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Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
March 8, 2007     Shelton Mason County Journal
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March 8, 2007
 
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00ournal of Opinion: Don't do the meth One out of every 350 people in Mason County went to court last year to face methamphetamine charges. We uncovered that sad statistic by digging through 52 weeks of Journals after being astounded at the proliferation of meth stories. One hundred and forty-six people ended up in Mason County Superior Court in 2006 because of Lhat filthy drug. We're not pretending that the 146 people are the extent of the tragedy. Those are just the ones who had a run-in with the law over possessing or dealing meth. The figure doesn't include other users or dealers or any of the juveniles the drug has ensnared. The 146 all went through adult court for those age 18 and older. The research shows nothing "young" about the characters involved with this crud. It's much like the abuse of alcohol - spanning all ages. More than half of the defendants were at least 30 years old; 43 were in their 30s, 39 in their 40s and four in their 50s. They included a 40-year-old woman charged with selling meth from the caretaker's house at Sand Hill Park, a 41-year-old woman accused of driving under the influence of meth and killing someone in another car and a 35-year-old man up on his 14th felony charge. The Journal has published a couple of series about this scourge over the last several years, and the regional press is full of the grim facts as well. The stories detail the immediate addiction and the physical effects on the body. Tweakers stay awake for days on end, develop mental problems and scratch themselves bloody because it feels like they have bugs under their skin. The prison system is spending millions of dollars on dental care for inmates because meth makes their teeth fall out. The latest bad news indicates that, while Washington apparently cut the number of local meth labs by restricting sales of cold medicines used to manufacture the drug, Mexican and Californian meth has picked up the slack in supply. And now meth cooks are adding candy flavors to their product, evidently to make it more attractive to kids. Meth's criminal-justice costs to local taxpayers total hundreds of thousands of dollars annually, and the human toll is immeasurable as it destrc,ys individuals and families. Since the supply continues unabated, the community needs to work in people's lives to curtail de- mand, offering hope for the despondent, inspiration for the aimless, passionate parenting for children, strong education for all and treatment for meth's victims. Dream on, buddy It was interesting to hear comments about the February 22 editorial, "2020 vision," sketching a wish list for Mason County. "Too bad it will never happen" and "Unfortunately I think it's a pipe dream" were typical. Human nature might prevent the 2020 vision om happeoing, but the list wasn't outlandish. All it would take would be :itizens setting a fbw priorities. For instance, a multi-million-dollar Mason County Foundation endowment in 13 years isn't a stretch. Four hundred people die here each year, many with nice estates., Suppose 10 a year left $10,000 to the foundation and it let the interest build at first. The pile would total more than $2 million by 2020 if a few fund-raisers and corporate donations sweetened the pot along the way. You want outlandish? It's 2020 and a viaduct comes off the Hillcrest hill, bypassing First Street and going over the rail- road tracks to connect to Front Street. Everyone volunteers two hours a week, even children learning to serve, so the county benefits from more than five million volunteer hours per year. A community school with volunteer instructors using school buildings at night offers 200 classes and activities attended by thousands 'of adults and children who have turned off their TVs and eschewed constant electronic communication and play for human contact. Education is so emphasized that 95 percent, not 65 percent, of children graduate from high school and students here laugh in the face of state tests that are beneath their ability. The University of Shelton has 2,000 students. Shelton's post office has an attractive brick wall out back, not early 21st Century prison architecture. Highway 3 north of Shelton has passing lanes every two miles. The 1,000-seat amphitheater at the fairgrounds hosts a summer bluegrass fes- tival, the Festival of Hope, OystdrFest shucking, the Shelton High School orchestra's June concert, a community passion play and various concerts. Full express buses leave Shelton for Olympia every 10 minutes between 6:30 and 7:30 a.m. Shelton has a museum of fine arts. A local church establishes a mission of free drug rehabilitation for any- one who wants it. Intramural sports programs involve half of each school's students, who are fit and trim. Time for us to wake up and smell the coffee. -CG un ¸ ournal 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, Shelton, Washington Mailing address: P.O. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584 Telephone (360) 426-4412 • www.masoncounty.com Periodicals postage paid at Shelton, Washington Member of Washington Newspaper Publishers' Association SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $31.00 per year in-county address, $45.00 per year in state of Washington $55.00 per year out of state Charles Gay, editor and publisher. Newsroom: Seen Hanlon, managing editor, Port of Shelton; Steve Patch, sports editor; Jeff Green, general assignment, city government, schools; Rebecca Wells, society editor, county government; Mary Duncan, police, courts. Advertising: Stephen Gay, advertising manager; Dave Pierik and Harvey Morris, ad sales. Front office: Julie Orme, business manager; Kathy Lester, circulation; Donna Kinnaird, bookkeeper; Cricket Carter, mailroom supervisor. Composing room: Diane Rtordan, supervisor; Margot Brand, Jan Kallinen, pagination; Monica Carvajel-Beben, pagination, darkroom; Koleen Wood, typesetter, computer system manager; Colleen Scott, ad builder, computer system manager; Clinton Kendall, proofreader. Pressroom: Kelly Riordan, pressman; Nick Cart, pressman's assistant. u Page 4 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, March 8, 2007 i00eaders" 00ournal: NASCAR fans deserve respect Editor, The Journal: Today on Fox News it was re- ported that Democrat Larry Sea- quist, when being interviewed about NASCAR, stated, "We don't want people of" his kind coming into our state." Then another offi- cial also from Washington added his comments about "toothless rednecks with beer bellies." Being a resident of the state of Washington and a NASCAR fan I am highly incensed by this pious person who thinks he is so high and mighty and can say such de- meaning remarks about the peo- ple from NASCAR and the NAS- CAR fans. Yet these same political figures cave in to every little whim of the Sonics and Seahawks. I don't see people going to NASCAR with their faces painted and wearing all kinds of wigs and acting like a bunch of morons and carrying on like I've seen the fans do at the tbotball games. Has this pious bunch of politi- cians ever watched the NASCAR races? Do they know NASCAR has a prayer before the races? Then the national anthem is sung by a celebrity. When our military has a flyover at a NASCAR race the fans cheer for our service peo- ple. This is a show of patriotism of the fans. This doesn't sound to me like we are a bunch of "white trash with tattoos," as one person who was interviewed by the press stated. Regular folks - taxpaying citi- zens (who happen to pay the sala- ries of the IMPORTANT POLITI- CIANS) - enjoy getting oat ' fresh air and watching tt vorite drivers compete in es. Two of these drivers, Kahne from Enumclaw and Biffle from Vancouver, are racers and a credit to the NASCAR racing is the and fastest growing sport U.S. and has some of the company sponsors behind the ing teams. It is such a shame that the ple who enjoy auto racing treated like second-class Where is tolerance tbr all the ple? Not everyone likes and football, yet the be" think our tax money go to finance these sports, no, not NASCAR." Nancy Tired of illegal immigration Editor, The Journal: I can tell you that the mood out here in the "real world" amongst Republican Party faithful is this: If some real Republican candi- dates with real Republican values are not nominated to run in this coming election, we are all going to go third party! We are sick and tired of beg- ging for our borders to be secured! We are sick and tired of seeing honest, hard-working, patriotic Border Patrol agents and other law-enforcement officials in- carcerated or otherwise punished for trying to protect our nation to the best of their ability! We will not stand for the ero- sion of our sovereignty through the Security and Prosperity part- nership that George Bush is try- ing to sneak by Congress and the American people! We will not stand for AMNES- TY, in any disguise, for illegal aliens who have no respect for our laws, our flag, our heritage or our nation! We will have no part of a North American Union putting the United States on the same level as one of the most corrupt coun- tries in our hemisphere! We cher- ish our Constitution and our sov- ereignty and will give up neither while still able to breathe the fresh air of freedom! We don't want a North Ameri- ca Free Trade Agreement super- highway jam-packed with Mexi- can truck drivers driving unsafe Mexican trucks full of contra- band! You folks want to give our So- cial Security benefits to illegal aliens! We want our jobs back our nation emptied of the millions of illegal aliens our streets, taking up our tal beds, our prison cells hard-earned tax dollars! I1 aliens are responsible for deaths of 25 Americans every  through violent crime and accidents! We may not be amon that can aflbrd to donate to the GOP, but we are manY, we are livid! Either get the message "powers that be" or you scratching your head in wondering how Tom Duncan Hunter got so votes! Andrea Lake City's sidewalks are Editor, The Journal." The City of Shelton has spent a lotof time entertaining the desire of local developers in an attempt to define areas of the city that "require" sidewalks. Both the city and developers have now started to refer to the city's relatively new requirement for all new de- velopments to install sidewalks along their street frontages as a requirement for "Sidewalks to Nowhere." I would like to point out that, largely, sidewalks are nowhere! If we don't start putting sidewalks somewhere they will always be and will always lead "nowhere." If any of your readers have spent much time trying, and I mean trying, to walk in a majority of neighborhoods in our town, I think most would agree that there are few areas in this town that do not need sidewalks. In most neighborhoods, pedes- trians are required to either walk along the shoulder of the roads dodging trash, parked vehicles, mud and puddles or they must take their chances walking on the side of the street hoping that they don't get hit by a vehicle. With the amount of new devel- opment this town will likely see in the coming years there will be an increase in traffic on almost all of our city streets. Quiet, local streets that have little to no traf- fic now will have much more traf- fic in the coming years, only com- pounding the issue of safe areas to walk. Walking in the puddles or fearing for your life as cars race by inches away is no way for anyone to have to walk, let alone our children! I hope the community takes the time to let the city's decision- makers know that the residents of this community need sidewalks everywhere, not just on a few streets. By allowing developers to continue to add residents and traffic to our city and streets by constructing more houses without requiring these basic improve- ments, we are only continuing to defer the cost of eventually in- stalling the improvements to fu- ture taxpayers (us!). I would support, and I hope the residents of Shelton would sup- port, local improvement districts (LIDs) for the installation of side- walks in all of our neighborhoods that are already developed. The LIDs would have to be carefully crafted to address the income lim- itations of many of the city's resi- dents (i.e., the fees would have to be equitable and affordable to a resident's budget). The money invested is well worth the safety, creased exercise opport aesthetic values, erty value and benefits of ter control that appropriate improvements, including walks, provide to the r an urbanized area. I would not support thi.' practice to install sidewa newly constructed nei houses that should hay them installed at the tivae neighborhood was built. Sharon So if Britney SF came to Shelton the streets to walk to hair stylist, what the developers € pavement? A sidewalk to no hair. 00ournal of Opinion: Don't do the meth One out of every 350 people in Mason County went to court last year to face methamphetamine charges. We uncovered that sad statistic by digging through 52 weeks of Journals after being astounded at the proliferation of meth stories. One hundred and forty-six people ended up in Mason County Superior Court in 2006 because of Lhat filthy drug. We're not pretending that the 146 people are the extent of the tragedy. Those are just the ones who had a run-in with the law over possessing or dealing meth. The figure doesn't include other users or dealers or any of the juveniles the drug has ensnared. The 146 all went through adult court for those age 18 and older. The research shows nothing "young" about the characters involved with this crud. It's much like the abuse of alcohol - spanning all ages. More than half of the defendants were at least 30 years old; 43 were in their 30s, 39 in their 40s and four in their 50s. They included a 40-year-old woman charged with selling meth from the caretaker's house at Sand Hill Park, a 41-year-old woman accused of driving under the influence of meth and killing someone in another car and a 35-year-old man up on his 14th felony charge. The Journal has published a couple of series about this scourge over the last several years, and the regional press is full of the grim facts as well. The stories detail the immediate addiction and the physical effects on the body. Tweakers stay awake for days on end, develop mental problems and scratch themselves bloody because it feels like they have bugs under their skin. The prison system is spending millions of dollars on dental care for inmates because meth makes their teeth fall out. The latest bad news indicates that, while Washington apparently cut the number of local meth labs by restricting sales of cold medicines used to manufacture the drug, Mexican and Californian meth has picked up the slack in supply. And now meth cooks are adding candy flavors to their product, evidently to make it more attractive to kids. Meth's criminal-justice costs to local taxpayers total hundreds of thousands of dollars annually, and the human toll is immeasurable as it destrc,ys individuals and families. Since the supply continues unabated, the community needs to work in people's lives to curtail de- mand, offering hope for the despondent, inspiration for the aimless, passionate parenting for children, strong education for all and treatment for meth's victims. Dream on, buddy It was interesting to hear comments about the February 22 editorial, "2020 vision," sketching a wish list for Mason County. "Too bad it will never happen" and "Unfortunately I think it's a pipe dream" were typical. Human nature might prevent the 2020 vision om happeoing, but the list wasn't outlandish. All it would take would be :itizens setting a fbw priorities. For instance, a multi-million-dollar Mason County Foundation endowment in 13 years isn't a stretch. Four hundred people die here each year, many with nice estates., Suppose 10 a year left $10,000 to the foundation and it let the interest build at first. The pile would total more than $2 million by 2020 if a few fund-raisers and corporate donations sweetened the pot along the way. You want outlandish? It's 2020 and a viaduct comes off the Hillcrest hill, bypassing First Street and going over the rail- road tracks to connect to Front Street. Everyone volunteers two hours a week, even children learning to serve, so the county benefits from more than five million volunteer hours per year. A community school with volunteer instructors using school buildings at night offers 200 classes and activities attended by thousands 'of adults and children who have turned off their TVs and eschewed constant electronic communication and play for human contact. Education is so emphasized that 95 percent, not 65 percent, of children graduate from high school and students here laugh in the face of state tests that are beneath their ability. The University of Shelton has 2,000 students. Shelton's post office has an attractive brick wall out back, not early 21st Century prison architecture. Highway 3 north of Shelton has passing lanes every two miles. The 1,000-seat amphitheater at the fairgrounds hosts a summer bluegrass fes- tival, the Festival of Hope, OystdrFest shucking, the Shelton High School orchestra's June concert, a community passion play and various concerts. Full express buses leave Shelton for Olympia every 10 minutes between 6:30 and 7:30 a.m. Shelton has a museum of fine arts. A local church establishes a mission of free drug rehabilitation for any- one who wants it. Intramural sports programs involve half of each school's students, who are fit and trim. Time for us to wake up and smell the coffee. -CG uunuu ¸ ournal 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, Shelton, Washington Mailing address: P.O. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584 Telephone (360) 426-4412 • www.masoncounty.com Periodicals postage paid at Shelton, Washington Member of Washington Newspaper Publishers' Association SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $31.00 per year in-county address, $45.00 per year in state of Washington $55.00 per year out of state Charles Gay, editor and publisher. Newsroom: Seen Hanlon, managing editor, Port of Shelton; Steve Patch, sports editor; Jeff Green, general assignment, city government, schools; Rebecca Wells, society editor, county government; Mary Duncan, police, courts. Advertising: Stephen Gay, advertising manager; Dave Pierik and Harvey Morris, ad sales. Front office: Julie Orme, business manager; Kathy Lester, circulation; Donna Kinnaird, bookkeeper; Cricket Carter, mailroom supervisor. Composing room: Diane Rtordan, supervisor; Margot Brand, Jan Kallinen, pagination; Monica Carvajel-Beben, pagination, darkroom; Koleen Wood, typesetter, computer system manager; Colleen Scott, ad builder, computer system manager; Clinton Kendall, proofreader. Pressroom: Kelly Riordan, pressman; Nick Cart, pressman's assistant. uuu Page 4 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, March 8, 2007 i00eaders" 00ournal: NASCAR fans deserve respect Editor, The Journal: Today on Fox News it was re- ported that Democrat Larry Sea- quist, when being interviewed about NASCAR, stated, "We don't want people of his kind coming into our state." Then another offi- cial also from Washington added his comments about "toothless rednecks with beer bellies." Being a resident of the state of Washington and a NASCAR fan I am highly incensed by this pious person who thinks he is so high and mighty and can say such de- meaning remarks about the peo- ple from NASCAR and the NAS- CAR fans. Yet these same political figures cave in to every little whim of the Sonics and Seahawks. I don't see people going to NASCAR with their faces painted and wearing all kinds of wigs and acting like a bunch of morons and carrying on like I've seen the fans do at the tbotball games. Has this pious bunch of politi- cians ever watched the NASCAR races? Do they know NASCAR has a prayer before the races? Then the national anthem is sung by a celebrity. When our military has a flyover at a NASCAR race the fans cheer for our service peo- ple. This is a show of patriotism of the fans. This doesn't sound to me like we are a bunch of "white trash with tattoos," as one person who was interviewed by the press stated. Regular folks - taxpaying citi- zens (who happen to pay the sala- ries of the IMPORTANT POLITI- CIANS) - enjoy getting oat ' fresh air and watching tt vorite drivers compete in es. Two of these drivers, Kahne from Enumclaw and Biffle from Vancouver, are racers and a credit to the NASCAR racing is the and fastest growing sport U.S. and has some of the company sponsors behind the ing teams. It is such a shame that the ple who enjoy auto racing treated like second-class Where is tolerance tbr all the ple? Not everyone likes and football, yet the be" think our tax money go to finance these sports, no, not NASCAR." Nancy Tired of illegal immigration Editor, The Journal: I can tell you that the mood out here in the "real world" amongst Republican Party faithful is this: If some real Republican candi- dates with real Republican values are not nominated to run in this coming election, we are all going to go third party! We are sick and tired of beg- ging for our borders to be secured! We are sick and tired of seeing honest, hard-working, patriotic Border Patrol agents and other law-enforcement officials in- carcerated or otherwise punished for trying to protect our nation to the best of their ability! We will not stand for the ero- sion of our sovereignty through the Security and Prosperity part- nership that George Bush is try- ing to sneak by Congress and the American people! We will not stand for AMNES- TY, in any disguise, for illegal aliens who have no respect for our laws, our flag, our heritage or our nation! We will have no part of a North American Union putting the United States on the same level as one of the most corrupt coun- tries in our hemisphere! We cher- ish our Constitution and our sov- ereignty and will give up neither while still able to breathe the fresh air of freedom! We don't want a North Ameri- ca Free Trade Agreement super- highway jam-packed with Mexi- can truck drivers driving unsafe Mexican trucks full of contra- band! You folks want to give our So- cial Security benefits to illegal aliens! We want our jobs back our nation emptied of the millions of illegal aliens our streets, taking up our tal beds, our prison cells hard-earned tax dollars! I1 aliens are responsible for deaths of 25 Americans every  through violent crime and accidents! We may not be amon that can aflbrd to donate to the GOP, but we are manY, we are livid! Either get the message "powers that be" or you scratching your head in wondering how Tom Duncan Hunter got so votes! Andrea Lake City's sidewalks are Editor, The Journal." The City of Shelton has spent a lotof time entertaining the desire of local developers in an attempt to define areas of the city that "require" sidewalks. Both the city and developers have now started to refer to the city's relatively new requirement for all new de- velopments to install sidewalks along their street frontages as a requirement for "Sidewalks to Nowhere." I would like to point out that, largely, sidewalks are nowhere! If we don't start putting sidewalks somewhere they will always be and will always lead "nowhere." If any of your readers have spent much time trying, and I mean trying, to walk in a majority of neighborhoods in our town, I think most would agree that there are few areas in this town that do not need sidewalks. In most neighborhoods, pedes- trians are required to either walk along the shoulder of the roads dodging trash, parked vehicles, mud and puddles or they must take their chances walking on the side of the street hoping that they don't get hit by a vehicle. With the amount of new devel- opment this town will likely see in the coming years there will be an increase in traffic on almost all of our city streets. Quiet, local streets that have little to no traf- fic now will have much more traf- fic in the coming years, only com- pounding the issue of safe areas to walk. Walking in the puddles or fearing for your life as cars race by inches away is no way for anyone to have to walk, let alone our children! I hope the community takes the time to let the city's decision- makers know that the residents of this community need sidewalks everywhere, not just on a few streets. By allowing developers to continue to add residents and traffic to our city and streets by constructing more houses without requiring these basic improve- ments, we are only continuing to defer the cost of eventually in- stalling the improvements to fu- ture taxpayers (us!). I would support, and I hope the residents of Shelton would sup- port, local improvement districts (LIDs) for the installation of side- walks in all of our neighborhoods that are already developed. The LIDs would have to be carefully crafted to address the income lim- itations of many of the city's resi- dents (i.e., the fees would have to be equitable and affordable to a resident's budget). The money invested is well worth the safety, creased exercise opport aesthetic values, erty value and benefits of ter control that appropriate improvements, including walks, provide to the r an urbanized area. I would not support thi.' practice to install sidewa newly constructed nei houses that should hay them installed at the tivae neighborhood was built. Sharon So if Britney SI came to Shelton the streets to walk to hair stylist, what the developers € pavement? A sidewalk to no hair.