Hop in! Where you headed?

I aim this blog at Hitchhiking stories, obviously. However, you can take that in the 'poetic' sense, as we are 'snakes' in time and the asphalt rivers take us to many places, as well as 'places'..

scattered throughout are videos, music, and intermittent stories I have to tell.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Ron Bonlender; I'll miss him, his politics and his sub sandwiches

Yakima activist, former City Councilman Ron Bonlender dies at age 68

BY MARK MOREY 
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC 

Yakima activist, politician Ron Bonlender dies at age 68
SARA GETTYS/YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC
Ron Bonlender


YAKIMA, Wash. — Ron Bonlender, pugnacious Democratic activist, former Yakima City Council member and downtown businessman, died Friday afternoon of an apparent heart attack. He was 68.
Bonlender was found at his home on North Seventh Street at about 3:30 p.m.
Friends said that Bonlender, who was not publicly known to have serious health problems, had worked at his downtown Sub Shop on Friday morning, but came home early because he did not feel well.
Former City Councilwoman Susan Whitman, speaking for the family, said relatives were not expected to immediately issue a statement. Funeral arrangements will likely be announced next week, Whitman said.
The sudden news shocked those in Democratic circles because Bonlender was practically synonymous with local Democratic politics. On Thursday night, he attended candidate forums and was himself running for a county freeholder position.
"Politics was everything to him. He was always taking on a new project," said Yakima County Auditor Corky Mattingly, who served on the county Democratic central committee when Bonlender was elected chairman of the party's 14th Legislative District almost a decade ago.
Mattingly, who noted that the two did not always see eye-to-eye, said Bonlender's election losses and political fights did not diminish his energy for civic engagement and public and community service. He recently hosted City Council candidates on his cable television show and once suggested local Democrats should have their own radio program.
"Nothing slowed Ron down," Mattingly said.
........read full article:    Ron Bonlender

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Heart: LOST AND FOUND

State DOT returns lost teddy bear to 6-year-old girl

BY PHIL FEROLITO 
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC 

State DOT returns lost teddy bear to 6-year-old girl
PHOTO COURTESY WASHINGTON DOT
Once thought lost, "Daddy Bear" was found on I-90 and returned to its owner by DOT workers.

YAKIMA, Wash. — For two days, 6-year-old Justice Wadsworth thought "Daddy Bear" was gone for good.
The white teddy bear was a gift from her father, Army Sgt. Claudio Wadsworth, who sent it to her just before he was deployed to Iraq when she was 2.
But on Tuesday, the bear was lost on Interstate 90 when her grandmother pulled over after Justice became car sick returning from Idaho. While the girl's father is now stationed in South Korea, the bear remains hugely important to her.
When they returned home, Justice's grandmother posted a cry for help on the state Department of Transportation's Facebook page.
Worried that people would begin searching the busy freeway, two DOT workers Terry Kukes and Harry Nelson, both of Cle Elum, looked themselves and found it in about an hour Wednesday.
"The bear must've fallen out right when they pulled over," Kukes said.
On their own time, both men made the roughly three-hour drive to the girl's Sedro-Woolley home.
"When we offered the bear to her, she took it and held it really tight and hugged it," said Kukes, a DOT maintenance superintendent. "She missed that little bear."
"It kind of tugs on your heart a little bit when you find out the significance of this bear to this little girl," he said.