On Tuesday, March 12, 2013, during the course of six-and-a-half hours, I was transformed three times.  The first metamorphosis occurred the moment I stepped out onto the road at 7:30 that morning.  My attire was not unusual for a cool, rainy morning on the far end of winter:  all in black with turtle neck pulled up, cap on and hood over the top.   I’m not a native Washingtonian but I am an avid pedestrian, so I tend to dress warmer and dryer than most.  And when rain seems likely, I carry an umbrella.  Not some 15-inch compact, mind you, but sleek, black and almost a meter long.  When opened the canopy presents a large, squared octagon, rather than the typical pinwheel circle, suspended on fiberglass composite.   I love this umbrella.  I bought it for twenty bucks and it’s lasted for almost four years.  That’s a personal record, by far.  I’ve even given it a name:  "Cloud Chaser."  My favorite trick involves balancing it on the very tip of my finger, while opened, in the rain.  I hold it up high and dance with the downward wind.  Cloud Chaser spins and reels as if drunk in the pleasure of being a conduit between Heaven and Earth.  Other times, when the chemtrails have yet to take full effect, I raise it like a staff against the gathering clouds, rebuking them sharply.   At 7:30 am on March 12, when I left home, Cloud Chaser was tucked into its case and under my arm.  As I walked down Quince Street a teen drove past.  Upon her seeing me, I was immediately changed into a silhouette, a two-dimensional caricature against a predefined form.  Today, I realize how often this occurs.  We could not have “types” of people without profiles to quickly alert us to their presence.  Certainly, the media spends millions reinforcing myths about body types.  Consumers and investors spend billions seeing to it that they do.  We are trained to judge each other and ourselves as quickly as possible based almost exclusively on appearance.  Our silent acceptance of this status quo is the means by which we forfeit our humanity and are transmuted into paper dolls. Each of us has a catalog in our mind, by which we can choose to compare our index of profiles against the one being presented to us by an unknown person.  This is the basis of prejudice.  We don’t mind prejudice when people are predisposed to like us.  Unfortunately, we also carry our ideas of what a “violent” person looks like.  The young girl who drove past me had her's.  Tall.  Sometimes White.  Sometimes Black.  Male.  Dressed in black.  The image is so ubiquitous.  In the brief opportunity she had to decide what she saw, the profile matched and my second transformation began.   Magically, my hood, cap and turtleneck became a ski mask.  Cloud Chaser, my beloved umbrella, turned into the most unspeakably hideous instrument of death:  an assault rifle.  This didn’t happen out of malice.  It happened out of necessity.  Some voice in the life of this young lady compels her to believe she must be ever watchful for violent people.  This belief engenders fear, bypassing critical thought and creating a psychological need for immediate response when the profile of a violent person is encountered. The judgment of this girl does not offend me.  She did nothing worse than most people are capable of while under their own prejudicial delusions.  Just read the comments that have been posted surrounding the articles written about this incident.  The violence I see there is unbridled and unashamed.  Is there even such a thing as a person who isn’t violent?  I wonder. Meanwhile, by the time I arrived on the West Side near Capital Medical Center, all Hell had broken loose in my neighborhood.  As it happened, busloads of children were en route to Roosevelt Elementary and Reeves Middle School, both within walking distance of my house.  Given the recent horrors at Sandy Hook, swift and dramatic measures were taken.  Neighbors who normally shuttle carloads of kids to school received frantic texts from other parents about the lockdowns, leaving them unsure of what to do.  Some parents claim they were told an armed man had broken into Roosevelt the night before.  No such break-in occurred.  Outside the security of the schools, families were disoriented and afraid.  This has been called a “successful training exercise.”  Training for what?  Are we more prepared today to face the real issues of violence in our community?   I am not an anarchist, as some have suggested.  I see the value of government and of law enforcement agencies.  My concern is that if we continue to allow the police to be our only answer to violence, we will lose the fight.  The use of force may prevent an act of violence but does little to address the underlying motives.  And as law enforcement responses escalate, the fear that keeps us from claiming our streets will only grow stronger. Reconciliation, the peaceful union of formerly divided parties, serves as perhaps the most potent weapon against violence.  Many perpetrators of violent crime act out of a false identity that isolates them from the rest of society.  Sadly, we tend to reciprocate.  I suspect that we incarcerate criminals and the insane (and the elderly and homeless) not so much from a sense of duty to Justice as by a desire to put the brokenness and pain in these people’s lives out of our view.  Could this willing ignorance of real violence explain the American preoccupation with grotesquely violent, often abusive entertainment?  As I searched my own soul, a penitent “yes” responded. So began my third metamorphosis.  The events of March 12, 2013 have given me considerable cause for reflection.  For instance, I can’t deny that I dress in a paramilitary style, precisely because of my uneasiness with the veil of terror that blinds us to all but self-preservation.  It’s how I deal with the isolation that is part of the tension between who I am and who I am expected to be. Although I haven’t decided to dress much differently, I do see how I can be clearer about my intentions and friendlier in my disposition.  It may not be as much fun as total autonomy but it is much safer (especially for me). As a Christian, I believe that only radical, compassionate love can drive fear from the throne of my heart, where violence begins.  If I am willing to allow my thoughts, opinions and motives to be examined, I can see how even an open threat could be an invitation to peace.  Michael Di Marzo is 42, works in a bed and breakfast, and has lived in Oly for almost ten years. "Having loved my living experience in the Northeast Neighborhood, I will be moving back downtown at the end of the month."        Michael Di Marzo

 

On Tuesday, March 12, 2013, during the course of six-and-a-half hours, I was transformed three times.  The first metamorphosis occurred the moment I stepped out onto the road at 7:30 that morning.  My attire was not unusual for a cool, rainy morning on the far end of winter:  all in black with turtle neck pulled up, cap on and hood over the top.   I’m not a native Washingtonian but I am an avid pedestrian, so I tend to dress warmer and dryer than most.  And when rain seems likely, I carry an umbrella.  Not some 15-inch compact, mind you, but sleek, black and almost a meter long.  When opened the canopy presents a large, squared octagon, rather than the typical pinwheel circle, suspended on fiberglass composite.   I love this umbrella.  I bought it for twenty bucks and it’s lasted for almost four years.  That’s a personal record, by far.  I’ve even given it a name:  "Cloud Chaser."  My favorite trick involves balancing it on the very tip of my finger, while opened, in the rain.  I hold it up high and dance with the downward wind.  Cloud Chaser spins and reels as if drunk in the pleasure of being a conduit between Heaven and Earth.  Other times, when the chemtrails have yet to take full effect, I raise it like a staff against the gathering clouds, rebuking them sharply.   At 7:30 am on March 12, when I left home, Cloud Chaser was tucked into its case and under my arm.  As I walked down Quince Street a teen drove past.  Upon her seeing me, I was immediately changed into a silhouette, a two-dimensional caricature against a predefined form.  Today, I realize how often this occurs.  We could not have “types” of people without profiles to quickly alert us to their presence.  Certainly, the media spends millions reinforcing myths about body types.  Consumers and investors spend billions seeing to it that they do.  We are trained to judge each other and ourselves as quickly as possible based almost exclusively on appearance.  Our silent acceptance of this status quo is the means by which we forfeit our humanity and are transmuted into paper dolls. Each of us has a catalog in our mind, by which we can choose to compare our index of profiles against the one being presented to us by an unknown person.  This is the basis of prejudice.  We don’t mind prejudice when people are predisposed to like us.  Unfortunately, we also carry our ideas of what a “violent” person looks like.  The young girl who drove past me had her's.  Tall.  Sometimes White.  Sometimes Black.  Male.  Dressed in black.  The image is so ubiquitous.  In the brief opportunity she had to decide what she saw, the profile matched and my second transformation began.   Magically, my hood, cap and turtleneck became a ski mask.  Cloud Chaser, my beloved umbrella, turned into the most unspeakably hideous instrument of death:  an assault rifle.  This didn’t happen out of malice.  It happened out of necessity.  Some voice in the life of this young lady compels her to believe she must be ever watchful for violent people.  This belief engenders fear, bypassing critical thought and creating a psychological need for immediate response when the profile of a violent person is encountered. The judgment of this girl does not offend me.  She did nothing worse than most people are capable of while under their own prejudicial delusions.  Just read the comments that have been posted surrounding the articles written about this incident.  The violence I see there is unbridled and unashamed.  Is there even such a thing as a person who isn’t violent?  I wonder. Meanwhile, by the time I arrived on the West Side near Capital Medical Center, all Hell had broken loose in my neighborhood.  As it happened, busloads of children were en route to Roosevelt Elementary and Reeves Middle School, both within walking distance of my house.  Given the recent horrors at Sandy Hook, swift and dramatic measures were taken.  Neighbors who normally shuttle carloads of kids to school received frantic texts from other parents about the lockdowns, leaving them unsure of what to do.  Some parents claim they were told an armed man had broken into Roosevelt the night before.  No such break-in occurred.  Outside the security of the schools, families were disoriented and afraid.  This has been called a “successful training exercise.”  Training for what?  Are we more prepared today to face the real issues of violence in our community?   I am not an anarchist, as some have suggested.  I see the value of government and of law enforcement agencies.  My concern is that if we continue to allow the police to be our only answer to violence, we will lose the fight.  The use of force may prevent an act of violence but does little to address the underlying motives.  And as law enforcement responses escalate, the fear that keeps us from claiming our streets will only grow stronger. Reconciliation, the peaceful union of formerly divided parties, serves as perhaps the most potent weapon against violence.  Many perpetrators of violent crime act out of a false identity that isolates them from the rest of society.  Sadly, we tend to reciprocate.  I suspect that we incarcerate criminals and the insane (and the elderly and homeless) not so much from a sense of duty to Justice as by a desire to put the brokenness and pain in these people’s lives out of our view.  Could this willing ignorance of real violence explain the American preoccupation with grotesquely violent, often abusive entertainment?  As I searched my own soul, a penitent “yes” responded. So began my third metamorphosis.  The events of March 12, 2013 have given me considerable cause for reflection.  For instance, I can’t deny that I dress in a paramilitary style, precisely because of my uneasiness with the veil of terror that blinds us to all but self-preservation.  It’s how I deal with the isolation that is part of the tension between who I am and who I am expected to be. Although I haven’t decided to dress much differently, I do see how I can be clearer about my intentions and friendlier in my disposition.  It may not be as much fun as total autonomy but it is much safer (especially for me). As a Christian, I believe that only radical, compassionate love can drive fear from the throne of my heart, where violence begins.  If I am willing to allow my thoughts, opinions and motives to be examined, I can see how even an open threat could be an invitation to peace.  Michael Di Marzo is 42, works in a bed and breakfast, and has lived in Oly for almost ten years. "Having loved my living experience in the Northeast Neighborhood, I will be moving back downtown at the end of the month."        Michael Di Marzo

 

An interview with Thomas Herndon, author of the “economic term paper heard ‘round the world” 

Matson: On April 15, Thomas Herndon, a former Evergreener, released a paper critiquing Reinhart-Rogoff, which is perhaps the most influential economic analysis of the last few years. It was immediately clear why this was a very big deal: Thomas found huge errors in the key paper in the intellectual edifice behind austerity. Within days, newspapers and magazines around the world were covering the story of the “Grad Student Who Shook The Global Austerity Movement,” to quote the New York Magazine headline, and Thomas appeared on CNN and the Colbert Report.  A quick bit of context: Reinhart and Rogoff are Harvard professors who put out a paper in 2010 making the case that if countries’ public debt exceeds 90% of GDP, average growth in those economies drops close to zero. This paper was used by the global austerity movement to help push for immediate cuts to spending, which have since been instituted here and around the world, most sharply in Europe. The human consequences of these austerity measures have been dreadful—just last week reports emerged out of Greece of children going hungry. Needless to say, the policies haven’t succeeded at restoring the economies or balance-sheets either, instead they’ve caused a depression-level disaster. Then mid-April Thomas Herndon and his colleagues at UMass Amherst released their “epic wonk takedown,” showing that Rogoff and Reinhart made serious mistakes. Once corrected, the data shows no such drop-off of growth at the claimed 90% debt threshold. Thomas joins us now for an interview with Works In Progress, with questions from myself and Peter Bohmer, Thomas’s mentor at Evergreen. Matson: I think it makes a lot of sense that this discovery, as simple as it was, was made first by you, a radical from Evergreen at radical UMass, and it wasn’t made by the thousands of economists out there at other more orthodox schools. Do you see anything in your background, Evergreen or UMass or elsewhere, that gave you the skepticism and persistence to make this happen?  Thomas: I’ve always been skeptical, and I will say within the profession there were a lot of critiques out there, they just weren’t taken seriously before this “emperor has no clothes” moment. And no one was able to find these errors because Reinhart and Rogoff wouldn’t share their spreadsheet with anybody. People had been asking for it for years, and those people were also from a critical background as well. Certainly my skepticism is influenced by my knowledge of the history of austerity policies and the pain they inflict on people.  I think the most important thing I got from Evergreen that helped me with this project, besides being critical of capitalism, was the ability to read through text line-by-line, like we always did in seminar. It was that word-by-word, paying close attention to details, those were the practical things that I used for this. And as for being critical, Evergreen helped give me the confidence to think that the big, really highly prominent economists could be wrong. Matson: Before we get back to Evergreen, you mentioned that Reinhart and Rogoff weren’t sharing their spreadsheets. What is with economists hiding their data like this, and do we have any prospect of this kind of behavior ending someday? Thomas: I don’t think I would really describe it as hiding data. They did make their debt/GDP series available to the public, but they didn’t make their actual spreadsheet available, where all the data was put together. Dean Baker even requested it publicly, and never received it. Part of this  was because it wasn’t in a peer-reviewed edition of the American Economic Review, but you’re also right that the professional standards for releasing data aren’t entirely consistent. There have been a few attempts at making replication easier. I think we are moving, hopefully, to a place where replication is important, more like the other sciences. It’s hard for me to predict the future, whether the profession will adopt those sort of norms, but I think it is kind of moving in that direction, albeit slowly, and hopefully this will make it move there a little bit quicker. Peter: How did your opposition to neoliberalism influence your decision to examine the article? Thomas: I would just say broadly that my knowledge of the pain austerity policies inflicted on populations across the world made me critical of austerity policies, because I had studied their human effects. That inspired me to look at the study more critically. Peter: Why do you think there is so much support of austerity, from political and economic elites, and how can activists and intellectuals challenge this dogma? Thomas: I have my own suspicions, but I don’t have any evidence where I can make a strong claim about that. About what folks can do, critical research helps, people working in their communities to get the message out about why austerity isn’t good, that whole tradition of grassroots community organizing—that’s how folks can stop this. That’s how we’ve made the great changes in the past. That’s how we’re going to continue to make the great changes in the future. Matson: I noticed in Reinhart and Rogoff’s reply to your paper, they admit their Excel mistake, but they say that you’re actually confirming their point. Thomas: That’s wholly not our interpretation. That is not at all how we see our results. I wrote about this a little bit more in depth in my blog post for Business Insider. Reinhart and Rogoff don’t really talk about the second half of our paper, where we show that their claim that growth falls off noticeably once debt goes above 90% isn’t actually statistically significant, so that doesn’t confirm their claim. Also one of their claims was that this 90% threshold exists for all time and place in history— you know that’s why they did their two centuries of data— that’s also not true, because the negative correlation between debt and growth actually reduces the closer to the present you get. So if you look at the most recent period, 2000-2009, the countries with a debt-to-GDP ratio over 90% actually have higher growth than countries with debt-to-GDP ratio below 90%. Matson: I’m really curious personally, why did Reinhart and Rogoff share their data with you and not the other scholars who asked for it? Were they expecting some repercussions for not sharing? Did they underestimate you and the UMass team? Thomas: I have no idea. If you could ask them that, that’s been baffling me as well. They just ignored my first couple of emails and I finally said I was going to publish my results anyway. I couldn’t speculate why they did what they did; I’ve wanted to know the answer to that mystery since last semester. Matson: Can you paint the contrast between your normal grad student life and this last week of you know, Colbert, CNN and all the rest of that? What’s a normal week like for you? Thomas: A normal week for me, is more or less working from the time I wake up to the time I go to sleep on my work. Whether it’s the chapter I owe Jerry Epstein [his professor], I have problem sets, I have a microeconomics final coming up, time-series econometrics takes a lot of time, that’s the general life. The last week, sure I’ve been working from the time I wake up ‘til the time I go to sleep, but I haven’t done any of my homework, so I really need to get back to that. Losing a week-and-a-half or two weeks is a little bit more than I can do.  Peter: Why are you studying economics? What do you hope to do with your learning, beyond this? Thomas: I study economics because economic policies affect people the world over. They’re incredibly important and they affect so many facets of people’s lives, and I hope that I can make a contribution to make economic policies focus on human development, because I think, the whole point of economic policies or an economic system in general, should be to provide material support to people so that they can develop and grow as human beings. And I think a lot of times, that human side of economic policies, you know the profession doesn’t look at it from that perspective. It affects folks’ lives and the communities that I’m a part of and care deeply about and communities across the world. So that’s what motivates me to do what I do. Matson: Before you go, one last question: do you have any more to say about your time at Evergreen and what that did for you?  Thomas: It’s hard for me to find the words, how transformational my time at Evergreen was and how huge an effect that had on me. Evergreen was where I really made the choice to be an economist because I saw the effect of all these things, and Pete’s class had a huge effect on me in that regard. Working in that class and seeing those folks really helped me make the decision about what I wanted to do with my life. It also gave me the tools that I needed to go out and do it. I was able to find this error because of the attention to detail that I paid to text, and I think Evergreen bar-none is the best place to learn that at. Seminars taught me how to do that because I had to memorize the readings in order to go into seminar and function. You had to know where every passage in the reading was. Evergreen also gave me that human orientation as well, to really ask, how do these policies affect real people’s lives? And it gave me a critical grounding in a lot of different readings, a really good sense of history as well. That was also important for this project: I know a lot of the history of austerity, public borrowing and recession—Evergreen gave me the tools to look at that history in depth. It also gave me that focus on being embedded in communities and working with communities to look at and solve the problems that are affecting them. Those sort of things, you know I really can’t speak highly enough of my time at Evergreen. It was the best place I could have been and I got so much from it. I really want to thank all the folks I worked with and my fellow students. Evergreen showed me a lot of ways things could be done better.  Matson Boyd is a long-time Evergreener who will be joining Thomas Herndon in the Economics PhD program at UMass Amherst in the Fall. Peter Bohmer is an activist and long-time Evergreen faculty member, and received his economics PhD at UMass Amherst. Matson Boyd/Peter Bohmer

Did you know that PSE is currently trying to slam a 6% rate increase through the UTC without public or professional input/comment?

Give your opinion at the open meeting on Thursday, May 16th, 6:00 pm in the Richard Hemstad Building (1300 S Evergreen Park Dr SW, Olympia).

PSE proceedings before the WUTC

Before the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (WUTC), there are three different PSE cases, composed of five different “dockets” that have been consolidated into one proceeding.

First, there is the TransAlta proceeding, Docket UE-121373. Puget Sound Energy (PSE) agreed to buy power from the TransAlta coal power plant in Centralia through 2025.  This is allowed by the legislation crammed through by PSE and TransAlta, with help from Sierra Club and NW Energy Coalition.  The theory was that this would lead to the closing of the coal plant.  Not so as discussed below.

Second, there is the “decoupling” proceeding, Dockets UE-121697 (electric) and UG-121705 (gas).  These would create a mechanism by which PSE would be assured of a defined amount of revenue regardless of power sales.  It is intended to make the company more receptive to energy conservation and customer installation of solar (both of which cause sales to go down). 

Third, there is the “expedited rate filing” or “attrition” proceeding, Dockets UE-130137 and UG-130138.  This would allow Puget to raise rates once a year with a very short review process to account for inflation in labor and specific improvements made to its system, rather than going through the full year-long rate case process.

Each of these three cases is controversial on a stand-alone basis.  The “multiparty proposal” now before the WUTC combines them into a guano stew.

TransAlta Coal Plant

PSE agreed to buy 380 megawatts (MW) of power at a fixed price from the TransAlta coal plant in Centralia.  Under the legislation, PSE is entitled to a “profit” on this, even though purchased power is normally flowed through at cost.   Utilities earn a profit on their investment in “plants” like poles, wires, transformers, and power plants.  Not on their “operating expenses” like labor, fuel, or purchased power.

The TransAlta contract is controversial for many reasons:

First, many believe that if the legislation had not passed, TransAlta would have shut it down by now, and the legislation is keeping it alive. 

Second, PSE has no ability to “turn the plant down” to save fuel when there is lots of hydro or wind power; it pays a fixed price 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. 

Third, TransAlta does have the option to turn it down when it can buy power cheaper.  So, when spring runoff occurs, TransAlta can buy cheap power and re-sell it to PSE at the higher contract price.  Without this contract, PSE could buy the cheap power and would be required to share the savings with customers under their “power cost adjustment” mechanism.

Finally, it’s a contract for “coal transition power.”  Many of us want PSE to stop buying coal power.

PSE filed this contract for approval last fall.  The WUTC eventually approved it, but gave PSE only about half of the “bonus” profit it wanted.  PSE filed for “reconsideration” and has been trying to politically influence the WUTC. 

Decoupling

The decoupling case is an effort by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NDRC) to change how utility rates are set in order to reduce utility incentives to sell more power.  NRDC is a member of the NW Energy Coalition, and the NRDC Energy Project Co-Director is the witness in this case.

Normally, utility rates are set in a rate case, allowing recovery of the utility’s operating expenses plus a return on its capital investment.  This sum, called the “revenue requirement” is divided by the sales to calculate the rate.  The rate stays constant until the WUTC changes it.  But if sales go up, the utility gets more revenue (and, normally, more profit).  If sales go down, revenues decline.  This makes utilities resistant to energy conservation and customer renewables. 

Decoupling changes the formula.  The Commission would set an allowed “revenue per customer” level for PSE.  Each month, as the number of customers goes up, the allowed revenue would increase. Once a year, they would compare the “allowed” revenue to the “actual” revenue, and allow PSE to surcharge (or credit) the difference, depending on whether sales had been higher or lower.  This removes the sales incentive.  It still leaves a cost control incentive, because if PSE can reduce expenses (like, maybe, pay their executives less money, or gut their employee health insurance) then PSE would make more profit. 

PSE originally objected to decoupling, because they said that their costs were rising, and the only way to keep their profits solid was to either file rate cases every year or increase sales.  They literally testified that increased sales for electric vehicle charging was an important part of their business plan, and decoupling would take away that opportunity to increase their revenues.

PSE originally filed an approach to decoupling that solved their problem, but it created different problems.  Eventually they settled on the current proposal, that lets the “revenue per customer” rise at 3%/year (electric) and 2.2%/year (gas).  These are based on historical trends in their rates.

Attrition

PSE proposed an expedited rate filing mechanism, better known as an Attrition Adjustment, which would let them raise rates in a simpler fashion than a rate case. The general idea is that some costs are going up, and everybody knows they are going up, so why should they have go through a long complicated rate case to get the money? The opposition position is that some costs are going down, and these should be offset against those that are going up. 

“The Deal”

The multiparty proposal of PSE, Commission Staff, and NW Energy Coalition is to roll these together.

PSE drops its request for reconsideration of the TransAlta decision, and accepts half as much bonus as they asked for.

The decoupling mechanism is approved, with a built in 3% per year increase for electricity (6% this year, then 3% a year after that).

Because they are getting 3% per year, PSE drops its request for a separate attrition mechanism.

What’s Wrong With This?

The TransAlta deal is wrong!  PSE should be moving toward supplying Washington ratepayers with renewable energy. Instead, they are more dependent on coal.  Further, the agreement with the Governor to close the plant in 2025 is only “triggered” if TransAlta signs 500 MW of long-term contracts, and the PSE contract is only for 380 MW.  If there are no more contracts, then TransAlta is under no obligation to close the plant. Keeping PSE from stopping the plant when cheaper power is available means TransAlta gets more profit, ratepayers pay more cost, and Puget gets a bonus profit without a corresponding profit.

The decoupling deal is OK, but the 3%/year (electric) and 2.2%/year (gas) rate increases means rates will go up every year with no detailed review of whether it is justified. 

It’s a stew of coal and assorted guano that tastes just as bad combined as the separate ingredients do individually.

Who are the Players?

PSE is a private utility that makes profit for its Australian shareholder, Macquarie Infrastructure Partners, Inc.

WUTC Staff is the analytical part of the agency.  It is separate from the Commissioners, who are the judicial part.  There is very limited interaction between them when a “case” is being put together.

NW Energy Coalition is made up of over 100 public interest, environmental, low-income advocacy, labor, clean energy business, and utilities that work together implementing a clean energy agenda.  In this case, they are being led along by one of their members, the Natural Resources Defense Council.  Their membership has not endorsed their position in this case.

Public Counsel is a branch of the Attorney General’s office that represents the public.  They have opposed the TransAlta contract (mostly on cost to ratepayer grounds), are skeptical of decoupling, and oppose attrition adjustments that only consider things that are going up in cost without analyzing everything to see what is going down.

Industrial Customers of NW Utilities and NW Industrial Gas Users represent Boeing, Weyerhaeuser, and the like.  They have are opposed to all three proposals.

Kroger is QFC and Fred Meyer grocery chains.  They are lightly involved.

Energy Project is a group that represents low-income ratepayers.  They are skeptical of all three parts of this.

What Should People Say?

The TransAlta deal costs too much.  PSE has to pay the coal power price even when cheaper power is available from hydro and wind.  Ratepayers pay more, and PSE and TransAlta shareholders get the money. 

There is no guarantee the TransAlta plant will shut down, and without that guarantee, the entire basis of the legislation is being evaded.

The TransAlta deal makes PSE more dependent on coal.  They should be investing in wind, solar, geothermal, tidal power, wave power, and energy efficiency instead.

A 3% rate increase per year is unjustified.  In 2012, PSE earned more than its allowed return, sharply up from 2011.  The big reason is that the cost of borrowing has come down, PSE has refinanced a lot of its debt at lower interest rates, and that brings costs down.  The 3% annual increase does not consider this.

It was all negotiated in secret.  The WUTC should NOT allow its staff to have secret meetings with PSE.  The public should be allowed to participate.

It’s being rushed through the approval process. The WUTC needs to really examine the underlying basis for the proposed 3% per year increases, independent of the TransAlta and decoupling pieces. 
They are cramming it down in a very quick proceeding, without giving Public Counsel and the industrial customers time for adequate analysis by experts who can then testify in front of the UTC.

We must bring sunshine to these backroom dealings.  Attend the May 16 public comment meeting at 6 pm at the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission offices: Richard Hemstad Building, 1300 S Evergreen Park Drive SW, Olympia.  Tell the UTC what you think about their secret negotiations and this outrageous “deal”.

John Pearce is a founding member and current Chair of Thurston Public Power Initiative.

Compiled from various sources by John D. Pearce.  © 2013, All Rights Reserved

 

  John Pearce et al

Lori Goldston and Danny Sasaki, performing together in a cello-percussion-duo-of-magic…
http://www.lorigoldston.com/
http://dannysasaki.tumblr.com/

Lisa Schonberg, drummer of your dreams
http://www.lisaschonberg.com/

Films by Vanessa Renwick, founder and janitor of the Oregon Department of Kick Ass
http://www.odoka.org/

ThurstonTalk

 

By Mary Ellen Psaltis

Maggie Velasco-Lucero (left) began Jalisco Tortillas fifteen years ago. The family business has now grown to include her daughter Erica Lucero (right) and other family members.

At the same moment my husband was stepping off a plane in Cabo San Jose, Mexico, I was heading up Highway 101 towards Shelton. The Olympics were dazzling in the sunshine. My destination was Jalisco Tortilla Factory in the heart of Shelton. The storefront is modest by all respects, but that’s perfect, because it is actually part of the factory where tortillas are rolling off the press only a few feet away. Bags of freshly cooked chips are piling up. Maggie’s salsas are in the fridge. Why go to Mexico at all?

Almost fifteen years ago, Maggie Velasco-Lucero had a dream – serve her community by making tortillas for everyone. Ever since that is exactly what she has been doing. Now her whole family is enrolled in the business including partner Eddie Lucero and three children, Mark Velasco, Erica Lucero and Jessie Lucero.

Jalisco Tortilla Factory is a family business with a big heart. At the center is Maggie. She is joyful and happy to be at work. You might never know she is sight challenged unless you catch her reading paperwork with a large magnifying glass. It was in part her diabetes that created the need to make their products more healthful.

She goes to work because she loves her job. She told me that their business may be “small, but it keeps us busy.” That might be an understatement.

The business began with tortillas. It has expanded over time to include red and green salsas made with Maggie’s recipes. Shoppers find the red salsa in three heat levels – mild, medium and hot. The green salsa is usually medium, but if you love that extra hot, you can call the store for a special batch packed with heat.

Jalisco makes both flour and corn tortillas along with bags of fresh chips, which are essentially fried tortillas, but they are thinner.

I brought home both red and green salsas – the best of both worlds. The tomatillo base of the green salsa is an appealing taste for me, but I do like the red, too. I especially like pico de gallo, which is a fresh chop of jalapenos, onions, tomatoes, and cilantro. And, maybe a splash of lime juice and shake of garlic and salt.

As Velasco-Lucero says, “Tortillas go with everything.” She’s right. Tortillas are mainstream cooking these days and for good reasons.

Here are few of them:

• Breakfast: Scramble up anything and everything: eggs, cheese, vegetables, chorizo, and roll up into warm tortillas.
• Stale tortillas are reincarnated to chilaquiles, a saucy mixture of broken tortillas, salsa and cheese. Often eggs or chicken are added.
• Lunch and Dinner:  Turn tortillas into enchiladas, taco salads, burritos, or taquitos. Tortillas can be grilled or fried or nuked.
• Tortillas are handy rollups for your leftovers any time of day.
• Then there’s snacking: Quesadillas are flour tortillas with melted cheese. But you can add anything you want. The Internet overflows with ideas for tortillas.

And, you don’t need a recipe for chips! Undo the bag tie and pour into a bowl. I took a ripe avocado, cut it in half and sliced it up and down and across in the flesh. A quick scoop with the spoon filled a small bowl. I added both Maggie’s red and green salsas, sprinkled on some big-grained salt, mixed and loved every bite.

You can find Jalisco Tortilla Factory chips, tortillas and Maggie’s salsas locally at Bayview and Ralph’s Thriftway.

Their Shelton storefront also carries 12” and 14” tortillas, canned good, bulk spices, chilies and corn husks.

Sunday may be Cinco de Mayo – certainly more an American holiday than a Mexican celebration – but any day the sun is out in Thurston County is a day of celebration.

Grab your bag of chips, pop open your freshly made salsa and soak it all in. It may not be as warm as Cabo, but it cheers my heart the same.

Eat Well – Be Well.

 

____________________________________________________________________________ “I do think the idea that basic cooking skills are a virtue, that the ability to feed yourself and a few others with proficiency should be taught to every young man and woman as a fundamental skill, should become as vital to growing up as learning to wipe one’s own ass, cross the street […]

ThurstonTalk

 

Submitted by Mary Jo Buza of Gardens by Design

Dryopteris Autumn Brilliance

Ferns bring up images of shady cool woodlands with a slow trickling stream. Many ferns thrive in a cool moist woodland habitat. But, not all ferns need shade. The native sword fern (Polystichum munitum) for example, grows in the sun as well as the shade. Its relative the rock fern (Polystichum scopulinum) can be found growing in sun baked rocky slopes high in the mountains. These fragile looking beauties are tougher than most gardeners realize.

Ferns bring a graceful simplicity to the garden. To add texture to your garden, plant ferns around evergreen shrubs like rhododendrons, skimma, and sarcococca. Ferns are also great companion plants for shade loving perennials such as hosta, columbine, and hellebore. If you have a large conifer trees like Western Red Cedar or Douglas Fir with nothing growing around them try planting a few sword ferns. They tolerate the dry soils found below these large conifer trees.

Planting Ferns

Most ferns will benefit from adding organic matter such as manure or compost to the existing soil. I generally recommend anywhere from four to six inches of organic matter depending on the soil and the site. To prepare the soil for ferns, loosen the existing soil to a depth of six to eight inches. Then add the organic matter and blend the existing soil and the organic matter together. I suggest this process because soils in the South Sound region are typically low in organic matter. Organic matter is an essential component to for growing healthy plants. Be careful not to over fertilize your ferns at planting. They prefer a slow release natural fertilizer.

Maintaining Ferns

If you desire a low maintenance plant, ferns are a good choice. Ferns don’t need to be staked, or pinched and rarely do ferns have disease or insect problems. Ferns require only an occasional pruning to remove the dead fronds. Ferns do benefit from mulch. A mulch is any material used to cover and protect the soil. The most common materials used for mulch include compost, wood chips, or bark. Mulch serves a dual purpose of discouraging weeds and conserving water. Routine or annual applications of fertilizer are not necessary for ferns – if they are planted with organic matter.

Favorite Ferns

Polystichum acrostichoides

Sword Fern (Polystichum munitum) is a hardy evergreen fern native to the Puget Sound area. Once established, it tolerates dry areas and will adapt to many garden conditions even full sun. Over time this fern can grow two to three feet wide. Cousins of the sword fern include the Divided Soft Shield Fern (Polystichum setiferum), Tassel Fern (Polystichum polyblepharum), and the Long-Eared Holly Fern (Polystichum neolobatum) – all are easy to grow evergreen ferns.

Deer Fern (Blechnum spicant) has deep green fronds that grow twelve to eighteen inches long.  Much smaller than the sword fern, the deer fern also has evergreen fronds. It is a good choice for a small shade garden with limited space.  It prefers a moist soil. If you observe its habitat in the forest is always grows nears streams. Deer fern is not drought tolerant.

Wood Fern ‘Robust’ (Dryopteris filix-mas) has delicate deciduous fronds that often grow more than twelve inches long. Wood ferns prefer partial to full shade but can tolerate a sunnier location if the soil is evenly moist.  A new hybrid wood fern has hit the nurseries Dryopteris ‘Brillance’. An excellent selection with evergreen fronds that possess an arresting luster and cast an orange-red color as they emerge in spring. Every shade garden needs a Dryopteris ‘Brillance’.

Author Mary Jo Buza, is a landscape designer and owner of Gardens by Design.  She has more than 20 years experience maintaining, designing and teaching gardening in the South Sound region.  For more information on a custom landscape design or consultation call 360.923.1733.

ThurstonTalk

 

Submitted by Westport Winery

Westport Winery and Vineyards by-the-Sea co-owners, Blain and Kim Roberts, will create Grays Harbor County’s first arboretum on 40 acres located across State Route 105 from their winery and vineyard. The property was purchased from Rayonier, a global forest products company, in 2012. Westport will be the first winery in the United States to create its own arboretum.

The Roberts decided to dedicate the parcel to sustainable use for recreation and science on the suggestion of Don Tapio (Agriculture and Community Horticulture Agent for Grays Harbor and Thurston Counties). “We want to create a unique wilderness interface featuring great photographic and wildlife viewing opportunities, along with information on preserving native plants, eliminating noxious weeds, and incorporating ornamental collections within a timber environment,” said Blain Roberts.

An arboretum is a living museum that often includes a botanical garden containing documented specific collections of plants. The goals of this effort include community engagement, plant conservation within the living wilderness, and creating a symbiotic relationship between people, plants and wildlife. The property’s zoning allows for its use as a park and is planted in timber. There are twenty-two arboretums or botanical gardens in Washington State, the nearest of which is located in Tacoma. It is typical for these gardens to start as private properties and to be works in process for generations.

Since the winery contributes a portion of the proceeds from each of its wines to selected local charitable organizations, the Roberts plan to enlist some of these groups in the project. Kim Roberts said, “In one day I observed twenty-five different bird species on the property. We hope to work with Grays Harbor Audubon to record the avian species on the site, create better habitat, and teach others how to better appreciate the diversity.” Other groups the winery has supported and hopes to enlist are Grays Harbor and Pacific County Master Gardeners, the Twin Harbors Chapter of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, and Grays Harbor Ducks Unlimited.

Blain added, “Our focus, since we began the winery, has been to express our passion for this community by making great wine. In the process, we have had the privilege of developing deep relationships with these organizations and have collaborated with them on many fundraisers. This is another incredible opportunity for us to work with others who share our passion,”

The couple’s adult children, Carrie, Westport Winery’s general manager, and Dana, head winemaker, echo their parents’ enthusiasm for the enterprise. Since acquiring the property both have spent time exploring and evaluating the land’s potential. Carrie Roberts said, “Our family has always loved the outdoors and it’s natural that we adopt this property as a new project.” For Dana the connection to the land is equally important, “We were raised to love our community, love the land, and love the entrepreneurial spirit. It’s just who we are and how we think.”

At what will be known as the Westport Winery Arboretum, the Roberts plan to begin with a focus on collecting Japanese maples, conifers, rock plants, ferns, moss, lilacs, heather, azalea, rhododendron, and wildflowers. Each collection will be strategically placed to integrate with the varied terrain and habitat of the property including the individual needs of the plant harmonized within the site and aesthetically pleasing landscape design. Kim Roberts, who has two degrees in architecture from Washington State University, will lead the design process.

In 2007, it was Tapio who advised the Roberts, “Plant a vineyard and build a winery.” Since then the couple have enlisted his advice and passion for plants throughout their project as they developed a destination winery complete with a plant nursery, display gardens, restaurant and bakery. Because Tapio has his own Christmas tree farm, the Roberts will honor his intellectual contributions to the project by naming one section of the arboretum the Tapio Conifer Collection. In his professional capacity Tapio provides leadership to the Master Gardener Program in Pacific, Grays Harbor and Thurston Counties. He holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Floriculture from Washington State University and a Masters of Agriculture degree from the University of Idaho. Tapio is also the author of the book More Than A Green Thumb which is available at Westport Winery.

According to Tapio, “One more indication of the generosity of the Robert’s family to our community is their commitment to establish the area’s first arboretum with a focus on plants indigenous to our coastal area. In addition to being a place for plant collections, I hope the arboretum will provide a outdoor teaching laboratory for both youth and adults wanting to learn more about the plants that do well in our coastal climate. Having a place set aside in which plants can be nurtured to grow and mature is perhaps the finest gift that can be given to local gardeners, educators and others wanting to learn more our local plant communities. Their legacy with creating an arboretum will span the generations.”

As part of this project, the winery staff and volunteers will start by identifying and preserving the existing native species while eliminating noxious and invasive plants. They will then thoughtfully add plants to the collection while labeling and documenting the Latin and common names, date and source of acquisition, and possible usage. This information is then available for educational use by schools and other organizations, as recreational stimulus, and simply for the pleasure of learning. In the near future the family plans to open the project for public viewing on an invitational basis as the plants are established.

Westport Winery was named Washington Winery to Watch in 2011 by Wine Press Northwest and has been voted Best Northwest Destination Winery and Wine Tour twice by King 5 Evening Magazine. The Roberts family was selected as one of the top three small family businesses in Washington in 2012 by Seattle Business Magazine.

Westport Winery, Restaurant, Bakery and Nursery are open daily at 11a.m. The winery serves lunch daily from 11 am. to 4 pm. and dinner on Friday and Saturday evenings from 4 p.m. to 8.p.m. The winery with its unique grape maze, extraordinary outdoor sculptures, and display gardens is located on the corner of Highway 105 and South Arbor Road halfway between Westport and Aberdeen. For more information call Westport Winery at 360-648-2224.

 

The Weekly Volcano, May 1, 2013
Exhibiting works by Northwest glass artists alongside selected works from their personal art collections is an intriguing concept for an art exhibition. This is what you can find in the Northwest Artists Collect exhibition at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma. Seven favorite regional glass artists are shown with works from their collections. The artists are: Joseph Gregory Rossano, Richard Royal, Ginny Ruffner, Dick Weiss, Martin Blank, Preston Singletary, and Cappy Thompson.
“The Courtship of the Sun and the Moon” vitreous enamels reverse-painted on glass, mounted over brushed aluminum, 44 1/4 x 56 x 1 in. by Cappy Thompson.
Courtesy of the artistThompson’s “The Courtship of the Sun and the Moon” is an enamel-on-glass illustration of an anthropomorphized sun and moon kissing while being watched over by what may be a pair of angels. Stylistically it seems to borrow from medieval illustrated manuscripts and from the art of India. I thought it must have been an illustration from an ancient myth, but when I Googled it the only thing I could find was information on a French film from 1907 described on Wikipedia as homoerotic. In Thompsons picture the (heterosexual) lovers find themselves in a dense jungle. The colors are rich. It’s a beautiful piece.
Also fascinating is Martin Blank’s “Thirsting,” a male diver in a jackknife position diving into what appears to be a pair of ancient books. The gold plated, clear glass diver is slim and muscular. The heavy and rough-edged books are transparent glass. All is suspended in space in front of a black background. The gold parts of the diver look like a shell from which he is emerging. To me this piece represents a butterfly breaking free of its cocoon and diving into knowledge — my interpretation; I have no idea whether or not the artist intended something like that. It is quite lovely and dramatic, and I like the contrast of rough and smooth shapes, although the man’s body is a little too idealized.
Possibly the strongest works in the show are not glass art but a couple of paintings, one by Jacqueline Barnett (from the Dick Weiss collection) and one by Italo Scanga (from the Richard Royal collection). Scanga’s piece is a painting in acrylic on paper of what appears to be a glass vase in front of a curtain with, in the background, a green tree in front of the wall of a blue house. The simple repetitive vertical shapes are sensual, and the colors are brilliant. Barnett’s “Transition” is an abstract painting in oil on canvas mounted on a three-part metal folding screen. The painting seems to depict a black dolphin and other creatures. The forms and the paint application are rough and expressive. It reminds me of some of Jackson Pollock’s early works from before he started dripping. There is something deliciously primal about this painting.
I also very much like Ruffner’s “The Waterford Series: Grape Chandalier.” A bunch of blue and violet grapes in semi-transparent glass with clear glass leaves is suspended from the ceiling. Singletary is showing a haunting “Raven Woman” in blown and sand-carved glass and a glass case called “Curio Shelf” filled with a collection of glass art objects and found objects representative of Northwest Coastal Indian art and culture. 
Rossano has a collection of art and found objects that are displayed in such a way that all should be seen as a single installation. They look like Joseph Cornell objects set free of their boxes. Included is an ancient camera on a tripod and a large-format photograph of a photographer using a similar camera and an intriguing assemblage called “Whitewashed: Ecopisties Migrators” made of wood, found objects, an antique pigeon gun, glass, tar and paint.
The show even includes three display cases filled with books belonging to the artists. They are mostly art books, with a good number of books about Michelangelo, one on Surrealism and one copy of “The TAO of Physics.”
[Museum of Glass, Northwest Artists Collect, through October, 1801 Dock St. Tacoma, 866.4MUSEUM]   

ThurstonTalk

 

Last weekend was busy, no doubt.  Between Spring Arts Walk, Procession of the Species, Dragon Boat Festival, and opening day of trout fishing there was no shortage of activities for Olympia residents.  I thought that we would get a breather for a few weeks but this weekend is shaping up to be gorgeous weather with wonderful activities all around Thurston County.

Since the thermometer shows weather suitable for swimsuits, check out the open hours for downtown Olympia’s Heritage Fountain.

Slather on the sunscreen and head out to a community event.

• Catch a free screening of Girl Rising at The Washington Center on Friday night.
• Chill out with a laughter-filled ballet by Studio West throughout the weekend.  Tickets available at www.olytix.org.
• Grab a free comic book at Olympic Cards and Comics on Saturday.
• Lace up your sneakers for the South Sound YMCA’s Spring Fun Run.  Races begin Saturday at 8:30 am on the Capitol Campus.
• Check out cool car races at Lacey Alternative Energy Fair on Saturday between 9:00 am – 3:00 pm.
• Celebrate the 20th anniversary of Centennial Station on Saturday between 10:00 am – 2:00 pm.
• Attend the CROP Hunger Walk on Sunday beginning at 1:30 pm at Capitol Lake.
• Taste oysters at Fish Tale’s Shellfish SLURP Sunday at 5:00 pm.
• Prep for Cinco de Mayo with some tips from our food writer.

Submit an event for our calendar here.

ThurstonTalk aims to be your source for positive information and events happening in Olympia.  If you have a suggestion for a post, send us a note at submit@thurstontalk.com.  For more events and to learn what’s happening in Olympia and the surrounding area, click here.

 

ThurstonTalk

 

Packaging makes up about 1/3 of the average household’s garbage and accounts for approximately 13 percent of the price you pay for food. There are some easy steps you can take to save money and reduce the amount of garbage and recycling produced from packaging. Try bringing your own container to the store and buying your goods in bulk.

Packaging Facts from Portland State University:

• 20,000,000 pounds of foil packaging could be avoided if all Americans bought coffee from the bulk bin.
• One half pound of waste per family could be kept out of the landfill if the average American family of four bought peanut butter in bulk.
• 6,000,000 pounds of waste could be prevented if Americans purchased all their almonds in bulk for one month.
• Oatmeal purchased from the bulk bin can save five times the waste of its packaged equivalent.

If all Americans chose to buy bulk options when possible, we would save more than 26 million pounds of packaging waste in just one month according to Earth911. Try it on and see if you can do it.

Reasons to buy bulk:

• Items cost less than those of the same amount that are packaged.
• There is less transportation needed to ship.
• Bringing your own container that you reuse is better for natural resources.
• There is more flexibility in how much you buy.
• You get to see what you are buying.
• Bulk items take less space to store and less store labor to manage.

Look for bulk shopping options at stores in our area. Listing a business below does not mean that Thurston County endorses any of these companies.

 Personal or home care products:

• Euphorium, Olympia
• The Olympia Food Coop, Olympia
• Radiance Herbs and Massage, Olympia
• Premier Salon and Spa, Olympia

Food: 

• Bayview Thriftway, Olympia
• Buck’s Fifth Avenue/Culinary Exotica, Olympia
• FredMeyer, Lacey, Tumwater
• Tea Lady, Olympia
• The Olympia Food Coop, Olympia
• Top Food and Drug, Olympia
• WinCo Foods, Lacey
• Yelm Food Co-op, Yelm

Coming soon, the Zero Waste Home has also recently released a bulk shopping app available in iTunes and the Android Market. It is still in version 1.0 so they are working out the bugs. As soon as someone populates our region with the local options, it will be a terrific resource (hint, hint, wink, wink).

You might already be recycling much of packaging you bring home and that is great but not enough. Earth’s inhabitants consume the amount of natural resources one year that it takes the Earth to generate in over 1.5 years according the Global Footprints Network. When you bring your own container to the store, reusing it many times over, you are saving the resources that would go toward something new. So when you go to buy bulk, don’t forget your containers. The Olympia Food Coop has limited supplies of donated and washed containers for you if you ask.

Earth 911 has some good suggestions to get you started including choosing containers, how to read bulk price tags, and shopping.

For more tips on how to reduce your consumption, go to www.ThurstonSolidWaste.org and click on “Recycling & Reuse”.

 

ThurstonTalk

 

Submitted by Kelly Miller, Olympia High School intern to ThurstonTalk

Have you ever wanted to travel to the magical land of Scotland? In Brigadoon, Scotland is truly magic. And soon, you only have to go to Olympia High School to experience this wonderful musical! If you aren’t familiar, Brigadoon is a show about a village in Scotland that only appears one day for every one hundred years. While this special day is happening two American tourists happen upon Brigadoon. One of the tourists, Tommy, falls in love with a Brigadoonian, Fiona. Tommy has to make some difficult choices between daring love and his unsatisfying but secure normal life. What will he choose? You’ll have to come and see!

Brigadoon was written by Alan Jay Lerner, composed by Frederick Loewe, and choreographed by Agnes de Mille. Originally, Brigadoon opened up on Broadway and ran for five hundred and eighty one shows in 1947. Just two years later, it ran for six hundred and eighty five performances in London on the West End. It has also been adapted for the big screen (starring Gene Kelly) and for television. So far, Brigadoon has had three Broadway revivals in 1957, 1963, and 1980. It snatched up a Tony Award for Choreography and The New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical in 1947.

A junior at Olympia appearing in Brigadoon said, “We have all been working hard and are really excited about the show. Everyone who comes will just love it.” The magical story of Brigadoon will be happening for more than just one night at OHS! Opening night is on May 3. The rest of the dates are the 4th, 9th, 10th, and 11th, all at 7:30 pm. Olympia High School is located at 1302 North Street. Reserved tickets are $10 and general admission is $8. To reserve, call (360) 596-7036.

Discover the mysterious village of Brigadoon! You may find yourself falling in love.

 

Event:  Fri, 05/10/2013 - 5:00pm - Thu, 05/23/2013 - 8:00pm

Google Plus One Facebook Like

Margy Pepper
http://margypepper.bandcamp.com/

Nancy Drew Pentagrams

Week of Wonders
https://soundcloud.com/weekofwondersmusic

Get Mom
Surprise performance

Doors at 8, show at 8:30.

ThurstonTalk

 

By Kate Scriven

Iron Rabbit owner, Christian Skillings, is committed to sourcing all ingredients locally including craft beer.

Shop Local.  Buy Local.  Think Local.  These slogans pop up on bumper stickers and ad campaigns everywhere.  We are more connected to our local business owners and their products than ever before.  Now you can add one more “local” activity to your list – Drink Local.

Dick’s Brewing, in Centralia, Washington is truly local in every sense of the word.  The brewery was founded in 1994 by Dick Young, a passionate home brewer who lived his dream, making his hobby his livelihood.  The brewery is now run by his daughter, Julie Young, after Dick’s too early passing in 2009.  In his 17 years at the helm of Dick’s Brewing, Dick saw huge growth, both in production and the number of avid fans.

Today, Dick’s Beers are recognized for their consistency, quality, and drinkability.  With solid standard offerings and exceptional seasonal beers, Dick’s reputation is cemented in our community.  Loyal fans of Dick’s beers can be found quenching their thirst throughout Lewis and Thurston County restaurants and pubs.   However there are a few places where Dick’s fans know they can go for a perfect pint on tap, any day of the week.

Iron Rabbit Restaurant – 2103 Harrison Ave NW in Olympia

On Olympia’s Westside, tucked into the front of an unassuming strip mall, is a fantastic restaurant and bar that fully embraces the concept of eating locally from their tasty grass-fed beef burger, to the local salad greens to the craft beers on tap.  The Iron Rabbit opened over 7 years ago and from the beginning, owner Christian Skillings sought a partnership with the area’s only locally owned and operated craft brewery, Dick’s Brewing.

“Our house beer is called The Bitter Rabbit, which is Dick’s Best Bitter.  It’s a classic ESB style that is flattering with all our food.  It’s always very consistent and a very sessionable beer – perfect for if you are out drinking with friends or having dinner.”  Iron Rabbit also has Dick’s Working Man’s Brown on tap and doesn’t see it changing anytime soon.  The Iron Rabbit staff toured the Centralia brewery twice, learning the beer-making process and becoming more educated on the nuances of beer, helping them pair beers more effectively with customer’s orders.

A bartender at Dirty Dave’s Pizza pours a Bull Dog Ale.

“We are both truly local businesses,” shares Skillings.  “I’m here every day and Julie Young is also there, every day.  When you have that kind of attention, you get a higher quality and more consistent product.  With Dick’s, you get the flavor of our community which makes us unique and we should treasure that.”

Dirty Dave’s Pizza Parlor – 3939 Martin Way East in Olympia

Dirty Dave’s is a local landmark.  Locals frequent the pizza restaurant for an easy family night out or a post-soccer season party.  And while we love the food, we can’t forget what goes best with great pizza –  a cold beer.  Owned by brothers Greg and Tom Wilson, who took over from their dad, the original “Dave”, Dirty Dave’s has had a partnership with Dick’s from its earliest days.  “Early on, Dick came in and asked us if we’d like to carry one of his beers, renaming it and making it our own.  It was a great offer and that is how our house beer, Bulldog Ale was born,” shares Greg Wilson.  A connection was made with a local carver to create the iconic bulldog tap handles and the Pale Ale has been flowing ever since.  The ale is a mainstay at the Pizza Parlor with its fresh, consistent flavor and is popular for its universal appeal and drinkability.  And, it goes great with pizza.

In addition to Bull Dog Ale, Dirty Dave’s rotates seasonal brews on their taps, including Dick’s Irish Ale for St. Patrick’s Day.  “Because they are local and brew small batches, it’s really easy to work with them,” shares Wilson.  And while Dirty Dave’s is, at its heart, a pizza joint, known for its family friendly atmosphere, having a high quality house brew is something they are proud of and plan to stick with for the long haul.

O’Blarney’s Irish Pub – 4411 Martin Way in Olympia or 221 Tower Ave in Centralia

With “pub” in the name, you know that this long-standing local watering hole is serious about their beers.  With an extensive menu, burgers voted “Best in Olympia” for 14 of the last 16 years, and non-stop sports viewing, it’s easy to see why O’Blarney’s is busy year round.  And when you ask for their house beer, you’ll be treated to the O’Blarney’s Celtic Ale, the house brew for over 10 years.  Behind that custom tap handle you’ll find Dick’s Irish Ale, a deep red ale, that has become a favorite of patrons.

Bar Manager Joel Wragg shares, “We love working with Dick’s.  We have a great relationship with them that you only find when working with small, local businesses.”  The staff has twice toured the Centralia facility, learning about Dick’s beers and beer making in general.  The personal connection, and generous tastings, are something all the staff appreciate.

The Shire – 465 NW Chehalis Ave in Chehalis

Dick’s Beers are also used at The Shire for cooking bratwurst. Dick’s Mountain Ale is the house beer.

Next door in Lewis County, The Shire is a Chehalis seafood and steakhouse that was one of Dick Young’s favorite places to eat.  Owner Joel Wall knew he wanted a local microbrew on tap and Dick’s Beer was the natural choice.  Wall had previously managed McMenamin’s Olympic Club and knew Young well.  He sought out the brewery when opening The Shire and established Dick’s Mountain Ale as their house beer.  With Lava Rock Porter also on tap, patrons enjoy a choice between the refreshing amber ale and the rich, deep, malty flavors of the porter.

Wall uses Dick’s brews when cooking The Shire’s bratwurst and pairs the beers easily with their steak and seafood offerings.  “We are a small, community oriented business, like Dick’s Brewing, so the pairing is natural.  Their product is excellent and above that, this was important to Dick.  He was a one of a kind man and someone who was a good friend.  We feel privileged to have his beers on tap.”

Dick’s Brewing Company

3516 Galvin Road

Centralia, Washington 98531

Tours and Taproom open Fridays, 3pm – 7pm

 

ThurstonTalk

 

Submitted by Gateway Rotary

Gateway Rotary Club President Tom Carroll recognized North Thurston Public Schools Superintendent Raj Manhas as an Honorary Member of Gateway Rotary Club.  Carroll praised the Superintendent on the performance of the school district since he assumed the leadership position with the school district.  Carroll said the Gateway Rotary Club was committed to supporting the school district and the children being served.  Honorary memberships are conveyed to individuals who have distinguished themselves by community service in the furtherance of Rotary ideals.

The Gateway Rotary Club meets every Wednesday at 7:00 a.m. at the Hawks Prairie Restaurant.

For additional information please contact:

Jerry Wilkins

Gateway Rotary Club

360-791-6255

JerryWilkins@comcast.net

ThurstonTalk

 

Submitted by All Star Ford

Teams from North Thurston High School (Lacey) and the New Market Skills Center (Tumwater) will compete against eight other Washington State teams for the chance to represent the state in the national 2013 Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills Challenge this summer.

The two teams, one from each school, completed an initial online exam earlier this year that qualified them to advance to the hands-on state competition, scheduled for Tuesday, May 7, at Renton Technical College. The top team from that challenge will go on to the national competition in June in Dearborn, Mich., where it will showcase its automotive problem-solving capabilities by resolving “real-world” repair challenges in a timed, head-to-head match-up of top teams representing all 50 states.

The vehicle used in this year’s challenge is the 2013 Ford Focus SE.  Each team will be provided a deliberately bugged model to repair.

* North Thurston High School team: Scott Harn and Kestin Kincaid.  Team instructor is Brian Stretch.

* New Market Skill Center team: Rich Morris and Jacob Hjorten.  Team instructor is Mark Emmons.

 

 

All Star Ford in Olympia is helping the teams prepare for competition by providing practice vehicles, equipment and expert advice.

“North Thurston has qualified for the state competition 19 years and qualified for Nationals five of those years,” said Brian Stretch, the North Thurston team instructor.  “Many of our school’s former competitors are now technicians or instructors in the automotive repair field.”

“New Market has qualified for state five times out of five,” said Mark Emmons, the New Market Skills team instructor. “The first year we got the award for highest test scores in the state and in 2010 we earned a 2nd place at the state competition.”

The Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills Challenge is a nationwide automotive technology competition that offers nearly $12 million in scholarships and prizes to high school juniors and seniors interested in pursuing careers as automotive service technicians.  More than 13,000 students from across the U.S. compete for the chance to represent their school and state in the National Finals.  The competition tests students’ automotive knowledge, workmanship and problem-solving abilities.

The challenge enables many of its participants to embark on promising careers in the automotive repair industry to help fuel the rising demand for well-trained technicians who can repair both computer and mechanical components in today’s advanced vehicles.

This is the 64th year of the Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills Competition.

ThurstonTalk

 

By Tom Rohrer

Thanks to the countless rowing clubs and influence from the prestigious University of Washington crew teams, Seattle is considered one of the premier hotbeds for competitive rowing in the entire world.

Each year, members of the Olympia Area Rowing (OAR) juniors and masters programs compete against Seattle area clubs in regional and national competitions alike.  This weekend, both age groups will have representation at a unique, rowing event – the Windermere Cup.  The rowing race occurs in “The Cut” – the shipping canal under the Montlake Bridge, near Husky Stadium, which connects Lake Washington and Lake Union.

The University of Washington will welcome Cornell University and Dartmouth University to the collegiate competition.  Over 800 rowers from other clubs, in both junior and masters divisions will compete in the 2000 meter races.

For the second consecutive year, OAR is sending a mixed masters quad-team to the race.  The team includes Rick Peterson, Kiirsten Flynn, Alex Smith and Bob Maki.  For the first time, OAR will send two junior quad teams as well.

OAR earned a spot in the invite-only event for their strong performance at meets earlier in the season.  For the juniors, it was their performance at last week’s Brentwood Regatta will warranted the invite.

The mens junior team features Walker Capra-Smith, Corban Nemeth, Carsten Beckwith-Strike, and Kyle Darling.  The team’s coxswain is Noah McCord.  The girls juniors team includes Beth Capra-Smith, Alex Van Hook, Olivia Tanasse, and Emily Porter, with Lian Eytinge serving as the coxswain.

The Windermere Cup kicks off boating season in Seattle.  The races offer a high level of competition and loads of fans.

“Throughout the whole race, there are people lining the whole course, watching and cheering,” said Peterson, who rowed for the University of Puget Sound during his time as a student. “There are lots of people in ‘The Cut.’  It’s almost like rowing into a stadium.”

“I would say the amount of energy there is what separates it from other events,” said Flynn. “The start of the race you go through the log booms, all the boats are moored next to each other, fans are everywhere and there’s this electric energy. Other races have energy, but it’s more nervous energy.  Windermere has more fun energy.”

Participating in the event is an exciting prospect for the junior rowers, and a vindication of sorts since it’s an invite only race.

A mixed masters quad team from Olympia Area Rowing is one of three teams participating in Saturday’s Windermere Cup.

“Oh it’s definitely an exciting prospect to be in it,” said Beckwith, a senior at Olympia High School who will row for either Gonzaga University or the University of San Diego next year.  “It’s something we are looking forward to and just something different than what we’ve competed in before.”

“We have a lot of confidence in ourselves but it’s cool to be selected to compete in something like this,” said Tanasse, a junior at Olympia High School. “We’ve got a lot of pride in our club and we want to represent it at a high level.”

The event will also serve as a tune-up for the upcoming regional completion the juniors will soon be competing at.

“We want a medal, a top three performance,” said Nemeth, an OHS senior who will row for the University of Washington next year.  “Having that mindset, that’s what we want going forward.  We’re in a good grove and can use this as momentum for regionals.”

“Regionals are in two weeks, so we’re excited about that, but it’s nice to have something sooner to look forward to,” said Inglin, a freshman student at OHS. “We’re expecting tough competition, and that’s what we will be facing going forward in other events.”

Seeing the juniors get an opportunity to participate in the Windermere Cup is an exciting prospect for the master’s competitors.

“We pushed the (juniors) very hard the first part of the year, partially in hopes that they could reach this event, and it’s very exciting for OAR as a whole,” said Flynn, a fill-in junior program coach. “They deserve to be there and I know they will compete hard and represent the club well.”

Corban Nemeth (left) and Walker Capra-Smith (right) will be racing with Carsten Beckwith-Strike and Kyle Darling (not pictured) on Saturday at the Windermere Cup.

Compared to larger Seattle rowing clubs, OAR is relatively small but the rowers like the challenge of representing their area against the powerhouses of the sport.

“You feel that pride for sure,” said Inglin.  “We’re smaller in size but we know we have the talent to compete with what is out there and that adds motivation.”

“We know that in size we may be considered underdogs,” Beckwith said. “It helps you get up more for the races to an extent.”

The unique atmosphere, huge crowds, and prestige of the event will surely add motivation for both masters and junior rowers.

“This event has a little of that spectacle feel, and because of the setting, it’s something you’re not going to experience anywhere else as a rower,” said Peterson.  “I watched some friends rowing in the (1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles) and there were grandstands at the end of the race, but you never have a race where people are lining the whole course.”

“This is a spectator race, and from my understanding, the race organizers want equal competition, not some that will blow others away,” said Flynn.  “So we know that going in.  We know there is tough competition, but we still race hard and want to drop the hammer and get the win.”

For more information on the Windermere Cup, click here.

 

Event:  Fri, 05/31/2013 - 10:00pm - 11:30pm

 

Dr. Anton Boisvert, a renowned psychiatrist sits quietly in a detainment facility in Fairfax, Virginia. While he awaits his inevitable extradition, a single reporter from a prominent magazine has come to interview the man most refer to as "The Einsten of Holistic Medicine." This lone reporter, however, soon realizes the imminent danger posed both to himself and the world beyond the steel doors of Boisvert's interrogation room.

 

Good Night, Good Doctor, written by local Olympia playwright Nick McCord, premieres

May 31 and June 1 @ The Midnight Sun 113 N. Columbia Street Olympia, WA

Show times are 7pm and 10pm

Tickets $10

http://goodnightgooddoctor.brownpapertickets.com/

 

 

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