WHAT DO YOU do at the drive-in when you’re waiting for the movie to start?
At the Rakers Car Club “Nostalgia Night at the Movies” last week at the Wheel-In Motor Movie, most people passed the time by walking around and looking at the variety of classic cars.
Casey Postma didn’t have to go farther than his own vehicle.
That’s because Casey, who is from Bremerton, brought his own collection of cars to the movie SEmD in the trunk of his car.
“There are over 200 cars, 1970 or earlier,” Casey said. “Every one is different.”
The cars are metal, like the Matchbox brand, that Casey has collected over the years.
He put a few of them on the tool box in the trunk of his 1956 F100.
Whenever kids were around and the truck was open, the model cars would attract attention.
Casey added more cars, and it “went from there,” he says.
Eventually, the tool box was displaced with display shelves, which run around three sides of the trunk.
China’s Prince Charming
Joe Volk told this story about a close encounter in China when he spoke at the Port Townsend Community Center a week ago Monday.
Volk is the executive secretary of the Quaker peace and justice lobby in Washington, D.C., formally known as the Friends Committee on National Legislation.
Talking on the subject, “Peacemaking on Capitol Hill,” Volk described his visit to Iran as part of a delegation to talk with national leaders last January and also showed slides of a trip to China for a Peace Forum.
Before he went, Volk said, people warned him not to be taken in by the Chinese “charm campaign,” referring to the reception given to official visitors.
Volk also described the goodbye that his grandson, Lucas, gave him SEmD a hug, followed by a gentle head butt, Lucas’ gesture of affection.
Sightseeing in Beijing, Volk was taking photos when he saw a boy who looked just like his grandson.
Asking the father if he could take the boy’s picture, Volk got down on his level and snapped the picture.
The boy turned to his father, and when the father nodded, the boy reached over and gave Volk a hug, then a head butt, and spoke one word.
Turning to a member of the delegation who spoke Chinese, Volk asked what the boy said. Her reply: “Grandfather.”
“What lengths would the Chinese go,” Volk said he asked himself, “to charm a visiting American grandfather?”
Quick trivia: Established in 1943, the Friends Committee on National Legislation was the first registered national religious lobby in the U.S.
Known for its work with Congress on peace and justice issues, the nonpartisan organization added environmental issues to its legislative priorities and built the only Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, certified “green” building on Capitol Hill for its offices.
Volk bikes to work from his home in Arlington, Va.
Planning a bicycle trip with a college friend, Dale Claypool, from Portland to Vancouver, British Columbia, he called friend Bob Schultz to arrange an overnight stop in Port Townsend to see Bob and spouse Phyllis Schultz.
That’s when Bob recruited Volk to do the program, which was organized by the Port Townsend Friends and the Port Townsend Peace Movement.
Note from Sigrid
Sigrid Cummings e-mailed with another success story.
Featured in last week’s column, Sigrid is the office manager at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church who, with the support of the Diocese of Olympia, started a fund to help people with utility bills.
“Tuesday I was contacted by OlyCAP to see if we could assist a client with her utility bill,” Sigrid wrote.
OlyCAP is short for Olympic Community Action Programs.
“She lost her husband less than a year ago, and he was their primary source of income.”
The woman is disabled and cannot work.
OlyCAP encouraged her to apply for Section 8 housing, and the caseworker contacted both St. Paul’s and St. Vincent de Paul for the utility assistance, Sigrid wrote.
“Between the three of us, we paid off the utility bill,” Sigrid wrote.
“Our final payment was contingent on her applying for PSE’s budget payment plan.
“She did that today, so this afternoon I will take our check to the Port Townsend PSE office on my way home.
“Another dragon slain!”
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Jennifer Jackson writes about Port Townsend and Jefferson County every Wednesday. To contact her with items for this column, phone 360-379-5688, or e-mail: jjackson@olypen.com.
