EDITORIAL: Cheers & Jeers: Charitable readers, questionable charity lead this week's list of ?Yays' and ?Nays'

Oct 11, 2008 (The Columbian - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- CSCO | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Cheers: (Try reading this one without smiling and thinking fondly of your fellow local residents). On Monday, The Columbian reported that Lori Elliott, a server at Cisco's Mexican Restaurant & Lounge in Orchards, had been ripped off by two customers to the tune of about $100.

That day, an anonymous woman who said she had been a waitress in the past left $100 for Elliott at the newspaper's front desk. A Woodland schoolteacher whose daughter is a waitress sent $25. At the restaurant, a regular customer and a stranger who had read the story donated $30.

(Keep smiling.) The compassion doesn't stop there. Elliott said she would give the entire $155 to two charitable groups, one that helps overturn convictions of innocent people and another that helps find homes for older dogs that have been abandoned.

Thanks, Lori, and thanks to the donors, for creating a lot of Saturday morning smiles among Columbian readers.

Jeers: To the euphemistically named Washington State Law Enforcement Association. It's clear that the WSLEA is more interested in itself than in officers of the law or law enforcement efforts. As The Columbian's John Branton reported on Sunday, the group has been soliciting local residents by telephone, but it sends no money to police officers or sheriff's deputies in Clark County. Even worse, according to the secretary of state's Web site, only 11 percent of the money the WSLEA spent in 2006 went to charitable purposes. In 2003, a Columbian story revealed that only 3 percent of the group's 2002 expenses went to charities. WSLEA officials say the rest of the money goes to telephone solicitors and other expenses.

The Better Business Bureau recommends giving only to charities that send more than 50 percent of expenses to charitable causes. Make sure you are fully informed about any charity before you donate money. Ask for documentation that specifies how the money is spent.

For more information about charities, visit www.secstate.wa.gov/charities.

Cheers: To Clark County commissioners for a wonderful idea that was discussed on Wednesday, setting aside land for a community center at the south side of the former Washington State University farm in Hazel Dell. The farm is between Northeast 78th and 68th streets, about a half-mile east of Interstate 5.

The commissioners are studying a possible land swap that would enlarge Hazel Dell Park onto the old site, and the latest idea makes perfect sense. Commissioner Betty Sue Morris said, "For as long as I've been a county commissioner, (Hazel Dell) has been struggling to get a community center."

That's for sure, and here's another good idea that we'll humbly offer. Name it the Morris/Fowler Community Center, in honor of the commissioner (who will retire at the end of this year) and her mother, Muriel.

Jeers: Just as we wouldn't expect Gov. Chris Gregoire to say much of anything nice about Republican -- oops, excuse us -- GOP challenger Dino Rossi, we wouldn't expect Rossi to acknowledge or praise any of Gregoire's budget-cutting efforts, either.

But one recent Rossi comment rings a little hollow, even by the standards of a heated campaign. After Gregoire announced several budget cuts, including a 1 percent across-the-board cut at state agencies that would produce savings of about $240 million, Rossi accused her of "playing budget games rather than being honest. Her announcement today on cuts is no more than budget cherry-picking."

Oh, really? It turns out that three of the "cherries" are in spending areas that are precious to Gregoire and other Democrats: suspension of the proposed paid family leave program, stopping work on a sales tax credit for the working poor and rolling back unspent money meant for property tax deferrals.

To see more of The Columbian, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.columbian.com. Copyright (c) 2008, The Columbian, Vancouver, Wash. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

More News:   Market Updates | Stock Alerts | All Trading News | Stock Index