Events
Islander Middle School PTSA Ski Swap: Consignment goods check-in, 3-8:30 p.m., Nov. 7, IMS Gym. Ski Swap Sale: 8:30 a.m.-2 p.m., Nov. 8. 50% Off Sale: 3-4 p.m. Clothing, equipment. Sponsor: Sturtevant’s Winter Sports. Tanya Bednarski: tanyabednarski@comcast.net, 275-0302. www.miskiswap.net.
The number of votes separating a Democrat ahead in a close race for the 41st Legislative District continues to shrink with each count.
To Roger Curtis and the staff at Islander Middle School, thank you for all the help with the League of Women Voters Forum on Oct. 21. The easels were particularly useful in the display of all the MI Parks pictures that Friends of Luther Burbank had loaned us.
When it rains, I can count on my sports games being cancelled. If the games aren’t, I’m playing in a field of water. This is because the fields on Mercer Island have poor drainage.
I found your article about Nancy Ramey Lethcoe very inspiring. I, too, was befriended by Nancy and her late husband, Jim. I met her as a pen pal while in prison. She has worked for the benefit of other prisoners as a result of our unique friendship. As an aspiring candidate for a seat in the Alaskan government, I would say she is most qualified to hold that seat. Gov. Sarah Palin isn’t the only inspiring female candidate in the state.
I think schools should have a bigger variety of clubs and extracurricular activities. There are lots of different thoughts, feelings and interests. Some people are content with the usual; some thrive on the unexpected. Some lead busy lives; some do not. Some people are calm and artistic; others are upbeat and athletic.
I am writing about the article in last week’s Reporter Police Blotter section that mentioned a teenager who was drinking at the high school football game. I feel strongly that a teenager should not be drinking, especially at a football game.
I agree with the U.S. government’s bailout bill because financial assistance to certain investment banks is important in order to improve our economy.
We would like to express our gratitude to the Mercer Island Schools Foundation for its continued support of our fifth-grade science program. The annual Phone-A-Thon will be taking place on Oct. 27 and 28 this year, and we want to encourage the community to support our schools through this fundraiser.
The revelation that it is against the law for public bus routes to be established to transport school children is a blow to the Mercer Island School District. The district spent a great deal of time and effort working with King County Metro on the arrangement to transport 600 Mercer Island High School students to school and home each day. This bit of news comes as the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction has estimated that by the end of this school year, fuel costs to districts statewide will have increased more than $22 million. The move to Metro has saved a good deal of money for our district, whose administrators must be constantly vigilant about saving funds while meeting their obligation to educate students.
Mercer Island High School graduate Courtney Hampson was honored as the University of Washington 2008 Homecoming Queen on Oct. 17. Hampson, who graduated from MIHS in 2005, is a UW honors student pursuing a degree at the Jackson School of International Studies. A member of Phi Beta Kappa, Hampson has taken on a number of leadership roles at UW. She is the director of the UW Leaders Program, co-founder of the ASUW Ambassadors program, an active member of the Alpha Gamma Delta sorority and the Order of Omega Greek Leadership and Honor Society. Hampson is writing her honors thesis on the changing purpose of the Peace Corps.
Sometimes it seems as if our computers have a mind of their own and, for whatever reason, are intentionally wreaking havoc in our lives. This week, we will try to re-establish technological tranquility.
Five Islanders ran the 2008 New York City Marathon last weekend, with several others cheering them along. Mercer Island residents Robert Cremin, Kevin Flaherty, Rhonda Glass, Sarah Rowe and Eric Rudder participated in America’s most prestigious 26-mile race on Nov. 2. The crisp autumn day drew a crowd of two million, while more than 40,000 people from across the world ran in the event.