September 2012 ( Vol. 23, No. 5)

With the academic year quickly approaching it seems appropriate to reevaluate the ways in which Evergreen has succeeded, or not succeeded, in employing practices that positively affect both those in the immediate college community as well as those in the greater Olympia region. Specifically, policies and practices regarding the campus food system.

The subject of a self-operated campus dining system is not a new topic to those within the Evergreen community. In the past decade there have been both student led and college organized efforts to initiate dialogue and begin actualizing a food structure more aligned to the college’s mission statement. 

For many years, local environmentalists and veterans’ groups have wondered if depleted uranium has been used on the artillery firing range inside Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM), the largest military base on the West Coast. Documents released under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) show that the base used depleted uranium rounds, which contain a radioactive, toxic heavy metal, in the 1960s. Army officials deny links to confirmed radon contamination, and are unsure when cleanup procedures will begin.

Fifteen months and a dozen+ trips into the courtroom later...

Scott Yoos Support Committee and Legal Defense Fund

Regrettably, there's precious little in the way of really new news to report about the still-pending case of "Washington State v. Yoos."  Back in April (2012), it was thought that Scott's main Trial would be in full-swing by August of this year, but, due to multiple, unanticipated, out-of-state scheduling conflicts, official "continuances" were sought and granted.  

NORMAL Thurston analyzed 10 years of marijuana arrests in the county

As a board member for the Thurston County chapter of the National Organiztion for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) I approach marijuana arrests with a bias. I have trouble explaining the necessity to ban a plant that, after centuries of use, has yet to be fatal. I find it difficult to negotiate that while the National Institute of Health observed marijuana dependency in 9% of users, compared to 30% of users of alcohol. I find it hard to support federal scheduling which says marijuana has no medical value after meeting Erv Rosenfeld, whom the feds have been supplying with medical pot for a quarter century. So yes, I’ve become biased against a policy that is biased against facts.