[via email from Cathie Butler, Communications Manager]

Olympia, WA. Applications for appointment to City of Olympia advisory committees and commissions will be accepted until March 1, 2007.   Terms of appointment for Olympia's committees take affect on April 1, with terms for about one-third of the appointees ending in any given year. 

Applications are being accepted for the following positions:

• Arts Commission (four positions)
• Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (three positions: one citizen-at-large; one walking/pedestrian advocate; and one representative for the disabled community).
• Design Review Board (one citizen-at-large; and one development community or business representative)
• Heritage Commission (five positions)
• Lodging Tax Advisory Committee (two positions:  one representative of agencies eligible to receive lodging tax funding; and one representative from hotels/motels that pay the tax)
• Parking Advisory Committee (two positions: downtown resident and alternate mode representative)
• Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee (three positions)
• Planning Commission (four positions) 
• Utility Advisory Committee (four positions)

All positions are non-paid (volunteers), and the members are appointed by the Olympia City Council.  Residency or other requirements may apply.  Information, including the application form, is posted on the City of Olympia website:  www.olympiawa.gov.  Questions?  Call Cathie Butler at Olympia City Hall, 753-8361.

In just six short months the I-5 Bridge has gone from groundbreaking to ribbon-cutting!  Construction of the Chehalis-Western Trail I-5 Bridge got underway in early July.  This is the first of three bridge segments that will connect the Chehalis-Western Trail on both sides of Interstate 5.

The I-5 Bridge will enable cyclists and pedestrians to cross I-5 between South Sound Center and Martin Way without having to detour to Lilly Road or Sleater-Kinney Road.  An at-grade pedestrian crossing on Martin Way will make crossing that street safer and easier too.

If you were told that a cure for Cancer has been found would you celebrate one of the greatest medical achievements of humankind or denounce it based on myopic morality?

That issue is being debated in legislative halls and Starbucks around the country. The vaccine is for three strains of human papillomavirus. HPV, of which there are dozens of strains, causes warts. The three in question cause Cervical Cancer which is the second most common one for women.

To vaccinate young girls and prevent them from contracting Cervical Cancer seems a no-brainer. Unfortunately for the lives and welfare of many future women the main method of contraction for HPV Cervical Cancer is through sexual contact.

Moralists are already denouncing the vaccine as an endorsement for promiscuity. They claim that if parents taught their children Biblical values there would never be a need for HPV vaccine.

Never mind that children are curious about bodies and teenagers are naturally horny. Never mind that "Abstinence Only" teaching fails to stop disease and pregnancies. Never mind that people, especially younger people, make mistakes in judgement. These pillars of our great moral society would rather risk the lives of women.

HPV does not discriminate on the circumstances leading to sex. A married woman is just as likely to contract it. Like many other STDs men are often unaware that they carry the strain. A woman who is infected may not know for over a decade.

When I have teenagers I will not want them to be sexually active. I will hope that I succeeded in teaching them good values for both their physical and mental health. I will hope that they are strong enough not to succumb to peer pressure for drinking, smoking, drugging and screwing. But if they do I don't want them to die just because they disappointed me.

Currently the cost of the vaccine is steep: over $300 for a three-shot series. Most insurance covers it. Compare that to the cost and risk of surgery to remove pre-cancerous cells; My mother had that done. Compare that to the cost and risk and prognosis of chemotherapy.

From the NY Times today:

A Day Without Guns

Twenty years ago, the Florida Legislature cravenly decided to allow “law abiding” citizens to carry concealed weapons merely by declaring their preference for self-defense. Then last July, at the prodding of the gun lobby, the current crop of state lawmakers proved they could be even more corrupt and cowardly than their predecessors by deciding to make the list of gun-toting Floridians a secret.

Fortunately, a local newspaper has given residents of the state a final look at their representatives’ gruesome handiwork.

When the law was first enacted, there were fewer than 25,000 licensed gun holders. Since then, the state roll has boomed to 410,000 and counting. As the veil descends on this dangerously macho part of the public record, enterprising articles in The Florida Sun-Sentinel are laying bare the fact that more than 1,400 people easily got gun licenses despite pleading guilty or no contest to felonies that included manslaughter, burglary and child molestation. In Broward County alone, gun licenses grew in 20 years to more than 35,000 from 25.

Sampling records just before the law took effect, the newspaper uncovered hundreds of tales of mayhem, official indifference and glaring loopholes in criminal justice protection. One man got a license after pleading no contest to manslaughter in fatally shooting his girlfriend in the head while she cooked him breakfast. Another applicant was licensed despite guilty pleas to grand theft and assault charges for holding a handgun against his roommate’s head in an argument.

Those permitted to pack concealed weapons include 216 people with outstanding criminal warrants, 128 under domestic violence injunctions and 6 registered sex offenders.

The gun lobby, predictably enough, is blaming “bleeding-heart, criminal-coddling judges and prosecutors” for this grim state of affairs. The truth is that the National Rifle Association has succeeded too well in herding legislators to do its dangerous bidding. Lawmakers in 38 states have approved bills allowing citizens to carry concealed weapons.