• WSDOT Open House at the Monroe Library, from 6 to 8. Topic is suggested traffic revisions to Route 2 through Monroe (eliminating the two-way left turn lanes from SR 522 to Old Owen Road/Main Street). Officials will be on hand to respond to questions. Monroe Library is located at 1070 Village Way; online link: http://www.sno-isle.org/branches/monroe/

• Sultan Planning Commission, from 7:30 onward. Agenda for the meeting is on our website, and includes a discussion of Sultan's Annexation policy.

• Sultan council meeting begins at 7:00 PM, following a 6:00 PM Hearing on the 2004 budget. In addition to final acceptance of both Garth York's Rosewood Estates and the S & L Homes' Sky Valley Estates plats, there are a couple of other interesting items.

• Planning Commissioner appointments: One of those items is a proposed appointment by Mayor Rowe of a new Planning Commissioner to fill John Seehuus' seat, which he vacated early in an upward move as a new councilman. We commend Mayor Rowe in delaying his previously-scheduled appointment earlier this month in order that other applicants besides Don Walker could apply for the vacancy. A couple of irregularities, however, regarding the procedure; first, contrary to the agenda cover sheet, there were not postings for this vacancy either at city hall or the post office, and the "ad" in the Monroe Monitor ran the day before the Thanksgiving holiday, with an application submittal deadline of Monday, December 1^st. Also, despite numerous notices virtually covering the front doors/window of city hall, no posting could be found for this vacancy on the planning commission.

• Ordinance 831-03: So much is wrong with this agenda item -- no advance review, notice or a public hearing, just for starters -- that I addressed it in an online article on the front page of our website, "There he goes again…."

Sultan's long-running and fun Christmas bazaar. It will be held all day at the Sultan High School, beginning at 9:00 a.m. It's a wonderfully festive way to begin the holiday season, and I did most of my Christmas shopping last year at this event. (Directions: From Highway 2, travel north on 4^th Avenue in Sultan until it "dead ends" at Amberwood/Willow Run, then turn right and 1/2 block to the high school.)

Join the Sultan High School music department as they present the Annual Community Soup Supper from 5-8 PM on Saturday, December 13th. You can enjoy hot clam chowder, tortellini vegetable soup or chili, bread, beverage, and pie for only $4.00 per person. All this and you get to listen to live musical entertainment from Sultan’s award winning music department! Please plan to attend and show your support of the band's efforts to purchase an equipment trailer. The band's raffle drawing will begin at 6:00 PM

• There are some new and updated web pages, one on "Meth, the Community Killer," and a new page for the Sultan Police Department. We have also updated our sex offender page.

• GOOGLE SEARCHES: We have added the powerful Google search engine to our website. The default is a search of our website, but searches can also be made of the entire web.

• Snohomish County Councilman Jeff Sax - Lack of building permits: If there's anyone left in Snohomish County who hasn't heard about this subject, we have links on the front page to several of the stories. Our question? During a time when the Sarbanes-Oxley Act is required to monitor ethics violations rampant in corporations, why isn't similar legislation being enacted to enhance government accountability? Councilman Sax has been passing a flood of developer-friendly ordinances over the last two years, laws he no doubt expects everyone to follow. Is he the exception? Why isn't the Washington Legislature taking up the subject of ethics in government and beefing up the Appearance of Fairness doctrine?

• Gold Bar Councilman Steve Higgins (acting as an owner of investment property): Mr. Higgins wrote a strong and eloquent letter on the damage being done to Proctor Creek and to his investment properties' value, which he shared with us. That letter is posted on our website. But the real attention-grabber is an unbelievable photo of a horrendous swath of destruction caused by runoff, from the top of Mt. Persis all the way to the bottom, also on our site.

At the November 18^th Planning Commission, City Administrator/City Planner Rick Cisar communicated that revisions to the binding site plan ordinance need not be reviewed by that advisory body (despite an opposing opinion from an mrsg.org attorney). Mr. Cisar used as his source for this legal advice city attorney Thom Graafstra, from whom Cisar said he had received a written opinion on the subject. We placed a public information request to receive a copy of that communication. Yesterday we heard that a six-page letter dated November 24^th was written by Mr. Graafstra on the relevance of the BSP's review by the planning commission.

Although the city has not yet fulfilled our request, we will be receiving a copy of this letter elsewhere, and will share it on our website.

Not to continue to beat an already well-beaten subject, a question occurred to us the other day regarding Janie Botting's reappointment to the Commission -- in a complete contradiction of Sultan's code -- which is this: Was a formal resignation of her "old" appointment ever made? I think not. Therefore, there was no open public process -- no announcement of the commission's vacancy caused by her relocation outside the city limits -- which denied others of their civil rights and any opportunity to apply for the position.

The rampant, open-hearted generosity of the people of Sultan in particular and the Valley in general continues to astound me. All those who worked hard on the Sultan Harvest -- and I will name no one specifically, as I'm unsure of all who participated and would not wish to leave anyone out -- are due our gratitude, for sponsoring a free Thanksgiving dinner.

Thanks also to the VOA/Food Bank, as well as to Cheryl Blair and all her crew at Ed's True Value Hardware, who have their pulse on those in need all year 'round.

Loretta Storm