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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
February 17, 2011     Shelton Mason County Journal
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February 17, 2011
 
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And the winner is... It's been described as one of the most important decisions they will make and they will make it to- day. The Shelton school board will meet at noon to- day, Thursday, Feb. 17, and is expected to offer the superintendent job to one of four finalists. District teachers and staffers announced last week that they were unable to endorse a particu- lar finalist, but would support whomever the board chooses to replace outgoing superintendent Joan Zook. The board's decision follows a nationwide search, multiple site visits and forums. It was school board member Dean Hirschi who underscored a couple of months ago how monu- mental a decision it is to pick a new chief of schools when he said it will be the biggest decision the board will make and that whoever is chosen will need to be handsomely compensated. Hirschi and his fellow board members have un- dertaken the task with great care. They have gone out of their way to involve the public and they have also, literally, gone out of their way to visit each of the finalists' home turf to make a more informed decision. Teachers and staff didn't feel that they could make an endorsement of any of the four finalists after reading the resumes and spending parts of just one day with each of" them. We think that's a pretty reasonable position. The reality, of course, is that there are a lot of unknowns when making any hiring decision. What we do know, though, is that the board is committed to hiring someone who will take the district in a new direction. This board has made strides to improve learn- ing and we're hoping that whoever they select as the new superintendent will do the same and then some. A Little Straight Talk The proposed Adage plant produces smoke before it even exists. It's time for a rational discussion of "biomass" and power production. Biomass has been used since the 1800's, when wood was burned to pro- duce steam that dried lumber, drove mill and logging equipment, heated schools, public buildings and most Pa- cific Northwest homes. Urban wood smoke was common into the 1980's. Regulatory and technology advanc- es brought dramatic change to biomass energy production. Modern boilers and burners vastly are more efficient. Ancillary equipment catches most fine particulates and gasses. Zero emis- sions? No, but we no longer see smoke- stacks or wigwam burners belching wood smoke, or a pall of wood smoke in low wind events. The regulatory process also substan- tially reduced slash burning. No lon- ger do we see the once-common smoke columns on our few good summer days. We now find ourselves looking fbr new or improved ways to produce en- ergy. A fw harsh realities get in the way: there is a last barrel of oil and we are well on our way to finding it. There is no current technology or product that will replace our petroleum depen- dency. Solar and wind energy have se- rious limitations and will replace only a small part of our overall energy use. Electricity is touted as, "clean," but the hidden price is a continued - even expanded - dependency, on dams; coal, nuclear or gas-fired facilities to pro- duce those little electrons that make our lives livable. To compound matters, we, the peo- ple, passed an initiative that mandat- ed state energy producers generate at least 15 percent of our electrical en- ergy from renewable energy sources, including woody biomass (with specific restrictions related to old growth tim- ber and treated wood). And this is to be accomplished by 2020, which must have seemed distant in 2006, the year it was passed. Wise people cautioned the initiative was a technical and economic stretch, but we passed it anyway. So, now we must accomplish that goal, which re- mains far from reality. Comes now the oddly named firm, Adage, which proposes to site a plant in our community. They will use the lat- est technology to power 40,000 homes with minimum emissions and environ- mental impact. Existing biomass will fire the plant, solving a long term re- forestation and fire hazard dilemma by using logging debris as fuel. The proposed plant initially was welcomed, but recent rhetoric would have us believe property values will suffer, the bay will be polluted, people will suffer pulmonary distress and the area will be inundated with a pall of smoke while streams run muddy with logging silt. Tourists will shun Mason County while residents clog hospital wards. And on and on ... Vigorous conversation is construc- tive, but current bombastic rhetoric adds nothing to the debate. The bottom line is that we need new power and we need it now. The people, for better or worse, said they want it from renew- able sources of which biomass is one. While we need energy in a manner that has least impact on our commu- nity, that doesn't mean zero impact. Physics and chemistry just don't work that way. The Adage proposal, how- ever, produces power with minimal im- pact. Most of us won't realize the plant is there. We are fortunate for the firm's interest in building the plant and for the renewable natural resources with which we are blessed. Finally, Washington has sophisti- cated forest practices laws and regu- lations. Mason County's major non- federal landowners, Green Diamond and DNR, are excellent land manag- ers with environmental protection and clean streams critical parts of their operations. Claims otherwise are un- founded and an affront to forest man- agers. Claims landowners will pillage their forestland base to fire a power plant are ludicrous. If we can produce power, or lower the cost of forest management and for- est products manufacture from har- vest residue use, more power to them. And us. Bob Dick Shelton Bats in the belfry Editor, the Journal I really appreciated the front page of last week's Journal of the moon shin- ning on the Baptist Church - it was beautiful. I've got a story about what happened in the bel- fi.y. Years ago, I taught a Sunday school class to the sixth grade boys. At the floor in the belfry there were benches on all four sides - that was where we had our class. When it came prayer time I told the boys "now if you don't feel like praying just give the boy next to you a little tap on the knee" - it went ok for a while but then stopped. Then I could hear more than a tap. I looked up and two boys were batting each other back and forth - so I call this my "bats in the belfry story." Fred Archer Shelton Agencies loosen codes to allow pollution Editor, the Journal My wife and I attended the ORCAA meeting on AD- AGE a couple of weeks or so ago Monday and unfor- tunately were not able to stay fbr the whole meeting. We tMt the ORCAA engi- neer took too long with his talk. One thing that stood out from the beginning was how the unions "packed" the room. There were some peo- ple giving testinmny that gave a rather bleak future for the county if the inciner atoi were to be built. What really bothers me the most is what I've seen over and over through the years and that is government agencies loosen their codes and al- low "variances" so polluting companies could continue to poison the air or the earth or both. According to some, Mason County could end up like "Love Canal," where so many were sick and many diel from the pollution. The government had to buy ev- eryone there out and the area was fenced off. It seems like an awful price to pay for 24 jobs and Califbrnia gets the power. Much of this is a matter of trust. Do you re- ally want to trust a govern- mental agency to keep its word? If we are so desperate for power, there are other ways. We have some of the greatest hydroelectric capa- bilities in the nation. What about harnessing the tides? We have the technology. What about the wind? We seem to have a prevailing wind right up by Walmart. I've had my hat blown off many times up there. What I'm saying is that we have alternatives and do not have to jump into something that may end up killing people with pollution. Dave Maxwell Agate Budget, furlough, lay-off Editor, the Journal The legislature and the governor ignored their fi- nancial analyst a year ago about the cost of the:: ev- erything but marriage law, They said it would cost too much without more income to support it. And so a bud- get crisis. A furlough is time off with pay. A lay-offis time off without pay due to weather or market conditions. The way the government uses lay-off used to mean fired. Our legislators are get- ting over $42,000 a year for a part-time job, plus $90 per day that they are act- ing as legislatures in Olym- pia. They claim the salary commission cannot reduce their salaries, only raise them. The salary commis- sion should be eliminated and any salary changes be put on the ballot in a ref- erendum to the voters. The governor is getting over $164,000 a year. That was a raise of approximately $16,000 per year plus liv- ing in the governor mansion rent-free with utilities and any repairs thrown in. May- be the mansion with such a prestigious address could be rented out for 30 to 40 thou- sand per year. Those so-called furlough days are a reduction in pay for government employees. Are there too many employ- ees? Are they paid too much? I assume that most are making house payments, car payment or rent. That is not good for the economy or safety of these people work- ing for us to reduce their income so much. I would propose that fbr each three percent reduction in pay for government employees that elected people would have their salary cut by 10 per- cent. Some of the committees are in session all year. They have nothing to do but get their $90 per day. They bring people from Pennsylvania to talk about toll roads and how much to charge. There 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. has been someone from the middle of the country to talk about education. How much are those out-of-state ex- perts costing? Maybe if the $90 per day was reduced to $45 per day we could have shorter legis- lative sessions. Some of the proposed bills are ridiculous. I have always thought that the amount of education had nothing to do with brain- power. I really hate to be proven correct. One of the most intelligent individu- als I have known likely did not have more than a third grade education. Ralph Wingert Shelton Open letter to Shelton School District board Editor, the Journal I read the February 10 article in the Journal, "No superintendent finalist up to grade" regarding the hir- ing process of the district's new superintendent and I would like to comment on it. The letter given to the board by various SSD em- ployee groups smells fishy to me. The rejection of your finalists by theses groups makes me wonder if per- haps their cronies applica- tion did not make it into the finalist pile. For too long the hiring process in the Shel- ton School District has been rife with cronyism, nepo- tism or localism. This has to stop. Promotion is never a guarantee. Just because someone happens to be a long time employee does not mean that they are qualified or fit for promotion. I would like to commend the school board for your hard work in striving to hire the most qualified candidate fbr the postion of superin- tendent. Please do not be bullied into hiring an un- qualified but .local replace- ment. Please feel free to share this letter at your next meeting and keep up the good work. Ione K. Vrabel Shelton Thanks for your support Editor, the Journal With a huge sigh of relief and gratitude I thank this community once again for supporting our young citi- zens by voting "yes" for the replacement levy for Shel- ton School District. The crit- ical programs for the stu- dents that depend on levy funds can now be continued. We should be proud that "strong schools - strong community" is a living pledge to the children that voters understand. Shelton is a better community be- cause we value the educa- tion of our children and we are willing to dip into our pockets to prove it. This is a great place to live, made even better by the positive choices we make. On behalf of the students, thank you for your support. Joan Zook Superintendent USPS 492-800 !jO:FjI SheltoniMason County Sheton-Mason County Journal is a member of Washington Newspaper Publishers' Association. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Shelton-Mason County Journal, Re. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584. Published weekly by Shelton-Mason County Journal, Inc. at 227 West Cota Street, Shelton, Washington Mailing address: Re. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584 Telephone (360) 426-4412 • www.masoncounty.com Periodicals postage paid at Shelton, Washington SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Rick Kennedy, publisher Newsroom: Jesse Mullen, editor Advertising: Dave Pierik, advertising manager Harvey Morris, ad representahve Mat Taylor, ad representative Composing room: William Adams, graphics Gaylene Wiseman, paginator, Koleen Wood, classifieds/legals $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 Sheton-Mason County Journal, Inc Page A-4 - 5helton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, Feb. 17, 2011 Kevan Moore, news editor Mary Duncan, living section Dean Siemon, sports Aria Shephard, North Mason, environment, reporter Natalie Johnson, reporter Front office: Donna Kinnaird, bookkeeper Margot Brand, circulation Cricket Carter, mailroom supervisor Pressroom: Kelly Riordan, production manager Travis Miller press operator