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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
June 14, 1973     Shelton Mason County Journal
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June 14, 1973
 
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The daily-expanding Watergate mess is dominating the front pages, but there are other tasty morsels being served up to the residents of Taxpayerland. While the peasants are operating under the 5.5% salary guidelines of the Watergate Administration's Phase III, Washington State politicians-in-residence awarded themselves a salary increase of 193% during this year's session at Olympia's marble zoo. The increase, from $3,600 a year to $10,560, was approved without a public hearing or a roll call vote. Not to be outdone by the bumpkins in the outback, a federal salary commission is reportedly "thinking in terms" of recommending that the salaries of senators and congressmen be raised from $42,500 a year to $55,000 a year next Jammry. This would be an increase of 29.4%, slightly more conservative than the 41% raise from $30,000 to $42,500 the public servants bestowed on themselves in 1969. The taxpayers have also contributed generously to the improvement of the private home of Richard Nixon, who must attempt to keep body and soul together on a miserly salary of $200,000 a year, plus expenses. Editor, The Journal: I'd like to direct this letter to Shelton School's administration. I only want to thank them for making my graduation a most memorable one. I went through practice and the whole graduation just to find an empty diploma case. If anyone has gone through graduation they know how much that diploma means to them. Then to find out you don't get it til the next day because you have a book fine. What really hurts the worst, after you have gone to the Senior Party with all your friends and feeling like you really haven't graduated yet, is finding out you already paid that fine almost two months ago and even had a two dollar refund coming to you? They could have kept the refund if money means that much to them, my diploma great deal to me! • Please, Shelton Higt learn to keep things Don't make other kids what I went through. can't you send out bills some other way of money. Keeping diploma after 12 years is not fair to the should be receiving it. You feel you you work hard finding people have on books, time going through diplomas, that took to put in order, pulling most important pieces out? Thanks Shelton never forget you! Stacy When he has completed his eight years of hiring saints and accepting the resignations of buggers, Richard Nixon can enjoy a San Clemente estate improved by taxpayers to the tune of at least $176,000, including $76,000 for landscaping and a $13,000 heating system, three gazebos and a beach cabana. In the meantime, while he is still in office, he has asked Congress for an increase of $5 billion in the defense budget to implement his program of world peace. Nearly $25 billion of his proposed $80 billion budget is for salaries in a force of 2,300,000 men which contains more generals, admirals and colonels than at the peak of World War II, when the armed forces totaled 12 million men. Also included are salaries, now set at $23 million, for enlisted men working as servants for flag officers. Another sign that all news is not bad is the report that the J. Edgar Hoover Building is nearing completion in downtown Washington, D.C. The new FBI headquarters of 11 stories was built at an estimated cost of $110 million, a paltry $10 million per floor, or, to make it perfectly clear, just a smidgen more than three times the assessed valuation of the City of Shelton. So you can see, if you are having salary or housing troubles, you aren't really trying. Take the advice of a fellow who has learned how to survive during this period of inflation: "Ask not what your government can do for you; become part of the government and go get it." @ By STEVE ERICKSON Fat neckties require fat knots but there is at least one fathead unable to build such a caloric coil. The identity of this social misfit must remain mysterious; exposure would be for naught. The reason he only recently discovered his shortcoming is that until a couple weeks ago he hadn't got around to owning any, althotlgh fat ties have been trendy for years. When he did happen into one he tied it in such a pitiful facsimile of acceptable style that his peers groaned as one. It turned out lumpy, long and lopsided rather than round, firm and fully packed. The spectacle beneath his Adam's apple could well have qualified for Ripley's Believe It or Knot. So he consulted a colleague who, incidentally, wore no tie. In fact, his shirt had seen better days and other years. "It's easy," the Leper of Vogue was told. His tie was yanked off. "See? Over, under, around and through." "1 thought," he countered, "that the secret formula was, 'The rabbit comes out of the hole, sees the fox, runs around the hole and goes back inside.' " "No, old Boy Scout," his worldly colleague corrected, "those are instructions for tying a bowline." All manner of savoir faire service failed and the hapless fashion-plate-in-reverse finally just restrung his tie the old lumpy way and tried to cover his shame with a frayed collar. A button-down collar. "'Don't worry about it," he consoled his well-meaning friend, "my high school effective living teacher couldn't teach me either, and he went on to become football coach and study hall whip." Later, the counter-haberdasher tried knotting his tie privately, in a little-known washroom where hardly anyone ventured who cared about such things. It went pretty well, he thought. Finally, using a variation of over, under, around and through in which the fox ate the rabbit, he tied a fairly smart knot. He found his colleague. "What do you think?" he asked, brave and foolish. His friend frowned. The new necktie owner realized he had failed again. "Are you sure King Gordius started this way?" he mumbled embarrassedly, trying to ease off the hook with a little joke. "No," his friend replied kindly, "but Granny did." Mailing Address: Box 430, Shelton, Wa. 98584 Phone 426-4412 Published at 227 West Cota Street, Shelton, Mason County, Washington 98584, weekly. Second-class postage paid at Shelton, Washington. EDITOR AND PUBLISHER ...................... Henry G. Gay Page 4 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, June 14, 1973 By ROBERT C. CUMMINGS That scheduled nine-day session in September could produce more floor action than has been seen in any legislative session for many years. It will be in sharp contrast to the two previous sessions this year, which are long on committee work and hearings, short on floor action. ~:: Most of the commi_'ttee w~k will have been completed when the law-makers return September 9. They can pass a lot of bills in nine days if they put the time on it. Whether that's good or bad depends upon your point of view, which in turn could hinge on what kind of legislation they pass. Governor Counting On It Governor Dan Evans obviously is counting on an unusually productive session, judging from the number of executive request measures he has given top priority rating. He had a batting average of slightly over .500 during the 99 days of the first two sessions, when 23 of his 45 executive request measures were passed. He is shooting for a similar target in the coming September session, asking for passage of 12 of the remaining 22 executive bills. But he will be lucky to get more than a third of those 12. The Democratic majority leadership of the two houses, which cooperated with him so closely in the past two sessions, has become disenchanted and is drifting away. Besides, the law-makers will come into the session with an imposing list of their own priorities. A few of the governor's veto messages also could get top billing. Common Ground Some of the governor's executive request bills also could be on the legislative priority list. The Senate Local Government Committee has recommended top priority for the governor's statewide building code legislation. The Senate Committee on Labor has recommended his bill to extend increase unemployment priority rating. Final determination of legislative priorities will be made in joint negotiations between the Rules Committees of the two houses sometime between the August committee meetings and convening of the session on September 9. Extension Possible One of the items on Governor Evans' priority list which is certain to get attention is revision of the implementing bill for the tax reform amendment certified to the ballot as HJR 37. But it could result in the special session running somewhat beyond its scheduled nine days. HJR 37, which already has gone to the Secretary of State, and been certified to the November 6 general election ballot, can't be changed. But virtually everybody concerned agrees some revision would be advisable in order to make HJR 37 more acceptable to the voters. The problem is there is a wide compensation benefits to changes should be made. part-time workers be given Reaching agreement couldrequire One day back in 1969, the villagers in Malaysin, Borneo, looked upward and saw a sky filled with cats. The Royal Air Force had parachuted the cats into the remote mountain village to solve an ecological dilemma that was literally bringing the roofs down. The mass feline drop climaxed what had begun as a well-meaning campaign by the World Health Organization to control malaria in the village through the use of insecticides. The DDT did indeed kill disease-carrying mosquitos, but the chemical also accumulated in cockroaches. Some of the cockroaches died, but most built up a resistance to the DDT and survived. Geckoes, the long-tailed, slippery lizards who ate the DDT-infested cockroaches, were more affected by the chemical. The speedy lizards, long accustomed to scampering up walls and across ceilings to evade hungry cats, began slowing down. They were caught and eaten by the cats, who, in turn, died. The disappearance of the cats and geckoes was but the beginning in this disrupting ecological chain of events in the isolated village. Rats, their defiance mounting in direct proportion to the declining feline population, swarmed into the village carrying the threat of plague with them. Then the caterpillars squirmed their way into this ecologically chaotic scene and the thatched roofs in the village began to collapse. Without the control formerly exerted by their predators the lizards, the caterpillar population grew out of control and the roofs began falling. Parachuting in more cats eventually helped restore the natural balance in the village. But, in other circumstances, the cats may not have been the answer. Earlier in this century, a massive dose of cats was introduced into Australia to help control a fast-expanding nuisance population of rabbits. The cats did help control some of the rabbits, but, more more than the allotted nine days. Except for the advisability of getting things wrapped up in order to get the campaign on the road as soon as possible, there isn't any great hurry on the implementing bill. Its need is contingent upon voter approval of HJR 37, but even then it wouldn't become effective until January 1. L High-Paid Pensioners Viewed Some legislators aren't giving up their efforts to zero in on state employees who are drawing lucrative public pensions from other sources. The governor vetoed out a portion of a bill which would prohibit the Liquor Control Board from hiring any person who is receiving a public pension of more than $400 a month. The Senate State Government Committee voted unanimously against recommending that the veto be overridden. But then it unanimously voted to report out and send to Rules Committee, with a "do pass" recommenda- divergence of opinion as to what tion, a bill (SB 2931) which. would impose the same restriction on all state agencies. Editor, l'he Journal: Through the years I have been under the impression that schools were set up for our children to learn, and to be a good student was one of the most important goals. I was extremely disappointed in the Shelton Journal and also our Shelton High School for giving no publicity, congratulating article, or even mention of our top ten honor students, especially our valedictorian and salutatorian. They have worked hard for four years for this honor. I see two pages devoted to sports each week with the many pictures. Certainly some space can be given one day out of the year to our honor students. They work just as hard, if not harder. They were not even introduced at the honors banquet or the school honors assembly. I know students attending Editor, The Journal: WATERGATE Now take a look at Watergate, A circus of revengeful men, With nothing but politic hate Who for their resurrection yen. school who don't their valedictorian or are because no mention made who achieved About three weekS personally requested an written by the recognition to these students and they ignored. I feel so sorry paper and school would young people down. I congratulate them them to know that there~ of us who are proud Mrs. Donald P. (Editor's Note: School does not valedictorian or does it name top ten Next week's Journal a list of students highest honors, high honors, along commencement The erstwhile guardians of our faith In governmental chastity Besmirch the good names in a Wraith Of terms that seek veracity. If men were honest in their ways There'd be no need for counterspies And we'd be blessed with happy days Unless our honor fades and dies. So if the Captain of our State Sees need to offset traitor's deeds He has the right to balance Fate To preserve all our country's needs. Robert Stanley Cunningham • .G t * Editor, The Journal: tPt tqt Questions public should have ~~/~,,~ IP~ ~ ~'~x~lP answered regarding Shelton school personnel volunteering 9 , 9 services to Elma during teacher strike at Elma: 1. Did the school board make this decision in an open meeting9 2. How ethical -------- and professional is this practice? 3. To what extent should administrators and other school employees be accountable to the district by which they are employed? 4. How was the district reimbursed for the services of these staff members? importantly, they were attracted to the delicious bird population. The native birds, having little fear of this heretofore unknown creature, willingly cooperated, which then enabled the insects to flourish. In turn, the insects destroyed the great eucalyptus forests which provided sole sustenance for the cuddly koala bear, and so on .... Of course, the entire chaotic chain of events was rationalized as an "act of God" and, thus, outside of the foreseeable "logical" controls of man. These stories are classic examples of "ecological backlash," that phenomenon often caused by the clash between man's technology and the forces of nature. "What happened in Borneo is another example of how man's simple attempts to control complex nature have lead to disaster as often as to solution." says Jonathan K. Waag, an instructor in biomedical sciences at Brown University. "We just don't know enough about nature to tamper with it successfully." After witnessing the clumsy attempts of water developers, strip miners, and land exploiters to do just that for years, only a simple, affirmative "Amen" must be added. 5. Were these staff members receiving wages for serving another district while under contract to District 309? 6. Why was it necessary to send six people to Elma just to "observe?" 7. Who handled their responsibilities while they were at Editor, The Journal: The Mason County Labor Council deplores the action of the school board in sending school teachers into Elma school district to break a strike in that district where there is a dispute between the administration and the teachers. This type of decision creates Elma? (e.g. RegistratioO in the high school?) 8. If these employees were able to substitute in why not provide the in our district when are unavailable? 9. If a teacher in by law, cannot be paid in for an absent what legal justificatiota pay Shelton their volunteer services? 10. In what law that teacher strikes are or illegal? 11. How will this the morale in District T.he Shelton Association disapP: action taken superintendent and/or board in sending 309 staff members to the recent teacher Shelton EducatiO more problems than it School try to solve classroom teacher Executive Robert BettyI