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Page 4 Shelton-Mason County Journal — Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024
Let’s remember
people how many people
in the United States have
died of COVID. Their ans
swers are generally way low
—- before I checked the stat,
my answer was way low, too.
According to the Centers
for Disease Control and Pre-
vention, 1,176,639 people
died of COVID in the United
States from January 2020 to
February 2024.
More than 1 million Amer—
icans dead. Imagine. That’s
almost double the deaths
from the Civil War.
“So, again, when you have
15 people, and the 15 within
a couple of days is going
to be down to close to zero,
that’s a pretty good job we’ve
done,” the eventually twice
impeached and twice not con‘
victed president said Feb. 28,
2020.
We’re now in the fourth
year of this plague, although
now it’s less plague and more
plagueelite. Let’s revisit the
early days of COVID with
some bits from columns I’ve
written. Perhaps they’ll stir
some unfond memories:
I From the first column
I wrote on the plague, pub-
lished in the Journal on Feb.
20, 2020: “Now we consider
I’ve lately been asking
THESE .
TIMES
the threat of the virus that
causes COVID-IQ, which has
spread from eastern China
So, where should you put
this virus on your risk list?
Me, I’m ranking it low, but
with an option to revisit. It
wouldn’t hurt to have a mask
ready, though ...”
I March 5, 2020: “This
microscopic, single strand of
genetic material has not only
infected the U .S. stock mar-
ket, it’s made people blame
their middle—0fthe-night
nausea on the coronavirus,
not the Sriracha sauce they
shouldn’t have eaten. It’s
caused global supply break—
downs and anxieties about
that single bead of sweat
ailing your hairline. And to
think: This virus is just a few
months old and we have zero
idea how old it will get
I March 19, 2020: “I
now own 25 rolls of toilet
paper. When people feel a
lack of control in the face of
a threat, they want toilet pa~
per. Who knew? ...”
I April 9, 2020: “I’m in
favor of allowing people to go
to church services — as long
as they can’t leave until the
pandemic ends If some
church-goers want to spread
the virus among themselves,
God bless ’em. However,
their right to worship in a
crowd shouldn’t trump other
people’s right to not have
their lungs turn to cement
I July 9, 2020: “A couple
of weeks ago at an anti—mask
rally in downtown Shelton
that drew 25 people, Shel“
ton~Mason County Journal
reporter Gordon Weeks had
a conversation with a dem-
onstrator. Gordon asked
her why she doesn’t wear a
mask. ‘This is based on fear
and false statistics,’ she ex-
plained. For instance, ‘on the
side of the mask box it says,
‘Not to be used for COV-
ID'19.’ So why are we wear-
ing them?’ Gordon followed
up: ‘Where did you, get that
information?’ ‘I saw it on my
phone,’ the anti-masker said.
She waved her phone in front
of Gordon’s face w just in
Gordon didn’t fully up—
preciate the credibility of her
source.”
I March 25, 2021: I vol—
unteered at drive-thru vac-
cination event: “I was in
a room with a handful of
county health workers and
a United Way employee, all
of whom were ensuring that
vaccine was able to flow into
people’s arms without inter—
ruption Their purpose and
the purpose of the scores of
other volunteers and health
care workers that day was
authentic and infectious, like
a certain virus this vacci—
nation operation, from check~
ing appointments and eligi~
bility, routing traffic, loading
syringes with 0.3 milliliters
of the Pfizer vaccine, delivers
ing the syringes to injectors,
ensuring volunteers are fed,
was about being organized,
deliberate and aware of your
surroundings.”
I June 17, 2021: “I’ve
been thinking about Bill
Gates inserting a tracking
microchip into each dose of
COVID vaccine. I see proir
lems with this theory, but
the plague, shall we?
I’m most stuck on how the
person preparing each dose
m which requires putting the
tip of a needle into a vial to
withdraw 0.3 milliliters ofse-
rum —- could ensure only one
microchip of the five or six in
the vaccine vial would make
it inside the uptake. And
how would the microchip be
powered inside the body? By
batteries tinier than a micro—
chip? By solar flares?”
I Sept. 2, 2021: “ ‘Do
you have any ivermectin?’ I
asked the teenage clerk at
Kiperts Korner Feed as she
rang me up. I paid $4.99 for
a packet of trail mix. ‘Yes,’
she replied. She spoke in
a tone as flat as a paving
stone. She lowered her chin
and looked at me through
the tops of her eye sockets
‘Have you been selling a
lot of ivermectin lately?’ I
asked. ‘Yes,’ she said, flat.
‘Have you sold some today?’
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Do you sell it
to anybody who wants to buy
it?’ ‘Yes,’ she said, this time
with a sigh. ‘It sure is weird
what’s going on,’ I said. ‘Do
you want your receipt?’ She
asked ...”
I Kirk Ericson at kirkG‘v
masoncounty.com
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
A message
to a candidate
Editor, the Journal,
My response to Richard Beckman’s
announcement that he is running for
the District 2 commissioner seat. First,
Kevin Shutty has been present at many
of our Mason County Fire District 12
meetings and Matlock community
meetings. As one of the leaders of our
community, I invite you to attend the
next community meeting. I am not sure
that Kevin did eveiything that he could
do, hilt he did more than most of the
elected officials. Thank you, Kevin, for
giving the Matlock community your
support.
Richard, if you do not know about
the situation at MCFD 12, I suggest you
get up to speed quickly. It is not a dif-
ficult task; you only need to visit our
website matlockcommunitycom. There
you can spend a few hours looking into
what some voters in the Matlock com—
munity have uncovered about the mis—
appropriation and possible outright
SHELTON—MASON COUNTY
USPS 492~800
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Shelton—Mason
County Journal, PO. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584.
Published weekly by the Shelton—Mason, County Journal
31227 W. Cola St, Shelton, Washington.
Mailing address: PO. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584
Telephone: 360—426x44‘l2
Website: www.masoncountycom
Periodicals postage paid in Shelton, Washington,
theft of hundreds of thousands of tax—
payer dollars. This fraud is at the hands
of mostly one family dynasty and a few
other incompetent dipsticks.
I’ve been told I have a loud voice
on the west end of the county. Maybe,
maybe not, but my signs on the hill out—
side of Dayton do raise awareness to
taxpayer dollars being flushed down a
family dynasty toilet.
Richard, if you want my vote and
hundreds of voters behind me, you
will look to do as much or more than
Kew'n Shutty did for the Matlock com—
munity. I hope you become informed
on the ongoing theft and fraud occur—
ring at MCFD No. 12. You say you sup-
port “equal respect” between residents
and government. At MCFD N0. 12, in
M atlock, there is no “equal respect” be—
tween residents and government. The
suspected perpetrators are in charge
of the fire department. All other levels
of government are saying it’s not “our
jurisdiction.”
Dave Pcrscll
M allock
Owned and published by
Shelton—Mason County Journal, Inc.
The Journal is a member of the
Washington Newspaper Publish—
ers Association.
Publisher:
John Lester
Please support
West Mason Fire
Editor, the Journal,
As we all know, Mason County Fire
District 12 has been under investiga—
tion for fraud. Unfortunately, the fire
district to the east of Matlock has suf—
fered greatly from this mistake. West
Mason Fire, formerly District 16, is an
all—volunteer fire department serving
the citizens of Dayton, Shelton Val—
ley, part of Union and the Skokomish
Valley. They have been confused with
Matlock several times and have been
unable to gain support for their last
two levy measures since the neighbor-
ing agencies’ fraud was discovered.
I ask for your support to right this
' wrong and consider voting in the up-
coming levy‘to be run by West Mason
Fire in April. As you know, the fire de—
partment is essential to our commu—
nity, providing vital services that keep
us safe and protected. Even if you
have never called 911, your neighbors
and family benefit significantly from a
Front office:
Advertising:
Theresa Murray, Ad Representative Delivery:
Jon Garza
Newsroom: David Olson
SUBSCRIPTION RATES:
$82 per year ($55 for six months)
for Mason County addresses and
$105 per year ($70 for six months)
outside of Mason County.
Single issue price $2.00
Justin Johnson, Editor
Gordon Weeks, Reporter
June Williams, Reporter
Kirk Ericsoh, Columnlsl/ Proofreader
Shawna Whelan, Photographer
Niel Challstrom
' Design:
Kim Fowler, Graphics Design
Linda Frizzell, Special Projects
well—funded fire department.
The reality is that West Mason Fire
is facing budgetary constrictions with—
out an EMS levy to support staffing .
and equipment maintenance. Without
this funding, we risk losing essential
services and putting our community
at risk. The department is asking for
an initial EMS levy of $.50 per $1,000
assessed value of your property. To
make this easier, for a property as—
sessed at $400,000, you would pay an
additional $16.67 per month or $0.56
per day for full~time EMS response
coverage.
I understand that no one likes to
pay more taxes, but the cost of not
siipporting this levy would be far
greater. A small investment in this
fire department will pay dividends in
improved safety and peace of mind for
years to come.
Thank you for your support.
Sam Glover
Shelton
see LETTERS, page
_________________________________________———————-———————————--—
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 letter to the editor,
email edil0r@masoncounty.com.
Office hours: 8 am. to 5 pm.
Monday to Thursday, Closed
Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and
major holidays.