January 13, 2022 Shelton Mason County Journal | ![]() |
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GUEST
Washington can’t wait
By League of Women voters
of Mason County
all it climate change, '
or global warming: we
are seeing the effect of
carbon we put into Earth’s at-
mosphere with our industrial
emissions, traffic and razing
of tropical rainforests. Warm-
ing is coming far more quickly
than scientists predicted even
a few years ago.
Top climate scientists are
studying the relationship be-
tween global warming and
extreme weather. Consider
what we have seen in recent
months:
I Multiple tornadoes I
devastated the Great Plains
and upper Midwest. The Dec.
15 tornado that left a 223-
mile path of destruction re-
sulted from the nation’s first
December derecho, an ultra-
strong storm system with
“unprecedented access to very
warm, humid air that flows
northward,” the National
Weather Service said.
I The announcement that
the demise of the West Ant-
arctic Thwaites Glacier poses '
the world’s biggest threat of
sea-level rise. The ice shelf
. that’s holding it back from
the ever-warmer ocean could
collapse within three to five
years, raising sea levels
by nearly feet, scientists
reported Dec. 13 at the Ameri-
can Geophysical Union’s fall
meeting.
I Eighty-nine large wild-
fires in Washington. The
.Northwest Interagency Co-
ordination Center reported
that 2021 saw more. and ear-
lier fires than 2020. The fires
burned 3,346,713 acres in two
Seasons. That’s 5,230 square
miles burned.
I A deadly heat ddme in
late June that brought three
days of temperatures in West-
ern Washington ranging up to
1 10 degrees.
We can let fear and worry
paralyze us or we can respond
proactively to protect our
planet from further climate
disasters. ‘
One of three Washington
“can’t wait” measures before
the 2022 legislative session,
Ho'use Bill 1099, would re-
quire the state’slargest and
fastest-growing counties and
the cities within them to re-
duce greenhouse gas emis—
sions and vehicle miles trav-
eled.-It would require entities
covered under the Growth
Management Act to plan for
climate change mitigation and
resiliency in order to address
the adverse effects of climate
change on people, property
and ecological systems.
The League of Women
Voters of Mason County sup-
ports the Washington Can’t
Wait initiatives, which also
include full funding of House
Bill 1220 to ensure housing
equity, and passage of Senate
Bill 5042, designed to close
the “vesting loophole” in the
Growth Management Act so
counties cannot expand urban
Thursday, Jan. 13, 2022 Shelton-Mason County Journal Page A-5
growth areas into farmland L ,.
and natural habitat. We can-
not afford to lose more farm—
land to urban sprawl, and we
need to maintain forests to
sequester carbon.-
The League of Women-Vot-
ers believes climate change
is a serious threat to our na-
tion and our planet, and that
individuals, communities and
governments must continue to
address the issue. Our elected
officials and leaders at the 10-
cal, state, national and global
levels must take the need for
carbon emission reductions
and climate resiliency seri-
ously. Each of us has a carbon
footprint that we can choose
to ignore or choose to reduce.
We can act individually and
together to stop our planet
from changing beyond recog-
nition, beyond livability.
and thunderstorms that
continued from page
Do it for Betty White
Editor, the Journal,
For anyone who is not dialed into
Twitter, on Jan. 17, which would’ve
been Betty White’s 100th birthday, as a
tribute to Betty White, people are asked
to contribute to the local animal
shelter of their choice in her name. It’s
called “The Betty White Challenge.” She
was known for her love of animals and
this will be a wonderful tribute to her
legacy. So, I just wanted to let every-
one know that Shelton has both a cat/
kitten rescue and a no-kill dog shelter
that could use your donation. Won’t you
please join me? _.
How to make a donation to the cat/
kitten rescue: .
kittenresq.net/checks-or-cash.
The Adopt-A-Pet Dog Shelter:
adoptapet—wa.org.
Adopt—A-Pet also has a special medi-
cal fimdraiser in progress right now, as
all dogs taken in receive medical care to
restore their health before they are put
up for adoption -— including resolution
of skin conditions, restoration of weight,
surgery to repair broken bones, just to
name a few. Medical care in was
expensive, so they can really use your
help. Adopt-A-Pet also has a Facebook
presence (adopt-a-pet of Shelton Wash-
ington) that can. receive donations.
Betty White was truly a national
treasure. Let’s make her proud and d0-
nate to one of these very worthy local
animal rescues in her name.
Shari Bray
Tahuya
Arizona vs.
Washington
Editor, the Journal,
The Seattle Times recently had a
front-page story headlined, “COVID has
killed 10,000 in state.” read the ar-
ticle and studied the enclosed charts and
graphs. The story was very sobering as
it described the last two years of the pan-
demic and its effects on our state.
It just so happens that had recently
saw 'a “factoid” about the number of CO-
VID deaths in Arizona being at 23,000
in that state. wondered why there was
such a large difference in the COVID
death numbers between the two states.
Both states have about the same
population, million. Both states each
have their ownfully running COVID ca—
sinos. Essentially, COVID is still COVID
in each state. In the first half of the pan-
’ demic, everyone knewto mask up, social
distance, quarantine, wash hands fre-
quently, avoid large crowds, and do the
contact tracing.
In the second half, we got vaccines to
go along with the do’s and dont’s of the
first half. doubt that the virus likes to
kill more people with sun tans (Arizona)
than those who don’t have sun tans
(Washington).
What is the root cause reason for the
13,000 difierenée in COVID deaths be—
tween the two states? I finally started to
zero in on the reason. believe is has to
do with state government leadership in
each state during the. course of the pan—
demic. Washington has a Democratic
governor and a Democratic state legisla-
tive majority. Arizona has a Republican
governor and a Republican state legisla-
tive majority. Historian John Barry stat—
ed that in a pandemic, “People of author—
ity need to speak the truth concerning
the pandemic and not manage the truth
concerning the pandemic.”
feel that for the last two years,
Washington authorities are basing their
COVID decisions on science (truth) and
thatArizona authorities are basing their
COVID decisions on political ideology
(managing the truth).Briefly, will state
a phrase from the Declaration of Inde-
pendence and from the preamble of our .
Constitution. “... Rights, that among
these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of
Happiness ...”and “... promote the gen-
eral Welfare ...” respectively. A person
needs to be alive to have liberty and to
chase happiness. So life (being alive) is
a prerequisite to these other two men—
tioned rights. Sometimes governments
need to step in to help “promote the gen-
, eral welfare”of the people like building a
water-treatment plant, schools, helping
in a natural disaster, funding research
for vaccines or in a pandemic issuing
‘ mandates telling the people what to do
or not to do in order to stay 'safe.
Arizona has taken a course during
the pandemic based on individual rights.
Essentially saying to wear a mask, or
wash hands, or get vaccinated is an indi-
vidual personal decision and not a state
mandate. ask you the readers, is this
policy telling the truth or managing the
truth in relation to COVID? Washington
has taken a course during the pandemic
based on science for guidance. Essen—
tially using existing first-hand pandemic
.' scientific data to chart a decision-mak-
ing course, using mandates. to help en-
sure the safety of the people. ask you
the readers, is this policy telling the truth
or managing the truth in relation to CO-
VID? Both approaches try to helpthe
people but which approach really helps
prevent‘the loss of life from COVID?
The Arizona approach is flawed in
that it has a total reliance on people’s
rights and the belief that the people will
always do the correct thing in the pan-
demic. For the last two years, all of us
have been playing in the COVID casino
Journal Letter Policy
The Journal encourages original letters to the editor 'of local
interest.
Diverse and varied opinions are welcomed. We will not publish letters
that are deemed libelous or scurrilous in nature. All letters must be,
'
signed and include the writer’s name, address and daytimephone
number, which will be used for verification purposes only. All letters
‘ are subjectto editing for length, grammar and clarity. Toc’submit a
letter, email editor@ma‘soncounty.com, drop it off at 227 W. Cota-Stfi,
.
.or mail it to PO. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584.
and all of us have made decisions for
ourselves and others to game or actu— '
ally gamble with COVID. The people of
Arizona using their right of self-deter-
mination have gamed and gambled with
COVID and an extra 13,000 are now CO-
VID dead.
The Washington approach is also
flawed in that there is a belief that people
will not do the correct thing ever dur-
ing a pandemic. Therefore, Washington
has pushed COVID mandates on people
to provide for their general welfare
whether the people wanted the mandates
or not and. not letting the people make
their own choices. Essentially the people
in Washington were told by mandates
notto game or play in the COVID casi-
nos and as a result there are currently
13,000 living Washingtonians that can
bitch and moan that their rights have
been abused.
can guarantee you that there are
13,000 families in Arizona that really do
not give a damn about pandemic politi-
cal personal rights and that they’all wish
their family member was alive and well
and with them today. People, stay smart.
Better yet, stay alive.
Earl W. Burt
Bremerton
One year later
Editor, the Journal,
One year ago, the Washington, D.C.,
riot occurred. All 574 riots over the last
two years were wrong; many caused
deaths and property damage. To Demo-
crats and left-wing media, riots
were just antzfa and BLM expressing
their political anger; damage and deaths
were unfortunate. I - ,
However, the DC. riot was the second
coming of Pearl Harbor and a replay of
I 9/11. President Joe Biden said this riot
was, quote “under the gravest of threats
as the Constitution, our Constitution
was under attack. Dems plan changes
to election laws, eliminate the Electoral
College, pack the Supreme-Court all by
sleight—of-hand rather than votes even
though our Constitution says “no.”
Do Democrats approve of Biden’s
policies?Are 2,000,000 illegals corn-
ing across our border, unvaccinated,
unmasked, uninvited, including MS-13
gangs and Middle Eastern terrorists
good with you? Perhaps Biden’s open
borders allowing human trafficking
and drug smuggling is OK even though
the leading cause of death of the
crowd is drug overdose from fentanyl
smuggled from Mexico?
Possibly you liked the way Biden
abandoned Afghanistan, leaving 1,000
Americans behind, but bringing home
dead American warriors? With no
thought of taxpayer money, Biden aban-
doned an $80 billion airbase and all
equipment. Do you love inflation? Maybe
it’s a lack of goods as over 100 ships wait
unloading? You probably like Biden’s
shutting down schools; it was good for
the kids, socially and academically. I’m
sure Dems approve Biden’s Build Back
Better; especially hiring 87,000 new IRS
agents; obviously Biden believesmost
of us are tax cheats. With Biden’s lead,
many big-city prosecutors now refuse
to prosecute offenders of many crimes.
The common factor? Rather than equal
justice under law, Biden ignores some '
laws. Instead of democratically inspired
legislation, he orders mandates. His goal
is Marxism; his boogie man is Trump;
his hero is Saul Alinsky (“Rules for
Radicals”).
Do Democrats have buyer’s remorse? ’
Analyzing the lefi’s lack of response to all
of Biden’s failings shows their reasons
for silence. Many disagree with Biden
but haven’t the guts to say so. Many
agree with me but are too afraid to say
50. Democrats, will you write a letter
agreeing with me; will you write a letter
supporting Biden’s screwups; will you
write a letter attacking me personally;
or will you get a beer and turn on the
Cartoon Network?
Ardean Anvik
Shelton
Correction
1 The Mason County Auditor’s
Office will conduct it’s Risk Limit-
ing Audit of the Feb. Special Elec-
tion on Feb. 10. An incorrect date
was listed on Page 8 of the Special
Election Voters Guide.