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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
April 2, 1970     Shelton Mason County Journal
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April 2, 1970
 
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I crowd, which filled the r~l°~o[m the Mason County make holding a music festival in the county even more difficult "'"'~ monaay, heard thethan it would be under the commissioner,s proposed ance restricting and proposed ordinance, which was • patterned after the one adopted music festivals read. in Thursday County. crowd of suggestions The commission took the ordinance toproposed ordinance under advisement and later announced it would most likely be adopted at the commission meeting Monday. The commission, which had been considering the adoption of such an ordinance for several months, started action after three local residents appeared at the commission meeting two weeks ago and told the commission they had heard that a 40-acre tract in the Lynch Road area was being considered for lease as a music festival site. The principal regulations in the proposed ordinance for Mason !ay, April 2, 1970 Published in "Christmastown, U.S.A.", Shelton, Washington. Entered as second class 20 Pages -- 2 Sections 14 'matter at the post office at Shelton, Washington 98584, under act of March 8, 1879. Published weekly at 227 West Cote. $5.00 per year in Mason County, $6.00 elsewhere. Ten Cents Per Copy e .ason County Superior lry Thursday evening Johnson, 45, a County resident I Olympia, guilty of eny through the Stolen property. act came at the end trial on the charges against Johnson guns were stolen and was told by Schultz that they were not. He said he gave Schultz the $40 and took the guns, which were in a paper sack, and put them up in the attic of the house. He said the ceiling in the house in which he was living was low, and, he was able to put them up without climbing into the attic. He stated he put the guns in the attic to keep them out of reach, and, because he had had a gun, some tools and a radio stolen from the house at various times, he wanted to make sure they were safe since he was responsible for them. Asked if he had reported the thefts from his home, Johnson said he had not, since he believed he knew who had taken them and it (Please turn to Page 3) had pleaded not and has been that time. Y Sheriff Tom testified to going to after arresting home of William Shelton last Feb. 6. said officers had a for the Johnson after a search, four in the attic of paper sack. after his arrest, at to the home with showed them where fth pistol, which out, he had as far as officers e, was not stolen. was Kenneth ormer Shelton man, • Inmate at the State lary in Walla Walla. arrested here last Is turned over to from where the penitentiary or, testified he had taken guns to the Johnson December, 1968 Were sold to Johnson had been returned :he State Penitentiary be a witness in the STUDENTS in Mrs. Neil Evander's fifth grade class at Bordeaux participated in a dental hygiene project Tuesday. Sponsored by the State Health Department in cooperation with the Thurston-Mason Health District and the Thurston-Mason County Dental Association, the project included a demonstration on how to brush teeth and the application of a therapeutic tooth paste by the students. County were: -A fee of $2,500 to be paid at the time of application. -Approval of the Mason-Thurston County Health Department for sanitary facilities. -Approval of the Fire District in which the site is located on fire precautions. -Bonds, which did not have the amounts set but, x~hicn would be graduated depending on the number of persons attending, starting with 0 to 10,000; 10,000 to 20,000; 20,000 to 30,000 and for each additional 10,000 persons. -Liability insurance with a minimum of $100,000 bodily injury coverage per person: $300,000 bodily injury coverage per occurence and $100,000 property damage coverage, with Mason County named as an additional insured. -Employment of one qualified peace officer for each 200 persons expected for crowd control and one qualified peace officer for each 400 persons expected for traffic control, all to be paid for by the applicant. -Complete lighting for the entire area, including both out of doors and in buildings. -No music between the hours of midnight and 10 a.m. -No one under 18 permitted without the escort of his parents or legal guardian. No intoxieatiog liquor Gov. Daniel J. Evans will ;pend most of the day in Shelton ~,pril 16, meeting with local 9fficials and speaking to groups acre, it was announced this week ~y the Mason County Republican ~entral Committee. He will speak to a joint neeting of the Kiwanis and Rotary Clubs at noon. At 1:30 p.m. he will address in assembly at Shelton High ~chool on "environmental 9roblems in Washington". At 2:30 p.m., a tour of the ~impson Timber Co. facilities on the waterfront here is scheduled to 0e followed by a 4 p.m. meeting with city and county :ommissioners. The Republican Central o m mittee will sponsor a allowed on the premises. -Site to be 1,000 yards from any school or church and 500 yards from any residence. The crowd at the hearing, with little exception, was strongly in favor of the ordinance and offered suggestions to strengthen it. Lawrence Gosser posed the question as to why drugs were not included in the section pertaining to the ban on liquor. Prosecuting Attorney John C. Ragan stated that the possession of drugs was illegal any place, and, including them in this section would do nothing to strengthen the ordinance. Shelton Fire Chief Allan Nevitt suggested that in areas where there is no rural fire district, the Department of Natural Resources be named as the agency to issue a permit on fire precautions. Another suggestion was that the approval of the site by the Department of Game and Department of Fisheries be required also. Attorney Glenn Correa and Bill Kamin, Simpson Timber Co. farm forester, both suggested that the insurance minimums be raised substantially because of the dangers from fire in this county. Only one questioning voice was heard, that of Ray Barrington, who was obviously ~paghetti dinner at 6:30 p.m. at the Methodist Church at which the governor will be the speaker. Youth In Court On Drug Charge A Mason County juvenile, who admitted having two lids of marijuana in his possession in the vicinity of a school, was given a suspended committment to the State Youth Authority and placed under the supervision of Jerry Seipp, special probation officer here. Arrangements were made for the youth to live with his grandmother and attend school in another county. there was another when he went to Son residence, but, the person. The other person was attorneys. were identified three of them Pawn Shop in and one from County Dec. 13, two guns which were which Larson to Johnson were shop and the County. that at the he was living in south of Shelton at the mink OWard the end Lopeman, as his wife's Schultz and home. met Schultz, and Lopeman Lopeman told wanted to the guns as z said he wanted to California on and would a Week to get I stated he asked if the lUllHIllllUllll ury The Mason County Commission Monday approved a revised road program for 1970 presented by County Engineer J.C. Bridger. In a letter to the commission, Bridger pointed out that the revision of the program was necessitated by a reduction in the county's gas tax allocation from the state. The allocation, Bridger said, was reduced by 31 percent by a change in the state's method of computing the allocations. The revision, he said, resulted in Mason County being declared as having a zero need factor. The loss to Mason County, he said, will be between $160,000 and $170,000. Gentlemen: "Submitted herewith is a recommended revision of the Mason County Road Construction Program for 1970. This revised program reflects deletions and modifications previously discussed informally with the Board. This curtailment of construction is necessitated by the reduction in Mason County's anticipated Motor Vehicle Tax receipts. "Attention is invited to Director of Highways (State Aid Engineer) letter of March 5, 1970 forwarding Allocation Percentages for all the counties as revised and effective March 1, 1970. The Director of Highways, State Aid Engineer, is required (RCW 46.68.120) to recompute the Motor Vehicle Tax allocation percentages for all counties every two (2) years, effective on March 1. The allocation percentage for Mason County was 1.40 for the preceding two years, and the 1970 road budget was prepared on this basis. Recomputation has resulted in a new allocation percentage for Mason County of only 0.97; a reduction of nearly 31 percent. This means, simply, that Mason County's 1970 Road Budget must be reduced by approximately $144,000.00 (for the remaining ten months beginning March 1.) The State Aid Engineer is not in any way responsible for this reduction. The "Gas Tax Formula" (RCW 46.68.120) is a rather sophisticated and complex formula which distributes the Motor Vehicle Taxes to be spent on county roads in the following manner: 1. 10 percent is evenly distributed. 2. 30 percent is distributed proportionately on the basis of a county's "Trunk Mileage'. (school bus and mail routes) multiplied by a predetermined annual cost per mile. 3. 30 percent is distributed proportionately on the basis of the total number of rural vehicle registrations plus 7 percent of the city vehicle registration in the county. 4. 30 percent is distributed on the basis of "Need". "This formula appears to have provided an equitable means for distributing the counties' share of Motor Vehicle Taxes when it was adopted in 1956 and for several years thereafter. However, coincident with the furor over Judge Wright S, Supreme Court Post Superior Court Judge Charles T. Wright said here this week he is a candidate for the position on the State Supreme Court being vacated by the retirement of Judge Frank Weaver. Judge Wright has served the Mason-Thurston County Superior Court iudicial district for more than 2i years. He was appointed to the Superior Court bench to succeed his father, Judge D. F. Wright, on the elder Wright's retirement. He and his wife, Helen, make their home at Union. The judge is a native of Mason County and practiced law here before being appointed to the Superior Court bench. Judge Wright commented that he has presided in courts in almost every county in the state as a vvisiting judge during his years on the Superior Court. Judge Weaver is retiring May 21 after 19 years of service on the State Supreme Court. property tax assessment ratios in recent years the allocation percentages for Motor Vehicle Tax distribution have fluctuated w ildly. "A county's "Need Factor" is defined in the statutes as the ratio of that county's "Net Need" divided by the sum of the "Net Needs" of all the counties; the "Net Need" of a county is defined as the difference between "Gross Need" and "Available Resources". "Gross Need" is defined as the product of Trunk Miles times the Annual Cost per Trunk Mile. "Available Resources" is defined as the sum of Federal Forest Funds available for roads and the value of a I 0-mill levy on all rural property in the county as certified by the State Tax Commission. Herein appears to be the principal root of all inequity in the current "Gas Tax" allocation 12ercentages. For the first time ever, the Tax Commission has now computed the resources of all the counties using a 10-mill levy on 50 percent of the Tax Commission's estimate of the full value of each county's rural property. The "Tax Freeze" st atut_e now in effect which (Please turn to Page 2) perjury County trt Wednesday Attorney William E. ormm Sh~ton in the trial Olympia, last larceny in guilty of held in awaiting was set at Charles T. a THIS IS WHAT was left of a hay shed at the Bill 13esch residence on Dickinson St. after a twister went through shortly before I p.m. Tuesday. The twister picked the shed up and droPPed the shattered wood framing andmetal roofina a short distance. Several bales of hay which were under the shed were not disturbed. A neighbor reported seeing the parts of the shed being whirled by the twister above the tree tops before they were dropped back onto the ground. younger than most of those attending the hearing. He asked if this would apply to the Forest Festival and the County Fair also. The commission stated the Festival was held in the city limits and was not included and that the fair was under the direction of the county and was also not included in the requirements. One member of the audience asked why an ordinance banning music festivals from the county could not be adopted and was told such an ordinance would be unconstitutional. ~~~~~~~~~~~~u~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~l~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Shelton Jaycees presented a resolution to the City Commission at its meeting Tuesday night urging the commission to adopt the half-cent sales tax and to strongly consider using the money from it to upgrade the wage scale and benefits for city employees, particuiarily firemen and policemen. Mayor Frank Travis told the Jaycee delegation the soonest the tax could be enacted would be July 1. The commission is planning to hold a public hearing on the proposed tax before taking action on it. The commission stated it had not acted to get the tax imposed by, April 1 because they believed it would be better not to rush into it without public hearings. RESOLUTION TO THE SHELTON CITY COMMISSION: The major issue requiring resolution is the question of community environment. Any citizen, regardless of orientation, desires his community to be domestically tranquil and lawabiding. As the socio-economic strata of the community advances, so must the educational and professional qualifications of the public servant. We are living in complex and demanding times, however, this must not be used as an excuse to shirk our concentrated effort to correct any, and all, inequalities and injustices in our governmental system. We, the members of the Shelton Jaycees, strongly recommend the adoption of the 1/2 of 1% City Sales Tax. The increased revenue acquired from this measure should be partially, or wholly, earmarked for: 1. Increases in City Employee wage and benefit schedules; 2. Improvements, modifications or acquisition of equipment and facilities used by the various departments within the City. As citizens of the City of Shelton, we demand highly competent and professional City Employees. This desired level of competency must be achieved to deal with the ever-increasing complexity of our society. To achieve this desired level of professionalism it will be necessary to incorporate wage and benefit schedules along with adequate working facilities and equipment to attract and satisfy this caliber of manpower. Two areas which need immediate attention are the law enforcement and fire departments. Due to the great increase in the cost of living, most major and minor cities have found it necessary to make large adjustments in wage and employee benefits to remain competitive. The City of Shelton is far behind in meeting these necessary modifications. Before continuing, it will be necessary to point some factual information: 1. Within the last two years, Shelton has lost several highly qualified police officers due to the lack of financial support. Salary ranges are too far out of balance for firemen and law enforcement and other City employees. 2. Under Federal auspices, trainee policemen can acquire additional education in the Police Sciences to further upgrade himself and his profession. No remuneration is presently offered in recognition of this achievement. Officers with this background are prime candidates for advanced and higher paying positions in other communities. The City of Shelton is serving as a training center for other Washington cities. This is doing the citizens of Shelton an injustice. 3. The employee benefits presently offered by the City of Shelton are currently inadequate. The present life insurance coferage is only $2000.00, approximately the amount necessary to cover the cost of burial. If a police officer were killed in service to his community, his widow and family would undoubtedly become financially deprived and end up on the welfare rolls. Why should any man wish to subject himself to perhaps a necessary but dangerous situation if his family and their well-being were threatened? 4. Current medical allowances are painfully inadequate. Several employees have incured large medical bills that are not covered by insurance that could be covered by a more efficient group policy. We are confident that the City Officials are aware of various coverages at their disposal and will act to rectify these situations. 5. Several members of the Shelton police force have been compeled to search out the possibility of employment elsewhere in the State. All but one of the patrolmen have at least one and a half years of expexperience and are in the process of attaining further education. Unless the City shows some response to the needs of these men, we will unfortunately lose them. The citizens of Shelton demand qualified city employees. Many of these men are forced to "moonlight" during their off-duty hours to pay their current living expenses. Is this necessary? 6. All of the police officers have expressed their satisfaction with the department and a desire to remain in, and render service to the Shelton community. We can no longer ignore the needs of these valuable citizens. This is an all too real problem that requires a solution. 7. The Attorney General for the State of Washington, Slade Gorton, has said that law enforcement administrators and public officials should recognize the importance of qualified law enforcement personnel, and they should consider salary and benfit combinations necessary to attract and hold qualified officers. 8. The following is a list of present salary schedules for city employees. It is plain to see that they are not equitable. Shelton Police and Fire Dept. Water meter reader (Shelton) Disposal Operator (Shelton) City Clerk (Shelton) Garbage Truck Driver (Shelton) Comparable local law enforcement: Olympia Police Dept. Lacey Police Dept. Mason County Sheriff Dept. Thurston County Sheriff Dept. $575 to 630per mo. $567per mo. $614per mo. $782per mo. $626per mo. $597 to 800 per mo, $598 to 750 per too. $550 to 700 per mo. $568 to 750 per mo. Community unskilled labor (no training reqd.) Starting wages: Simpson sawmills $558 per too. Simpson woods $650 per too. In summation, the Shelton Jaycees recommend and urge the adoption of the ~A of 1% City Sales Tax, and the increased revenue derived be used for: 1. improvement and acquisition of needed facilities and equipment for various City Departments; 2. incorporation of substantial wage and benefit schedules to retain the current highly qualified City personnel. The Shelton Jaycees respectfully request a written public statement of acknowledgement and disposition of the mentioned problems. Citizens and City Officials must not take the complacent attitude that no one is concerned with the quality and competency of our City employees. We must establish and maintain a level of incentive necessary to attract and retain properly trained personnel. The community must no longer operate as a small town with small town ideals. We must join together to provide the best possible environment for the future growth of our community. The Shelton Jaycees stand ready to assist the Leaders of Shelton to plan a better tomorrow. Respectfully sumitted this 31st day of March, i 970. Robert Straehila - President Shelton Jaycees Gary Plews - President Elect Shelton Jaycees