Public Periscope
Please check nukes at the door
Ya gotta love the Seattle City Council. Barely a month after it passed a resolution to breach the Snake River dams, an issue of regional if not national import, the council is thinking of going nuclear … Or maybe we should say, non-nuclear. The council is considering a resolution to ban nuclear weapons from city-sponsored events … It seems some folks were upset that a Trident submarine showed up at Seafair. We’re pretty sure that the Trident didn’t launch any of its nuclear missiles at anyone in the water parade (at least, we think we would’ve heard about it). Still, the fact that a nuclear submarine was in the fair seems to have upset folks who have never been happy that several such boats live just across the sound in Bangor.
But it got us wondering about two things. One is, how many folks with nuclear weapons go to Seattle events, anyway? The other is, do we need a similar resolution in Spokane, at least one that covers City Council meetings?
What’s your sign
Forget the polls, the never-ending stream of attack commercials and the piles of special interest money. A new Web site can tell you what’s really behind the presidential election. It’s the stars … ZodiacTrack offers the day-to-day update of the candidates’ astrological influences. Not just Al Gore and George Bush, but the would-be veeps and third party candidates … It’s at www.zodiactrack.com, if you’re tired of listening to the pundits.
By any other name
One has to sympathize with the folks at Energy Northwest who run the state’s only commercial reactor down in the Hanford Nuclear Reservation desert. Try as they might, they can’t get away from their old name of Washington Public Power Supply System … Gov. Gary Locke appointed someone to their board, and sent out the notice that listed the old name first, the new name in parenthesis. Energy Northwest has tried hard to get people to forget the old name, which had an acronym of WPPSS. That was pronounced “Whoops,” particularly after the supply system fell into a massive bond default due to canceled reactors.
Read all about it
Spokane County library officials have launched a campaign to get library cards in the hands of area first-graders. From mid-September to mid-November, staff will visit first-grade classes in the county with information and applications for library cards … The cards are free to county library district residents as well as preschool and school-age kids in the Spokane city limits.
“Studies show that children who are read to in the home and who use the library perform better in school and are more likely to continue to use the library as a source of lifetime learning,” said Eva Lusk, youth services coordinator for the library district … More information is available at county library branches, on the Web at www.scld.org or by calling 924-4122.
Do we have to spell it out?
Most readers who follow planning and zoning issues are familiar with a few acronyms working their way into the land-use vernacular. You know, terms like NIMBY (“not in my back yard”) and CAVE (“citizens against virtually everything”) … Local environmentalist Bart Haggin threw out a new one last week at a hearing of the county Planning Commission on the future of billboards in unincorporated areas … The big road signs, said billboard opponent Haggin, are LULUs. Say what? “Locally unacceptable land uses,” he said.