I was talking to someone the other day, and the question of local news came up. I asked him if he read The Olympian. Nope, same answer to The Sitting Duck, listened to local radio, Olyblog, whatever. This person did not use local news sources. I asked him what newspaper he did read. "The New York Times." I asked didn't he care about local news and events? "Oh, I don't care for the local media they aren't the same as the NYT..." I wanted to scream. I simply asked him if he enjoyed learning more about what goes on halfway around the world, than say Tumwater. This went on and on, it was kind of sad. Say what you will about the size or quality of local media at least they are local. Sometimes I think people cannot grasp that Oly and Thurston County are small communities. Either that or they feel it is more sophisticated or fashionable to be concerned with "national" or "world news" and not know squat about what happens in your own backyard. I read local news first, then regional, then statewide, then Western US, then national, then finally if I feel like it, international. I rarely get past western US to tell you the truth... Anyway not sure where I am going here, but thought this conversation I had on the bus would be of interest to some...

We will be touching on the details of the Briana Waters case before her trial starts in Tacoma on Monday, February 11 at 8:30 AM.

There are several areas of support for Briana that volunteers can plug into but the most important goal is packing the courtroom. Come find out how you can plug into the organizing of support and witnessing this precedent setting case. Anyone interested in civil liberties should be interested in this trial.

http://www.olycivlib.org

Patrick Menendez works as a support technician at ReachONE Internet. On his way home from work Monday evening February 4th, he got off the city bus and was then struck by a drunken driver in a Ford F-150 pickup truck about 8:15 pm. The driver of the pickup truck did not stop.

Fortunately, a concerned driver followed the truck to downtown Olympia -- calling the police -- where the police arrested the man and took him to St. Peter's Hospital to assess his level of drunkenness.

The incident happened at Pacific Avenue near Sawyer Street in Olympia. If you have information regarding this hit and run, you are asked to contact Olympia police at 360-753-8300.

Patrick suffered a fracture in his hip, his left leg is broken in several places and his right knee was mangled.

For more information about the incident, please see http://HelpPatrickandMary.com

If you don't have anything better to do, come join us in to watch the battle of North America played out on the soccer pitch. We'll be down at Charlie's Tavern (620 4th Ave, across from the old Safeway) watching the United States and Mexico play a friendly on the t.v. Starts at 6p.

And, for everyone that is used to football games that last more than four hours, your typical soccer game lasts only about two (including halftime). FYI. 

Every once in a while I see three to five guys walking down the street in downtown Oly all wearing the same baggy “prison-issue” beige coats. They also carry the same “jail-issue” personal-property paper bag…all meticulously folded and held in a similar fashion. It all seems a bit posed to me. Anyone hip to these guys?

Here's a link to Sustainable South Bronx's website.

1009 4th Ave in downtown Olympia