Meet Gil Loring

He stepped out of the White Center Jubilee Day's booth during the annual celebration and was vehement in his enthusiasm for having his hometown annexed by Burien and not by Seattle.

Why?

'The county doesn't want it, Seattle doesn't either. Burien does and we think we will be better off with a smaller government. The state has promised to give us the money from the local sales taxes and we don't have to pay it back. We have no faith in the Seattle City Council providing fire and police protection better than we have."

State legislators did pass a law that promises to give sales tax collected in White Center back to any city that annexes the territory without having to pay it back. Ever.

I don't know how the state legislature or the governor can do this when the state is running on fumes now and so are the city and the county.

Our former county executive blatantly tried for years to get Seattle or Burien to annex all the territory south of the Seattle city limits because it was too expensive to govern. Now he is back in Washington D.C. and he is free of that problem.

Burien council members studied the move to annex the White Center half of the unincorporated territory and mysteriously changed its mind.

Why? Could it be because it would be a net loss in funding it? The Burien City Council has not been forthcoming with the reasons.

I love the effort and expense White Centerites put forth each year in an effort to let the citizens know that they are alive and working hard to make it more attractive as a place to do business and is a district families can be proud to call home.

Sixty years ago we started out with the White Center newspaper and though some of the problems we had to deal with then still exist (no local level gummint for instance) and a dearth of available tax dollars, it has always had a courageous outlook and a lively tireless citizenry.

Part of its colorful past has been the annual Jubilee, though it has shrunk some since the early days when we built prize-winning floats that we proudly showed off in the Seafair parade. It still has many many ambitious and talented citizens happy to get behind a renaissance and command the attention of the whole Northwest.

Meet Moses Tablit

He is a TOUCH OF CLASS when he installs glass. A seventh-year glazer for White Center Glass he is holding a panel that weighs over 200 pounds and takes two cautious, well trained patient experts to handle an installation.

Moses is a graduate of Cleveland High and loves his unusual occupation but admits there are many a moment when his job is perilous and always requires patience and deliberation.

Yes, he has dropped a pane or two, which brought some pain to his boss.

Has he ever been squeamish? Yep, when he is up high like in a church and the wind is blowing and the crane he is assisting is trembling.
Of course he has cut himself. It is a minor hazard and so far has been no big deal.

Should you try doing it yourself? Not if you are untrained.