Before every election, strips of land like the one between the BNSF tracks and Old Highway 99 are thoroughly decorated with signs. It’s a mess that must cause members of Marysville’s Arts Commission to tear their hair. Either Marysville’s City Code is a little murky on the posting of political signs or the city hasn’t found it practical to enforce or strengthen it. Whatever, the result amounts to a civic eyesore.
My pet traffic-peeves are getting out of Marysville and getting through Seattle. Planners claim that replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct with a tunnel will help relieve the Seattle issue, though at an astronomical cost. Something has to be done, as any traveler of the Viaduct will confirm. We can only hope that with the economy in a slump, the State and Feds will be able to come through with expected support.
Time was when a woman’s route to success was strewn with obstacles. It was a man’s world. When I first joined the Marysville schools in 1958, there were two female administrators, Miss Larson who served as head teacher at Getchell Elementary and Liberty’s principal, Maxine Ebert. Aside from them, every top job in Marysville’s eight schools and administrative offices was held by a man.
This isn’t about Eric’s Little Heroes on Channel 4. This is about a stratospheric level of heroism that arises from inspired service on behalf of others. It is heroism typified by selfless acts that ask no reward other than the satisfaction of looking back on good deeds well done. We desperately need heroes of that measure to show us what can and should be done.
What an odd winter it’s been for Marysville. Thanks to La Nina, we got a little of everything but warmth through February. Instead of the usual leaden gray skies dripping chill moisture we witnessed wild oscillations between brilliant blue skies and monster storm-cells thousands of feet tall.
It took three light changes for me to get across the 88th and State intersection. I had opted for that…
I walked upstairs to stand at the top of the stairway wondering, why did I come up here? Earlier, my wife had said, “What was it you were saying before I interrupted?” I had no answer because the thought was lost. Why is it that plans and purposes drift off course so often?
NASCAR told a whopper. Back when the France family, NASCAR’s owners, were angling to build a race track north of Marysville, they projected an employment boom for us. It was false and they knew it.
Too many north County store fronts are vacant. Snohomish County’s unemployment hovers at 9.4 percent, a notch below the state average 9.6 percent. Businesses and public agencies tighten belts by cutting still more jobs. Investment capital has gone into hiding, afraid of deflation and unwilling to accept meager earnings that might not match inflation. What to do?
A long standing rule for barber shop chat is to stay away from politics and religion. A friend reminded me of that when locker room banter at the Y strayed into religion. He made clear that religion, like politics, wasn’t a fit topic for discussion.
The heat surrounding School Board member Michael Kundu has critics losing sight of the underlying issue. It is as though demands for his resignation generated a great fog diverting attention from the issue he raised to the stuff he quoted. When General McChrystal was fired, the issue of war in Afghanistan stayed as clear as it was before — however clear that was.
There’s a big spill in the Gulf and BP (not Be Prepared) has not been able to quell the gusher. Wildlife habitat, a huge seafood industry and hundreds of miles of beach recreational are in peril. This worst-ever off-shore drilling disaster has CNN delivering 24/7 coverage.
I was once a proud Republican attending Marysville precinct meetings and voting like a good Republican. But that was before…
