Dear Friends,

Times are changing in Lewis County and the challenges we face in our future require leadership that can effectively tackle the many demands.

• We have studied solutions to flooding in Lewis County for years but we have yet to implement a single project to fix the problem;
  
  
• We are fast becoming the only section of I-5 that has not been planned to be widened to at least three lanes in each direction in the whole state, and desperately needed new interchanges for Chehalis and Centralia are still ten years out;
  
  
• Our county's tax base to sustain government operations and services is shrinking, not growing;
  
  
• Our rural school districts receive federal funding from the Department of Agriculture Forest Service to offset the lost revenue from land taxes; but, the Washington State government reduces its state school funding so our schools get no net gain;
  
  
• The Growth Management Act is about managing growth, not LIMITING growth, yet Growth Management planning continues to be a major stumbling block as the GMA Hearing Board holds our county in invalidity for Agricultural Resource Lands of Commercial Significance (about 130,000 acres frozen for development);
  
  
• The county's demographics take a significant dip in the wage earning years because many of our residents have to seek employment outside of Lewis County; new industrial development, needed to augment or replace our diminished natural resource economy, must be encouraged to insure future family salary jobs in the county for our workers and our children or grandchildren;
  
  
• The County Government, our incorporated cities and our separate taxing districts, must find new ways to solve mutual problems cooperatively in order to maintain services while reducing our tax burden.
  
  
• Many of our citizens do not understand what their county government does so we need to provide better opportunities for them to learn and participate in the decision process by more open access, education programs and media outreach.
  
  

If you are like me, you believe Lewis County is a great place to live. We must seek to actively preserve what is best in the county while at the same time allowing opportunity for growth. The Growth Management Act is about managing growth, not LIMITING growth. The sad fact is that we can no longer provide job opportunities for all of our population in natural resources and related industries. The sad fact is that our county's tax base to sustain government operations and services is shrinking, not growing. The sad fact is that the county's population is aging and many of our residents have to seek employment outside of Lewis County. These are all disturbing trends that threaten our future and demand effective leadership to solve

My record of leadership in government is proven over 44 years of service in the military and higher education. Some of my accomplishments include: retired colonel after 30 years in the US Army, including two tours in Vietnam; professor of political science and Dean of Social Sciences at South Puget Sound Community College; eight years as chairman of the Lewis County Solid Waste Advisory Committee; Chairman of the Citizens Advisory Committee to the County Planning Commission which successfully appealed the GMA Hearing Board determination of invalidity on the County plan; and active in leadership positions in my church, community activities and youth sports. If the citizens of Lewis County will give me the opportunity I can put this experience and proven leadership to work.

If you would like to learn more about any of the issues I have mentioned, or would like to discuss other issues that are important to you, please send me an email or give me a call.