I must confess to never having read a word that Tim wrote for the West Seattle Herald, but I did read articles he wrote for Soundings, his first job as a journalist. Tim and I met in Boston in 1977 when we both worked at the Harvard Coop - before starting more serious assignments.
To find a reporter's job Tim sent out resumes to every paper within 100 miles of Boston and landed one at Soundings, in Essex, Conn.
The editorial on biofuels by Todd Myers is spot on (OpEd, Aug. 6) in showing the false promises of biofuels. He didn't mention, however, that the energy content of ethanol is only two-thirds that of gasoline (76,000 btu/gal vs. 116,000 btus/gal). This is why one gets poorer mileage from their cars when the fuel contains ethanol.
And yes the more ethanol in the gasoline, the worse the mileage. The ethanol fuels are also leading to higher engine damage and maintenance costs. And, finally, ethanol consumes a great deal of water per gallon in its production.
Michael R.
Thanks for your article in the West Seattle Herald, "City Council Raises Taxes" (Aug. 6, editorial). I especially appreciated the line about how "our concerns are not addressed by too many in leadership in this city, only the needs of government are considered."
Every week I read or hear another story about out of control credit card interest, record profits for oil companies, or mortgage executives who are not held responsible for the mess they created. The middle class is shouldering too much of the burden - who looks out for us?
A better way than a city 20-cent bag fee
By Jan Gee
As customers passed through the checkout stands of many of our independent grocery stores, the owners and employees asked their customers, "Did you know that the Seattle City Council is proposing a fee of 20 cents on every disposable bag and that starting in January we will have to charge you an additional $xx on this same grocery bill unless you bring in a reusable bag?"
About two out of every three customers responded that they didn't know and eight out of 10 said that they were opposed - many were outraged.
To increase safety on Seattle's streets for pedestrians the Seattle City Council added a new feature to the current pedestrian program - pedestrian flags at 17 crosswalk locations.
A spin-off of your average school crossing guard, yellow pedestrian flags placed in holders at both sides of designated crosswalks allow pedestrians to cross the street while waving the flags to warn drivers that they are crossing and to slow down.
Nick Licata, Council member and co-chair of the Pedestrian Safety Committee said one of the first places pedestrian flags were used was in Salt Lake
Although the Seattle City Council has approved a 20-cent fee on all disposable shopping bags, the Washington Food Industry is attempting to give its consumers a choice with a referendum that could put the issue to a public vote.
"We agree with the City Council on the environmental goal, but we think that they should not place new taxes on family grocery bills," said Jan Gee, president of the Washington Food Industry, a group that represents independent markets.
Gee and the Washington Food Industry previously approached the Seattle City Council with alternatives to a fee o
The Seattle auditor has finished a comprehensive audit of how the city, including the Police Department, handles bias crimes.
The audit shows the city adequately addressing bias crimes but notes that there is room for improvement in incident tracking, community outreach, service coordination and staff training.
Bias crimes are criminal acts including assault, threat of bodily harm or property damage committed against a person because of his or her real or perceived characteristics (race, religion, sexual orientation, etc,).
West Seattle's Tamela Thomas, a Red Belt, became the "female under Black Belt" grand champion in the 2008 Tang Soo Do World Championships.
Eleven students ranging from ages 9 to 48 represented Master Steve Elmore's Evergreen Tang Soo Do studio on California Avenue.
The overall competition included 2,600 competitors from over 20 nations.
"I went hoping not to embarrass myself," Thomas said modestly, who brought her son Tug, 11, also a student of Elmore.
West Seattle Democrats have "overwhelmingly" voted to support the November ballot measure "Mass Transit Now."
The project, supported by Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels but opposed by King County Executive Ron Sims would add 36 miles of light rail (going to Lynwood, Microsoft, and Federal Way) and 100,000 additional hours for Metro bus service.
The 34th District Democrats voted for the measure at a meeting last week.
Volunteer Chore Services - a nonprofit that has provided chore assistance for seniors throughout Seattle since 1981 - hired a new West Region volunteer coordinator in June.
Kerrie Carbary, the recent hire, says she is eager to expand the West Seattle program to meet the region's demand for the services of the agency.
"Currently the West Region provides around 50 volunteers per month, and they serve an average of 300 hours a month.
