Following the end of the volunteer walk out, there have been a couple of new developments in the situation going down at the Olympia Film Society. The group of volunteers (their site here) are still meeting and are now circulating a petition to change the bylaws of OFS to allow for election of board members. The petition is here (beware, pdf file) and here is my little rant when I learned that board members aren't elected.

Be sure you are a member of OFS if you want to sign the petition. Just saying. 

The OFS board president responded to the petition over at the OFS volunteers site, but here letter was removed for some reason. Fortunatly, their archives saved a copy:

Hello everyone, this is a personal note from me, not the whole board. It is with huge sadness and disappointment that I read the petition. I and others on the board have often thought that OFS should strongly consider having an elected board, and I think the idea has real merit. I understand that people are upset, disappointed, and angry at the Board. However, it seems to me that putting this out to our community right now is terribly dangerous and destructive to the OFS organization as a whole, as far as the timing of it goes. I am asking that everyone please think before you sign. I am afraid people will sign it without deep thinking - its all too easy in a time of passion and reaction to jump on to something like this without having the best interest of the organization in mind.

Its a pretty long letter, but its worth reading. 

OlyBlog is a wonderful treasure chest and often really grand ideas can be found in our comment threads. I want to make sure this this jewel doesn't get buried - enpen's vision of what the city of Olympia can do with the street art that is busting out all over:

my ideal

Washington Territorial Governor William Augustus Newell and all the spinoff consequences of his administration are easy to pass over. The excellent and respected Washington State historian Robert E. Ficken brushed Newell off with, "The governor's closest approximation of an achievement, positive or negative, was the acquisition of supposedly escape-proof shackles for penitentiary inmates. Otherwise, Newell spent much of his time in the nation's capital, lobbying for a second four-year stint in Olympia." As much as I respect and enjoy Mr. Ficken's body of work, which is impressive, I must say he missed a good story when he dismissed Gov. Newell so easily. W.A. Newell was an eccentric, and a very interesting one. He was a person who seemed to attract the odd and offbeat aspects of life-- including a short-lived collective settlement in the Olympia area known as the "Newell Colony."

When you scan any gallery of territorial governor portraits, which you can in a back hallway of the Governor House, it would be easy to scan past Gov. Newell and his muttonchops. But look in his eyes. The man has a wiseass streak. Laidback yet willing to play elaborate jokes. He was not a normal politician.