Cheers and Jeers, Nov. 18

Jeers to the teen-looking girl — and her parents if they knew about this — who was running in pale blue shorts with a light-colored dog along a curvy section of Ray Nash Drive at deep dusk Thursday afternoon in the rain, not wearing any reflective clothing in an area with no road shoulder. I was almost upon the pair when I saw them and the oncoming car. I had maybe 100 feet to calculate how to avoid hitting the girl (actually the dog, which she let run on the roadway!) and hope the oncoming car would move far enough from the center line not to hit me. A harrowing couple of seconds which could have turned out much differently — and didn’t have to happen if the runner had made better choices.

Cheers to the strength of those in Paris. Our thoughts and support go out to Paris, The City of Light. May she forever and always shine bright.

Cheers to Fred Meyer for picking up the slack and most importantly jobs caused by the closure of Safeway. They went above and beyond what one would expect of a retail competitor. And welcome back, Safeway!

Cheers to Agnus Dei Church and everyone who came out recently to support the locally-produced film “Threads.” Thanks to your generosity, we are now able to start the work of dubbing the film into the Bangla language so that it can inspire illiterate women and girls in Bangladesh. And cheers to The Gateway for your continuing interest in this story.

Jeers to all the mean spirited people on the Gig Harbor Town Talk. I joined this Facebook page to get information on people and events in our wonderful town. It's all I can do to hold my tongue and watch for something actually meaningful.... At least it is still good for lost and found pets.

This story was originally published November 19, 2015 at 11:52 AM with the headline "Cheers and Jeers, Nov. 18."