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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
February 20, 1975     Shelton Mason County Journal
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February 20, 1975
 
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Things being what they are in Olympia's marble zoo,it is perhaps reckless to award a prize for the dumbest statement of the current legislative session with the festivities only a month old. But we doubt that any legislator, even one from the bigot belt of the Ingrown Empire, will come up with a dumber remark than that made recently by our own Senator Gordon Sandison. The Senate recently passed a measure to remove veterans' affairs from the Department of Social and Health Services by the creation of a State Department of Veterans' Affairs• In a news release commenting on the bill's passage, Senator Sandison made his award-winning statement. "'If nothing else," he said, "our citizens should be certain that veterans' affairs are handled elsewhere than in a department that includes institutions and public welfare." What did he mean? It's obvious that he was attempting to curry the favor of professional veterans by implying that their welfare is distinct from and superior to the welfare of citizens served by the state's institutions and the welfare program. It is not, of course. And, surely, a man who has been in the Senate for 17 years and the House of Representatives for I 0 knows that: Veterans have children in the state's homes for the mentally retarded; Veterans are both keepers and the kept in the state's prisons; Veterans have aged and infirm parents on welfare and are on the welfare rolls themselves; Veterans have progeny receiving aid to dependent children; Veterans work, have relatives treated, and are themselves patients, in the state's mental hospitals; Veterans pay taxes for the support of institutions and public welfare; and The veterans' homes at Retsil and Orting are institutions operated on a welfare basis. In short, veterans are members, on an equal basis, of a society which has decided that public institutions and welfare are worthwhile. Some of them even serve in another state institution- the Washington State Senate. | • By ROBERT C. CUMMINGS A new title has come to light in the Washington State Senate, that of "minority committee chairmen." Minority committee chairmen are without official standing except behind the closed doors of the Senate, even the newest of the freshmen, was designated a "minority chairman" of one of the Senate's standing committees. Not Without Purpose Besides giving each ..... l °~. • ZiUah, Labor; Lois North, Seattle, Social and Health Services; and Kent Pollen, Kent, Natural Resources. Among the others, George Sellar, East Wenatchee, is minority chairman of two committees, Agriculture and Local Government. Others are George Clarke, Mercer Island, Judiciary; Sam Guess, Transportation and Utilities; R. H. "Bob" Lewis, Spokane, Constitution and Elections; John Murray, Seattle, Ecology; Charles Newschwander, senators including six who would have been affected by a 12-year limitation law. Another two with 14 and 16 years of service respectively were defeated in their bids for reelection. Voluntary retirements were much more numerous in the House last year, though many of them hadn't yet reached seniority status. The voluntary retirements seldom attract much attention, and frequently are overshadowed in the public mind by publicity Editor, The Journal: 1 am the husband of a teacher and she also is the president of the Shelton Education Association. I was "also the chairman of the Citizens Advisory Committee to School District 309 from 1969-1972 during the bond issue for the new high school and the last Impasse. The article beginning on page one quoting the letter by the administration in last week's Journal is another example of poor judgment and bad timing. The letter itself is full of innuendo and half truths• "The S.E.A. attempts to drive a wedge between the various administrative levels•" IN truth the S.E.A. is the bargaining agent for the administrators and has a salary schedule in their negotiation proposal, but the superintendent and board wanted to give these same people the S.E.A. proposal when the rest of the teachers being represented were not given a copy of the proposal. The superintendent and board then expected the administrators to work against the S.E.A. negotiations always with the right to withdraw when they had helped to defeat the S.E.A. proposals. It appears that perhaps they, the board and administrators, were trying to drive the wedge. In paragraph two they say the S.E.A. has not acted in good faith, l don't think they, the administrators, the board, the superintendent would recognize retired voluntarily,or understand good faith bargaining if it was pointed out to them. Paragraph three accused S.E.A. of failing to recommend programs beneficial to students. In fact S.E.A. has tried to negotiate smaller class size for years and the superintendent and the board have consistently refused to negotiate class size. Paragraph four "The S.E.A. promotion of a 'contract' which would make the management of school affairs impossible for administrators who support State Representative James Kuehnle of Spokane thinks Republican a high sounding title, Tacoma, Ways and Means;George given a few with many years of if he cares to use it, the. The Evergreen State °College is fouling the state's higher assignment gives e¢fh an area Off' Seolt,,Seattle, Higher Education; service. Pat Wam maker, Couoeville ..... , ,$j tae .oLtl latter are among ' education nest. responsibility. It is the duty of Parks andReereation. ,'. some of the most valuable He charges that the college, which was chartered to each "minority chairman" to John Jones, Kirkland, who members of the Legislature, but unfortunately there also are a few from time to time who don't qualify for such high classification• community's right to direct the education of their children." In fact our tea~l~' wor'~ ~l"es are dictated by the board's policy manual and implemented by the Shelton School District General Bulletin. This general bulletin can and is interpreted and changed on explore alternatives to the traditional programs of the state's other four-year institutions, is a den of iniquity dedicated to exploring alternatives to the traditional programs of the state's other four-year institutions. Kuehnle's latest move in his campaign to chop off money for the college is a questionnaire he sent to 389 persons whose names he selected from the Olympia telephone directory. 'Tli eat crow if the results come back and indicate a strong support for the college," he said. "If it is what I expect, it will be a rather strong exception to the policies of the college." A sample question: "6. Seminars and open meetings at TESC such as have been presented concerning male homosexuality, lesbianism, marijuana usage, world liberation and other such thought-provoking subjects should be! ( ) encouraged; ( ) discouraged; ( ) eliminated." Kuehnle, obviously, hopes the preponderance of answers will favor "eliminated." Any responsible citizen should, for it is obvious that discussion of those subjects at Evergreen is a tax-supported duplication. Olympia already has a forum for discussing male homosexuality, lesbianism, marijuana usage and other such thought-provoking subjects. It is the Washington State Legislature, which in its infinite wisdom, spends hours exploring such topics when it is not busy with more important matters such as pay toilets, vanity license plates, pornography, smelt dealers' licenses, massage parlors and bicentennial medals. The legislators have not discussed world liberation to any great extent because their contact ,with alien cultures has been confined to taxpayer-financed junkets to Hawaii and Puerto Rico rather than the jungles of Pasco. The college should leave thought-provoking subjects to the legislators and pursue the matters that occupied Kuehnle and his contemporaries when they were in school; namely, football, dating, hazing, acne cures, rumbleseat copulation, beer drinking, bonfire rallies and goldfish swallowing. As Herbert Hoover so aptly put it: "Why change a good thing when you've got it working for you?" Kuehnle's conviction that 389 residents of Olympia should determine the course of government expenditures and programs is also a stroke of genius. It should be applied to other state operations. The legislature, for instance• Evergreen students can be kept busy for a few weeks, at least, on preparation and processing of a questionnaire asking 389 Olympians to evaluate the legislature. Herewith, a few sample questions: !. When a lobbyist buys dinner for a legislator, he should order ( ) imported wine; ( ) domestic wine; ( ) other. 2. The practice of hiring relatives of legislators to work during a session should be ( )encouraged; ( )discouraged; ( ) eliminated. 3. When a slow-moving bill is speedily passed on the day following a party given by a lobbyist favoring the measure, it is: t ) suspicious:( ) coincidental; { } business as usual. report to his caucus on the bills under consideration before that particular caucus. If one of those bills reaches the floor for a vote, it becomes the duty of that chairman to present the caucus position on it to the floor of the Senate. Besides giving each minority member a sense of responsibility, it prepares him for the time which the Republicans hope won't be too far away, when they again become the majority party in the upper chamber. Everybody's in The Act Sue Gould, Edmonds, one of the two Republican freshmen who never had served in the Legislature before, is minority chairman of the Education Committee. The other new freshman, Nancy Buffington, Seattle, was appointed chairman of the Commerce Committee, but when she got off that committee, it was left without a minority chairman. Among the freshmen who served in the House last session, Alan Bluechel, Kirkland, is minority chairman of Financial Institutions and Insurance; John E. "Jack" Cunningham, Zenith, State Government; Sid Morrison, serves on a special committee on pensions as well as three standing committees, declined a chairmanship because of the demands on his time for other duties. It has become popular in recent years to introduce legislation which would limit the terms of legislators to 12 consecutive years in each house, and a couple of these measures are in again this time. None are expected to go anywhere, but it isn't because the senior members are poised to kill them. There just happens to be a serious question whether such legislation is needed. Otherwise, there wouldn't be enough affected lawmakers in either house to block it. In the Senate, there are only 12 members, less than one-fourth the membership, who either have completed 12 or more years in the Senate or will have by the end of their present terms. In the House, there are just 16 out of 98, and about half of these are planning to retire at the end of their present terms. At least two of the senior senators also plan to retire when thev come up for reelection next time. Prior to the last election, eight" 't 91" IGHllEN UP AND FLY RI61 , Fol2D, oR CUT OFF W NOI" By DAVE AVERILL Everybody knows about bankers. The banker is this guy with combed-back hair to show his frown who is wearing a pin-striped suit so tight it squeaks, and he is looking at your life story which is spread out on the desk in front of him. He picks up pieces of your fiscal biography at random, like an oracle poking around in chicken entrails. "What seems to be missing," he explains patiently, "is collateral." Anybody who claims he is not nervous around bankers is either a born liar or so rich that bankers go to him to borrow money• Even out here in the brush, where it is possible to be on first-name terms with your banker, his is a job that generates awe. Here is a guy whose business is handling other people's money• What could be more solemn than that? it goes without saying that those giant banks in big cities are even more awesome than the ones we know here at home. You are not on first-name terms with the functionary who shuffles the million-dollar accounts in that 40-floor pinnacle of commerce. Even the bankers in such a place call each other mister. There is no room for frivolity• Why is it, then, that when banks go broke they are always Page 4 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday. February 20, 1975 occasion by each principal at will. So what may be the rule today is not necessarily the rule tomorrow• This was the subject of many meetings between the superintendent and the president of S.E.A. and finally submitted to the school board in writing before an answer was received. The teachers were directed to use their grievance procedure where the board, with the superintendent's advice, is the final word. Almost every other union member in Shelton has a third party to solve their problems, it is called binding arbitration. Our school board is afraid to even discuss this with S.E.A. Mr. Ford has taken the liberty and license to print those letters favorable to the board, not caring whether it is accurate or fair reporting. Maybe this is why Mr. Ford is allowed to remain in every executive session whether they are talking about personnel or negotiations, but then, why not? He is the best negotiating tool the board has. This letter is not and I repeat NOT a summation by S.E.A. It is mine, the husband of that lady, who is so "flagrant in her violation of good faith," and anyone who knows a child in her knows her as an person than Shelton administrators. When we, the Committee, were and the outlying issue we asked for a school. Let us now teachers like first We have the lowest of any first class state. A starting $7,575 a year, that is month or the per hour. We onl $300 per year in coverage• Take any person in Shelton up his hourly wage fringe benefits they divide it by the (260) less his holidays and you w l! wage per day their 183-day contract. I do not pretend the problems and the administrati0 seen a lot of the the S.E.A. when bargain in faith, Walt Parsons Citize Editor, The Journal: To state that The statements made in the sought the School Administrators' letter to on items the school board regarding the negotiations proceSS Shelton Education Association, misrepresentation which appeared in last week's facts. As a ne paper, cannot be left committee unchallenged, president of SEA, ! I shall challenge only responsibility of "2. Although exercising their from the alleged right to represent the never accorded administration in negotiations, courtesy of a single SEA has not sought input onof my requests. items submitted for the succeeding o negotiations process. We consider negotiators of this a flagrant violation of good Education faith bargaining on the part of the made such Shelton Education Association result. officers, president and The negotiators." officers, president To represent the of the Shelton administrators in negotiations has Association have not been the "alleged right" of "flagrant violation SEA. The court case determined bargaining" that it was the legal right of SEA comment. to negotiate on behalf of the Williamf" administrators• in great big banks? There have been two in a row now, both the distant East. The bankers, it appears, had been investments• Their depositors got an early clue. Arriving at cash a check, they got this advice from the teller: "We're a little short on cash today, you take your money in Minnie Pearl's Fried maybe you'd like a quarter-acre Western Mexico?" When your banker tries to pay you off Minnie Pearl's Fried Chicken, it is time to call for Deposit Insurance Corporation. q'he feds, of course, bailed out everybody have not been doing too well for the rest o weeks, but they are taking good care of bank When the first of the giant banks got into invested too much of other people's tn schemes that suddenly got poor, the reds collection of European banks who bought Nobody complained too loudly• Those look a little odd to the American eye, but cash than baskets of fried chicken. And when the second bank began gasping for breath, the feds promptly arranged bigger bank. The new owner may now have worth of quarter-acre Ranchettes that are soil raising gerbils, but at least the firm is solvent. It could leave you hoping that your complete with his tight suit and his frown, doing when he avoids a chance to embark financing scheme. The guy may look as if he lacks ima solvent. Founded 1886 by Grant C. Angle Mailing Address: Box 430, Shelt0n, Wa. 98584 Published at 227 West Cota Street, Shetton, Wash ngton 98584, weekly. Second-class postage paid at Shelton, Wasl~lt Member of National Editorial Associati Member of Washington Newspaper PublisherS' SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $6.00 per year in Mas in advance -- Outside Mason County EDITOR AND PUBLISHER ................... :'i