Feel Good Bills

Brad and 42 other representatives sponsored a feel-good bill honoring our National Guard for the good things they are doing in foreign lands. Haler is among the army of co-sponsors. No one seems to want to address the question of why Washington National Guard soldiers are in a foreign land to begin with.

Brad Klippert Watch

Brad gets his first bill approved out of a committee. Judiciary says it's OK. Now it goes to the Rules committee.

Brad Klippert Watch

I'm just getting started with this so the first thing is to get the lay of the land.

Brad has positions on the Human Services Committee and the Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Committee.

Here's the blurb on the purview of Human Services:
The House Human Services Committee considers issues relating to persons with developmental disabilities, adults in need of general assistance, adults in need of drug and alcohol treatment, vocational rehabilitation, and juvenile offenders. The committee also considers mental health issues relating to civil commitment and mentally ill offenders in the criminal justice system. In addition, the committee considers programs and operations affiliated with certain state facilities and institutions, including those under the purview of the Department of Corrections, the Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration, and the Division of Developmental Disabilities.

Here's the blurb on Public Safety & Emergency Preparedness:
The House Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Committee considers issues relating to law enforcement agencies, crime prevention, penalties and sentencing for criminal offenders, registration and civil commitment of sex offenders, and state and local government preparedness to respond to public emergencies, including the interoperability of emergency communications systems.

In the future I will try to examine how well Brad functions with these groups.

TCH Report of our Inaugural Party

from Tri-Citians toast historic day (w/ video)

"I've never seen this many Democrats in one place in this county," joked David Chassin of Pasco while trying to squeeze through a crowd gathered at the Shilo Inn.

"They're not all Democrats," said Lyle Wilhelmi, 82, of Richland, who admitted he voted Republican lots of times years ago before moving from Oregon to the Tri-Cities. "I think some of them are Republican spies," he suggested.

But everyone there was focused on the 44th president.

Carol Moser, former member of the Richland City Council, led a toast for the crowd.

"This turnout is beyond our wildest expectations," she said.

Nathan Reyes of West Richland said he "woke up this morning feeling blessed (to have) an intelligent man as president who is going to fix our economy and everything that's crumbling under us."

Reyes' wife, Michelle, said she was encouraged by Obama's inaugural speech in which he called for Americans to work together regardless of color, creed, religion or politics.

"He wants to get us to a destination of change as a pragmatist," said Nathan Reyes' brother, Fitzgerald.

Arielle Eaton, 11, of West Richland, said she likes having a black president. "It's cool, and it's cool he's a dad because his kids get to live in the White House," she said.

Joel Staudinger, 11, of Pasco, said the new president is a good choice. "It's very good. He can turn the country around economically," he said.

"I think he's an organizer. He doesn't pretend to know everything, but he gets people together who do know," Wilhelmi said.

Michelle Reyes said President Obama offers change. "It won't be overnight, but it will be for the good. That's what I look forward to."

* John Trumbo: 509-582-1529; jtrumbo@tricityherald. com.

Double edged sword

It seems that terrorist training camps in Algeria have been struck by the plague. It's possible that contacts with other terrorist organizations have infected them as well. But it seems to me that it is also possible that a martyrdom-bent fanatic could just as well infect whatever city or country he chooses.

MLK Prediction

The BBC has an old clip of Martin Luther King predicting a black American president.

Reorganization

It's a new year with a new (sort of) list of officers.
Kendall Miller continues a chair
Nancy Beitel as vice-chair
Zach Hopko is our new treasurer
Glynn Stevens is our state committee-man
Ann Eaton is our new state committee-woman