Page A-4 - Mason County Journal - Thursday, Nov. 20, 2014
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KOMEN COMMENT
,ason
It was 28 years ago, a Fri-
day night in the Tacoma
Dome. And it was sold
out. Frank Sinatra was in
town.
He was 71 then, in the
waning years of his career.
But if you were a Sinatra
fan, his age mattered not. He
was there and he
sang Sinatra songs.
And for his fans,
the years simply fell
away.
That night --
April 4, 1986 -- his
audience was en-
thralled. Attendees
voiced their ap- By JOHN
proval of upbeat old
favorites and sat KOMEN
in silent wonder as
he sang familiar sad songs.
Their appreciative applause
was frequent and sustained.
Now fast-forward to Nov.
13 at Little Creek Casino
Resort. There in the casino's
Skookum Creek Event Cen-
ter, another audience was en-
thralled by another Sinatra.
Frank Sinatra Jr. was in
town, and again the years fell
away.
This namesake of a legend
is a talent unto his own. And
he held sway over his Little
Creek audience for nearly
two hours.
Like that audience for his
father 28 years ago, this au-
dience sat in rapt attention
and full appreciation for the
son's wondrous performance.
Sinatra Jr. has been a
singer and entertainer since
he was 18 years old. But one
needs to see and hear him in
person to have a real appre-
ciation for this man's talent.
It has to be difficult to live in
the shadow of a famed father.
But this son is the real thing,
He once worked as his
father's orchestra conductor,
a position he held for seven
years. So it isn't as if the
father and son didn't share
the air of high-entertainment
performance. And -- like his
father -- the son has been
around a long time.
It is a strange coincidence
the senior Sinatra was 71
in that 1986 Tacoma Dome
event and Sinatra Jr. enter-
tained at Little Creek at age
70.
He was born in Jersey
City, New Jersey, on Jan.
10, 1944, and named Francis
Wayne Sinatra. For show
business, it naturally became
Frank Sinatra Jr.
He's touring the country
presenting his father's songs
and his own reminisces of the
two Sinatras' careers. In his
Little Creek appearance, a
20-piece orchestra
backed him and per-
formed to perfection
as a Big Band of the
1940s and 1950s.
Sauntering
smoothly across the
Little Creek stage,
Sinatra Jr. never
missed a beat. He
sang the "Great
American Songbook"
without a hitch. You
had to be amazed at his abil-
ity to remember every word
of each song and every word
of the specially written pro-
gram he presented.
And you had to be amazed
at the uncanny resemblance
to his father. At nearly 71,
his facial features are so
similar one is easily swept
back to that Tacoma Dome
appearance of his father 28
years ago.
Sinatra Jr. mentioned he
is working on a multimedia
concert to mark the 100th an-
niversary of his father's birth.
It will be coming to a Seattle/
Tacoma venue sometime in
2015. Where it will be booked
isn't yet known. But if you
missed Sinatra Jr. last week,
look ahead to next year.
Wherever it lands -- and
with Frank Sinatra Jr. head-
lining it -- it will be an event
not to be missed (one can
only wish Little Creek could
host it).
To see a Frank Sinatra Jr.
production at the Skookum
Creek Event Center was a
show-business highlight. The
folks at Little Creek deserve
their own round of applause
for booking it.
• John Komen, who lives
on Mason Lake, was for 40
years a reporter and editor,
TV anchorman, national TV
network correspondent, pro-
ducer, columnist, editorial
writer, and commentator. His
column, Komen Comment,
appears each week in the Ma-
son County Journal.
Mason County
LETTERS TO THE
Don't ditch
your pets
on roadside
Editor, the Journal
I'd like to address this let-
ter specifically to people who
dump their pets off in the
county. Shame on you.
Do you realize what
you are doing to a pet that
trusted you, depended on you
and loved you uncondition-
ally? You leave them on the
side of the road thinking
they might find a home along
the way. They might, if they
survive the wild dogs tipping
them to shreds or the coyotes
killing them for food.
This past week, someone
dumped a young, white, fe-
male pit bull with brown over
her eye out on the Shelton
Matlock Road between the
Goldsborough Creek bridge
and Carman Road in the
western section of the coun-
ty. There she was, running
up and down the road look-
ing for her people to come get
her. They did not come. She
was wearing a red collar.
Some in the neighborhood
have tried to catch her to no
avail. She is scared to come
to them. Does she have pup-
pies? Food has been put out
for her as well as water and
a box with a blanket in it to
shield her from the cold. Her
abandonment has been re-
ported to the pet rescue group
and the Mason County Sher-
iffs Office.
If you can't afford to keep
EDITOR
your pet anymore, for God's
sake, take it to the pound, pet
rescue, or see if one of your
friends or neighbors want to
give it a home. If the dog is
dangerous to people, or other
animals, have the guts to
have it put down. Don't foist
your problem off on someone
else. Ask a veterinarian if
there is a rescue group for the
breed of dog you want to get
rid of. There are many in the
state.
I wonder how you would
feel if your family took you for
a ride and dumped you off on
the side of the road, never to
return again, to starve or get
hit by a speeding vehicle.
Jacquelyn Johnson
Shelton
Post office
need fixing
Editor, the Journal
In response to Florence
Vincent's letter last week:
Vincent made several allega-
tions and named supposed
"facts" regarding the proposed
and much-needed reforms
to our out-of-control postal
system. Among those claims
were that President George
Bush mandated funding for
75 years of oversight and ne-
glect by the postal system for
not funding the employees'
health costs in just 10 years'
time. In the past eight years,
the post office system has lost
at least $5 billion a year.
How, ai~r all these de-
cades, did Vincent think this
money was going to magi-
cally appear? Of course, there
are going to be hardships for
customers, service and sched-
uling cutbacks, and changes
-- even post office closures.
What does she expect after
decades of mismanagement
and criminal lack of oversight
(not to mention lack of fund-
ing)?
Who is responsible? They
should be in prison. They
are who she should be angry
with, not the one who seeks
to solve the problem. This
government agency has been
squandering the taxpayers'
money for decades to the tune
of tens of billions of dollars.
It's about time we got some
accountability for a horribly
mismanaged system, or we
are all going to pay the price
for this abuse.
By the way, where did
Vincent think the money was
coming from to pay for this
neglected and broken health-
care system? It has not been
funded for decades and is sup-
posed to pay for the health-
care of former employees?
By cutting waste and
running the business in a
business-like manner -- like
being competitive -- we just
might be able to stem the
losses and turn the system
into something we are proud
of.
Jim Stark
Grapeview
see LETTERS, page A-5
USPS 492-800
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Mason
County Journal, P.O. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584.
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Tom Hyde, publisher
Newsroom:
Adam Rudnick, editor
Natalie Johnson, reporter
Gordon Weeks, reporter
Emily Hanson, sports reporter
Dawn Geluso, proofreader
Advertising:
Dave Piedk, sr. acct. executive
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Uoyd Mullon, ad representative
Front office:
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Composing room:
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Uncla Frizzell, graphics
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