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President's Message - SPEECH Re-evaluates its Future

by Krag Unsoeld

The South Puget Environmental Education Clearinghouse (SPEECH) is approaching its 25th birthday and we have much to celebrate! At an upcoming annual meeting we will be celebrating our successes, and evaluating our future.

SPEECH began as a way to coordinate and focus the efforts of environmental groups in the greater South Sound area. We provided a meeting space, an environmental library of state, city and county documents (this was before the Internet!), facilitated a regular dialogue between county staff and activists, and held local candidate forums.

Over the years SPEECH has sponsored community workshops and events on topics including envisioning downtown Olympia, growth management, shellfish aquaculture, tribal salmon fishing, and Thurston County hydrology issues. Most visibly, SPEECH has consistently published the South Sound Green Pages. We are grateful for the many volunteers who have made all this possible.

Like many other volunteer-driven, nonprofit, activist organizations, SPEECH faces challenges with measuring its effectiveness, fundraising, membership retention, event planning, and agenda setting. Producing a hardcopy publication (3,000 copies per quarter) adds another layer of work for SPEECH. The single biggest challenge for SPEECH is the lack of volunteers.

One way SPEECH will gauge how much enthusiasm there is for different paths that SPEECH can choose as we move into the future is by conducting a survey. The survey can be accessed at: http://goo.gl/forms/lXbU4obRRK

Please respond to our survey promptly. If you know of others that you think should participate in this survey, please share it with them. As we do this, we recognize that nothing we choose will be successful unless community members join in to help make it happen.

MOP and MOE

MOP and MOE is military speak for measurements of progress and measurements of effectiveness. Coming from a military background, these are the standards by which our newly-elected county commissioner measures his successes and failures. In spite of these high standards, however, Thurston County commissioner, Walter "Bud" Blake appears to be in a bit over his head.

After his election victory, the SPEECH board of directors had the opportunity to sit down with Blake. The meeting was set up via email and it was clearly stated that the board intended to cover this meeting in an article in South Sound Green Pages as an opportunity for readers to get to know Blake and his thoughts about various environmental issues.

The meeting started with everyone introducing themselves. We learned that Blake has 35 years of service in the U.S. Army. He retired as a Lieutenant Colonel with extensive experience in covert operations, is a self-described political junkie, and was prompted to run for office due to his concerns about how the county budget was being managed.

The meeting immediately got ticklish when SPEECH board members requested that the meeting be taped to ensure accuracy. Blake stated he did not want the meeting taped. As the board asked questions and wrote feverishly, Blake continued to state he did not want to be quoted. This fundamentally changed the ground rules for the meeting and frustrated the board to no end. Our intent to have an on-the-record dialog was stymied.

Perhaps we should have walked away, but we did not, in the hopes that SPEECH and its members can influence and educate Blake as he earns an experiential master's degree in our county's environmental issues. We chatted and discovered that Blake has a lot to learn. His position on several issues have, in fact, shifted or outright reversed.

Who did the county elect? We don't know at this time - but we can't wait to find out. Hopefully Blake will be more forthcoming once he is sworn into office.

Krag Unsoeld is President of SPEECH and can be reached at kragu@juno.com or (360) 250-9982.


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Updated 2015/01/07 21:14:22