Steve Klein addresses current issues impacting Yelm and vicinity and provides a meeting place for anyone with an interest in this area to provide their ideas and opinions
“Senior Tayelyn Cutler helped the Yelm fastpitch team reach to the 3A state title game for a second time in three years. Photo credit: Grant Clark”
“Yelm Finishes Second, Tumwater Fourth at State Fastpitch Tournament”
“Thurston County had two schools advance to the state high school fastpitch tournament this year. Both programs brought home trophies.
“Yelm continued to cement its status as one of the top programs in the state after posting its third consecutive top three state finish by placing second in the Class 3A state tournament, while Tumwater, under second-year coach Ashley Andrews, collected some hardware for the first time since 2012 after the Thunderbirds finished fourth at the Class 2A state tournament.”
“The Tornados, who advanced to their second 3A state title game in the last three years, fell to Garfield, in the championship round, 10-4, at the Regional Athletic Complex in Lacey on May 25. Lindsay Walton’s squad finished the year 21-6,” by Grant Clark, Thurston Talk.
“Robert De Niro, 1,000+ prosecutors make the case for indicting President Trump in new video”
“In a newly released video from NowThis, actor Robert De Niro and more than 1,000 former federal prosecutors make the case for indicting President Donald Trump. Referring to a statement signed by the prosecutors, De Niro, who has played special counsel Robert Mueller on “Saturday Night Live,” told viewers, ‘their conclusion should trouble us all.'”
“‘The evidence shows that President Trump tried to stop, limit, and interfere with the Mueller investigation and other federal investigations surrounding him,’ added former U.S. Attorney Elie Honig.
‘The petition was created by a group called Protect Democracy, a group of former White House lawyers that aims “to prevent our democracy from declining into a more authoritarian form of government,” by Nicholas Wu, USA Today. Read more
Click here for the Statement of Former Federal Prosecutors, now signed by over 1,000.
Click here for all of the details. Gate entrance 1 mile down 93rd St. SE on the right, Gates and registration will be from 11am to 1pm with the event starting at 1pm, Approximate end time 5pm. Bring your imagination and curiosity!
National Geographic “Your Shot” Editors selected Sagner’s photo
HOME OF MY HEART [by Rory Sagner] #beauty#nature#landscape#wildlife#rural#countryside#horses#myhome My home is always a place of peace & joy for me. My house is humble, but every day here I am blessed to witness the miracles of Nature, the beautiful changing of seasons, the magical shifts of weather & light, an amazing variety of wildlife. Bunnies, deer, squirrels, quail, tree frogs, hummingbirds, eagles, hawks, a huge variety of other birds, & even visits from my neighbor’s horse. I love to travel to see new places, but this is the place where my heart lives & always wants to return to. Read more
Yelm’s Rory Sagner’s response on having her photo selected
“I was over the moon thrilled when I got notice!!! This is my 4th photo published now in National Geographic Your Shot stories.
“I love the note the editor left me too! This assignment was one of my all time favorites and many of the photos submitted really touched my heart.
“I think it’s one of the best stories they’ve done and hope you enjoy it too!
“Click on “MY HOME” to see the story and my photo in it. It’s also really cool because one of my dear NGYS photographer friends was also published in the same story!”
Mayor Foster addresses the Yelm Chamber Credit: City of Yelm
Editor’s note: Blog readers can notice that I have been especially critical of Mayor Foster where his lack of leadership is evident, as the local newspaper has proved with the previous Editor they are an ardent supporter and ensures he is given a “bye” on oversight. One area that is repetitious in Foster’s administration of the city’s business is the omissions involving so many issues. Here we have an excerpt of another Public Relations piece posted May 22, 2019 below that omitted a key fact from the public. While Mayor Foster’s spin on the Finance Dept. was highlighted, Mr. Foster did not acknowledge that the Finance Director is on administrative leave, nor why!
Story Highlights:
While Mayor Foster touts the Finance Department, his Finance Director was on Administrative leave – WHY?
Where is the transparency in city government to which Foster said he was committed?
“State of the City: ‘On a Positive Path to a Sustainable Future'”
“Yelm Mayor JW Foster delivered his State of the City address at the Yelm Chamber Forum on Tuesday, highlighting the progress of recent years due to an award winning budget and a long-term revenue forecast.
“One of the first projects Foster took on as mayor was to invest in personnel and training within the City’s Finance Department to ensure sustainable funding for current and future employees, including additional police officers. [Ed. Note:City Administrator Michael Grayum informed the city council on May 14 that he is acting-Finance Director and acting-Public Works Director, as both posts’ Directors are on administrative leave, with no reason to the public provided. Where is the transparency to which Mayor Foster committed as interim mayor?]
“‘We don’t hire people for a trial run, we hire them for careers and we have to make sure the money is going to be there next year, in 10 years, and 20 years down the road,’ Foster said. ‘We took our time and put money where it needed to go and that was in the foundation of our City government,'” quoting the City of Yelm News Release. Read more
Caisson enters Arlington National Cemetery across the Potomac River from Washington, DC. Photo from Arlington National Cemetery website, Courtesy: Andrew V. McMaster, May 2006.
– This story is reprinted here annually since May 28, 2007:
“This weekend is our Memorial Day holiday when America pauses to honor
those that have given their lives in service to their country. The Yelm
Community Blog host appreciates and honors all of those who have served
to defend, protect, and preserve our country from outside invaders.
Memorial Day was first called Decoration Day to honor Union soldiers who
died during the American Civil War. After World War I, it expanded to
include those who died in any war or military action,” quoting Wikipedia.
The
wars have left their mark on this area, as we are reminded of one of
the first from this area to give the ultimate sacrifice in the Iraq War,
Rainier’s Justin Norton, who was killed in June 2006:
Rainier’s fallen son, Justin Norton
Justin Norton Scholarship Fund honoring Rainier, Washington’s fallen soldier in Iraq. About Sgt. Norton
Delta Airlines honors our military on their last flights home (February 13, 2013). “A group of Delta Air Lines employees has made a commitment to honor and recognize members of the military who have made the ultimate sacrifice. A solider and his military canine who both died in action return home, their remains arriving on U. S. soil in Atlanta in this video. “The Delta Honor Guard, which has been operating since 2005, is composed of approximately 30 men and women who volunteer their time to honor fallen troops whose remains come through Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport aboard Delta flights, according to Brian McConnell, coordinator of the Delta Honor Guard. Click here for this moving ceremony, which occurs plane-side in the rain, and all weather conditions.”
“Pardoning convicted or accused war criminals would be an insult to Memorial Day”
“President Trump already has brought presidential pardon power into disrepute by using it to reward political supporters and ideological allies. He would be taking that abuse to an even more outrageous extreme if he decides to pardon members of the U. S. armed forces accused or convicted of war crimes. But that is precisely what the president might do, perhaps in a grandiose gesture on Memorial Day,” by the Los Angeles Times Editorial Board. Read more
“Alaska Airlines employees care for fallen service members on their final trips”
“Alaska Airlines employees follow special protocols and use custom equipment to care for fallen service members and their families,” by Ted Land, KING-5 TV News, Seattle. Read more
“Nearly two decades after the Aryan Nations’ Idaho compound was demolished, far-right extremists are maintaining a presence in the Pacific Northwest.
“White nationalism has been on the rise across the U.S., but it has particular resonance along the Idaho-Washington border, where the Aryans espoused hate and violence for years.”
“But a series of incidents in recent weeks show far-right sentiments never really left the conservative region. In the county that is home to Hayden Lake, for instance, Republicans last month passed a measure expressing support for U.S. entry of a prominent Austrian far-right activist who was investigated for ties to the suspected New Zealand mosque gunman.”
“Last month, The Guardian published internet chats from 2017 in which a Washington state legislator and three other men discussed confronting “leftists” with a variety of tactics, including violence, surveillance and intimidation.
“The messages prompted Washington House Democrats to demand that the Republican lawmaker, Rep. Matt Shea of Spokane Valley, be reprimanded for a history of far-right speech and activities. While Shea did not propose violence, he did not speak up when violence was proposed, Democrats said.
“House Republican Leader J.T. Wilcox of Yelm responded that Shea should not be punished before investigations are completed. The House, led by Democrats, will conduct an independent investigation of the lawmaker.
“Shea, who rarely speaks to reporters, did not return numerous messages from The Associated Press.
“He has served in the state House since 2008, introducing bills to criminalize abortion and roll back gun laws and pushing for eastern Washington to secede from the rest of the state. The military veteran attracted international attention in 2018 after a document he wrote laid out a “biblical basis for war” against people who practiced same-sex marriage and abortion, and instructed: ‘If they do not yield, kill all males,'” by the Progressive Farmer. Read more
Credit: “Barry Blitt, portrays three men who have been enormously helpful to President Trump: Lindsey Graham, William Barr, and Mitch McConnell,” The New Yorker, week of June 3, 2019 print edition
“Trump wants to sell BPA transmission system to cut debt. Newhouse, other lawmakers say no”
Editor’s note: How do you feel about the Trump Administration’s proposal to sell-off our area’s power source to the highest bidder, resulting in substantially higher power bills in your mailbox?
“A Trump administration plan to sell off the transmission system of the Bonneville Power Administration would lead to higher electricity bills, said Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash.
“He was one of three leaders on a bipartisan letter to the House Committee on the Budget opposing changes to the BPA system. The letter sent last week was signed by 62 members of Congress.
“Any sale of assets to private entities is likely to result in attempts by new owners to charge substantially increased transmission rates for the same service to BPA customers, the letter said.
“The Trump administration has proposed the sell-off in its fiscal 2020 budget request to Congress, after also proposing it in two earlier budget requests. It would be a one-time federal debt-reduction move,” quoting Annette Clary. Read more
“Washington joins West Coast bloc of sanctuary states”
“Washington has become the latest West Coast state to enact broad sanctuary protections that restrict all local authorities from asking about people’s immigration status.
“Gov. Jay Inslee signed the measure Tuesday [May 21] implementing the new rules, which rank among the strongest statewide mandates in the nation. California and Oregon have similar laws.”
“Under the new Washington state law, local law enforcement agencies are broadly prohibited from asking about immigration status or place of birth unless directly connected to a criminal investigation, and both local jails and state prisons are prohibited from complying with voluntary “immigration holds” requested by federal authorities, or from notifying federal authorities when an immigrant is about to be released from their custody.
“‘Our state agencies are not immigration enforcement agencies,’ said Inslee, a Democrat who is also running for president. ‘We will not be complicit in the Trump administration’s depraved efforts to break up hard-working immigrant and refugee families,” quoting Tom James, TheAssociated Press. Read more
“Trump turns the full force of the government on perceived political enemies”
“Analysis: The president is wielding power in ways not seen in the United States in generations — if ever.”
“President Donald Trump found four former federal officials [former FBI employees James Comey, Andrew McCabe, Peter Stzrok and Lisa Page] guilty of “treason” Thursday [May 23] — and then commissioned his intelligence agencies to help the Department of Justice prove it. [Ed. note: Dictator Trump is judge, jury, and executioner, as treason’s punishment is death, even though Trump does not seem to understand and is misusing the term treason in this case. This devolves the U. S. into a Banana Republic!]
“At the same time, he is blocking Congress from executing its constitutional duty to execute oversight of his administration, not only with regard to his campaign’s ties to Russia and the interference detailed in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation but also on a host of other fronts.”
“‘This is really a feature of petty dictators, where you see the power of investigation abilities being used as a political tool against enemies,’ Claire Finkelstein, the director of the Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law at the University of Pennsylvania’s law school, said in a telephone interview,” by Jonathan Allen, NBC News. Read more
From the Yelm Farmers Market, a program of Bounty For Families, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization:
“It’s looking like it’s going to be the best season we’ve ever had,” says Manager Jon Jamieson. “We’ll have more vendors, more kids activities and great opportunities for the community to come together to enjoy locally-made products in our freshly renovated Yelm City Park.”
Opening Day is [open today, 10:00 am to 03:00 pm] and the 2019 Yelm Farmers Market is shaping up to be the biggest yet. Over 30 vendors will be on hand on May 25th when the season kicks off at the Yelm Community Center.
Kids activities will be a focus this year thanks to newly hired Power
of Produce Manager Kayla Blanch. Participants in the free program for
ages 5-12 get $2 in market tokens each week they attend to spend on
fruit, vegetables, or a plant that grows food. “I’m excited to get kids
involved in making healthy choices and supporting their local
community,“ says Blanch.
Prairie Days Parade. Photo credit: Yelm Chamber of Commerce
“Summer Brings Barbecue, Jazz, Splash Park and More to Yelm”
“It’s hard to believe, but just three short years ago, the City of Yelm hosted only two events annually: the Prairie Days celebration and Christmas in the Park. Today, residents and visitors can look forward to a multitude of community events involving hot jazz, cold water and lots of delicious things to eat. The summer season will kick off with the opening of the Yelm Farmers Market and things won’t slow down until after Labor Day.
