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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
January 5, 2012     Shelton Mason County Journal
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January 5, 2012
 
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i I Thursday, January 5, 2012 Week I -- The Voice of Mason County since 1886  Published in Shelton, Washington  $1 ANGEL AMONG US BOE makes changes after Revenue report By NATAUE JOHNSON A few weeks after the Washington State Department of Revenue (DOR) released a final report stating that the Mason County Board of Equalization failed to comply with state law in eight different ways, the group has already made several changes. BOE chair Darryl Cleveland said even before the final report, the board had made several changes in response to an earlier DOR draft. "We've already instigated most of these - we were fine with it," he said, re- ferring to the DORs suggested changes to BOE practices. The Board of Equalization's duty is to hear appeals on home values deter- mined by the Mason County Assessor's Office. The board can either overturn or uphold a home value determined by the assessor's office. These home values de- termine a resident's property tax rates. The DOR's final report, issued in November, listed eight instances in which the Mason County BOE did not follow several Washington Administra- tive Codes (WAC) and Revised Codes of Washington (RCWs). Cleveland, who worked in the Mason County Assessor's office for 34 years, with the last eight as the county as- sessor and has served on the Board of Equalization since 2008, said he doesn't believe the BOE broke any laws. "It wasn't a break- ing of the law, it was we weren't fully com- pliant with the stat- utes," he said. "There were no laws broken. It was just a non-com- pliance." Darryl About six months Cleveland ago, the DOR first con- tacted the board after receiving complaints from citizens who had filed appeals on their assessed property values. "They said they wanted to do an au- dit of the board's procedures," Cleve- land said. "They wanted to hear tapes of the procedures and how they went about conducting the meetings." Panther Lake resident Jennifer Sims, who lives on the Mason County side of the lake, sent a letter on June 27, 2011 to Kathy Beith and Diann Locke at the DOR and Washington Attorney Rob McKenna to report what she felt were major problems in the Mason County Assessor's Office and the BOE. "Many of my neighbors and I have se- rious concerns about the integrity and competence of the Mason County Asses- sor's Office," she wrote. See BOE on page A-3 Journal pnoto lay Natalie Johnson After surviving 22 years of slavery in an international human trafficking ring, Debra (DJ) Lopez is on a mission to save other people who are victimized in similar situations. Shelton woman fights human trafficking By NATALIE JOHNSON here are some words or phrases that sound alien in many of our comfort- able modern lives - human trafficking is one of them. "Slavery," "human traffick- ing," "drug mules" many people feel that these things couldn't possibly happen in our country, our state, our town or our backyard. But they can, says Shelton wo/nan Debra (DJ) Lopez. And they have. Lopez knows firsthand the horrors of the international human trafficking industry, and since 2007, when she founded her non- profit organization Angels in the Field, has dedicated her life to helping victims and educating the public about the pervasive problem. "We have a responsibility toward human- ity," she said. This month, Lopez is flying to India to spend six months working with government officials and local organizations to educate he public about human trafficking and work to eradicate the problem. %rou don't know who can be a victim, you don't know who can be a perpetrator ... any- body can be a perpetrator," she said. Lopez was born in New York City but as a teenager her mother took her on a trip to visit her grandmother, who lived in India. After less than 24 hours in India, Lopez's mother sold her into slavery. After some time in India, she was sold again in Ger- many. Lopez spent a total of 22 years as a victim of human trafficking. "I was sold when I was 14 years old - I became a victim very young," she said. Lopez is not afraid to tell her painful sto- ry, if only to prevent anyone else suffering the pain she did. After some time in Germany, her captors forced her to help run their multi-million dollar organization. Lopez was granted a position of some authority, but the abuse and ctimization never stopped. "If I didn't do what they told me to do I was beaten or tortured," she said. "It's something that's mental - the control, it's always there." When her captors discovered that Lopez was a U.S. citizen, they used her as a mule to smuggle drugs into the country in De- cember 1999, she said. After landing in Texas - Lopez still isn't sure what city- she saw her chance and made a break for it. She escaped from her captor in the airport and has never looked back. "It was a miracle, it was my time to be See Angel on page A-2 Shooting leads to an arrest By KEVAN MOORE Shelton resident Colon S. Ward, 31, was arrested New Year's Day follow- ing a scuffle and shooting in Hoodsport. According to the Ma- son County Sheriffs Of- rice, Ward was arrested at Mason General Hospi- tal under investigation of first-degree assault (DV) and unlawful possession of a firearm in the first degree. Deputies responded to a residence in the 19000 block of Highway 101, in the Minerva Ter- race area, at 1:54 p.m. Sunday. The investiga- tion disclosed that Ward became involved in the altercation when he learned his wife was go- ing to leave him. According to deputies, Ward became angry at the news and started yell- ing and making threats. Deputies also say that during the altercation, Ward's sister-in-law, be- came afraid for the safety of her father and armed herself with a pipe. Deputies say she struck Ward twice with the pipe in the head. Ward's wife and fa- Ward's then intervened trying to calm the situation and eventually armed him- self with a rifle because of his fear of Ward. Deputies say that a scuffle broke out between Ward and the father-in- law and Ward allegedly fired a shot. father-in-law- .ther, in-law . were theru able to dis'arm Ward and restrain him. Ward was treated by medics and transported to Mason General Hos- pital in Shelton. He was subsequently arrested at Mason General and booked into the Mason County Jail. Vote set on lodging tax funds By NATALIE JOHNSON The Mason County Board of Com- missioners plans to vote on recommen- dations for 2012 tourism grant funding from the Mason County Lodging Tax Advisory Committee (LTAC) on Tues- day, Jan. 17. The commissivn will" atsc have a Monday, Jan. 9 briefing on theissue. One of the LTAC committee's recom- mendations, to reorganize the way local organizations handle tourism manage- ment, needs further review, said Mason County Commissioner Steve Bloom- field, a non-voting member of the com- mittee. "I think it's something that definitely needs some further discussion and clar- ification and explanation as time goes by," he said at Tuesday's county com- mission meeting. During the LTAC meeting on Mon- day, Dec. 12, committee members voted to reject a $95,000 grant proposal from the Shelton-Mason County Chamber of Commerce for general tourism manage- ment, which was an identical amount to a grant the LTAC committee approved the previous year. Instead, the committee recommend- ed that the county approve a proposal to give $36,000 in grant funds to Olympic Broadcasting, which owns local radio tation KMAS,'for,tourismmavketiug.  ® .- "There's been a lot of comment to me from the public," Bloomfield said. The county commission needs to vote to approve or reject the LTAC commit- tee's recommendation. The county commissioners reiterated that they need time to discuss the issue in a briefing session on Monday, Jan. 9, as well as a regular commission meet- ing on Tuesday, Jan. 17. "I'm getting a lot of questions about it ... I found myself confused and some- what uninformed about what was going on,' Commissioner Lynda Ring Erick- son said. See LTAC on page A-6 Commissioner candidate not allowed to testify at meeting By NATALIE JOHNSON The Mason County Board of Commissioners denied county resi- ]ent Randy Churchill the right to III!1!!!1!!!11!!!11!1!111100 speak in a commission meeting on Tuesday, citing his status as an of- ficially filed candidate in the 2012 county commission elections. Churchill recently filed with the Washington State Public Disclo: sure Commission (PDC) to run for Mason County Commissioner in District 2, currently held by im Shelton, as a Republican. thorize the use of any of the facili Churchill denied that anything ties of a public office or agency, di- he had to say contained a cam- rectly or indirectly, for the purpose paign message, of assisting a campaign for election "I think these are important issues of any person to any office?' that everyone needs to hear," he said. According to PDC spokesman According to Revised Code of Lori Anderson, neither sitting corn- Washington (RCW) 42,17.130, "No :. missioners nor audience members elective official ... may use or au- should make campaign-related comments during public testimony. 'Tge have told cities and counties that it's kind of a blanket prohibi- tion - the people that are in office right now can't be talking about their campmgns and the people who are in the audience can't be See Candidate on page A-3