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