Impaired but cool

Justin Thompson gets soaked and cooled off at the National Night Out in Coulee Dam Tuesday evening with temperatures in the 90s, where one of the activities let people toss water balloons back and forth between two people, each wearing goggles designed to imitate a driver's impairment from alcohol at various levels. Thompson, who teaches world history and rock band at Lake Roosevelt Jr./Sr. High School, wore goggles emulating an impairment of 0.07-0.1 on a blood alcohol level test when he failed to make this catch. The legal limit in Washington is .08. The event, on Coulee Dam's Mead Way, was sponsored by the city police department, and included firefighting agencies, mental health providers getting the word out about available help, the city clerk's office making free root beer floats, a free barbecue at the Almira/Coulee Dam Community Church just up the street, and kids' activities. None were cooler than the water balloons, provided by citizen Rob Carroll, who seemed to be having a lot of fun. - Scott Hunter photo