April 28, 2011 Shelton Mason County Journal | ![]() |
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EDITORIAL
Changing for .... good of the community
One month ago the Journal ran an
editorial calling on the city officials
of Shelton to do better in attracting
businesses, producing new jobs and in
fostering a business growth environment.
During the last few weeks the city has
rezoned 160 acres of land to encourage
growth and new building and this week
we run a story about another rezone
downtown. The proposed rezone between
the Mason County campus and the
Sheltonville Historic District (see page 3)
will hopefully encourage new growth.
The confusion that results from myriad
regulations, building codes and outdated
ordinances that led a developer to call
Shelton "one of the three toughest (cities)
in the state to do business," is beginning
to change. The city of Shelton is being
proactive and trying to rebound from the
recession by updating its zoning codes
and fixing sewer issues.
The Journal commends the city for
taking these strides and hopes to see
many more changes during the coming
months.
That said, members of the community
need to remain active and attend public
meetings that the city holds. Now that the
Adage issue is gone, it is easy to return
to passive engagement with local politics.
It seems like the city is reinvigorated
and looking to make positive change.
Residents will have to stay involved,
voice their opinions and make sure these
changes are beneficial to our community.
The city has scheduled a public
meeting on the zoning amendment at 6
p.m. Monday.
TO EDITOR
Facts should What a
never stand
in the way
of snappy
retorts
Editor, the Journal
After reading the letter
to the Mason County Jour-
nal submitted by Dennis E.
Frost, my first inclination
is to congratulate him on
the snappy acronym: CAVE
(Citizens Against Virtually
Everything). I love it.
Unfortunately it is not
true, as many of us are up to
our armpits in volunteer pro-
grams, commissioner meet-
ings, citizen committees and
supporting job-creating proj-
ects like the 160-acre rezone
south of Sanderson Field.
But, never mind facts should
never stand in the way of
snappy retorts. Still, I would
like to correct a couple of Mr.
Frost's assumptions.
First, no one is advocating
for the closure of Sanderaon
Field; that's just a bit of poof
Port Director John Dobson
keeps spouting to keep local
pilots up in arms. Trust me,
deal- make
downtown
really ugly
Editor, the Journal
At present, Simpson
Lumber and Olympic Pan-
el provide quite a few jobs
for our community. We ac-
cept the negative aspects
of their presence in Shel-
ton, like the pollution for
example, because of these
jobs. Another way of de-
scribing this relationship is
"symbiosis" a relationship
of mutual benefit.
Imagine a Shelton in
which Simpson and Olym-
pic Panel exist, but some-
how provide no jobs for lo-
cal residents.
With the noise, tons of
pollutants and an appear-
ance resembling a malig-
nant tumor, how long do
you think we would allow
Simpson and Olympic Pan-
el to operate here without
providing any benefits to
our community?
One day? One week? Not
Dennis, it ain't gonna hap- long to be sure. Why would
pen; not now, not later. And we?
no one wants it to haisn ........... Back in the real world,
because the airport is a key we know why Simpson and
component of any credible
economic recovery plan.
I've told Mr. Dobson this
in no uncertain terms. But,
hey, it appears he doesn't like
the movie so he keeps yelling
something about there being
a fire in the theatre.
Fact is, the worse enemy
of uninterrupted airport op-
erations may be John Dob-
son, himself: by persistently
alienating the public and
fighting against jobs and us-
ing "cry wolff scare tactics,
it's only a matter of time be-
fore he's up there in the wild
blue yonder all alone, and
then you have a real prob-
lem.
The second assumption
is that the use of the phrase
"old, white men" is somehow
disrespectful; that seems to
have struck a chord with Mr.
Frost. But at 65 years of age,
male, and white, I wasn't
offended, and neither were
any of my old, white, male
friends. Fact is we all had a
pretty good laugh about it. So
toughen up, Dennis, haven't
you ever been in the Service?
I'm sure you've heard worse.
This here is Timber country,
not Disney Land; so hike up
your skirt and stop searching
under rocks for something
that offends you.'
Otherwise, not a bad let-
ter; I liked it. Give me a call
(Dobson has my phone num-
ber) and I'll buy you a beer.
Tom Davis
Shelton
friends are still here. Again,
it's the jobs.
Now, however, Simpson
has given birth to another
new child. This one is called
the Solomon Renewable
Energy Company. This new
Companyls sole purpose is o
build a new biomass incin-
erator in downtown Shelton
in order to sell electricity to
the highest bidder.
Simpson has publicly
stated that this new incin-
erator would bring two to
three new jobs. You can be-
lieve what you want about
those numbers, but there
is no doubt about this new
incinerator producing tons
and tons of pollutants to
which thousands of our citi-
zens would be exposed.
With Simpson/Solomon's
proposed second biomass
incinerator, our previously
mentioned fantasy would
become our new reality.
We would get the increased
noise, tons of increased pol-
lution and an even more
ugly downtown. All of this
would be ours with little or
no benefit to our communi-
ty. Solomon's relationship
to the community would a
parasitic one rather than
symbiotic. What a deal.
John Cox
Shelton
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"What do you mean I've lost touch with reality?"
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Page A-4 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, April 28, 2011,2011
Rick Kennedy, publisher
Newsroom:
Jesse Mullen, editor
Kevan Moore, news editor
Advertising: Composing room:
Dave Pierik, advertising manager William Adams, graphics
Harvey Morris, ad representatrve Gaylene Wiseman, paginator
Mat Taylor, ad representative Koleen Wood, classifieds/legals
Dean Siemon, sports Front office: Becky Corr, typing
Donna Kinnaird, bookkeeper Pressroom:
Ada Shephard, North Mason, Margot Brand, circulation Kelly Riordan, production manager
environment, reporter Natalie Cricket Carter, mailroom supervisor Travis Miller press operator
Johnson, reporter