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Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
March 4, 1999     Shelton Mason County Journal
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C]ournal of Op" " anaon: Don't mine me Another of those inevitable battles is brewing in Mason County, the ones that occur because of the county's nonstrin- gent planning regulations. It's always ironic to us when a group of citizens in a county worshiping individual property rights starts talking as if decisions on development should be made for the good of the community. The history of planning in this county - and it's being repeated now as the debate over the Growth Manage- ment Act rages - has always been one of contentious- ness. Never has the community come together and agreed on a comprehensive plan that would step on some toes - those of landowners who want to exercise their right to develop their property as they wish. It's not really an "anything goes" policy, but it's about as close as you can get to that. This is the type of county that would attract clean industry such as a company handling old transformers with PCBs in them, the type that has to put a moratorium on establishment of sexually oriented businesses until it can decide where it's going to allow them. So a company proposes to develop a gravel mine on McEwan Prairie, and it wouldn't be a little pit. Over a period of 25 years at the 153-acre site, 4.6 million cubic yards of sand and gravel would be extracted, or enough to cover 53 square miles with an inch of material. Many of the people who live in the area are concerned, and justifiably so. There are many potential problems, including the project's effects on wetlands, a critical aquifer recharge area, wildlife and local wells, not to mention noise, air pollution and gravel truck after gravel truck on local roads. We understand those concerns and we're glad the peo- ple are expressing them to county planners. The people who bewilder us are the ones who are outraged, who be- lieve a gravel mine has no place on McEwan Prairie, who want the county to reject the project out of hand. They remind us of people who move to our little logging town, buy a house across from a beautiful stand of 80-year-old fir trees and are outraged when the timber is cut, leaving ar ugly pile of slash instead of a parklike setting. Harvesting tim- ber is allowed here. What the people on McEwan Prairie must keep in mind is that mining is allowed there. Mason County doesn't have zoning banning it. The county could have zoning, but a majority of the citizens have never de- manded it. In fact, they have shown disdain for it, be- cause it would require great numbers of them to give up certain development rights "for the good of the order." The county has land-use designations, not zoning, and Mc- Ewan Prairie is designated as a mining-friendly "rural" area. If you look at a planning map of the county, you see that virtually the whole eastern half of the county is designated as "rural," save for some blocks of long-term commercial forest lands. Landowners have tremendous latitude, within the county's development egUlations at:act as a safe, guard, to develop their land. .......... It's amazing to us how a planner can be two people at the same time in the minds of citizens with different outlooks on life. To one person, the planner is a worthless bureaucrat armed with a book of regulations six inches thick who just holds up development. To another person, the planner is a pushover for developers who isn't doing enough to stop develop- ment in the person's neighborhood. Planners have responsibilities, an impartial role, to review projects according to the rules on the books. They can't tell a company applying for a mining permit on property where mining is allowed to get lost. The property owner has legal standing - property rights. This is not to say the mine is going to happen just because mining is allowed on McEwan Prairie. There is a process, a long process, that must be followed to ensure that the mine would not destroy the environment. If the mine's effects on the environment can't be mitigated, it won't be approved. When the Manke gravel mine was proposed, the process took six years and approval included more than 70 conditions. County planners want to provide assurance to resi- dents that their interestswill be protected by the up- coming process in which no stone, or piece of gravel as it were, will be left unturned. They emphasize that the process has just begun. They agree that the concerns they've heard so far are very legitimate and must be ad- dressed. The project is big enough that they have al. ready ruled it needs an environmental-impact statement (EIS) because of its potential effects. The scope of the EIS has yet to be determined. When the scope is deter. mined, Mason County Department of Community Devel. opment Director Gary Yando expects to get together with residents in the area, perhaps at someone's house, to explain the process. He would like the applicant to come to that meeting, too, so questions can be answered. Then the EIS has to go through a draft and final phase. Comments will be taken from all interested parties during the drafting of the EIS. Then the planning commission will hold a hearing on the proposal. It will make a recommendation to the county commission, which will also hold a hearing before mak- ing a decision. If either party isn't satisfied with the county's decision, it can be appealed in court. And the applicant still has to get a state mining permit and any other required permits from state agencies. Who pays for the EIS? The applicant. The EIS is draft- ed by a consultant who works for the county but is paid by the applicant. There's a lesson in this battle over the mine. There will be future battles unless Mason County's citizens change their minds and opt for strict prohibitions on certain practices in "residential" areas. County commissioners who have backed off strict planning rules for decades aren't to blame for a mine be- ing proposed on McEwan Prairie. They never had a mandate to zone the county and bar mining there. Not until the populace decides its paradise is being ruined will it demand tougher rules, and we sense rlo move in that direction. Some people look at zoning as a horrible infringement on their rights. There's another way to look at it. People could be assured when they bought a piece of property that there would never be a mine or a junkyard in the neighborhood. And when they sold it, they could sell that assurance for a price. - CG Page 4':- Shelion-Mason County Journal - Thursday, March 4, 1999' i00eader$ ' C]ournal: Few votes Editor, The Journal. voter. They do not believe Were you one of the nine? they will be paying for 0,  YO'N Pioneer School District was de- school in Shelton if we [J feated once more! Our attempt to one in our district.    pass the Pioneer high school and Our victory lies in facilities bond lost by nine votes, our Pioneer families, you |/1/ For over a year and a half, volun- take the time to registel / teers like myself have donated you are not already. At hundreds and hundreds of hours of you aren't registered and thousands of dollars to reach Nine of you forgot to vote. the voting public. A majority of you forgot to mail in that time and money has been This bond proposition is spent on the retired, absentee the superintendent, nor / -' /m,, v°ter" This has pr°ven ineffective" administrati°n" It is f°r Why? dren. Please remember Somehow, this issue has pact that your "no" vote or turned into more of a debate than "no show" vote has on your a concern for our children's edu- It has a tremendous  €  cation and well-being. The two my son. And nine of you things that our politicians talk his future. Crab Chow's Bill of Rights By DAVE BARRY Lately there's been a lot of talk about an Air Traveler's Bill of Rights. This idea got a big push in January when a snowstorm forced some loaded planes to sit out on the Detroit airport runway for as long as eight hours, during which several passengers were eaten by wolves. This incident provoked national criticism of the airline involved, which I will not identify here other than to call it The Diametrically Opposite Of Southeast Airlines. In its defense, the airline issued the following statement: "We are experiencing mechani- cal difficulties with our state- ment." I personally have had good luck with Diametrically Opposite Airlines, which - this is true - re- cently flew me from Miami to Traverse City, Michigan, via De- troit, for free. I fully intended to pay for the trip: I purchased what I thought was a ticket, and I used it to board the 'Miami-Detroit flight. But wher I got to Detroit and tried to board the Traverse City flight, the gate agent told me my "ticket" was not a ticket. She then looked in her computer and told me, quote, "You're not in the system." "But I'm here," I pointed out. It was true. I was there. "Well, there's no RECORD that you're here," the agent said. She called a supervisor, who checked the computer and also concluded that I was not there. I continued to argue that I WAS there, but I could tell they both believed the computer. Finally, just to get rid of me, they put me, with no tick- et, on the flight to Traverse City, where there was also no record of my existence. I'm wondering if this is what happened to Amelia Earhart. All I know is, I was nev- er charged for either leg of my trip to Traverse City, which for the record is a very nice tourist destination, featuring an annual ice-fishing festival, where this year the most popular attraction by far was - I swear I am not making this up - a giant toilet carved from ice. But my basic point is that air travel has become less and less pleasant, as more and more pas- sengers are being crammed into planes that appear to have been configured to transport bait. This is why there is talk of an Air Traveler's Bill of Rights, which would require airlines to deter- mine their fares on some basis other than lotto drawings, and serve food that is not made from the same material as flotation de- vices, and provide seats that al- low for the possibility - however remote - that some passengers might have both arms AND legs. As a frequent flyer, I am for these basic rights, and would like to see them expanded to include the following: 1. A passenger has the right to know that the pilot is alert and in good physical condition. When boarding the plane, the passenger may check the pilot's reflexes by challenging him to a game of "slaps." 2. If the in-flight movie is The Waterboy, and this has also been the movie on the past four conse- cutive flights that a passenger has been on, the passenger has the right to demand that the pilot fly the plane into a mountain. 3. If a passenger is standing at the ticket counter with some hid- eously complex airline problem that has caused the other airline counter personnel to be sucked over, one by one, until they are all gathered in front of the problem passenger, staring in bafflement at the computer terminal, and this has been going on for 25 minutes, then the passengers waiting in line behind the prob- lem passenger have the right to emit a hoarse cry of rage, rush forward in a mob and stuff the problem passenger into the little box that indicates the maximum size of carry-on baggage. 4. If, during the flight, a pas- senger hears a funny noise and asks the flight attendant what it is, the passenger has the right to not be brushed off with some con- descending statement such as "that's a hydraulic compressor; it's perfectly normal." The flight attendant should just admit that the plane is going to crash and everybody is going to die. Like- wise, during the preflight safety lecture, the passenger has the right not have the situation su- gar-coated. "In the event of a wa- ter landing," the flight attendant should say, "you are Purina Crab Chow." 5. Passengers changing planes in the Dallas-Fort Worth airport have the right to be provided with some way to travel the average 17 miles to their connecting gates other than walking or taking a "tram" that travels at the speed of fingernail growth and at one point passes through Mexico. Also, the Miami, Atlanta and De- troit airports should be renovated with nuclear weapons. The Den- ver airport is nice but should be moved to the same state as Den- ver. The Boston airport should also be moved to the same state as Denver; that way it would be easier to get to it from downtovn Boston than it is now. So those are my views on Air Traveler's Rights. If you're a fre- quent flyer, and you want to share your thoughts on this topic, I'd love for you to get in touch with me. Unfortunately, there is no record of my existence. Impact fees are needed Editor, The Journal: Since our letter of November 1998 asking questions as to the direction being taken by our city of Shelton administration for the future of Shelton, well, what we found was more questions and some facts. Also, since November 1998 a group has formed to watch and learn what is really happening in the city of Shelton. We are called Concerned Citizens of Shelton/ Mason County. Fact: We had a 24 percent in- crease in our sewer rate this year (an additional $7 per month). We do not know how much it will raise next year or each year till What does a Mason Transit rider say when he gets on the bus and the driver tells him how much it costs to ride? "Hey, no fare!" I I the year 2006. Bottom line, we do not know how far in debt we will go since the city of Shelton news- letter of November 1998 stated the sewer replacement and up- dates will cost in excess of 23 mil- lion dollars. Fact: The city of Shelton was told many years ago to update our sewer system. Nothing was done. All those years lost to be made up under threat of fines by the De- partment of Ecology. Fact: Grants have not been ap- plied for. Answer from city offi- cials is that their grant writer is tied up elsewhere and there are not many grants available any- way. So we don't try? Fact: Our city administration's answer to paying for updating our sewer system is raise rates and borrow money. Grants do not have to be paid back; that money usually comes from the federal government which is our money anyway. Also, we asked if the city of Shelton is charging impact fees on new businesses and housing. We were told not yet, they are in the works. Impact fees are used to make new growth pay for the added strain (impact) on our sew- er, roads, schools, fire and police departments, traffic and added taxes. Fact: Did you know that busi- nesses are charged the same $5 per month for storm drain as your and my home? Is this fair consid- ering all the storm water run-off from huge parking lots? Fact: We are hearing that much land will be annexed into the city of Shelton very soon. If we don't make new growth pay for itself with impact fees, the rest of us will keep paying until we can't pay anymore. A great concern is how will our present city officials handle this new growth. We must insist that they use more equitable as well as prudent policies, and soon. We believe it is the duty of Shelton city administrators to protect the taxpayers from an ex- cessive burden from growth. All growth is not bad and all growth is not good. We must question and control the manner of growth. Concerned Citizens of Shelton/ Mason County have sought guidance from neighboring cities concerning their dealing with growth. We have met with a mayor, councilmen, past commis- sioner and our legislators. We also met with the Carnegie Group, another group of people concerned with growth. We have and will pass all information we gather on to our city officials. We welcome new people that share our concerns. Call 427- 1121. Joyce Weber and Sandy James Members of Concerned Citizens of Shelton/Mason County about, from the White House to the Washington State Capitol, are education and Medicare. That's us, and that's you. Are we truly that opposed to one another that we can't remember or see into our own futures? No, our victory does not lie in the hands of the retired, absentee Recap of Editor, The Journal: Referring to the Journal article on page one on February 25: A recap of the meeting between the county commissioners and the growth management hearings board: First commissioner: "Didn't you rule that rural areas are lim- ited to resource-based use?" Hearings board: "No, we did not rule that rural areas are lim- ited to resource-based use. We said that the matrix of permitted uses failed to meet Growth Man- agement Act requirements that rural areas of more intensive de- velopment be subject to minimi- Pioneer School the high school an, again on April 27. So noW, again, and I will begin Please vote on April for our children. zation and containment." Second commissioner: also said the law sion of undeveloped areas." Hearings board: "We rule that undeveloped not be included in We said that the the rural centers must tained to preclude allowing pattern of low-density Third commissioner: did you guys go to Clinton?" c.W. Not proved gui Editor, The Journal: Probably the best response to the muddle-headed is silence, but I feel forced to answer a misguid- ed Hoodsport couple who said in a letter to the editor last week "...the Democrats in the U.S. Sen- ate let the chief law-enforcement officer of this country get away with perjury and obstruction of justice..." It has always been my under- standing that anyone accused of a crime is innocent until proven guilty. These charges were never proved. Therefore the President is innocent of such charges (this is not to say the President is inno- cent of sexual dalliance - he has admitted that). Yet our Hoodspo] writers go On' to accuse Democratic "criminally corru seem to us anyone who proven charges to be dence of a whole tion is himself vic statutes. We in the Democratic well as the "...66 American people looking dawn..." can only praY Hoodsport couple's en ment. Neal Mason County They're not Editor, The Journal: I am a fourth-grader at Bor- deaux School writing in response to what John Evan der Brook said in an article in The Olympian, that classroom computers are toys. I totally disagree with him. The classroom toys. Kids do work on when their work is play games - educ too. Caleb ] Embarrassment Editor, The Journal: Embarrassing isn't it? Facts: draft dodger! Admitted adulterer! Proven liar! Womanizer! Obstruc- tor of justice! Now, accused rapist? What is next? We think it is time with a better positive Bill and William u POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Shelton-Mason County Journal, P.O. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584. Published weekly by Shelton Publishing Inc. at 227 West Cota Street. S Mailing address: P.O. Box 430, $helton, WA 98584 Telephone (360) 426-4412 Second-class postage paid at Shelton, Washington Member of Washington Newspaper Publishers' Association SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $25.00 per year in-county address, gt00 I $35.00 per year in state of Washington $45.00 per year,,d editor and Newaroom: d-g I dl-. "f " g 'J Charles Gay, publisher. Carolyn Maddux, manag yl.j Patch, sports editor; Jeff Green, general assignment, city government, schools;  society editor, county government; Sean Hanlon, police, courts, Port of Shelton. ' ;'0t ¢q' Stephen Gay, advertising manager; Janet Daugherty and Dave Pierik, ad sales..f !,r;, Julie Orms,.business manager; Vicki Kamin, circulation; Donna Dooms, bOOKV ;;1.: computer ad layout and computer system manager; Cynthia Meyer, proofread ' .re@" Robert Rodrtguez production foreman' Roger Lawson, darkroom; Kelly Riorder' v .,1 II ' - UlIIIIII LIIIIflS'"  C]ournal of Op" " anaon: Don't mine me Another of those inevitable battles is brewing in Mason County, the ones that occur because of the county's nonstrin- gent planning regulations. It's always ironic to us when a group of citizens in a county worshiping individual property rights starts talking as if decisions on development should be made for the good of the community. The history of planning in this county - and it's being repeated now as the debate over the Growth Manage- ment Act rages - has always been one of contentious- ness. Never has the community come together and agreed on a comprehensive plan that would step on some toes - those of landowners who want to exercise their right to develop their property as they wish. It's not really an "anything goes" policy, but it's about as close as you can get to that. This is the type of county that would attract clean industry such as a company handling old transformers with PCBs in them, the type that has to put a moratorium on establishment of sexually oriented businesses until it can decide where it's going to allow them. So a company proposes to develop a gravel mine on McEwan Prairie, and it wouldn't be a little pit. Over a period of 25 years at the 153-acre site, 4.6 million cubic yards of sand and gravel would be extracted, or enough to cover 53 square miles with an inch of material. Many of the people who live in the area are concerned, and justifiably so. There are many potential problems, including the project's effects on wetlands, a critical aquifer recharge area, wildlife and local wells, not to mention noise, air pollution and gravel truck after gravel truck on local roads. We understand those concerns and we're glad the peo- ple are expressing them to county planners. The people who bewilder us are the ones who are outraged, who be- lieve a gravel mine has no place on McEwan Prairie, who want the county to reject the project out of hand. They remind us of people who move to our little logging town, buy a house across from a beautiful stand of 80-year-old fir trees and are outraged when the timber is cut, leaving ar ugly pile of slash instead of a parklike setting. Harvesting tim- ber is allowed here. What the people on McEwan Prairie must keep in mind is that mining is allowed there. Mason County doesn't have zoning banning it. The county could have zoning, but a majority of the citizens have never de- manded it. In fact, they have shown disdain for it, be- cause it would require great numbers of them to give up certain development rights "for the good of the order." The county has land-use designations, not zoning, and Mc- Ewan Prairie is designated as a mining-friendly "rural" area. If you look at a planning map of the county, you see that virtually the whole eastern half of the county is designated as "rural," save for some blocks of long-term commercial forest lands. Landowners have tremendous latitude, within the county's development egUlations at:act as a safe, guard, to develop their land. .......... It's amazing to us how a planner can be two people at the same time in the minds of citizens with different outlooks on life. To one person, the planner is a worthless bureaucrat armed with a book of regulations six inches thick who just holds up development. To another person, the planner is a pushover for developers who isn't doing enough to stop develop- ment in the person's neighborhood. Planners have responsibilities, an impartial role, to review projects according to the rules on the books. They can't tell a company applying for a mining permit on property where mining is allowed to get lost. The property owner has legal standing - property rights. This is not to say the mine is going to happen just because mining is allowed on McEwan Prairie. There is a process, a long process, that must be followed to ensure that the mine would not destroy the environment. If the mine's effects on the environment can't be mitigated, it won't be approved. When the Manke gravel mine was proposed, the process took six years and approval included more than 70 conditions. County planners want to provide assurance to resi- dents that their interestswill be protected by the up- coming process in which no stone, or piece of gravel as it were, will be left unturned. They emphasize that the process has just begun. They agree that the concerns they've heard so far are very legitimate and must be ad- dressed. The project is big enough that they have al. ready ruled it needs an environmental-impact statement (EIS) because of its potential effects. The scope of the EIS has yet to be determined. When the scope is deter. mined, Mason County Department of Community Devel. opment Director Gary Yando expects to get together with residents in the area, perhaps at someone's house, to explain the process. He would like the applicant to come to that meeting, too, so questions can be answered. Then the EIS has to go through a draft and final phase. Comments will be taken from all interested parties during the drafting of the EIS. Then the planning commission will hold a hearing on the proposal. It will make a recommendation to the county commission, which will also hold a hearing before mak- ing a decision. If either party isn't satisfied with the county's decision, it can be appealed in court. And the applicant still has to get a state mining permit and any other required permits from state agencies. Who pays for the EIS? The applicant. The EIS is draft- ed by a consultant who works for the county but is paid by the applicant. There's a lesson in this battle over the mine. There will be future battles unless Mason County's citizens change their minds and opt for strict prohibitions on certain practices in "residential" areas. County commissioners who have backed off strict planning rules for decades aren't to blame for a mine be- ing proposed on McEwan Prairie. They never had a mandate to zone the county and bar mining there. Not until the populace decides its paradise is being ruined will it demand tougher rules, and we sense rlo move in that direction. Some people look at zoning as a horrible infringement on their rights. There's another way to look at it. People could be assured when they bought a piece of property that there would never be a mine or a junkyard in the neighborhood. And when they sold it, they could sell that assurance for a price. - CG Page 4':- Shelion-Mason County Journal - Thursday, March 4, 1999' i00eader$ ' C]ournal: Few votes Editor, The Journal. voter. They do not believe Were you one of the nine? they will be paying for 0,  YO'N Pioneer School District was de- school in Shelton if we [J feated once more! Our attempt to one in our district.    pass the Pioneer high school and Our victory lies in facilities bond lost by nine votes, our Pioneer families, you |/1/ For over a year and a half, volun- take the time to registel / teers like myself have donated you are not already. At hundreds and hundreds of hours of you aren't registered and thousands of dollars to reach Nine of you forgot to vote. the voting public. A majority of you forgot to mail in that time and money has been This bond proposition is spent on the retired, absentee the superintendent, nor / -' /m,, v°ter" This has pr°ven ineffective" administrati°n" It is f°r Why? dren. Please remember Somehow, this issue has pact that your "no" vote or turned into more of a debate than "no show" vote has on your a concern for our children's edu- It has a tremendous  €  cation and well-being. The two my son. And nine of you things that our politicians talk his future. Crab Chow's Bill of Rights By DAVE BARRY Lately there's been a lot of talk about an Air Traveler's Bill of Rights. This idea got a big push in January when a snowstorm forced some loaded planes to sit out on the Detroit airport runway for as long as eight hours, during which several passengers were eaten by wolves. This incident provoked national criticism of the airline involved, which I will not identify here other than to call it The Diametrically Opposite Of Southeast Airlines. In its defense, the airline issued the following statement: "We are experiencing mechani- cal difficulties with our state- ment." I personally have had good luck with Diametrically Opposite Airlines, which - this is true - re- cently flew me from Miami to Traverse City, Michigan, via De- troit, for free. I fully intended to pay for the trip: I purchased what I thought was a ticket, and I used it to board the 'Miami-Detroit flight. But wher I got to Detroit and tried to board the Traverse City flight, the gate agent told me my "ticket" was not a ticket. She then looked in her computer and told me, quote, "You're not in the system." "But I'm here," I pointed out. It was true. I was there. "Well, there's no RECORD that you're here," the agent said. She called a supervisor, who checked the computer and also concluded that I was not there. I continued to argue that I WAS there, but I could tell they both believed the computer. Finally, just to get rid of me, they put me, with no tick- et, on the flight to Traverse City, where there was also no record of my existence. I'm wondering if this is what happened to Amelia Earhart. All I know is, I was nev- er charged for either leg of my trip to Traverse City, which for the record is a very nice tourist destination, featuring an annual ice-fishing festival, where this year the most popular attraction by far was - I swear I am not making this up - a giant toilet carved from ice. But my basic point is that air travel has become less and less pleasant, as more and more pas- sengers are being crammed into planes that appear to have been configured to transport bait. This is why there is talk of an Air Traveler's Bill of Rights, which would require airlines to deter- mine their fares on some basis other than lotto drawings, and serve food that is not made from the same material as flotation de- vices, and provide seats that al- low for the possibility - however remote - that some passengers might have both arms AND legs. As a frequent flyer, I am for these basic rights, and would like to see them expanded to include the following: 1. A passenger has the right to know that the pilot is alert and in good physical condition. When boarding the plane, the passenger may check the pilot's reflexes by challenging him to a game of "slaps." 2. If the in-flight movie is The Waterboy, and this has also been the movie on the past four conse- cutive flights that a passenger has been on, the passenger has the right to demand that the pilot fly the plane into a mountain. 3. If a passenger is standing at the ticket counter with some hid- eously complex airline problem that has caused the other airline counter personnel to be sucked over, one by one, until they are all gathered in front of the problem passenger, staring in bafflement at the computer terminal, and this has been going on for 25 minutes, then the passengers waiting in line behind the prob- lem passenger have the right to emit a hoarse cry of rage, rush forward in a mob and stuff the problem passenger into the little box that indicates the maximum size of carry-on baggage. 4. If, during the flight, a pas- senger hears a funny noise and asks the flight attendant what it is, the passenger has the right to not be brushed off with some con- descending statement such as "that's a hydraulic compressor; it's perfectly normal." The flight attendant should just admit that the plane is going to crash and everybody is going to die. Like- wise, during the preflight safety lecture, the passenger has the right not have the situation su- gar-coated. "In the event of a wa- ter landing," the flight attendant should say, "you are Purina Crab Chow." 5. Passengers changing planes in the Dallas-Fort Worth airport have the right to be provided with some way to travel the average 17 miles to their connecting gates other than walking or taking a "tram" that travels at the speed of fingernail growth and at one point passes through Mexico. Also, the Miami, Atlanta and De- troit airports should be renovated with nuclear weapons. The Den- ver airport is nice but should be moved to the same state as Den- ver. The Boston airport should also be moved to the same state as Denver; that way it would be easier to get to it from downtovn Boston than it is now. So those are my views on Air Traveler's Rights. If you're a fre- quent flyer, and you want to share your thoughts on this topic, I'd love for you to get in touch with me. Unfortunately, there is no record of my existence. Impact fees are needed Editor, The Journal: Since our letter of November 1998 asking questions as to the direction being taken by our city of Shelton administration for the future of Shelton, well, what we found was more questions and some facts. Also, since November 1998 a group has formed to watch and learn what is really happening in the city of Shelton. We are called Concerned Citizens of Shelton/ Mason County. Fact: We had a 24 percent in- crease in our sewer rate this year (an additional $7 per month). We do not know how much it will raise next year or each year till What does a Mason Transit rider say when he gets on the bus and the driver tells him how much it costs to ride? "Hey, no fare!" I I the year 2006. Bottom line, we do not know how far in debt we will go since the city of Shelton news- letter of November 1998 stated the sewer replacement and up- dates will cost in excess of 23 mil- lion dollars. Fact: The city of Shelton was told many years ago to update our sewer system. Nothing was done. All those years lost to be made up under threat of fines by the De- partment of Ecology. Fact: Grants have not been ap- plied for. Answer from city offi- cials is that their grant writer is tied up elsewhere and there are not many grants available any- way. So we don't try? Fact: Our city administration's answer to paying for updating our sewer system is raise rates and borrow money. Grants do not have to be paid back; that money usually comes from the federal government which is our money anyway. Also, we asked if the city of Shelton is charging impact fees on new businesses and housing. We were told not yet, they are in the works. Impact fees are used to make new growth pay for the added strain (impact) on our sew- er, roads, schools, fire and police departments, traffic and added taxes. Fact: Did you know that busi- nesses are charged the same $5 per month for storm drain as your and my home? Is this fair consid- ering all the storm water run-off from huge parking lots? Fact: We are hearing that much land will be annexed into the city of Shelton very soon. If we don't make new growth pay for itself with impact fees, the rest of us will keep paying until we can't pay anymore. A great concern is how will our present city officials handle this new growth. We must insist that they use more equitable as well as prudent policies, and soon. We believe it is the duty of Shelton city administrators to protect the taxpayers from an ex- cessive burden from growth. All growth is not bad and all growth is not good. We must question and control the manner of growth. Concerned Citizens of Shelton/ Mason County have sought guidance from neighboring cities concerning their dealing with growth. We have met with a mayor, councilmen, past commis- sioner and our legislators. We also met with the Carnegie Group, another group of people concerned with growth. We have and will pass all information we gather on to our city officials. We welcome new people that share our concerns. Call 427- 1121. Joyce Weber and Sandy James Members of Concerned Citizens of Shelton/Mason County about, from the White House to the Washington State Capitol, are education and Medicare. That's us, and that's you. Are we truly that opposed to one another that we can't remember or see into our own futures? No, our victory does not lie in the hands of the retired, absentee Recap of Editor, The Journal: Referring to the Journal article on page one on February 25: A recap of the meeting between the county commissioners and the growth management hearings board: First commissioner: "Didn't you rule that rural areas are lim- ited to resource-based use?" Hearings board: "No, we did not rule that rural areas are lim- ited to resource-based use. We said that the matrix of permitted uses failed to meet Growth Man- agement Act requirements that rural areas of more intensive de- velopment be subject to minimi- Pioneer School the high school an, again on April 27. So noW, again, and I will begin Please vote on April for our children. zation and containment." Second commissioner: also said the law sion of undeveloped areas." Hearings board: "We rule that undeveloped not be included in We said that the the rural centers must tained to preclude allowing pattern of low-density Third commissioner: did you guys go to Clinton?" c.W. Not proved gui Editor, The Journal: Probably the best response to the muddle-headed is silence, but I feel forced to answer a misguid- ed Hoodsport couple who said in a letter to the editor last week "...the Democrats in the U.S. Sen- ate let the chief law-enforcement officer of this country get away with perjury and obstruction of justice..." It has always been my under- standing that anyone accused of a crime is innocent until proven guilty. These charges were never proved. Therefore the President is innocent of such charges (this is not to say the President is inno- cent of sexual dalliance - he has admitted that). Yet our Hoodspo] writers go On' to accuse Democratic "criminally corru seem to us anyone who proven charges to be dence of a whole tion is himself vic statutes. We in the Democratic well as the "...66 American people looking dawn..." can only praY Hoodsport couple's en ment. Neal Mason County They're not Editor, The Journal: I am a fourth-grader at Bor- deaux School writing in response to what John Evan der Brook said in an article in The Olympian, that classroom computers are toys. I totally disagree with him. The classroom toys. Kids do work on when their work is play games - educ too. Caleb ] Embarrassment Editor, The Journal: Embarrassing isn't it? Facts: draft dodger! Admitted adulterer! Proven liar! Womanizer! Obstruc- tor of justice! Now, accused rapist? What is next? We think it is time with a better positive Bill and William u POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Shelton-Mason County Journal, P.O. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584. Published weekly by Shelton Publishing Inc. at 227 West Cota Street. S Mailing address: P.O. Box 430, $helton, WA 98584 Telephone (360) 426-4412 Second-class postage paid at Shelton, Washington Member of Washington Newspaper Publishers' Association SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $25.00 per year in-county address, gt00 I $35.00 per year in state of Washington $45.00 per year,,d editor and Newaroom: d-g I dl-. "f " g 'J Charles Gay, publisher. Carolyn Maddux, manag yl.j Patch, sports editor; Jeff Green, general assignment, city government, schools;  society editor, county government; Sean Hanlon, police, courts, Port of Shelton. ' ;'0t ¢q' Stephen Gay, advertising manager; Janet Daugherty and Dave Pierik, ad sales..f !,r;, Julie Orms,.business manager; Vicki Kamin, circulation; Donna Dooms, bOOKV ;;1.: computer ad layout and computer system manager; Cynthia Meyer, proofread ' .re@" Robert Rodrtguez production foreman' Roger Lawson, darkroom; Kelly Riorder' v .,1 II ' - UlIIIIII LIIIIflS'"