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Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
January 28, 1999     Shelton Mason County Journal
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January 28, 1999
 
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00eaders 00o.r.az: Fmdmgs harmful Keep CHOICE separate Editor, The Journal: I would like to comment on the effect on CHOICE High School of the proposal to move CHOICE High School to Shelton High School. We all agree that the main duty of the school board is to serve the students. In the pro- Posed reconfiguration, distinct ubgroups of the student popula- Ion are outlined. It is vitally im- portant that each of these sub- groups must be served adequately in the final plan. I am especially concerned with i!ng the specific population mcn is now being served by the alternative high school. This pop- ulation is made up of various YrPeS of students. They have opped out, been kicked out or nave Opted out of Shelton High School. The curriculum, or the culture there, has not served their needs and has caused them  make other choices. Many have Chosen not to continue their edu- ation, and some have chosen rer schools including CHOICE gh School. I ant a tutor with Mason Coun- ty Literacy and have volunteered tutor "llead Right1" since short- Y alter we sold our real-estate of- nce at Lake Cushman. Both of un children graduated from Shel- High School and have gone on v graduate from college. I tu- tored two summers with the Job Trainin - g l'artnership Act pro- ra at Shelton High School, and ave tutored for eight years at CHOICE Hi-h School in Level I, start' ° . mg at the old Collier Build- g and later moving with them _ the Angle Building. The stu- dents I have tutored may need rgeanding help, but they are intelli- u. and they are concerned with elr education. But, for acade- _ Ic, SOcial or cultural reasons the Z egUlar high school program has ot been successful for them. It " not worked! -UOnsider the placement of Cli01CE High School students Withi v . n Shelton High School as if i!;iii Ifla d :et? If yOU are a teen andne • g inadequate or unwa ed in some way, wouldn't your first reaction be to stay away? Since many of these students have had trouble staying in school, but ob- viously need to be in school, it is in their and our best interest to do everything to keep them there. It would be impossible to keep the many students who would see this reconfiguration as too much to deal with. The words "school within a school" make it sound as if the two can co-exist and keep the dis- tinct advantages of each system. What works at Shelton High won't work at CHOICE High School. And has not worked for these students. What works at CHOICE High School won't work for the students at Shelton High School. The two high schools must remain separate! And the concept that Shelton High School can change (in order to co-exist) and become more like CHOICE, as expressed by Dr. Hundley in an informational meeting, just won't happen. When, in history, has the domi- nant society changed in favor of the other? The two schools must remain separate! Here are some of the issues that would result in the failure of the "school within a school" plan. 1. CHOICE would lose its sepa- rate identity. This identity is very important to students who don't feel like they fit in. 2. Bad self-comparisons to the dominant SHS population. 3. Bullying, baiting and put- ting down of CHOICE students by many of the SHS population. I have heard the ugly words. So have some of you. Mixing these two populations would cause ex- cessive and unacceptable friction. 4. There would be a huge prob- lem with the co-use of the facili- ties, such as the Student Union Building, gym, shop, science labs, auditorium, etc. 5. CHOICE High School has philosophies, policies and rules very different from the high school that would cause confusion and trouble. There is an emphasis on self-direction and learning re- sponsibility for choices, rather than a rigid schedule of classes to be attended or not. Even the small matter of addressing the teachers by their first name would be a problem. It is consid- ered accepted within CHOICE be- cause of the emphasis on respect and equality of all; therefore it is not disrespectful to use first names. 6. Some of the students at CHOICE High School have very difficult living situations, experi- ence poverty, are parents, are pregnant, lack parental support or have court referrals. Some live on couches somewhere. While they are dealing with their sometimes tense situations, they don't need to be dealing with the social factors at the high school which would weigh heavily on the mind of a young person trying to find their place in the world. They need a place where these factors are less important. They don't need to see cheerleaders, popular football players, student cars, fan- cy sneakers or smart fashions. CHOICE is dedicated to pro- viding a safe, caring, rigorous and demanding community for all. Students are expected to prog- ress, be responsible, do communi- ty service and respect the teach- ers, volunteers and each other. The philosophy is working! I have personally received thanks, re- spect and cooperation in my deal- ing with the all students as well as my "Read Right!" students. And the staff is wonderful. I have spent many hours tutoring with one ear "listening" in to the teach- ers advise, teach and express re- spect for the efforts of their stu- dents. They are an amazing bunch! To sum up: we must first re- solve the issue of the best educa- tional opportunities for this popu- lation of students before deciding to move them and eliminate everything that has been working and place them in the 300 build- ing at Shelton High School just because it is available. If this new configuration is adopted, many, many students will "opt out, hang out and be out." Join with me and do what we can to help this population, which needs a little extra help. Let's not push them out. We need two separate schools! Rae Whitten Shelton Editor, The Journal: After reading your January 21 article titled, "Hearings board flags county EIS and urban growth plans," here is the per- spective of a Mason County resi- dent who is concerned about prop- erty rights and good jobs locally. Both subjects are adversely im- pacted by the peculiar way in which the Growth Management Act is being applied in Mason County. Your article implies that John Diehl and Warren Dawes are both pleased with Western Wash- ington Growth Management Hearings Board findings that ef- fectively place "a moratorium on small-lot sub divisions and new commercial development." The small-lot subdivision restriction is not new. Mason County property owners have been severely re- stricted in their ability to divide and sell land parcels for years, even though that restriction works against the Growth Man- agement Act objective of encour- aging affordable housing. What is new, however, is what may turn out to be a crippling blow to business activity outside the Urban Growth Areas. If Diehl, Dawes and the hearings board have succeeded in restrict- ing commercial development to only resource-based businesses, then we can expect to have ex- pansion in farming, logging and fishing, but little else. And how is it that the privi- leged triangle of Diehl, Dawes and the hearings board get to dic- tate land-use policies in Mason County anyway? I thought GMA called for comprehensive plans and regulations to be enacted by the board of county commission- ers after community consensus was achieved through committee work. It looks to me like the thou- sands of man-hours spent in com- mittee work during the past eight years are simply being trashed at the whim of Diehl, Dawes and the hearings board. For example: Let's look at two of the major points presented by Diehl and Dawes which were con- curred in by the hearings board in its latest findings. First, in deter- mining what the largest size of a small business should be, Diehl and Dawes argued that it should be defined as something far less than 50 employees; five would have been more to their liking. The county commissioners used on legalities and fact, not opin- ions. The second example in ques- tion from the most recent findings concerns the size of the Belfair Urban Growth Area. Diehl and Dawes argued that the Belfair UGA is too large for the popula- tion size intended there. They contend that 3.7 persons per acre was not a dense enough popula- tion concentration for a properly planned UGA. The hearings board agreed by declaring the Belfair UGA still out of com- pliance with GMA in several re- spects, including "projected popu- lation characterized by urban density." In wondering what the population density in a typical ru- ral community might be, since population densities are not de- fined in the Growth Management Act, I worked out the ratio for Shelton. Guess what folks? The population density of Shelton is only 2.6 persons per acre. That's 30 percent less than the density deemed not dense enough for planned Belfair growth. That hearings board finding looks to me like another opinion based on a very mushy thought process. So what's my point? My point is that the findings being issued by the hearings board, motivated by inputs from Diehl and Dawes, are creating an atmosphere in Mason County that is very un- friendly to both private property owners and businesses. That un- friendly business environment will hinder attempts from the Governor's Office to reverse the trend of economic distress in ru- ral counties throughout the state, and particularly in Mason Coun- ty. No matter how predictable regulations are made through good planning, business activity will vacate an unfriendly commu- nity. With increasing difficulty in business development comes a re- duced availability of jobs and the social ills associated with inade- quate income levels. Finally, I am sincerely disap- pointed over the hundreds of thousands of dollars that have been wasted during the past eight years on consultants, studies, maps, publishing and legal fees while attempting to bring the county into GMA compliance. Since GMA was enacted, I have watched 10 different county Com- missioners labor seriously, hon- estly and diligently, under gruel- ing conditions, in an attempt to Different view about bond the S0-employeefigurebecauseit bring satisfactory solutions to the Q was reasonable and the definition hearings board while still main- was already established in Wash- taining an element of property ington State code. Yet after con- rights protection for the citizens The Journal: and taxpayers in School District, we need to rebut R.G. and John Diehrs criti- of the upcoming bond issue construction of a new High School and upgrade facilities. Both Parrett agree with us in the conclusion that there will to be significant growth Pioneer School District. instead of facing the re- dynamics of that growth on the education- s of Pioneer kids, as this bond does, they propose entire county and all the districts in it somehow change their direction, legal orga- nization and methods of financing in order to accommodate the needs of Pioneer students. This is not practical, realistic or respon- sible. Mr. Diehl's confusing analysis of property assessments and tax rates clouds the issue. These are scare tactics. Projecting long-term growth and changes in property values can only be based on best guesses. His guesses are clearly motivated by his desire to dis- courage voters from supporting their school district's plans. Even Mr. Diehl must agree that long- term growth must inevitably lead to long-term increases in assessed values, as it always has. Grave vandalized 4itor, The Journal: his grave. letter is to the sick things call them people) who steal decorations right off a at our local cemetery. = years now I have placed a headstone decoration silk flowers and such grave. This is the m a row that shortly s, it has been sto- 8Ome perverted animal. my father died was He was murdered Stealing dirt bikes. We buried in Shelton for (1) to be near his grandsons that are in d," (2) his surviving are here, and (3) anted somewhere peaceful, where he was killed. past Saturday, I went to only to find his flowers stolen again. It almost sick. I had to send out of this type of decoration, Something that would away or be in the way of I take comfort these arrangements, Dad would be proud of We take pride in keep- and remembrances on It's just very sad that even a graveyard is not safe from the evils of the world today. This should be a sacred place, like churches. I can only hope that the animals doing this will someday realize that it will be them in the ground one day. Whether you're doing it for fun or because you want the flowers, it's still the same - stealing from dead people. We moved here to get away from such a place that placed no value on human life, where you can be murdered on a street corn- er. Well, let me tell you that it's nearly as bad to be vandalizing cemeteries. It's a real shame that the gates must be locked and there is no longer an after-hours entrance. I would like to go back out there next weekend and find the saddle returned, but I know that won't happen, unless whoever, I mean "whatever  is doing this gets a conscience. In the mean- time, remember, "do unto others as you would have done to thine own self.  Donna Sherman Shelton We would remind Pioneer vot- ers that, for the last many years, our district, under Dick Sirok- man's and our school board's ste- wardship, has operated in the black, accomplishing significant upgrades in facilities and educa- tional programs, while keeping costs well below those of most school districts. (Mr. Diehl had stated last week that the bond supporters were practicing decep- tion.) Mr. Diehrs comments about preserving the "rural character" of our area and the need to "channel growth to areas adjacent to existing urban areas" begs a question. Are we being unreason- able to expect that we can live in a rural area and also have chil- dren, or does preserving rural character require a community of seniors only? Rather than contributing to suburban sprawl, a new Pioneer High School will provide a much needed community focus for all Pioneer residents. Our older son, like hundreds of other Pioneer area kids, struggled with the challenge of staying involved in extracurricular activities at Shel- ton High School. We were willing to make those long commutes and to put up with the stress of wait- ing up late on winter nights for him to get home safely, because we understood the importance of these involvements in making him the successful and confident' adult he is now. Mr. Diehl and Mr. Parrett seem to be saying to families like us that there is only one answer to this problem: move to Shelton or Belfalr. Torn and Elli Harron Harstine Island 426-4412 ,, sidering the Diehl and Dawes ar- gnment, the hearings board said this, "We have a firm and definite conviction that the county has erred when it defines businesses with as many as 50 employees as 'small scale.' The act calls for adoption of measures to minimize and contain more intrusive rural development." I contend that whether or not a 50-employee business qualifies as "intrusive rural development" is a matter of local opinion. The hearings boards are supposed to be ruling those commissioners were elected to represent. Yet, time and time again, the game being played by the privileged triangle results in another round of frustration with no end in sight. I wonder when the average cit- izen is going to get involved enough to show some support to our elected board of county com- missioners and help put a stop to this bastardization of our repre- sentative form of government? Jay Hupp Shelton Helpful servants Editor, The Journal: because of the need to send for a It's easy to criticize our govern- ment when it isn't working well. I'd like to take this opportunity to publicly compliment a small local branch of our government that worked for me like good govern- ment should, and maybe even a little more. Early in January I applied for a passport at the Mason County Clerk's Office. I was given the ap- plication and clear, courteous ad- vice about photos and the rest of the process, including the infor- mation it would take 25 working days. By the time I returned the next day I had learned I had to have the passport within a week visa two months before depar- ture. The staff referred me to Doro- thy the Passport Person who treated my problem (self-imposed though it was) with the attention, thoughtfulness, kindness, intel- ligence and efficiency that would have made a Nordstrom manager proud. With her help and clear written instructions for me, an extra fee and use of Overnight Express mail the process was ex- pedited and I got my passport in time. Betty Ross Graves Union NEWH Microwave & Serve Items Buy several to keep in the freezer at work Ravioh Parmigianos Lasagne Bolognese Spaghetti & Italian Meatballs Take out only 427-3844 933 E Johns Prairie Road Punch Cards Available Buy 12, Get 1 Free "DID I MISS WINTER OR SOMETHING?" SPECIALS J0000rkir00" EVERBLOOMING ROSES NEW VARIETIES AND ALL.TIME KEROSENE 1.69 GAL. PROPANE 79¢ GAL. CLEAN BURN WOODSTOVE PELLETS MANKr-- 124.95000. MOSS KILLER GRANULES MOSS KILL Granule1 Net Wt. 3 Ibs. Destroys moss to prolong life of roofs, patios and walks. 3lb. size. 348 6t6 7.99 LIVESTOCK BLEND Allpurpose feedfor your cattle, sheep or horses. 50 lb. bag. FEED GRASS HAY 3.50 ALFALFA 6.49 STRAW PRESTO LOGS 12" Length 390 logs/pallet 115.00/PALLET .... DORMANT SPRAY Spray your roses, fruit trees and ornamentals now for mildew, scab and leaf curl. 7t(]O2 HIGHLAND HORSE 3.99 PRIMROSES 4 inch b;ld;/.°°mlng' ;i21: i!17 Thursday, January 28, 1999 - Shelton-Maaon County Joumal - Page 5 00eaders 00o.r.az: Fmdmgs harmful Keep CHOICE separate Editor, The Journal: I would like to comment on the effect on CHOICE High School of the proposal to move CHOICE High School to Shelton High School. We all agree that the main duty of the school board is to serve the students. In the pro- Posed reconfiguration, distinct ubgroups of the student popula- Ion are outlined. It is vitally im- portant that each of these sub- groups must be served adequately in the final plan. I am especially concerned with i!ng the specific population mcn is now being served by the alternative high school. This pop- ulation is made up of various YrPeS of students. They have opped out, been kicked out or nave Opted out of Shelton High School. The curriculum, or the culture there, has not served their needs and has caused them  make other choices. Many have Chosen not to continue their edu- ation, and some have chosen rer schools including CHOICE gh School. I ant a tutor with Mason Coun- ty Literacy and have volunteered tutor "llead Right1" since short- Y alter we sold our real-estate of- nce at Lake Cushman. Both of un children graduated from Shel- High School and have gone on v graduate from college. I tu- tored two summers with the Job Trainin - g l'artnership Act pro- ra at Shelton High School, and ave tutored for eight years at CHOICE Hi-h School in Level I, start' ° . mg at the old Collier Build- g and later moving with them _ the Angle Building. The stu- dents I have tutored may need rgeanding help, but they are intelli- u. and they are concerned with elr education. But, for acade- _ Ic, SOcial or cultural reasons the Z egUlar high school program has ot been successful for them. It " not worked! -UOnsider the placement of Cli01CE High School students Withi v . n Shelton High School as if i!;iii Ifla d :et? If yOU are a teen andne • g inadequate or unwa ed in some way, wouldn't your first reaction be to stay away? Since many of these students have had trouble staying in school, but ob- viously need to be in school, it is in their and our best interest to do everything to keep them there. It would be impossible to keep the many students who would see this reconfiguration as too much to deal with. The words "school within a school" make it sound as if the two can co-exist and keep the dis- tinct advantages of each system. What works at Shelton High won't work at CHOICE High School. And has not worked for these students. What works at CHOICE High School won't work for the students at Shelton High School. The two high schools must remain separate! And the concept that Shelton High School can change (in order to co-exist) and become more like CHOICE, as expressed by Dr. Hundley in an informational meeting, just won't happen. When, in history, has the domi- nant society changed in favor of the other? The two schools must remain separate! Here are some of the issues that would result in the failure of the "school within a school" plan. 1. CHOICE would lose its sepa- rate identity. This identity is very important to students who don't feel like they fit in. 2. Bad self-comparisons to the dominant SHS population. 3. Bullying, baiting and put- ting down of CHOICE students by many of the SHS population. I have heard the ugly words. So have some of you. Mixing these two populations would cause ex- cessive and unacceptable friction. 4. There would be a huge prob- lem with the co-use of the facili- ties, such as the Student Union Building, gym, shop, science labs, auditorium, etc. 5. CHOICE High School has philosophies, policies and rules very different from the high school that would cause confusion and trouble. There is an emphasis on self-direction and learning re- sponsibility for choices, rather than a rigid schedule of classes to be attended or not. Even the small matter of addressing the teachers by their first name would be a problem. It is consid- ered accepted within CHOICE be- cause of the emphasis on respect and equality of all; therefore it is not disrespectful to use first names. 6. Some of the students at CHOICE High School have very difficult living situations, experi- ence poverty, are parents, are pregnant, lack parental support or have court referrals. Some live on couches somewhere. While they are dealing with their sometimes tense situations, they don't need to be dealing with the social factors at the high school which would weigh heavily on the mind of a young person trying to find their place in the world. They need a place where these factors are less important. They don't need to see cheerleaders, popular football players, student cars, fan- cy sneakers or smart fashions. CHOICE is dedicated to pro- viding a safe, caring, rigorous and demanding community for all. Students are expected to prog- ress, be responsible, do communi- ty service and respect the teach- ers, volunteers and each other. The philosophy is working! I have personally received thanks, re- spect and cooperation in my deal- ing with the all students as well as my "Read Right!" students. And the staff is wonderful. I have spent many hours tutoring with one ear "listening" in to the teach- ers advise, teach and express re- spect for the efforts of their stu- dents. They are an amazing bunch! To sum up: we must first re- solve the issue of the best educa- tional opportunities for this popu- lation of students before deciding to move them and eliminate everything that has been working and place them in the 300 build- ing at Shelton High School just because it is available. If this new configuration is adopted, many, many students will "opt out, hang out and be out." Join with me and do what we can to help this population, which needs a little extra help. Let's not push them out. We need two separate schools! Rae Whitten Shelton Editor, The Journal: After reading your January 21 article titled, "Hearings board flags county EIS and urban growth plans," here is the per- spective of a Mason County resi- dent who is concerned about prop- erty rights and good jobs locally. Both subjects are adversely im- pacted by the peculiar way in which the Growth Management Act is being applied in Mason County. Your article implies that John Diehl and Warren Dawes are both pleased with Western Wash- ington Growth Management Hearings Board findings that ef- fectively place "a moratorium on small-lot sub divisions and new commercial development." The small-lot subdivision restriction is not new. Mason County property owners have been severely re- stricted in their ability to divide and sell land parcels for years, even though that restriction works against the Growth Man- agement Act objective of encour- aging affordable housing. What is new, however, is what may turn out to be a crippling blow to business activity outside the Urban Growth Areas. If Diehl, Dawes and the hearings board have succeeded in restrict- ing commercial development to only resource-based businesses, then we can expect to have ex- pansion in farming, logging and fishing, but little else. And how is it that the privi- leged triangle of Diehl, Dawes and the hearings board get to dic- tate land-use policies in Mason County anyway? I thought GMA called for comprehensive plans and regulations to be enacted by the board of county commission- ers after community consensus was achieved through committee work. It looks to me like the thou- sands of man-hours spent in com- mittee work during the past eight years are simply being trashed at the whim of Diehl, Dawes and the hearings board. For example: Let's look at two of the major points presented by Diehl and Dawes which were con- curred in by the hearings board in its latest findings. First, in deter- mining what the largest size of a small business should be, Diehl and Dawes argued that it should be defined as something far less than 50 employees; five would have been more to their liking. The county commissioners used on legalities and fact, not opin- ions. The second example in ques- tion from the most recent findings concerns the size of the Belfair Urban Growth Area. Diehl and Dawes argued that the Belfair UGA is too large for the popula- tion size intended there. They contend that 3.7 persons per acre was not a dense enough popula- tion concentration for a properly planned UGA. The hearings board agreed by declaring the Belfair UGA still out of com- pliance with GMA in several re- spects, including "projected popu- lation characterized by urban density." In wondering what the population density in a typical ru- ral community might be, since population densities are not de- fined in the Growth Management Act, I worked out the ratio for Shelton. Guess what folks? The population density of Shelton is only 2.6 persons per acre. That's 30 percent less than the density deemed not dense enough for planned Belfair growth. That hearings board finding looks to me like another opinion based on a very mushy thought process. So what's my point? My point is that the findings being issued by the hearings board, motivated by inputs from Diehl and Dawes, are creating an atmosphere in Mason County that is very un- friendly to both private property owners and businesses. That un- friendly business environment will hinder attempts from the Governor's Office to reverse the trend of economic distress in ru- ral counties throughout the state, and particularly in Mason Coun- ty. No matter how predictable regulations are made through good planning, business activity will vacate an unfriendly commu- nity. With increasing difficulty in business development comes a re- duced availability of jobs and the social ills associated with inade- quate income levels. Finally, I am sincerely disap- pointed over the hundreds of thousands of dollars that have been wasted during the past eight years on consultants, studies, maps, publishing and legal fees while attempting to bring the county into GMA compliance. Since GMA was enacted, I have watched 10 different county Com- missioners labor seriously, hon- estly and diligently, under gruel- ing conditions, in an attempt to Different view about bond the S0-employeefigurebecauseit bring satisfactory solutions to the Q was reasonable and the definition hearings board while still main- was already established in Wash- taining an element of property ington State code. Yet after con- rights protection for the citizens The Journal: and taxpayers in School District, we need to rebut R.G. and John Diehrs criti- of the upcoming bond issue construction of a new High School and upgrade facilities. Both Parrett agree with us in the conclusion that there will to be significant growth Pioneer School District. instead of facing the re- dynamics of that growth on the education- s of Pioneer kids, as this bond does, they propose entire county and all the districts in it somehow change their direction, legal orga- nization and methods of financing in order to accommodate the needs of Pioneer students. This is not practical, realistic or respon- sible. Mr. Diehl's confusing analysis of property assessments and tax rates clouds the issue. These are scare tactics. Projecting long-term growth and changes in property values can only be based on best guesses. His guesses are clearly motivated by his desire to dis- courage voters from supporting their school district's plans. Even Mr. Diehl must agree that long- term growth must inevitably lead to long-term increases in assessed values, as it always has. Grave vandalized 4itor, The Journal: his grave. letter is to the sick things call them people) who steal decorations right off a at our local cemetery. = years now I have placed a headstone decoration silk flowers and such grave. This is the m a row that shortly s, it has been sto- 8Ome perverted animal. my father died was He was murdered Stealing dirt bikes. We buried in Shelton for (1) to be near his grandsons that are in d," (2) his surviving are here, and (3) anted somewhere peaceful, where he was killed. past Saturday, I went to only to find his flowers stolen again. It almost sick. I had to send out of this type of decoration, Something that would away or be in the way of I take comfort these arrangements, Dad would be proud of We take pride in keep- and remembrances on It's just very sad that even a graveyard is not safe from the evils of the world today. This should be a sacred place, like churches. I can only hope that the animals doing this will someday realize that it will be them in the ground one day. Whether you're doing it for fun or because you want the flowers, it's still the same - stealing from dead people. We moved here to get away from such a place that placed no value on human life, where you can be murdered on a street corn- er. Well, let me tell you that it's nearly as bad to be vandalizing cemeteries. It's a real shame that the gates must be locked and there is no longer an after-hours entrance. I would like to go back out there next weekend and find the saddle returned, but I know that won't happen, unless whoever, I mean "whatever  is doing this gets a conscience. In the mean- time, remember, "do unto others as you would have done to thine own self.  Donna Sherman Shelton We would remind Pioneer vot- ers that, for the last many years, our district, under Dick Sirok- man's and our school board's ste- wardship, has operated in the black, accomplishing significant upgrades in facilities and educa- tional programs, while keeping costs well below those of most school districts. (Mr. Diehl had stated last week that the bond supporters were practicing decep- tion.) Mr. Diehrs comments about preserving the "rural character" of our area and the need to "channel growth to areas adjacent to existing urban areas" begs a question. Are we being unreason- able to expect that we can live in a rural area and also have chil- dren, or does preserving rural character require a community of seniors only? Rather than contributing to suburban sprawl, a new Pioneer High School will provide a much needed community focus for all Pioneer residents. Our older son, like hundreds of other Pioneer area kids, struggled with the challenge of staying involved in extracurricular activities at Shel- ton High School. We were willing to make those long commutes and to put up with the stress of wait- ing up late on winter nights for him to get home safely, because we understood the importance of these involvements in making him the successful and confident' adult he is now. Mr. Diehl and Mr. Parrett seem to be saying to families like us that there is only one answer to this problem: move to Shelton or Belfalr. Torn and Elli Harron Harstine Island 426-4412 ,, sidering the Diehl and Dawes ar- gnment, the hearings board said this, "We have a firm and definite conviction that the county has erred when it defines businesses with as many as 50 employees as 'small scale.' The act calls for adoption of measures to minimize and contain more intrusive rural development." I contend that whether or not a 50-employee business qualifies as "intrusive rural development" is a matter of local opinion. The hearings boards are supposed to be ruling those commissioners were elected to represent. Yet, time and time again, the game being played by the privileged triangle results in another round of frustration with no end in sight. I wonder when the average cit- izen is going to get involved enough to show some support to our elected board of county com- missioners and help put a stop to this bastardization of our repre- sentative form of government? Jay Hupp Shelton Helpful servants Editor, The Journal: because of the need to send for a It's easy to criticize our govern- ment when it isn't working well. I'd like to take this opportunity to publicly compliment a small local branch of our government that worked for me like good govern- ment should, and maybe even a little more. Early in January I applied for a passport at the Mason County Clerk's Office. I was given the ap- plication and clear, courteous ad- vice about photos and the rest of the process, including the infor- mation it would take 25 working days. By the time I returned the next day I had learned I had to have the passport within a week visa two months before depar- ture. The staff referred me to Doro- thy the Passport Person who treated my problem (self-imposed though it was) with the attention, thoughtfulness, kindness, intel- ligence and efficiency that would have made a Nordstrom manager proud. With her help and clear written instructions for me, an extra fee and use of Overnight Express mail the process was ex- pedited and I got my passport in time. Betty Ross Graves Union NEWH Microwave & Serve Items Buy several to keep in the freezer at work Ravioh Parmigianos Lasagne Bolognese Spaghetti & Italian Meatballs Take out only 427-3844 933 E Johns Prairie Road Punch Cards Available Buy 12, Get 1 Free "DID I MISS WINTER OR SOMETHING?" SPECIALS J0000rkir00" EVERBLOOMING ROSES NEW VARIETIES AND ALL.TIME KEROSENE 1.69 GAL. PROPANE 79¢ GAL. CLEAN BURN WOODSTOVE PELLETS MANKr-- 124.95000. MOSS KILLER GRANULES MOSS KILL Granule1 Net Wt. 3 Ibs. Destroys moss to prolong life of roofs, patios and walks. 3lb. size. 348 6t6 7.99 LIVESTOCK BLEND Allpurpose feedfor your cattle, sheep or horses. 50 lb. bag. FEED GRASS HAY 3.50 ALFALFA 6.49 STRAW PRESTO LOGS 12" Length 390 logs/pallet 115.00/PALLET .... DORMANT SPRAY Spray your roses, fruit trees and ornamentals now for mildew, scab and leaf curl. 7t(]O2 HIGHLAND HORSE 3.99 PRIMROSES 4 inch b;ld;/.°°mlng' ;i21: i!17 Thursday, January 28, 1999 - Shelton-Maaon County Joumal - Page 5