May 31, 2012 Shelton Mason County Journal | ![]() |
©
Shelton Mason County Journal. All rights reserved. Upgrade to access Premium Tools
PAGE 4 (4 of 22 available) PREVIOUS NEXT Jumbo Image Save To Scrapbook Set Notifiers PDF JPG
May 31, 2012 |
|
Website © 2025. All content copyrighted. Copyright Information Terms Of Use | Privacy Policy | Request Content Removal | About / FAQ | Get Acrobat Reader ![]() |
etween 2010 and 2011,
Mason County experienced
murder. An insane
tourist killed his step-daughter
at Lake Cushman, a tragedy, but
hardly a reflection of our com-
munity.'In the past three months,
Mason County may record five
homicides. A young man was
murdered near Bayshore Golf
Course, a woman was murdered
by her husband in Hdodsport, an-
other woman died as a passenger
in an automobile driven by an in-
toxicated young man and on Me-
LETTERSTOTHEEDITOR
al
Editor, the Journal
May 26 was a day of great honor for 276
motorcyclists that gathered at the Coroner's
office in Bremerton to escort the ashes of five
=
morial Day, a man and a woman
were murdered a block away from
downtown Shelton.
Five deaths in three months,
and in every case it is suspected
that drugs or alcohol were in-
volved.
Unfortunately, our community
accepts widespread hard drug use
and public intoxication as just
another part of living in Mason
County. Strung-out and jacked-
up, young and old alike wander
downtown without a second
glance from the police or sheriffs
departments unless they are in row. We don't have the liberty to al-
the act of committing a violent Two years ago when Clare low our schools to continue to fail
crime or burglary. Shelswell died on vacation be- our children. We must hold our
A few weeks ago in this space neath the peaks of the Olympic city and county government ac-
we praised our officers and depu- Mountains, only Peter James countable. We should not let busi-
ties when we found out that Shel- Wilson was to blame. She was an nesses ignore gang graffiti and
ton violent crime had fallen by innocent girl murdered by a men- replace windows with particle
about 20 percent. But you know tally ill man. This year's victims board. We've seen what happens
what they say about statistics, don't have an evil antagonist to when we show we don't care.
A few weeks ago in this space shoulder the burden, they lived in Write a letter to the editor, at-
we said Shelton is becoming a a community that failed them at tend a city council meeting or vol-
safer town to live in, apparently the most basic level, unteer for a community service.
not for Tyler Drake, Anitrea When a county becomes this vi- It's the least we can do to make
Taber, Terra Dittmer, Vanessa olent, it's no longer acceptable to sure this year doesn't end like it
Thorson and Shawn Joseph Mor- sit back and watch as it crumbles, began.
unclaimed Veterans, four from Vietnam and one
from Iraq. We were escorting them to Tahoma
National Cemetery for full military burial. The
service at the coroner's office was beautiful. At
the end, we all mounted our iron steeds and
headed for Tahoma with a full State Patrol
escort. They did a fantastic job. We all wish to
thank each and everyone for a job well done.
It was an honor watching you work. To those
people that were stopped on the ramps, and
the freeways, wondering what was happening,
a huge thanks for your patience. These veter-
ans fought and gave the ultimate sacrifice for
our country and for you, and had no one left to
claim their remains. That is why we felt so hon-
ored to provide this service for them. Now the
hard part. Shame on you Washington state for
your greed. For you not to grant us a free pass
at the toll booth was a slap in the face to these
five veterans. We all had to stop, pay toll and
then regroup on the other side, Let's see (worst
case) 276 bikes, times $4, equals $1,104. Not to
mention the almost half hour delay. There was
a lot of negative stuff being said about that situ-
ation. For a once in a blue moon event like this,
did you really need it that bad? Back to the good
stuff. The number of clubs involved are too nu-
merous to mention, but many came many miles
to take part in this. The service at Tahoma was
very well done. Kudos.
Steve Graves
Shelton
Why do you. think
murders this year
there have been so
in Mason County?
"We move,
'the news
moving he
Beverly Minotti
i here from California 14 years ago and thought
is so boring here.' And now, I think they're just
re.
Tom Schreiber
"Too many guns. Too easy access to guns.
and too much meth."
Too many drugs
Shellie Rusinko
Dave Hauge
n ..... "Too people with too little to do. The economy's so "I think a lot of it is perpetuated by the drug trafficking in
Tr~ Shelton-Mason Cou try I ~ 1 1
................... ~ Daa, peol~ [e are depressed. Depressed people,turn to sub- this country. It's a fallout of it, an eventuality of it.
• ~ ~i ~ i stances a: ld substances lead to bad judgment.
u~492 8o0 Shelton-Mason Cou y )urnal is a member of Karl Sleight, publisher Advertising: Composing room:
- . Washington Newspaper I~ublishers' Association. Dave Pierik, Sr. Acct. Executive William Adams, graphics
Newsroom: Harvey Morris ad representative
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Shelton-Mason SUBSCRIPTION RATES' Jesse Mullen, editor Sharee Miller, ad representat ve Pressroom:
Kelly Riordan, production manager
County Journal, RO. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584. $37 per year for Mason (;ounty addresses, Natalie Johnson, reporter Front office: Travis Miller, press operator
Published weeklybyShelton-Mason County Journal, Inc. $51 per year in state of Washington but outside Kevin Spradlin, reporter
at 227 West Cola Street, Shelton, Washington Mason County, $61 per ~ear out of state. AdamEmily Hanson,Rudnick,SportScopy editorrep°rter MargotD°nna Kinnaird,Brand, circulationb°°kkeeper
Cricket Carter, mailroom
Mailing address: RO. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584
Telephone (360)426-4412 • www.masoncounty.com Owned and published b~ supervisor
Periodicals postage paid at Shelton, Washington Shelton-Mason County a ournal, Inc
Page A-4 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, May 31, 2012
I CII I