Nature

Pests … yes, but deer are dear to all

Janet Kragen’s letter (“Foxes would take care of varmints,” Aug. 9) denounced deer as varmints. I would like to offer another view and some suggestions. I admit I’m not much interested in gardening, but to me having those beautiful wild animals strolling past my window is worth any number of posies all standing in a row.

My late wife Susan, however, was an avid gardener and she suffered deer angst for years before finding her path to ungulate coexistence. First, we tried all the bunkum home remedies: Irish Spring soap, mylar flagging, and my personal favorite, lion dung from the zoo (that one didn’t repel deer but drew every dog in the neighborhood). The real solution: steel, with attitude adjustment.

I built a 7-foot-high fence around the vegetable garden and we ringed the fruit trees with 2-by-4 welded wire until the trees were tall enough to fend for themselves. The rest of our place belongs to the deer. Susan planted it with things deer are reputed to snub, but the little dears occasionally surprised us with appetite adjustments and nibbled them anyway. Oh well, they live here too.

Susan also worked out her predation frustrations with a series of cartoons titled, “The Trouble With Deer.”

Cebe Wallace

McDonald Avenue NE

Election ‘08

Send Judge Hunt back to bench

The state judicial elections will be decided in the Aug. 19 primary. We have a chance to send one of the finest Court of Appeals judges, Judge (Joyce) Robin Hunt, back to the bench where she has so loyally served for the past 11 years. Her opponent, Tim Ford, has no judicial experience, very little trial experience, and is rated “not qualified” by the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys (www.votingforjudges.org). Judge Hunt is rated “exceptionally well qualified” by numerous judicial rating organizations.

Ford has worked as a lobbyist for a special interest group (Building Industry Association of Washington). Guess who is paying to print his nasty direct mail piece with incorrect information about Judge Hunt? Yup, dig into the PDC filings and the money is coming from the BIAW.

I urge you to vote to return Judge Hunt to the bench – you will be in good company. Her endorsers include tons of judges from all the courts as well as prosecutors, defense attorneys, conservatives and liberals, Democrats and Republicans. Let’s make a statement that we want impartial and independent judges in our courts!

Linda Owens

Campaign treasurer

People to Re-elect Judge Robin Hunt

City

Column’s response is encouraging

It was just wonderful to see and read the outstanding response from a lengthy list of signers to my urge for greater communication between the city government and the community. Others have told me of the difficulty some have with their long hours on the job, the commutes and other factors that make it tough to show up at public meetings.

There can be no argument with that. But, as articulate and passionate as their response to my plea was, their concerns cannot be addressed adequately just in a newspaper. The hope is of course that all the city leadership will have read and digested this letter from obviously bright and caring people.

My further hope is that the same kind of passion that burst forth from the letter they sent might just once be present and expressed in person at a council meeting or two. We are lucky to have these neighbors.

Joseph J. Honick

Bainbridge Island

Financial woes a long time coming

One measure of the financial health of a municipality is the ratio of its general fund balance at the beginning of its fiscal year, with the anticipated general fund revenues for that year.

When Mayor Kordonowy took office in January 2002, the city’s general fund balance was $3,638,381, according to the state auditor’s website. With general fund revenues for 2002 totaling $12,652,002, the beginning general fund balance was 29 percent of general fund revenues.

In January 2006, when Mayor Kordonowy took office for her second term, the general fund balance had dropped to $2,066,607. This was 12 percent of 2006 general fund revenues of $16,703,036.

At the beginning of 2008, the general fund balance had further declined to $1,173,906, according to the city’s unaudited financial statements.

The 2008 Mid-Year Review projected 2008 general fund revenue at $16,403,113. The general fund’s “shock absorber” was a mere seven percent of annual receipts.

The seeds of the city’s current financial situation were planted years ago. Today’s economic conditions did nothing more than signal the beginning of the harvest.

DANIEL SMITH

Bainbridge Island