• Cheers to all mothers and grandmothers on Mother’s Day! Cheers to those who treat the other 364 days of the year as Mother’s Day.
• Jeers to a proposal to raise King County’s sales tax by .02 percent to maintain public safety services. Courts, prosecutors, public defenders and police account for more than 75 percent of the county’s spending. The sales tax would generate about $47 million next year, and it still wouldn’t be enough. If the proposal failed at the polls, the county says it will cut services including police in unincorporated areas. Either way, voters want to keep what we already have without paying more. Either way, the county is screwed.
• Cheers to the Federal Way Prayer Breakfast, held May 6 at The Commons mall. Regardless of your spiritual and religious beliefs, know that a little praying never hurt anybody.
• Jeers to a federal and state requirement for gathering specific information on student ethnicities. Last week, the Federal Way School District announced it would refuse to guess the ethnicities for students who leave that part blank on their registration card. What difference does it make if a student checks “Latin American” over “Other Hispanic/Latino” or “Mexican/Mexican American/Chicano?” Does it matter if a student checks “Fijian” or “Samoan?” Leaving that part blank is an acceptable All-American way of saying “none of your business.”
• Cheers to the opening of the Federal Way Farmers Market for 2010. The market will run 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays through Oct. 30, offering a free family-friendly gathering place with plenty of opportunities to learn something new. Scheduled at the market this year are health, gardening and recycling programs, just to name a few. This year’s kickoff coincides with the annual Buds and Blooms spring garden festival this weekend. Fresh food, flowers and crafts will be abundant.
• Jeers to fuel spills, including the April 29 doozy at Dash Point State Park. A quick cleanup effort should minimize the spill’s impact on wildlife and the Puget Sound. The spill originated from a recently-filled 300-gallon fuel tank, owned by a private contractor, being used for a Washington State Department of Transportation project. The nearby FB Hoit bridge is being stripped and repainted. The painting contractor is responsible for the cleanup costs. The painting firm may be cited if the investigation reveals there was negligence or a violation on its part.
