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COLUMN
EDITORIAL
helton's solid core
In last week's editorial, If so, then it would seem to
the Journal offered the opin- us that an Economic Develop-
ion that the sky isn't falling ment task force should be era-
on Shelton's economy; there powered to review these rag-
are levels of good news ulations, and see which ones
in the~ weeks and months are really necessary in this
ahead. Shelton has a solid day and ag , and give an ben-
core of hometown businesses est assessment of which ones
and services, and some are are counterproductive, acting
doing very well. as barriers to keep business
Of course, those sentiments out.
may not mean much to those Two, existing businesses
who are among the 12.4 per- should not have to jump
cent unemployed here, or 1o- through additional bureau-
cal businesses, who are strug- cracy for expansion. If they
gling, as opposed to thriving, are already open, and they
and anyone coming to down- want to add facilities and
town can see the empty store- jobs, then they should be able
fronts and closures, to do so without excessive or
Yes, we agree Shelton can unjustified red tape.
do- and must do- better, bet- Three, the city should look
ter in attracting businesses, at incentives, like tax-free
better in producing new jobs, zones or enterprise zones, to
better in fostering a business fill these empty downtown
growth environment, one store fronts. And, even a
that encourages new invest- "parking holiday" once or
ment and entrepreneurship twice a month would encour-
not discourages it. age shoppers to park, and
Where to start7. More stay, and spend money for
than one developer has said a while, rather than worry
the City of Shelton, due to about the price of ticket.
its myriad of regulations, These arejust a few simple
building codes, and outdat- examples of ways the City of
ed ordinances, is one of the Shelton could foster economic
toughest places -- one of the growth, entrepreneurship,
three toughest in the state -- and create jobs to improve
to do business, the local climate.
Tattoos scare me but if ver sum-
mon up the courage to ink and nee-
dle myself, I know what I want and
where I want it: "Do not resuscitate"
emblazoned across my chest.
This week a
newspaper told
yet another story
about yet another
government agen-
cy receiving yet
another grant to
house yet another
automated exter-
nal defibrillator
TOM (AED) and I'm full
MULLEN up to here, some-
where above my
imaginary do not resuscitate tattoo,
with paying for these things.
Defibrillators have their place and
that, I believe, is in hospitals and on
television shows about hospitals.
When I was but a child I was
loosely trained in the fine art of re-
suscitation. That training involved
two big dummies, one named Resu-
si-Annie and the other named Tom,
one baby dummy and a lot of rub-
bing alcohol.
As I remember it, we were trained
to shake the dummy, perhaps she
was only sleeping, feel for a pulse,
listen for a heartbeat and if unre-
sponsive begin administering CPR,
Cardio Pulmonary resuscitation.
That simply meant pinching Annie's
nose and blowing air into her via her
rubbing alcohol-tasting lips.
If that didn't work I would, I think
on a count of four, I would compress
her chest until her ticker came back
online.
• Back then I hoped that someday
I'd be able to perform an emergen-
cy tracheotomy with my medium
point Bic pen but I never dreamed
of holding paddles high in the air
and shouting "Clear!" before zapping
some dead person's chest back to a
pounding rhythm.
At that time I was working for a
big hospital and all employees were
required to know the fundamentals
of saving people but it was there and
then that I began to formulate my
ideas on value of both life and death.
It seems obvious to me that our
society places far too much value on
life and not nearly enough on death.
We go to great lengths to keep
people alive that really have no busi-
ness being alive.
Mickey Mantle, for instance, was
one of my favorite ball players and
certainly one of my era's most noble
drunks. So while it is perfectly un-
derstandable that he would want
to pay for a new liver, and did, that
decision bought him, maybe, a few
more months.
The same goes for bad tickers: if I
want to abuse my body with alcohol,
tobacco and bacon then why should
(
(
my fellow taxpayers foot the bill to
bring my deservedly lifeless and
horizontal body back from the great
beyond?
There is no good reason, only that
we all place a little too much value
on life when in reality it is death that
gives life its value.
Last week I read the story of a
70-year-old man in Lacey, Washing-
ton who died of administering CPR.
He called 9-1-1 to report that his
wife, 69, was not breathing and to
please send an ambulance and that
he would begin performing CPR on
his wife.
When the emergency respond-
ers arrived they found the husband
dead of a heart attack brought on by
exhaustion, his body over that of his
wife.
What a perfect way to leave this
world..
And I don't mean to sit in judg-
ment of the Mick or anyone else who
wants to prolong their life beyond its
natural limits.
No matter how much pain I'm
feeling these days I still say it's bet-
ter than the alternative.
But I do believe we're all put-
ting too much stock in this world
and I don't think taxpayers should
foot the bill to keep the likes of me,
or any other self-abusing schmuck,
alive beyond their self-imposed expi-
ration date.
TO EDITOR
We need
to own our
Editor, the Journal
I feel much relief and
gratitude that Adage has
decided to leave Shelton.
Thanks to everyone who
worked to keep the big cor-
poration from walking into
town and over the people,
even though they say our
resistance was meaning-
less. However, this is a wake
up call for our continued
vigilance. Until we see port
leases cancelled and per-
mit request pulled, we will
continue and beyond. This
issue has had a very silver
lining- there is a large and
growing group of involved
citizens who have learned to
know each other and become
organized and communicat-
ing. We will continue and we
will work for what we want
in Shelton, including solu-
tions to our employment and
health problems.
But I want to push our
thinking even more out-
ward. I began to think about
really why Adage is leaving.
Of course there was no merit
to the project, we knew that
from the beginning and so
did they. They said their
decision to leave was several
months in the making. If
we recall, a few months ago
we had a historical national
election. As a result of the
outcome, we are now in the
process of further disman-
tling many of our regulator
(and other long held social)
systems. There are several
ways to do this. Withholding
funding is currently well un-
der way, so that there are no
"cops on the beat." Changing
laws is another, as thecalls
to do away with the EPA, for
example. And then there is
the Supreme Court, whose
majority is actively working
to upset long held precedent
and clear the way for corpo-
rations to basically do what
they want and spend unlim-
ited amounts of money to in-
fluence elections and further
"own" the government.
So why do Duke Energy/
Adage spend a little money
here in Shelton when they
are going to be able to do
what they want, every-
where. Pollution? who will
stop them? Carbon credits?
who needs them any more?
My take? They (Adage
or some form) will be back,
somehow, somewhere, in
spades. What we had was
not a victory, just a lull.
Linda Gruer
Shelton
Crime on
the rise
Editor, the Journal
Mason County residents
need to be ~ware Of the rash
of robberies taking place
within the county. Thieves
are really interested in
items that do not have se-
rial numbers and are easily
converted into cash. Car and
equipment batteries seem to
be a high priority; they take
them the easy way, cutting
cables to get at them fast.
Gold is a target as they
can take the trinkets to
the many places that buy
gold, moving from place to
place so as to not make a
buyer suspicious. Coins are
a treasure as they can take
them to the coin machines at
many of the local businesses
to be changed to dollars,
quickly.
They of course, will take
any item easily moved and
easily disposed such as weld-
ers, GPS systems, small boat
motors and tools, anything
that can be pawned or sold.
They are leaving no one
unscathed. Construction
sites, homes, trailers, cars
and motor homes are all
targets. No one or anything
is safe. The burglars do their
homework by casing homes
and businesses and strike
when the chance of getting
caught is least.., day or
night.
The sheriffs' office is The Journal welcomes and encourages your
busy withmoreimportant pr ig ed, g
matters than break-ins and otheeditor.: will ints n ori inallette
theft. It is unfortunate that
the sheriffs are unable to of local interest. We will :not publish letters that
come out and investigate
these crimes instead ofjust are libelous Or scurrilous in nature. Letters should
taking a report via tele-
phone. In fmrness to the be under 350 words and provide contact and ad-
sheriiTs office they are work-
ing with a very minimal dress information for the JournaL : :
budget. Maybe a show of
officers on the scene might
be a deterrent to the thieves
knowing that these crimes Wallace-Kneeland, I could lanes had on-coming traffic
are being reported and hear sirens. I kept watching and they too did not move
investigated and not just to see if they were coming off the road. The ambulance
ignored and that something my way. There was a white could not get by. Finally, the
is being done to protect the car behind me and nine cars ambulance was able to get
innocent and hard work- roughly a city-block in front around the row of cars block-
ing citizens that live in the of me. When the ambulance ing them, but only because
county, came onto the highway, the northbotmd traffic thinned
Without the needed car behind me did not move and two cars pulled off the
protection of our sheriff's offthe highway, instead road letting ambulance
we need to be on the alert, when I signaled and pulled swing into the on-coming
Make sure your homes and to the side the driver behind lane.
cars are locked, keep lights me used the opportunity to I hope none of those driv-
en and let your neighbors. • pass, still not pulling over ers, unwilling to give up
know if you are going to be to let the ambulance by. there precious positions in
out of town. If you see any- I watched amazed as theline, had a mother, father,
thing suspicious call law ambulance, lights flash- or child in the back of that
enforcement, they may be in4;, sirens blaring, was still ambulance and if the am-
able to respond if a crime is caught behind the white car bulance was rushing to a
in progress, as they came up behind the stroke or heart attack I hope
Oliver Hutchins row of cars. Only one car in you made it. Lousy driving
that row, that's right, only people.
one pulled off. Both uphill Cheryl Stewart
Shelton
Change the
headline
Editor, the Journal
Perhaps the headline in
the March 17 Journal should
have read
Adios: Adage
Adios: NASCAR
Adios: 101 Connector
Adios: Renaissance fair
Hola: Goodwill
Anyway you translate it
this is the path to prosperity
for Mason County?
Phil Wolff
lyn
driving in
Editor, the Journal
I've gotten used to having
my doors blown off as I trav-
el on the highway despite
the fact that my cruise is
usually set at 62 to 64. And,
I'm good at watching my
side mirrors and rearview
mirror for what's happening
beside me or behind me and
really avoid tailgating. Un-
fortunately, I've seen enough
stupid tricks to be ultra cau-
tious on the stretch or road
between Wallace-Kneeland
and the 1st exit to Shelton.
Last Thursday around 5
p.m., about quitting time,
the driving went beyond
lousy to criminal. As I
entered the highway at
=I started my vegetarianisra for health reasons, then it became
a moral choice, and now #'s jut't to annoypeople."
County
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Page A-4 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, March 31,2011
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