MIReporter, Thurs Dec. 31, 1970 Page 2
DITOR'S,;.CORNER
Our children's Christmas card collection, intended as
greetings to the community ir~ last issue, brought
messages to us as welL.
The drawing that socked it to us was that chosen by
Pat McGaughey at Se~=First. This was the crayoned
depiction, by fourth-grader Julie Lindberg of Mercer
Island Covenant Church, of the manger scene with a
trumpetting angel floall~ng in the dark sky above and
saying, "Don't be afriad." (The spelling is Julie's.)
Don't be afriad?
When abroad bombsa~'e dropping, napalm is roaring,
and the daily "progress" report is in "body count"?
When our young taunt us, many hate us?
When we sink into economic depression, while prices
soar out of reach?
When greed and carelessness are destroying land,
water, fish, birds, animals?
When the physical law, that nature abhores a
vacuum, seems repealed where our leadership is
concerned?
Don't be afriad, w-
"And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for behold, I
bring you good tidings of g~at joy, which shall be to all
people.
"For unto you is born a Saviour, which is Christ
the Lord And suddenly there was with the angel a
multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and
saying:
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good
will toward men." (St. Luke I1: 10.14.
Julie, you write on good author=ty. All right, we will
not be afriad.
Happy New Year, everyone!
Island Reporter
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NEW YEARS
OAM To 8PM
Skinless Weiners
By Peggy Reynolds
While the kids talked revolution, in 1970 Morn
and Pop themselves engaged in a rather
extensive rumble.
For 1970 should go down in history as the
Undevelopment Year. It marks the first clear
break with the American ethnic, the assumption
that building bigger means building better, and
that the more we build, the better lives we
construct. In 1970 we heard a screeching of
brakes, here as well as throughout the nation.
In setting Mercer Island on a shaky but
unmistakably new track, three major
movements are revealing of designs for the
1970's. These are the citizens' widespread revolt
against paving over the north end with Interstate-
90; the Moss-Ralston proposal; and a general
revulsion toward public works and buildings,
coupled with a tightening of the pursestrings.
THE DOOR WAS OPENED in the fall of 1969,
when the electorate overwhelmingly defeated a
golf course proposal, a project which official
Mercer Island had taken somewhat for granted.
Also taken for granted had been the original 1-90
design, an elevated monstrosity of up to 14 lanes,
which had been approved by City and Town
Councils and their municipal engineers in 1967
with scarely a murmur from the public. And
taken for granted as well had been the prospect
of filling up the Island with homes and humans,
where eventually the roofs would out-number the
trees. Coupled with this was the assumption that
our neighborhoods would become swathed with
concrete and asphalt, that the delicate geologic
and botanical balance of our hillsides must be
destroyed by the bulldozer, and that we must
commit many millions to school construction to
meet an eventual population more than a third
greater than we now have.
changed drastically.
The citizen's voice is heard, the sanctity of his
home and the beauty of his surroundings do
count.
An aroused and fair-minded leadership has
coupled with citizen concern to secure a design
team for what we fondly hope will be an entirely
new approach to 1-90.
The Moss-Ralston proposal, to integrate open
spaces with community development, while in its
entirety probably utopian, will certainly
establish a new approach to government, a new
concept of its responsibilities, and a new citizen
awareness of our enviornment.
Residents of a south end area, moved no doubt
by fiscal considerations but also by
environmental concerns, in 1970 killed a proposed
(Continued on Page 3.)
Community Calendar r
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31
NEW YEAR's EVE
New Year's Eve Dance, 8
p.m Mercer Island Beach
Club
FRIDAY, JANUARY I, Lq71
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
MONDAY, JANUARY
All open gyms begin (see
schedule sports page).
Community Council, 7:30
Justice Court, CRy Hall
TUI~DAY, JANUARY 5
Park Advisory Board, 7:30,
City Hall
Rotary, 12:15, Royal Fork
Toastmasters Club, 6:30,
Royal Fork
M.I. High School Basketball
- high school gym - vs. Lake
Washington
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 6
Planning Conmcc, a'on, 7: 30,
City Hall
THURSDAY, JANUARY ?
MIVAL, ROYAL FORK, 7
p.m. dinner, 8 p.m. business -
open to new and prospective
members.
Alcoholics Anonymous, 8:30
Emmanuel Episcopal Church
GOING INTO 1970, all this is changed, and
t' I TD o, omsp. r ,y ]
" "gEA6-EdR *
WRITE
Femily's Trees Teken Iv Chlq.rs
Editor
Mercer Island Reporter
Dear Fellow Mercer
Islanders,
Behind our home on Holly
Lane is a woods which is kept
in a natural state and which
represents many, many hours
of labor for our whole family.
It contains some large and
choice rhododendrons and
some lovely, although after
each Christmas, fewer,
evergreen trees. This year a
beautiful eight to ten foot
the summer, I was reqmreu w
buy for the neighbor, with my
own money, enough to replace
what 1 had taken. How many
of us parents take the time to
teach that kind of lesson? We
have never received an
apology for the loss of our
trees and other vegetation,
much less been offered
reimbursement.
The many areas of natural
vegetation make our island a
choice spot; perhaps we
should take a moment to make
sure our children understand
Christm
In Tahiti
Jim, Jan and Len Skoog, the
three Mercer Island brothers
adventuring on their 30-foot
sloop in the South Pacific on
their way around the world,
told of low prices in their most
recent correspondence.
In the Marquesas, a loaf of
French bread cost ten cents,
coconuts and breadfruit were
five cents, and big, foot-long
oval-shaped doughnuts were
10 cents, Len said.
While in Taiohae Bay at
Nuku-Hiva, the largest island
in the Marquesas, Len wrote:
"Canned food is expensive
except for canned milk and
butter from New Zealand. For
washing the boat and clothes
we have to carry water out (to
the ship) in the rubber raft,
five gallons at a time. There is
a cold water shower on shore
celebration, and then go to
Moorea to visit one of Jim's
friends from Mercer Island
High School, Jack Risser.
The Skoogs have sailed a
total of 8,~8 miles since they
left home. In Papeete, they
tied up with 20 other yachts
from all over the world,
including one couple from
Vancouver, Canada.
Their next mail stop will be
in New Zealand. The address
is Jim, Jon and Len Skoog,
General Delivery, Auckland,
New Zealand.
On the way to Papeete, the
Skoogs stopped and visited
some atolls in the Tuarnotu
group where they went
skindiving and took
underwater slides. A fifth
grade teacher in Seattle, is
using the Skoogs' voyage as a
spruce was cut by a Christmas
tree seeker; last year, two firs
were taken by neighbor boys
to help decorate their school.
As a child, I picked some
corn, still green, from a
neighbor's yard and took it to
my mother as a present. She
left a party she was giving,
marched me around to the
neighbors, and supervised my
embarrassed apology.
Furthermore, when corn
came on the market later in
that all land is owned by next to the pie, which we use
someone. And perhaps we daily without mrge.
would all do well to remind our
children now and then (and
perhaps ourselves) that a
respect for the property of
others is only right and fair if
we are to expect others to
have that same respect for the
things we care for and value.
Sincerely yours,
/ s/Mary Ann Wiley
Mary Ann Wiley
Mrs. Robert L.
"A few cla" ; before there
was a whale nat followed us
for several ~ ms. He was as
big as the oat and stayed
behind abou 75 feet."
The bro! ,ers arrived in
Papeete, T: aita on December
21, and r~ :eived their first
mail sinc Acapulco. They
spent Chr tmas in Papeete,
will stay or a New Year's
geography lesson for her
class.
Reasonable Rates-
Insurance included
N IT-A-C
J
Rent-A-Ford from
Foothills Fwd
FREE DELIVERY OF WOODY S MEATS PLAZA MEATS
AND RUDY S BAKERY WITH YOUR GROCERY ORDER
15000 Sunset Highway
SH 7-3100
