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| June 9, 2016 Shelton Mason County Journal |  |
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Pa08 A-1 fl- haltan.M on County Jouml. Thurgday, June 9, 2016
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VOICES continued from page A- 17 ton commilnity.
Cleaning up
• Grace Phelan is a future Evergreen
State College student.
By Grace Phelan
The City of Shelton is my home; it
is where I grew up, I know all of the
streets and all of the best places to eat.
This my community, and I know this
is true for many of you reading this. So
why, then, when we see an abandoned
building, a spraypainted wall, or litter
and garbage on the side of the road, do
we not feel a sense of responsibility to
keep our town maintained and clean?
Shouldn't we be proud of the place we
call home?
I recently conducted a Twitter poll,
asking my fellow students at Shelton
High School, "Does the appearance of
a building impact your mood or feel-
ing of well-being?" Sixty percent of the
students answered "Yes, it did."
At any given time, if you were asked
to close your eyes and picture a place
in Mason County that appears run-
down and in need of repair, I'm sure
it wouldn't be a hard task to do. I pic-
ture the tagging on various buildings
downtown and the building on the way
to state Route 3 that has fallen down.
As community members, it is our re- .
sponsibility to ensure that our city is
well-cared for and maintained. I have
often heard that it is difficult to main-
tain a building without the funds to
do so. While it may be difficult to keep
up with the maintenance of a build-
ing with a limited amount of funding,
this should solidify for us the idea that
each individual needs to do their part.
I can almost hear audible sighs as
excuses surely come into mind, "Not
my property. Not my problem," or "I'm
• sure there's a department in Mason
County that takes care of that."
The truth is, if help were so preva-
lent, why can we still envision those
run-down and in need of repair spots
in our county?
Some Mason County residents are
taking action to help. Local resident
Kevin Schmelzlen was walking his dog
when he noticed an illegal dumping
spot near the railroad tracks. After a
Facebook post soliciting help yielded
several volunteers, the area was
cleaned up and devoid of litter in just
a few short hours. That's when Kevin
decided to found the non-profit organi-
zation, Shelton to the Top. Since that
first trash pick-up day, Shelton to the
Top has cleaned up numerous illegal
dumping sites and abandoned home-
less camps around the Shelton area
and outlying Mason County.
Kevin Schmelzlen is an example of
a resident taking on a responsibility
that should be all of ours. His example
should be an encouragement to others.
The simple act of picking up the trash
you see on the ground does not cost a
dime. Weeding yards and flowerbeds
is another very straightforward task
that can go a long way in making the
appearance of a building's exterior
look good. Likewise, if you have the
time or financial means, please consid-
ering volunteering with a non-profit
organization, such as Shelton to the
Top. If everyone pitched in and played
a small part, we could go a long way in
A different
approach to
vandalism
By Guy Beaudoin
Vandalism is defined as the willful
or malicious destruction, damage, de-
facement, or injury of real or personal
property without the consent of the
owner. In Washington State, an act
of vandalism occurs nearly once every
10 minutes. In 2014, almost 50,000
individual acts of vandalism were re-
ported, 324 of which were reported in
Mason County. Shelton has been faced
with a vandalism problem for years
now, and graffiti has shown up on
nearly every surface in the town.
Teenagers are the most common
perpetrators of acts of vandalism, and
a common cause of these acts may
simply be boredom. I believe that the
most effective method of combating
vandalism is to provide alternative
ways to spend one's time. Shelton has
"gradually lost many of its areas where
teens might congregate. Our bowling
alley has burned down and we don't
have a sit-down pizzeria (or really any
cheap sit-down restaurant that isn't
a cold, impersonal extension of an
international chain). The main place
in town for teens to meet up and have
fun is the theater, and many people ei-
ther cannot afford to go or do not wish
to pay to see the same movie twice.
Beyond these institutions, we need
to provide more free and reduced-cost
programs for teens to spend their
time constructively. Within the Shel-
ton School District, 66.2 percent of
students are covered under free and
reduced lunch programs, and our four-
year graduation rate for the class of
2014 was 72 percent. Students who
have positive ties to their communi-
ties have higher graduation rates. If
our students cannot afford to have
something to do, they will turn to
other, less productive avenues of self-
expression.
On the other hand, those who per-
petrate acts of vandalism must face
some form of punishment. Rather
than simply paying a fine or going to
juvenile detention, why not focus on a
"restorative justice" type approach?
If we can make the vandals pay
the community back for their crime
in some way, we would be sending a
much stronger message and we might
possibly change their lives. The most
common implementation of restorative
justice in these cases is making the
vandals lean up their graffiti along
with that of others. This would also be
cheaper than paying a contractor to
clean it up.
It is up to our community to work
toward preventing vandalism. By
implementing preventative measures
and providing a route toward restora-
tion, we can help to make our town a
better, cleaner place.
• Guy Beaudoin is a future University
of Washington student.
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