ANTI-ELLENSBURG WEBPAGE
I am unfortunately living in Ellensburg, WA, a podunk type place midway between Seattle and Spokane. In fact, Ellensburg is a Native American name that means, "stop and pee here". The yearly temperature range is from a low of -25 to a high of 110 (or so) degrees. We get steady wind in the 20-30 kt range for days on end. In fact, the few trees that exist outside of the town all lean in one direction (to the south).

Ellensburg is located in Kittitas county, which had a 1990 population of 26,725 (I'm trying to find more currnet info). The main businesses in Ellensburg are feedlot beef (one of the most inefficient methods for food production), hay (we're one of the world's biggest grower of Timothy hay), and alfalfa. Occasionally the wind direction changes and those of us on campus are blessed with a lovely aroma from the feedlots.

Thirty miles to the south of us is the Yakima valley and Yakama Indian Nation. Despite that fact that the original treaty between the Yakama Indians and US Government said that no white man could own property there (without permission about half of the Yakama Nation land is owned by non indians. One of the biggest uses for this land is the growth of Hops; a crucial ingrediant in beer. 75% of America's and 18% of the world's hops are grown here.

Ellensburg is home to my current Alma Mater, Central Washington University. An important thing to remember about schools is that just because they're educated doesn't mean they're intelligent (in the interest of equality, I wish to point out that this applies to me too). This school does some really stupid things, like apply "spray-on grass" and then wash it away by running the sprinklers over night. One gets the impression that the school wants our money, but could care less about our minds.

Let me tell you a little story about our School president,Ivory Nelson. His first year here happened during my second. One of the first things he planned to do was cutback on salaries and positions. The budget needed to be downsized, he said. Of course, the faculty complained; who wouldn't. Then.....THEENNNNNNN......... Nelson says, "I want $250,000 to remodel the presidential manor". If not stupidity, he at least proved that he has a bad sense of timing.

Naturally, the entire campus optional vulgarity and went ballistic. Our intrepid president backed down. All was not lost in his quest for a redwood porch, however. He waited until all the students went home for the summer and passed the measure quietly. This tactic of passing unpopular rulings when no one has to ability to present opposing viewpoints or fight against it has caught on; they recently passed a residential parking zone ordinance that limits student parking. There was much protest when the students got back from summer; but it was too late.

This is what stupidity can get you: status quo at expense. CWU recently began to build a new science building. To put this building in power lines that followed the now-removed train tracks had to be removed and rerouted. The proposal to the new high tension pole route went through the official hoops with (I think) one complaint. Well, when the 110 foot poles went up, the people in town (optional vulgarity). There was an immediate outcry, "these poles are ugly, damn the university for trying to screw us again!" (I'm paraphrasing, of course). Never mind that the local townsfolk didn't care enough about their town to go to the planning meetings in the first place. They then began a disinformation campaign designed to get the poles removed.
"They're ugly and block the view," they said. Well, If you lived on the ass end of the moon wouldn't you try and add something prettier to the skyline?
"These new poles will put out EM fields that will cause cancer and will make our kids stupid," they continued. What they didn't state was that the new power poles replacing the old ones were about twice as high (guesstimate); placing the EM source twice as far away. I would question their intelligence to begin with. My point: stupid begets stupid, not EM fields.

Anyway, under threat of lawsuit, the school decided to remove the poles, at an expense (around $5 million, I believe) that will be taken out of the budget of the new science building; which was under funded to begin with. The residents get to keep their dangerous old "beautiful" power lines EM fields Meanwhile, students, once again trapped in the middle, get bilked out of a decent learning environment. HOO-RAH!

And the sad thing is, they're no different than any other town in the US.