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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