Jim Follis

The insurance institute reports no significant reduction in accidents with hands-free cell phone use. Is anyone surprised?

I'm thinking that the number of cell phone user accidents hasn't shown much difference since the law passed. Since they couldn't be stopped for using their cell phones, small wonder that the phones are still in use.

The real issue that we need to face, sooner or later, is that driving a car is a full-time activity and whether the phone is in your hand or plugged into your headset, your involvement in the conversation is quite distracting.



Soup's on

If I were a bald eagle, I'd seriously be watching and waiting for the completion of the salmon cribs on Highway 101 and Morse Creek. I guess everyone concerned about the Elwha mudding up managed to get the holding tanks funded on Morse Creek.

I'd suggest having a baldy oversee the completion of this project. Seriously, if we run out of salmon streams for breeding salmon, bald eagles easily could be relegated to eating big-box-store frozen farmed salmon with its pretty red dye.



We're back!

I love when the eagles come back to town. In fact I get much more excited when the eagle birds come back than I do when the snow birds return. Sorry, but there's just something right when you cruise down Priest Road, look up, and there's the ever dependable baldy keeping watch on the Walmart world.

If that snag on the corner of Priest Road and the Olympic Discovery Trail ever goes down, there's going to be a lot of upset citizens, not to mention the baldies that own the tree.



Signs of the times

What's with all the signs on metal poles as you come into Sequim? It seems as if they might even distract newcomers enough to cause them to miss the 25 mph sign; or even worse, rear end someone who was doing 25.

Using cell phones is certainly a distraction, but a flood of signs just at the wrong time could be even worse.

I wouldn't stop to tie my shoes anywhere near that flurry of signs at the south end of town.



Student art

The Museum and Arts Center should be your first stop on the Art Walk this Friday. The center will be featuring student art work this month, and the citizens of Sequim are in for a treat.

I look forward to this display each year. The quality of their work will astound you.



Pass the meat

Every time I pass up eating meat for all the right reasons, I am reminded that all meat is definitely not the same. Just as all salmon are not the same.

Grass-fed critters, as opposed to the feedlot fed, yield meat much lower in all the nasty stuff like cholesterol and fat and higher in things good for you.

I knew there was a reason why I keep crowing about the grass-fed beef available from Sunny Farms Country Store. But wait, there's more.

The Clark farm in Sequim now is licensed to supply steaks and ground beef from grass-fed cattle. This means we should start seeing "good for you" meat showing up on shelves here in Sequim.

Just another example of why our corner of the world is "the best."



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.