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Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
May 17, 2007     Shelton Mason County Journal
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May 17, 2007
 
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00___00,f__pournal o 0 inion:, Chuck the holes Shelton residents who have been complaining about the city's streets for the past few decades will get a chance soon to improve things. Here's hoping the citizens will get behind a reasonable city plan to start a long-overdue facelift of urban thoroughfares in residential areas. The program wouldn't be the dream fix - immediate repair of all ugly streets, which would be prohibitively expensive. The proposed plan is by no means inexpensive, and it would take years for some streets to be fixed, but it is an affordable alternative to the pattern of neglect that has left streets in their current condition. The city will need a great public-relations campaign to explain the program to the citizens. They need to know what it is and what it isn't, what they can expect and what they can't expect from a maintenance program when priorities could be in flux and skyrocketing materials costs could affect the amount of work done in any one year. The city commission hopes to get voters' permission in this fall's general election and then start the maintenance program next year. Consent is needed to raise the city's levy lid for six years, which would increase property owners' taxes to pay for the program. The exact amount, to be determined when the commission fine-tunes a proposal for the voters, probably will start at about 25 cents per $1,000 of valuation in the first year and rise to more than a dollar after a few years. This would be a long-term maintenance program financed by levy money, not a short-term rebuilding program financed by a bond issue - the sort of proposal rejected by voters twice 10 years ago. Back then, the city proposed to tax property owners $1.40 per $1,000 for 15 years to improve 34 miles of streets. (A 1990s survey of the city's 57 miles of streets found 36 miles to be substandard, and conditions have worsened since then.) So why does the city need more for streets when its street maintenance budget already tops $600,000? The "street maintenance budget" includes everything from streetl{ghts to snow removal to street cleaning to mowing and traffic-light maintenance. The upshot is that about one-tenth of the "street maintenance budget" goes for what the average person thinks of as street repair. The city engineer in 2005 estimated that the city would need $500,000 a year to maintain its residential streets. So each year that it spends a fraction of that on street repair it falls further behind. A 2004 Journal editorial pointed out that at the rate the city was repairing streets it would take 201 years to do the $13- million backlog of work existing at that time. As much as the citizens would like a list of promised work on certain streets in specific years before they vote on the levy lid lift, city officials won't be able to give them one. That's unfortunate, because it probably would help sell the proposal, but city officials don't want to make promises they might not be able to keep. They can commit to "x" lane miles of work in a year, but priorities could change. For example, in 2008 citizens could expect about two miles of streets to be repaired. In 2009 it would be about seven miles if the maximum were collected ($1.17 per $1,000) but more like three miles if less were collected (48 cents per $1,000). How could priorities change? For one, the city would move up projects in neighborhoods forming local improvement districts (LIDs) to fix streets. It can improve more miles for its dollars by creating an incentive (paying a portion of LID costs) to form an LID. Second, a street might drop off a list of eligible projects if it suddenly fell into the worst category - those very expensive to repair. In fact, two streets fell from adequate to failed in the last year. That's even more reason to get a maintenance program in place: to stop continuing deterioration. Another unfortunate aspect, one that coul d cast a few votes, is that the city wouldn't repair the rst streets - those that have failed so badly that they would cost much more than others to fix-because its goal is to fix the most miles of streets for its money. Gravel streets aren't necessarily failed streets and can often be chip-sealed relatively cheaply. There will be people in this town who'll wonder what's in it for them if they live on a failed street that is a last priority. But the city will be forthright in labeling those streets before election. Yet another factor making it more difficult to sell the program will be that senior citizens don't get relief from a levy lid lift the way they do with bonds. That shouldn't be an automatic "no" vote. Seniors, too, have to determine what they can afford and consider their quality of life and the community good. In many ways it will boil down to trust. To vote "yes," the citizens need to trust that this city administration will deliver. The city has been trying to earn that trust over the last few years by tackling thorny infrastructure issues such as sewer and stormwater systems whose past neglect threatened to strangle the municipality. We hope an informed electorate can see the merit in repairing the streets before they are all pathetic. -CG lulull Shelton- I ourna County usPs 492-800 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: p.o. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584 Telephone (360) 426-4412 • www.masoncounty.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. Neweroom: 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, mallroom 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. Page 4 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, May 17, 2007 "00PO and OLP Uk00" I00eaders" 00ournal: What a difference words make Editor, The Journal: In regards to Lois Walker's May 10 letter about the U.S. Supreme Court's decision on abortion ("Ap- palled at court's decision"): The ruling covered partial-birth abortion only. Before the ruling a baby partly delivered but whose head was still inside the mother's body was not alive enough to be protected. They could choose to re- duce or separate the fetal caluar- ium. That's called "choice speak" by the pro-choice people. Another way of putting "reduc- ing the calvarium" is to suck the brains from the baby's head or "separating the calvarium" is to sever the head with scissors. What a difference words can make. "Choice speak" sounds civi- lized while the other sounds bar- baric. Women can still render them- selves unpregnant by other means. They can still disarticulate the fe- tus (choice speak), which means to dismember it - and we call our- selves civilized? Rest assured not all women are confused by the pro-choice tactic of using Orwellian language to sani- tize what's being said• ¢d As for whatever happen ;t'l separation of church and sta not there and it never was It s a myth used by the Amer Civil Liberties Union, whiCh . lieves if you tell a lie long en0 and often enough people will to believe it Get a copy of the .C, • jj stitution and see for yourself. I misused phrase written by Tl as Jefferson in a personal lettg'. It's not a question of reli.? it's a question of right and w. Ralph E. Ald More inconvenient truths Editor, The Journal: More inconvenient truths. In response to three letters last week, "Appalled with court's de- cision," "Guilty of crimes" and "Keep letters short and factual": (1) Appalled? Who's appalled? The left-leaning media has hard- ly made mention of the recent Supreme Court decision against "partial-birth abortions." Only a few diehard liberals and some who are past childbearing age are complaining. Nowhere in our Constitution or Bill of Rights does it say anything about a woman's right to murder an unborn child. I'm all for choice prior to sex and pregnancy. Women have the absolute right to say YES or NO, use or not use a condom, a dia- phragm, spermicide or abstinence, or they can just cross their legs. If none of these CHOICES comes to mind before sex, then, there is al- ways the morning-after pill. Presumably unless a woman is  a hooker or is raped there is a ro- mantic bond that leads up to sex. Having an abortion, especially a mid- to late-term abortion, is NOT a justifiable means of birth control and is risky to the patient just as is any medical procedure. You do not have to be a religious man or woman to come to this conclusion. (2) It should be obvious to even far-lei-wing liberal Democrats and critical thinkers alike that the Bush/Cheney Administration has not committed high crimes and misdemeanors. With majori- ties" in both the House and, ate, the leadership of which  ally hates President Bush  administration, it is beyond r abilities to do anything bu plain, moan and whine aboU thing they don't agree with. In other words there impeachable offenses that stand up in an imp em ceeding. By extension that there was no lying or the Congress or the only Democrats who are posing impeachment are so: in left field that even of Democrats ignore them. 1 (3) Sometimes more th' words are needed to corlVeY idea. Bill  Weather works without help Editor, The Journal: Larry Taylor in his letter of May 3 ("Cranks and liars") only showed his arrogance once again. Accord- ing to him, he's far superior to any- one else ad he is an expert on ev- erything.' Maybe he should take his invalu- able talents to Washington and give his great expertise to the nation. Of course he would fit in just like he didn't fit into the Navy way of life. Everything in the environment can have an effect on the climate and therefore the climate is part of that environment. Wind com- ing down a mountain slope tends to increase as it flows down the mountain and compresses, raising the temperature. Conversely wind flowing in off the water masses tends to cool the earth. Also large concreted areas tend to cause the temperature to increase as much as five degrees or more on bright sunny days. The climate is directly affected by the environment of every area on Earth. That includes deforesta- tion, new developments of housing and businesses. Mr. Taylor should quit trying to make people think they have something to do with the weather. It's been working very well without his or Al Gore's help. Explain what caused the ice age and why we don't have one now. All things in the environment affect the climate or the weather. They are all part of that great outdoors. Without certain things in the envi- ronment we would not have rain. And weather isn't an exact science either. Tell me man had something to do with that. As far as I know God didn't turn climate or the control of weather over to man yet. It would be just one more thing for man to mess up. He gave humans free will over their lives and see how they have managed to mess it up. Mr. Taylor's great A1 Gore is just a pompous, overbearing jackass who likes to create fear. He's a pes- simist who can only see everything as bad and nothing good in anyone except himself and idiots like Mr. Taylor who don't enjoy life and don't think anyone should be ei- ther. Mr. Taylor can only see a half empty glass and not one half full. He and Al Gore make a great pair. I suppose Mr. Taylor takes in this garbage of carbon credits and just like Gore don't have to change his lifestyle but everyone else must. Another one of those that think there should be two classes of peo- ple, the Haves and the Have Nots, just as long as you are one of the Haves. Science is just that - a It isn't exact and never Just like evolution is a nothing more. M.an didn't from apes, or the apes around now. At least the Republi conservatives for the m interested in selves and trying to advara We believe you get ahead i your own merits, not ernment handouts. There are some just aS Mr. Taylor's ilk as there : Democrats who are okaY v they tend to let the liberals them because they are .too: kneed to speak out. Joe Liew" is that one exception. 00___00,f__pournal o 0 inion:, Chuck the holes Shelton residents who have been complaining about the city's streets for the past few decades will get a chance soon to improve things. Here's hoping the citizens will get behind a reasonable city plan to start a long-overdue facelift of urban thoroughfares in residential areas. The program wouldn't be the dream fix - immediate repair of all ugly streets, which would be prohibitively expensive. The proposed plan is by no means inexpensive, and it would take years for some streets to be fixed, but it is an affordable alternative to the pattern of neglect that has left streets in their current condition. The city will need a great public-relations campaign to explain the program to the citizens. They need to know what it is and what it isn't, what they can expect and what they can't expect from a maintenance program when priorities could be in flux and skyrocketing materials costs could affect the amount of work done in any one year. The city commission hopes to get voters' permission in this fall's general election and then start the maintenance program next year. Consent is needed to raise the city's levy lid for six years, which would increase property owners' taxes to pay for the program. The exact amount, to be determined when the commission fine-tunes a proposal for the voters, probably will start at about 25 cents per $1,000 of valuation in the first year and rise to more than a dollar after a few years. This would be a long-term maintenance program financed by levy money, not a short-term rebuilding program financed by a bond issue - the sort of proposal rejected by voters twice 10 years ago. Back then, the city proposed to tax property owners $1.40 per $1,000 for 15 years to improve 34 miles of streets. (A 1990s survey of the city's 57 miles of streets found 36 miles to be substandard, and conditions have worsened since then.) So why does the city need more for streets when its street maintenance budget already tops $600,000? The "street maintenance budget" includes everything from streetl{ghts to snow removal to street cleaning to mowing and traffic-light maintenance. The upshot is that about one-tenth of the "street maintenance budget" goes for what the average person thinks of as street repair. The city engineer in 2005 estimated that the city would need $500,000 a year to maintain its residential streets. So each year that it spends a fraction of that on street repair it falls further behind. A 2004 Journal editorial pointed out that at the rate the city was repairing streets it would take 201 years to do the $13- million backlog of work existing at that time. As much as the citizens would like a list of promised work on certain streets in specific years before they vote on the levy lid lift, city officials won't be able to give them one. That's unfortunate, because it probably would help sell the proposal, but city officials don't want to make promises they might not be able to keep. They can commit to "x" lane miles of work in a year, but priorities could change. For example, in 2008 citizens could expect about two miles of streets to be repaired. In 2009 it would be about seven miles if the maximum were collected ($1.17 per $1,000) but more like three miles if less were collected (48 cents per $1,000). How could priorities change? For one, the city would move up projects in neighborhoods forming local improvement districts (LIDs) to fix streets. It can improve more miles for its dollars by creating an incentive (paying a portion of LID costs) to form an LID. Second, a street might drop off a list of eligible projects if it suddenly fell into the worst category - those very expensive to repair. In fact, two streets fell from adequate to failed in the last year. That's even more reason to get a maintenance program in place: to stop continuing deterioration. Another unfortunate aspect, one that coul d cast a few votes, is that the city wouldn't repair the rst streets - those that have failed so badly that they would cost much more than others to fix-because its goal is to fix the most miles of streets for its money. Gravel streets aren't necessarily failed streets and can often be chip-sealed relatively cheaply. There will be people in this town who'll wonder what's in it for them if they live on a failed street that is a last priority. But the city will be forthright in labeling those streets before election. Yet another factor making it more difficult to sell the program will be that senior citizens don't get relief from a levy lid lift the way they do with bonds. That shouldn't be an automatic "no" vote. Seniors, too, have to determine what they can afford and consider their quality of life and the community good. In many ways it will boil down to trust. To vote "yes," the citizens need to trust that this city administration will deliver. The city has been trying to earn that trust over the last few years by tackling thorny infrastructure issues such as sewer and stormwater systems whose past neglect threatened to strangle the municipality. We hope an informed electorate can see the merit in repairing the streets before they are all pathetic. -CG lulull Shelton- I ourna County usPs 492-800 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: p.o. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584 Telephone (360) 426-4412 • www.masoncounty.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. Neweroom: 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, mallroom 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. Page 4 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, May 17, 2007 "00PO and OLP Uk00" I00eaders" 00ournal: What a difference words make Editor, The Journal: In regards to Lois Walker's May 10 letter about the U.S. Supreme Court's decision on abortion ("Ap- palled at court's decision"): The ruling covered partial-birth abortion only. Before the ruling a baby partly delivered but whose head was still inside the mother's body was not alive enough to be protected. They could choose to re- duce or separate the fetal caluar- ium. That's called "choice speak" by the pro-choice people. Another way of putting "reduc- ing the calvarium" is to suck the brains from the baby's head or "separating the calvarium" is to sever the head with scissors. What a difference words can make. "Choice speak" sounds civi- lized while the other sounds bar- baric. Women can still render them- selves unpregnant by other means. They can still disarticulate the fe- tus (choice speak), which means to dismember it - and we call our- selves civilized? Rest assured not all women are confused by the pro-choice tactic of using Orwellian language to sani- tize what's being said• ¢d As for whatever happen ;t'l separation of church and sta not there and it never was It s a myth used by the Amer Civil Liberties Union, whiCh . lieves if you tell a lie long en0 and often enough people will to believe it Get a copy of the .C, • jj stitution and see for yourself. I misused phrase written by Tl as Jefferson in a personal lettg'. It's not a question of reli.? it's a question of right and w. Ralph E. Ald More inconvenient truths Editor, The Journal: More inconvenient truths. In response to three letters last week, "Appalled with court's de- cision," "Guilty of crimes" and "Keep letters short and factual": (1) Appalled? Who's appalled? The left-leaning media has hard- ly made mention of the recent Supreme Court decision against "partial-birth abortions." Only a few diehard liberals and some who are past childbearing age are complaining. Nowhere in our Constitution or Bill of Rights does it say anything about a woman's right to murder an unborn child. I'm all for choice prior to sex and pregnancy. Women have the absolute right to say YES or NO, use or not use a condom, a dia- phragm, spermicide or abstinence, or they can just cross their legs. If none of these CHOICES comes to mind before sex, then, there is al- ways the morning-after pill. Presumably unless a woman is  a hooker or is raped there is a ro- mantic bond that leads up to sex. Having an abortion, especially a mid- to late-term abortion, is NOT a justifiable means of birth control and is risky to the patient just as is any medical procedure. You do not have to be a religious man or woman to come to this conclusion. (2) It should be obvious to even far-lei-wing liberal Democrats and critical thinkers alike that the Bush/Cheney Administration has not committed high crimes and misdemeanors. With majori- ties" in both the House and, ate, the leadership of which  ally hates President Bush  administration, it is beyond r abilities to do anything bu plain, moan and whine aboU thing they don't agree with. In other words there impeachable offenses that stand up in an imp em ceeding. By extension that there was no lying or the Congress or the only Democrats who are posing impeachment are so: in left field that even of Democrats ignore them. 1 (3) Sometimes more th' words are needed to corlVeY idea. Bill  Weather works without help Editor, The Journal: Larry Taylor in his letter of May 3 ("Cranks and liars") only showed his arrogance once again. Accord- ing to him, he's far superior to any- one else ad he is an expert on ev- erything.' Maybe he should take his invalu- able talents to Washington and give his great expertise to the nation. Of course he would fit in just like he didn't fit into the Navy way of life. Everything in the environment can have an effect on the climate and therefore the climate is part of that environment. Wind com- ing down a mountain slope tends to increase as it flows down the mountain and compresses, raising the temperature. Conversely wind flowing in off the water masses tends to cool the earth. Also large concreted areas tend to cause the temperature to increase as much as five degrees or more on bright sunny days. The climate is directly affected by the environment of every area on Earth. That includes deforesta- tion, new developments of housing and businesses. Mr. Taylor should quit trying to make people think they have something to do with the weather. It's been working very well without his or Al Gore's help. Explain what caused the ice age and why we don't have one now. All things in the environment affect the climate or the weather. They are all part of that great outdoors. Without certain things in the envi- ronment we would not have rain. And weather isn't an exact science either. Tell me man had something to do with that. As far as I know God didn't turn climate or the control of weather over to man yet. It would be just one more thing for man to mess up. He gave humans free will over their lives and see how they have managed to mess it up. Mr. Taylor's great A1 Gore is just a pompous, overbearing jackass who likes to create fear. He's a pes- simist who can only see everything as bad and nothing good in anyone except himself and idiots like Mr. Taylor who don't enjoy life and don't think anyone should be ei- ther. Mr. Taylor can only see a half empty glass and not one half full. He and Al Gore make a great pair. I suppose Mr. Taylor takes in this garbage of carbon credits and just like Gore don't have to change his lifestyle but everyone else must. Another one of those that think there should be two classes of peo- ple, the Haves and the Have Nots, just as long as you are one of the Haves. Science is just that - a It isn't exact and never Just like evolution is a nothing more. M.an didn't from apes, or the apes around now. At least the Republi conservatives for the m interested in selves and trying to advara We believe you get ahead i your own merits, not ernment handouts. There are some just aS Mr. Taylor's ilk as there : Democrats who are okaY v they tend to let the liberals them because they are .too: kneed to speak out. Joe Liew" is that one exception.