Inquiring Minds series coming to Harstine

The Northwest’s most prolific bootlegger of the 1920s, the history of atomic power in Washington, and a look back at the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens are the topics of three Inquiring Minds programs hosted by the Humanities Washington Speakers Bureau and the Harstine Island Community Club.

This is the 14th year the two entities have presented the programs, which are staged at 1:30 p.m. on the last Sunday in January, February and March at the Community Club, 3371 E. Harstine Island Road North. Donations will be accepted to support Inquiring Minds.

Des Moines resident Steve Edmiston will talk about the “Rumrunning King” at 1:30 p.m. Jan. 29. Edmiston is a business and entertainment lawyer, an indie film screenwriter and producer, founder of Quadrant45, and co-founder of The Good Bootlegger’s Guild.

He’ll talk about Roy Olmstead, who evolved from the youngest lieutenant in Seattle Police Department history to the leader of a gang that took over bootlegging during prohibition in the Northwest. He’ll examine “The Good Bootlegger’s” story of whiskey-driven politics, culture wars, criminalization of popular social behaviors, illegal surveillance, spies, sensational trials and trips to the Supreme Court.

Steve Olson will talk about “Atomic Washington: Our Nuclear Past, Present and Future” at 1:30 p.m. Feb. 26. An Eastern Washington native who now lives in Seattle, Olson is a writer whose most recent book is “The Apocalypse Factory: Plutonium and the Making of the Atomic Age.” Since 1979, he has been a consultant writer for the National Academy of Sciences, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, and other national scientific organizations.

As Olson will point out, at the center of every nuclear weapon in the United States is a small pit of radioactive material manufactured at a top-secret facility in Eastern Washington, a facility that remains the most radiologically contaminated site in the Western hemisphere.

Washington today has two operating nuclear reactors, one of which provides about 10% of our electricity, he states. Radioactive

substances are used in Washington to cure diseases, build airplanes, detect pollutants and power smoke detectors. Naval Base Kitsap has the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in the country.

Eric Wagner will talk about “After the Blast: Mount St. Helens 40 Years Later” at 1:30 p.m. March 26. The Seattle resident is a writer and biologist who earned a doctorate degree in biology from the University of Washington, where he studied penguins. He is the author of three books, including “After the Blast: The Ecological Recovery of Mount St. Helens.”

Mount St. Helens erupted May 18, 1980, killing 57 people and causing hundreds of square miles of destruction.

Scientists who visited the site soon after the eruption were stunned to find plants sprouting up through the ash and animals skittering around downed trees. Wagner will talk about the surprising ways plants and animals survived the eruption, the complex roles people have played, and the continued fascination with the mountain.