi royal by the full name of HRH Princess Basmah Bint Saud bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud. She more casually goes by the name of Princess Basmah Bint Saud. She is the daughter of King Saud and the granddaughter of King Abdel Aziz, the founder of the modern state of Saudi Arabia. She spoke at the conference on Dec., 5 where she gave a keynote speech.

The great thing about this woman is that, from a position of world power, she is speaking out against chemtrails and geoengineering.

In her brief talk with Patrick, she described the ongoing geoengineering program as a weapon of mass destruction; a method of slow poisoning which threatens all life on Earth. She is aware of what is going on. She is concerned about the biological impacts,” by Patrick Roddie and Peter A. Kirby, Activist Post.
Read more


– VIDEO: “Geoengineering: a weapon of mass destruction – Saudi Princess (ترجمة اللغة العربية)”
HRH Princess Basmah Bint Saud, daughter of King Saud spoke at the Istanbul Security Conference on December 5th, 2015, where she gave a keynote speech on “Global Justice and Ethics in the Changing World Order.”


– “The official website of HRH Princess Basmah Bint Saud”
“My message is global. I have taken upon myself this responsibility and I invite you to join me on this momentous journey.”
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“Chemtrail Threat to SD Research Retracted”
September 28, 2015
“Herndon [scientist J. Marvin Herndon] told the U-T in a Sunday email that the retraction was due to a systematic attack on his paper. ‘The very aggressive campaign to have my two scientific papers on tropospheric coal fly ash retracted is good evidence that I am right on target. You may quote me as saying that I will continue to oppose the retraction until truth and reason prevail,'” by Michelle Moons, Breitbart.
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Photo credit: Olympia Federal Savings


– Olympia Federal Savings (OFS) Ribbon Cutting was Friday, October 9th
“Unlike stockholder-based banks, which must deliver maximum profit and dividends, Olympia Federal Savings places added emphasis on community reinvestment as part of its charter. “As a mutual institution, we have the flexibility we need to help our community grow and we are able to take a long view of what’s best,” says Sandy Di Bernardo, Vice President and Marketing Director. Annually, the company is dedicated to donating at least 5% of their profits back to the community; however, she says, “We donate much more.”

“[new Yelm Branch Manager Jane] Walker, who has been a Yelm resident for 23 years, says there were two main reasons for the new branch. ‘We have several customers that live here in the Yelm area, and we also did a lot of research. Studies showed that this is a growing community,’ she says.”

“Energy efficiency is literally built in to the new branch, which is on its way to becoming LEED certified. LEED is a green building certification that recognizes best-in-class strategies and practices. The Yelm facility has solar panels, radiant floor heating, and a car charger in the front drive so that people with electric cars can plug in. The builders used locally sourced materials as much as possible, including the rocks for the interior, and the building has a shower for employees who want to ride their bikes to work or go for a run during their lunch break.

‘We should be able to give the electricity back to the grid on nice sunny days,’ says Walker,” quoting Heidi Smith, Thurston Talk.
Read more

“SR 510 Loop Stage 1 opens to traffic (October 20, 2010)
Photo credit: WSDOT

– “The Reign of Error” is coming to a close, where Yelm sidesteps statutes and ordinances.
One of the many examples where Yelm bypassed ordinances over the last decade was using an unfunded Bypass to mitigate then-proposed Super Wal-Mart traffic, against the WAC.

– Next week on December 29th will begin a new era in the City of Yelm.
Yelm’s newly elected Councilors Molly Carmody and Joe DePinto will be sworn-in by Thurston County Auditor Mary Hall. They join Councilor Tad Stillwell, previous sworn-in filling the unexpired term for Position 4. Each of these Yelm City Council representatives won their seats for their commitments to:
* Open government that will regularly interact publicly with their constituents,
* Transparency in government, i.e no more end-runs around public ballot measures,
* Adhering to the laws of Washington and the ordinances of the Yelm Municipal Code,
* Following “the process” or be an advocate for changing the process.

– With three new Councilors, no longer will end-runs around “the process” get unilaterally approved.
This blog has recorded ten years of publicly accessible stories where “the process” was subverted.
One of the blatant examples was how the City of Yelm and their hired-Hearings Examiner permitted the building of a Super Wal-Mart in Yelm without proper transportation mitigation in-place.

– Yelm sidestepped the process to approve Wal-Mart here, which opened July 18, 2007.
Here’s the back-story:
City of Yelm officials were salivating at the prospect of having a Wal-Mart here in the early mid-2000’s and would do anything to get this store here, regardless of so much outcry and documented issues with the Wal-Mart site. A large, independent group of concerned citizens formed called Protect Yelm to educate City Hall and the pubic on the problems with this project.

In addition to the effects on groundwater from the poisoned, oil/gasoline run-off from a proposed 800 vehicles a day transiting the parking lot, one of the main issues was the Wal-Mart section of the Bypass [Stage 2, he 3.1 miles from Wal-Mart to Cullens Rd. SE] had been bumped to the to 2021-2023 biennium on the Governor’s funding budget, yet Wal-Mart was using that unfunded Bypass to mitigate their traffic, which Yelm approved.


– In 2005, public outcry reached a fever-pitch about the negative effects of approving a Wal-Mart here.
Yelm-area residents such as Professional Engineer (PE) and a then decades-long veteran of the Dept. of Ecology provided official documentation publicly to the Yelm City Council. Public comment continued unabated about the impacts on traffic, air, water, and the local economy.

On April 13, 2005, Yelm area resident Bill Hashim requested of the City Council that a moratorium be placed on any further building here until the Critical Area’s Update could be completed – a moratorium that would have placed the then-proposed Wal-Mart Superstore approval process on hold until more study and compliance with the Growth Management Hearings Board could be accomplished.


– Yelm’s City Council muzzles public comment on Wal-Mart, garnering international attention!
So outraged was the City Council at the continuing public outcry about a Wal-Mart here, on April 13, 2005, City Council member Bob Isom (now Mayor Pro-tem) immediately motioned for a moratorium on moratoriums and at another council session, passed a resolution that the name Wal-Mart and/or big box stores not be brought before the council again. Council member Joe Baker seconded the motion.

That act, voted unanimously joined by then-Mayor-Pro-tem Ron Harding caused the Yelm City Council to receive the egregious Jefferson Muzzle Award for not permitting the public to mention the words “Wal-Mart” or “Big Box Stores” in Council Chambers. This story was picked-up by Amnesty International and the Associated Press, making news around the world. The Seattle P-I summed up this story: Click here


– The Yelm City Council bypassed the statutes, approving Wal-Mart’s traffic plan.
The Yelm City Council took the position that the proposed Yelm Loop project would “significantly reduce delays.” In 2005 and 2006, WSDOT (WA Dept. of Transportation) showed the SR 510 – Yelm Loop Project construction was completely unfunded. At the time, the unfunded construction cost of the project was estimated to be over $56 million, yet the City of Yelm was willing to allow project applicants to assert that traffic impacts would be mitigated by a project that had no construction funding and had no chance of being completed within 6 years of the proposed development, as required to meet the Growth Management Act (GMA) concurrency requirements.

A public document submitted to the Thurston County Planning Commission dated October 10, 2007 stated:
“Under RCW 36.70A.040, local jurisdictions must adopt and enforce ordinances which prohibit development approval if the development causes the level of service [LOS] on a locally owned transportation facility to decline below the standards adopted in the transportation element of the comprehensive plan, unless transportation improvements or strategies to accommodate the impacts of development are made concurrent with the development. . . . For the purposes of this subsection (6) ‘concurrent with the development’ shall mean that improvements or strategies are in place at the time of development, or that a financial commitment is in place to complete the improvements or strategies within six years.

GMA regulations in WAC 365-195-510 state” If concurrency for transportation facilities is not achieved, development may not be approved.
WAC 365-195-510(1).”


– Yelm placed a stipulation approving the superstore and made an “end-run” around the WAC and RCW.
At the time Yelm Community Development Director Grant Beck said a stipulation for approving the superstore was that a connector between Yelm Hwy (SR 507) and 103rd Aveenue had to be built within 18 months after Yelm purchased the right-of-way for the Bypass. Wal-Mart would also pave 103rd Avenue from Creek Street to the new connection. Once the Yelm Loop was constructed, the connector would be ripped out and replaced to become part of the bypass.
The right-of-way acquisition was completed in July 2007, meaning Wal-Mart must have completed the connector by November 2008.
Editor’s Note: The opinion of this writer was the connector was the city’s way to bypass the Bypass funding requirement to approve Wal-Mart’s transportation plan. However, 103rd Avenue SE between the Connector and Creek St. SE was never designed to carry the volume of traffic from Wal-Mart plus daily through traffic from/to Piece County to bypass Yelm.


– From Yelm’s then-Community and Government Relations Coordinator Cindy Teixeira.
In November 2008, Teixeira wrote this to the Yelm Community Blog:
“The land use approval and MDNS required the connector be constructed within 18 months of the purchase of the right of way. The State DOT closed on the property June 22, 2007, with the deadline being November 22, 2008. Wal-Mart contributed nearly $220,000 to the purchase of the right-of-way and the construction plans are in for review.

Wal-Mart has also submitted a letter of credit toward construction of the connector road.”

Yet Wal-Mart continued to get a “free-pass” from the City of Yelm by not constructing the required connector to 103rd Avenue by the deadline November 22, 2008. Yet Yelm had no requirements in place to enforce Wal-Mart to build the required convector to handle their traffic. Construction of the connector was finally begun in September 2009, more than 2 years AFTER Wal-Mart opened.


– Status of the Bypass adjacent Wal-Mart as of December 2015
“Stage 2 construction was funded by the Connecting Washington revenue package approved by the 2015 Washington State Legislature.
State 2 construction is scheduled to begin during 2021,” quoting WSDOT.
(Stage 2 is the 3.1 mile section from Cullens Rd. SE to SR 507 by Wal-Mart.)
If all goes to plan, the Bypass will begin construction 14 years after Wal-Mart opened and be open for traffic by 2023, 18 years after city approval.


Bottom Line:
“The Reign of Error” is soon to be over, with three astute new Yelm Councilors: Molly Carmody, Tad Stillwell, Joe DePinto!

“The North Pole is tilted furthest away from the Sun at the December solstice.”
(Not to scale) Photo credit: TimeandDate.com

– WINTER begins today at 8:49 PM PST
“It is the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, where it is the shortest day of the year.

In the Southern Hemisphere, it is the summer solstice and the longest day of the year.

December Solstice in Yelm, Washington, U.S.A. is on
Monday, December 21, 2015 at 8:49 PM PST,” quoting TimeandDate.com.
Read more

Photo credit: Eric Gay/AP Photo

– “Former Drone Pilots Denounce ‘Morally Outrageous’ Program”
“Former Air Force airmen are speaking out against America’s use of drone warfare, calling the military drone program ‘morally outrageous’ and ‘one of the most devastating driving forces for terrorism and destabilization around the world.’

In interviews with NBC News, three former servicemen — who together have 15 years of military drone experience — decried the civilian cost of drone strikes and called on President Obama to “turn this around” before he leaves office.”

“Alongside a former drone operator who was not available to speak with NBC News, the three self-described whistleblowers also wrote a letter to President Obama, Defense Secretary Ash Carter, and CIA Director John Brennan in which they link drone strikes to the rise of ISIS and to the recent attacks in Paris. For terrorists, they wrote, drone attacks are ‘a fundamental recruiting tool similar to Guantanamo Bay,'” by Jake Heller, NBC News.
Click here for the video.


– “Drone Pilots Are Quitting In Record Numbers”
“A combination of lower-class status in the military, overwork, and psychological trauma appears to be taking a mental toll on drone pilots,” by Pratap Chatterjee, Mother Jones via Tom Dispatch.
Read more


Editor’s Note:
This is totally against American values. No wonder so much of the world hates America. These brave Drone Pilots that have come forward are heroes!

Rep. Denny Heck
Photo credit: Greg Nash

– “Export-Import Bank: Lawmakers praised for persistence — and more — as Obama signs bill”
“The Washington congressional delegation basked in praise Friday [Dec. 4] as President Obama signed a big transportation bill that revives the U.S. Export-Import Bank and allows 228 state exporters — most notably Boeing — to finance sales of their wares.”

“The government agency, which guarantees financing for exports, was marked for extinction by powerful conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch, and such lobbies as the Club for Growth. The chairman of the House Financial Services Committee refused to allow a vote on renewing the bank. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would not allow the Senate to do a stand-alone vote on its renewal.

The Export-Import Bank legislation was pried loose through a procedural move used just three times in the history of the U.S. House of Representatives. It’s called a discharge petition. A majority of 219 House members signed a petition to force a floor vote, including 42 Republicans. Reichert and Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., signed along with all six Democrats in the Washington delegation.

‘For a member of the majority party to do this is a mini-profile in courage, said Rep. Denny Heck, D-Wash., who sits on the Financial Services panel. Despite his campaign slogan, ‘Give ‘Em Heck,’ Heck raised hell when Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, chairman of the committee, refused to allow a vote.

Ultimately, renewal of the Export-Import Bank was attached to a must-pass, five-year, $305 billion transportation bill. It went to the Senate and passed by an 83-16 vote,” by Joel Connelly, Seattle P-I.
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Editor’s Note:
CONGRATULATIONS to Rep. Heck for his bold stance.
The Export-Import Bank is important because their financing guarantees support of U. S. businesses like Boeing. Rep. Heck fought for reviving the Bank because WA is the number one user of their financing programs.

“Gov. Jay Inslee talks about his proposed supplemental budget plan, Thursday, Dec. 17, 2015.”
Photo credit: Ted S. Warren, AP Photo

– “Inslee proposes “modest, responsible” updates to state budget; calls for action to begin addressing statewide teacher shortage”
“Gov. Jay Inslee today proposed his 2016 supplemental budget that makes modest adjustments to the current 2015–17 budget. The adjustments primarily pay for caseload increases, emergency responses to wildfires and urgent mental health needs.

‘Six months ago, I signed a new two-year budget for the state. As I said at the time, it is a great budget for Washington state — a budget that is moving our state forward,” Inslee said. “This supplemental budget will focus on implementing these historic investments and make modest, responsible adjustments to follow through on our good work,'” quoting Gov. Inslee’s News release.
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Courtesy: JZ-Rose, used with permission.

– The Dickens Carolers at JZ-Rose is a Yelm holiday tradition, ringing the joy of the season!

“Adorned in elegant Victorian dress, each ‘a cappella’ quartet consists of two ladies in luxurious velvet and two gentlemen wearing handsome tailcoats and top hats. Your holiday favorites, both traditional and contemporary, are sung in beautiful four-part harmony. The sights and sounds of The Dickens Carolers are indeed a holiday treat.

“The Dickens Carolers: a professional, victorian-costumed Christmas caroling organization performing throughout the Puget Sound since 1978.”
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JZ Rose – For All Things Beautiful
207 1ST Street South
Yelm, WA 98597
Telephone: 360-458-4618 or
Toll Free: 877-458-4618
Yelm Store Hours
Mon – Sat 10:00 am – 6:00 pm