It's NOT Happening in Rainier WA

Gary Edwards made an announcement at the STEDI meeting in May 2023 at the Senior Center of Rainier that Thurston County approved $700,000 for new restroom for Wilkowski Park in Rainier.  This was great news.  

At the June 2023 City Council Meeting there was an announcement that the restrooms won't be built this year.  Neither will the Pickle Ball Court or Tennis Court.  

City Council meetings are held on the second Tuesday of the month in City Hall at 5:00 PM.  Come early and sign up if you want to speak.

John Snaza Farewell 01052023

John Snaza & Co.

On January 5, 2023, retiring Thurston County Sheriff John Snaza was honored at a luncheon at the Senior Center of Rainier for his 12 years of service to our community.  John has participated in getting a resource office for our schools and started “Coffee with a Cop” so that our citizens could have direct one-on-one discussions about their community concerns.  

We had a full house with standing room only.  Over 60 citizens from the greater Rainier area, Deputies from Thurston and Lewis Counties joined Gary Edwards, Vivian Eason, John’s brother Rod Snaza and our resource officer Frank Frawley all came to wish John well.  John was presented with gifts, an American Flag, plaque and a box signed by everyone in attendance that was filled with cookies.  

The Senior Center of Rainier was honored to host this event.  We thank John for his dedication and service to the people of Thurston County.  He was not only a great Sheriff, he’s a wonderful human being.  We wish John continued success in his future endeavors.  He will be greatly missed.

Clothing Drive for the Kids

Tiffany Crop and Rachele Stephenson are heading up a clothing drive for the kids.  

You can drop off clothing at the Senior Center of Rainier this week and next week.  They will earn $0.25 per pound for used clothing.  Any clothing that's not wearable will go to be shredded for insulation.  Please feel free to bring your bags and boxes of clothing to the Senior Center of Rainier Monday & Wednesday between 10 - 2 PM.  If you're attending a function at the senior center during off hours, please feel free to bring your clothing and leave it in the front room.

Thank you for supporting our kids.

"Kids may be 30 % of our population, but they're 100% of our future!" Gary Edwards

Happy New Year! Welcome 2021!

Here's to the future of Rainier!

Last year was challenging for many of us.  COVID-19, lock-downs, masks, school closures and all of the heartache that went along during these challenging times.

Many of us were ill last year from the middle of December through February.  We've talked among ourselves wondering if we had that virus during that time.  That was the worst flu season I've ever experienced.  We had seniors with pneumonia, bronchitis, flu and URI's.  Those that were ill, were ill for several weeks.  Many went to their doctors for treatments several times.  

This year, we have few people who contracted colds or the flu.  I don't know if it's because of the "Stay Safe, Stay Home" orders with the accompanying guidelines.  It was nice to be free from the flu and colds, tho!

Seniors working with Students:

We have grandparents at our center who are helping their children and grandchildren as they struggle through these challenging times.  Our hearts break for parents and students that have been on the "virtual learning" programs.  Students need to interact with their friends and other people.  Being a parent is a tremendous responsibility.  That being said, parents can't be everything to their children.  This is a difficult situation for everyone involved.  

School helps children grow.  Besides academic learning, children need to develop fine motor skills, gross motor skills, emotional skills, social skills in addition to academic skills.  All of these skills are developed over time while interacting with other people their own age under the guidance of professionals.  

Parents are now struggling with not only providing for their children, they're also struggling to teach their children as well, with no compensation, as teachers struggle to help everyone online.  Distance learning is difficult under the best circumstances.  

The Senior Center of Rainier helped our young parents host an outdoor Halloween Parade.  We had "Halloween In Quarantine" coloring and pumpkin carving contests, as well as a parade.  Over 200 kids got treats, while social distancing with their parents in the parade.  You can see pictures of the parade in the Nisqually Valley News on their November 5, 2020 edition.  Look at www.yelmonline.com.

The Kids Christmas Store was cancelled in Yelm, by the Yelm Lions and Rainier Booster Club couldn't host their store because of the school closure, so the Senior Center partnered with the Rainier Chapel and held a Kids Christmas Store on Friday, December 4, 2020 from 4 - 7 PM.  Children and parents wore masks and practiced social distancing.  All gifts were under $10.00.  Many local businesses came with special gifts for children to buy for their friends and family.  Free gift wrapping was provided by Trish & Bruce from Rossi Boots.  

The Rainier Quilting Guild made special, patchwork Christmas Stockings.  The Senior Center of Rainier filled the stockings and Santa came by ambulance, gave out the stockings to the kids.  We gave out all 80 stockings as well as a few extras.  Santa and the kids glanced elbows.

Tonight We Love Rainier WA, a local grassroots civic organization, hosted a "Lantern Walk" for our kids and their families.  It started at around 5:30 behind the Chevron Station and everyone walked to Wilkowski Park.  This is where there were treats, beverages and  a small fire pit where kids could burn their notes about things they didn't like about 2020 as well as hopes and dreams for 2021.  Rachele Stephenson's video of the 2020 Lantern Walk.

As County Commissioner Gary Edwards says "Kids may be 30% of our population, but they are 100% of our future".  

 Wishing everyone a wonderful & prosperous 2021!

Coffee with Commissioner Gary Edwards

This past week Gary was invited to the Rainier Senior Center to speak to the public.  He told a crowd of over 50 he was elected as County Commissioner last year, after 40 years in law enforcement.  He didn’t realize how complicated his new job would be, until after he took office.

Gary works for the citizens, not the county.  Although County Commissioners don’t “do taxes”, they have to be very careful about operating expenses, as that is tax money.  They are doing the best they can to keep everything legal and efficient.  He tries to keep things in the “middle of the road” and balanced between the extremes.

Government bureaucracy is somewhat inefficient.  In the old days, a sheriff could cut down a tree that was crossing the road after a wind storm, or put up a street sign that was down.  Since we’ve become a litigious society that has changed.  Nowadays, everything like that has to be called in for a crew to come out to do the job. Thurston County the lowest number of sheriffs per capita than anywhere else in our state. 

Urban Growth Management encourages growth in the urban core, which effects the growth in rural areas.  Population concentration mandates the way resources are allocated.  We need to come up with solutions to expand our resources.  We also need to create clean jobs in our county, so our kids will stay working here.  Many cities are annexing surrounding rural areas with large businesses for tax revenue.  When Richie Auctions moved from Thurston County to Lewis County, they lost $3,000,000 in tax revenue.  Richie Auctions has now doubled in size, so Lewis County is benefiting.

He said that it’s important to make public policies after all of the facts are in.  He stated that the public policy on the septic issue was put together without all of the facts. It was stated that septic tank failure was 15% in Thurston County, but studies now show that the failure rate is less than 1%.  Olympia has a state of the art sewer system, yet there is too much nitrogen being released in the water. There are many reasons for this, but it will take millions of dollars to correct the problem.

Some extreme examples of critical issues that affect our watersheds is that Victoria Island, British Columbia, pumps 40 million gallons of raw sewage into the Puget Sound every day. And Weyerhaeuser uses Urea 46, the most potent fertilizer around, to fertilize their trees, which leaches into our rivers and lakes from the runoff.  In the old days, Lawrence Lake was a holding pond for a saw mill.  There is still debris in the bottom of the lake which is contributing to the higher concentration of nitrogen in the water.

The HCP (Habitat Conservation Plan) letter went out today, on March 5^th.  There are 4 sub species of pocket gophers.  There are pocket gophers from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean and from Canada clear down to California, yet Thurston County is the only place in the nation that has building restrictions mandated by the Federal Government through the Federal Endangered Species Act. 

There are pocket gophers on JBLM, which has over 20,000 acres that will never be developed.  The Scatter Creek has another 10,000 acres that are set aside for conservation, which will never be developed.  In other parts of the county, the Department of Agriculture does everything they can, to eradicate pocket gophers because they are so destructive.

The pocket gopher issue even delayed the opening of the back road to Yelm High School.  It should be operational before the next school year starts. The back road should ease the traffic congestion in front of the school, as well as make it safer for the kids.

Many kids come from disadvantaged situations. They come to school hungry.  Some even take showers at school.  On the last school day of the week, these kids are sent home with backpacks filled with food, so they have something to eat over the weekend. “Intervention is better than incarceration.”  Gary said.  “Early intervention is what it’s all about.  Kids may be 30% of our population, but they are 100% of our future”.  

Coffee with a Commissioner

Save the Date:  March 5, 2018  10:30 AM at the Rainier Senior Center

Come have coffee, snacks and visit with Gary Edwards, our local County Commissioner.  He is very knowledgeable about  many of the issues and concerns people have in our area.  Please bring your questions and come visit with Gary.

Gary is serving his first term as Thurston County Commissioner and represents the Board on the following committees:

• Area Agency on Aging
• Emergency Medical Council (Medic One)
• Fire Commissioners Association
• Law and Justice Council
• Nisqually River Council
• Thurston 911 Communications (TCOMM 911) Administration Board
• Thurston Thrives Coordinating Council

To find out more about Gary Edwards, visit his page at: http://www.thurstoncountywa.gov/bocc/Pages/bio-district-2.aspx

Here's a picture of Gary - now:

Here's a picture of Gary, years ago when he visited the Senior Center for lunch, when he was a Thurston County Sheriff:

Location:    108 Michigan Street, Rainier, WA 98576  
Questions:  Ask for George Johnson(360) 446-2258