A Little Green, a Yellow Light and a Lot of Opinions

Published 1:30 am Thursday, August 13, 2026

Monday night’s City Council meeting was the longest one I can remember in a long time. I had hoped to get it all written up for this week’s paper, but somewhere along the way I made the executive decision to sleep. So, I’ll be working on it this week.

On Monday morning it was exciting to see activity at the Almar building and to get a glimpse of a new look coming for that longtime landmark. I especially appreciated hearing from a family member who explained why the building had always been the same shade of green.

Apparently, Grandpa Al’s decorating philosophy was simple: “Paint it any color you’d like, as long as it’s green.”

That certainly clears up a few things.

Then there was the traffic signal.

I debated a while before posting on Facebook a photo of the yellow signal light back in operation at Main and Calawah. I knew the comments would be all over the place, and, of course, I was not disappointed.

One person commented, “Why not turn it off for better traffic flow?”

I had to wonder… did they read the caption? The caption that said it had just been turned back on?

And, for the record, the light is back on because someone spoke their mind where it actually counts, at City Council, rather than simply speaking their mind on Facebook.

Which brings me to another thing worth speaking up about: voter turnout.

Clallam County’s turnout for the primary was reportedly only about 27 percent

I know it was a primary. I know there are a million reasons people don’t vote. But I also know there is certainly no shortage of opinions being shared online about how things should be done, what’s wrong with government and what somebody “needs to do” about this or that.

Well… here’s an idea. Show up. Speak up. And, most importantly, vote.

Christi Baron

Editor