Whoppie, I hate to disappoint you, but must clarify the fact that Barak Obama is NOT AFRICAN AMERICAN! You say,”Barack Obama accepting his place in history as the first African American nominee”…WRONG! He is 50% CAUCASIAN, (though you never hear him brag about that!), 43.75 ARABIC, AND ONLY 6.25% AFRICAN NEGRO…..NOT AFRICAN AMERICAN. HIS AFRICAN HERITAGE COMES FROM ARABIC SLAVE TRADERS IN AFRICA. THE FACT THAT HE IS PRESENTING HIMSELF IN THIS WAY IS DECEITFUL AND WRONG! It will catch up with him. Helen Chapman King

“Our desks” showed Mary Wells desk…far different from the one I recall at WRG. Then she had a lovely dark antique table with no drawers and her office was like a lovely sitting room. No papers, no clutter, and I always wondered where Mary put everything! I guess in someone else’s office! Helen Chapman King

To Mary Wells from your old friend Helen King. I think I saw Strangelove going by the west side of San Juan Island the other day. How exciting you have bought a place in Vancouver, BC. What a great place to cruise in your lovely floating home…but that water is not as lovely as it looks. As it turns out, Canada as a whole does not have a nationwide plan or guideline to deal with sewage. It is up to each individual community to take care of their waste. Some municipalities like Whistler B.C get an A+, while others like Victoria, BC and Vancouver, BC, get an “F”. Montreal is still dumping raw sewage into the St Lawrence River. Each day 31 million gallons of raw sewage are discharged into the Strait of Juan de Fuca by BC cities, enough effluent to fill 40,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools in a year. This has been a problem since the 1970’s. Our dear Orcas are filled with PCB’s and the first calves born don’t survive due to the concentration of the PCB’s in the first milk from the mother Orca. Fish and all the animals of the sea are contaminated and all ingest the prescription drugs that are flushed, as well as all the other unhealthy things in the raw sewage. The water you see in Vancouver and Victoria, BC may look pretty and clean, but it’s NOT! I’m about a mile south of Lime Kiln Lighthouse. Wave as you go by the next time! Helen King —

Thank you for keeping us safe and preserving the freedoms our forefathers fought so valiantly to establish for so many generations. I hope this is not the last. Have a wonderful birthday celebration. Forever grateful, Helen King

MRS. KING’S COOKIES 2 CUPS BUTTER 2 CUPS BROWN SUGAR 2 CUPS WHITE SUGAR BLEND THE ABOVE UNTIL CREAMY AND ADD… 4 EGGS 2 TEASPOONS VANILLA GRATED RIND AND JUICE OF ONE ORANGE BEAT UNTIL WELL MIXED SIFT TOGETHER 4 CUPS FLOUR 2 TEASPOONS BAKING POWDER 2 TEASPOONS SALT 2 TEASPOONS BAKING SODA STIR INTO THE EGG AND BUTTER MIXTURE AND MIX UNTIL JUST BLENDED THEN ADD: 2 CUPS WHITE CHOCOLATE CHIPS 2 CUPS SEMI SWEET CHOCOLATE CHIPS 3 CUPS RAISINS 3 CUPS CHOPPED NUTS 2 CUPS OLD FASHIONED ROLLED OATS 3 CUPS ORANGE ALMOND GRANOLA, OR any GOOD GRANOLA WHEN WELL MIXED, SHAPE INTO PING PONG OR GOLF BALL SIZE AND BAKE ON AN UNGREASED COOKIE SHEET 350 FOR 8 TO 10 MINUTES OR UNTIL JUST TURNING BROWN AROUND THE EDGES. BEST WHEN WARM FROM THE OVEN. DOUGH KEEPS REFRIGERATED OR FROZEN. BAKE THEM FRESH AS NEEDED. MY COOKIES WERE FEATURED IN THE NOVEMBER 1990 ISSUE OF FAMILY CIRCLE MAGAZINE, AND ROSE LEAVY BURANBAUM’S,”CHRISTMAS COOKIE BOOK.” IN THE LAST YEAR THAT I HAD THE BABBLING BROOK INN IN SANTA CRUZ, CALIFORNIA, OVER 9,000 COOKIES WERE BAKED FOR GUESTS. THEY ARE STILL BEING BAKED AND SERVED EACH DAY HERE AT THE HIGHLAND INN OF SAN JUAN ISLAND. HELEN CHAPMAN KING

carol wilson - 5/16/2008 8:49 AM said: “I could never roll tortillas into enchiladas without them breaking, so I came up with a layered enchilada casserole.” The secret is to slide each tortilla in your enchilada sauce for just a minute to sotten it before filling and rolling. Helen Chapman King

Mary, you would be surprised to know that Vancouver and Victoria BC, where you recently visited, are still dumping raw sewage into our pristine waters of the Puget Sound. No amount of pressure from the US has been effective in making them clean up their act. Fish are being poisoned and our precious Orca whales are showing signs of PCB contamination. Even our small San Juan Island has sewage treatment plants! Naples is not the only place in the world that shows lack of concern about sewage and garbage being thrown into the sea. Helen Chapman King

Hasn’t Silda Spitzer been through enough without putting her through additional humiliation by standing up with her husband for his press conferences?! If he was really sorry, he would have told her she does not need to share in the shame with the world watching. Why do these wives do it? It seems to me, if there was any hope of mending the relationship, these guys would