January 21, 1971 Shelton Mason County Journal | ![]() |
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Now that the University of Washington's board of regents
has given its approval for the use of Husky Stadium for
professional fun and games, President Charles Odegaard
should be replaced by a professional promoter.
There would have been but a small clutch of Christian
martyrs and a large pride of undernourished lions in First
Century Rome if Odegaard and the present UW regents had
possessed the keys to that city's Colosseum.
Emperor Domitian, whose stance on Christians was
significantly to the right of Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus
Germanicus, really knew how to fill the seats in both the
lower and upper decks of his 87,000-seat stadium, and he did
it regularly on a year-around basis.
Domitian was the Jack Hurley of his day. He could draw
a turnaway crowd even when the lions weren't particularly
hungry and the Christians were as lethargic as Boom-Boom
Kirkman.
Odegaard and the regents, on the other hand, are
conservative in the extreme with their presentation of the
blood sport favored above all others by Northwest sporting
types. They fill Husky Stadium six or seven times a year with
howling multitudes of football fanatics, then let its 58,000
seats remain unsat-on for months on end.
The addition of a few professional grid games will do
little to remedy the situation. What is needed is a continuing
program of spectacular and unusual events.
An enterprising promoter might fill the field with wild
animals from Safari Island and let the spectators.shoot at
them from the stands for 25 bucks apiece. A full stadium
would produce $1,450,100 for the athletic department on
one Sunday afternoon•
At that rate, the University of Washington couM send its
swimming team to the world matches in Greenland and
finance the entry of new teams into intercollegiate handball
and croquet competition.
The numerous three-day weekends during the coming
year offer exciting opportunities for an imaginative
entrepreneur. A surefire crowd-pleaser on the Fourth of July
weekend, for instance, would be the world's first rock festival
held on Astroturf.
"::
::
I
"As I understand it, we leave Buffalo, play in Seattle a year,
For two and a half days, 58,000 good citizens could
watch drug-taking, copulation, skinnydipping (in a portable
creek) and whatever else good citizens go to rock festivals to
watch, then on Monday afternoon the National Guard could
be turned loose on the celebrants with mortars and bayonets.
The film rights to such an extravaganza would surpass
"Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!" in earning power.
then move to Milwaukee."
The time is now; a top promoter should replace Odegaard
immediately• Write the governor. Write your legislators. Write
your lobbyist. Write Emperor Domitian.
The Senator from Boeing is apparently about to be joined
by the Vice President from Boeing.
If you've been worried about what happened to old
what's-his-face - you know, the guy who made all the noise
during the last election campaign and then disappeared
November 4 - you can forget that call to Mr. Keene, Tracer
of Lost Persons. Spiro is about to be freed from the basement
of the White House.
According to Newsweek, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew
may soon draw a new White House assignment - a
cross-country tour to sell the controversial supersonic
transport to the public. He is scheduled, said the magazine,
for deep briefings on the SST from top men at Boeing,
General Electric and the Department of Transportation.
This is encouraging news for the Pacific Northwest,
particularly the Puget Sound area. The vice president's
sensitivity, perceptiveness and deep feeling for the divers
ethnic and regional characteristics of our great country will
bring the people solidly together behind the SST, with, the
consequent boost to Boeing providing an end to our
economic slide.
His fabled wit and extensive vocabulary will quickly win
the hearts and minds of the sturdy sons of Scandinavian
descent in Minnesota, for instance, when he tells them,
following his SST pitch: "I want you to know that I have
always admired the rugged tenacity of Swedes, and I
understand your problems, such as having to pay eight dollars
for a haircut because the barbers charge two dollars a side."
A standing ovation will usher him out of the Polish
Brotherhood Hall in Gary, Indiana, following his revelation
that "the Poles have also built a supersonic transport, but are
unable to get it off the ground because they ran out of coal."
The Detroit chapter of the NAACP will immediately
throw its support to the faster-than-sound silver bird when he
explains that an operational SST will provide jobs for 3,000
additional baggage handlers and airport janitors, who will be
recruited from minority applicants with college degrees.
He'd have San Francisco's Italian-Americans rolling in the
aisles with the news that "I grew up among persons of your
heritage and learned at an early age how to recognize the
bride's father at a Sicilian wedding - he's the one with the
sawed-off shotgun."
Cheering chicanos in El Paso will strew cactus blossoms in
his path following assurances that "dedicated, hard-working
Mexican-Americans are helping to stem the tide of inflation
which has afflicted our nation. As I was telling Secretary
Hardin the other day, you get twice as much for your
greenback from a wetback."
Yes, sir, things are looking up in the Northwest. President
Nixon has finally given us the support he has withheld for
two long years. He is sending us his only-begotten vice
president to labor in the SST vineyard. The American
supersonic transport will be built.
We'll show those Frogs, Limeys and Commies, eh, Spiro?
)W rool
CAPITOL DOME
]By: Robert C. Culnmings + + .+
If the first 10 days fire any
indication, this could be the
roughest Legislature Gov. Dan
Evans ever faced, but you never
can tell.
Marly sessions have started off
much more explosively than this
one, but few have had more
ominous undertones.
The trouble which lies ahead
for a sizeable portion of the
Governor's program is spelled out
pretty well in the Senate
committee assignments.
Several of the Governor's
"government improvement"
measures appear doomed.
New Roadblock
These include one of the
Governor's top priority bills, the
measure merging the Department
of Highways into a newly-created
Department of Transportation•
Well in advance of the session,
it appeared likely that the bill
would be enacted into law this
time. Now it looks like it will
meet the same fate it encountered
in 1967 and again in 1969.
It will probably pass the
House as usual, but as usual die in
a Senate committee.
The only difference is that its
funeral will be conducted by a
different committee. It died in
the Senate Highways Committee
once, and once in the State
Government Committee.
It probably can clear either of
these committees in this session,
but it may require a miracle to get
it over the final hurdle, the Senate
Rules Committee.
It appears to be pretty well
stacked against the bill.
Double Trouble
His "gateway" amendment to
the constitution, permitting broad
revision in a single amendment,
and his proposal for annual
legislative sessions never were
given much of a chance.
Since the personnel of the
Committee on Constitution,
Elections and Legislative
Processes was announced, their
chances appear close to nil.
Two other bills, to replace the
Finance Committee with a
department under jurisdiction of
the Governor, and to expand the
Department of Revenue, so it
could take over collection of all
taxes, face opposition from
Democratic elective officers.
In the senate, where the
Democrats hold a 29-20 margin,
this kind of opposition is almost
insurmountable.
Pension Pressure Potent
Top Democrats in both
houses of the Legislature have
expressed the opinion privately
Page 4 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, January 21, 1971
that it wouldn't hurt the various
state retirement funds if the st~to•
withheld its contributions for two
years, to help balance the budget.
But these same Democrats say
it can't be done.
Pressure from teachers, big
city firemen, big policemen,
organized labor and others, they
believe, will prove to be more
than the legislators can stand.
Many recall how the
firefighters used their political
muscle against a certain legislator
a couple of years ago. Few want
to risk the wrath of all the others
and these, too.
Taxpayers, Too
But any way they move, it
will be a calculated risk.
Withholding pension
contributions for two years would
mean some $162 million toward
balancing the general fund
budget.
If the law-makers won't
approve this move, they will have
only two other choices:
" " Ehact additional new taxes to
make up the difference, or make
$162 million worth of cuts in a
budget which many think already
is far too austere•
Which would seem to indicate
that the Governor isn't the only
person with problems this session.
Initiative Delemma
The initiative and referendum
process was in the constitution
for 4 1 years before the
Legislature decided to increase
the signature requirements for
initiatives and referenda.
For those first 41 years, the
maximum signature requirement
for an initiative was 50,000 valid
signatures; for a referendum,
30,000.
Since 1956, when the voters
approved a constitutional
amendment submitted to them by
the 1 955 Legislature, the
signature requirements for an
initiative have been 8 per cent of
the votes cast in the last previous
presidential election, and for a
referendum 4 per cent. This
currently is, slightly more than
101,000.
Now, less than 16 years later,
some legislative leaders seriously
are considering raising the
signature requirements again.
The 1955 action was
precipitated by the large number
of initiatives to the people which
were qualifying for the ballot.
The current thinking was
triggered by the five initiatives to
the Legislature which seem
certain of being certified to the
present session.
Never before had more than
one initiative to the Legislature
qualified for consideration.
It hit them where they live. It
complicated the legislators' plans
to enact their own seacoast
management bill, and almost
thwarted plans to lower the
constitutional limit on property
taxes•
By BRUCE JOHANSEN
Associate Editor, University of Washington Daily
OLYMPIA - They call themselves: "The
student's gateway to The System."
"They" are the Intercollegiate Political Affairs
Commission, a group of students from the state's
five four-year colleges and universities.
"The System" is the state government, wrapped
in constitutional marble a quarter mile up a hill
from the IPAC's two-room Olympia office at 1063
Capitol Way.
The IPAC can't lobby because its $4,700 budget
comes out of student government funds, which
make it a "quasi-state"-funded organization. But it
can tell you the office number, phone number and
secretary's first name of nearly any legislator on the
hill.
The ASUW's Political Action committee, headed
by John Britt, a junior in general studies, supplies
$1,500 to IPAC's Olympia office. Student
governments of Western, Central and Eastern
Washington State Colleges and Washington State
University make up the difference.
Frank Morris, a graduate in history from CWSC,
heads the Olympia office. Title: information
co-ordinator.
The IPAC - since it can't legally lobby as an
organization - deals in information for students
who come to Olympia to lobby as individuals.
"The office," said Morris, "is set up to facilitate
student participation in the legislative process."
The P.A.C. of the ASUW will sponsor a
legislative workshop for student lobbyists in the
HUB, Jan. 20. Wendy Holden, a University junior in
political psychology, is IPAC's statewide chairman.
Pete Delunay of CWSC is also drawing up plans
for a state-wide college legislative "news service"
affiliated with IPAC and its campus branch agencies.
Asked what issues would concern students in
general, and 1PAC in particular, Morris and other
stuuems who are working with it'AL Jot academic
credit listed:
"REPRESSIVE LEGISLATION," specifically a
bill by Sam Guess, Republican Senator of Spokane,
which lists 19 ways to "immediately suspend"
students at state colleges and universities. The bill
would also set up procedures for cutting off the
salary of faculty members a governing board accuses
of "unprofessional conduct."
-POSSIBLE TUITION RAISES, including those
proposed to the legislature by Governor Dan Evans
in his annual budget message.
The issue of tuition hikes, increasing by about
one-third the cost of attending a public college or
university in the state under the Evans proposal, is
of "special interest" to the students at CWSC, said
Morris.
Dr. James Brooks, CWSC president, criticized
proposed tuition increases Jan. 6 before the State
Council on Higher Education. The hikes, he
contended, would tend to screen low-income
students out of the state educational system. Brooks
said some 20 per cent of Central's students come
from homes with an annual income of $6,000 or
less.
Staffers at IPAC's Olympia office also expressed
interest in ecology bills, welfare legislation, laws
which may set up day-care centers and resubmission
of the 18-year old vote for state and local elections.
The 18-year-old-vote campaign was the IPAC's
centerpiece at last year's 32-day special session.
This year, the 1PAC's first regular session in the
Olympia office, the group's legislative focus will
spread out.
John Peick, a University junior in political
science, will specialize in ecology and environmental
legislation for IPAC. Tammi Fotherinham, also of
the University, will specialize in student discipline
proposals.
Dale Krueger of CWSC's field will be tuition,
fees and budgets for higher education.
box:
I•
Editor, The Journal:
I would like to reply to a
recent letter attacking Initiative
43. Mrs. Olsen evidently did r/ot
understand the exact provisions
of the proposed Initiative to make
such broad inferences.
First of all, no piece of
legislation is ever perfect nor can
it satisfy 100% of the population.
However, Environmental Council
sponsors are enthusiastically in
support of the measure. No
dissenting votes were recorded at
the meeting when approval of
Initiative 43 was asked.
Initiative 43 does not place
restrictions on any body of water
as suggested by the above
mentioned letter. Bodies of water
under 20 acres in area are not
affected.
Single family residences will
not be affected by the Initiative's
provisions providing that their use
meets reasonable ecological and
public health standards. Nowhere
does Initiative 43 deny a home
owner the proper use of his land.
Land cannot be "confiscated" nor
can it be severely
without just com
constitutional right.
The Initiative's main
is to insure orderly
development of shorelands
guarantee access by the
the public's waters.
Washington's useable,
shorelands is now owned
than 5% of the
waterfront develo
continues at its
indiscriminate rate
could very well be denied
of Washington waters.
Unchecked sh
development has alread
serious and irreparable
the marine and adjacent
We must think seriously
future in ecological terms.
A public meeting
discussion on Initiative 43
held February 2, at 7:301
Shelton's PUD auditorium,
have questions, be there
your viewpoint.
Gary Plews
Washington Environmental
~~~~~Iu~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~l~~l~~~~~~l~~~l~~~~~~I~~ll~~~~~~~~~~ll~~~~~~ll~l~ll~l~~~l~~I~l~~~~~l~l~l~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~l~ll
By HARPO DEXTER
Bemidji Daily Pioneer
Bemidji, Minnesota
I am not a snowmobiler. In fact, I've been
antisnowmobile. Several years ago, when the craze
beginning, when my spruce trees, and my sleep, had
from the mechanical onslaught, I ran a campaign
them with several poems.
I didn't win many friends. But I did influence
of snowcat cowboys to respond with the suggestion
quit complaining and start joining. They claimed
thrill of the sport would immediately convert me
ranks. ]
prefer to pick my own pleasures. I know
But
I
who bomb buildings, others who swap wives, and
go sky diving. And all loudly acclaim the fun that
having.
I don't join them, because their particular pastti
not appeal to me. I didn't join the snowmobilers eith ,
, f
for the same reason. Instead I responded with the
I really don't mind the fun that you find
While tearing around on your scooter.
Being honest, I guess I can almost confess
I can stomach the screech of its tooter.
So ride if you suit, your machine malemute,
And tear up and down on the freezeway.
But please do your best to respect my request,
And quit snorting the thing through my
Since then, in spite of my opposition,
grown into a giant industry, with lots of lobbying
have a friend who is now vice president of a
He called me a short time ago and invited me
material to their snowmobiling magazine.
Now, with the chance to maybe make a few buck
crazy contraptions, I need a new attitude. I have to
kindliness toward the fraternity. I've got to see
perspective.
So I've searched sincerely for something good
bellowing beasts and their remarkable ability to!
silence and serenity at a distance of five or more
I found something. A medical miracle. A time
peculiar process which denies maturing of the
phenomenon which has been sought since Ponce de
fire-belching, air-polluting, ear-shattering Fountain
Conclusively evidenced by the fact that when a 45-
man gooses the throttle of a snowmobile
immediately regressed to the mental ca
six-year-old.
So to the snowmobilers, my apologies for prior
You are doing some good. And here is my
offering.
Your snowscooting trend still does offend
My eardrums with shattering noise.
But now I admit, there is truth in it,
You're turning grown men into boys.
Your howling machine, I still think obscene,
And some of your habits uncouth.
But I take off my hat, to the evidence that,
You have found your Fountain of Youth.
How's that for a beginning? We must all
together. I promise to keep trying to develop a
if you'll just promise to try to develop a muffler.
~~~~~~l~~~~~~~~l~~~l~~~~~~~I~~~~I~~~~l~~~~~~~ll~~l~l~~~~~~~~~~lI~lI~~l~l~~~l~~~~l~l~~I~~~~~~~~~ll~~i
Founded 1886 by Grant C. Angle
Mailing Address: Box 430, Shelton, Wa. 98584
Published at Shelton, Mason County, Washington,
weekly, except two issues during week of Thanksgivil
Entered as Second-Class Matter at the Post Office,
Member of National Editorial Association
Member of Washington Newspaper Publishers'
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in advance -- Outside Mason County $6.00
EDITOR AND PUBLISHER .....................