Saturday Thumbs
Saturday, August 23, 2008 1:04 AM PDT
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E-mail this articleAug. 23 Daily News editorial
Helping with a personal touch
Thumbs up to Hilda Schierscher and all those generous hearts who helped her fill school backpacks for young students at St. Helens Elementary School. What a wonderful way to help these children start the school year on a high note.
Schierscher came up with the idea of the Big Backpack Give last year. In December, she sent invitations to family, friends and co-workers to participate. Donations of from $20 to $100 soon rolled in to pay for the backpacks and school supplies. Teachers at St. Helens identified students who could use the help. Schierscher and other volunteers found out their favorite characters and colors, according to Daily News reporter Carrie Pederson. That personal touch impressed St. Helens Principal Mary Ann Robbins — and the 49 young recipients.
The big stall
The Longview City Council won’t be rushed into a decision on whether or not to install red-light cameras at dangerous intersections. Council members will first hold an informational workshop. That’s fine, though we’d think there’s not much left to learn about the technology after having considered it for around a decade. But Mayor Kurt Anagnostou’s idea of asking the city attorney to determine whether using the cameras to convict someone for running a red light is constitutional borders on the absurd. Red-light cameras have been in use in some 200 cities — several in Washington — for many years. We’d think their legality has been pretty well established. And if the Longview city attorney thinks otherwise, what then?
Well-deserved recognition
We didn’t always agree with Jolene Unsoeld’s votes during her six years in the U.S. Congress representing our Third Congressional District. But we greatly admired her steadfast commitment to transparent government.
It was good to read this past week that Unsoeld will receive some much-deserved recognition next month from the Washington Coalition for Open Government. The organization will hand her the 2008 James Madison Award during a breakfast at the Washington Athletic Club on Sept. 19. The award is given annually to recognize an individual’s contributions on behalf of the First Amendment and the cause of open government.
Money down the drain
Talk about money being flushed down a toilet! Seattle city officials can claim bragging rights for what they’ve flushed away with their state-of-the-art, high-tech, self-cleaning public toilets.
It was just four years ago that the city coughed up $5 million for the five automated toilets. The idea was to provide clean, welcoming public facilities downtown for tourists and the homeless. But the toilets became havens for drug users and prostitutes and were soon deemed less cost-effective than traditional public restrooms. So the city put the modernistic toilets up for auction on eBay. The return on that $5 million investment? A total of $12,549.
cheney119 wrote on Aug 23, 2008 4:29 PM:
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