I’ve been sorry this past week that I missed Centralia’s recent City Council meeting. To add to my chagrin and shame, I’d been reminded earlier of the importance of voicing my opinion, but just got so involved in a project in my home that I temporarily forgot about it. My apologies go to all who have been trying to keep a little bit of “soul” in the city.
I’m referring to the vote by the council’s majority of one to essentially drop support for the outdoor swimming pool. I don’t think I could have added very much eloquence to the appeals by Harlan Forrest and Robert Logan. I’m pretty sure that individual council members had their minds made up before the item was placed onto the agenda.
Has it escaped anyone’s mind that two of the three who voted to extend the deadline for the pool are the same two who have done so much for the city in the past: Mayor Bonnie Canaday and Lee Coumbs. A list of their involvement in promoting local endeavors might fill up the rest of this column. Can the four who voted “no” match it?
I can’t help but compare the actions of individual citizens of the two cities, Centralia and Chehalis. Chehalis has the Vernetta Smith Timberland Library, the Gail and Carolyn Shaw Aquatic Center and the Lintott-Alexander Park. Each of them is the result of actions and contributions of present or former citizens who are grateful for what their city has done for them and want to preserve that feeling of civic pride.
True, Centralia has Scott White, who’s devoting his very life to restoration of the Fox Theatre, and his brother, Neil, who is maintaining both the old Eagles Aerie and old Elks Club buildings. You have the likes of Bonnie and Lee on the city council, and the members of S.T.O.P., who have been fighting to keep the outdoor pool open, but who else can you quickly name off the top of your head who has contributed very much time or money to keeping Centralia livable?
I don’t mean to downplay the efforts by Dale Pullin and others who have promoted the Centralia sports complex, but this writer is still not convinced that that’s what Centralia needed most.
Where are the Centralia citizens hiding who want to preserve the very things that made us choose to remain here in the first place? Have they been replaced by those who want to change us into something else, something called “Bigger is Better”?
I know, I’m beginning to sound like a broken record (remember those?) but Chehalis seems to have a sense of pride, and Centralia seems to have a sense of shame, always wanting to be something else.
Darn it, if I didn’t have the peculiar hearing problem that caused me to forego a chance at another term on the council, I’d react as I did back in 1995, when the city (or rather the then city manager) allowed the logging of North Tower Avenue and throw my hat back into the ring.
Is it too early to endorse any candidates for city council in this fall’s election? Years ago I voted against Joyce Barnes, but that was only because she happened to be running against my own re-election efforts. That won’t be the case this time.
We need to have people on the council who have a balanced approach: balanced between the past and the future. To this writer’s mind there doesn’t need to be much, if any, difference between the two.
•••
Bill Moeller is a former entertainer, mayor, bookstore owner, city council member, paratrooper and pilot living in Centralia. He can be reached at bookmaven321@comcast.net.
