State reps. Williams and Hunt respond to a question about Olympia's action on the brewery' water rights. From The Olympian:

Lisa, Olympia: Can the state help the Olympia obtain water rights at the Tumwater Brewery? Olympia was smart to act as it did. The bottled water company that supposedly bought the property gives every impression of being a scam. The smart thing is to buy the deeply discounted Brewery with its 176 acres of prime real estate, incomparable water rights, wells, pumps and other amenities. Washington state should help bring the parties together. Can you help this process? That water and land needs to be in public hands and not a hostage in some unseen speculator's portfolio.

Williams: The city of Olympia has already helped itself, so I don't know state assistance is necessary. Olympia seems to be pursuing the legal remedies available to it. As to the long-term future of the property, certainly I'd like that to be utilized for family wage jobs.

Moderator: Any concerns the water won't be shared equitably?

Hunt: Obviously we found out about it reading the newspaper like most folks, because Olympia didn't want others to get ahead of them. I think they did the right thing and Olympia leaders have pledged to work with Lacey and Tumwater and that's better than having someone else sell those water rights to someone else. We tried to get Modelo to bottle Corona and Pacifico up here, but that didn't work out. Obviously the ideal thing would be a new brewery there.

It also seems that Olympia has averted a crisis with Tumwater. From the Olympian:

TUMWATER — Swallowing some bitter feelings, Tumwater council members voted Tuesday to study the benefits of merging the Tumwater and Olympia fire departments.

The merger could improve fire services in both cities, officials have said, but the proposal was jeopardized when Olympia officials last week condemned the former Tumwater brewery for its water rights, leaving the neighboring cities feeling left out and betrayed.

Tumwater council members voted 5-2 to pursue a merger despite the hard feelings.

“I’m still appalled that they did what they did, but I still support going forward with this analysis,