The kids come through again

Raves for the high school kids in Hoquiam and Aberdeen who collected $174,513 in cash and 14,221 pounds of actual food that will help families in this community. Remarkable. And they did in a couple weeks (after months of organizing).

Hoquiam was the winner in the Food Ball contest, which has been going on between the two schools at Thanksgiving time for decades now. Aberdeen collected more actual food and Hoquiam collected a little more cash and it all adds up to a big relief for the folks at Coastal Harvest, which supplies volunteer food banks at a critical time of the year.

Students at every grade level in the district take part, and the high school kids organize it. It’s a lot of work and lot of real-life leadership training.

Voting means never having to say you’re sorry

People must be pretty satisfied with their government, judging by voter turnout. Countywide it was just short of 46 percent, and that doesn’t count all those who aren’t even registered. Still, it’s better than the state average of 44.6 percent.

Only eight of the state’s 39 counties cracked the 50 percent mark. Thurston County, our seat of government, hit 42.1 percent.

There was a high turnout in Ocean Shores, boosted by an extra contentious mayoral race, which serves as the best example of how much your vote counts. At this writing, just four votes separate the two.