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00ournal of Opinion:
Call off the dogs
What a comment on the state of our society and its respect
for its children when the school board starts talking about
bringing drug dogs into the junior high to sniff around. You
could tell by the discussion at last week's Shelton School Board
meeting that a few board members weren't completely
comfortable with the proposal by Oakland Bay Junior High
administrators. They shouldn't be.
For, as attractive as it might be to try to scare the
trap out of kids, it's a sad way to try to solve a problem.
It raises the specter of a police state and moves us one
step further toward it on the continuum. If drug dogs
don't solve the problem, what's next? In a world where
children's innocence is being ripped from them at
earlier and earlier ages, drug dogs rob them of more
innocence. It's tragic to make the majority suffer for the
sins of a minority. Plus there's a chance of a mistake or
abuse of power and traumatization of a blameless child.
The period since 9/11 hasn't exactly been the Golden Age of
Civil Liberties. One wonders whether, on the days the drug
dogs come to school, the social-studies teachers will be covering
the Fourth Amendment - the one giving the government the
right to make unreasonable searches - as well as the American
legal concept that a child is guilty until proven innocent. Our
civil liberties hang by the thread of our vigilance.
We understand why educators nationwide are
frustrated and want to take severe measures to deal
with the problem kids that irresponsible parenting has
handed them. But not all children deserve to be treated
severely, and putting your faith in such measures is no
guarantee they will solve the problem. The dogs would
search lockers. What if a kid keeps a bag in his pocket?
And, speaking of the deterrent effect, we're not sure defiant
children react rationally to threats. First, they're immature.
Second, they would like to hurt their parents. Third, their
punishment at age 14 is a slap on the wrist. Fourth, they know
that their getting caught with drugs would devastate their
parents. So the average delinquent would probably think, "It'll
never happen to me," or "If it does, who cares?" "
The schools should not poison their nurturing, educa-
tional atmosphere with drug dogs. They need to deal
with drug and alcohol abuse with education and inter-
vention, not with policies that adults wouldn't want
even for themselves.
Would adults want their own phones tapped and their
houses searched because it would make their neighbors feel
safer in a drug-soaked culture? The attitude "You have nothing
to fear if you've done nothing wrong" is a good way to have your
privacy destroyed.
The school board's decision is to be made in the future
after it has been presented with more information.
When the members are thinking about what they would
do for our children by bringing in the dogs, they need to
think about what theTwould do to our children.
Hey, big spenders
What is it about Washington's presidential primary that
gives it a free pass from people who normally scream about
wasteful government spending?
The election is one of the most worthless government
expenditures authorized by one of the lamest initiatives
ever passed based on state voters' fantasy, not reality.
Legislators had the good sense to kill the 2004 primary as
meaningless but let flounder a bill in this year's session that
would drive a spike through the 2008 fiasco. Apparently they
were afraid of being accused of saving taxpayers $9.7 million.
In the early 1990s, Washington's voters wanted in on
these presidential sweepstakes. Other states were
having all the fun and Washington didn't have any
influence. If only it had a primary it would have pull,
the reasoning went. Politicians would have to pay atten-
tion to us - come here to make promises they couldn't
keep, tell us what we wanted to hear, talk out of both
sides of their mouths and jockey for sound.bites on TV.
Trouble is, the political parties haven't cooperated with this
citizen dream. They don't use the primary results to choose
thei delegates to their national conventions and instead rely
on the caucus process, which involves only tens of thousands
instead of the million-plus who would vote in a primary. The
Democrats don't use the primary at all and the Republicans
choose about a third of their delegates using the results.
The parties want control over the selection process,
not a requirement that they use a primary when voters
aren't registered by party and anyone can cross over.
It's nice to wish the parties would collaborate on this voters'
dream, but until then it would be better to build a school or put
more cops on the street with the millions wasted on a nonevent.
-CG
}lPllllllllllll
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: RO. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584
Telephone (380) 426-4412 • www.rnnasoncounty.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: Sean 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 Riordan, supervisor; Margot Brand, Jan Kallinen, pagination;
Monica CarvajaI-Beben, pagination, darkroom; Koleen Wood, typesetter, computer system manager;
William Adams, ad builder, computer system manager; Clinton Kendall, proofreader. Pressroom:
Kelly Riordan, pressman; Nick Carr, pressman's assistant.
uuuuuuuuuuun
Page 4 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, April 5, 2007
Readers" CJournal:
Solar: No smoke, just mirrors I
Editor, The Journal: find somebody who guarantees power plant, the target such plants Ed
If you spin a magnet it kind of
foofs the space around it, and if
you put a roll of copper wire into
that foofed space an electric cur-
rent will run down it. Spinning
magnets keep the lights on in
America.
Most of these spinning mag-
nets are powered by oil- or coal-
fired steam turbines. The down-
side to this is that we're running
out of/bssil fuels, most of the sup-
plies are in countries that don't
a}ways like us and of course you
get global warming.
Nuclear power also generates
steam. We light off a small
"controlled" nuclear explosion in
order to create heat to boil water.
Unfortunately, nuclear radiation
is "catching." The cooling water
becomes radioactive and then
eventually the system becomes
radioactive and then you have to
pack up the whole thing and take
it to a dump where it will be
stored for 10,000 to 100,000 years
depending on whether you can
their containers will last that
long.
The uranium that is used in
nuclear power plants is in limited
supply like everything else, and
one way to stretch out the supply
is to enrich the uranium after its
first run-through, which makes it
possible to use the stuff a second
time. This sounds great except
that enriched uranium is, by the
magic of chemistry, plutonium,
and as you probably know pluto-
nium is the stuff of nuclear wea-
ponry. Nobody really minds if a
country has nuclear power, but
when they go to a breeder reactor
and start enriching uranium,
that's when the eyebrows go up.
The good news about nuclear
power is that it doesn't create
global warming, but the downside
includes the need to keep replac-
ing power plants as they become
radioactive, the reality that no-
body wants one of these built any-
where close, the very long time it
takes to get permits for a nuclear
provide to terrorists and, last but
not least, the kaboom factor.
All this to spin a magnet.
There's another interesting
way to generate steam: with mir"
rors. If you aim the mirrors right,
you can bounce sunlight onto
tower where the temperature ris"
es to such extremes that salt
melts. The salt can then be used
to flash water into steam. It is dif"
ficult to store electricity, but it is
not difficult to store heat. Sola
power plants are already up and
running. Check out Solar Tw0
and Solar Three at wikipediJ
.com. A company called Solarge"
nix Energy is currently building
the third largest solar power
plant in the world in Nevada. Yo
can look up the company and the
project at www.solargenix.com.
No carbon dioxide to raise glob"
al temperature. No storage of
waste materials, debt to foreig
countries or suitcase bombs.
Demetria M. She€
Shelto :
Safe, reliable transportation
Editor, The Journal:
Safe, reliable school transpor-
tation is something we expect for
our students of the Shelton
School District.
Given the average age and
mileage of the current Shelton
school bus fleet, the safety and re-
liability is getting harder and
harder to obtain. The bus me-
chanics may be good at what they
do, but even they struggle to keep
some of the 20-year-old buses with
250,000-plus miles running.
The cost per mile increases
dramatically when a bus gets too
far past its useful life, which is 13
years. The average age of the
Shelton fleet is 20.6 years. Depre-
ciation money from the state is
not nearly enough to replace the
buses as they age.
In addition to the need to re-
place the old buses, there will be
a need to add approximately five
routes to accommodate the
growth for the upcoming housing
developments, one of which is al-
ready starting to build. It could
be possible that the district could
be caught without enough buses
to accommodate the students
within five years.
The Shelton School District
had the newer buses in the fleet
fitted with particulate filters to
help with the diesel emissions.
However, the grant would not
cover the older buses. All ne
school buses manufactured, start"
ing with the 2007 school year,
have new strict federally mandat"
ed emission standards that mak
the buses satbr for passengerS,
Wouldn't it be great to have ott
students riding on buses with saf*
er exhaust emissions and greater
reliability?
The proposed school bus levY
on the May 15 ballot is only
two-year commitment to taxpay"
ers. The Shelton School District
hasn't run a bus levy Ibr 13 yearS.
It's time, and the right thing to
do; it's all about the kids.
Sandi Thompso
Agat
Headlines warn of warming
Editor, The Journal:
Ardean Anvik's letter last
week, "Offer hard prooi" needs to
be put to bed along with other
negative attitudes on global
warming. Global warming is not a
religion of environmental ex-
tremists. Furthermore, how can
you overregulate our political sys-
tem and wreck our economy when
each needs fixing already?
Humans who inhabit the globe
have drastically impacted it in
the last 200 years. Animals live
within ecosystems that humans
have ]eft for them to survive on.
Change the delicate environmen-
tal balance and it is upset for dec-
ades or perhaps never recovers.
These changes contribute to ex-
tinction of species.
You want hard proof?. Some
people can't handle the proof
Well, the following are just a few
articles developed by intelligent
people around our globe. Need
further proof?. Go research and
put your Internet skills to work.
• Headlines from The Olympi-
an: Global warming could hit Ya-
kima Valley hard, February 24,
2005. Inslee to sit on global
warming panel. Study says
warming will cost Alaska billions.
Sinking jets a hazard of ice strip
landings in Antarctic. State's gla-
ciers eyed /'or warming, August
26, 2006. Official: African ice caps
melting, October 13, 2006.
38,000-square-mile lake in Arctic,
September 2006. "Wild ride" of
weather in store for regions -
Northwest predicted to have long-
er dry spells, heavier rains, Octo-
ber 21, 2006. Rising temperatures
transfbrming the Arctic, Novem-
ber 17, 2006. Global warming
threatens ancient ruins/coastal
sites, November 8, 2006. Supreme
Court takes up global warming,
November 30, 2006. Less ice
could cause polar bear cannibal-
ism, November 24, 2006. Global
warming may create novel cli-
mates, destroying others, March
27, 2007. Researchers diagnose
ocean animal die-offs, March 27,
2007. States' warming effort in
planning stage, March 31, 2007.
* From The Arizona Republic
on January 31, 2007: EPA wants
to tighten rules. Climate summit
urged. White House accused of
tampering with climate scientists'
studies. U.N. chief urged to hold
climate change summit.
• From The Arizona Republic
on February 27, 2007: Arizona,
Western governors form climate
alliance. Arizona, West tackle
greenhouse gases. Panel: Warm-
ing very likely man-made. Report
on warming won't call for actioV
by White House. And on February
22, 2007: Climate change threa';
tens Colorado River.
• From the Associated Press:
Schwarzenegger, Blair sidestep
Bush to unite on global warming.
If this inibrmation is not com-
pelling enough tbr some, then put
your ostrich head in the sand and :
come out when it is all over.
I can address each story indi*
vidually by subject or randomly
by lecture.
Our climate is what it is eve
when we humans modify it. We
all will suffer the consequences.
Bill Bruder
TimberlakeS
Fix what
we broke
Editor, The Journal:
Presumably we all hate war. 1
Yet our protesting marchers over" i
whelmingly voted tbr it without I
ample cause.
The thing is, we broke it. We i
ought to be inclined to fix it.
Doug Shilling
Shelton Valley
00ournal of Opinion:
Call off the dogs
What a comment on the state of our society and its respect
for its children when the school board starts talking about
bringing drug dogs into the junior high to sniff around. You
could tell by the discussion at last week's Shelton School Board
meeting that a few board members weren't completely
comfortable with the proposal by Oakland Bay Junior High
administrators. They shouldn't be.
For, as attractive as it might be to try to scare the
trap out of kids, it's a sad way to try to solve a problem.
It raises the specter of a police state and moves us one
step further toward it on the continuum. If drug dogs
don't solve the problem, what's next? In a world where
children's innocence is being ripped from them at
earlier and earlier ages, drug dogs rob them of more
innocence. It's tragic to make the majority suffer for the
sins of a minority. Plus there's a chance of a mistake or
abuse of power and traumatization of a blameless child.
The period since 9/11 hasn't exactly been the Golden Age of
Civil Liberties. One wonders whether, on the days the drug
dogs come to school, the social-studies teachers will be covering
the Fourth Amendment - the one giving the government the
right to make unreasonable searches - as well as the American
legal concept that a child is guilty until proven innocent. Our
civil liberties hang by the thread of our vigilance.
We understand why educators nationwide are
frustrated and want to take severe measures to deal
with the problem kids that irresponsible parenting has
handed them. But not all children deserve to be treated
severely, and putting your faith in such measures is no
guarantee they will solve the problem. The dogs would
search lockers. What if a kid keeps a bag in his pocket?
And, speaking of the deterrent effect, we're not sure defiant
children react rationally to threats. First, they're immature.
Second, they would like to hurt their parents. Third, their
punishment at age 14 is a slap on the wrist. Fourth, they know
that their getting caught with drugs would devastate their
parents. So the average delinquent would probably think, "It'll
never happen to me," or "If it does, who cares?" "
The schools should not poison their nurturing, educa-
tional atmosphere with drug dogs. They need to deal
with drug and alcohol abuse with education and inter-
vention, not with policies that adults wouldn't want
even for themselves.
Would adults want their own phones tapped and their
houses searched because it would make their neighbors feel
safer in a drug-soaked culture? The attitude "You have nothing
to fear if you've done nothing wrong" is a good way to have your
privacy destroyed.
The school board's decision is to be made in the future
after it has been presented with more information.
When the members are thinking about what they would
do for our children by bringing in the dogs, they need to
think about what theTwould do to our children.
Hey, big spenders
What is it about Washington's presidential primary that
gives it a free pass from people who normally scream about
wasteful government spending?
The election is one of the most worthless government
expenditures authorized by one of the lamest initiatives
ever passed based on state voters' fantasy, not reality.
Legislators had the good sense to kill the 2004 primary as
meaningless but let flounder a bill in this year's session that
would drive a spike through the 2008 fiasco. Apparently they
were afraid of being accused of saving taxpayers $9.7 million.
In the early 1990s, Washington's voters wanted in on
these presidential sweepstakes. Other states were
having all the fun and Washington didn't have any
influence. If only it had a primary it would have pull,
the reasoning went. Politicians would have to pay atten-
tion to us - come here to make promises they couldn't
keep, tell us what we wanted to hear, talk out of both
sides of their mouths and jockey for sound.bites on TV.
Trouble is, the political parties haven't cooperated with this
citizen dream. They don't use the primary results to choose
thei delegates to their national conventions and instead rely
on the caucus process, which involves only tens of thousands
instead of the million-plus who would vote in a primary. The
Democrats don't use the primary at all and the Republicans
choose about a third of their delegates using the results.
The parties want control over the selection process,
not a requirement that they use a primary when voters
aren't registered by party and anyone can cross over.
It's nice to wish the parties would collaborate on this voters'
dream, but until then it would be better to build a school or put
more cops on the street with the millions wasted on a nonevent.
-CG
}lPllllllllllll
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: RO. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584
Telephone (380) 426-4412 • www.rnnasoncounty.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: Sean 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 Riordan, supervisor; Margot Brand, Jan Kallinen, pagination;
Monica CarvajaI-Beben, pagination, darkroom; Koleen Wood, typesetter, computer system manager;
William Adams, ad builder, computer system manager; Clinton Kendall, proofreader. Pressroom:
Kelly Riordan, pressman; Nick Carr, pressman's assistant.
uuuuuuuuuuun
Page 4 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, April 5, 2007
Readers" CJournal:
Solar: No smoke, just mirrors I
Editor, The Journal: find somebody who guarantees power plant, the target such plants Ed
If you spin a magnet it kind of
foofs the space around it, and if
you put a roll of copper wire into
that foofed space an electric cur-
rent will run down it. Spinning
magnets keep the lights on in
America.
Most of these spinning mag-
nets are powered by oil- or coal-
fired steam turbines. The down-
side to this is that we're running
out of/bssil fuels, most of the sup-
plies are in countries that don't
a}ways like us and of course you
get global warming.
Nuclear power also generates
steam. We light off a small
"controlled" nuclear explosion in
order to create heat to boil water.
Unfortunately, nuclear radiation
is "catching." The cooling water
becomes radioactive and then
eventually the system becomes
radioactive and then you have to
pack up the whole thing and take
it to a dump where it will be
stored for 10,000 to 100,000 years
depending on whether you can
their containers will last that
long.
The uranium that is used in
nuclear power plants is in limited
supply like everything else, and
one way to stretch out the supply
is to enrich the uranium after its
first run-through, which makes it
possible to use the stuff a second
time. This sounds great except
that enriched uranium is, by the
magic of chemistry, plutonium,
and as you probably know pluto-
nium is the stuff of nuclear wea-
ponry. Nobody really minds if a
country has nuclear power, but
when they go to a breeder reactor
and start enriching uranium,
that's when the eyebrows go up.
The good news about nuclear
power is that it doesn't create
global warming, but the downside
includes the need to keep replac-
ing power plants as they become
radioactive, the reality that no-
body wants one of these built any-
where close, the very long time it
takes to get permits for a nuclear
provide to terrorists and, last but
not least, the kaboom factor.
All this to spin a magnet.
There's another interesting
way to generate steam: with mir"
rors. If you aim the mirrors right,
you can bounce sunlight onto
tower where the temperature ris"
es to such extremes that salt
melts. The salt can then be used
to flash water into steam. It is dif"
ficult to store electricity, but it is
not difficult to store heat. Sola
power plants are already up and
running. Check out Solar Tw0
and Solar Three at wikipediJ
.com. A company called Solarge"
nix Energy is currently building
the third largest solar power
plant in the world in Nevada. Yo
can look up the company and the
project at www.solargenix.com.
No carbon dioxide to raise glob"
al temperature. No storage of
waste materials, debt to foreig
countries or suitcase bombs.
Demetria M. She€
Shelto :
Safe, reliable transportation
Editor, The Journal:
Safe, reliable school transpor-
tation is something we expect for
our students of the Shelton
School District.
Given the average age and
mileage of the current Shelton
school bus fleet, the safety and re-
liability is getting harder and
harder to obtain. The bus me-
chanics may be good at what they
do, but even they struggle to keep
some of the 20-year-old buses with
250,000-plus miles running.
The cost per mile increases
dramatically when a bus gets too
far past its useful life, which is 13
years. The average age of the
Shelton fleet is 20.6 years. Depre-
ciation money from the state is
not nearly enough to replace the
buses as they age.
In addition to the need to re-
place the old buses, there will be
a need to add approximately five
routes to accommodate the
growth for the upcoming housing
developments, one of which is al-
ready starting to build. It could
be possible that the district could
be caught without enough buses
to accommodate the students
within five years.
The Shelton School District
had the newer buses in the fleet
fitted with particulate filters to
help with the diesel emissions.
However, the grant would not
cover the older buses. All ne
school buses manufactured, start"
ing with the 2007 school year,
have new strict federally mandat"
ed emission standards that mak
the buses satbr for passengerS,
Wouldn't it be great to have ott
students riding on buses with saf*
er exhaust emissions and greater
reliability?
The proposed school bus levY
on the May 15 ballot is only
two-year commitment to taxpay"
ers. The Shelton School District
hasn't run a bus levy Ibr 13 yearS.
It's time, and the right thing to
do; it's all about the kids.
Sandi Thompso
Agat
Headlines warn of warming
Editor, The Journal:
Ardean Anvik's letter last
week, "Offer hard prooi" needs to
be put to bed along with other
negative attitudes on global
warming. Global warming is not a
religion of environmental ex-
tremists. Furthermore, how can
you overregulate our political sys-
tem and wreck our economy when
each needs fixing already?
Humans who inhabit the globe
have drastically impacted it in
the last 200 years. Animals live
within ecosystems that humans
have ]eft for them to survive on.
Change the delicate environmen-
tal balance and it is upset for dec-
ades or perhaps never recovers.
These changes contribute to ex-
tinction of species.
You want hard proof?. Some
people can't handle the proof
Well, the following are just a few
articles developed by intelligent
people around our globe. Need
further proof?. Go research and
put your Internet skills to work.
• Headlines from The Olympi-
an: Global warming could hit Ya-
kima Valley hard, February 24,
2005. Inslee to sit on global
warming panel. Study says
warming will cost Alaska billions.
Sinking jets a hazard of ice strip
landings in Antarctic. State's gla-
ciers eyed /'or warming, August
26, 2006. Official: African ice caps
melting, October 13, 2006.
38,000-square-mile lake in Arctic,
September 2006. "Wild ride" of
weather in store for regions -
Northwest predicted to have long-
er dry spells, heavier rains, Octo-
ber 21, 2006. Rising temperatures
transfbrming the Arctic, Novem-
ber 17, 2006. Global warming
threatens ancient ruins/coastal
sites, November 8, 2006. Supreme
Court takes up global warming,
November 30, 2006. Less ice
could cause polar bear cannibal-
ism, November 24, 2006. Global
warming may create novel cli-
mates, destroying others, March
27, 2007. Researchers diagnose
ocean animal die-offs, March 27,
2007. States' warming effort in
planning stage, March 31, 2007.
* From The Arizona Republic
on January 31, 2007: EPA wants
to tighten rules. Climate summit
urged. White House accused of
tampering with climate scientists'
studies. U.N. chief urged to hold
climate change summit.
• From The Arizona Republic
on February 27, 2007: Arizona,
Western governors form climate
alliance. Arizona, West tackle
greenhouse gases. Panel: Warm-
ing very likely man-made. Report
on warming won't call for actioV
by White House. And on February
22, 2007: Climate change threa';
tens Colorado River.
• From the Associated Press:
Schwarzenegger, Blair sidestep
Bush to unite on global warming.
If this inibrmation is not com-
pelling enough tbr some, then put
your ostrich head in the sand and :
come out when it is all over.
I can address each story indi*
vidually by subject or randomly
by lecture.
Our climate is what it is eve
when we humans modify it. We
all will suffer the consequences.
Bill Bruder
TimberlakeS
Fix what
we broke
Editor, The Journal:
Presumably we all hate war. 1
Yet our protesting marchers over" i
whelmingly voted tbr it without I
ample cause.
The thing is, we broke it. We i
ought to be inclined to fix it.
Doug Shilling
Shelton Valley