March 10, 2011 Shelton Mason County Journal | ![]() |
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The events unfolding in the in places like Algeria, Egypt,Yet our attention is currentlylies in a free and unrestrained grievances."
Arab world today will soon be Morocco and in front of Senegal's tuned into President Ronald Rea- press. Few of the nations mentioned
looked upon as an international Presidential Palace. gan's "mad dog of the Arab world" The founders of this nation here have such protections for
revolution. Massive protests followed in (Moammar Gadhafi) whose grip knew it and after they finished their peoples but social media is
Traditional media focuses on those nations and in neighbor-on power, if not reality, remains writing the Constitution they set doing an end run, where it can
the conflict and who or what will ing states like Yemen, Palestine, strong in Libya. about creating amendments, a and when it can, around the tyr-
fill the vacuum left by the retreat Lebanon and Syria. And what about all those otherBill of Rights, that would protect anny.
of Muslim dictators. The protests have become so Arab states? On January 21 a the people from their newly- As silly and inane as Twitter,
But what caused it all? common as to make it hard to fol- man in Saudi Arabia blew himself formed government. Facebook and their ilk seem to be
The spark was a man in Tuni- low, and the national media, as up. That powerfully oppressiveIt started like this: it is impossible to deny the power
sic, Mohamed Bouazizi. He had it does so well, follows the easy regime quickly and quietly shut "Congress shall make no law they afford people around the
reached the end of his rope, and stories, down the protests. The same isrespecting an establishment ofworld.
frustrated with a government In many statehouses it appearstrue in Communist China where religion, or prohibiting the free Without them, few people
that made it impossible for him to we have embarked on a more civil recent protests were quickly si- exercise thereof; or abridging the would have ever heard about Mo-
care for his family, he set himself (thus far) revolution as an em- lenced, freedom of speech, or of the press; hamed Bouazizi's sacrifice.
on fire. powered Republican party worksSo why are some revolutions or the right of the people peace- This new media is a harbinger
In the following weeks, there to turn back the work of Demo-snuffed while others rage? ably to assemble, and to petition for freedom, and we cheer for its
were more acts of self-immolation crats. A significant part of the answer the Government for a redress of success.
Mi
East
Editor, the Journal
We have all been
listening to the uprisings
of people in the Middle
East. The citizens of those
countries are trying to get
rid of governments who
have existed, it seems, not
for the good of the people
but for the leaders and
their cronies only. Why
should we in this country
care?
We voted for Bush to
hopefully get rid of the
mess going on in the
Clinton administration.
People were unhappy
that the Democrats and
Republicans always seem
to bickering, blocking each
other's actions and not
getting any of our problems
solved.
Unfortunately for us,
Bush did not come through
and would have been gone
after his first term if 9/11
had not occurred. Again,
the citizens stepped up to
complain by voting out the
past and voted for "Change
we can believe in." Well,
it was obvious early on in
Obama's administration
that we would not be
getting any change and
instead big government
was getting bigger, cronies
were being given our
money and not jail time
and the people were paying
for it all.
People who were so tired
of government growing
bigger, collecting more
taxes, and everyone getting
less services started the
Tea Party. So we, not
just Tea Party members,
booted out a whole bunch
of congressman with the
hope that they would get
the "message" and stop
the growth of government
and get some semblance
of control. Now the new
Republican House thinks
that the people really
like the Republicans.
Wrong. The citizens of
this country were trying
to send a message to the
Republicans, Democrats
and the president that
we want our Congress
and the president to stop
the politics and solve
our problems. We want
more than new laws and
tax raises and a growing
bureaucracy. If Congress
and Obama do not do what
is right for us, they will be
gone in the next election.
The citizens of the
US are trying to have a
peaceful revolution of our
own by doing what we
can peacefully do to let
congress and the president
know and understand that
"we the people" are getting
weary of what has been
going on in Washington,
DC, or should I say, what
has not been going on.
And it is not just
Washington, DC. Here in
our Washington, we have
seen state government
grow faster than inflation
and population growth,
collect more of our money
to support it, and give us
less services. Federal, state
and local governments pass
more laws trying to control
our lives and then condemn
us for saying stop. When
the economy slows, what
do our elected leaders
always do? They threaten
us with layoffs of teachers,
firefighters and police if
we do not give them more
money.
Our federal, state and
local governments do not
seem to understand how
unhappy the citizens
are with what has been
happening here in our
county for many years now.
What will it take to make
them all understand?
Richard F. Buchholz
Shelton
Hera
Editor, the Journal
In regards to the food
bank article printed in
the Herald on February
24. Sounds to me like
someone has conned the
Herald into assisting them
in promoting their own
personal agenda.
Eugene Fiske
not
repai
Editor, the Journal
• I'm appalled with
government waste and
Shelton-Mason County
misuse of taxpayer money.
About two weeks ago, I
observed a city road truck
pull up on King Street. I
watched as the drivergot :::tO the editor, will print:signedi original letters
out of his rig, pulled out a
push broom and brushed Of local interest. We will nOt publish letters that
over alargerut five times, are libelous Or scurrilous in .nature,.Letters should
I'm thinking 'great they
are finally going to fill inbe under 350 words and provide conta and ad-
the rut.' I had avoided this
street because of this rut, information for the urna/, , :
but he got back in his truck
and drove away.
I would love to see a
reasonable explanation
from the city of just what
was accomplished, what
kind of salary was the
driver paid and total cost
to the taxpayers?
This government waste
is all the way down from
Congress to the city
workers.
Mrs. Johnson
Shelton
EMS
not your
typical
Editor, the Journal
In today's cloudy
financial climate,
evaluating taxes has never
been more confusing.
Political layers create an
environment of mistrust
and lead the taxpayer
away from the tax's
intent. Our mission is
very simple, "Protect
Life and Property." This
motto is what emergency
services are built on.
Eighty percent of the
emergency service workers
you come in contact
with are uncompensated
volunteers. In our case,
they are volunteer
firefighters serving
our community. The
Emergency Service Levy
that you will see on
the April 26 ballot is a
tax that is 100-percent
benefit based. All monies
collected will go directly
into providing Emergency
Medical Service. You will
not see any administrative
layers that take 60 percent
of the fund in salaries
and leave a reduced fund
for services. Nope. This
tax is mandated by law to
only be used for medical
service. Finally, a tax you
can see and understand
where your money is going
and how it is being used.
Our Emergency Medial evaluation of your home. our goal. Please, research
Services levy is expired A $250,000 dollar home the EMS levy and feel
and without a replacement will pay $7.29 a month free to ask us questions
levy your fire department for unlimited 24-hour so that you can get the
will be without emergency emergency medical information you need to
medical funding for 2012. service. It is our goal make your vote in April.
Our replacement levy tax to keep our costs down Clint Volk
is set at the 2004 rate of without sacrificing service Fire Chief, Union
.35 cents per thousand and we have achieved
!
/
Gaylene Wiseman
Passing the Buck
comp/alnts fi'om the fiHng sguad about secondhand: smoke."
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Page A-4 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, March 10, 2011
Rick Kennedy, publisher
Newsroom:
Jesse Mullen, editor
Kevan Moore, news editor
Dean Siemon, sports
Aria Shephard, North Mason,
environment, reporter Natalie
Johnson, reporter
Advertising: Composing room:
Dave Pierik, advertising manager William Adams, graphics
Harvey Morris, ad representative Gaylene Wiseman, paginator
Mat Taylor, ad representative Koleen Wood, classifieds/legals
Front office: Becky Corr, typing
Donna Kinnaird, bookkeeper Pressroom:
Margot Brand, circulation Kelly Riordan, productionmanager
Cricket Carter, mailroom supervisor Travis Miller press operator