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| February 9, 2023 Shelton Mason County Journal |  |
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Page 4 Shelton~Mason County Journal Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023
I’msorry mistakes were made (and I got caught) ;
he scene: A member of
I Congress caught in a
scandal appears on a
television outlet that he hopes
will treat him With sympathy.
Congressman: I’d like to
take this opportunity at this
time to express my acknowl—
edgment for a recent situa-
tion where I didn’t exercise
the sound judgment that the
people ofiAmerica deserve
from their elected officials. I
regret the events that trans-
pired on the night of Oct. 22,
and if anyone should take of—
fense at my behavior, I hum—
bly apologize to them, butl
think we can all agree that
our focus should be on serving
the American people in these
most uncertain times. That’s
where my focus is.
TV host: Sir, a tape taken
from a surveillance camera
at theNational Zoo clearly
shows you breaking down the
WEEK $813895!
THESE
TIMES
car at 2:17 an on Oct.
viewers, you can see the
time and date stamp in the
upper right corner. The tape
shows that you’re driving
and that you’re alone in the
car. The tape further shows
you crashing into a sno—cone
stand before you stop in front
of the enclosure for the giant
pandas, Ling Ling and Bling
Bling. The tape then shows
you exiting the car, taking
a long drink from a bottle of
Cruzan rum -— let’s zoom in
on- the label there — and then
throwing the empty bottle at
the enclosure while you yell,
‘China spies!’ repeatedly.'You
then open the trunk of your
car, retrieve what looks like
a sawed-off shotgun and pro-
ceed to shoot and kill both
pandas. The tape shows you
reloading three times. After
your fourth volley, D.C. police
arrive and you’re heard on
an audio recording provided
by the police saying, ‘Yeah, I
shot the pandas. So what? I
shoot lots of stuff.’ N ow, sir,
I have two questions for you:
In your prepared statement
you said, ‘If anyone should
take offense at my behavior.’
Sir, can you imagine anyone
not taking offense at someone '
killing animals at the Na-
tional Zoo? And question two,
how can the American people
ever trust you again?
Congressman: Listen.
’I’m not here to defend the
behavior exhibited on the
night in question. Admittedly,
mistakes were made. But I
pledge to the American people
I’ll work hard to regain their
trust. Believe me, I’d like
nothing better than to answer
these questions with more
specificity, but the case is un-
der investigation and I don’t
want to prejudge the outcome
while the process unfolds.
TV host: Is it true you
shot a zebra in Philadelphia
last month?
Congressman: In Phila-
delphia? Categorically no.
TV host: Do you think
you might have a drinking
problem?
Congressman: We’re
done.
The scene: A boy, 10, and
his father stand'next to a bro-
ken living room window. The
boy’s baseball lies amid the
shards of glass.
Dad: Wyatt! You broke the
Window!
Wyatt: I’m sorry that I
failed to correctly judge the
wind, distance and direction
and that the ball made con-
tact with the window.
Dad: You broke the win-
dow. This is the foiirth time,
and the second time you’ve
broken this window. I’ve told
you time and again to be
more careful.
Wyatt: I take full respon—
sibility for the damage to the
glass.
Dad: Does that niean
you’ll pay to have the window
fixed?
Wyatt: How much?
Dad: Around $200.
Wyatt: Actually, Dad, how
about if I just work hard to
regain your trust?
I Contact Kirk Ericson at
kirk@masoncounty.com
Izoo’s locked gate with your
'LETTERS TO THE EDIT UR.
Fire tax rates
Editor, the Journal,
Hi, Mason County Dist residents,
I just wanted to provide some infor-
mation on your tax rates and Brinnon
Fire District tax rates. These can be
found by going to the assessors’ web—
sites for Mason County and Jefferson
counties. These are rates per of
assessed value:
Mason County District 17EMS:
fire: Brinnon Jef-
ferson County District EMS:
Fire: Fire bond
That is a difierence of
per thousand dollars assessed.
Just thought you should have that
information. ,
Michelle Barnett
' Lilliwaup
What say you, GOP?
Editor, the Journal,
Well now, Republicans, desperately
clinging to any possible source of criti-
cism of President Jaseph Biden, are
arguing we should have shot down the
’ Republican mantra of tax cutting has
been shown repeatedly to cause huge
budget deficits. They blame‘the Demo—
crats and spending. OK, Republicans,
tell the people exactly what you pro-
pose to cut. '
The book “Presimetrics,” a com-
pendium of charts and graphs, illus—
trates the efi‘ects of the policies of these
’ parties. A
Another letter, from Scott Peterson,
did an excellent job of laying out the
histbry of the climate debate. Some
time ago, a writer proposed that a bar?
rier be placed across the Shelton wa-
terfront to hold the water back“ Who
does he propose to have pay for this?
The city of Venice and areas of Holland
are erecting such barriers at enor-
mous expense. Eventually coastal cities
all over the world, such asNew York
City, will need to do similar things.
In addition, we are seeing worldwide
droughts and shortages of water. Does
it make sense to say we can’t afiord to
do the things that we know can miii- ,
“balloon sooner. They arefatuously pre- \
senting that asa major issue while they
ignore or distort the real issues.
One of these is the economy. An-
drew Makar recently presented a lucid
,and thorough discussion of this issue.
However, certain'aspects deserve con-
stant repetition: the economy does bet-
ter with Democrats in charge and the
Sheltmmusoumtitn Journal
I uses 492—800
POST MASTER: Send address changes to Shelton-Mason
County Journal. Po. sex 430, Shelton, WA 98584.
Published weekly by the Shelton-Mason County Joe/ma! '
at 227 W. Cote St, Shelton, Washington.
Mailing address: R0. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584 4
Telephone: 360-426-4412 v
Website: www.masoncounly.com
Periodicals postage paid in Shelton, Washington.
gate climate change?
Bob Clark
Shelton
Ballot procedures
Editor, the Journal,
, Response to Craig Anderson’s letter
on Feb. 2:
Dear Mr. Anderson,
While I talk a lot about election sys-
tem vulnerabilities, I have never made
Owned and published by ,
Shelton-Mason County Journal, lnc.
The Jaurnsl is a member of the
Publisher: John Lester
Advertising:
Theresa Murray, Ad Representative
accusations of fraud. It’s an important
distinction. When it comes to our elec-
tions system, I want. to share with vot—
ers (within the restraints of the law)
what works well and where there are
vulnerabilities.
What works well? I n‘the short time,
I have been in oflice, I am happy to
share that the Mason Countyelections
team does an excellent job with ballot
processing. I have witnessed firsthand
the importance the team places on bal-
lot security, chain of custody documen-
tation and, customer service. This team
pays exceptional attention to detail.
My focus is on vulnerabilities with
processes “upstream” from the elec-
tions ofiice and with voting system
machines; Our vote-by-mail system
presents vulnerabilities resulting fiom
the break in ballot chain of custody
from the time ballOts are mailed to
voters until they arrive at the county
elections ofi‘ice. Elections personnel
trained in signature matching tech-
niques mitigate this break in chain
of custody by verifying that a voter’s
signature on a ballot declaration is
the same as that inthe registration
files (in accordance with the law)
prior to processing a ballot through
to tabulation; Even with training and
experience, signature verification is
subjective.
Post—election canvassing (which
entails visiting a physical address and
talking to residents to confirm that the
individuals who voted from that ad-
dress are legitimately registered there)
Front office:
\
can shed light on “upstream” processes
fidelity and provide information to
help keep voter rolls current and cor-
rect. We are not stafied at the elections
ofiice to do this type of canvgssing,
so this is where trained nonpartisan
Voter Research Project volunteers can
help. I anticipate that when the next
round of canvassing. a'ctivity is com-
plete, the Voter Research Project will
make theresults public. I will be happy v
to summarize any resulting actions
taken by the elections office.
As for voting system machines, we
are working with our supplier (Clear
Ballot) to understand how to improve .
machine security. We now have near-
term plans to enhance the security of
our machines in Mason County. We
are also exploring auditing a greater
number of paper ballots afier election
day and prior to certification in order
to strengthen confidence that a paper ,
3 ballot matches its scanned image and
that the scanned image is correctly .,
tabulated.
With all of that, we are expanding
opportunities for election observers to
monitor pieces of the prOCess where
they haven’t previously had access and
make the system more transparent. If ,
. you would like to be involved in any of
the canvassing or observer activities,
please let me know.
Steve Duenkel
Mason County auditor
see LETTERS, page ‘
CreativevDirector: Lloyd Mullen
Dave Pierik, Office Administrator
Karen Hranac, Customer Service
All regular editorial, advertising .
and legal deadlines are 5 pm. the
Monday prior to publication.
To submit a letterto the editor,
email editor@masoncounty.com.
Washington Newspaper PubliSh- Delivery:
ers Association. ’ Newsroom: Jon Garza
, Justin Johnson, Editor David Olson
SUBSCRIPTION RATES: , i , Gordon Weeks, Reporter Niel Challstrom
$79 'per year ($55 for six months) Matt Balde, Reporter
for Mason County addresses and Kirk Boxleitner, Reperter Composing room:
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Fowler, Advertising Design
outside of 'Mason County. Shawna Whelan, Photographer Linda Frizzell,
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