Controversy continues to swirl around the new Wade King Elementary school, which opens to students next week, first from the naming of the school, and now because of the lack of sidewalks along Yew Street Road southbound from the property

Notwithstanding the school district's plans to bus children to and from school, understandably, concerns abound for the safety of the children who will inevitably find themselves walking that road from time to time. It is foolhardy to suppose that little tots will not be walking that route on a regular basis, as the confluence of events and circumstances results in a child missing the bus. I drove a school bus while working my way through college, and reality is, when the bus leaves, the bus leaves, and if you miss it, you're hoofing it to school, or finding a different ride.

What further intensifies the debate is the exponential rise in project estimates from Whatcom County Public Works who, in 2004, estimated the cost of installing sidewalks along Yew Street Road at $2.16 million. The estimated cost just four years later has skyrocketed to $14.1 million. Even allowing for inflation, such a rise in costs is unfathomable, and I'm more inclined to look for incompetence in estimating than an increase in costs of that magnitude.

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