Item After seven years of working on streams and wetlands to restore the Olympia oyster to its natural place in the ecosystem of Puget Sound, the Puget Sound Restoration Fund reports success in its replantings in numerous places, including Olympias Budd Inlet and Poulsbos Liberty Bay, plus maverick colonies showing up at the Manchester fuel depot and a saltwater swimming pool on Bainbridge Island. The once nearly extinct oysters are desirable because they are filter feeders that clean up waters where they live and remove algae that can affect eel grass beds and create low oxygen conditions. The larger Pacific oysters also are being used in select locations.
Comment Read that again. Read where it says oysters are filter feeders and then ask yourself whats the matter with Hood Canal? Isnt it time we acknowledged that one of the primary causes of the transformation of the Canal and part of the Sound into a Dead Sea is the over-harvesting of sea critters that are indispensable to the ecological balance? And it isnt only here. The U.S. has called for a ban on unregulated bottom trawling on the high seas which is devastating fish stocks and habitats by tearing up ocean floors. We also need to ban or reduce fishing for sea cucumbers, sea urchins and the like until we determine their role in maintaining the health of the marine environment.
Item A study of childrens reaction to smoke alarms reveals that kids in deep sleep awoke the best to recordings of their mothers voice ordering them out of bed rather than to the beeping of smoke alarms.
Comment Apparently fathers were left out of this study, maybe because there are so many hat in the closet fathers whose voices wouldnt be recognizable calling kids names. Bill Cosby used to say he thought for many years that his name was Jesus Christ because his father would say, Jesus Christ! Cant you do anything right? His brother Russell thought his name was Damnit because the father addressed him as Damnit, you dont behave any better than your brother.
Item As Washington State University prepares to hire a replacement for its retiring president V. Lane Rawlins, theyre calculating how much more theyll have to pay for his successor. Rawlins is earning $514,450 for this school year, including nearly $200,000 in bonuses and the use of a home and a car. Hes one of the best paid public university prexies in the U.S. Nationwide, administrative salaries rose 29 percent in ten years as universities have more expectations of their presidents, who are charged with fund raising, lobbying and public leadership.
Comment Thats what were paying them for? Any Salvation Army Santa Claus can do that. And here I thought college presidents were supposed to oversee the job done by the faculty and the well being of the students. No wonder private industry complains about the product turned out by the universities. The head teacher is too busy panhandling to mind the store.
Item Oct. 7 was International Newspaper Carrier Day and newspaper owners and workers urge you to thank the hard-to-see people who bring you yours each day.
Comment It isnt too late to acknowledge these folks who have to get up in the middle of the night to bring your paper. Id like to thank my carrier for the times she brought my dog home off the road until I was prodded into having a fence built. And for providing written warnings to all her customers when there was a rash of vandalism to houses and cars on her beat. Nobody appreciates the carriers as much as those of us who write for the newspapers and rely on them to distribute our work. Bless you all.

Adele Ferguson can be reached at P.O. Box 69, Hansville, WA, 98340.