Washington Split

A couple Eastern Washington state legislators are looking to put a bill up to split the state up and form their own state. The do not like the fact that Western Washington has so much control in the state; I would say it is mainly Seattle and the county of King that Seattle is in. It is not anything new because off and on since 1915 someone has tried to do so. It is little brother thinking big brother has too much power which is probably true. I do not think it will happen any time soon. Though most of the state taxes are spent for improvements in King County if Eastern Washington did split away they would have to increase their taxes to help on improvements.  I cannot blame them but it is how it is.

In other news some parents and teachers are going to the state capital in Olympia today to protest standardized tests. I am sort of out of the loop but I believe that they think standardized tests are outdated. I never really liked taking tests whether standardized or otherwise. I always felt pressure to take them; however, I did do well on tests in college. I guess I would call it maturity on my behalf.  Do tests for kids really show what they actually know? I would say the best tests are multiple choice. The problem with them they try to trick you. Not a good way to go as far as I am concerned.

I would say there is more news as well. The state legislators want to increase gas tax around eleven cents over the next three years. What the problem is that we already have one of the highest gas taxes in the country. They do not tell us what the new taxes will go for other than that our state budget goes up. About seven years ago  a second Narrows Bridge was added to link Gig Harbor to Tacoma because the traffic was very bad with a lot of delays. Whenever you go over the bridge you have to pay a toll. The good side only has to pay one way going to Tacoma. The state wants to increase the toll about seventy cents each time you go over. It penalizes those who go over the bridge regularly. They want to guarantee that they have enough money to make payments on what is owed on the bridge.  It sounds logical in some respects to them; however, those who do not go over the bridge regularly will decide not to go over the bridge at all. Since   the second bridge was built there has been more businesses established in the Gig Harbor area so why go to Tacoma for shopping or eating out if that is your plan.  My opinion they need to lower the toll to get more people to drive over the bridge. At least they should give it a shot to see if it works.

Any way that is my ten cent worth on those subjects or has the price gone up. Outside of those issues everything is going well. I hope that everyone have a really good week. It is nice to know we can have a really good life even though they want to increase our taxes. Jokingly maybe they help on our life of adventure this year.