Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus
December 23, 2009
In 1897, a young girl named Virginia O’Hanlon wrote a letter to the New York Sun. The response, written by Francis Church, applies to us all, regardless of our personal faith.
Dear Editor: I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, ‘If you see it in The Sun it’s so.’ Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus? — Virginia O’Hanlon
Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.
You may tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
The key to home can be our golden friend
December 23, 2009
Dear readers: It’s become a tradition for me to reprint this week’s column in honor of the holiday season.
“You know how to get in.” – How many times have I heard that?
I’ve carried the key to home for as long as I can remember, tucked inside my front pocket when backpacks weren’t yet in fashion and PeeChees were the norm for school accessories.
When college years arrived, so did fun, late nights with friends. I never left the house without hearing Dad’s curfew reminder: “You know how to get in.” I rolled my eyes and sighed; of course, I knew.
When I pushed the clock toward pumpkin-turning time, a lit porch light and a bright lamp shined through the living room curtains. They reminded me where I was welcomed – and loved.
Then I married. My key ring expanded to include two car keys, a key to my new residence and the old key to my ‘home.’ My childhood house would always be ‘home.’
My husband and I frequently stopped by for visits – or, if we timed it just right, supper – by simply using my key.
Career opportunities moved us three hours away a few years later. Like the childhood song teaching us that new friends are silver and old friends are gold, I added a new house key, a silver friend. But I kept the old key, the golden friend.
I realize now what a turning point that must have been for Mom and Dad to see their youngest child join their eldest daughter’s quest in settling down so far away. Too far away.
I wonder what it must have been like for them to watch us back out of the driveway, our blond six-year-old son waving ‘goodbye’ from his booster seat.
I came home as often as possible. Before heading out for the journey, Dad reminded me over the phone, “Drive safely. If we’re out when you arrive, you know how to get in.” These times, I wasn’t rolling my eyes or sighing. I knew. Of course.
It’s been eight years now since I’ve turned that key – my golden friend. Eight years since driving up to a lit-up porch. Eight Christmases since hearing Dad’s voice remind me, “You know how to get in.” How I’d love to hear his voice just one more time.
As for Mom, she lives with the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s in an adult family home. I’m sure if she could, she’d echo Dad’s words, too.
Still, that old, golden friend remains on my key ring. I have no plans on removing it. It’s an ever-present reminder of a place in my heart – where parents don’t rest well until everyone’s tucked into bed, no matter how old we grow. It’s a place where the porch light stays on. Where embraces await.
This Christmas, I’m following in my parents’ footsteps.
“You know how to get in,” I’ve reminded our son, now with a family of his own. He lives too far away and his work schedule doesn’t permit us to get together this year.
Still, along with a silver friend, he carries the golden one. It’s a reminder of a place where the porch light stays on. Where he can count on hearing, “you know how to get in.”
For all of you – especially those who deeply miss loved ones, may you carry a golden friend this holiday season. For I believe as long as it remains in our hearts, it will always take us home.
Copyright © 2009 by Judy Halone, littlepencilwriting@gmail.com.
Letters to the editor, Dec. 24
December 23, 2009
Thank you to Turkey Trot’s organizer and sponsors
We would like to thank Sean Sundwall once again for organizing the Second Annual Snoqualmie Ridge Turkey Trot 5K/1K & Pancake Feed. It was a great event and we appreciate all the hard work that goes into making it successful, safe and fun!
We are grateful for the community sponsors as well. Thanks to Wesley Johnson, D.D.S., Finaghty’s, Sno Falls Credit Union, Peak Sports and Spine P.T., Snoqualmie Ridge R.O.A., Snoqualmie Ridge Chiropractic, The Cascade Team, Church on the Ridge, Mix It Up Ice Creamery, Kirby Nelson Orthodontics, Footzone and the Ridge IGA.
Your support means so much!
Thank you!
Mary Benham
Snoqualmie Elementary PTSA
Family endured flooding
On page 6 of the Dec. 17th edition of the Star, you ran an aerial photo of the Snoqualmie River overflowing, going across Highway 203 and destroying a green house. That house was the home of my grandparents, with whom I lived during World War II before graduating from Mount Si. High School in 1951.
My family has lived in the Snoqualmie Valley since 1875, when my great-grandparents settled in Fall City when Washington was still a territory.
Destructive flooding has a history in the Valley and it has many causes. I believe that negligence on the part of King County contributed to the current situation.
I eagerly await your subsequent articles, and then will be glad to comment further.
Dave Moore
Issaquah
Gov. Gregoire’s budget would cut money for schools
December 23, 2009
As Washington faces a $2.6 billion budget shortfall, the Snoqualmie Valley School District is gauging how much it could be affected by the cuts.
Last year’s $3.35 million budget cuts were hard enough. The district cut 11 teaching positions and cut three of its four library positions at the middle and high school levels.
Five custodians lost their jobs and the remaining 21 custodians received pay cuts. The middle school extra curricular program lost $300,000, forcing the district to start a pay-to-play policy for both clubs and sports. In 2010, cuts may be even more drastic. Governor Chris Gregoire released her proposed 2010 supplemental budget earlier this month. In a news release, Gregoire said though she was legally required to submit a balanced budget, she did so “with the greatest reluctance.”
“This document is not true to the values I believe in and which have guided me through a 30-year career in public sice,” Gregoire said. “It is not a budget I can live with nor is it one I believe Washingtonians can live with.”
Randy Dorn, the state superintendent of public instruction, calculated that as many as 5,000 teachers could be laid off on top of the 1,300 teachers the state lost this year.
“We have world-class standards, but fewer teachers and larger class sizes will make teaching those standards extremely difficult,” Dorn said in a press release. “How can we expect our teachers, already stretched thin in their jobs, to teach standards to a class of 30 or 35 students?”
Snoqualmie Valley schools Superintendent Joel Aune and the school board reviewed the proposed cuts at the Dec. 10 school board meeting and met with State Representative Glenn Anderson, R-Fall City, Dec. 15 to learn more about the state’s financial situation.
“It’s a pretty grim session,” Aune said of the 2010 legislative session, which convenes Jan. 11 and is set to meet for 60 days.
If Gregoire’s budget were passed as it is, public K-12 education would experience severe cuts, including but not limited to:
- K-4 class size enhancement;
- Initiative 728 funds, which provide money for professional development and lower class sizes; and
- the remaining Learning Improvement Day for teacher professional development and funding for the Highly Capable program.
“Almost all of the non-basic education funding will be cut,” Anderson said.
Some federal stimulus dollars may help schools deal with cuts, but those dollars are set to expire after the 2010-11 school year.
There is another way the school district could recoup lost revenue: if the legislature approved raising the levy lid, the district could raise its local tax rate. But Anderson said he was not sure if the legislature would change the existing levy lids in the 2010 session.
Anderson said the budget was sparse, but the state should concentrate on funding education first.
“These are our kids. They are the future,” Anderson said. “If there is one investment when times are really tough, what I think a broad cross section of people agree on is we should be preparing our children for what comes next, no matter how tough it is.”
Laura Geggel: 392-6434 ext. 221 or lgeggel@snovalleystar.com.
Unemployment brings new challenges to Snoqualmie Valley
December 23, 2009
As 2009 winds to a close, layoffs, foreclosures and debt have wreaked havoc on the financial and personal lives of many Americans.
While experts say that the Snoqualmie Valley is seeing similar hard times, it is an area that has grown accustomed to prosperity, and many Snoqualmie and North Bend residents have been blindsided by sudden unemployment.
Unemployment in Washington has recently started to slow. Around 9.2 percent of state residents in the job market were unemployed in November, down from 9.3 percent in October. King county is not much better off—around 10,000 people have been laid off in the county in 2009 and the unemployment rate was 8.8 percent in November.
Related link:> Do you qualify for unemployment benefits?
“Unemployment has risen in Washington state and all across King County,” not only in Seattle, said Desiree Phair, regional labor economist for the Washington Employment Security Department.
Often embarrassed and isolated, residents may not know who to turn to or how to find help, said Deborah Peterman, a consultant for several charities and social service organizations in the Valley.
“No one is talking about it, but we need a dialogue,” Peterman said.
Pride keeps many from seeking help, she said. People who have lost their jobs often try to hide it from their families or neighbors and end up cutting themselves off from social support in the process.
Finding the people and places to go to to get help can also be a challenge in the Valley, because there is no geographic concentration of poverty.
The social service organizations that usually orbit such areas can be harder to find as well.
“If you’ve never had to use resources for help and you’re not in a community organized around resources for help because its always in trouble, it’s going to be harder to know where to go,” said Pepper Schwartz, North Bend resident and sociology professor at the University of Washington.
“Where do you go for bankruptcy counseling? Where do you go for food stamps? These are things that most middle class people and even working class people have never had experiences with,” Schwartz said.
Even when help is available, using services that are traditionally associated with poor people can be a blow to the ego.
“They are embarrassed. Some avoid eye contact, and some will even drive to a food bank in another town so they aren’t seen,” said Greg Schatzlein, director of the Mt. Si Helping Hand Bank in North Bend.
The food bank’s customer base grow by 40 percent in 2009, and the majority of those people are families who have never been poor before, Schatzlein said.
“Poverty is in the Valley, but it’s a lot harder to see,” he said.
The low visibility of poverty is one factor that might make community members tight-lipped about their situations, said Schwartz.
“People always compare themselves to their peers. If you’re in a poor neighborhood, there’s a sense that everyone is going through the same things. But when you’re in a community where that isn’t that case, it’s more isolating,” said Schwartz.
Navigating the system can be daunting, said Kerry Beymer, manager of the Family Support program North Bend nonprofit Encompass. The program helps families connect with available social services in the community.
Beymer said that more and more of the families she works with are facing unemployment and need help learning about government agencies and other organizations who offer assistance.
“I had no idea I could still get unemployment when I working,” said Jose Thimsen, who qualified for unemployment pay after losing his restaurant job in Carnation in June. When he landed a part-time job at North Bend Bar & Grill, he thought that assistance would be history, but a co-worker told him he might be eligible to get part-time unemployment pay to help bridge gap.
The advice from his colleague led Thimsen to check it out, and he was able to stay on the roll.
Still, he said, figuring out the system—and waiting for assistance to kick in—has been tough, especially since his wife Cira being pregnant with the couple’s first child.
He said he waited ten weeks before finding out that he was eligible, with no income in the interim.
“The waiting was hard. We’re now two months behind on our mortgage,” Thimsen said. “At this point, we’re facing foreclosure.”
Untangling unemployment benefits
December 23, 2009
Untangling unemployment benefits
Are you eligible?
Usually, you need to have worked 680 hours in your “base year” to be eligible for unemployment benefits.
“Base years” depend on calendar quarters (January-March, April-June and so on). To find your base year, figure out which calendar quarter you are in when you want to file for benefits, and look at the last five calendar quarters before that. Your base year is the first four of those five quarters.
Some of the hours must have been worked in Washington to claim benefits. Most people who are laid off are eligible. For those who were fired or quit, the state Employment Security Department will decide on a case-by-case basis.
Receiving Benefits:
Benefits are calculated based on the wages from those quarters. To use a calculator on the Employment Security Department’s Web site to estimate what your benefits will be, log on to www.esd.wa.gov/uibenefits/benefitcheck/how-much.php.
Exceptions you should know about:
Alternate base year:
If you didn’t work 680 hours in your base year, you can use an alternate base year to calculate your hours: instead of using the first four of the last five quarters, you can use just the most recent four quarters. Remember, the quarter you are filing in does not count.
Extending Benefits:
If your benefits have run out but you are still unemployed, you may be eligible for an extension through the Emergency Unemployment Compensation program or the Extended Benefits program. These are temporary programs and have deadlines for application, so contact Employment Security if you know your benefits will be ending soon.
Other Circumstances:
The state may be able to provide you with money, training, relocation assistance and other help if you’re out of work due to a natural disaster, your job moved overseas, your employer went out of business, you left work due to domestic violence or you lost your health insurance when you were laid off. Contact Employment Security to find out if you are eligible.
To find out more about benefits or start your claim by phone, call Employment Security Department at 800-318-6022.
Snoqualmie opens new City Hall
December 23, 2009
For the first time in the city’s history, Snoqualmie now has a building designed and built specifically as a city hall.
“This is a landmark occasion in the city’s history,” she city spokeswoman Joan Pilego. Read more
Opstad volunteers are cleaning maniacs
December 23, 2009
More than 40 volunteers cleaned Opstad Elementary School’s campus Dec. 5. The group of students and parent volunteers trimmed low hanging tree branches, pruned shrubs, weeded flowerbeds, raked leaves and spread landscape bark.
A group of parent volunteers and master gardeners spearheaded the project. Read more
School notes, Dec. 24
December 23, 2009
Mount Si High School
National Honors Society book drive, through January. Donate books to children in need at MSHS.
DECA coat, dress and baby toys and clothes drive. Bring items to teacher Elaine-Marie Berg.
Snoqualmie Valley School District
There are no classes during winter break, Dec. 21 to Jan. 3.
North Bend Elementary fourth graders send season’s greetings to Marines overseas
December 23, 2009
U.S. Marine Corps 1st Lieutenant David Walsh in Afghanistan. His son, Alec and his class at North Bend Elementary sent holiday cards to Walsh and his platoon. (Photo contributed)
U.S. Marine Corps 1st Lieutenant David Walsh and his platoon may be halfway across the world in Afghanistan, but they will get an envelope of colorful holiday wishes from North Bend students this season.
Walsh’s son, fourth-grader Alec Walsh and his North Bend Elementary classmates pasted construction paper snowmen, stars and evergreen trees to red cards Dec. 10.
The project took root after Alec moved to Snoqualmie Valley with his mother Julie and younger brother Michael in September. When fourth-grade teacher Shari Myers learned Alec’s father had deployed to Afghanistan with the Marines, she decided to do a community service project that would not only help Alec but also teach her students about the U.S. Armed Forces.
Alec Walsh showcases cards he made for his father’s platoon of U.S. Marines serving in Afghanistan. (Photo by Laura Geggel)
“They have learned more about the Armed Forces, of course, but more importantly, they have a better understanding of freedom and what it means to serve,” Myers said.
In November, the students made happy birthday cards for the Marines to celebrate the 234 anniversary of the U.S. Marine Corps. As a class, they wrote the Marines a letter and asked them questions, such as, ‘what is it like to be a Marine?’ and ‘what kind of food do you eat?’
Alec was grateful for his classmates’ support and talked about his dad as he glued yellow and green stars to his cards.
Knowing his dad is in Afghanistan until April is tough, he said.
“It stinks, but you have to deal with it a lot,” Alec said. “You have a job, you have to go over there.”
David calls his family whenever he has a chance, but it’s difficult because of the 12.5-hour time difference. Still, Alec enjoys hearing about his dad’s life abroad.
In one phone call, Alec heard about an interesting creature his dad had found.
“It was like half spider and half scorpion,” Alec said.
Making the cards was nice, he added.
“You have to cheer them up a little,” Alec said, showing his card, which read, “Merry Christmas. Happy New Years. See you in April!”
Fourth-grader Emily Crose added a “you are the best!” in her card.
“I think it’s important to send cards over there because they’re not going to be here for Christmas,” fourth-grader Ryann Mallasch said. “So I think they deserve it.”
Alec’s mother, Julie, helped her son and his class make the cards. Julie, a 1996 Mount Si High School graduate, may be better known to Valley residents as Julie Engen.
After marrying David in 1998, the couple moved all over the country to different Marine bases. She said it was important to tell the students about the war in Afghanistan.
“When I started explaining to them what it was like over there, they got really upset and asked, ‘why can’t girls go to school over there?’” Julie said.
Alec thanked his classmates for making cards for his dad’s platoon.
“I can’t really express it, but it’s very exciting that they’re doing it. It means a lot to (the Marines) and it means a lot to us,” Alec said. “When they get cards from us, it’s like when we watch TV or play games. It’s their fun time.”
Myers said the project was a success.
“Our class discussions, the content of their letters and the effort they’ve put into our activities clearly shows how much they’ve taken ‘our’ Marines to heart,” Myers said. “It’s been a very positive experience for all.”
Laura Geggel: 392-6434 ext. 221 or lgeggel@snovalleystar.com.
