Support for CTE project

On behalf of the Sequim Association of Realtors, I would Like to express support for the proposed CTE (Career and Technical Education) project at the Sequim School District and encourage the City of Sequim to invest at least $250,000 to help bring his project to fruition.

Tax receipts alone from the project will bring a huge portion (over $180,000) directly back to the city, and that does not account for the long-term returns brought about by a thriving local economy. According to the Clallam County Economic Development Council, there are more than 360 jobs currently unfilled due to a lack of proper training for the local workforce. Having those jobs filled will not only provide needed quality services in our local economy, it will provide economic security for hundreds of families who will then spend locally.

As Realtors, we know that part of the value of any home is the quality of the community around it. Part of the value of our community is our school system, which teaches our children and prepares our future workforce. This project takes a huge step toward improving the future of Sequim.

Thank you so much for your consideration and for working to improve the future of our community.

Michael McAleer

President, Sequim Association of Realtors

Sequim

Kudos for the holiday cheer

As the holiday season comes to a close, the Christmas lights are being removed for one more year.

I want to thank Emily Wescott, Captain Crystal, Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, City of Sequim and local residents for lighting up our community for the holidays. I volunteer at the Visitors

Center and many visitors comment on the amazing number of lights in our area. So not only do residents, like me, enjoy and savor the brightening of the holidays visitors do too.

There is an amazing amount of labor and love that goes into hanging the lights, as well as taking them down.

Thanks so much for this annual gift to the community. Your efforts are truly appreciated.

Eileen Cummings

Sequim

What’s up with aviation?

In a previous life, I practically lived on airplanes and, while I rarely fly anymore, I still reflexively pay attention to news items relative to air travel.

Consequently, I noted that, on Jan. 11, the FAA imposed a nationwide 90-minute halt to all U.S. departing flights resulting in over 10,000 flight delays and more 1,300 outright cancellations due to a “computer issue”. FAA officials assured us that, in this “incidence”, there was “no evidence of a cyberattack” but just a damaged data base.

Funnily enough, nearly simultaneously, NAV Canada encountered a similar problem affecting Canadian airports though not as severe as the US FAA incident. Canadian officials stated that this “incidence” was due to computer hardware problems and assured us it was “not the result of a cyber-attack.”

Funnier still was a similar disruption in the Philippines where, on Jan. 1, where hundreds of flights affecting some 65,000 passengers were cancelled, delayed, or diverted due to equipment failure. Airport officials claimed that this “incidence” was a power outage affecting communication and radar equipment but did not mention “cyber-attack” but sabotage had not been ruled out.

Of course, if memory serves, there yet was another “incidence” in October 2022 whereby some of our largest airports were targeted for cyberattacks by an attacker within the Russian Federation.

Paraphrasing James Bond author Ian Fleming, once is an incidence, twice is a coincidence, and more than three times is enemy action.

Accordingly, we should never forget that sometimes somewhere somehow someone is really out to get us.

Dick Pilling

Port Angeles