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00ournal of Op" "
mmn:
A new game plan
When we re wrong, we should admit it, and we have to con-
fess that we made some boneheaded statements a few weeks
ago in an editorial about the failure of the Mary M. Knight
School District's building bond. We said the mail-in aspect of
the measure apparently doomed it to failure. But with the pas-
sage of the Point Defiance Zoo bond issue in Tacoma last week,
we realize we were wrong.
Why couldn't we see that the key factor in getting pa-
trons to vote for a bond issue is the end product being
offered, not the method of voting? The zoo proposal
passed with all-mail balloting; MMK's bond went down
in flames in February with all-mail voting.
We've come to the conclusion that the key to the Point De-
fiance passage was that proponents were offering a better place
to house animals, not something as worthless as a better place
to house and educate students.
So we offer this modest proposal to the MMK School
Board: Resubmit the bond issue, but change the name of
the school to the Mary M. Knight Zoo. The promotional
campaign has endless possibilities for promising
changes at the school.
Tell the patrons that the culinary arts program will start
serving elephant ears and bear claws. Tell them a vocational
plumbing program featuring snakes will be started. Promise to
put silhouettes of male and female African tribesmen on the
doors of the restrooms and start calling them zoo lees.
Say you are seeking a seal of approval from the voters.
Propose building a new stadium called the HippoDome
where games will be officiated by zebras, and plan a
three.story-high IBEX theatre. Tell them you'll beef up
the English composition and literature programs to ap-
pease animal-writes activists and get a tiger by the tale.
Hope that several of the students develop hives and that
some of the busy buzzers fill in for others gathering pollen so
you can have lots of spelling bees. Let kids go ape at pep as-
semblies.
Be cagey developing the zoo theme. Tell the hard-line
disciplinarians from New Yawk that cheetahs will be ex-
pelled and that anyone breaking a law at school will be
banished to the hayfield and told they won't get out un-
til they make bale. Borrow a page from Point Defiance
and publish a Christmas newsletter called ZooLites.
No, what the MMK bond committee needs is not to boar peo-
ple with more talk about a new library, added classrooms and
buildings that don't leak. The committee needs to put its beast
foot forward.
- CG
Your assignment
The Shelton School District is asking local residents for a few
minutes of their time to help develop an important educational
policy. The question can be stated simply but is fraught with
controversy. Should students be allowed to advance to the next
grade level if they haven't met the standards for their current
grade?
Time was when students flunked if they hadn't mas-
tered material. The verb "flunk" is now verboten in edu-
cational circles, but we're allowed to use the word
"retain" when talking about kids who'd be held back.
The educational philosophy of late has been to practice some-
thing called "social promotion," to send a child to the next
grade even when he hasn't met standards. The theory is that
hurting his self-esteem by holding him back would be more det-
rimental than any harm to his education caused by his inabili-
ty to function at the next level because he is unprepared. It
should be noted for the purposes of this discussion that the ed-
ucation of other children can be harmed by having unprepared,
inattentive or disruptive students in their classes.
The current educational reform project by the school
district is to develop a promotion policy, and the district
wants people to tell them what they think of a draft poli-
cy. in a nutshell, the proposed policy calls for holding
back children at the end of fifth grade and eighth grade
if they don't meet standards.
The get-tough policy is seen as necessary if children are to
succeed in acquiring a new "certificate of mastery" that by the
year 2004 will be a state requirement for graduation.
Our opinion on the issue, we admit, is from the old
school. We have felt for some time that society through
its schools plays a feel-good game for 13 years and then
throws the kids to the wolves at age 18. They're so pro-
tected in their cocoon that the real world comes as a
shock. We question whether it is worse to make a child
go through the second grade again or keep passing him
along until he drops out at age 15 in frustration because
he can't succeed in school.
In some ways, the wrong kids have been held back all these
years - the ones who could learn faster if the teacher weren't
slowed or interrupted by students who shouldn't be in a class.
It seems so simple that some children should be held back but
the issue is made so complex by social engineering. You can't
succeed in second-year Spanish without the building blocks of
first-year Spanish, but we pretend that a child who fails the
first grade can handle the second.
That said, if there's no consensus on holding back or
not holding back, can we at least compromise to give a
failing student a fighting chance? If there are 10 chil-
dren in a school who shouldn't be promoted from the
third grade but we don't want to retain them, can we
put them in a 10-child fourth-grade classroom instead of
a 24-child classroom so they get more attention? Can we
promote a failing student only with the understanding
he will attend mandatory summer school to catch up?
We favor a heavy emphasis on remedial education for
the clueless.
You must have SOlne thoughts. Shelton School District Cur-
riculum Director Joan Zook, the curriculum council and the
school board would like to hear them. It doesn't matter whether
you have children. Your taxes are going to schools. This is your
society. And the decision on this issue will determine how pre-
pared children are to function in your society.
- CG
Page 4" Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, March 18, 1999
COUNT OFF-.
The Human Board walks
By DAVE BARRY
We live in troubled and uncer-
tain times, but I am feeling good
- about myself; about my home-
land; about all the nations of the
earth; and, yes, about the future
of humanity. And I will tell you
why: I am on painkillers.
I got them from my doctor,
Curt. Curt is a great doctor, prob-
ably the greatest doctor who ever
lived, and I will tell you why: He
gave me these painkillers. These
are some STRONG painkillers.
You should see the side effects! I
started to read about them on the
information sheet, but I got only
as far as the part where it said I
should report to the doctor's office
if my... I don't know how to say
this in a family newspaper...
Okay, I'm just going to come right
out and tell you: I'm supposed to
report to the doctor's office if my
outputs turn black.
Now I believe in following med-
ical advice up to a point, and that
point is the point where you're be-
ing advised to call a medical office
and tell the person who answers
the phone - often a complete
stranger - about the color of your
outputs. Because you don't know
what that person will do with the
information. For all you know,,
the person will hang up the phone
and shout across the doctor's of-
fice waiting room- which for all
you know is occupied by your im-
portant business associates and
several members of the British
Royal Family- "DR. HAMBURG,
DAVE BARRY CALLED TO SAY
THAT HIS OUTPUTS ARE
BLACK. HE DIDN'T SAY WHY
HE WAS MONITORING THE
COLOR OF HIS OUTPUTS, AND
FRANKLY I DIDN'T WANT TO
ASK."
But aside from the side ef-
fects - and I am not saying I HAD
any of these side effects- these
painkillers are terrific. I can walk
normally! For the past three days
I've been walking like The Hu-
man Board, because I did some-
thing to my back. Actually, I
didn't do it: a large Haitian man
did it.
The way this came about was,
my friend Philip said he wanted
to see some soccer. Philip grew up
in England, where as a youth he
went to many soccer matches. (Of
course, over there they don't call
it "soccer." They call it "Nigel.")
Philip told me that English soccer
fans are VERY intense and
sometimes express their disap-
proval by throwing darts from the
stands.
"Ohe time," he said cheerfully,
"I got one stuck in my shoulder."
Nevertheless, Philip wanted to
see a match, so we went to the
Copa Latina, a soccer tournament
held in Hialeah, a city next to
Miami that has a proud demo-
cratic tradition of reelecting polit-
ical leaders no matter how many
times they have been indicted.
The match we saw was between a
team called Soccer Locker, repre-
senting a local store, and one
called Seleccion Haiti, represent-
ing Haiti. Philip and I sat in the
stands with, I would conserva-
tively estimate, every Haitian
person on,Earth'!
It wag--an exitlng match, and
not just because we thought the
stands, which appeared to be
made of aluminum foil, were go-
ing to collapse. What made it ex-
citing was the Haitians, who are,
without question, the greatest
sports fans I have ever seen, and
I will tell you why: They gave me
these painkillers.
No, wait, I'm getting confused
(which is another side effect). The
Haitian fans are great because
they are so enthusiastic: They re-
act to EVERYTHING that hap-
pens on the field, including photo-
synthesis, by cheering, booing,
shouting, chanting, dancing, sing-
ing and making cellular phone
calls. Many fans do all these
things simultaneously. Philip and
I got so caught up in the spirit
that we started cheering also. We
do not speak Haitian Creole, so
we invented cheers based on our
recollection of high-school French,
including such rousers as:
--"Voici la plume de ma
tante!" ("Here is the pen of my
aunt!")
"Montrez-moi le livre!"
("Show me the book!")
"Nos rendements sent noirs/"
("Our outputs are black!")
No, we did not really yell that
last one. But we did, by cheering
for the Haitian team, become
close personal friends with the
large, enthusiastic and very mus-
cular man in front of us, often ex-
changing painful "high-five" style
hand slaps with him. And when
the match went into overtime,
and the Haitian team won, and
the crowd went insane, and the
grandstands were wobbling like
Jell-O on a jackhammer, the large
man turned around and decided
to express his joy by picking both
Philip and me up. Philip, using
the quickness he developed by
dodging darts as a lad, managed
to escape, but I never even real-
ized what was happening until
the 'large man got his arms
around my knees and hoisted me
high into the air, and I found my-
self being waved back and forth
above the crowd like a human
pennant.
That was when I hurt my back.
But now, thanks to Dr. Curt, I'm
feeling really, really good, and if I
have any of these painkillers left
over, I'm going to implement
world peace by sending them to
the hostile factions in the Middle
East and wherever it is they're
having those troubles involving
the "Kurds." Because you cannot
feel hostile with these painkillers.
I love the Kurds! I love you, too.
Time for a nap.
Junk education agency
Editor, The Journal:
The best thing Congress can do
for the education system is de-
fund, dismantle and do away with
the United States Department of
Education.
Since its inception, as a
"thanks" from President Carter to
the National Education Associa-
tion for its considerable support
during his campaign, this bloated,
buck-burning bureaucracy has si-
phoned billions of the states' mon-
ey into its bottomless pit! For
what?
I once read that the nearest
thing to perpetual motion ever de-
vised by man is a government
committee. This DOE (destroyer
of education) has been leveling
the playing field, dumbing down
the system and in general telling
students, "It's okay to fail, at
least you tried." May I remind
you that a one-size-fits-all, class-
less society is pure socialism!
No Olympic athlete was ever
awarded a gold medal in the high
jump event because the bar had
been lowered!
Our governor just attended a
meeting in D.C. where he along
with other governors was "asking
for more leeway" in how they
spend federal education dollars.
They should be talking to Con-
gress. I refer you to paragraph
one.
Then along came "Uncle Billy"
telling us our schools are over-
crowded and falling to pieces.
Yes, our school system is in cri-
sis. Yes, voters continue, for the
most part, to turn down bond is-
sues. Why? Because we are fight-
ing, at the local level, the huge
problem created by the federal de-
partment of education.
It takes our money, holds it,
wastes it (on salaries for over
4,000 employees in D.C. who
average $60,000 per year) and
then tells us we cannot have the
benefit of whatever is left unless
we run our schools by rules it
sets. Our teachers will need a fed-
eral license to teach? To teach
what? I submit it won't be how to
think -- it will be what to think!
The President then tossed out
his favorite fix-it-all number. He
is going to place 100,000 more
teachers in the schools. Where
are we going to put those 100,000
teachers and their students? Will
they fit into our overcrowded, fall-
ing-down schools?
If it sounds good, say it. If it
feels good, do it. If it buys votes,
push it - for now! For A1 Gore's
benefit!
Remember the 100,000 cops?
That never come to fruition be-
cause law-enforcement agencies
across the country realized there
was a catch and they wouldn't be
able to pick up the full cost of a
new "Clinton cop" when federal
dollars were cut off.
By the way, in Clinton's new
budget, there are deep cuts in
that very plan!
So it follows the 100,000 teach-
er bait will go down the "lack of
funding" drain in a year or two.
Then what?
The Department of Education
is the problem. It is not now nor
will it ever be the solution.
A required subject for every se-
nior student in my high school 52
years ago was "U.S. Government
History." It was taught by the
vice principal. As graduation
came near he said, 'Tou will not
remember all we have covered
this year but I ask you to never,
ever forget one important fact.
Every time the government en-
gages in a new form of business,
you lose a little more of your
freedom."
Education is a huge business,
it is the people's business, right
here in our state, in every state.
Across this country people are
working with local law enforce-
ment to take back their neighbor-
hoods and make them livable and
safe again.
There is no reason that our
parents and teachers, with the
backing of elected state officials,
cannot take back our education
system.
Right now, with every passing
day, more and more of the deci-
sions, regulations and do-it-or-
else rules are being made and
forced on the states by appointed
paper shufflers and their hired
help! Federal edicts that directly
affect your children and their fu-
ture life.
We can stop it. We have to be
like well-diggers; we have to start
at the top. We have to write to
our senators and representatives
and demand that the
43,000,000,000 (43 billion) dollars
allotted to the Department of Ed-
ucation belongs to the states, and
we want it back!
Vivian Mitchell
Shelton
/00eaders' 00ournal:
Plan responsi
Editor, The Journal: of the property that alread
I am thankful that inhabitants perhaps will soon be deve
of the county are tuned into the What business or venture
growth management debate and succeed without
are having a chance to under-
stand who their neighbors are
through the process of expression.
The property owners that do not
seem to be represented when the
words and names start flying are
the "silent majority" property
owners who care deeply about
how the future of the county is
being mapped out. That is why
we need to take advantage of the
opportunity to complete the self-
directed plan for our county that
is represented by the Growth
Management Act.
It is my belief that the majority
of us want responsible planning
that encourages commercial and
residential development in con-
centrated areas leaving some of
what we haven't yet developed as
designated agricultural, forest or
otherwise uninhabited lands.
Contrary to the fears expressed
by the more radical property
rights advocates, planning for
growth by concentrating develop-
ment in designated areas not only
costs the taxpayers less overall,
by allowing infrastructure (roads,
power, water.., etc.) growth to
keep up with private develop-
ment, it also increases the value
planning? The same
tainly be said for land use.
Of course the difficulty
the growing pains of
upon what is to be our
plan, within the guide
sented by the GMA.
erty owners will be
any particular plan eve
most of us would consider
sponsible to not have a
place, especially one that
helping to craft as a
those of you who don't
land-use planning to be
ant, consider the
sightly sprawl,
velopment, and
values for the
oped real estate.
own future land use is
denying property
about responsible,
long-term development
tenance of one of the
limited natural resourceS'
have the privilege to own.
We have the o
the right thing and pb
bly for our future!
when? If not us,
Mike
Walking on
Editor, The Journal:
Untold numbers of salmon are
being destroyed needlessly and
unknowingly by those who com-
plain loudest about their declin-
ing numbers.
Sport fishermen by the tens of
thousands are wading about on
salmon spawning beds unaware
of the damage they may be caus-
ing to the nests of eggs incubating
in the gravel. Additionally, the
thrusts from powerful propeller-
driven and jet boats on the rivers
are capable of severely damaging
or completely destroying egg
nests. Wading about on the sal-
mon spawning beds is like piant-
ing a garden and then continually
trampling around on the planted
area.
It is ironic that what should be
receiving the most attention and
protection, i.e., the salmon
spawning beds, is receiving the
least attention and protection. It
is also ironic that farmers are be-
ing asked to build fences on both
sides of streams that run through
their farms to keep their cattle
from damaging stream banks and
walking about in the water while
little if anything is being done to
control the damaging
fishermen and boaters
ers and streams.
In Montana a
was done on the effects
around on spawning
study determined
about on spawning
detrimental effect. The
vealed that in the
egg development the
rate was up to 43
just one wrong step.
The Montana
rected the Montana
of Fish, Wildlife and
adopt rules for the
of recreational tse
streams. If it has
mined that wading
spawning beds is
fish in Montana, it is
sume that such
mental to fish in
well.
Sport fishermen can
ing without tram
spawning habitat or
powered boats over
beds. Regulating such
will mean more
Bill
Editor, The Journal:
As one of 16 co-sponsors for the
bear and cougar legislation in the
House of Representatives, I want
to clear up misconceptions some
people may have about the propo-
sal. The legislation would author-
ize only a very limited use of ef-
fective management tools to hunt
bears and cougars - and only if
these wild animals are found to
represent a threat to humans,
pets or livestock.
House Bill 1012 does not alter
the citizen initiative that outlaws
the use of hounds or bait for bear
or cougar hunting. In fact, the bill
gives substance to a public-safety
policy that already exists in the
state law. The Department of
Fish and Wildlife has the respon-
sibility to use these management
tools to protect people, domestic
animals and personal
This bill is a reasor
to a serious situation.
Citizens need to know
use of these managernt
will be closely
that this legislation
any way create a new
season for the general
hunt cougars and
islation does not
655. Fish and
could use these tools
dress public-safety ne
cases where the bear
population is
resent a potential threat"
Simply put, this is
overturning what the
ed for it's about
sense to guarantee pu
Representative
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, E
Mailing address: P.O. Box 430, Shelton, 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,
$35.00 per year in state of Washington $45.00
Charles Gay, editor and publisher. Neweroom: Carolyn Maddux managing
Patch, sports editor; Jeff Green, general assignment, city government' schoOlS;
society editor, county government; Sean Hanlon, police, courts, Port of Shelton.
Stephen Gay, advertising manager; Janet Daugherty and Dave Pierik, ad
Julie Orme, business manager; Vicki Kamin, circulation; Donna Dooms,
Mahony, office assistant. Composing room: Diane Riordan, supervisor;
Jan Kallinen, paste-up; Koleen Wood, typesetter and com
computer ad layout and computer system manager; Cynthia Meyer, proofread'
Robert Rocldguez, production foreman; Roger Lawson, darkroom; Kelly
ll
00ournal of Op" "
mmn:
A new game plan
When we re wrong, we should admit it, and we have to con-
fess that we made some boneheaded statements a few weeks
ago in an editorial about the failure of the Mary M. Knight
School District's building bond. We said the mail-in aspect of
the measure apparently doomed it to failure. But with the pas-
sage of the Point Defiance Zoo bond issue in Tacoma last week,
we realize we were wrong.
Why couldn't we see that the key factor in getting pa-
trons to vote for a bond issue is the end product being
offered, not the method of voting? The zoo proposal
passed with all-mail balloting; MMK's bond went down
in flames in February with all-mail voting.
We've come to the conclusion that the key to the Point De-
fiance passage was that proponents were offering a better place
to house animals, not something as worthless as a better place
to house and educate students.
So we offer this modest proposal to the MMK School
Board: Resubmit the bond issue, but change the name of
the school to the Mary M. Knight Zoo. The promotional
campaign has endless possibilities for promising
changes at the school.
Tell the patrons that the culinary arts program will start
serving elephant ears and bear claws. Tell them a vocational
plumbing program featuring snakes will be started. Promise to
put silhouettes of male and female African tribesmen on the
doors of the restrooms and start calling them zoo lees.
Say you are seeking a seal of approval from the voters.
Propose building a new stadium called the HippoDome
where games will be officiated by zebras, and plan a
three.story-high IBEX theatre. Tell them you'll beef up
the English composition and literature programs to ap-
pease animal-writes activists and get a tiger by the tale.
Hope that several of the students develop hives and that
some of the busy buzzers fill in for others gathering pollen so
you can have lots of spelling bees. Let kids go ape at pep as-
semblies.
Be cagey developing the zoo theme. Tell the hard-line
disciplinarians from New Yawk that cheetahs will be ex-
pelled and that anyone breaking a law at school will be
banished to the hayfield and told they won't get out un-
til they make bale. Borrow a page from Point Defiance
and publish a Christmas newsletter called ZooLites.
No, what the MMK bond committee needs is not to boar peo-
ple with more talk about a new library, added classrooms and
buildings that don't leak. The committee needs to put its beast
foot forward.
- CG
Your assignment
The Shelton School District is asking local residents for a few
minutes of their time to help develop an important educational
policy. The question can be stated simply but is fraught with
controversy. Should students be allowed to advance to the next
grade level if they haven't met the standards for their current
grade?
Time was when students flunked if they hadn't mas-
tered material. The verb "flunk" is now verboten in edu-
cational circles, but we're allowed to use the word
"retain" when talking about kids who'd be held back.
The educational philosophy of late has been to practice some-
thing called "social promotion," to send a child to the next
grade even when he hasn't met standards. The theory is that
hurting his self-esteem by holding him back would be more det-
rimental than any harm to his education caused by his inabili-
ty to function at the next level because he is unprepared. It
should be noted for the purposes of this discussion that the ed-
ucation of other children can be harmed by having unprepared,
inattentive or disruptive students in their classes.
The current educational reform project by the school
district is to develop a promotion policy, and the district
wants people to tell them what they think of a draft poli-
cy. in a nutshell, the proposed policy calls for holding
back children at the end of fifth grade and eighth grade
if they don't meet standards.
The get-tough policy is seen as necessary if children are to
succeed in acquiring a new "certificate of mastery" that by the
year 2004 will be a state requirement for graduation.
Our opinion on the issue, we admit, is from the old
school. We have felt for some time that society through
its schools plays a feel-good game for 13 years and then
throws the kids to the wolves at age 18. They're so pro-
tected in their cocoon that the real world comes as a
shock. We question whether it is worse to make a child
go through the second grade again or keep passing him
along until he drops out at age 15 in frustration because
he can't succeed in school.
In some ways, the wrong kids have been held back all these
years - the ones who could learn faster if the teacher weren't
slowed or interrupted by students who shouldn't be in a class.
It seems so simple that some children should be held back but
the issue is made so complex by social engineering. You can't
succeed in second-year Spanish without the building blocks of
first-year Spanish, but we pretend that a child who fails the
first grade can handle the second.
That said, if there's no consensus on holding back or
not holding back, can we at least compromise to give a
failing student a fighting chance? If there are 10 chil-
dren in a school who shouldn't be promoted from the
third grade but we don't want to retain them, can we
put them in a 10-child fourth-grade classroom instead of
a 24-child classroom so they get more attention? Can we
promote a failing student only with the understanding
he will attend mandatory summer school to catch up?
We favor a heavy emphasis on remedial education for
the clueless.
You must have SOlne thoughts. Shelton School District Cur-
riculum Director Joan Zook, the curriculum council and the
school board would like to hear them. It doesn't matter whether
you have children. Your taxes are going to schools. This is your
society. And the decision on this issue will determine how pre-
pared children are to function in your society.
- CG
Page 4" Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, March 18, 1999
COUNT OFF-.
The Human Board walks
By DAVE BARRY
We live in troubled and uncer-
tain times, but I am feeling good
- about myself; about my home-
land; about all the nations of the
earth; and, yes, about the future
of humanity. And I will tell you
why: I am on painkillers.
I got them from my doctor,
Curt. Curt is a great doctor, prob-
ably the greatest doctor who ever
lived, and I will tell you why: He
gave me these painkillers. These
are some STRONG painkillers.
You should see the side effects! I
started to read about them on the
information sheet, but I got only
as far as the part where it said I
should report to the doctor's office
if my... I don't know how to say
this in a family newspaper...
Okay, I'm just going to come right
out and tell you: I'm supposed to
report to the doctor's office if my
outputs turn black.
Now I believe in following med-
ical advice up to a point, and that
point is the point where you're be-
ing advised to call a medical office
and tell the person who answers
the phone - often a complete
stranger - about the color of your
outputs. Because you don't know
what that person will do with the
information. For all you know,,
the person will hang up the phone
and shout across the doctor's of-
fice waiting room- which for all
you know is occupied by your im-
portant business associates and
several members of the British
Royal Family- "DR. HAMBURG,
DAVE BARRY CALLED TO SAY
THAT HIS OUTPUTS ARE
BLACK. HE DIDN'T SAY WHY
HE WAS MONITORING THE
COLOR OF HIS OUTPUTS, AND
FRANKLY I DIDN'T WANT TO
ASK."
But aside from the side ef-
fects - and I am not saying I HAD
any of these side effects- these
painkillers are terrific. I can walk
normally! For the past three days
I've been walking like The Hu-
man Board, because I did some-
thing to my back. Actually, I
didn't do it: a large Haitian man
did it.
The way this came about was,
my friend Philip said he wanted
to see some soccer. Philip grew up
in England, where as a youth he
went to many soccer matches. (Of
course, over there they don't call
it "soccer." They call it "Nigel.")
Philip told me that English soccer
fans are VERY intense and
sometimes express their disap-
proval by throwing darts from the
stands.
"Ohe time," he said cheerfully,
"I got one stuck in my shoulder."
Nevertheless, Philip wanted to
see a match, so we went to the
Copa Latina, a soccer tournament
held in Hialeah, a city next to
Miami that has a proud demo-
cratic tradition of reelecting polit-
ical leaders no matter how many
times they have been indicted.
The match we saw was between a
team called Soccer Locker, repre-
senting a local store, and one
called Seleccion Haiti, represent-
ing Haiti. Philip and I sat in the
stands with, I would conserva-
tively estimate, every Haitian
person on,Earth'!
It wag--an exitlng match, and
not just because we thought the
stands, which appeared to be
made of aluminum foil, were go-
ing to collapse. What made it ex-
citing was the Haitians, who are,
without question, the greatest
sports fans I have ever seen, and
I will tell you why: They gave me
these painkillers.
No, wait, I'm getting confused
(which is another side effect). The
Haitian fans are great because
they are so enthusiastic: They re-
act to EVERYTHING that hap-
pens on the field, including photo-
synthesis, by cheering, booing,
shouting, chanting, dancing, sing-
ing and making cellular phone
calls. Many fans do all these
things simultaneously. Philip and
I got so caught up in the spirit
that we started cheering also. We
do not speak Haitian Creole, so
we invented cheers based on our
recollection of high-school French,
including such rousers as:
--"Voici la plume de ma
tante!" ("Here is the pen of my
aunt!")
"Montrez-moi le livre!"
("Show me the book!")
"Nos rendements sent noirs/"
("Our outputs are black!")
No, we did not really yell that
last one. But we did, by cheering
for the Haitian team, become
close personal friends with the
large, enthusiastic and very mus-
cular man in front of us, often ex-
changing painful "high-five" style
hand slaps with him. And when
the match went into overtime,
and the Haitian team won, and
the crowd went insane, and the
grandstands were wobbling like
Jell-O on a jackhammer, the large
man turned around and decided
to express his joy by picking both
Philip and me up. Philip, using
the quickness he developed by
dodging darts as a lad, managed
to escape, but I never even real-
ized what was happening until
the 'large man got his arms
around my knees and hoisted me
high into the air, and I found my-
self being waved back and forth
above the crowd like a human
pennant.
That was when I hurt my back.
But now, thanks to Dr. Curt, I'm
feeling really, really good, and if I
have any of these painkillers left
over, I'm going to implement
world peace by sending them to
the hostile factions in the Middle
East and wherever it is they're
having those troubles involving
the "Kurds." Because you cannot
feel hostile with these painkillers.
I love the Kurds! I love you, too.
Time for a nap.
Junk education agency
Editor, The Journal:
The best thing Congress can do
for the education system is de-
fund, dismantle and do away with
the United States Department of
Education.
Since its inception, as a
"thanks" from President Carter to
the National Education Associa-
tion for its considerable support
during his campaign, this bloated,
buck-burning bureaucracy has si-
phoned billions of the states' mon-
ey into its bottomless pit! For
what?
I once read that the nearest
thing to perpetual motion ever de-
vised by man is a government
committee. This DOE (destroyer
of education) has been leveling
the playing field, dumbing down
the system and in general telling
students, "It's okay to fail, at
least you tried." May I remind
you that a one-size-fits-all, class-
less society is pure socialism!
No Olympic athlete was ever
awarded a gold medal in the high
jump event because the bar had
been lowered!
Our governor just attended a
meeting in D.C. where he along
with other governors was "asking
for more leeway" in how they
spend federal education dollars.
They should be talking to Con-
gress. I refer you to paragraph
one.
Then along came "Uncle Billy"
telling us our schools are over-
crowded and falling to pieces.
Yes, our school system is in cri-
sis. Yes, voters continue, for the
most part, to turn down bond is-
sues. Why? Because we are fight-
ing, at the local level, the huge
problem created by the federal de-
partment of education.
It takes our money, holds it,
wastes it (on salaries for over
4,000 employees in D.C. who
average $60,000 per year) and
then tells us we cannot have the
benefit of whatever is left unless
we run our schools by rules it
sets. Our teachers will need a fed-
eral license to teach? To teach
what? I submit it won't be how to
think -- it will be what to think!
The President then tossed out
his favorite fix-it-all number. He
is going to place 100,000 more
teachers in the schools. Where
are we going to put those 100,000
teachers and their students? Will
they fit into our overcrowded, fall-
ing-down schools?
If it sounds good, say it. If it
feels good, do it. If it buys votes,
push it - for now! For A1 Gore's
benefit!
Remember the 100,000 cops?
That never come to fruition be-
cause law-enforcement agencies
across the country realized there
was a catch and they wouldn't be
able to pick up the full cost of a
new "Clinton cop" when federal
dollars were cut off.
By the way, in Clinton's new
budget, there are deep cuts in
that very plan!
So it follows the 100,000 teach-
er bait will go down the "lack of
funding" drain in a year or two.
Then what?
The Department of Education
is the problem. It is not now nor
will it ever be the solution.
A required subject for every se-
nior student in my high school 52
years ago was "U.S. Government
History." It was taught by the
vice principal. As graduation
came near he said, 'Tou will not
remember all we have covered
this year but I ask you to never,
ever forget one important fact.
Every time the government en-
gages in a new form of business,
you lose a little more of your
freedom."
Education is a huge business,
it is the people's business, right
here in our state, in every state.
Across this country people are
working with local law enforce-
ment to take back their neighbor-
hoods and make them livable and
safe again.
There is no reason that our
parents and teachers, with the
backing of elected state officials,
cannot take back our education
system.
Right now, with every passing
day, more and more of the deci-
sions, regulations and do-it-or-
else rules are being made and
forced on the states by appointed
paper shufflers and their hired
help! Federal edicts that directly
affect your children and their fu-
ture life.
We can stop it. We have to be
like well-diggers; we have to start
at the top. We have to write to
our senators and representatives
and demand that the
43,000,000,000 (43 billion) dollars
allotted to the Department of Ed-
ucation belongs to the states, and
we want it back!
Vivian Mitchell
Shelton
/00eaders' 00ournal:
Plan responsi
Editor, The Journal: of the property that alread
I am thankful that inhabitants perhaps will soon be deve
of the county are tuned into the What business or venture
growth management debate and succeed without
are having a chance to under-
stand who their neighbors are
through the process of expression.
The property owners that do not
seem to be represented when the
words and names start flying are
the "silent majority" property
owners who care deeply about
how the future of the county is
being mapped out. That is why
we need to take advantage of the
opportunity to complete the self-
directed plan for our county that
is represented by the Growth
Management Act.
It is my belief that the majority
of us want responsible planning
that encourages commercial and
residential development in con-
centrated areas leaving some of
what we haven't yet developed as
designated agricultural, forest or
otherwise uninhabited lands.
Contrary to the fears expressed
by the more radical property
rights advocates, planning for
growth by concentrating develop-
ment in designated areas not only
costs the taxpayers less overall,
by allowing infrastructure (roads,
power, water.., etc.) growth to
keep up with private develop-
ment, it also increases the value
planning? The same
tainly be said for land use.
Of course the difficulty
the growing pains of
upon what is to be our
plan, within the guide
sented by the GMA.
erty owners will be
any particular plan eve
most of us would consider
sponsible to not have a
place, especially one that
helping to craft as a
those of you who don't
land-use planning to be
ant, consider the
sightly sprawl,
velopment, and
values for the
oped real estate.
own future land use is
denying property
about responsible,
long-term development
tenance of one of the
limited natural resourceS'
have the privilege to own.
We have the o
the right thing and pb
bly for our future!
when? If not us,
Mike
Walking on
Editor, The Journal:
Untold numbers of salmon are
being destroyed needlessly and
unknowingly by those who com-
plain loudest about their declin-
ing numbers.
Sport fishermen by the tens of
thousands are wading about on
salmon spawning beds unaware
of the damage they may be caus-
ing to the nests of eggs incubating
in the gravel. Additionally, the
thrusts from powerful propeller-
driven and jet boats on the rivers
are capable of severely damaging
or completely destroying egg
nests. Wading about on the sal-
mon spawning beds is like piant-
ing a garden and then continually
trampling around on the planted
area.
It is ironic that what should be
receiving the most attention and
protection, i.e., the salmon
spawning beds, is receiving the
least attention and protection. It
is also ironic that farmers are be-
ing asked to build fences on both
sides of streams that run through
their farms to keep their cattle
from damaging stream banks and
walking about in the water while
little if anything is being done to
control the damaging
fishermen and boaters
ers and streams.
In Montana a
was done on the effects
around on spawning
study determined
about on spawning
detrimental effect. The
vealed that in the
egg development the
rate was up to 43
just one wrong step.
The Montana
rected the Montana
of Fish, Wildlife and
adopt rules for the
of recreational tse
streams. If it has
mined that wading
spawning beds is
fish in Montana, it is
sume that such
mental to fish in
well.
Sport fishermen can
ing without tram
spawning habitat or
powered boats over
beds. Regulating such
will mean more
Bill
Editor, The Journal:
As one of 16 co-sponsors for the
bear and cougar legislation in the
House of Representatives, I want
to clear up misconceptions some
people may have about the propo-
sal. The legislation would author-
ize only a very limited use of ef-
fective management tools to hunt
bears and cougars - and only if
these wild animals are found to
represent a threat to humans,
pets or livestock.
House Bill 1012 does not alter
the citizen initiative that outlaws
the use of hounds or bait for bear
or cougar hunting. In fact, the bill
gives substance to a public-safety
policy that already exists in the
state law. The Department of
Fish and Wildlife has the respon-
sibility to use these management
tools to protect people, domestic
animals and personal
This bill is a reasor
to a serious situation.
Citizens need to know
use of these managernt
will be closely
that this legislation
any way create a new
season for the general
hunt cougars and
islation does not
655. Fish and
could use these tools
dress public-safety ne
cases where the bear
population is
resent a potential threat"
Simply put, this is
overturning what the
ed for it's about
sense to guarantee pu
Representative
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Charles Gay, editor and publisher. Neweroom: Carolyn Maddux managing
Patch, sports editor; Jeff Green, general assignment, city government' schoOlS;
society editor, county government; Sean Hanlon, police, courts, Port of Shelton.
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Julie Orme, business manager; Vicki Kamin, circulation; Donna Dooms,
Mahony, office assistant. Composing room: Diane Riordan, supervisor;
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computer ad layout and computer system manager; Cynthia Meyer, proofread'
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ll