Washington, D.C
Fairbanksans drive National Christmas tree to Washington, D.C.
The National Christmas Tree that ends up in Washington D.C. is coming from Alaska this year. Two Fairbanksans are driving a special, extra-long tractor-trailer from Seattle to D.C., after the tree was barged from Wrangell.
John Schank and Fred Austin are driving the Capitol Christmas tree from Washington State to Washington, D.C. They flew from Fairbanks to Seattle on Monday to meet the 74-foot Sitka Spruce that was barged from Wrangell.
“We came, flew down here and picked up a new Kenworth tractor and went to the barge, picked up the tree and the trailer, and now we’re showing it,” said Austin.
The Kenworth company donates a new truck every year for the Capitol tree.
Schank pulled the truck and trailer into a park in Renton, Washington Wednesday night, where there was a party for locals who want to see the tree.
“Well, there’s a lot of people, they have ladders up here, we got felt pens for it, they sign their name, you know, Merry Christmas and blah, blah, blah, where they’re from, etc.”
OK, the ladders are so folks can climb up next to the 85-foot long custom-built trailer that gets used every year to transport each Capitol Christmas Tree. There are already hundreds of signatures on the canvas banner on the truck. Fred Austin says this party is the first of 17 whistle-stop visits they will make on the trip.
Courtesy U.S. Forest Service
“And, uh, they’re just people circling around the back of the trailer about 20 feet is plexiglass. So, you can look in and see the tree. It’s got decorations and lights on it, on that part of the tree that you can see. So, they’re going around absolutely enjoying looking at it. And there are maybe one thousand people here.”
Each year, the D.C. tree is chosen from different regions throughout the United States. This year’s Capitol Christmas tree came from the Tongass National Forest, near Wrangell. And it was folks in Wrangell who organized the making of 14,000 ornaments created by schoolkids and adults in Alaska.
And it was the high school kids in Wrangell who developed the watering system for the tree. Usually the Capitol tree is cut down, but this one was dug up with some of it’s roots intact. The school’s tech club created a watering system for the tree, including 20 mister nozzles that cycle water onto the root wad.
The tree also made a stop in Ketchikan on its way to the lower-48.
This is the second National Christmas Tree that’s come from Alaska. The first was in 2015, and Austin and Schank drove that one, too. They are used to the tricks required to fit an 85-foot rig into a public park.
“I’ve been driving trucks for 71 years and you get used to doing what you have to do to get everything to fit.”
Oh yeah. Austin is 89 years old. And Schank is 78. But when asked if they could drive what is often called “The People’s Tree,” they weren’t about to say no.
They are also being escorted by officers from the U.S. Forest Service.
You can follow the progress of the National tree at the website: https://www.kenworth.com/tree-tracker
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MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Thursday, December 26th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.
MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown. Up next, WORLD commentator Cal Thomas on a bad Christmas tradition in Washington D.C.
CAL THOMAS: When Washington politicians speak of a Christmas tree this time of year, they are not referring to an actual tree. It means they’ve loaded up a bill with another kind of “green,” the kind that’s decorated with money.
The “bipartisan” bill passed just before midnight last Friday, minutes before a government “shutdown” would be an embarrassment to anyone but the politicians who voted for it. Like Christmas, this scenario gets played out almost every year with no regard for the growing debt.
The first bill was more than 1,500 pages. Elon Musk denounced it and suddenly it shrunk to over 100 pages, but that was too little for the big spenders. What passed last week at 118 pages may take days to digest, but you can be sure of one thing: pork is part of it. Always is.
For the last ten years, Republican Senator Rand Paul has published what he calls a “Festivus” report on just some of the wasteful spending in which our Congress is engaged. His latest – and you should Google it to see it all – includes the following:
Some of the highlights – or lowlights as I like to call them — include funding for the National Endowment for the Arts to subsidize ice-skating drag queens and promoting city park circuses. Additionally, the Department of the Interior invested in the construction of a new $12 million Las Vegas Pickleball complex. Interior also allocated $720,479 to wetland conservation projects for ducks in Mexico. This year, the Department of State is featured eleven times, with expenditures including $4.8 million on Ukrainian influencers, $32,596 on breakdancing, $2.1 million for Paraguayan Border Security (what about security at our border?), $3 Million for ‘Girl-Centered Climate Action’ in Brazil, and much more!
Hey, it’s not their money, it’s our money.
At least this time a pay raise for members didn’t make it to the final bill. Members should be having their pay cut, not raised, for under-performing.
Perhaps Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk can do something about the misspending that has led to the unsustainable $36 trillion dollar debt with interest of $1 trillion dollars just this year.
Others have tried and failed to break the spending habit. Maybe they will succeed this time, but the odds are not good. It’s not called “the swamp” for nothing.
I hope you had a Happy Christmas. Your politicians did.
I’m Cal Thomas.
WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.
Sidwell Friends School and St. John’s College continue to headline the District of Columbia girls basketball Top 10 poll.
The undefeated Quakers (7-0 overall) are headed to California to participate in the SoCal Holiday Prep Classic in San Diego while St. John’s (10-0) will be home for Christmas after winning the St. Petersburg bracket at the Tampa Bay Christmas Invitational in Florida.
The Cadets will host their Holiday Hoopla mixer, Dec. 30 and 31.
Theodore Roosevelt debuts in this week’s poll at No. 10.
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The Quakers will play at the SoCal Holiday Prep Classic in San Diego starting Thursday.
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The Cadets won the Tampa Bay Christmas Invitational championship in Florida.
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The Frogs, winners of three straight, next plays at the Christy Winters-Scott Invitational Dec. 31.
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The Colts will play Archbishop Carroll at the Title IX Classic Holiday Invitational in Maryland Friday.
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The Cubs will play at the Candy Cane Classic at Thomas Johnson (Md.) Friday and Saturday.
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The Ramblers will play at the Beltway 8 Holiday Classic in Houston starting Friday.
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The Bulldogs will play Charles H. Flowers (Md.) at the Title IX Classic Holiday Invitational in Maryland Friday.
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The Tigers will play at the Candy Cane Classic at Thomas Johnson Friday and Saturday.
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The Penguins split with Anacostia and No. 6 Eastern.
Previous rank: Not ranked.
The Roughriders will play KIPP School at the Title IX Classic Holiday Invitational in Maryland Friday.
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