Yelm City Council, the NASCAR story and more - Beyond the Ordinary Dot Net

Content on this page is from the 2004 NASCAR speedway issue with Yelm City Council.
We keep it available because it is in BTO programs, part of its history, & interesting!

For Current information on local news and events we direct you to:

Steve Klein's YelmCommunity.org Knowing of city officials' decisions, using taxpayer money & often
without the people's knowledge or consent, is important for every one of us. Seeing what happens in our area may help communities elsewhere be aware. On Steve's 5/12/09 show we spoke of a video here it is.

AND

JZ Knight.com is JZ Knight's Official Web Site, Contact Information, and Blog where you can find
personal information about JZ Knight, President of JZK, Inc., as well as radio and TV interviews,
press releases,media articles, and current news reports about her and her public activities.

[August 2004] This is a partial record of what the community faced and how well it has done.

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.
Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." MARGARET MEAD (1901-1978)

The Yelm, Washington City Council wins the 7th place Jefferson Muzzle Award ...Since 1992, the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression has celebrated the birth and ideals of its namesake by calling attention to those who in the past year forgot or disregarded Mr. Jefferson's admonition that freedom of speech 'cannot be limited without being lost.' Announced on or near April 13 -- the anniversary of the birth of Thomas Jefferson -- the Jefferson Muzzles are awarded as a means to draw national attention to abridgments of free speech and press and, at the same time, foster an appreciation for those tenets of the First Amendment. Brent Dille, City Attorney for Yelm, Washington, had this comment: "It’s the Council’s meeting. They can decide what they want to hear and what they’re tired of hearing."

Scroll down, read about and listen to officials' and citizens' comments regarding NASCAR.

Listen below to the entire public meeting and the community's comments

A note to the Yelm community from Nancy & Elena...

BTO OnTheSpot at the Public Meeting... Several speakers present their research on the impact of a NASCAR raceway in Yelm, Washington at a publicly held meeting at Yelm High School. August 2nd, 2004
Listen Part I Listen Part II	Public Meeting Presentation Part I (41 mins) James Flick, Diane D'Acuti, Mike Wright Part II (36 mins) Bill Hashim, Ed Wiltsie, Mike Wright, Diane D'Acuti
Listen Now	Comments taken after the meeting Unfortunately due to a technical difficulty we lost several comments after the meeting. Most were against the track, three were very much for it believing it would create growth, they also felt that the presentation was very one sided against the track being in Yelm.

August 14th, 2004
Listen Now	There's not enough fire fighters, we need volunteers, NASCAR could make our situation a little bit more risky... - Mary Balanche, Citizens Support Group for the Fire Dept.
Listen Now	~~~ NOT ON EITHER SIDE ~~~ I really don't care. - No Name Given
Listen Now	~~~ CON ~~~ Totally against NASCAR, that belongs in a much larger metropolitan area. - Perfecto Barbadilla
Listen Now	~~~ PRO ~~~ It will bring a lot of growth and jobs, I'd like to get a job at the track and not have to commute. - Sandy
Listen Now	~~~ CON ~~~ He loves racing but... this would be a tremendous liability to our community. - Michael Savoca, locally public elected official of Rainier District School Board and as a citizen, working with ProtectYelm.org

BTO OnTheSpot in the Community... Opponents in downtown Yelm today gathering petition signatures and BTO was there taking YOUR comments! August 14th, 2004
Listen Now	~~~ CON ~~~ Moved here from a small track in Oklahoma - Joanne Fields
Listen Now	~~~ UNDECIDED ~~~ Let's keep it democratic and vote! - No Name Given
Listen Now	~~~ CON ~~~ Bad for health, traffic, everything, it's appalling! Worst thing that could happen to Yelm! - No Name Given
Listen Now	~~~ CON ~~~ Keep it in Tenino. - No Name Given
Listen Now	~~~ PRO ~~~ Feels BTO is very slanted with RSE, and the only people against the track are from RSE. NASCAR is one of the best things that could hit this whole state! Facts were not complete at the public meeting, his interview with the woman from Edwardsville was a very different story, and the NASCAR track is very clean and environmentally safe. - Glen Cunningham
Listen Now	~~~ CON ~~~ No racetrack for me! - No Name Given
Listen Now	~~~ CON ~~~ Totally against NASCAR due to the loudness. - No Name Given
Listen Now	~~~ GENERAL (CON?) ~~~ This has nothing to do with Ramtha's School, it is about the town. A lot of people NOT in Ramtha's School don't want this track either. - No Name Given
Listen Now	~~~ PRO ~~~ I think it'd be good, would bring growth and it's something for the kids to do. - Laurie

According to the Nisqually Valley News, August 20, 2004, the Mayor says, "The City of Yelm wants and needs a speedway, and those opposing the track are only doing what they are told by the Ramtha School of Enlightenment."

[Diane D'Acuti's Response re: percentage of NON RSE signatures]
"With what I have right now - 63% of the 2000+ signatures are NOT students of RSE
-- Diane

The Mayor has disenfranchised the citizens of Yelm and the people of the surrounding areas by indicating they do not have an opinion or point of view of their own without having to belong to a private organization, such as Ramtha's School of Enlightenment. He is further quoted as saying, "There would be no opposition to a NASCAR track in Yelm if you took the 'ranch people' out of the mix." It is obvious that the Mayor is not in touch with the members of the community or the surrounding areas.

It is unfortunate that the Mayor of Yelm, Adam Rivas, has dismissed those that attend Ramtha's School of Enlightenment as something else other than citizens of this community as if their taxes and participation here count for nothing.

If you find this is offensive and irrelevant, whether you belong to any private organization or not, it is important that you contact the Mayor and the NVN and let them know you do have a voice and an opinion and are not in favor of a track regardless of any organization you belong to."

Mayor Adam Rivas [now Ron Harding] City of Yelm, PO BOX 479, Yelm WA 98597 (360)458-8401
Nisqually Valley News, PO Box 597, Yelm WA 98597 (360)458-2681

From a Tribune News article which is no longer available on-line...
"I would do it again today!" says the Mayor

A note to the Yelm community from Nancy & Elena...

We are students of RSE and did move to this area two years ago because of that, however, we quickly realized that had we known about this community we would have moved here anyway! Being from California we expected some disgruntled reactions, "...great, more Californians moving to Washington!" but instead we found genuinely warm and friendly folks everywhere we went. We love this community and wish to send our thanks and appreciation to it for allowing us to share with you this beautiful area!

We also love RSE and one of our contributions to the community is to make known the availability of information on our BTO site about the school. For the first time people can get a "look inside" and listen to students, student teachers, and Ramtha, to know first hand what is being taught there. Being out in the community, covering the NASCAR issue, we discovered the opinion that our radio program is totally dedicated to RSE. We do have a lot of RSE related material, however we started this program in California about two years before discovering RSE and since then continue to have a wide variety of non-RSE related guests that include scientists, historians, scholars, philosophers, authors, martial artists, musicians, artists, motivational speakers, and even listeners! We always have a long list of new guests coming on as we discover them. Being a student of RSE does not preclude all else in the world, it includes it... valuable knowledge and experience can be found everywhere! Our intention is to continue to add to our guest repertoire, so that people can find it all in one place, choose what resonates with them, and perhaps enhance someone's life.

Another way we can contribute is by having community related issues posted here such as the NASCAR controversy and the problems with the local Fire Department. Most of us are well aware of NASCAR by now but probably many do not realize that the Fire Department needs help, and we would prefer that it not become proven through a tragedy!

Please contact us if you feel there is a local issue that should be included here, and thanks again for welcoming us into the community!

Best regards,
Nancy & Elena

P.S. And no, we don't want NASCAR here either, the planned location is 2 tenths of a mile from our property, essentially in our backyard which is currently filled with serenely beautiful forest, deer, rabbits, and more, all of us enjoying the peacefulness, silence, and scarcity of bright lights which allows wonderful star gazing. Plus of course, the spectacular mountain view! Even so we want all the PRO track comments we can get to keep the issue balanced, we edit nothing and report everything! (except for when we have a recording failure ;-)