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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
May 11, 2020     Shelton Mason County Journal
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May 11, 2020
 
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Léfisfis" cont. from p.49}; A12 Orga n ize a nd vote Trump out of office Editor, the Journal Minnesota Gov. Tim Waltz’s hearing interpreter should have her own show. Her facial expression, how she is shown interpreting the governor’s messages, is en- tertaining, plus the message that he is giving. Where is Trump (Guppy) in this crisis hiding? In the basement of the White House last night instead out ad- dressing the crowd to calm the situation? Bill Barr (Por- ky Pig), his lacky, blaming the Democrats for the protest. Oh well, Trump and Barr are taking away from the pandemic incompetency of their handling of the CO— VID-19 virus. What to do? Vote the Re- public Party of Trump and Senate out of’office this fall? Organize — we will need to protect our right to vote. RS. Trump supporter: You have the outrageous nerve to chastise me for name-calling when your hero uses the vilest accusation and name- calling by his own action. Wake up. Earl Mallinger Shelton Proud of peace Editor, the Journal I would like to commend the young people in the area who marched for justice on Sunday. After the carnage in Seattle, some people feared the same for Shelton. Prior to marching, the leader of the March for Jus- tice cautioned the group about interacting with anti- marchers. He reminded the group that the building own- ers and business proprietors would be understandably wary. The leader also warned the group that anti-marchers might try to incite and could be armed. . Under the watchful eye of law enforcement, these young people stayed on sidewalks evoking their constitutional rights. There was no Violence perpetrated by the marchers. If you have a child or grandchild, sibling or spouse, who was part of the march, you should feel proud. I’m all for closing the big cities to demonstrations, for a day and zooming in on the way it’s done in towns and small cities. Good job, Shelton! Joan Gilbert Shelton Rebellion, division Editor, the Journal Police confrontation with the public they serve. The military in the streets to es- tablish order or control the people’s right to demonstrate. How will you/we change the course that we are on? This is bigger than any political party. It is about the country. Equal justice forall. Haves- and have-nots in conflict. The investment community cel- ebrating the economy while many struggle for food for the first time in their lives. It is time to stop and take the time to evaluate what kind of country we want to have. Looking back is a waste of time, look forward to a coun- . try with equal opportunity for all. We must not fear our brothers and sisters from dif- ferent races and cultures. God loves all, love your neighbor as you love yourself. Paul L. Wilkins Belfair People will provide leadership Editor, the Journal The world is watching. Look around. Demonstrations against raciSm both obvious and systemic have erupted in nations around the world. Why? Because inspite of the attempts by the current na- tionalist leadership in the White House to withdraw from a leadership role around the world, the world still looks to the United States for moral leadership. If the lead- ership in the White House is not going to provide positive, compassionate moral leader- ship, then the people will. This gives me great hope. When the current White House resident is removed and a new moral leader takes over, this great experiment in multicultural society and representative government called the United States, will again be worthy to be seen as an example to be emulated ’ around the world. Stephen Warner Shelton Time to amend law? Editor, the Journal The pandemic is caus- ing dislocations across the country and deep pain to thousands of American fami- lies. While it’s difficult to be optimistic at this time, the pandemic might be an oppor- tunity to consider a very bad state law; a law that hinders how Mason County deals with the current plague and that also makes our country less able to face future chal- lenges. As it stands today, high- speed internet services are denied to many Mason Coun- ty residences, and indeed to many other rural residents in the state. I believe this is true largely due to a very specific action of the Wash- ington state government; the enactment in 2000 (and restatement in 2019) of RCW 54.16.330(1)(b) which states: “ nothing in this section shall be construed to autho- rize public utility districts to provide telecommunications services to end users.” Because of this law, PUDs are relegated to wholesale internet services and the commercial Internet Service Providers (Comcast, Hood Canal, iFiber are examples) are guaranteed the sole right to provide retail internet services. PUD 3 has a phrase to describe the arrange- ment: “We provide the pipe, they provide the services.” I suppose this PUD/internet service provider (ISP) model might actually be workable if everybody involved took as a given that every home in Mason County has a right to high speed internet services and worked to accomplish that goal. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Densely populated areas, i.e., Shelton, make it very cheap to hook up homes to provide high speed inter- net services using the PUD/ ISP model. However, if you live in a less densely popu- lated area of the county, and none of the commercial ISPs will deliver high-speed inter- net services to your home, you are out of luck, because PUD cannot serve you. The “We provide the pipe, they provide the ser- vices” model created by RCW 54.16.330(1)(b) is an example of government choosing winners (the ISPs) and los- ers (county residents who can’t get high speed inter- net services). Those county residents are denied high speed internet services by the ISPs for business rea- sons and by PUD 3 because of RCW 54.16.330(1)(b), a crystal-clear example of the government giving the com- mercial ISPs a sweetheart deal and many rural ratepay- ers the finger. Adding insult to injury, recent initiatives to expand high speed internet services to rural areas are using government grants to basically deliver more cus- tomers to the ISPs. Remem- ber, under current law, no matter how much federal and state money is spent extend- ing “the pipe,” only the ISPs can make the final connection to the internet. I once attended a candi- dates’ fomm in Shelton. It was one of those speed-dating affairs in which candidates go from table to table and an‘ swer questions). When it was my turn, I asked Rep. MacE— wen why PUD No. 3 was prohibited from providing high-speed internet services directly to Mason County res- idents. He didn’t directly an- swer my question, but he did volunteer that he believed that the PUD should be al- lowed to provide high speed internet services to county residences, but only after the commercial ISPs declined to provide the service. You get the picture: MacEwen would have amended the existing law to give the ISPs the right of first refusal. The ISPs would continue to have exclu- sive access to the low-hang- ing fruit and PUD 3 would be left to serve homes that the ISPs decline to serve. As hor- rible a public policy as MacE— wen’s suggestion was, his particular choice of winners and losers might be an im- provement over the current, even worse practice. I note that MacEwen voted in April 2019 (along with most of the House) to continue denying PUDs access to residential end users. So much for gov— ernment not picking winners and losers, a practice that MacEwen says he opposes. (See Rep. MacEwen’s guest column in the 5/14/2020 edi- tion of the Shelton-Mason County Journal titled “Gov- ernment should not pick win— ners, losers”) I started this letter by noting that the pandemic might be an opportunity to reconsider a rule to help us get through the current plague and also make our country better able to face future challenges. I think one thing we could do is repeal RCW 54.16.330(1)(b) and al- low public utility districts to compete with commercial ISPs in the provision of retail high-speed internet services. Consider the possibilities PUDs, organizations created decades ago to serve rural communities abandoned by the commercial electricity providers, might be capable of. Brian T. Walsh Shelton A glorious example of people power Editor, the Journal Joining tens of thousands of Black Lives Matter protest- ers around the world were at least 100 diverse folks in Belfair on Thursday, June 4, 2020. It was inspiring to see young to old people of many colors on the sidewalks of Belfair united in condemning white supremacy and police brutality. Signs called for equality and justice for all, an end to racism, and police violence. We were thrilled that so many drivers honked their horns, waved and shouted their support. One woman got out of her car as a passenger and joined us. Some people on the sidelines held signs, such as “I can’t breathe.” We were united in demanding better of our America. The three ministers who organized this event are to be commended. For some participants it was their first action, others have been de- manding justice for years, but we may have missed our togetherness, had it not been for the organizing. Job well done. Water was made avail- able at the Belfair Commu- nity Church. Also thanks to County Commissioner Randy Neatherlin for joining us and communicating with some who may not have agreed with the marchers’ purpose ahead of our start. We were escorted by Ma- _‘ son County Sheriffs Office deputies, though our inten- sion was to be peaceful, oth- ers may have felt threatened, Thursday, June 11, 2020 Shelton-Mason County Journal Page A-5 but the day was a glorious example of, “people power” exercising our Constitutional rights of freedom of speech and assembly (yes, most of us wore masks). Hopefully this will be the beginning of great- er understanding, and lead to more actions for justice for all, end racism and peace! Michael Siptroth Belfair Misrepresenting regulation Editor, the Journal Alright, A.A., have it your way. You did not invent a regulation; you misrepresent- ed the content of ESSB 5396. From your letter, exactly: “An example is the new require- ment that schools instead of parents give sex education to very young students.” There is no language in ESSB 5395 to infer, imply or require parents to cease teaching sex education or any subject to very young students. Arthur Rohlik Shelton Throw out our totalitarian dictator Editor, the Journal Is this a Wizard of Oz mo~ ment in time? Just where did the tornado land us? The Philippines? Venezuela? El Salvador? Oman? I thought we were still in the constitu- tional democracy called the United States, but strong man Trump has brOught out Bill Barr’s hand-picked army as if this were Rhodesia or similar country run by the secret police. Another unarmed black man has been tragically murdered by uniformed po- lice, justifying a nationwide ' outpouring of our grief and righteous indignation. Please look beyond the 2% loot— ers and trouble-makers and please notice the 98% that are peaceful and of all colors and ethnicities. It’s time to end the century and a half of institutional racism at all levels inflicted on people of color. We should all be glad that in Mason County, we have a zero chance of being pulled over for DWB (driving while black) or for looking like. Just spend a week living in the poor neighborhoods of large cities with people of color and listen to the stories, and you’ll know I speak the truth. Never forget to vote in N o- vember, Trump does not get to play the role of Mussolini in Italy, or Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines — this is the United States. Throw out the totalitarian dictator this year. I William Busacca Shelton see LETTERS, page A—6