Many folks view educational and training opportunities for those incarcerated as undeserved and incompatible with the desire to punish those who offend us. Offenders are sent to prison as punishment, not to be punished. Our treatment of those incarcerated has a direct impact on their success when released.
Thank you, thank you, Bob Graef, for doing the research and taking the time to add some of the missing tales of truth as to our own countrys wrong doing around the globe. I hope this can be an eye opener to those folks who persist in seeing us as the great and shining city on the hill full of mighty saints who can lead the whole world in the path of righteousness.
I visited your town of Arlington Saturday, Dec. 2, for your annual bake sale to raise money for the town gazebo and had a wonderful day.
Betty Sehlke, a member of the Silvana Community Association, asked if we knew how to help a friend and neighbor who were being fined for not clearing his property of debris.
The Three Strikes law that voters passed in 1993 did not include second-degree robbery on its original list. It was added later.
The campaign for a new County Sheriff is on and it is important to take a close look at the men running and to consider your vote carefully. The new sheriff will be with us for many years and will play a critical role in all of ours lives. Keeping Snohomish County citizens and families safe as we welcome so many new people into the area in the coming years will be a real challenge and we want to elect the best of the best.
In response to the Heralds article on Dec. 11 and John Kosters Letter to the Editor, Put Emotions Aside, on Dec. 20, I would like to add this.
State Representative John Lovick (44th District) is proposing legislation (HB 1001) to help reduce auto theft in this state. It is well thought out and deserves serious consideration during the upcoming legislative session.
In my weekly reading of the Arlington Times I came across an editorial about a chicken who got picked up by a woman studying language in Russia. The woman was hungry, and the chicken was friendly, so she picked it up and took it home to her apartment. Once home, she and her roommate proceeded to try to kill the chicken, starting with drowning, then twisting its neck, then slowly sawing its head off. While this story was obviously meant to be an endearing Christmas story, I found it to be quite telling of our lack of consciousness and downright cruelty to our fellow beings.
Before the 2007 Stilly Valley Girls Major Fast Pitch All Star team rides off into the sunset, and the proverbial The End is stamped to the bottom of our epic adventure, the girls and I would like to express our appreciation and thank everyone for their support over the last two months. We had an outstanding run, capturing the District 1 Championship, the Washington State Championship and taking 3rd Place in the Western Regional Tournament. Though the girls from Stilly Valley did not make it to the World Series, 5, 10 even 15 years from now, they will know that not only were they the first girls major team from Arlington and Lakewood to go as far as they did, but that in 2007 the Dream Team can proudly claim they were one of the top 15 teams in the U.S. for Little League Girls Major Softball.
About two and a half years ago I was a walk on at the Glen Eagle golf course in Arlington. As it turns out, Rob Beidler was a walk on. We had never met before but teamed up and played 18 as a twosome. Our conversation during the game turned to his pending campaign for Snohomish County sheriff.
If you were hiring someone to run a company wouldnt you hire the person with the most background and experience, someone with a passion to serve and do the best for your company and make the hard decisions? A person with vision and a plan to do the most with the budget that can possibly be done? A person that knows the business from bottom to top and has years of experience and knowledge? A person of the greatest integrity, honesty and one who truly cares? If you were hiring a police chief, would you want someone who had years of experience in all phases of Law Enforcement from the bottom to the top? A person who is highly respected and admired by his or her peers, whose honesty and integrity are impeccable and who cares deeply about the safety of those he would serve? If you said yes to either of the above situations then you need to vote for Tom Greene as your next Sheriff. His competitors cannot come close to Toms qualifications or experience. Go to his Web site and read his biography and see who is supporting him, read about his life, what he stands for and you will also see his passion to serve you as your next Sheriff. It only takes a moment for such a critical decision. http://www.greeneforsheriff.org .
Several years ago, Smokey Point citizens and business owners were very concerned when they discovered that funding for the planned I-5 Exit 206 (172nd Street NE) interchange improvements had been redirected to other parts of the county. This concern led to the creation of TRAP (Marysville-Arlington Transportation Relief Action Plan). As history has now recorded, trap sprung into action and with bi-partisan support from our local elected leaders and citizens, met with WSDOT officials and devised an affordable solution. We then acquired funding to get the existing bridge widened from two lanes to six lanes. This completed improvement has allowed our community to grow and prosper.
