How far to the Left was early Evergreen? Here's one measurement. In 1972 the Democrats nominated George McGovern, probably the most liberal major party personality to run in my lifetime. I worked as a volunteer in the Olympia HQ. Since my hair was too long for doorbelling, they had me stuffing envelopes, licking stamps, making phone surveys. There were entire precincts in Lacey where I found more people saying they were voting for nutball American Independent Party candidate John G. Schmitz (father of Mary Kay Letourneau) than I found voting for our guy.

Most of the local Scoop Jackson Democrats sat out the campaign. We knew we didn't have a chance, but we believed if there was ever an election where it was clearly good vs. evil, this was it. And America overwhelmingly chose evil. It probably didn't help that although McGovern was a decent man, he was a terrible politician. Still, I'm glad I had the experience of being part of that campaign.

The HQ was across the street from the State Theater, which was showing Robert Redford's "The Candidate" through most of the time we were there. The week McGovern got trounced, they were showing a new movie entitled, "When Legends Die." We thought that was pretty funny, actually.

Oh, back to Evergreen. Most of my fellow volunteers were irreverent and fun-to-be around senior citizens, not connected to the College at all (in 1972, I'm sure I thought people who were over 35 were senior citizens). We did have a few key people who were TESC connected, but there was a conspicuous absence of student help. Apparently, whenever they were approached to help out, many students dismissed McGovern as just another capitalist lackey. Leave it to me to volunteer for a guy who was rejected by Olympia locals AND Evergreen.

From today's PI:

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Army Sgt. Walt Gaya spent his time in Iraq peering - through the scope of his sniper rifle and through the lens of his camera, snapping black-and-white pictures of his unit and of life in the turbulent city of Mosul.

Becoming a professional photographer was his dream. Losing his sight was his nightmare, which he sometimes mentioned in long-distance phone calls to his wife, Jessica, in Washington.

The wound has turned his life upside down.

When Gaya returned to Fort Lewis, he joined other injured soldiers assigned to odd jobs around the base. With his impaired vision, his days as a sniper were over.

Some days he would help move furniture around; other times he would prepare barracks for the return of the battalion.

The attack had also upturned other parts of his life. The Argentina-born immigrant, who moved to the United States as a child, was injured just eight days before he was to be sworn in as a U.S. citizen in a ceremony in Iraq.

Now, he's in a bureaucratic black hole: Federal immigration officials wouldn't renew his permanent resident card or tell him when he could reschedule the swearing-in ceremony. No one at the local U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office could tell him what to do next to get his citizenship papers, or even how to renew his immigration documents.

At 1 PM Drew Hendricks initially reported heightened security at the port and the sighting of a Crowley Coast Guard tow ship, three zodiacs, and another 14 foot steel-hulled Coast Guard vessel at the port. The quay is empty and probably awaiting a drop-off of materials.

**BE ADVISED: Materials unloaded from military ships in the Port of Olympia are often spent materials from the war in Iraq and may be contaminated by Depleted Uranium, a carcinogenic radioactive material. This material is often transported out of the port compound by way of the railroad. Click on "Read More" to see the specifications of this ship.