Peninsula Daily News
and The Associated Press
Telephone Town Hall on March 23
State Reps. Steve Tharinger and Kevin Van De Wege will conduct a Telephone Town Hall from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Monday, March 23.
Participants must call a toll-free number at 877-229-8493 and enter the PIN 18646.
Tharinger and Van De Wege, both Democrats from Sequim, will field comments from constituents and answer questions about what they have accomplished this legislative session.
They and state Sen. Jim Hargrove represent the 24th District that includes all of Clallam and Jefferson counties and most of Grays Harbor County.
Donations sought
PORT ANGELES — Donations are being accepted for the annual Gigantic Basement Sale to benefit the Port Angeles Farmers Market.
Drop-off times are 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. today and Thursday, as well as 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday and next Tuesday, March 24.
Donations of garage-sale items should be brought to the basement off the alley behind Country Aire Natural Foods, 200 W. First St., during those times only.
Usable items — books, clothes, toys, furniture — are encouraged, but no mattresses or appliances are accepted.
The sale itself will be held in Country Aire’s basement on Saturday, March 28, and Sunday, March 29.
Proceeds will benefit the Port Angeles Farmers Market, open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Saturday at The Gateway pavilion at Front and Lincoln streets.
For more information, phone farmers market manager Cynthia Warne at 360-460-0361.
Dance on Friday
PORT TOWNSEND — Jim Nyby and the F Street Band will supply New Orleans-style rhythm and blues, Chicago shuffle and Latin beats for a dance at the Port Townsend Elks Lodge, 555 Otto St., Friday.
Admission is $10 including Janice Eklund’s one-step dance lesson at 7 p.m. and the live music from 8 p.m. until 10 p.m.
The nonprofit Olympic Peninsula Dance Club will host the event, welcoming singles as well as couples.
For more about the Olympic Peninsula Dance Club, which holds gatherings on the third Friday of the month, visit olympicpeninsuladance.com.
Neal to speak
SEQUIM — The North Peninsula Building Association will host fishing guide and outdoors writer Pat Neal at its Thursday membership meeting program and dinner at SunLand Golf & Country Club, 109 Hilltop Drive.
There will be a no-host social hour from 5:30 p.m. to 6 p.m., dinner is at 6:30 p.m. and the membership meeting is from 7 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. Neal’s program will begin after dinner.
Neal is a fishing guide for steelhead and salmon on the rivers of the Olympic Peninsula. He is also a Peninsula Daily News columnist and commentator on KSQM-FM.
The association holds monthly general membership meetings and dinners every third Thursday of each month, and the public is invited to attend.
The group represents builders and associates of the building industry.
The cost for the event is $17 per person, payable at the door or in advance.
To register, email diana@npba.info or phone 360-452-8160.
RSVP by 5 p.m. today.
Reservations made but not canceled 24 hours in advance will be billed.
President named
OLYMPIA — The Evergreen State College has picked the president of Whitman College in Walla Walla as its new leader.
George Bridges, who is also a former vice provost at the University of Washington, will replace Thomas “Les” Purce. Purce is retiring this summer after serving as the college’s president since July 2000.
Bridges has been president of the small liberal arts college in Walla Walla for 10 years.
The Evergreen State College board voted on its new president at a meeting Monday.
Bridges earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington and master’s and doctorate degrees from the University of Pennsylvania.
His official start date at Evergreen is Oct. 1. The school said his annual salary will be $300,000.
Logging lags
BREMERTON — Kitsap County isn’t making as much money from logging in parks as officials had expected.
The first year of the Kitsap County Parks Department’s selective logging program generated only about a third of the $100,000 the department hoped to earn when it began harvesting trees at Newberry Hill Heritage Park seven months ago.
The logging operation is part of the department’s new forest stewardship program.
The parks department logged about 130 acres between August and the early fall. The net income was $29,000.
Slide halts trains
SEATTLE — Heavy rain over the weekend caused mudslides around Western Washington, including one that has stopped passenger train service between Seattle and Everett.
Sound Transit provided bus service for commuters who usually take the Sounder train to work on Monday morning.
BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas said the slide hit train tracks about 22 miles north of Seattle, covering 20 feet of track with mud and debris.