Letter writers lament Saint Martin’s woes, weigh in on Sheriff’s hire and oppose new roundabout
Saint Martin’s shortfall could be solved by NFL
Many colleges are experiencing lower enrollments and funding shortfalls. That is all understandable. But what I find hard to understand is an economy that can readily find $260 million a year to fund a football team (Seahawk salaries) but struggles to find $4.3 million to keep 14 teachers and a college (Saint Martin’s University) secure.
I am an avid Seahawk fan, but I think perhaps we’ve lost some perspective when we pay athletes $60 million (and more) a year while educational and community support programs struggle.
Todd Wiley, Olympia
How to hold Sheriff accountable for hire
The reason Thurston County’s new and presumably better-than-the-former-guy sheriff can get away with the despicable hiring of Christopher Burbank is because our system of holding our county sheriffs accountable in 38 of 39 Washington counties is horribly flawed.
Our Thurston County Sheriff is only accountable to voters once every four years when they run for reelection. The Sheriff runs his own department, makes his own decisions and the County Commissioners have no oversight authority over his department. Nobody in the county’s HR department will note this terrible decision in his files.
We should not let the only accountability of our most senior law enforcement officer in the county be determined by a popular vote. Thurston County should adopt county home rule now, so we have a system where our sheriff is accountable every day of every year instead of one day every fourth year.
Let’s hope this is the worst mistake our sheriff makes, and by the time his term is up, he doesn’t have to win a political campaign to keep his job. Instead, imagine that he only has to be the best candidate for the job based on an objective process.
While Sheriff Sanders is an improvement over his predecessor, we can further improve law enforcement in our county and adopting county home rule allows us to do so.
Steve Albrecht, Olympia
Sheriff should stand up to liberals
Sheriff Sanders’ abject apology to those Thurston County voters who threatened the lives of his hire and his family is pathetic. If this man has to apologize to screaming, unarmed liberals, how is he ever going to summon the courage to stand up to an armed criminal?
Bruce Finley, Shelton
Say no to roundabout on Martin Way
Intercity Transit and Thurston County Public Works are proposing a roundabout at the intersection of Martin Way and Duterrow/Meridian roads. This is a major intersection of an arterial road to/from Lacey/Hawks Prairie areas to I-5. This is a very bad idea!
Several area communities are against this. Ridgeview 1, Ridgeview 2, Nisqually Bluff, and Steilacoom Ridge are forming committees, writing letters, and approaching the Board of County Commissioners, Public Works Director, and Intercity Transit Authority to stop this.
Accident rates will go up. Traffic flow will slow. Ridgeview 1 and 2 will have to go an extra two miles just to get out of their neighborhoods.
This roundabout and huge expenditure of money are just so the buses can turn around! Communities be damned! Traffic be damned! We need to stop this in its tracks!
There are many places for the buses to turn around. They could go east on Martin, down the hill toward I-5, right on Nisqually Cutoff Road, and turn around about half a mile in where the road/shoulders are four paved lanes wide. Add a bus stop there to serve the Nisqually Indian community. On the westbound route, turn left on Martin, then right to serve Nisqually RV Park. These communities need serving. Or use several other roundabouts already available, like Meridian/Orion, or others. At no cost! No disruption of traffic, fewer accidents, better in every way.
Almost a million dollars has already been awarded just to study this stupid idea. Stop!
Larry Taylor, Olympia
