Thomas, Unlike Lund, Doesn’t Have Agenda
I’m writing to encourage voters to re-elect Chris Thomas to the Centralia School Board, and to warn voters about what to expect from his opponent should he take office instead.
For many years, Chris and I worked together in the newspaper business. He grew and advanced from a hard-working, energetic summer intern to a trusted, valued colleague on the newsroom leadership team. Chris made a conscious decision to return to Centralia after receiving his university education.
He’s committed himself to serving his community, both inside and outside his occupation, and he’s done it well. He doesn’t see the school board as a stepping-stone or as a place to advance his personal agenda. That’s why Centralia School District voters entrusted him with a position on the school board, and why they should keep him there.
I don’t know his opponent, Jami Lund. I can evaluate Lund only by his affiliations and their stances. He works for the Freedom Foundation, a misnamed right-wing special-interest group that operates on the fringes of traditional mainstream conservatism.
Tom McCabe, a former building industry lobbyist who works as the foundation’s executive director, is on record as saying the foundation’s mission is to take on unions. As recently as this year’s legislative session, the foundation lobbied against public servants’ voice.
Lund himself is on record with the same sort of rhetoric, attacking the interest of public servants. He’s not forthcoming about that in his campaign materials, mentioning only feel-good standbys such as unreached potential and preparing students.
That omission in itself displays an alarming lack of transparency on Lund’s part. One can anticipate that would change were voters to make the mistake of putting him in public office. (Full disclosure: I belong to a public employees’ union, although I am not an activist.)
Please don’t think I believe teacher unions are the solution to all of public education’s problems. Far from it. I’ve had my own disagreements with teacher unions. I do, however, believe teachers should have the right to organize, to bargain collectively and to advocate their positions.
The school board has the obligation to consider the teachers’ positions, and to counter them with equanimity and reason. Chris has a record of having done that. The Centralia School Board doesn’t need an inflexible, agenda-driven hard-liner such as Lund on its side of the table the next time a difficult labor negotiation comes around.
This is no time for Centralia School District voters to turn the clock back 100 years. The children in the district can’t afford that risk. Vote to continue moving forward. Vote for Chris Thomas.
Gordon MacCracken
Centralia
Millions Wasted on Flooding Studies
Eighty years of taxpayer-funded studies and consultants to identify and implement effective flood damage reduction projects throughout the large, complex Chehalis River Basin have proven to be an utter waste of time and money.
Irresponsible logging in local forests and tree farms, short-sighted development in the vast Chehalis River floodway and changing weather patterns will result in increased damage with each major storm.
Now, after millions of dollars and countless hours, we are told that the Chehalis River Basin is comprised of multiple habitats that support multiple aquatic species. We’re also told that the headwaters of the Chehalis River are prime habitats for highly-prized salmon and steelhead. No kidding!
Of course, these spawning and rearing habitats will be under hundreds of feet of water if the massive Chehalis River dam is constructed south of Pe Ell as proposed.
This proposed dam will not be close to cost effective nor will it be constructed for many years, if at all.
In the meantime, there will be more irresponsible land practices, more and larger storms, more storm damage and more multimillion dollar studies with little to show for them.
Resolutions by Wild Game Fish Conservation International regarding irresponsible land practices throughout the Chehalis River Basin continue to be ignored as the preferred alternative appears to be status quo with the addition of the proposed cost-ineffective Chehalis River dam.
Truly shameful and absolutely irresponsible.
James E. Wilcox
publisher / co-editor: LEGACY
Wild Game Fish Conservation International
