By Pepper Fisher
OLYMPIA – Washington lawmakers are in the thick of it this short legislative session, debating many issues critical to our lives. But they’ll also be considering some less crucial, more fun-loving proposals as well.
On the table are whether we should designate a state dinosaur, a state sport and, (who knew this wasn’t already a thing?) whether we should designate “The Evergreen State” our official state nickname.
It’s widely known that Sequim is the home of the famous Manis Mastodon discovery, but a mastodon is not a dinosaur. To date, only one dinosaur fossil has ever been discovered in Washington state. A fossil of a partial femur belonging to a 35 foot long, T. Rex-like dinosaur nicknamed “Suciasaurus rex” was discovered in 2012 at Sucia Island State Park in the San Juan Islands. HB 1067 will decide whether Washington state has an official state dinosaur.
Pickleball is said to be the fastest-growing sport in the world and, legend has it, was invented out of boredom in 1965 at the Bainbridge Island home of former State Representative Joel Pritchard, who came up with the game with his friend Bill Bell. They say they wanted to play badminton but didn’t have enough rackets or birdies, so they used ping pong paddles and a plastic wiffleball instead, stringing the badminton net along the ground as in tennis.
If passed in both the House and Senate and signed by the Governor, SB 5615 would make pickleball our state sport.
SB 5512 seeks to designate “The Evergreen State” Washington’s official nickname, despite the fact that the term has been widely used since 1889 when Washington became the 42nd state in the union. Strangely, no one has ever made it official.
(Banner Illustration: Suciasaurus Rex.)