Submitted on April 19, 2007 - 2:35pm.
Kayla Webley
Scripps Howard
Her office handled victims of the sniper who terrorized the Washington area in 2002. She is an acclaimed expert on "mass fatality events" and the model for the heroine of a best-selling string of crime novels.
Now, Dr. Marcella Fierro is the last doctor to tend to the victims of Monday's carnage at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va.
As chief medical examiner for the Commonwealth of Virginia, Fierro's job is to deliver medical findings to family members, the campus community and the world - all waiting anxiously.
Fierro is charged with directing a staff in four regional offices on how to proceed with autopsies amid tragedy. Currently, she has more than 30 families desperately seeking details of how the last minutes of their loved ones' lives played out.
"We still see them as patients. We're their last doctor, the last one to care for them," said Dr. Kim A. Collins, a forensic pathologist at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. She has worked closely with Fierro in national pathology organizations over the years. "Dr. Fierro has always conveyed that when I've worked with her."
In the relatively small, close-knit community of medical examiners, fellow doctors say Fierro rises to the top.
"There is no one better prepared than she is. She is absolutely spectacular," said Dr. David Wilkinson, chair of the department of pathology at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine in Richmond. He has worked with Fierro for 15 years.
"Under pressure, she is solid as a rock."
Fierro is also known as the inspiration for author Patricia Cornwell's fictional protagonist, Virginia Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta, the main character in a series of 14 mystery novels.
In a press conference Tuesday morning at the university, Fierro stressed that the process of identifying and examining the deceased will not be rushed.
"This is a process that cannot take place in haste," she said. "This will take several days. ... We will work as quickly and as carefully and as efficiently as we can, so that families can be assured we have taken care of their child."
Fierro said her team will first work to confirm the presumptive identities of those who have been killed and to find the identities of any unknown persons. As needed, they will work with the families to collect information to confirm identities, she said. They will also work with police to recover physical evidence to reconstruct the crime.
Her office did not respond to a request for an interview for this story.
Fierro has worked with colleagues in Virginia to develop "Guidelines for Reporting and Managing Mass Fatality Events with the Virginia Medical Examiner System." To develop the guidelines, Fierro studied how the autopsies were conducted following the Oklahoma City bombing and the 9/11 attacks, Wilkinson said.
"They will be going through a well-planned, well-rehearsed game plan to handle this," Wilkinson said. "They won't be making it up as they go along."
Collins said that when the cause of death is clear, other details become important. Gunshot wounds to different parts of the body cause different times of death. She said Fierro will work to determine the interval between injury and death, something that is often important to family members.
Fierro has worked in forensic pathology for more than 40 years, according to her biography on the Web site of the State University of New York at Buffalo, where she earned her medical degree. She coordinates between 700 and 800 autopsies per year in the Richmond area alone, Wilkinson said. Fierro has a great deal of experience with trauma, including work on the 2002 sniper deaths in Virginia, he added.
Colleagues said Fierro's experience, expertise and care will help her now. Collins spoke of Fierro's ability to focus on the job at hand while working compassionately with the families. Fierro echoed that Tuesday.
"Our staff grieves with Virginia Tech families, friends and those who survived, those who died in the event," Fierro said. "We're as heartbroken as they are."
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Europe on a dime, or a bit more
This boat serves as a traveling fruit market, delivering fruit from mainland Greece to the island of Aigina. Markets are an economical source of fresh ingredients for preparing your own meals. SHNS photo by Kayla Webley
By KAYLA WEBLEY
Scripps Howard Foundation Wire
2007-04-17
In decades past, Europe was a bargain for Americans travelers. The euro did not exist. The dollar was worth more than most European currencies, and the true age of backpacking from country to country with pocket change was at its height.
Even with worse exchange rates, it is still possible to take in the history, food and culture of European countries without breaking your budget.
As you plan your summer trip, here are some things to consider, whether you are a college student booking hostels and living on bread and cheese or a family trying to pinch a few euro cents.
How far to hop?
To stay within budget, choose places that are relatively close together. Your trip's cost will greatly increase if you want to hop around the whole of Europe in a short time. If you have less than a month, pick a region and hit all the places in that area. For your next trip, choose a different area. If you try to do too much, you'll end up broke and exhausted.
The great debate: Airlines vs. trains
Check rail passes. If you plan to take the train a lot, buying a pass is the way to go because individual train tickets add up quickly. Trains cost a lot more than you might expect, so compare them to airfares. I found the least-expensive airfares on Ryan Air and Easy Jet. Easy Jet is often a little more expensive, but it does not have a weight limit for baggage.
Is Ryan Air really that cheap?
When you are cruising for flights on Ryan Air and one pops up for 0.01 euro cent, it can be awfully tempting. But you will still be charged taxes, about 20 euros. Ryan Air flies into tiny airports at least an hour outside the city. The airports always have buses or trains into the city center, but that will add 15 to 20 euros to the price of your travel.
Weight limits on Ryan Air
Ryan Air has strict baggage weight limits (part of the reason its fares are low). Under the most recent regulations, the maximum for checked bags is 15 kilos (about 33 pounds) and 10 kilos (about 22 pounds) for carry-on luggage. The airline charges 8 euros for each kilo over the weight limit - five extra kilos means a 40 euro bill. Also, the weight limit is not per bag, it's per person.
How to book a hostel
You can book hostels online. I suggest hostelbookers.com. It offers the same services as other Web sites but doesn't charge a fee. You must pay a 10 percent deposit. If your plans change and you cancel by the hostel's deadline, that's all you will lose.
How to book a hostel
You can book hostels online. I suggest hostelbookers.com. It offers the same services as other Web sites, but doesn't charge a fee. You must pay a 10 percent deposit. If your plans change and you cancel by the hostel's deadline, that's all you will lose.
What a hostel is like
Hostels all have pretty much the same features -- nothing grand. They offer small and large rooms with bunk beds. The price varies by the number of beds in the room. Most are co-ed. Generally, the more beds per room, the lower the price. Some have free linens and towels, others charge a few bucks. There is usually a shared bathroom in the room, but some are in the hallway. Most hostels include breakfast, usually bread, butter, jam and cereal. Some step up with fruit or cheese and meat. Some charge a few euros for that.
What to look for in a hostel
Almost every hostel claims a great location. But take such boastings with a grain of salt. Do a little research. Accordingly, try to determine ahead of time how social a hostel is. Some hostels sponsor events. This is important, especially if you are traveling alone. You can have a new best friend every day to sightsee with, but some hostels make it easier to meet people than others.
Are hostels safe?
As a 22-year-old female, often traveling alone, I never had a problem. That said, it doesn't mean theft never happens. I always felt safe and never worried much about my belongings. Most everyone I met was just like me: students traveling as cheaply as they could. I always locked my bags before leaving for the day and used the lockers in the hostels that offered them. I often left some loose clothing on my bed. I never lost a thing.
How to eat well
I usually ate one dinner out per city. I got to experience the cuisine without spending too much. Look for places that are off the beaten track. You can often find less expensive, more authentic eats at smaller places away from the town center. As a general rule, the farther away from the main tourist areas you can get, the cheaper the food will be. For lunch, I grabbed something from a take-away for no more than 5 euros. I cooked my other meals in hostel kitchens after buying fresh, super-cheap produce at outdoor markets. Often, other travelers will be in the kitchens, so it is a way to meet people.
Seeing the sights
Hostels often offer inexpensive tours and events, another good way to meet other travelers. Even if you are not staying at a hostel, you can usually join a tour, so it is worth stopping into hostels to see what they are offering. Most city sites can be viewed without a tour guide. Get yourself a map, figure out the public transit system and go at your own pace. If you have done some research, you won't miss too much of the history that tour guides offer.
Onlookers watch performers on the stairs at the Sacre-Coeur basilica in Paris. The steps overlook the city and are a great place to spend an evening with fellow travelers for free. SHNS photo by Kayla Webley
Are hostels safe?
As a 22-year-old female, often traveling alone, I never had a problem. That said, it doesn't mean theft _ or worse _ never happens. I always felt safe and never worried much about my belongings. Most everyone I met was just like me: students traveling as cheaply as they could. I always locked my bags before leaving for the day and used the lockers in the hostels that offered them. I often left some loose clothing on my bed. I never lost a thing.
How to eat well
I usually ate one dinner out per city. I got to experience the cuisine without spending too much. Look for places that are off the beaten track. You can often find less expensive, more authentic eats at smaller places away from the town center. As a general rule, the farther away from the main tourist areas you can get, the cheaper the food will be. For lunch, I grabbed something from a take-away for no more than 5 euros. I cooked my other meals in hostel kitchens after buying fresh, super-cheap produce at outdoor markets. Often, other travelers will be in the kitchens, so it is a way to meet people.
Seeing the sights
Hostels often offer inexpensive tours and events, another good way to meet other travelers. Even if you are not staying at a hostel, you can usually join a tour, so it is worth stopping into hostels to see what they are offering. Most city attractions can be viewed without a tour guide. Get a map, figure out the public transit system and go at your own pace. If you have done some research, you won't miss too much of the history that tour guides offer.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.net)
Tips for your summer trip to Europe
Travelers along the harbor area of Chania a small town on Crete, a Greek island. Tourists browse shops and stop to eat at waterfront restaurants, or just sit back and take in the view.
Photo by Kayla Webley
By KAYLA WEBLEY
Scripps Howard Foundation Wire
2007-04-17
Planning a trip to Europe can be hard if you don't know an experienced traveler to ask for advice.
I recently spent five months living and traveling in Europe. As my friends gear up for summer trips, these are some of their most common questions.
How long to stay?
For most places I would suggest three nights. Of course you can stay longer, but I would not advise staying less than two nights - it just gets too hectic. Traveling from place to place generally takes a whole day. Even if your flight or train ride is short, traveling takes a bit more energy than other days and you won't feel like doing much sightseeing when you first arrive. Don't plan to do much else on travel days. That way if you end up doing something, it's a bonus. You could spend a week in some places. I easily spent a week in Barcelona, Spain, but a week in other places, such as a beach resort out of season, could be too long.
The positives and negative to train travel
The best part of a train ride is the view. It's a way to see the countryside even if you are only visiting cities. Trains are a great way to relax and regroup, meet people with interesting stories and make you feel like a real traveler. They make travel without a firm itinerary easy, as you don't have to book them weeks in advance like airlines. But foreign trains can be tough to figure out. Double check that you've got the right train before getting on. Trains often change platforms, and announcements aren't made in English. Always validate your ticket in countries that require it (most do). Otherwise you could be stuck with a large charge. Sometimes you will get a ticket, but no seat assignment. Always request a seat when booking. If there aren't any left, you can usually find an empty seat for at least part of the ride.
Backpack vs. suitcase
If you are planning to hike or camp, go with the traditional backpack. But if you plan to go city to city, hotel to hotel, you have options. Sometimes it's helpful to be able to put everything you own on your back - long staircases in metro stations, for example. Many bags with wheels are also equipped with backpack straps. Just remember, if you plan to carry it on your back a lot, the wheels add excess weight. Be sure to get a pack that will evenly distribute the weight and is well made - it's worth the extra money. My bag broke while I was in Greece and it was an aggravating process to get it fixed with my limited knowledge of Greek.
Two American travelers studying in Greece last fall packed all they needed in their backpacks for a weekend camping trip on Aigina, a Greek island.
Photo by Kayla Webley
Packing
Do not under any circumstances leave for Europe with a full suitcase. Even if you don't plan to buy anything (trust me, you will), you don't want to travel with a full bag. You will be packing and re-packing so often that you do not want to deal with sitting on your suitcase, jumping up and down and praying it zips every time you're heading to a new destination. You can repeat clothes in every city and no one will be the wiser. A lot of hotels and hostels have laundry services, or they will know where the closest laundry is.
Be sure to pack ...
A fold-up bag for your dirty clothes so you don't have to haul your whole pack to the laundry. Converters and outlet adaptors for electronic devices. All your chargers for electronics, such as your camera and iPod. Flip flops, a must for hostel showers.
Money exchange
Before you go, change some dollars into euros. Call ahead to order them from a bank, which might not have them on hand. It is much easier to have euros when you arrive (especially after the long flight) to get where you need to go. You will be jet-legged and will not want to use your brain any more than absolutely necessary. And you will avoid the hefty charges from the airport money exchanges. Check with your bank to see how much it charges to use an ATM. The cards can be a great way to get cash on the go, but can cost a lot in transaction fees.
Passports
Your passport will become your most important travel companion. If you lose everything and still have your passport, you will be fine. Before you go, make photocopies of your passport, drivers license and credit cards. Take copies with you, keeping them separate from the originals. Leave some copies at home with someone who can fax them to you if you have a problem. The photocopies won't take the place of your passport, but they can help you get a new one more quickly.
Pickpockets
Exercise the same precautions you would in any city. Carry a bag that zips. Hold on to your purse by the zipper. Don't carry anything in the pouches on your backpack that are easy to get into without your knowing. Exercise extra caution when riding public transportation. Most important, always be aware. The only people I know who had things stolen were careless and not holding onto their belongings.
***
Helpful resources
Train knowledge (especially to and from the UK): http://www.seat61.com/
Eurail passes: http://www.eurail.com/
Advice from travel guru Rick Steves: http://ricksteves.com/
Lonely Planet books, especially "Europe on a Shoestring": http://www.lonelyplanet.com/
To book hostels: http://www.hostelbookers.com
For travel advisories and government cautions: http://travel.state.gov
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.net)
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Kitsap's Heavy Hitter: Finally, It's Norm's Time
Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., chairs a recent session of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior and Environment. Photo by Ivan Pierre Aguirre
Decades of patiently biding his time until a leadership opportunity presented itself has finally paid off for the 6th District congressman.
Story by Kayla Webley, For the Kitsap Sun
April 8, 2007
WASHINGTON
For 30 years, Rep. Norm Dicks waited for his opportunity to be in the spotlight.
He sat on Republican-controlled committees for half that time, voted on budgets written by conservatives and spoke up when leaders gave him the opportunity — all the while waiting, planning and preparing to take the lead.
"The only reason I stayed is because I really wanted, at some point, to have a chance to get good things done for my state," Dicks, D-Belfair, said. "Now is my chance."
Since the November mid-term elections put the Democrats in charge of Congress and elevated Dicks to a powerful Appropriations subcommittee chairmanship, others have noticed his high spirits.
"What, the big smile on his face?" Sen. Patty Murray, a fellow Washington Democrat, said, noticing Dicks’ outermost reaction to his newly gained power.
Dicks sat on the House Appropriations Subcommittee for Interior and Environment, which controls funding for environmental and arts programs, for 30 years before taking his seat at the head of the table. It isn’t a very large table, but it means a lot to someone who has waited so long.
"I think it’s a historic record. I haven’t gone back and checked, but I don’t think anybody has ever been on a committee for 30 years in Appropriations and never chaired a subcommittee," Dicks said.
But it isn’t just a seat at a table. His chairmanship means more power and influence in a Congress that has many members fighting for the opportunity to shine.
The 12 chairmen of the Appropriations subcommittees are known as the College of Cardinals because of their extraordinary power to guide federal spending. In fact, Congress.org, part of a nonpartisan publishing firm that focuses on Congress and civic participation, now ranks Dicks as the 11th most powerful member of the House.
Dicks sits directly across the table from those who have come to testify. His build, left over from his days as a linebacker, commands respect. When he talks, the rest of the room listens. His booming voice carries.
He conducts hearings with authority. Nothing harsh — but just a steady, firm hand, said Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Kan., the ranking minority member on Dicks’ subcommittee.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said Dicks is a key leader.
"Having worked with Congressman Dicks for many years on the Appropriations Committee, I know that he has been, and will continue to be, a strong representative for his constituents," Hoyer said.
STARTING OUT
Dicks was elected to the House in 1976. He was 35 and ready to jump in to the action.
He had learned from two of the state’s most notable leaders. He worked as Sen. Warren Magnuson’s legislative and administrative assistant, who worked closely with Sen. Henry "Scoop" Jackson.
"I learned from Magnuson and Jackson that you’ve gotta get things done," Dicks said. "You gotta accomplish things, you gotta make it happen. That’s the real test — what do you get done?"
In his first term, he negotiated a seat on the Appropriations Committee, an unusual assignment for a newcomer.
Since then, he has won 15 elections. He attributes his election victories to his dedication to the campaign trail. Even with 31 years of name recognition, he campaigns door to door and puts out yard signs.
"On the football team, we always said you can never take anything lightly, you have to be prepared for every game," said Dicks, who played football for the University of Washington from 1959 to 1962. "That’s the way we approach elections. We want to make sure people know we still want the job."
Last year, his Republican opponent, Doug Cloud, a Gig Harbor lawyer, received 29 percent of the vote.
"I got creamed," Cloud admitted. "Mr. Dicks is popular in the area. He is certainly a representative of the military-industrial government complex and that is popular in the district at the present time."
Dicks said he faced his toughest races were in 1980, when Ronald Reagan was running, and in 1994, when Republicans took control of the House. He was one of two Democrats in the state to survive the 1994 Republican revolution. The other was Rep. Jim McDermott, who represents heavily Democratic Seattle.
"I guess if you work hard and do a good job, people will keep sending you back here," Dicks said.
But his positions on issues aren’t likely to please all his constituents all the time.
The American Conservative Union, a lobbying organization, rates each member of Congress based on where it believes the lawmaker falls on an ideological spectrum. The organization put Dicks on its "House Worst of the Worst" list in 2006, ranking him an 8 for that year and at 10.4 for his career. Zero is the most liberal and 100 is the most conservative.
However, Americans for Democratic Action, a liberal lobbying organization with a ranking system that assigns a zero to the most liberal and 100 to the most conservative, rates Dicks at 74, below the Democrats’ average, which is in the mid-80s.
"ADA wouldn’t consider him a strong liberal. He’s on the conservative side of the Democratic caucus," said Don Kusler, ADA’s communications director. "But it does look like his rating has gotten higher over the years."
Some of his votes demonstrate that Dicks doesn’t always follow the party line. He voted against troop withdrawals from Iraq in 2005 and against a 2002 amendment that would have restricted the president’s ability to take further military action without the approval of Congress.
WORKING AS A TEAM
Dicks and Murray have a strategic alliance, especially on appropriations. Both serve on Appropriations defense subcommittees and military construction and veterans affairs subcommittees. Both also serve on committees related to homeland security.
Murray said those chairmanships give the pair an ability to have a real impact on two of the state’s big issues — transportation and environment.
Dicks has said that reopening Mount Rainer National Park and cleaning up Puget Sound are among his top priorities this year.
He is working to get more federal money for Gov. Chris Gregoire’s Puget Sound Partnership and President Bush’s centennial project for national parks, which could total $3 billion.
He is charged with reviewing the $27-billion Interior Department budget, which includes funding for the national parks and forests and the Environmental Protection Agency. The budget work gives him larger influence because everyone wants something to be included, he said.
But he wants to use his power to show that the public was right by giving the Democrats control.
"I have to come up with a bill here that people are going to say, ‘Wow, the Democrats are doing great things on the environment and they support the arts and the parks,’" he said.
‘THE ADMINISTRATION IS WRONG’
Like many Democrats, Dicks originally voted for the Iraq war. But in the succeeding four years, he has changed his tune.
As part of Democrats’ efforts to gain more control over the war, Dicks helped to get committee approval for a supplemental appropriations bill that includes a timetable for troop withdrawal. The Senate passed a similar measure. President Bush has said he will veto the bill, and Democrats do not have enough votes to overturn the veto.
Dicks said he and his fellow committee members know they have to approve funding for the troops and will work toward something the president will sign. The conflict over the war has put Appropriations members in a tough spot.
"We’re the ones who have to put up the money for this," Dicks said. "The American people want funding for the troops, but they also want us to have an exit strategy. That’s where the administration is wrong."
Dicks is concerned with the war’s increasing cost.
"At some point, this war is going to be an issue of affordability," Dicks said. "I mean, how can we just continue to borrow, borrow all this money and pile up the debt?"
Dicks led a bipartisan group of representatives to Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait and Pakistan in February. He met with Gens. David Petraeus and Raymond Odierno in Iraq and top government officials in each country.
He wanted to get a firsthand view of the conflict and was not pleased by what he saw. He said the military is doing its job, but he is concerned that the Iraqi government has failed to meet crucial benchmarks and reconcile Shias and Sunnis to end violence.
"If the Iraqis were living up to the commitments they made on these benchmarks, that would be one thing, but they’re not," Dicks said. "They say the right things, but they’re not doing anything."
Dicks said he hopes Petraeus and Odierno will be successful.
"We’ve spent all this money, all these lives have been lost and all these people have been injured. I would like this thing to turn out right," he said. "I have my fingers crossed, hoping this thing can turn in the right direction, but it’s really up to the Iraqis, and so far they haven’t done the things they have to do."
HOMETOWN BOY
Perhaps it isn’t uncommon for a sitting congressman to have a building in his hometown named after him. But even after three decades Dicks has never forgotten his roots.
Bremerton Mayor Cary Bozeman said that when Dicks visits his home district, the two sit down over a glass a wine and discuss the area’s needs. He called it practicing politics the old-fashioned way.
"If we put a handshake on deal, it’s a deal," Bozeman said. "If he gives me his word, it’s good."
Dicks recently helped secure federal funding for Bremerton’s plan to make the city more pedestrian friendly. A planned tunnel will route traffic off ferries underground through downtown. Dicks got about $20 million for the project, about two-thirds of the tunnel’s cost, Bozeman said.
"This project will have a big impact on the quality of life in our downtown, and without his help it would not have happened," Bozeman said.
Dicks helped secure funding for a similar downtown development project in Tacoma.
"I’ve kidded Norm for some time that they should rename Tacoma ‘Dicksville’? They could call it ‘Normtown,’ too, I suppose," said Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Bainbridge Island. "I think you probably won’t find a congressman in the country who has had such a meaningful impact on the local infrastructure and jobs in their community."
Dicks’ mother, Eileen, lives just a block away from the two-year-old Norm Dicks Government Center, in the same house Dicks grew up in.
Dicks’ father, Horace, who died in 2001, and grandfather worked at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, the same shipyard for which Dicks has secured funding to help continue as an economic driver.
"He’s hometown boy," Bozeman said. "He loves his community. He delivers for his community."
And perhaps, with the Democrats now in charge, that loyalty will become even more visible.
"I’ve been blessed in many ways. I can’t complain. Even though I wasn’t chairman, I still got a lot done for my state and my district," Dicks said. "But now we can do more. Now we’re in a position to get more done."
• • •
THE CONGRESSMAN’S BIO
NORM DICKS
Sixth District (1976-Present)
Home Life: Dicks is 66 years old and is married to the former Suzanne Callison. They have two children, David and Ryan.
Education: Graduated from the University of Washington in 1963. He received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Washington School of Law in 1968.
Work Experience: In 1968, he joined the staff of Sen. Warren G. Magnuson. He served as Legislative assistant until 1973, when he became the senator’s administrative assistant. He resigned from that post in early 1976 to campaign for Congress in the 6th Congressional District, and he has been re-elected in every election since then.
Key Committees: Rep. Dicks currently serves as the third-ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee. He is a member of three key Appropriations Subcommittees — Defense, Interior and Environment, and Military Construction/Veterans Administration. He is Chairman of the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee and also serves as a member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, and on two of its Subcommittees: Intelligence, Information Sharing & Terrorism Risk Assessment and Emergency Communications, Preparedness, and Response
A Career Highlight: In Bremerton, Rep. Dicks co-chaired an effort to preserve and restore the Admiral Theatre, and is currently supporting the concept of a downtown/waterfront retail development.
• • •
RECENT VOTING HISTORY
Rep. Norm Dicks’ Most Recent Vote
Mar 29: Aye — H.Con.Res. 99: Revising the congressional budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 2007, establishing the congressional budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 2008, and setting forth appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal years 2009 through 2012. Passed 216-210, 7 not voting
Rep. Dicks’ Most Recently Sponsored Bill
H.Con.Res. 96: Expressing the sense of the Congress that there should be enacted a mandatory national program to slow, stop and reverse emissions of greenhouse gases.
Statistics
Norm Dicks has sponsored 19 bills since Jan. 6, 1999, of which 16 haven’t made it out of committee and 0 were successfully enacted (which is average relative to peers). Dicks has co-sponsored 876 bills during the same time period.
Dicks missed 159 of 4826 votes (3%) since Jan. 6,1999 (Average relative to peers).
Source: www.govtrack.us
Copyright 2007, kitsapsun.com. All Rights Reserved.
Gore brings inconvenient message to Congress
Submitted on March 21, 2007 - 5:20pm.
Kayla Webley
Scripps Howard Foundation Wire
WASHINGTON - Movie stars often champion favorite causes on Capitol hill. But it's the rare movie star who was once a member of the very committees holding the hearing.
And when the star is former vice president Al Gore, Congress listens.
Gore spoke before House and Senate committee hearings Wednesday, urging Congress to find a bipartisan solution to the climate crisis.
"Our world faces a true planetary emergency," Gore said. "What we're facing now is a crisis that is by far the most serious we've ever faced. The way we're going to solve it is by asking you on both sides of the aisle to do what some people have, as you know, begun to fear we don't have the capacity to do anymore. I know they're wrong."
Gore's lecture about the environment became a movie and won an Academy Award last month.
He sat beside several boxes in the House committee room that he said were filled with messages and petitions from 516,000 people who support his cause. He wanted to show he is not alone in his fight to end global warming, he said.
Gore testified before a joint meeting of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on energy and air quality and the Science and Technology subcommittee on energy and environment. Later in the day, he spoke before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
He called for an immediate freeze on carbon emissions and then a reduction from current levels. Gore also had a long list of recommendations for Congress, including banning incandescent light bulbs, raising standards for auto emissions, negotiating a new international environmental treaty and starting a national mortgage program to promote the use of home energy-saving technologies.
Gore's words were met with support from many committee members. They offered greetings of, "Welcome home," or "Welcome back," to the former vice president, who served on both the House and Senate committees as a representative and senator.
But some Republicans' tone was cooler. They said that, while they supported some of Gore's recommendations, they were concerned about the cost.
"Who's gonna pay for it? Ask China what they think about paying for it. Ask Mexico. Ask India," said Rep. Ralph Hall, R-Texas.
Gore agreed some of the solutions to the climate crisis would be costly, but he said others would save money by adding to the economy, creating jobs and reducing energy spending. The key is to pick and choose among strategies, he said.
Other Republicans were concerned that the research behind Gore's statements is too uncertain for them to move forward. They challenged many of the claims in Gore's documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth."
The House committees also invited Bjorn Lomborg, a Danish political scientist at the Copenhagen Business School and author of "The Skeptical Environmentalist," to testify. In his prepared remarks, he said many of Gore's claims are "wildly exaggerated," or "simply incorrect."
"Global warming science is uneven and evolving," said Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas. "We need to be deliberative and careful when we talk about so-called scientific facts"
Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., who once called global warming, "the greatest hoax ever perpetuated on the American people," echoed those concerns.
But Gore urged critics in both hearings to act now.
"The planet has a fever," he said. "If your baby has a fever, you go to the doctor. If your doctor says you need to intervene here, you don't say well, I read a science fiction novel that tells me it's not a problem. If the crib's on fire, you don't speculate that the baby is flame retardant, you take action."
Kayla Webley
Scripps Howard Foundation Wire
WASHINGTON - Movie stars often champion favorite causes on Capitol hill. But it's the rare movie star who was once a member of the very committees holding the hearing.
And when the star is former vice president Al Gore, Congress listens.
Gore spoke before House and Senate committee hearings Wednesday, urging Congress to find a bipartisan solution to the climate crisis.
"Our world faces a true planetary emergency," Gore said. "What we're facing now is a crisis that is by far the most serious we've ever faced. The way we're going to solve it is by asking you on both sides of the aisle to do what some people have, as you know, begun to fear we don't have the capacity to do anymore. I know they're wrong."
Gore's lecture about the environment became a movie and won an Academy Award last month.
He sat beside several boxes in the House committee room that he said were filled with messages and petitions from 516,000 people who support his cause. He wanted to show he is not alone in his fight to end global warming, he said.
Gore testified before a joint meeting of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on energy and air quality and the Science and Technology subcommittee on energy and environment. Later in the day, he spoke before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
He called for an immediate freeze on carbon emissions and then a reduction from current levels. Gore also had a long list of recommendations for Congress, including banning incandescent light bulbs, raising standards for auto emissions, negotiating a new international environmental treaty and starting a national mortgage program to promote the use of home energy-saving technologies.
Gore's words were met with support from many committee members. They offered greetings of, "Welcome home," or "Welcome back," to the former vice president, who served on both the House and Senate committees as a representative and senator.
But some Republicans' tone was cooler. They said that, while they supported some of Gore's recommendations, they were concerned about the cost.
"Who's gonna pay for it? Ask China what they think about paying for it. Ask Mexico. Ask India," said Rep. Ralph Hall, R-Texas.
Gore agreed some of the solutions to the climate crisis would be costly, but he said others would save money by adding to the economy, creating jobs and reducing energy spending. The key is to pick and choose among strategies, he said.
Other Republicans were concerned that the research behind Gore's statements is too uncertain for them to move forward. They challenged many of the claims in Gore's documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth."
The House committees also invited Bjorn Lomborg, a Danish political scientist at the Copenhagen Business School and author of "The Skeptical Environmentalist," to testify. In his prepared remarks, he said many of Gore's claims are "wildly exaggerated," or "simply incorrect."
"Global warming science is uneven and evolving," said Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas. "We need to be deliberative and careful when we talk about so-called scientific facts"
Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., who once called global warming, "the greatest hoax ever perpetuated on the American people," echoed those concerns.
But Gore urged critics in both hearings to act now.
"The planet has a fever," he said. "If your baby has a fever, you go to the doctor. If your doctor says you need to intervene here, you don't say well, I read a science fiction novel that tells me it's not a problem. If the crib's on fire, you don't speculate that the baby is flame retardant, you take action."
Women can’t catch enough ZZZs
Submitted on March 6, 2007 - 5:42pm.
Kayla Webley
Scripps Howard Foundation Wire
WASHINGTON - College student Crystal Broadwater can't fall asleep until 3 or 4 in the morning. It isn't that she doesn't want to go to bed earlier, she just can't.
"Sometimes I wish I could go to sleep before then, but my body says no," she said.
Broadwater, 23, has to wake up for class or her job as a pharmacy tech at CVS by 8 or 9 a.m., giving her just four or five hours in bed a night.
Broadwater isn't alone. According to a study by the National Sleep Foundation, more than half of American women say they get a good night's sleep only a few days a week or less.
"American women are not sleeping well, and that is affecting all aspects of their life," said Kathryn Lee, a professor of family health care nursing at the University of California, San Francisco, who worked on the study.
The study found 80 percent of women who don't get enough sleep experience high stress. Others spend less time with family and friends, are too tired for sex, drive drowsy and are late for work, she said.
The study, released during National Sleep Awareness week (March 5 to 11) is based on a telephone survey of more than 1,000 women, ages 18 to 64. The study purposely over sampled pregnant and postpartum women. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Women are struggling to "do it all" and as a result sacrifice their sleep, Lee said.
When women are tired or run out of time during the day, they are most likely to cut out sleep. They also stop exercising, spending time with their friends and family, eating healthy and having sex. But work remains a priority. Only 20 percent of women put work on the back burner, the study found.
Single, working women spend the least amount of time in bed, generally less than six hours a night. Of these women, 54 percent wake up feeling un-refreshed a few days a week. Married women with children who work full time also spend less than six hours in bed at night and 72 percent have insomnia. They also have the highest rate of drowsy driving.
But working women aren't the only ones missing sleep. Seventy-four percent of stay-at-home moms said they rarely get a good night's sleep, and in the hour before bed, most are still busy with household chores and activities with children.
Dr. Meir Kryger, director of research and education for the Gaylord Sleep Center at Gaylord Hospital in Wallingford, Conn., who also worked on the study, said there is an illusion that stay-at-home moms have a lot of free time, but the study proved otherwise.
"A stay-at-home mom has a job. She's the last one to bed and the first one up in the morning," he said.
Moms who work part time reported getting the best sleep of any group. Half said they are in bed for more than eight hours a night.
Kryger said the ability to get more sleep is probably why some women choose to work part time when they have children.
Eighty percent of women simply accept their daytime sleepiness and keep going, but 65 percent turn to caffeine for an extra boost. Of those who drink caffeinated beverages, 37 percent consume more than three a day.
The study group recommends that women get between seven and nine hours of sleep a night. For those feeling tired or not getting enough sleep, the group suggests creating a more relaxing environment for sleep, exercising regularly, eating healthy and avoiding both caffeine and alcohol a few hours before bed.
"People have to make sleep a priority," Kryger said, adding that sleep should as important as healthy eating or frequent exercise.
Sleep Stats:
Of the more than 1,000 women surveyed by the National Sleep Foundation's study:
60 percent say they only get a good night's sleep a few nights per week or less.
67 percent experience sleep problems at least a few nights each week, with 46 percent experiencing sleep problems every night.
47 percent say they have no one helping them care for children at night.
21 percent spend the hour before bed doing work related to their jobs, and 60 percent spend that time completing household chores.
Women who allow children (9 percent) or pets (14 percent) to share their beds have the most disturbed sleep.
Working mothers (72 percent) and single working women (68 percent) are more likely to experience sleep problems, including insomnia.
Sleep Tips
The National Sleep Foundation's healthy sleep tips:
Use your bedroom only for sleep and sex.
Make sure your room is dark, quiet and cool.
Finish eating at least two to three hours before bedtime.
Sleep on a comfortable mattress and pillows.
Have a regular, relaxing bedtime routine.
Exercise regularly, at least a few hours before bedtime.
Keep a regular bedtime and wake schedule, including weekends.
If you have difficultly sleeping, talk with your doctor.
Kayla Webley
Scripps Howard Foundation Wire
WASHINGTON - College student Crystal Broadwater can't fall asleep until 3 or 4 in the morning. It isn't that she doesn't want to go to bed earlier, she just can't.
"Sometimes I wish I could go to sleep before then, but my body says no," she said.
Broadwater, 23, has to wake up for class or her job as a pharmacy tech at CVS by 8 or 9 a.m., giving her just four or five hours in bed a night.
Broadwater isn't alone. According to a study by the National Sleep Foundation, more than half of American women say they get a good night's sleep only a few days a week or less.
"American women are not sleeping well, and that is affecting all aspects of their life," said Kathryn Lee, a professor of family health care nursing at the University of California, San Francisco, who worked on the study.
The study found 80 percent of women who don't get enough sleep experience high stress. Others spend less time with family and friends, are too tired for sex, drive drowsy and are late for work, she said.
The study, released during National Sleep Awareness week (March 5 to 11) is based on a telephone survey of more than 1,000 women, ages 18 to 64. The study purposely over sampled pregnant and postpartum women. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Women are struggling to "do it all" and as a result sacrifice their sleep, Lee said.
When women are tired or run out of time during the day, they are most likely to cut out sleep. They also stop exercising, spending time with their friends and family, eating healthy and having sex. But work remains a priority. Only 20 percent of women put work on the back burner, the study found.
Single, working women spend the least amount of time in bed, generally less than six hours a night. Of these women, 54 percent wake up feeling un-refreshed a few days a week. Married women with children who work full time also spend less than six hours in bed at night and 72 percent have insomnia. They also have the highest rate of drowsy driving.
But working women aren't the only ones missing sleep. Seventy-four percent of stay-at-home moms said they rarely get a good night's sleep, and in the hour before bed, most are still busy with household chores and activities with children.
Dr. Meir Kryger, director of research and education for the Gaylord Sleep Center at Gaylord Hospital in Wallingford, Conn., who also worked on the study, said there is an illusion that stay-at-home moms have a lot of free time, but the study proved otherwise.
"A stay-at-home mom has a job. She's the last one to bed and the first one up in the morning," he said.
Moms who work part time reported getting the best sleep of any group. Half said they are in bed for more than eight hours a night.
Kryger said the ability to get more sleep is probably why some women choose to work part time when they have children.
Eighty percent of women simply accept their daytime sleepiness and keep going, but 65 percent turn to caffeine for an extra boost. Of those who drink caffeinated beverages, 37 percent consume more than three a day.
The study group recommends that women get between seven and nine hours of sleep a night. For those feeling tired or not getting enough sleep, the group suggests creating a more relaxing environment for sleep, exercising regularly, eating healthy and avoiding both caffeine and alcohol a few hours before bed.
"People have to make sleep a priority," Kryger said, adding that sleep should as important as healthy eating or frequent exercise.
Sleep Stats:
Of the more than 1,000 women surveyed by the National Sleep Foundation's study:
60 percent say they only get a good night's sleep a few nights per week or less.
67 percent experience sleep problems at least a few nights each week, with 46 percent experiencing sleep problems every night.
47 percent say they have no one helping them care for children at night.
21 percent spend the hour before bed doing work related to their jobs, and 60 percent spend that time completing household chores.
Women who allow children (9 percent) or pets (14 percent) to share their beds have the most disturbed sleep.
Working mothers (72 percent) and single working women (68 percent) are more likely to experience sleep problems, including insomnia.
Sleep Tips
The National Sleep Foundation's healthy sleep tips:
Use your bedroom only for sleep and sex.
Make sure your room is dark, quiet and cool.
Finish eating at least two to three hours before bedtime.
Sleep on a comfortable mattress and pillows.
Have a regular, relaxing bedtime routine.
Exercise regularly, at least a few hours before bedtime.
Keep a regular bedtime and wake schedule, including weekends.
If you have difficultly sleeping, talk with your doctor.
Washington state’s federal-state officials disagree on impeachment
Submitted on March 1, 2007 - 5:18pm.
Kayla Webley
Scripps Howard Foundation Wire
WASHINGTON - While the Washington state Senate is set to discuss whether Congress should impeach the president, four of the state's representatives in Congress say the answer is already a no.
The Washington state Senate's Government Operations and Elections Committee plans to hear the Senate Joint Memorial 8016, sponsored by Sen. Eric Oemig, D-Kirkland, on Thursday.
The memorial would call on Congress to investigate the activities of President Bush and Vice President Cheney, specifically their justification for the invasion of Iraq.
Washington Democrats U.S. Sen. Patty Murray and Rep. Jay Inslee have said that, while they are not in favor of Congress taking up impeachment, they are not strongly lobbying against the state's hearing.
Inslee told a state legislator Feb. 22 that he did not think the impeachment hearing was a "productive thing to do," said Christine Hanson, Inslee's press secretary.
"Rather than grandstanding on impeachment, he is in favor of bringing the troops home," Hanson said.
Similarly, when she was in Olympia, Wash., Friday, Murray told Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, and other state leaders, "I have two words for anyone who's talking about impeachment: Dick Cheney," said Alex Glass, a spokeswoman for Murray.
"She wasn't there to lobby by any stretch of the imagination," Glass said.
"She is not interested in telling the legislature how to do their jobs, but on a federal level, it's not something we are focused on," Glass added.
Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., also oppose impeaching the president.
Impeachment can be a lengthy process, requiring much of Congress's focus, Hanson said. Inslee worries it would divert Congress from changing the course of the war in Iraq and force House and Senate members to invest all their focus on the impeachment, she said.
All other activities would come to a screeching halt as Congress is extremely interrupted in an impeachment, she added.
Murray agreed. Instead of spotlighting impeachment, she is interested in "righting the ship that has been heading in the wrong direction," Glass said. Murray is more interested in tackling issues such as stem cell research and applying the 9/11 commission's recommendations that have been overlooked by the administration, Glass added.
Inslee, who has been an outspoken administration critic, favors continuing with congressional oversight investigations and feels Congress is doing a good job of it, Hanson said. Since new session started in January, the House has hosted more than 70 oversight hearings to keep Bush and Cheney in check, she added.
Kayla Webley
Scripps Howard Foundation Wire
WASHINGTON - While the Washington state Senate is set to discuss whether Congress should impeach the president, four of the state's representatives in Congress say the answer is already a no.
The Washington state Senate's Government Operations and Elections Committee plans to hear the Senate Joint Memorial 8016, sponsored by Sen. Eric Oemig, D-Kirkland, on Thursday.
The memorial would call on Congress to investigate the activities of President Bush and Vice President Cheney, specifically their justification for the invasion of Iraq.
Washington Democrats U.S. Sen. Patty Murray and Rep. Jay Inslee have said that, while they are not in favor of Congress taking up impeachment, they are not strongly lobbying against the state's hearing.
Inslee told a state legislator Feb. 22 that he did not think the impeachment hearing was a "productive thing to do," said Christine Hanson, Inslee's press secretary.
"Rather than grandstanding on impeachment, he is in favor of bringing the troops home," Hanson said.
Similarly, when she was in Olympia, Wash., Friday, Murray told Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, and other state leaders, "I have two words for anyone who's talking about impeachment: Dick Cheney," said Alex Glass, a spokeswoman for Murray.
"She wasn't there to lobby by any stretch of the imagination," Glass said.
"She is not interested in telling the legislature how to do their jobs, but on a federal level, it's not something we are focused on," Glass added.
Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., also oppose impeaching the president.
Impeachment can be a lengthy process, requiring much of Congress's focus, Hanson said. Inslee worries it would divert Congress from changing the course of the war in Iraq and force House and Senate members to invest all their focus on the impeachment, she said.
All other activities would come to a screeching halt as Congress is extremely interrupted in an impeachment, she added.
Murray agreed. Instead of spotlighting impeachment, she is interested in "righting the ship that has been heading in the wrong direction," Glass said. Murray is more interested in tackling issues such as stem cell research and applying the 9/11 commission's recommendations that have been overlooked by the administration, Glass added.
Inslee, who has been an outspoken administration critic, favors continuing with congressional oversight investigations and feels Congress is doing a good job of it, Hanson said. Since new session started in January, the House has hosted more than 70 oversight hearings to keep Bush and Cheney in check, she added.
Bush presents Medal of Honor to Vietnam hero
Submitted on March 1, 2007 - 5:11pm.
Kayla Webley
Scripps Howard Foundation Wire
WASHINGTON - Retired Army Lt. Col. Bruce P. Crandall smiled proudly Monday as President Bush fastened the Medal of Honor around his neck.
The Manchester, Wash., man was given the nation's highest military honor for his bravery on a South Vietnam mission that took place 41 years ago.
"In men like Bruce Crandall, we really see the best of America," Bush said. "For the soldiers rescued, for the men who came home, for the children they had and the lives they made, America is in debt to Bruce Crandall. It's a debt our nation can never really fully repay, but today we recognize it as best as we're able, and we bestow upon this good and gallant man the Medal of Honor."
Crandall, 74, was joined at the White House East Room ceremony by his wife, Arlene, three sons and three of his grandchildren. Military comrades were also there, including other Medal of Honor recipients.
Unable to attend the ceremony was Ed W. Freeman, Crandall's partner on the mission. Bush said the Idaho resident was stranded in Iowa by a snowstorm. Freeman was awarded the Medal of Honor in 2001.
At age 32, Crandall was stationed in Vietnam. When medevac helicopters refused to return to a landing zone called X-Ray in the Central Highlands, also called the "valley of death," Crandall decided he would deliver supplies and help the wounded get out. Spending more than 14 hours in the air, Crandall and Freeman made 22 trips - 14 after the landing strip had been closed due to heavy fighting and 12 after the medevac helicopters refused to go back.
They rescued 70 wounded servicemen and provided a lifeline of ammunition, water and medical support for hundreds of soldiers.
Over the day, Crandall flew three different unarmed helicopters, because two were damaged so badly they could not stay in the air, Bush said.
"Yet he kept flying until every wounded man had been evacuated and every need of the battalion had been met," Bush added.
Bush said that, to the men Crandall was coming to rescue, the image of his helicopter is one they will never forget. He quoted an officer who witnessed the battle: "Major Crandall's actions were without question the most valorous I've observed of any helicopter pilot in Vietnam."
Another said, "Without Crandall, this battalion would almost have surely been overrun." And still another officer said, "I will always be in awe of Major Bruce Crandall."
Bush said Crandall didn't see his actions as anything other than a necessity. Quoting Crandall, Bush said, "There was never a consideration that we would not go into these landing zones. They were my people down there, and they trusted in me to come and get them."
Crandall, a native of Olympia, Wash., did not speak at the ceremony. After retiring from the Army, he worked in local government in California and Arizona before moving to Manchester in 1999.
Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., fresh off a plane from his trip to the Middle East, attended the ceremony. Crandall lives in his district.
"It was a real honor to be there with such a brave, heroic American," Dicks said. "It's long overdue, but I'm glad he was recognized for engaging in one of the most heroic rescues in the Vietnam era."
Crandall was nominated for the award a few years ago, at the same time as Freeman. Crandall insisted his name be withdrawn because if only one of them was to win the award he wanted it to go to his "wingman," Bush said.
"Today the story comes to its rightful conclusion: Bruce Crandall receives the honor he always deserved," Bush said.
Kayla Webley
Scripps Howard Foundation Wire
WASHINGTON - Retired Army Lt. Col. Bruce P. Crandall smiled proudly Monday as President Bush fastened the Medal of Honor around his neck.
The Manchester, Wash., man was given the nation's highest military honor for his bravery on a South Vietnam mission that took place 41 years ago.
"In men like Bruce Crandall, we really see the best of America," Bush said. "For the soldiers rescued, for the men who came home, for the children they had and the lives they made, America is in debt to Bruce Crandall. It's a debt our nation can never really fully repay, but today we recognize it as best as we're able, and we bestow upon this good and gallant man the Medal of Honor."
Crandall, 74, was joined at the White House East Room ceremony by his wife, Arlene, three sons and three of his grandchildren. Military comrades were also there, including other Medal of Honor recipients.
Unable to attend the ceremony was Ed W. Freeman, Crandall's partner on the mission. Bush said the Idaho resident was stranded in Iowa by a snowstorm. Freeman was awarded the Medal of Honor in 2001.
At age 32, Crandall was stationed in Vietnam. When medevac helicopters refused to return to a landing zone called X-Ray in the Central Highlands, also called the "valley of death," Crandall decided he would deliver supplies and help the wounded get out. Spending more than 14 hours in the air, Crandall and Freeman made 22 trips - 14 after the landing strip had been closed due to heavy fighting and 12 after the medevac helicopters refused to go back.
They rescued 70 wounded servicemen and provided a lifeline of ammunition, water and medical support for hundreds of soldiers.
Over the day, Crandall flew three different unarmed helicopters, because two were damaged so badly they could not stay in the air, Bush said.
"Yet he kept flying until every wounded man had been evacuated and every need of the battalion had been met," Bush added.
Bush said that, to the men Crandall was coming to rescue, the image of his helicopter is one they will never forget. He quoted an officer who witnessed the battle: "Major Crandall's actions were without question the most valorous I've observed of any helicopter pilot in Vietnam."
Another said, "Without Crandall, this battalion would almost have surely been overrun." And still another officer said, "I will always be in awe of Major Bruce Crandall."
Bush said Crandall didn't see his actions as anything other than a necessity. Quoting Crandall, Bush said, "There was never a consideration that we would not go into these landing zones. They were my people down there, and they trusted in me to come and get them."
Crandall, a native of Olympia, Wash., did not speak at the ceremony. After retiring from the Army, he worked in local government in California and Arizona before moving to Manchester in 1999.
Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., fresh off a plane from his trip to the Middle East, attended the ceremony. Crandall lives in his district.
"It was a real honor to be there with such a brave, heroic American," Dicks said. "It's long overdue, but I'm glad he was recognized for engaging in one of the most heroic rescues in the Vietnam era."
Crandall was nominated for the award a few years ago, at the same time as Freeman. Crandall insisted his name be withdrawn because if only one of them was to win the award he wanted it to go to his "wingman," Bush said.
"Today the story comes to its rightful conclusion: Bruce Crandall receives the honor he always deserved," Bush said.
Where there’s smoke, there’s humor in museum show
A cartoon by Gary Markstein, of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, criticizes the tobacco industry for targeting women and children. It is one of 60 on display at the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Washington.
Collection of Dr. Alan Blum
Submitted on February 23, 2007 - 12:16pm.
Kayla Webley
Scripps Howard Foundation Wire
WASHINGTON - A man in a pinstriped suit sits behind his desk, a large smile encompassing his face. His nameplate reads "Big Tobacco."
Another man tells him that women's smoking deaths have doubled.
Good news?
It is for him.
"Finally, the focus is off is targeting kids!" he announces triumphantly.
The 2001 cartoon by Gary Markstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is one of 60 editorial cartoons in the National Museum of Health and Medicine exhibit "Cartoonists Take Up Smoking."
The exhibit presented by Dr. Alan Blum, director of the University of Alabama Center for the Study of Tobacco and Society, follows the 40-year debate over the use and promotion of cigarettes since the 1964 Surgeon General's report on the negative health effects of smoking.
"It's best to let cartoonists do the talking because humor motivates people better than finger wagging," Blum said.
The cartoons target a variety of actors in the smoking debate, including politicians and tobacco farmers, and issues such as taxation, indoor air laws, warning labels, lawsuits and settlements.
The exhibit's cartoons, most of them originals and some signed by the artists, are devoted to the tobacco industry's targeting of women and minorities, as well as its sponsorship of athletic events and the popularity of chewing tobacco among athletes.
Even though the museum is tucked away in one of the many buildings on the Walter Reed Memorial Hospital campus, the exhibit has been popular, especially with the many students who come on class trips, said Jennifer Heilman, public affairs specialist with the museum.
The exhibit has traveled to several other U.S. cities and will be shown next in Lincoln, Neb., after the exhibit closes here April 1. The museum is free and open daily from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
In addition to the cartoons, the exhibit features newspaper clippings, advertisements and artifacts from the collection Blum began as a young boy.
Now, he has 2,500 boxes of archived material, including more than 1,000 videotapes of commercials, documentaries and debates over smoking, and 1,500 books. As far as he knows, he has largest collection of tobacco-related materials, Blum said.
"There's so many details to the story of smoking that people have forgotten about," Blum said.
As proof, Blum mentioned a photo of Patty Young tucked in a corner of the exhibit. As a flight attendant, Young, then 26, started a battle against smoking on airlines in the 1960s. Her photo is accompanied by ads depicting smoking on airlines as a way to glamorize flying and a cartoon drawn by Wayne Stayskal of the Tampa Tribune in 1984 that shows non-smoking passengers surrounded by clouds of smoke. One of them says, "Look on the bright side ... maybe there will be an emergency and the oxygen bags will drop down."
Young suffered chronic bronchitis and constant headaches that she attributed to second-hand smoke. Her battle led Congress to pass a law against smoking on domestic flights in the 1980s, which was later extended to international flights to and from the U.S.
"It's hard to believe how hard the tobacco industry and even airlines fought against the ban," Blum said. "Above all, the editorial cartoons have shown the most addicting thing about tobacco is money."
The museum added artifacts from its collection to the exhibit. One glass case holds three human lungs. One large, healthy looking lung from a non-smoker lies next to two shriveled, blackened lungs from smokers.
The museum also created a place for visitors to carry on the spirit of the exhibit by drawing their own cartoons. Younger visitors on class trips or with their families penciled most of them.
One shows a man in an ashtray being stomped out by a large cigarette. The caption reads, "Put it out before it puts you out."
Another, signed by Rebecca, 9, says simply, "Smoking is not cool."
Supreme Court to interpret sentencing guidelines ruling
Submitted on February 20, 2007 - 5:49pm.
Kayla Webley
Scripps Howard Foundation Wire
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court heard two cases Tuesday about how to interpret an earlier decision that made criminal sentencing guidelines advisory.
The arguments questioned how the decision - made two years ago - should be applied. The court ruled in United States v. Booker in 2005 that mandatory federal sentencing guidelines violated the defendant's Sixth Amendment right to trial by jury by giving judges, rather than juries, the job of determining the length of sentence.
To avoid invalidating the guidelines completely, the court then made the guidelines "advisory," and directed judges to review sentences for their "reasonableness."
One of the cases argued Tuesday, Rita v. United States, questioned the reasonableness of Victor Rita's sentence. A retired Marine and former criminal investigator for the immigration service, Rita, 57, is in poor health due to injuries he sustained while fighting in Vietnam and the Persian Gulf War.
He was convicted of obstructing justice and making false statements in a federal grand jury investigation about the sale of kits for making machine guns. At his trial, his lawyer argued for a sentence below the 33- to 41-month range recommended by the sentence guidelines because of his background. The trial judge imposed a 33-month sentence, a decision later upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, Va.
In the second case, Claiborne v. United States, Mario Claiborne, then 20, pleaded guilty to possessing and distributing cocaine. Under the sentencing guidelines, Claiborne was to receive 37 to 46 months in jail.
The district court judge felt the minimum sentence was too high, given the small amount of drugs involved and the likelihood that Claiborne would not commit similar crimes in the future.
The judge said a 37-month sentence would be equivalent to throwing Claiborne away and instead gave him 15 months plus three years on probation.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in St. Louis reversed that decision. It said a sentence 60 percent lower than the low end of the sentencing guidelines could be justified only by extraordinary circumstances, which the judge did not find.
Claiborne has already served the 15 months. If the Supreme Court upholds the Eighth Circuit's decision, he would face re-sentencing and a possible return to prison.
Rita's lawyer, Thomas Cochran, assistant federal public defender from Greensboro, N.C., said the district court judge did not take into account Rita's military background or health concerns or offer specific reasons for the sentence.
"How can you say that?" asked Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who said the information was brought out in the trial and the judge didn't have to mention it at sentencing.
Justice Stephen Breyer agreed it wasn't necessary for a judge to state all factors contributing to a ruling. Breyer said his main question was about how free a judge should feel to deviate from the advisory guidelines.
"How much weight can a judge give guidelines without violating the Sixth Amendment," Breyer asked.
In the Claiborne case, Michael Dwyer, an assistant federal public defender from St. Louis, said the district court judge had given a reasonable sentence by consulting the guidelines and then treating Claiborne as an individual.
Several justices noted that Congress established the guidelines in the 1984 Sentencing Reform Act to prevent disparities among cases. The justices said that if every case were treated individually there would be a greater chance that inequalities would arise.
"It would be essentially a lawless system," Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. said. "There has to be a background to it so you know people usually get this sentence."
The court's decision is expected by the end of June.
Kayla Webley
Scripps Howard Foundation Wire
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court heard two cases Tuesday about how to interpret an earlier decision that made criminal sentencing guidelines advisory.
The arguments questioned how the decision - made two years ago - should be applied. The court ruled in United States v. Booker in 2005 that mandatory federal sentencing guidelines violated the defendant's Sixth Amendment right to trial by jury by giving judges, rather than juries, the job of determining the length of sentence.
To avoid invalidating the guidelines completely, the court then made the guidelines "advisory," and directed judges to review sentences for their "reasonableness."
One of the cases argued Tuesday, Rita v. United States, questioned the reasonableness of Victor Rita's sentence. A retired Marine and former criminal investigator for the immigration service, Rita, 57, is in poor health due to injuries he sustained while fighting in Vietnam and the Persian Gulf War.
He was convicted of obstructing justice and making false statements in a federal grand jury investigation about the sale of kits for making machine guns. At his trial, his lawyer argued for a sentence below the 33- to 41-month range recommended by the sentence guidelines because of his background. The trial judge imposed a 33-month sentence, a decision later upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, Va.
In the second case, Claiborne v. United States, Mario Claiborne, then 20, pleaded guilty to possessing and distributing cocaine. Under the sentencing guidelines, Claiborne was to receive 37 to 46 months in jail.
The district court judge felt the minimum sentence was too high, given the small amount of drugs involved and the likelihood that Claiborne would not commit similar crimes in the future.
The judge said a 37-month sentence would be equivalent to throwing Claiborne away and instead gave him 15 months plus three years on probation.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in St. Louis reversed that decision. It said a sentence 60 percent lower than the low end of the sentencing guidelines could be justified only by extraordinary circumstances, which the judge did not find.
Claiborne has already served the 15 months. If the Supreme Court upholds the Eighth Circuit's decision, he would face re-sentencing and a possible return to prison.
Rita's lawyer, Thomas Cochran, assistant federal public defender from Greensboro, N.C., said the district court judge did not take into account Rita's military background or health concerns or offer specific reasons for the sentence.
"How can you say that?" asked Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who said the information was brought out in the trial and the judge didn't have to mention it at sentencing.
Justice Stephen Breyer agreed it wasn't necessary for a judge to state all factors contributing to a ruling. Breyer said his main question was about how free a judge should feel to deviate from the advisory guidelines.
"How much weight can a judge give guidelines without violating the Sixth Amendment," Breyer asked.
In the Claiborne case, Michael Dwyer, an assistant federal public defender from St. Louis, said the district court judge had given a reasonable sentence by consulting the guidelines and then treating Claiborne as an individual.
Several justices noted that Congress established the guidelines in the 1984 Sentencing Reform Act to prevent disparities among cases. The justices said that if every case were treated individually there would be a greater chance that inequalities would arise.
"It would be essentially a lawless system," Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. said. "There has to be a background to it so you know people usually get this sentence."
The court's decision is expected by the end of June.
Rep. Dicks leading trip to Middle East
Submitted on February 20, 2007 - 5:45pm.
Kayla Webley
Scripps Howard Foundation Wire
WASHINGTON - With Congress in recesses for the Presidents Day holiday this week, Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., is spending his break meeting with leaders and Washington state soldiers in Iraq and four other countries.
In the nine-day trip, Dicks and a team of representatives from both parties will also visit Pakistan, Kuwait, Afghanistan and Germany.
In addition to meeting with foreign leaders, Dicks will meet with soldiers from western Washington. He hopes to meet with members of the Fort Lewis striker brigade, who are deployed in Iraq, and members of the Washington National Guard.
Dicks said he wants to talk to the Washington troops about whether they are getting the training and equipment they need and whether a lack of either is affecting their ability to do their job.
Joining Dicks for his third trip to the Middle East are three members of the defense appropriations subcommittee and two freshman representatives, one of whom served in Afghanistan and one in Iraq.
Dicks and the other committee members will be responsible for voting on the supplemental defense budget next month. He said it is important for them to get a firsthand update of the situation.
Dicks is one of many members of Congress who openly oppose President Bush's plan to send more than 20,000 additional troops to Iraq.
Dicks spoke Wednesday in the House debate over the a nonbinding resolution that opposes the president's plan. He supported the resolution, which the House passed on a vote of 246 to 182. Over the weekend, the Senate was unable to get enough votes to bring the resolution up for debate.
"These troops have not let us down, to be sure," Dicks said in his speech. "They have been let down by a policy that ignores the reality of their situation and by a commander in chief whose only response to what is unmistakably a civil war in Iraq is to place more American troops in harm's way while sectarian violence plays out in the streets of Baghdad and other Iraqi cities."
On the trip, Dicks plans to meet with President Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan and Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf. He is also meeting with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in Iraq.
Dicks said a major challenge is making sure the Maliki government is prepared to govern the country and take charge of its own security, particularly in dealing with the conflict between the Shia militia and Sunni insurgents.
"No one wants a failure here," Dicks said in an interview Wednesday. "The key thing here is the Maliki government must perform like they've never performed before."
Traveling with Dicks are Reps. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio; Steve Rothman, D-N.J.; Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-N.J., and the two veterans, Reps. Christopher Carney and Rep. Patrick Murphy, both Pennsylvania Democrats.
Kayla Webley
Scripps Howard Foundation Wire
WASHINGTON - With Congress in recesses for the Presidents Day holiday this week, Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., is spending his break meeting with leaders and Washington state soldiers in Iraq and four other countries.
In the nine-day trip, Dicks and a team of representatives from both parties will also visit Pakistan, Kuwait, Afghanistan and Germany.
In addition to meeting with foreign leaders, Dicks will meet with soldiers from western Washington. He hopes to meet with members of the Fort Lewis striker brigade, who are deployed in Iraq, and members of the Washington National Guard.
Dicks said he wants to talk to the Washington troops about whether they are getting the training and equipment they need and whether a lack of either is affecting their ability to do their job.
Joining Dicks for his third trip to the Middle East are three members of the defense appropriations subcommittee and two freshman representatives, one of whom served in Afghanistan and one in Iraq.
Dicks and the other committee members will be responsible for voting on the supplemental defense budget next month. He said it is important for them to get a firsthand update of the situation.
Dicks is one of many members of Congress who openly oppose President Bush's plan to send more than 20,000 additional troops to Iraq.
Dicks spoke Wednesday in the House debate over the a nonbinding resolution that opposes the president's plan. He supported the resolution, which the House passed on a vote of 246 to 182. Over the weekend, the Senate was unable to get enough votes to bring the resolution up for debate.
"These troops have not let us down, to be sure," Dicks said in his speech. "They have been let down by a policy that ignores the reality of their situation and by a commander in chief whose only response to what is unmistakably a civil war in Iraq is to place more American troops in harm's way while sectarian violence plays out in the streets of Baghdad and other Iraqi cities."
On the trip, Dicks plans to meet with President Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan and Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf. He is also meeting with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in Iraq.
Dicks said a major challenge is making sure the Maliki government is prepared to govern the country and take charge of its own security, particularly in dealing with the conflict between the Shia militia and Sunni insurgents.
"No one wants a failure here," Dicks said in an interview Wednesday. "The key thing here is the Maliki government must perform like they've never performed before."
Traveling with Dicks are Reps. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio; Steve Rothman, D-N.J.; Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-N.J., and the two veterans, Reps. Christopher Carney and Rep. Patrick Murphy, both Pennsylvania Democrats.
Bush praises black leaders at history month celebration
Submitted on February 12, 2007 - 6:54pm.
Kayla Webley
Scripps Howard Foundation Wire
WASHINGTON - President Bush celebrated an audience filled with black leaders Monday - astronauts, sports stars and his own cabinet member Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice - to mark African American History Month.
Bush said he couldn't think of any better way to celebrate black history than by highlighting the achievements of "ordinary citizens who do unbelievably fine things."
"Their stories speak a lot louder and a lot clearer than I could have," Bush said at an East Room speech. "The strength of the African-American community has always lied in the hearts and souls of our citizens, people who refuse to allow adversity to diminish the spirit and extinguish the drive to make America live up to its promise."
Noting the theme of this year's African American History Month, "From Slavery to Freedom: Africans in the Americas," Bush told of the suffering blacks endured and how they overcame adversity.
"Yet despite these assaults on culture and humanity, the children of Africa persevered," he said.
Bush pointed out several audience members, describing their influence and achievements in black history.
There was Tyrone Flowers, who as a young basketball star was headed for college when he was shot, leaving him paralyzed in a wheelchair, Bush said. Flowers, who earned a law degree, and his wife went on to found Higher M-pact in Kansas City, dedicated to helping "high-risk urban youth become tomorrow's leaders."
"The interesting thing about this good man is a lot of people would have either quit or sought revenge. But not him," Bush said. "He picked a different path and found a different calling."
Bonnie St. John, who grew up in San Diego, didn't let losing a leg at age 5 stop her from reaching her dream of being a skier, Bush said. She won medals in downhill skiing in the Paralympics. St. John stood to thank the crowd for its applause, her medals on a red, white and blue ribbon hanging from her neck.
Bush praised astronauts Robert Curbeam and Joan Higginbotham, who were aboard a shuttle mission in December. As the audience laughed, Bush said in jest their job was "not much of a job, just to rewire the International Space Station. It sounds complex."
Among the crowd sat many sports stars, including several Black Ace members and their founder Jim "Mudcat" Grant. Black Aces is an organization of professional baseball pitchers who have won at least 20 games in a single season. Bush also recognized Sylvester Croom of Mississippi State University, the first black head football coach in the Southeastern Conference.
Though they did not attend, Bush applauded football coaches Tony Dungy of the Indianapolis Colts and Lovie Smith of Chicago Bears. The two became the first black coaches to meet at the Super Bowl two weeks ago.
"It might just have been a game for some, but for a lot of folks it was a moment, an historic moment," Bush said.
Bush also introduced the Jackson High School Black History Tour Group choir from Jackson, Mich. Their first song "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing," often called the Black National Anthem, clearly express the event's celebratory message.
"Sing a song full of faith the dark past has taught us," they sang. "Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us. Facing the rising sun of our new day begun, let us march on ‘til victory is won."
Kayla Webley
Scripps Howard Foundation Wire
WASHINGTON - President Bush celebrated an audience filled with black leaders Monday - astronauts, sports stars and his own cabinet member Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice - to mark African American History Month.
Bush said he couldn't think of any better way to celebrate black history than by highlighting the achievements of "ordinary citizens who do unbelievably fine things."
"Their stories speak a lot louder and a lot clearer than I could have," Bush said at an East Room speech. "The strength of the African-American community has always lied in the hearts and souls of our citizens, people who refuse to allow adversity to diminish the spirit and extinguish the drive to make America live up to its promise."
Noting the theme of this year's African American History Month, "From Slavery to Freedom: Africans in the Americas," Bush told of the suffering blacks endured and how they overcame adversity.
"Yet despite these assaults on culture and humanity, the children of Africa persevered," he said.
Bush pointed out several audience members, describing their influence and achievements in black history.
There was Tyrone Flowers, who as a young basketball star was headed for college when he was shot, leaving him paralyzed in a wheelchair, Bush said. Flowers, who earned a law degree, and his wife went on to found Higher M-pact in Kansas City, dedicated to helping "high-risk urban youth become tomorrow's leaders."
"The interesting thing about this good man is a lot of people would have either quit or sought revenge. But not him," Bush said. "He picked a different path and found a different calling."
Bonnie St. John, who grew up in San Diego, didn't let losing a leg at age 5 stop her from reaching her dream of being a skier, Bush said. She won medals in downhill skiing in the Paralympics. St. John stood to thank the crowd for its applause, her medals on a red, white and blue ribbon hanging from her neck.
Bush praised astronauts Robert Curbeam and Joan Higginbotham, who were aboard a shuttle mission in December. As the audience laughed, Bush said in jest their job was "not much of a job, just to rewire the International Space Station. It sounds complex."
Among the crowd sat many sports stars, including several Black Ace members and their founder Jim "Mudcat" Grant. Black Aces is an organization of professional baseball pitchers who have won at least 20 games in a single season. Bush also recognized Sylvester Croom of Mississippi State University, the first black head football coach in the Southeastern Conference.
Though they did not attend, Bush applauded football coaches Tony Dungy of the Indianapolis Colts and Lovie Smith of Chicago Bears. The two became the first black coaches to meet at the Super Bowl two weeks ago.
"It might just have been a game for some, but for a lot of folks it was a moment, an historic moment," Bush said.
Bush also introduced the Jackson High School Black History Tour Group choir from Jackson, Mich. Their first song "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing," often called the Black National Anthem, clearly express the event's celebratory message.
"Sing a song full of faith the dark past has taught us," they sang. "Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us. Facing the rising sun of our new day begun, let us march on ‘til victory is won."
Climate debate grows heated during House hearing
Submitted on February 9, 2007 - 4:30pm.
Kayla Webley
Scripps Howard Foundation Wire
WASHINGTON - Boulder researcher Susan Solomon defended her stance on human-caused climate change amid challenges - including a question about her scientific credibility - from House Republicans at a hearing Thursday.
Solomon is co-chair of an international scientific team that released a landmark climate- change study last week in Paris.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report said there is a greater than 90 percent likelihood that human-caused emissions of heat-trapping "greenhouse" gases are to blame for most of the planet's warming over the past 50 years.
But Republicans on the House Committee on Science and Technology have a different idea.
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., submitted a list he said contains the names of "hundreds of scientists who disagree with this concept that climate change is caused by human activity."
The IPCC report said that levels of carbon dioxide, the most important human-produced greenhouse gas, are higher today than at any time in the past 650,000 years, and that "the primary source . . . since the pre-industrial period results from fossil fuel use."
Committee members acknowledged that the planet has warmed by slightly more than 1 degree Fahrenheit over the past century. Still, some questioned the cause.
Rohrabacher asked about the origin of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and whether the majority came from nature or humans.
Solomon, a senior scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Earth System Research Laboratory, said the increase is almost entirely due to human activity.
Rohrabacher responded: "That wasn't the question. This is very dishonest. You're supposed to be a scientist."
Solomon, 51, was awarded the nation's highest scientific honor, the U.S. National Medal of Science, in 1999 for helping to identify the mechanism that produces the Antarctic ozone hole.
In 2004 she received the Blue Planet Prize, a prestigious international award for contributions to solving global environmental problems.
Two other Boulder scientists also testified. Gerald A. Meehl and Kevin E. Trenberth, both of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, helped write the climate report.
Kayla Webley
Scripps Howard Foundation Wire
WASHINGTON - Boulder researcher Susan Solomon defended her stance on human-caused climate change amid challenges - including a question about her scientific credibility - from House Republicans at a hearing Thursday.
Solomon is co-chair of an international scientific team that released a landmark climate- change study last week in Paris.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report said there is a greater than 90 percent likelihood that human-caused emissions of heat-trapping "greenhouse" gases are to blame for most of the planet's warming over the past 50 years.
But Republicans on the House Committee on Science and Technology have a different idea.
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., submitted a list he said contains the names of "hundreds of scientists who disagree with this concept that climate change is caused by human activity."
The IPCC report said that levels of carbon dioxide, the most important human-produced greenhouse gas, are higher today than at any time in the past 650,000 years, and that "the primary source . . . since the pre-industrial period results from fossil fuel use."
Committee members acknowledged that the planet has warmed by slightly more than 1 degree Fahrenheit over the past century. Still, some questioned the cause.
Rohrabacher asked about the origin of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and whether the majority came from nature or humans.
Solomon, a senior scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Earth System Research Laboratory, said the increase is almost entirely due to human activity.
Rohrabacher responded: "That wasn't the question. This is very dishonest. You're supposed to be a scientist."
Solomon, 51, was awarded the nation's highest scientific honor, the U.S. National Medal of Science, in 1999 for helping to identify the mechanism that produces the Antarctic ozone hole.
In 2004 she received the Blue Planet Prize, a prestigious international award for contributions to solving global environmental problems.
Two other Boulder scientists also testified. Gerald A. Meehl and Kevin E. Trenberth, both of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, helped write the climate report.
Washington’s Bainbridge memorial one step closer to reality
Submitted on February 7, 2007 - 4:01pm.
Kayla Webley
Scripps Howard Foundation Wire
WASHINGTON - Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., uttered the Japanese words "nidoto nai yoni," which mean never let it happen again, as he spoke to House members Tuesday.
Inslee was urging representatives to pass a bill that would give national park status to a site on Bainbridge Island, Wash., from which Japanese Americans were sent to internment camps during World War II.
The measure passed 419-0.
"We will be making a strong American statement ... that the power of fear will never again be allowed to overcome the promise of liberty," said Inslee, who represents Bainbridge Island. "America is a country that makes mistakes, but learns and improves."
The memorial will commemorate the 227 Bainbridge Island residents who were the first Japanese Americans taken on March 30, 1942, after President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 and Civilian Exclusion Order No. 1. More than 100,000 Japanese Americans were held in camps during the war.
The Bainbridge residents were taken from the old Eagledale ferry dock, where the memorial will be located, to Seattle where they boarded a train to Manzanar, a camp in California. The group was later moved to Minidoka internment camp in Idaho. The residents were among the last allowed to return home.
As he spoke, Inslee stood in front of large black and white photos.
One showed the Eagledale dock and the Japanese Americans who were taken alongside members of the U.S. military holding rifles. Another showed a young mother holding her 13-month-old child in her arms. That woman is Fumiko Hayashida, a Bainbridge Island resident who at age 95 is the oldest known former internee.
A third photo showed a group of children. One is dentist Frank Kitamoto, 67. He was 2 in the photo when he was taken to the camp, and didn't return to his home on the island until he was 6.
Kitamoto said he doesn't remember leaving the dock at such a young age, but the memorial there has been a long-held dream. He has traveled to schools and civic groups, speaking and showing slide presentations of the internment. He wants to pass on a message of diversity.
"Not having everyone the same is actually a plus, something that helps us," Kitamoto said. "It's important for people to know something like this can happen if we're not careful about how we care for one another."
The bill now moves to the Senate, which must approve it before it can go to the president to be signed into law.
Inslee said he is working with his colleagues in the Senate on this issue. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., introduced the same bill last year.
Inslee said he hopes to have good news to report when he meets with community members and former internees Feb. 19 at the memorial site on the 65th anniversary of the executive order signing.
A memorial is under construction. It includes a symbolic representation of the old dock.
Kayla Webley
Scripps Howard Foundation Wire
WASHINGTON - Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., uttered the Japanese words "nidoto nai yoni," which mean never let it happen again, as he spoke to House members Tuesday.
Inslee was urging representatives to pass a bill that would give national park status to a site on Bainbridge Island, Wash., from which Japanese Americans were sent to internment camps during World War II.
The measure passed 419-0.
"We will be making a strong American statement ... that the power of fear will never again be allowed to overcome the promise of liberty," said Inslee, who represents Bainbridge Island. "America is a country that makes mistakes, but learns and improves."
The memorial will commemorate the 227 Bainbridge Island residents who were the first Japanese Americans taken on March 30, 1942, after President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 and Civilian Exclusion Order No. 1. More than 100,000 Japanese Americans were held in camps during the war.
The Bainbridge residents were taken from the old Eagledale ferry dock, where the memorial will be located, to Seattle where they boarded a train to Manzanar, a camp in California. The group was later moved to Minidoka internment camp in Idaho. The residents were among the last allowed to return home.
As he spoke, Inslee stood in front of large black and white photos.
One showed the Eagledale dock and the Japanese Americans who were taken alongside members of the U.S. military holding rifles. Another showed a young mother holding her 13-month-old child in her arms. That woman is Fumiko Hayashida, a Bainbridge Island resident who at age 95 is the oldest known former internee.
A third photo showed a group of children. One is dentist Frank Kitamoto, 67. He was 2 in the photo when he was taken to the camp, and didn't return to his home on the island until he was 6.
Kitamoto said he doesn't remember leaving the dock at such a young age, but the memorial there has been a long-held dream. He has traveled to schools and civic groups, speaking and showing slide presentations of the internment. He wants to pass on a message of diversity.
"Not having everyone the same is actually a plus, something that helps us," Kitamoto said. "It's important for people to know something like this can happen if we're not careful about how we care for one another."
The bill now moves to the Senate, which must approve it before it can go to the president to be signed into law.
Inslee said he is working with his colleagues in the Senate on this issue. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., introduced the same bill last year.
Inslee said he hopes to have good news to report when he meets with community members and former internees Feb. 19 at the memorial site on the 65th anniversary of the executive order signing.
A memorial is under construction. It includes a symbolic representation of the old dock.
Rep. Inslee writes book to spark action on climate change
Submitted on February 6, 2007 - 5:55pm.
Kayla Webley
Scripps Howard Foundation Wire
WASHINGTON - Outside Rep. Jay Inslee's office stands a large photo of a polar bear looking rather glum. The caption reads, "The impacts of climate change are ruining my home."
While there may not be polar bears in his district, Inslee, D-Wash., said global warming has hit too close to home.
As global warming has become a hotter issue, with recent media attention and Hollywood depictions of the enormity of the problem, Inslee has been writing his way toward a solution. In his forthcoming book, "Apollo's Fire: Igniting America's Clean Energy Revolution," Inslee offers tangible ways to fix the problem.
Washington state is faced with a decline in the alpine meadows in Mount Rainer and Olympic National Parks, increasing water temperature, reduced stream flows and declining snow pack combined with summer drought.
"We can't let people feel overwhelmed. They could just seize up and not act. We can't become frozen by this problem, we have to move," Inslee said in an interview Monday in his Capitol Hill office. "That's what this book is about. It's really trying to build confidence in our abilities in America to develop a new clean-energy future."
The book, which he wrote with Bracken Hendricks, a senior fellow at Center for American Progress here, is being edited and should be released in early fall. The book highlights companies and individuals, many of them in Washington state, already working to make a difference. The authors said they wanted to include citizens in the process, not just policy makers.
"We felt it was more important than trying to scare people into action," Hendricks said. "We need to inspire them to action. ... What is at stake is a huge economic and social opportunity if we can rise to the challenge."
Though the book's release is still months away, Inslee wants Congress to tackle global warming right now.
He introduced the New Apollo Project designed to invigorate the economy while providing fixes to global warming, he said. The bill would cap carbon dioxide emissions and provide a trade system for them, which would require industries to limit their emissions or pay others with lower emissions. The bill would also require the use of more renewable energy sources, give manufacturers incentives to make plug-in hybrid vehicles and generally improve energy efficiency.
Some Democrats would like delay legislation to address global warming until a more environmentally friendly president is in office, Inslee said, or at least until next year when they could use it as leverage against Republican candidates.
"Mother Nature does not pay attention to the election cycle," Inslee said. "We just don't have two years of luxury here. We should be aggressive and assertive and quick. Delay is often an excuse for inaction."
Kayla Webley
Scripps Howard Foundation Wire
WASHINGTON - Outside Rep. Jay Inslee's office stands a large photo of a polar bear looking rather glum. The caption reads, "The impacts of climate change are ruining my home."
While there may not be polar bears in his district, Inslee, D-Wash., said global warming has hit too close to home.
As global warming has become a hotter issue, with recent media attention and Hollywood depictions of the enormity of the problem, Inslee has been writing his way toward a solution. In his forthcoming book, "Apollo's Fire: Igniting America's Clean Energy Revolution," Inslee offers tangible ways to fix the problem.
Washington state is faced with a decline in the alpine meadows in Mount Rainer and Olympic National Parks, increasing water temperature, reduced stream flows and declining snow pack combined with summer drought.
"We can't let people feel overwhelmed. They could just seize up and not act. We can't become frozen by this problem, we have to move," Inslee said in an interview Monday in his Capitol Hill office. "That's what this book is about. It's really trying to build confidence in our abilities in America to develop a new clean-energy future."
The book, which he wrote with Bracken Hendricks, a senior fellow at Center for American Progress here, is being edited and should be released in early fall. The book highlights companies and individuals, many of them in Washington state, already working to make a difference. The authors said they wanted to include citizens in the process, not just policy makers.
"We felt it was more important than trying to scare people into action," Hendricks said. "We need to inspire them to action. ... What is at stake is a huge economic and social opportunity if we can rise to the challenge."
Though the book's release is still months away, Inslee wants Congress to tackle global warming right now.
He introduced the New Apollo Project designed to invigorate the economy while providing fixes to global warming, he said. The bill would cap carbon dioxide emissions and provide a trade system for them, which would require industries to limit their emissions or pay others with lower emissions. The bill would also require the use of more renewable energy sources, give manufacturers incentives to make plug-in hybrid vehicles and generally improve energy efficiency.
Some Democrats would like delay legislation to address global warming until a more environmentally friendly president is in office, Inslee said, or at least until next year when they could use it as leverage against Republican candidates.
"Mother Nature does not pay attention to the election cycle," Inslee said. "We just don't have two years of luxury here. We should be aggressive and assertive and quick. Delay is often an excuse for inaction."
Travel industry wants government to help attract more foreign visitors
Submitted on February 2, 2007 - 6:33pm.
Kayla Webley
Scripps Howard Foundation Wire
WASHINGTON - As chairman of Disney Parks and Resorts, Jay Rasulo said he spends a lot of time talking about magic. Most of the time, it has to do with fairy dust, mouse ears and talking cats, but he said America's people and culture are just as magical.
"People simply need to visit here to feel this magic," he said.
This is why Rasulo, along with colleagues in the travel industry, are urging lawmakers to make more of an effort to increase the number of foreign visitors to the U.S. each year.
Citing a research study by the Discover America Partnership, traveling to the U.S. makes visitors 74 percent more likely to feel "extremely favorably" about the nation.
Rasulo leads the partnership with Stevan Porter, president of the Americas InterContinental Hotels Group, and other travel industry business leaders.
The partnership's plan, "A blueprint to discover America," focuses on making the entry process at airports faster and more efficient, improving the visa system and communicating the idea of a friendlier United States.
According to the partnership's 2006 study, travelers rated America's entry process as the "world's worst," and two-thirds of the those surveyed feared they would be detained at the border because of a simple mistake or misstatement.
An independent polling firm conducted the study, which was based on a survey of more than 2,000 travelers worldwide.
The plan would expand an initiative introduced a year ago by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to increase travel with "secure borders and open doors."
The group views the Rice-Chertoff plan as a step in the right direction but wants the process expanded and expedited, said Porter, Discover America's chairman. The group's plan is a more comprehensive vision, a logical next step, he added.
Some legislators are backing the idea.
While many of the nation's allies have engaged in aggressive campaigns, fueled with substantial investments to bring visitors to their countries, the U.S. has become less aggressive, Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., said Wednesday at a hearing before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.
"I believe that you can develop an approach that recognizes and addresses our security interests and at the same time does more to promote our travel and tourism," said Dorgan, chairman of the tourism subcommittee.
But the plan is not without critics. The main concern has to do with funding. The blueprint would require $300 million. It amounts to $50 million to reform the visa process, $50 million to fix the entry process and $200 million in promotion.
The group proposed that the funding come from tax-free bonds, a $5 exit fee on visitors leaving the U.S. on airlines, or from a charge of approximately $10 on airline tickets.
The Air Transport Association opposes any proposed fees on airline travel.
"Our airlines are eager to bring more international visitors to America so they can experience first hand what we already know: America is a great country to do business with, and to visit," James May, the ATA's chief executive officer, said in his testimony before the committee. "While I appreciate a warm welcome, it is really hard for me to support charging passengers a $5 fee to purchase a smile and a greeting."
Geoff Freeman, executive director of the Discover America Partnership, said the group was just making suggestions about funding options.
"We have to find a way to fund this that works for everyone," he said, adding that the group will work with other organizations to accomplish their goals. "This is going to require a lot of work, but we need to send a clear message to Congress that we need reform and we need it now."
Kayla Webley
Scripps Howard Foundation Wire
WASHINGTON - As chairman of Disney Parks and Resorts, Jay Rasulo said he spends a lot of time talking about magic. Most of the time, it has to do with fairy dust, mouse ears and talking cats, but he said America's people and culture are just as magical.
"People simply need to visit here to feel this magic," he said.
This is why Rasulo, along with colleagues in the travel industry, are urging lawmakers to make more of an effort to increase the number of foreign visitors to the U.S. each year.
Citing a research study by the Discover America Partnership, traveling to the U.S. makes visitors 74 percent more likely to feel "extremely favorably" about the nation.
Rasulo leads the partnership with Stevan Porter, president of the Americas InterContinental Hotels Group, and other travel industry business leaders.
The partnership's plan, "A blueprint to discover America," focuses on making the entry process at airports faster and more efficient, improving the visa system and communicating the idea of a friendlier United States.
According to the partnership's 2006 study, travelers rated America's entry process as the "world's worst," and two-thirds of the those surveyed feared they would be detained at the border because of a simple mistake or misstatement.
An independent polling firm conducted the study, which was based on a survey of more than 2,000 travelers worldwide.
The plan would expand an initiative introduced a year ago by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to increase travel with "secure borders and open doors."
The group views the Rice-Chertoff plan as a step in the right direction but wants the process expanded and expedited, said Porter, Discover America's chairman. The group's plan is a more comprehensive vision, a logical next step, he added.
Some legislators are backing the idea.
While many of the nation's allies have engaged in aggressive campaigns, fueled with substantial investments to bring visitors to their countries, the U.S. has become less aggressive, Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., said Wednesday at a hearing before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.
"I believe that you can develop an approach that recognizes and addresses our security interests and at the same time does more to promote our travel and tourism," said Dorgan, chairman of the tourism subcommittee.
But the plan is not without critics. The main concern has to do with funding. The blueprint would require $300 million. It amounts to $50 million to reform the visa process, $50 million to fix the entry process and $200 million in promotion.
The group proposed that the funding come from tax-free bonds, a $5 exit fee on visitors leaving the U.S. on airlines, or from a charge of approximately $10 on airline tickets.
The Air Transport Association opposes any proposed fees on airline travel.
"Our airlines are eager to bring more international visitors to America so they can experience first hand what we already know: America is a great country to do business with, and to visit," James May, the ATA's chief executive officer, said in his testimony before the committee. "While I appreciate a warm welcome, it is really hard for me to support charging passengers a $5 fee to purchase a smile and a greeting."
Geoff Freeman, executive director of the Discover America Partnership, said the group was just making suggestions about funding options.
"We have to find a way to fund this that works for everyone," he said, adding that the group will work with other organizations to accomplish their goals. "This is going to require a lot of work, but we need to send a clear message to Congress that we need reform and we need it now."
Spelling book to make dreamers into champions
R’ay Fodor, 9, watches Barrie Trinkle, co-author of “How to Spell like a Champ,” sign a copy of her book for him.
Photo by Kayla Webley
Submitted on January 30, 2007 - 1:34pm.
Kayla Webley
Scripps Howard Foundation Wire
WASHINGTON - Unlike most fourth grade students, R'ay Fodor happily accepts extra homework. He studies spelling a lot more than his friends, but he said it's worth it if it helps him reach his dream of winning the national spelling bee and becoming "famous."
Fodor's dad started coaching him in spelling when he was just 5 years old. Now, four years later, he enters every spelling be he can, and made it farther than any other third-grade student in the Jewish Primary Day School Bee last year.
"I've gotten good grades in spelling since the second grade, so I thought I would give it a go," he said.
Fodor is like many would-be spelling bee contestants who will be poring over the new book, "How to Spell like a Champ."
It provides study tips, advice from previous winners, word games and puzzles for practice. It also offers students insight into what it is really like to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee, including how big the stage is, how to get parents "to chill" and what losing feels like.
The book follows the recent spike in popularity of spelling bees. With the spelling bee being shown on prime time television for the first time last year, and with fictional portrayals of spelling competitions in books, movies and even on Broadway, spelling bees are at their height.
"The book is not only for a child to learn from but dream from," said Paige Kimble, a former champ who is a co-author and director of the national bee. "The demand from young people for information about the national contest is greater than ever. They want to learn how to become champion spellers, too."
The third author is Carolyn Andrews, whose son, Ned, won the bee in 1994.
The National Spelling Bee started in 1925 with just nine contestants. It was originally sponsored by the Louisville Courier-Journal. The Scripps Howard News Service and its parent, the E.W. Scripps Co., took over sponsorship in 1941. This year's bee is May 30 and 31 in Washington.
"This is an old-fashioned competition, so there is a big nostalgia factor. In the digital age, it is still something we can get together and do," co-author Barrie Trinkle said. "Plus, people enjoy watching kids compete and marvel at how someone 4 feet tall can know so many big words."
Trinkle, who won the national bee in 1973 with the word "vouchsafe," met recently with about 90 students from local elementary schools at the bookstore Politics & Prose to answer questions and sign copies of the book. The eager young spellers quizzed the author, asking her to spell "antidisestablishmentarianism" - which at 28 letters is widely accepted as the longest word in the English language.
It wasn't long before the table turned, with the students participating in an impromptu spelling bee, trying their best to spell words such as "incognito," "staccato" and "toboggan."
The authors hope the book will not only be useful to youngsters already involved in spelling but also attract interest from those who are curious about bees but haven't participated.
"I am hoping for a whole new audience. Those who have seen the bee on TV and thought it looked like fun but wondered how to get there," Trinkle said. "The book will give those kids a way to reach their goals."
For John Jay Daly, 78, who had books signed for a five of his 24 grandchildren, the book will allow him to pass on his own excitement over spelling.
"I'm trying to instill in them a love of words," said Daly, a semi-retired writer and public speaker from nearby Chevy Chase, Md. "I've been a word nut my whole life, but I tell them you only have to learn a little bit at a time."
He encourages his grandchildren to learn one new word a day, but he said they get permission to take their birthdays off.
That may sounds like a lot of work to those not committed to spelling, but for kids like Fodor it is an obligation well worth the time if the end result is a large trophy and the title of spelling champion.
***
Spelling tips from the experts
Tips from former Scripps National Spelling Bee winners, as featured in "How to Spell Like a Champ:"
Acknowledge you will be asked words you have not studied.
Pretend the rest of the audience is on Mars, and that you and the judges are sitting in your living room having a conversation.
Study Webster's Third New International Dictionary - the dictionary used for word list selection.
Keep a spelling notebook with you so you can review words any time you have a spare minute.
Delegates want an official chance to make their voices heard
Submitted on January 23, 2007 - 6:51pm.
Kayla Webley
WASHINGTON - American Somoa has the highest per capita casualty rate of any U.S. state or territory in the war in Iraq, but its delegate cannot vote in Congress. Eni Faleomavaega wants to change that.
Faleomavaega, a Democrat, is in his 10th term representing American Samoa in the House of Representatives. As an elected delegate, he is sworn in like every other representative and allowed to serve on committees. But, unlike other members of Congress, when the time comes to vote, Faleomavaega can only stand by.
Faleomavaega is one of four delegates from U.S. territories, who although they do not pay federal income taxes, are allowed to have a small voice in the workings of their country's government.
"By and large, many members don't even know we exist," Faleomavaega said. "Give us a chance to represent our people ... allow us to participate in our democracy."
Like the territories, D.C. citizens also do not have a vote in Congress. They elect a non-voting delegate. But unlike the territories, D.C. citizens pay federal income tax, a grievance that runs high. The motto on D.C. license plates reads "Taxation without representation."
A resolution coming to the House floor Wednesday seeks to change that. The proposed changed to House rules would allow delegates to vote when a measure is being voted on by the "committee of the whole," a procedure used when the House debates and amends a bill before going to a final vote. The proposal also states that if a measure were to pass on a narrow margin, the full House would vote again without the delegates' participation.
Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., is backing other legislation that would give the District full voting rights, making her like any other representative.
The rule to be voted on Wednesday would not be new to the House. It was used in 1993 and 1994 when the Democrats were last in control, but was abandoned in 1995 when Republicans came to power.
Republicans worry that the U.S. territories would essentially be receiving "representation without taxation," Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, said Tuesday at the Rules Committee meeting. Because three of the four territorial delegates are Democrats, the party could use the extra votes to its advantage, allowing it to pass more legislation, including a tax increase, he said.
"This is not just about representation," Sessions said. "I am concerned that this is another opportunity for the majority party to add votes to their total."
Democrats insisted that would not be the case. With the revote provision for any bill with a margin of less than five votes, the delegates' votes would not be binding. Their votes would be largely symbolic, said Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass.
"We know full well our vote doesn't really count, but at least symbolically we will be able to represent our people," Faleomavaega said during the meeting.
Guam, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico are the other territories without full voting rights in Congress.
For Delegate Madeleine Bordallo, D-Guam, the symbolism is all that matters.
"It is a terrible, left out feeling," she said.
Kayla Webley
WASHINGTON - American Somoa has the highest per capita casualty rate of any U.S. state or territory in the war in Iraq, but its delegate cannot vote in Congress. Eni Faleomavaega wants to change that.
Faleomavaega, a Democrat, is in his 10th term representing American Samoa in the House of Representatives. As an elected delegate, he is sworn in like every other representative and allowed to serve on committees. But, unlike other members of Congress, when the time comes to vote, Faleomavaega can only stand by.
Faleomavaega is one of four delegates from U.S. territories, who although they do not pay federal income taxes, are allowed to have a small voice in the workings of their country's government.
"By and large, many members don't even know we exist," Faleomavaega said. "Give us a chance to represent our people ... allow us to participate in our democracy."
Like the territories, D.C. citizens also do not have a vote in Congress. They elect a non-voting delegate. But unlike the territories, D.C. citizens pay federal income tax, a grievance that runs high. The motto on D.C. license plates reads "Taxation without representation."
A resolution coming to the House floor Wednesday seeks to change that. The proposed changed to House rules would allow delegates to vote when a measure is being voted on by the "committee of the whole," a procedure used when the House debates and amends a bill before going to a final vote. The proposal also states that if a measure were to pass on a narrow margin, the full House would vote again without the delegates' participation.
Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., is backing other legislation that would give the District full voting rights, making her like any other representative.
The rule to be voted on Wednesday would not be new to the House. It was used in 1993 and 1994 when the Democrats were last in control, but was abandoned in 1995 when Republicans came to power.
Republicans worry that the U.S. territories would essentially be receiving "representation without taxation," Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, said Tuesday at the Rules Committee meeting. Because three of the four territorial delegates are Democrats, the party could use the extra votes to its advantage, allowing it to pass more legislation, including a tax increase, he said.
"This is not just about representation," Sessions said. "I am concerned that this is another opportunity for the majority party to add votes to their total."
Democrats insisted that would not be the case. With the revote provision for any bill with a margin of less than five votes, the delegates' votes would not be binding. Their votes would be largely symbolic, said Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass.
"We know full well our vote doesn't really count, but at least symbolically we will be able to represent our people," Faleomavaega said during the meeting.
Guam, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico are the other territories without full voting rights in Congress.
For Delegate Madeleine Bordallo, D-Guam, the symbolism is all that matters.
"It is a terrible, left out feeling," she said.
Neighbors wonder what will become of bread sign atop factory
The Seattle Times
June 28, 2006 Wednesday
Fourth Edition
Kayla Webley
Seattle Times staff reporter
Its large, once glowing red letters no longer light up the neighborhood.
They haven't for years.
But the Wonder Bread sign just south of downtown Seattle still looms high atop the now defunct factory where the soft white bread was made for many years. That may end soon.
The property where it sits is for sale, and who knows where the sign will land.
Residents of the neighborhood want to have a say in the sign's future should it be forced to come down from the metal supports it has rested on for some 50 years.
"The sign should be appreciated for what it is a wonderful piece of Americana," said Daniela McDonald, co-chair of the Jackson Place Community Council. "I mean, it's Wonder Bread. How much more American can you get?"
Fairfield Regional, which owns the property and had plans to develop it, put it up for sale a few weeks ago, said Mark Faulkner, a regional vice president for Fairfield.
Fairfield had planned for a mixed-use complex on the property, with retail on the street level and apartments above, Faulkner said. Any buyer would be expected to use that plan.
The development would likely require the removal of the sign as part of the demolition of the factory, he said.
Some residents would like to see the sign remain intact in the neighborhood.
Squire Park resident John Jeannot thinks the sign would be best in nearby Pratt Park. It would be an ideal way to start a sculpture gallery to bring more life and art to the park, he said.
Jeannot proposes tilting the "B" on its side so the sign would say "wonder read" a good message, he says, to spread to the children who play in the park.
McDonald also thinks the sign should remain intact, but she has other ideas for where it should go. She has been talking with ArtSpace, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and creating spaces for artists.
She thinks ArtSpace may be the best home for the sign. It might be easily incorporated into the artist lofts the organization is developing at 875 Hiawatha Place S. The lofts will consist of 61 rental units of affordable living and work space for artists and their families, plus 6,000 square feet of commercial space.
Cathryn Vandenbrink, ArtSpace's regional director in Seattle, said getting the sign is a wonderful idea, but the idea is still on the drawing board. ArtSpace must make sure it is financially feasible, she said.
Bill Bradburd, co-chair of the Jackson Place Community Council, proposes splitting the sign, giving the "Wonder" section to the Seattle Urban League to place on the top of the African American Arts and Cultural Museum. He suggests that the "B" be removed from "Bread" and that the "read" portion be given to a school or library.
The Museum of History & Industry (MOHAI) has offered to store the sign until the neighborhood groups can afford to restore the sign and have decided where it should be placed.
MOHAI spokesman Feliks Banel said the Wonder Bread sign would fit right in, as MOHAI is home to many other industrial signs, including the old Rainier brewery "R" and the 2--story blue flame from the old Washington Natural Gas building.
The museum also is open to taking the sign permanently, Banel said.
But Banel and the residents would most like to see the sign left where it is. Neon signs should ideally "live where they were born," where everyone can readily enjoy them from their cars in passing, Banel said.
For the time being, those in the neighborhood can appreciate the sign where it is.
"The sign is very much a part of the neighborhood. People really remember the red glow," McDonald said.
June 28, 2006 Wednesday
Fourth Edition
Kayla Webley
Seattle Times staff reporter
Its large, once glowing red letters no longer light up the neighborhood.
They haven't for years.
But the Wonder Bread sign just south of downtown Seattle still looms high atop the now defunct factory where the soft white bread was made for many years. That may end soon.
The property where it sits is for sale, and who knows where the sign will land.
Residents of the neighborhood want to have a say in the sign's future should it be forced to come down from the metal supports it has rested on for some 50 years.
"The sign should be appreciated for what it is a wonderful piece of Americana," said Daniela McDonald, co-chair of the Jackson Place Community Council. "I mean, it's Wonder Bread. How much more American can you get?"
Fairfield Regional, which owns the property and had plans to develop it, put it up for sale a few weeks ago, said Mark Faulkner, a regional vice president for Fairfield.
Fairfield had planned for a mixed-use complex on the property, with retail on the street level and apartments above, Faulkner said. Any buyer would be expected to use that plan.
The development would likely require the removal of the sign as part of the demolition of the factory, he said.
Some residents would like to see the sign remain intact in the neighborhood.
Squire Park resident John Jeannot thinks the sign would be best in nearby Pratt Park. It would be an ideal way to start a sculpture gallery to bring more life and art to the park, he said.
Jeannot proposes tilting the "B" on its side so the sign would say "wonder read" a good message, he says, to spread to the children who play in the park.
McDonald also thinks the sign should remain intact, but she has other ideas for where it should go. She has been talking with ArtSpace, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and creating spaces for artists.
She thinks ArtSpace may be the best home for the sign. It might be easily incorporated into the artist lofts the organization is developing at 875 Hiawatha Place S. The lofts will consist of 61 rental units of affordable living and work space for artists and their families, plus 6,000 square feet of commercial space.
Cathryn Vandenbrink, ArtSpace's regional director in Seattle, said getting the sign is a wonderful idea, but the idea is still on the drawing board. ArtSpace must make sure it is financially feasible, she said.
Bill Bradburd, co-chair of the Jackson Place Community Council, proposes splitting the sign, giving the "Wonder" section to the Seattle Urban League to place on the top of the African American Arts and Cultural Museum. He suggests that the "B" be removed from "Bread" and that the "read" portion be given to a school or library.
The Museum of History & Industry (MOHAI) has offered to store the sign until the neighborhood groups can afford to restore the sign and have decided where it should be placed.
MOHAI spokesman Feliks Banel said the Wonder Bread sign would fit right in, as MOHAI is home to many other industrial signs, including the old Rainier brewery "R" and the 2--story blue flame from the old Washington Natural Gas building.
The museum also is open to taking the sign permanently, Banel said.
But Banel and the residents would most like to see the sign left where it is. Neon signs should ideally "live where they were born," where everyone can readily enjoy them from their cars in passing, Banel said.
For the time being, those in the neighborhood can appreciate the sign where it is.
"The sign is very much a part of the neighborhood. People really remember the red glow," McDonald said.
Judge decides Gas Works concerts suit can go ahead
The Seattle Times
June 28, 2006 Wednesday
Fourth Edition
Kayla Webley
Seattle Times staff reporter
Opponents of moving a popular summer concert series to Gas Works Park won a small court victory Tuesday when a judge ruled that their lawsuit against the city of Seattle and the concert promoter can go forward.
Both sides said after the King County Superior Court ruling by Judge Dean Lum that they were waiting for the other side to act, leaving unanswered the question of whether the city can host the Summer Nights series at Gas Works in the summer of 2007.
"It's all up in the air right now. We don't know what the plaintiffs are going to do," said parks spokeswoman Dewey Potter.
"The ball is in the city's court," said David Bricklin, attorney for the plaintiffs, Friends of Gas Works Park. That group claimed that its concerns over noise, parking and traffic were not heard when the city was deciding to move the series to Gas Works.
In past years the series has included 17 to 23 concerts per summer, with as many as 3,800 tickets sold per show.
If the group does go to court and wins its lawsuit, the city and concert promoter One Reel would have to do a full environmental review before holding the shows at Gas Works.
The city has claimed it should not have to do such a review because the concerts are a temporary entertainment event, not a wholesale change to the park.
Bricklin disputed that, saying the city's plans include building pathways, upgrading utilities and making other permanent changes.
The concert series began in 1991 at Pier 62/63 on Seattle's central waterfront on Elliott Bay. But because that venue needed repair, the concerts were moved in 2005 to South Lake Union. The concerts needed to move again for 2006 because of park construction at the Lake Union site.
After the lawsuit was filed, the city said it would suspend the shows for this summer but resume them next summer.
June 28, 2006 Wednesday
Fourth Edition
Kayla Webley
Seattle Times staff reporter
Opponents of moving a popular summer concert series to Gas Works Park won a small court victory Tuesday when a judge ruled that their lawsuit against the city of Seattle and the concert promoter can go forward.
Both sides said after the King County Superior Court ruling by Judge Dean Lum that they were waiting for the other side to act, leaving unanswered the question of whether the city can host the Summer Nights series at Gas Works in the summer of 2007.
"It's all up in the air right now. We don't know what the plaintiffs are going to do," said parks spokeswoman Dewey Potter.
"The ball is in the city's court," said David Bricklin, attorney for the plaintiffs, Friends of Gas Works Park. That group claimed that its concerns over noise, parking and traffic were not heard when the city was deciding to move the series to Gas Works.
In past years the series has included 17 to 23 concerts per summer, with as many as 3,800 tickets sold per show.
If the group does go to court and wins its lawsuit, the city and concert promoter One Reel would have to do a full environmental review before holding the shows at Gas Works.
The city has claimed it should not have to do such a review because the concerts are a temporary entertainment event, not a wholesale change to the park.
Bricklin disputed that, saying the city's plans include building pathways, upgrading utilities and making other permanent changes.
The concert series began in 1991 at Pier 62/63 on Seattle's central waterfront on Elliott Bay. But because that venue needed repair, the concerts were moved in 2005 to South Lake Union. The concerts needed to move again for 2006 because of park construction at the Lake Union site.
After the lawsuit was filed, the city said it would suspend the shows for this summer but resume them next summer.
UW professor gives work to Indonesia
The Seattle Times
June 27, 2006 Tuesday
Fourth Edition
He studied conflict in Southeast Asia - Retired researcher battling lung cancer
Kayla Webley
Seattle Times staff reporter
In decades of research on political conflict in Southeast Asia, University of Washington professor Dan Lev accumulated dozens of boxes filled with notes, documents and books.
Now seven years retired and battling lung cancer, he has decided to give his work to those he believes will benefit from it the most: young scholars in Indonesia.
Traditionally, when professors retire, they donate their collections to their university's libraries. And while the UW libraries will keep some of his materials, Lev, in an unusual move, is sending the bulk of it to The Center for Study of Law and Policy, a nongovernmental organization in Jakarta. The center is made up of 25 to 30 young lawyers who do research primarily on reform issues in the nation.
Lev, 72, began his teaching career at the University of California, Berkeley, and came to the UW in the 1970s. He retired from the UW in 1999, after years as a political-science professor and researcher. He also established the political-science honors program.
His research, accumulating materials dating from the 1950s, has focused on politics, religion, judicial change and reform, ideology, professionals and historical change, he said.
During his many trips to Indonesia, Lev worked closely with scholars, journalists, reformers and the military to further the cause of human rights in Indonesia, said Judith Henchy, head of the UW libraries' Southeast Asia section.
"His courage has been a great inspiration to a number of young scholars in Indonesia who often worked in an atmosphere of great fear and oppression," she said.
Lev worked to empower lawyers and political scientists who formed many of the nongovernmental organizations that contributed to the student movement against the government in the 1990s, Henchy said.
Lev also embraced the language and culture of Indonesia; he often speaks with colleagues in an Indonesian language, and much of the material he's sending back his own writings and those of others is in the native language.
His influence has been evidenced in recent months as many people have come from Indonesia to visit, debating policy for one last time or just saying goodbye to their friend.
"These visits have meant good conversation, a continuation and sometimes renewal of friendships," he said.
It was important to him to send the materials he utilized in his research over the years back to others to aid in their research, Henchy said. The most recent shipment involved 17 boxes, and some materials still remain. And though the UW libraries offered to foot the bill for shipping, he paid for the majority of the shipping costs, calling it a "debt of honor."
U.S. research in other countries has often involved bringing valuable materials back to U.S. libraries materials that would be just as valuable to their homelands, Lev said.
"I wanted to make sure the young scholars who desperately need them have them back," he said.
Lev hopes his actions will spread a larger message about the importance of setting up air-conditioned, archival resources in every nation, so research materials will be preserved and made available to all.
"We must convince people here and elsewhere to pay real attention to education," he said. "People need places to sit and study that are well-stocked with material. We must give young scholars the materials they need."
June 27, 2006 Tuesday
Fourth Edition
He studied conflict in Southeast Asia - Retired researcher battling lung cancer
Kayla Webley
Seattle Times staff reporter
In decades of research on political conflict in Southeast Asia, University of Washington professor Dan Lev accumulated dozens of boxes filled with notes, documents and books.
Now seven years retired and battling lung cancer, he has decided to give his work to those he believes will benefit from it the most: young scholars in Indonesia.
Traditionally, when professors retire, they donate their collections to their university's libraries. And while the UW libraries will keep some of his materials, Lev, in an unusual move, is sending the bulk of it to The Center for Study of Law and Policy, a nongovernmental organization in Jakarta. The center is made up of 25 to 30 young lawyers who do research primarily on reform issues in the nation.
Lev, 72, began his teaching career at the University of California, Berkeley, and came to the UW in the 1970s. He retired from the UW in 1999, after years as a political-science professor and researcher. He also established the political-science honors program.
His research, accumulating materials dating from the 1950s, has focused on politics, religion, judicial change and reform, ideology, professionals and historical change, he said.
During his many trips to Indonesia, Lev worked closely with scholars, journalists, reformers and the military to further the cause of human rights in Indonesia, said Judith Henchy, head of the UW libraries' Southeast Asia section.
"His courage has been a great inspiration to a number of young scholars in Indonesia who often worked in an atmosphere of great fear and oppression," she said.
Lev worked to empower lawyers and political scientists who formed many of the nongovernmental organizations that contributed to the student movement against the government in the 1990s, Henchy said.
Lev also embraced the language and culture of Indonesia; he often speaks with colleagues in an Indonesian language, and much of the material he's sending back his own writings and those of others is in the native language.
His influence has been evidenced in recent months as many people have come from Indonesia to visit, debating policy for one last time or just saying goodbye to their friend.
"These visits have meant good conversation, a continuation and sometimes renewal of friendships," he said.
It was important to him to send the materials he utilized in his research over the years back to others to aid in their research, Henchy said. The most recent shipment involved 17 boxes, and some materials still remain. And though the UW libraries offered to foot the bill for shipping, he paid for the majority of the shipping costs, calling it a "debt of honor."
U.S. research in other countries has often involved bringing valuable materials back to U.S. libraries materials that would be just as valuable to their homelands, Lev said.
"I wanted to make sure the young scholars who desperately need them have them back," he said.
Lev hopes his actions will spread a larger message about the importance of setting up air-conditioned, archival resources in every nation, so research materials will be preserved and made available to all.
"We must convince people here and elsewhere to pay real attention to education," he said. "People need places to sit and study that are well-stocked with material. We must give young scholars the materials they need."
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