By Pat Jenkins The Dispatch The Pierce County Council took its roadshow to Ashford this month to hear about life and citizens' concerns in one of its rural constituencies. The council annually breaks away from its usual downtown Tacoma meeting and conducts one of its regular meetings in each of the seven council districts. That location Oct. 14 was the Mount Rainier Lions Club hall in Ashford, in the south district represented by Councilman Jim McCune. Representatives of the area's fire protection, schools and general community took the occasion to acquaint the council with what they believe is good in the region and what could use some help. Garry Olson, chief of Fire District 23, said its small but hard-working crew does everything from trekking into remote locations to rescue injured hikers to coordinating with neighboring fire departments on serious medical emergencies that require airlifts of patients. Those efforts would be better-served by the installation of an additional cell phone tower, Olson said. He noted that while the radios used by fire and police agencies in the county's new 9-1-1 communications system "work fine," citizens who have an accident or medical emergency need better cell phone coverage to call for help. Rick Adams, a business owner and resident of Ashford since 1968, told the council that the area needs economic and job development to counteract a 12 percent unemployment rate, generally low incomes and a limited tax base that struggles to support public services. County government was scolded by Richard Thurston for allowing what he termed a lack of sensitivity to rural issues among land-use officials. Thurston is a member of the county's Planning Commission, an advisory body for the council. He said the planning department is dominated by urban-minded planners who "don't understand rural lifestyles" and the needs of communities such as Ashford and Elbe. He urged the council "to ride herd" on the department and increase planners' grasp of rural land-use. On a similar note, Brad Moore, a builder, said development in rural areas is hampered by difficult dealings with the planning department. The council also heard from Krestin Bahr, superintendent of Eatonville School District. She said the district's focus on education includes teaching students marketable skills and giving young people the same opportunities that their counterparts have in urbanized areas. "We may have students who've never gone to an urban center such as Tacoma or Seattle," Bahr said. "We need to get our students out and about. We live in a beautiful place, but we also know they have to survive in the 21st century" and the places they might live, work and study.
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