What’s Best Way To Handle City’s Wildlife Visitors?
It was not in a new suburban housing development but in a long-established South Hill neighborhood that a young male cougar was shot from a tree with tranquilizers last week.
But it is those sprawling developments that are blamed for encroaching on the cat’s natural habitat and prompting it to go prowling among city dwellers.
The cougar, which was returned to the wild but died from a combination of stress and drugs, joins the growing list of wild animals that have drifted into urban areas and forced wildlife officials into action.
Growth management or no growth management, these situations are bound to recur, probably more frequently rather than less. A clear set of policies and strategies is in order. What should they be?
Getting down to basics
The Washington Constitution requires the state to provide a basic education for every youngster. Two decades ago, when the state had abdicated much of that responsibility to local districts, the Seattle School District sued and won.
In response to the ensuing court order, the Legislature attempted to define “basic education” and fund it, while giving local districts the authority to seek up to 10 percent more from willing voters for enrichment of the basic program.
Local districts, rolling their eyes at the Legislature’s claim to be fully funding basic education, soon found 10 percent wasn’t enough. Today, thanks to action by current lawmakers and Gov. Gary Locke, the local levy lid is up to 24 percent, and school districts say at least that much is essential.
Does anyone really believe the state is fully funding basic education? If not, will it take another lawsuit to get legislators’ attention again? (The last one was filed only after local levy failures became common in school systems across the state.) Or is there that proverbial “better way”?
Machines won’t be kept in check
It’s not exactly the World Series, but world chess champion Garry Kasparov and an IBM computer called Deep Blue are tied at a win each with two draws in their rematch series. (Kasparov won last year.)
Kasparov contends the intricate strategy employed by Deep Blue is more than sophisticated tactical programming. It’s genuine intelligence.
Does this alarm you? Is that you, Hal?
, DataTimes MEMO: “Bagpipes” appears Tuesdays and Thursdays. To respond, call Cityline at 458-8800, category 9881, from a Touch-Tone phone or send a fax to 459-5098 or e-mail to dougf@spokesman.com. You also can leave Doug Floyd a message at 459-5577, extension 5466.