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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
April 23, 2020     Shelton Mason County Journal
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April 23, 2020
 
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Page A—6 Shelton-Mason County Journal Thursday, April 23, 2020 Léfiéhé 332;}? page‘ilé Hot spots should be idenfified Editor, the Journal What is the common factor among the 18 known carriers of this nasty coronavirus? I have not been able to get any info from the Mason County , Health Department and I am certain that they have identi- fied some common location through which these unfortu~ nate individuals have passed. Were they recently at a local nursing home, the local hospi- tal,-maybe even their doctor? Perhaps at a gas station or a grocery store or even a quick stop? Any known hotspots need to be identified. Robert Meacham Shelton The danger of big business governing Editor, the Journal There are many things Wall Street does very well. They know how to calculate and assess risk. They can cal- culate'out costs benefits.- The problem is the analysis only Works with impersonal commodities. The problem is the tendency to treat every- thing as a commodity. Fur- thermore, they will always undervalue any cost or risk they do not think they will personally have to pay. Recent public comments coming from very wealthy business leaders and their associated politicians show us once and for all where their hearts lie. No matter how much they whine, none of the large corporations are in any danger of folding. Tliey have all been gorging on tax cuts and had nothing better to do with cash than stock buybacks. They will get the loans they need if they need cash. They can also sell some of the stock they bought back. They’ll take a hit. But they will be just fine and I worry about them exactly as much as they worry about the rest of society. Which is not at all. The big money community thinks they will be making more money by opening as quick as possible. They seem to think that loss of life is suf- ficiently small as to make the risk worth it. Well, to them at least. They’ll be nice and se- questered away running their financial games from home. But the rest of us will not be so blessed. We’ll be happily passing around this sociable little virus. The current num— bers suggest that almost all of you will make it, so why not? The problem with busi- nessmen is that they will always underestimate social costs because they are con- vinced that they and theirs will not pay them. Everyone else will. It is called external- izing costs, and corporations play this game all the time. COVID—19 has the poten- tial to infect a significant percentage of the population. Just because it hasn’t hap— pened yet, does not mean it will not get around in the next year or so. Do not be con- tent to sit on laurels because the fatalities are smaller than projected. Let people mix freely, laugh off the precau- tions, let your hospitals get overloaded, and you.will see how bad bad gets. And if we have a significant number of people dying over say a one-year period, you can bet nobody is going to their pre-COVID levels of behavior. In fact, trying to run the exper- iment of business as usual will yield very unhappy economic results. The reason is that there will be more chaos, thus more disruption of economic systems. And you will get a higher body count to go with it. Businesspeople tend to have a problem seeing these external costs. Contrary to belief, mar- kets are not rational, nor do markets properly assess risks. The reason is human nature. Once business people think they will make piles of money, all they see are the dollar signs from there on out. And every other consideration; all the lessons of business school, law school, and ethics classes; or whatever else they studied goes right out the window. And that means they will overestimate benefits and underestimate ’ social costs. Tobacco did it. The asbestos industry did it. Climate denying executives do it. And now we want to use the general population as guinea pigs for a new experiment. All because of making more money now, now, now. Andrew Makar Hoodsport The new ’POTUS’ Editor, the Journal Forget Washington, Lin— coln and all the rest, For we have a new “PO- TUS” who says he is the best. We know it is true, for he tells us each day, “Only listen to my wis— dom,” he will always say. Truth is false and Wrong is right, And no matter how dirty, he will make it bright. But cross him for anything wrong that you know, ‘ He will denounce and be- little you just to show, How strong he is and weak you are, For truth is only allowed to go so far. If it interferes with his own benefits and challenges his control, He will send out his lackeys, who are on his patrol, Who have no conscience and will do anything he cem- mands, Or care for the law or wha it demands. He ignored all the signs of what the virus would do, And how to prevent it, he hadn’t a clue. Now thousands have died, and he has no care, For the pain and suffering he leaves us to bear. And now wants everything open without delay, Though wiser ones caution, to do so may, Increase the problem and make it worse, ‘ Which will make us mad and start to curse, Of being misled and made to think, It is the answer, that we are not on the brink, Of dire results, we can’t undo, As our resources are lim- ited and down to a few. It is our duty to use our voice, In the next election, and make the right choice. We must be strong, and keep our might, ' $69 AlJ‘t “Lll’ll’il ll'l AIMl Hi .‘al w l‘mlmu l HIM :u .i. n/l'flw-li'li ml‘ 5minuzmrwiizmyz. win: vu’uluiiwnwn “ii”!“Wylie;[glidiltycflom17',’xllnl“€_alfi uwmmn. .iiwly l Come see why everyone is smiling! We providi- implants, oral surgery, mi)! canals. veneers, crowns, ‘ bridges and more. Have your dental work done right here in Shelton and «we: the driving for the weekend. 1829 Jefferson Street, Shelton 1 (360) 426*8401 Q wWW.2iwlimall?umlrcinitiators To take back our govern- ment and turn wrong to right. To again work for the ben- efit of all the nation, And our right for, happi- ness and elation. _ We need a good leader, who has our vision, And make it happen as his/ her mission. ' _Pat Vandehey ’ Shelton Records from lGreat lnflUenza’ incomplete Editor, the Journal On Oct. 2017, I gave a presentation at the Mason County Historical Society’s monthly meeting. It was titled “The Great Influenza Epidemic,” with a subtitle of “One Flu Over The Cuckoo’s Nest.” The main focus was on conditions and effects in Mason County from 1917 to 1920. Part of the research for this presentation was to read the official records, local and state concerning the number of dead and sick. Another avenue of research was to read each issue of the Mason County Journal from January 1917 until December 1920. I also read the newspapers from the surrounding towns in Grays Harbor, Lewis and Pacific countiesfor the same time period. The official records for Ma- son County and Washington state, as I was to discover, were incomplete or absent for much of the time frame involved. Several reasons can be inferred by the lack of re- cords. One, the record keeper, usually the'coroner or county health officer, died from in- fluenza (this frequently hap- pened all across the United States during this time) or the individual didn’t inves- tigate the deaths, for fear of contacting influenza himself and contributing the death toll. There is a third reason and it’s explained below. The results are one and the same, lack of a true number of the dead. Prior to my research I’d been told the number of dead in Mason County from the epi- demic ranged from the low 30s. to the mid-50$ depending on who was asked. However, my reading of the Mason County Journal revealed 80 named victims. The final tally ex— ceeds that number by at least 98 and probably many more. The local editors shared a similar bias across all four of the counties mentioned above. The bias? Some vic— tims are more valuable than others. Hence there are counters and then there are counters or more accurately; non-counters. Also, when a story contained claim, claims, or claimed used along with victim or victims, these folks were dead. Always. . The following is verbatim l from the Dec. 27, 1918, issue of the Mason County Journal: “The influenza epidemic which took a fresh start two weeks ago, seems to be on the wane again although fully one hundred victims of bad colds and ‘near flu’ were claimed during this time. Conditions seem to be improving and the school and churches may re- sume their services after this week, but this is not assured until the bells are heard ring- ing once again.” I was able to identify only two people of the 100. The 98 left, in my opinion, fell into the noncounter column. That column consisted of na- tive Americans, and those ' with surname of Japanese, Chinese, Italian, Greek or Finnish origin to name a few. They were living and working here in logging camps, mills and oyster beds. They weren’t immune to influenza, they just weren’t white enough or valuable encugh to count as . ~ part of the toll of influenza. ' ’ Note the date of the article — there are two years and several differentflu surges left to sweep across Mason Coun- ty. The editor didn’t know it when he wrote the article, but the same refrain about schools and churches being closed and opened would play out again ' and again. Flash forward to April. Mark Twain is supposed to have said; “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often " ,: rhymes.” I, for one, hope his- tOry doesn’t repeat itself or even come close to rhyming with the 1918 influenza epi- demic. So should you. Stan Graham Shelton cu ,Our Co munity Credit Unionm SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM Applications must be postmarked by April 30, and winners will be annOunced in May 2020. Application and guidelines are available to download at www.0urcu.com