Jim Follis

Shortly after western Washington suffered the worst run possible of officers killed in the line of duty, we heard that the count of lost officers was the lowest in 50 years.

I'm not much on statistics but I guess it's good to know this fact because it helps assuage my paranoia that the world is about to fall off the plank into an ugly abyss of darkness.

Knowing that the numbers are not growing is only factual relief. It really does nothing to make anyone feel much safer, nor does it help family and friends of the fallen feel any better. And it certainly doesn't provide for the future of their children.

Maybe any good news is welcome news in times like these, but enough already.



Ferry celebration

I love birthday celebrations, especially where there's yummy cake involved.

I'm sorry I missed the Coho's 50th celebration when they were offering up cake to all aboard. Picking a day in winter when the seas were cooperative enough to serve up rich cake must have been a little dicey. I recall past winter trips that were rough enough to make chasing chocolate cake across your plate, and subsequently across the deck, a really tough job.

Keeping the cake in your stomach and out of the strait might have been work for some. You know that sugar is not good for marine life, or us either, now that you mention it.

A 50th celebration of a private enterprise ferry is something worth celebrating. Not many ports can boast this. Let's go for another 50, eh?



Plain bad news

Losing two veteran Sequim pilots is really hard to handle. Two men with years of experience go down, losing their lives so suddenly.

I can imagine that their loved ones are just as shocked as we nonpilots. When precautions are taken, experience is in place, these things shouldn't happen. But, the room for error up in the air is quite a bit smaller than here on the ground. And things can happen that are out of our control.

Mechanical failure, metal fatigue, weird air currents all are things that can cause disaster to a plane, yet only offer annoyances if it occurs in a car. My sympathies to their loved ones.



Christmas decorations

In years past, I've held a contest to see who could spot the latest Christmas decorations in public view. It's still pretty early for busy people to be expected to get their tree down and lights put away, but I can see some candidates worth watching.

One year it was well into spring when I inadvertently caused some controversy that very nearly ended up in arbitration. It seems that the latest sighted Christmas lights (in late February) were in the home of a confirmed bachelor who admitted that he had a fake Christmas tree that stayed up year-round, and he would just open the drapes during the proper season and close them at the end of the holiday. That year he apologized for forgetting to draw the drapes in a timely manner.

The runner-up was awarded the prize since the bachelor's lights were disqualified on the technicality of being ineligible due to unbelievabiity and or/absurdity. Sorry, spotter, no cigar for that sighting.



KSQM survives

It just seems like most niche radio stations, especially those in smaller markets, have a pretty rough time paying the bills. Sooner or later they bend to the needs of the pockets and gradually drift away from their niche.

KSQM has stayed right in there, surviving on donations and a boatload of volunteers. But sooner or later, listeners will need to put a little money where their ears are. There are some sizable costs in running a radio station.

Thanks KSQM, which really means Rick Perry and many, many volunteers.



What's

Sequim about?

I'm sorry if I keep picking on Sequim's downtown but I just want Sequim to get on the map. Not in a major "look at me" manner but in a respectable memorable way.

Before the highway was diverted around Sequim, we had notoriety, but it wasn't good - "Oh, yeah, it's that town with a bunch of hodgepodge buildings that just holds up traffic."

Things are better now for the traffic, but plopping down some big box stores in the middle of a sea of asphalt still keeps us hopelessly mired down in that hodgepodge thing, only on a much larger scale.

I'm looking for some leadership or a plan that will draw a line and say that from here on out our efforts will be united behind a common theme; in a common direction that the rest of the world will see and remember when they visit our town.

A lot of money is being spent and efforts expended but all in disparate directions.



Jim Follis is a retired school administrator, has published two books and currently writes three newspaper columns. Eating, drinking and making merry are his professed hobbies. Traveling, trekking and observing people follow not far behind.