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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
January 12, 1978     Shelton Mason County Journal
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January 12, 1978
 
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614 Z 6re. iort, l-la , SHUCKS, PA&apos;DNER, the Wild West ain't dead -- it's right here in li'l bitty Matlock, where the sky is cloudy all day and paint-spattered and broken steeds await the hour their lonesome buckaroos come home from school . .. citers. lourrlal C o u n ej Thursday, January 12, 1978 Ninety.second Year - Number 2 4 Sections - 36 Pages 15 Cents Per Copy ntract i awarded for ew cit00y trafflc00,00li'gh't T h e S he I t o n Ci t y dangerous, curb. She was told they were on meeting was Dick Swearingen ton at its meeting Tile commission said wheels and could be wheeled voted to award a someone from the public works out. She also asked about the for its long-planned department would take a look at new water cut-off notice traffic signal at Fourth and the placement of the container, provisions in the same letter and illumination of ' Mrs. Leonard Flower which allow 30 days after the Avenue from First to appeared at the commission time of billing to pay the bill. Streets. meeting to ask several questions She said in some instances a The commission, on the about a letter which was sent to person might be out of town and -:ommendation of City city residents about the new not get the bill until too late. Howard Godat, voted System. She was told the city would  award the contract to Totem She questioned whether or consider such cases on an lectric, Tacoma, whose bid of not some people would be able individual basis. 102,150was the lowest off our to carry the cans out to the Also appearing at the received on the project. 1 tting into operation. James Lowery, business employes. Employes in other rues Tostevin asked if it agent for IWA Local 3-38, departments will get about $50 a et to get a smaUer representing the sheriff's office month or a little more. m in the alley behind his employes union, appeared at the Lowery told the commission residence than the 300-gallon Mason C.ounty Commission that at the time the budget was which has been placed there, meeting Monday to ask if the adopted, the commission had was told that all alley commission had been able to stated they would see if they [H'ck-ups were 300-gallon find any money to provide a could find some additional ntainers, and that to place otle salary increase for employes of money to provide salary "he 90-gallon containers there the sheriff's office, increases for sheriff's department mean changing the lifting Commission Chairman John employes. ' ,rms on the truck during Bariekman told Lowery the He also stated he had gone which was notpractical, county did not have any over the sheriff's department He also asked if tile additional money, budget and there was no place which was placed next At the time the budget was where cuts could be made. He , his fence could be moved to a adopted last month it was said the department was talking it'erent location since it sat brought out that the sheriff's about not replacing patrol cars, to a bank and it would be office was the only department which gets it into a safety for children to crawl on which had been unable to find situation. of it and he believed it was money in tile budget to provide Commissioner Tom Taylor a salary increase for its commented that he understood who stated he was still working on his study of the cost of the new system and needed some additional information. The commission asked that a letter from the environmental protection agency stating the writer believed the city should have negotiated with th second.high bidder on the force main for the new sewer treatment plant rather than rebid (Please turn to page two.) The commission award of the. ),Ltract is subject to the M i fficial app I U 'of state department Ofofficials. n on o ea s Three persons appeared at f  ry he commission meeting with or sa a increases about the new garbage system which the city there had been times in the past when sheriff's department employes had gotten raises when other departments had not. Deputy Bruce SeUeg, who appeared at the meeting with Lowery, told the commission sheriff's office employes do not do the same kind of work as other county employes. They work in emergency services which, he said, are entirely different, especially from the risk factor involved. He stated there is also a problem with overtime, which is provided for in the contract between the union and the county. There are 31 people in the department, the commission was told. The Mason. County )remission has voted to minate the County Park and Board and establish a Park Department under le control of the county The commission action came its meeting Monday, which s the. date set after a previous g, for consideration of the :i( n. The commission earlier this wrote a letter to the embers of the Park and Board, Gary Plews, Results. c,f county planning office sur 00ey are reported Last October a citizen survey was mailed to all Mason County residents and some seasonal residents as well. The survey was prepared by the planning staff of the Mason Regional Planning Council with assistance from a technical advisory committee representing public and private organizations which serve the community. The survey was done as the first step in preparing an updated comprehensive plan for Mason County. The purpose of the survey was to find out how county residents feel about their county and how they would like to see it grow and develop in the future. The results of the survey will be one of the most important tools in the development of goals and policies for the comprehensive plan which will be developed in the next few months, according to county planners. Taken as a whole, the results of the questionnaire show a high degree of interest on the part of Mason County citizens in their community and its future. Generally, most residents desire the rural lifestyle of Mason County and would like to see rural living maintained. A strong desire is also indicated to conserve the main industrial base of the community through the preservation of prime timberlands and also those areas which are sensitive to developmental pleasures, such as flood plains and areas of slide hazards. For new development in the <ounty, the questionnaire showed a desire to balance growth and development and maintain the natural environment rather than give one or the other preferential treatment. Mason County resideq, also expressed a desire to encourage new industrial development clustered in 'industrial settings, and commercial developments in shopping centers. For residential development it was felt that new families should locate throughout the Community rather than in established communities, and that new residential development should avoid places of flood hazard and landslide. Availability of public services at the time of new development is considered necessary to support it by most respondents with an indication of needed improvement for some existing services, particularly police, fire, roads and emergency services. In total, 8,700 survey forms were mailed out and 2,700 of them returned. This 30 percent return rate is considered very high. This means, say the planners, that it is a statistically reliable survey and shows a great interest on the part of county residents in their community. The survey was broken down into parts. The first two parts asked how county residents feel about the county today and, secondly, what they feel about growth and development in the county over the nexf Jew years. The survey results showed that most residents (50 percent) feel that the rural lifestyle in Mason County is its most attractive feature.. Recreational opportunities, cost of living and closeness to family and friends are also important to many. About 19 percent of those who answered the questionnaire feel that all of the reasons stated make living in Mason County enjoyable. When \\;asked how Mason votes to set up park department Irvin McArthur, Louise Ewart, the action, said Scott Ballentine Fiar Board Chairman Martin Commissioner Floyd Cole, Auseth told the commission he had polled the members of the fair board and they agreed with the position stated by Welch. McArthur told the commission Ballentine had gotten more accomplished for the park board in the month since the first hearing than had been accomplished for some time. He stated the park board had felt it wasn't getting the action from the director that it should have. Who serves as the commission representative to the park and fair boards, stated he hated to see the change happen the way it did. He commented that it appeared to be difficult to get a quorum for park board meetings and that there appeared to have been s clash of personalities. If something is not working, Cole said, it is time to try something different. The commission action was by a nanim°us vote. J.W. Goodpaster and Nola Parsons, informing them of the action the commission intended to take. McArthur and Parsons, who attended the commission meeting Monday, said they had not yet received the letter from the commission but that other members had. The commission action also calls for the establishment of a park and recreation advisory board. The commissioners, in taking would be retained as director of the park department Under the new arrangement. Ralph Welsh, secretary of the County Fair Board, who attended the meeting Monday, told the commission that since the fair board shared Ballentine with the park board in his dual position as fair manager and park and recreation director, he hoped Ballentine would be retained. He said he was satisfied with the job Ballentine had done for the fair board. County was doing as a place to same while 14 percent feel that they also indicate that the live, 36 percent responded by the county has become a worse county should be more active in saying that they feel that living place to live in. managing growth and improving conditions are improving in According to the survey, the present quality of life in the Mason County. Another 26 Mason County residents generally county. percent feel that living feel that living in Mason County For future growth and conditions have remained the has become better. However, (Please turntopagetwo.) Drug abuse education subject of resolution The Mason County Women's Council's fervent attack on what it calls "a serious drug abuse problem" here has taken the form of a resolution to the Shelton School Board. Sponsored by Mason County citizen Dick Morgan, former safety advisor and promoter of a drug-information text the council has resolved should become part of a mandatory high school course, the resolution reads as follows: "Whereas we the undersigned recogn'ize that we have a serious drug abuse problem in Mason County anaong our citizens and our school students; and further that many citizens and school students are not aware of the dangers and serious consequences of drug abuse, its destructive effects to their health, mentality, sanity and ability to become future leaders or to reproduce normal healthy children; "We resolve that an effective appropriate drug abuse education program be initiated and carried out in our Mason County schools to inform students of this great hazard to their futures, the future of others and the future of their children. "We the undersigned ask you to initiate and carry out a drug abuse education program in our public schools that presents facts and evidence to alert students as to the dangers and serious results from drug abuse and the use of marijuana that can result in rendering their lives useless and a dangerous burden to others." The resolution is signed by, among• others, Mayor James Lowery, Chief of Police Frank Rains, Mason County Sheriff Dan McNair, Chamber of Health insurance comrnen÷ is given "There is really no need for Carter's statement followed National Health Insurance here." That comment came in a news release this week from Laurel Nelson, administratox of Mason General Hospital. "Ninety-nine percent of th0 patients (in thelSheltn hospital) are covered by s e: nemm Care plan," he said in explanation of his opinion. President Jimmy Carter announced in a nationally-tele- vised interview December 28 that National Health Insurance (NHI) legislation will be introduced late in the next Congressional session, but offered no details, said Nelson. the release of a Health, Education and Welfare report showing that most Americans favor development of a NHI plan. .Summarizing the 8,600 commentsprented during more than 100 public hearings conducted last October, HEW stated that the majority of opinion favors coverage of catastrophic health bills for everyone and comprehensive coverage for low-inconhe groups and persons not already covered by Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance. Commerce President Charles Adams and Arnold Livingston, chairman of the Mason County Labor Council. The newly formed Women's Council, comprising by definition "all women residing in Mason County, ' sponsored a dru g-abuse-prevention program earlier this month and Executive Director Vicki Conley said the program drew an estimated 150 people. "And a lot of the people I talked to admitted the things they heard there were pretty tough to swallow," she said. "Frankly, I wasn't personally aware how very dangerous hard drugs really are." Conley said Morgan had written to the Governor about his resolution and the recommendation from that office was to present it to the school board. The Women's Council heard it first, however, and passed it unanimously during its most recent meeting. The school board's reception was somewhat more cautious, however, and members heard • several citizens - physicians and school officials among them -- voice opinions that the hard-drug situation in fact is not so serious here now. For more on that debate, see related information in the school board story in this issue. In addition to passing the resolution, the Women's Council polled its drug,program audience as to its interests in future program subjects. Following are the choices, in order of preference: Homosexuality, abortion, pornography in Mason County, the Panama Canal and government-funded 24.hour childcare developmental centers, "Pro and con for each," added Conley. ALL ROADS LEAD to Mud Bay? Nope, it only seems like it these days in the Mason County hinterland, where nobody really believed there was a drought, anyway...