To Know

Loyalty or honesty – which quality best describes a friend? “I thought he was your friend?”

The question was asked of me by a reporter. I’d just retaken my seat following the allowed three minutes at the microphone in which I had chastised one of the city council for his attempt to override our community effort to honor one of our locals.

Anonymity, most typically, suggests epic buffoonery sans backbone.

A while back a local newspaper, in an article headlined “No More Taking Potshots from Behind Anonymity,” decided that if you can’t stand behind it, they were not going to print it.

About Puget Sound Clean Air – On the day after July 4 when America celebrated with bombs bursting in air, I’m preparing my case to argue before the Pollution Control Hearings Board about chestnuts (actually hot-dogs) roasting on an open fire.

The sign on the gate at Harry Todd Park in Tillicum declares the place closes – and the gate gets locked – at 9 P.M.

I drove into the park – through the open gate – at 9:45 P.M. July 1, to see why a bonfire and the comings-and-goings of a number of cars was, well, on-going.

A cracked Liberty Bell summons to America. Forever.

Sometimes to initiate a newbie to our youth group we’d randomly place on a sheet, in full view of everyone, a dozen or more eggs right out of the carton. The new kid on the block was then blindfolded and challenged to walk from one side of the sheet to the other with the objective of not stepping on any of the landmines.

On the one year anniversary (June 18) of the death of 28-year-old Patrick O’Meara, killed by Lakewood Police in a felony arrest attempt shortly before midnight in Tillicum, Lakewood Mayor Don Anderson comments on the city Facebook page:

“Mr. O’Meara’s death was tragic. It was tragic for him, his family and for the officers who he, by his willful choice, forced into a situation where their lives were threatened and they are involuntarily compelled to live with the consequences. Was it “suicide by cop,” most likely; or just being incredibly stupid? Perhaps we will never know. Officer’s lives will not be risked and policy will not be changed based on an individual’s grudges.”

Survey results are in. You said no. Doesn’t matter.

When then-Lakewood City Manager Andrew Neiditz (TNT, November 24, 2012) proposed a tax increase on Lakewood’s residents – specifically for electricity and gas utilities that would have generated an additional $350,000 annually to help balance the 2013-14 budget – Lakewood’s Mayor at the time, Doug Richardson, said “people have to heat their homes and cook their food. Given the current economic times, we didn’t think it was wise to increase that tax.”