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January 3, 2012
The electric chickens have come home to roost
For years, energy experts warned us that regulations and policies that reduce the supply of affordable conventional energy would result in higher prices for American families.
For years, energy experts warned us that regulations and policies that reduce the supply of affordable conventional energy would result in higher prices for American families.
The New Year is just around the corner, and for many it will be a time to get dressed up and celebrate the countdown to 2012.
In today's dog-eat-dog world, change is constant and accelerating. Other countries are stealing our factories and jobs and are hungry for more. That is the new reality.
Amid all of the holiday cheer that can be found around town -- from Christmas tree lightings and parades to visits from Santa -- it is incredibly sobering to read that two local homeless shelters that serve the Clark County area were packed to their limits on the first day they opened for the winter season on Nov. 1, and have remained steadily busy ever since.
I am not a long term resident and citizen of Washougal -- only four years and counting. But in that time I could see a community in transition.
We acknowledge that in these complicated economic times, school districts are not exempt from taking their fair share of funding cuts. We recognize that difficult decisions are being discussed surrounding the state's constitutional obligation to fund education first.
If this past week's traumatic events in Washougal have taught us anything, it might be that life can take some tragic and unexpected turns, and put us in situations we never imagined possible. The truth is, we really never know what may lie just around that corner or behind that door.
Americans live in an idealistic world where, no matter what happens, we'll still be able to go home at night and switch on the lights or pull into a filling station and gas up the family SUV.
With the mandatory recount of the votes in the tight Washougal City Council Position No. 2 race finally complete, we can officially say the 2011 General Election has come to a close.
In January, Washington's minimum wage will crack the $9 mark and we will once again be No. 1 -- the state with the nation's highest minimum wage.