The tide was super high at about 4 pm. The water looked horribly dirty, greenish, and there was some nasty detritous, flotsam and a film on the surface of the water.

Poor seals, poor otters, poor us!

What's it going to take for us, both as individual members of - and society at large, to learn to respect our environment and the ecological systems upon which we and future generations depend. Our standards of living are being lowered, and all for what?

Coffee roasters, who buy green coffee beans on the global market and roast them for grinding and consumption, said the Asian tsunami last year caused a spike in prices, but it dropped quickly.

"It dissipated rather quickly, and there is so much coffee in the world and so many places to ship it," said Lois Maffeo, a spokeswoman for Batdorf & Bronson Coffee Roasters in Olympia, Wash. "My spine isn't tingling yet.

The Thurston County Public Health and Social Services Department will offer two immunization clinics Sept. 7 from 2 to 7 p.m. at the Yelm Community Center and Sept. 10 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Health Department on Lilly Road in Olympia.

...no one will be refused service because of inability to pay. Medical coupons will be accepted, and Spanish and Vietnamese translation services will be on hand.

After falsely accusing another city council candidate as a Republican, the death-knell to any Olympia City council campaign, it has come to my attention that another candidate is a full-fledged Republican.

Even won the GOP primary for Lt. Gov last year. But, in the GOP's defense, most voters probably thought he was Jim West, mayor of Spokane.

For the record, I don't really have anything against Republicans. I know many fine Republicans, and I respect people who express their views by joining political parties. I just think its funny for a Republican to run for city council in Olympia.

Remembering Sunmar

Taxpayers will remember the excitement port commissioners generated when they announced that Sunmar Container Lines was going to do business out of the Budd Inlet marine terminal. That was back in 1997.

As with the Weyerhaeuser deal, commissioners promised the creation of dozens of jobs with ships of containerized cargo leaving the port every three weeks.

Port commissioners borrowed $6.5 million to make dockside improvements to accommodate the new shipping company. They purchased two cranes from Los Angeles and had them shipped to Olympia via barge.

The berth improvements were made, the cranes were erected and Sunmar started shipping general cargo across the port docks.

After just one year, Sunmar pulled out of Olympia, sticking taxpayers with a decade of debt that, at the time, amounted to $768,700 a year.

The port's lease with Sunmar -- negotiated and signed in secret -- allowed the Seattle-based shipping company to get out of the lease without penalty if there were a downturn in the Russian economy.

It was a faulty lease that port officials never should have agreed to. The community was rightfully outraged over the investment of tax dollars and Sunmar's hasty departure.

The two cranes seldom are used today. That's not likely to change with the Weyerhaeuser deal. Cranes could be used to load lumber, but Weyerhaeuser plans to ship logs -- not lumber.

The Lady Washington's arrival Monday was a booming reminder that the annual Harbor Days Festival will offer plenty of entertainment in Olympia this Labor Day weekend.