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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
January 20, 2011     Shelton Mason County Journal
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January 20, 2011
 
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Local businesses are waiting for the clouds to part We are speaking both figura- tively and literally because these are dreary days for most local re- tailers. We shoppers too tend to hide in- doors and wile this first part of the year away. Families take holiday vacations, snowbirds migrate to warmer climates and people hold their wallets closer to their vests when their Christmas bills appear. The winter cold makes it easy to wrap yourself in a blanket of mel- ancholy while you wait for the sun to return. We are all challenged by Old Man Winter to get fat and lazy and to sit back and complain about how bad things are in these light- deprived days. But we can choose to answer his prodding with leadership whether it be in your business, your family or your neighborhood. Leadership isn't about waving your hand and saying: "Come on, I know the path, follow me!" Rather, leadership is the abil- ity to identify the common goals of different people. It is the will to focus your efforts on those goals we all share in common. Such an atti- tude makes it easy to achieve great things but to climb the mountain we must first set aside our differ- ences whether great or petty. Whether Republican versus Democrat or businessman versus shopper, we need to look to con- structive ways to work and live to- gether. The easiest path is to look to our successes and identify what makes those accomplishments possible. Then all we need to do is find a way to apply what we've learned to new areas in which we hope to succeed. Thus we find the way together - the common path in which to invest our capital and our time in making our neighborhood, business or fam- ily better. Little or no expectations will surely bring little or no results. We know the winter days are typically a slow time for our busi- ness and social lives but if we start our year by focusing on what we do right, things will be that much brighter when spring rolls around. SERVING MASON COUNTY, WASHINOTON FOR 125 YEARS THREE WEEKS INTO THE JOURNAL'S 125TH ANNIVER- SARY OUR FRONT PAGE PAYS HOMAGE TO THE 1990'S. COL- OR WAS FINALLY APPEARING IN THE PAGES OF THE JOUR- NAL AND COMPUTERS HAD BE- COME THE MAIN TOOL OF OUR TRADE. OUR FLAG DURING THE '90'S WAS A SLIGHT UP- DATE OF THE FLAG WE USED DURING THE 1980'S SEEN IN LAST WEEK'S ISSUE. - JJM EDITOR Adage eye opener Editor, the Journal In 1850 an economist wrote the essay: That Which Is Seen and That Which Is Unseen. The thinking at the time was that the breaking of windows would stimulate the economy because of the spending required to fix them. This economist dem- onstrated that this was merely what was seen, cre- ating a job for the glazier. What was unseen was the loss of work for the shoe- maker because the home- owner no longer had money to buy shoes. The same thing is true today. Increased govern- ment spending, that which is seen, stimulates the economy. What is unseen is the reduction of private con- sumption associated with higher future tax rates. What about Adage? What is seen is the 24 permanent jobs. According to a national study, this is what is un- seen: within a two mile radi- us, there is a seven percent reduction in home values, a nine percent reduction in household income, and a 10 percent drop in education attainment levels for heads of households. Outside of two miles the negative ef- fects remain through about six miles. Fewer people will want to live here. This is because of the perception of adverse effects on the environment, regardless of whether pollu- tion expectations are real- ized. Think of a neighbor- hood where a percentage of people believe a sex offender resides. Demand is reduced and values drop regardless of whether or not this is true. If you think these effects won't result in a loss oYmore than 24 jobs, then appar- ently Adage picked the right town. Lance Carey Economist Democratic Central Committee supports levy Editor, the Journal The Mason County Dem- ocratic Central Committee at its regular meeting on January 12, 2011 unani- mously approved the at- tached resolution. It is intended to be a pub- lic expression of our support for our children's education. Mason County Demo- cratic Central Committee resolution supporting local school levies, resolution No. 11-1. Whereas State support for local schools provides only about 60 to 70 percent of local costs of a minimum basic education, includ- ing local bussing costs, and whereas historically local levies are a vital piece of school districts' funding and whereas local levies must be approved by a majority of local school district vot- ers and whereas local levies must be reauthorized every two, three or four years, and whereas the MaSon County Democratic Central Com- mittee historically has sup- ported basic education as be- ing the life's blood of a vital rural community, and now therefore be it resolved that the Mason County Demo- cratic Central Committee endorses such special levies vital to quality education as provided by Mason County School Districts, and further that such human, financial and other resources as are available shall be provided to promote these levies so essential in this time when limited funds place our chil- dren's education in harm's way. Adopted and approved this 12 day of January 2011. John Piety, Chair Mason County Democratic Central Committee Support the levy Editor, the Journal We urge all who live within the Shelton School District boundaries to please support the upcom- ing replacement levy, which provides funding for basic education services to our children. This levy does not impose new taxes on what is currently in place. It replac- es the expired tax and pro- vides for what many of us feel are some of our schools most important programs/ activities; elementary mu- sic, PE, art, technology, highly capable, learning support, alternative educa- tion, curriculum materials, secondary summer school, library services, coaches, athletics, intramural pro- grams, swimming pool/high school auditorium opera- tions and maintenance of the school facilities which have already been built with our money. As teachers, many who are also concerned parents, we have been able to see first-hand the positive ef- fects these programs have provided to the children of the Shelton School District. Our entire community and especially our children can- not afford to lose out, please give your support and vote for this levy, by February 8. Shelton Education Association Executive Board Ron Goodale, Joyce Weston- Smith, Kristey Perigo, Karla Knudsen-Johnston, Tim Madden and Dean McCoy Eighth grader involved in project citizen Editor, the Journal My name is Sateeva Harris and I am an eighth grader at Hawkins Middle School. We are involved with Project Citizen. The topic our class has chosen to study is dog fighting. Proj- ect Citizen was new to our school last year, the eighth grade honors class has to choose a problem in our community that they want to change or be further en- forced. My class will study about how the government is dealing with this problem and how citizens can par- ticipate to help enforce the laws about our topic. My class has chosen ani- mal abuse out of a variety of topics that we could have studied. Animal abuse is a very large topic to do a proj- ect about, so we narrowed our topic even further to dog fighting. I am responsible for finding out information about dog fighting to share with my class. I have some questions about dog fight- ing in our community. How serious is this problem in our community? What is the current policy for deal- ing with this problem? Who are the major individuals, groups, and organizations taking sides on the prob- lem? And if our class de- velops a policy to deal with this problem, how might we influence our government to adopt our policy? Thanks you for your time. Please reply to this letter at: Hawkins Middle School, 300. E. Campus Drive, Belfair, WA 98528 Sateeva Harris Belfair to the editor. We will print signed, original letters of local interest. We will not publish letters that are libelous or scurrilous in nature. Letters should be under 350 words and provide contact and ad- dress:information for the Journal. Smokestacks will be trademark of Shelton Editor, the Journal It has become readily ap- parent that the supporters and promoters of the Adage/ Simpson Biomass incinera- tor projects have chosen to ignore or discount the grow- ing body of scientific evi- dence, which clearly docu- ments significant threats to public health and environ- mental quality. Given that the potential to make mon- ey exists, this support comes as no surprise. Despite the carefully planned and crafted selling of these proposals, they re- main a serious threat to our community. In no uncertain terms, these two smoke- stacks will be undeniably and seriously ugly, at 170 feet for Adage and 135 feet plus or minus for Simpson, the smokestacks will be highly visible, hideous, sky- scraping monuments to pol- lution and industrial blight that will become the unde- sirable and unmarketable trademark of Shelton and Mason County. Perception, reputation, and image play a huge role in quality community growth and economic devel- opment. Should these proj- ects go forward, the Shelton/ Mason County area will be perceived as the laughing stock of the south sound re- gion, a place where unusu- ally tasteless development takes priority over quality of life, and where public health takes a back set to the per- sonal wealth of a very few. Why would people want to raise a family, buy or start a business, or invest in prop- erty in a community where it's so called business lead- ers have demonstrated such a regressive attitude toward development that they bot- tom fish for industrial devel- opment that, in the case of Adage, has already been re- jected by other communities across the United States as being unacceptable? Yes, these projects will infuse some short-term money into the local econ- omy. Yet, it is an age-old fool's errand that sells out future economic prosperity for a few near term dollars. The members of the Shel- ton/Mason County business community would do well to take an honest, stone cold sober look at what lies in the precipice that Biomass proponents Tim Sheldon and Jay Hupp are willing to push them into. Quality, beneficial, and sustainable community development is a matter of dollars and sense, and in the long run, these projects will make little of either for our com- munity. Bob Herr Shelton "Yes" for Shelton Schools Editor, the Journal Please support the up- coming educational pro- grams and operations levy for Shelton Schools. "Strong Schools mean strong communities." This phrase should mean a great deal to all of us living in Shelton School District. I went to school here and now have my children in the dis- trict. I am proof that we are raising our future. We have great schools and should be proud of what has been ac- complished in this district. We cannot rely on federal and state dollars we need to take care of our kids. Please continue to fund the levy in place, vote yes for Shelton School District and kids. John Lester Shelton Please vote for schools Editor, the Journal On December 10-12, 2010 Mason County residents were treated to a rare set of concerts for a community of this size. In a combined effort between the Union- based Anna's Bay Chorale and the Shelton High School Chambers Singers and ac- companied by a 22 piece professional orchestra (in- cluding Mason County resi- dent Laura Farr), Handel's masterpiece Messiah was performed in its entirety for the first time in the history of Mason County. This was no small feat with much thanks going to the orga- nizational and musical ef- forts of Anna's Bay director, Matthew Blegen. These per- formances culminated an 18-month journey for these singers and musicians. Nine hundred audience members enjoyed the end product of a mammoth undertaking and the concerts were magnifi- cent. I mention this to make Journal readers aware that while musical concerts of this scale are possible and happening in Mason Coun- ty, the only venue for such music in our region is the Shelton School District per- forming Arts Center (SHS Auditorium). Anna's Bay Center for Music is. not the only performing arts or- ganization to utilize this venue. It is regularly used by Mason County Commu- nity Concert Association, Shelton Juniors Program, Missoula Children's The- ater, Washington Old Time Fiddlers, the Bluegrass Festival, and many other community organizations. In addition, this building is the home to scores of school music concerts and theater productions each year. Here's the rub. On Feb- ruary 8, we as a community must vote on whether or not to replace our current Shel- ton School District mainte- nance and operations levy. Without approval of this levy by voters, we will lose many school programs and facilities, including the au- ditorium and pool. We need to keep our school facilities and after school programs open for our students and our community. We as Ma- son County residents have the opportunity to support the continued usage of these facilities by voting for the levy on February 8. Ballots will be mailed out on Janu- ary 21. Please take time to vote. Paul Nakhla Shelton !i Shelton-Mason County IJoere0000,00 USPS 492-800 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Shelton-Mason County Journal, RO. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584. Published weekly by Shelton-Mason County Journal, Inc. at 227 West Cota Street, Shelton, Washington Mailing address: P.O. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584 Telephone (360) 426-4412 • www.masoncounty.com Periodicals postage paid at Shelton, Washington Shelton-Mason County Journal is a member of Washington Newspaper Publishers' Association. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $37 per year for Mason County addresses, $51 per year in state of Washington but outside Mason County, $61 per year out of state. Owned and published by Shelton- Mason County Journal, Inc. Rick Kennedy is the publisher. Newsroom: Jesse Mullen, editor; Kevan Moore, news editor; Mary Duncan, living section editor; Dean Siemon, sports; Aria Shephard, North Mason, environment; Natalie Johnson, reporter; Gaylene Wiseman, design Advertising: Dave Pierik, advertising manager; Harvey Morris; Kimberly Janda. Front office: Donna Kinnaird, bookkeeper; Margot Brand, circulation; Cricket Carter, mailroom supervisor. Page A-4 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, Nov. 18, 2010 Composing room: William Adams, graphics; Koleen Wood, classifieds and legals Pressroom: Kelly Riordan, production manager; Travis Miller pres s operator. All J