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JOURNALEDITORIAL
KOMENCOMMENT
1;
news
The great exciting days of daily newspa-
pering are gone. What was once a thriv-
ing and profitable enterprise in most of
America's cities is over. The Internet is the
culprit. The younger generations -- most every
one under 40 -- have abandoned newspapers•
Instead, they peruse their computers, their
tablets, their smart phones, their BlackBerrys,
their Kindles, their...well, you get the idea.
These young Americans get their news,
scant though it may be, from devices we never
dreamed of in our newspapering days. It al-
ways was difficult to attract new, young read-
ers. But today, competing with Facebook and
Twitter, it is impossible to sell a newspaper
subscription to an 18-year-old, let alone those
in their 20s, 30s and 40s.
Where once America's cities had at least two
daily newspapers (New York City once had a
dozen dailies), you will now find only one daily
newspaper per town. And some of America's
greatest cities don't even have one, having
their daily newspaper reduced from seven-day
delivery to three or four or none.
Seattle lost its greatly loved and equally
LETTE R STOTH E E DITORTM
hated Post-Intelligencer
some years ago; it survives
in name only as an Internet
website. The once highly ad-
mired Rocky Mountain News
of Denver no longer publish-
es, not even on the web.
The Detroit News, once a
powerful print product, now
By JOHN publishes only three days a
week and refers its readers to
KOMEN
an Internet address. And just
this last month, the highly
respected and much loved The Times-Picayune
declared it will deliver a print edition to its
New Orleans subscribers only on Wednesdays,
Fridays and Saturdays. The Times-Picayune
will revert to the web. The company that owns
the paper said the same schedule would be im-
posed on three other newspapers, including one
in Birmingham, Ala.
Birmingham, diminished. Detroit, reduced.
The Seattle P-I and the Rocky Mountain News,
gone. The Times-Pic down to three print edi-
tion days a week.
These are Pulitzer Prize newspapers, award
winners in news coverage that kept their read-
ers informed and enlightened. One cannot
bewail these losses enough• Without these vig-
orous news-reporting er~deavors our cities and
our nation is less informed; the electorate has
less knowledge of government at all levels, fed-
eral, state, county and city.
If it weren't for the big national newspapers,
The New York Times especially, readers would
be bereft of national and world news. And even
The New York Times has given indications it is
suffering financial woes.
Many city daily newspapers trying to sur-
vive have adopted an emphasis on local cov-
erage. They figure, and correctly so. that no
other medium is better able to concentrate and
report on news within their own community.
Moreover, no one else (Twitter, Facebook, et al)
really cares. So the local newspaper steps in to
cover school board meetings, the Lions Club,
city council zone hearings, planning commis-
slon meetings and such.
It is just this up-close local look at the local
community that is the strong suit of weekly
newspapers. An example is The Shelton-Mason
County Journal. The minutiae of local doings
are the meat and potatoes of weeklies like the
Journal. They seem to be prospering on that
diet. even to the point that some city dailies are
emulating the weeklies.
A case in point is The News Tribune of
Tacoma. Slimmed down to the point of often
providing only two slim sections, The News
Tribune's front page all but ignores world and
national news. Instead, it offers such fare as a
recent full-length feature on a local school bus
driver, or supplies daily front-page coverage of
a drawn-out relatively minor criminal trial.
How it is playing out for the dailies isn't
pretty. And it bodes ill for our democratic way
of governing ourselves. Without newspapers'
watchdog role over government, there's an
open field for mismanagement, waste, fraud
and corruption.
• John Komen, who lives on Mason Lake,
was for 40 years a reporter and editor, TV an-
chorman, national TV network correspondent,
producer, columnist, editorial writer and com-
mentator. His column, Komen Comment, ap-
pears each week in the Shelton-Mason County
Journal.
,: SheltoniMason County
USPS 492-800
Effort to spur economic development refreshing
espite the hubbub at the most
Irecent city council meetings about
various problems with communi-
cation between the city and area busi-
nesses, it is nice to see our local govern-
ment coming together with the SAVER
committee to work on the historic district
sign on First and Railroad streets and
the recommendations the SAVER com-
mittee made to improve city relations.
City Administrator Dave O'Leary as-
sured the Shelton-Mason County Jour-
nal editorial board that this summer he
will begin the process of completing the
city's draft comprehensive plan "in order
to facilitate better economic development
opportunities."
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Shelton-Mason
County Journal P.O. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584.
Published weekly by Shelton-Mason County JoL~rnal.
at 227 West Cota Street, Shelton, Washington
Mailing address: RO. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584
Telephone (360) 426-4412 • www.masoncounty.com
Periodicals postage paid at Shelton, Washington
Inc.
Explanation
needed for
state
restrictions
Editor, the Journal
We local fishermen, Hood
Canal property owners and
residents of Mason, Jef-
ferson and Kitsap counties,
would like an explanation
for the state fisheries re-
strictions in Hood Canal and
what their long range plan
encompasses. If anyone out
there has an opimon or fact,
please pass the word in a
letter to the editor.
The bottom fishing has
been closed from 2002 to
2003. This is difficult to un-
derstand as the canal has
the cleanest water in all of
Puget Sound and we have
the only bottom fish closure
in the entire state. The
reasoning for the closure
was an oxygen problem in
the lower canal. The upper
40 miles of the canal have
never had an oxygen prob-
lem or a fish kill but the fish
kill problem is not a new
problem in the lower canal.
Michael Fredson in his book
of the History of Hood Ca-
nal, tells of fish kills in the
lower canal and documented
as a natural occurrence as
early as 1925 and other fish
kills as outlined on page
123. Many requests have
been submitted to re-open
the bottom fishery with all
requests begin denied. The
only reason for denial was
that "the surplus fish being
produced in the north canal
will migrate to the lower
canal when the oxygen prob-
lem has been resolved and
repopulate the lower canal."
I have been unable to find
any information on migra-
tory habits of bottom fish
and have my doubts that the
oxygen problem will never
be resolved.
When I first bought
at Hood Canal, I had the
delightful experience of
teaching my three kids the
joy of fishing, rigging gear.
cleaning and preparing fish
for the table and the great
taste. We also reviewed the
rules and regulations of tak-
ing care of the wonderful
gift we had. This continued
through their spouses and
10 grandkids. I now have 16
great-grandkids and have
never taken one fishing.
This is a common complaint
among friends and neigh-
bors.
The salmon season in
the canal has been limited
to a Coho snagging season
in the Quilicene river, sec-
ond snagging season at the
Hoodsport hatchery and a
third snagging season in
the lower Skok. None of
these fisheries appeal to me
or most fisherman I know
Shelton-Mason County Journal is a member of
Washington Newspaper Publishers' Association.
SUBSCRIPTION RATES:
$37 per year for Mason County addresses,
$51 per year in state of Washington but outside
Mason County, $61 per year out of state.
Owned and published by
Shelton-Mason County Journal, Inc
The document, O'Leary said, will We are happy to see the city recog-
be an entirely new section in Shelton's nizes the importance of maintaining an
Comprehensive Plan, and is scheduled to updated policy and that it is in the pro-
be adopted by the end of the year. cess of doing so.
Ol:,eary pointed out key areas of the
new document that state: "An economic Hot off the press
development effort should include re- Some community members may have
view, prioritization and modification of noticed family and friends from the past
policies that discourage priority develop- popping up on Google recently. That's be-
ment. In the past four years, the city and cause the Journal has uploaded another
county governments have lost tax rev- set of our archived editions to the web.
enue along with the recession, and have Fifteen of our 126 year history is now
cut the jobs of people performing policy available at smc.stparchive.com. While
analysis in order to protect programs 2010, 2011 and some of 2012 are online,
such as police and fire. This has under- we also have years from the '40s, 50s, 60s
mined the city's ability to manage the and 70s up to read. Current issues are
policy process." usually uploaded on a six-week delay.
and definitely not a place
to take a great grandchild
to teach him or her to fish.
We do have a summer troll
season south of Ayock Point
but that is a nine mile run
from Triton Cove State
Park, the only public ramp
to this open area. We do
have a fall Coho fishery
and winter blackmouth but
the kids are back in school
at this time. The WDFW
fishery pamphlet stresses
the importance of teaching
these upcoming generations
the joy of fishing but seems
to be mostly talk, no action.
The upper canal has always
been a good salmon fishery
and should be opened for the
entire length for the summer
salmon fishery and releasing
all unmarked fish. These un-
marked fish are heading for
the mid-canal rivers, basi-
cally for the Quilicene. Dose-
wallips and the Duckabush
and protected in an attempt
to rebuild the wild king run.
This opening would also al-
low the pink salmon fishery
which has been closed in
the upper canal. The Ham-
ma Hamma river has always
been included in the mid-
canal rivers but has never
had a wild king salmon run.
The king run in the Hamma
Hamma is from a private
hatchery for marking and
release with the Hoodsport
hatch. As a last resort, the
north boundary for the sum-
mer salmon fishery could be
moved to Hood Point giv-
ing another 12 miles north
of Ayock Point for a troll
fishery. This would result
in many more licenses sold.
give a lot of business to
Triton Cove State Park and
show a better fish to those
caught.
Another item is the Hood
Canal crab fishery. This
opens in early July for an
eight or nine week fishery
with four or five days per
week. This has been a good
fishery for many years. The
2010 winter fishery was ex-
ceptional with very plentiful
large crab. The local crab-
bers and WDFG Shellfish
personnel were amazed and
assumed these crab migrat-
ed in from the deeper water
to the shallows. Our summer
2011 season again was ex-
cellent and again we looked
forward to the winter season
for a low-pressure fishery.
When the winter season for
the state was announced, a
small portion of area nine
was closed to adjoining all of
area 12. Again the only area
not getting a winter sea-
son was Hood Canal. I am
certain the closure was not
due to low crab availability
based on the summer season
output.
Lastly is the shrimp sea-
son for Area 12. We have
shrimp populations show-
ing steady increase over
the last 20 to 30 years. We
now get 16 hours to catch
our yearly quota. That is if
you are retired or take two
days off work. Every year Urban
we see more shrimpers pull MS.
out of the fishery when you
figure the costs of licenses, rL~ra I
bait, launch fees, gasoline,
motor tune-ups, etc. It is so
much cheaper to buy a $100 Editor, the Journal
to$150 bucket from the na- Today we are less Demo-
tive fishery. Comes about crat vs. Republican and
$4 to $6 a pound. Many of more urban vs. rural. Urban
the sport fishermen buy a dwellers in Seattle want to
bucket to add to their sport wall off nature from us pred-
catch, atory humans to prevent us
If you total up the finan- from enjoying our rural life-
cial impact of the above style. Their chicken little en-
items for closed stores, vironmental policies include
reduced businesses, sport- a one-size-fits-all policy filled
ing goods related sales and~ with wishful thinking.
equipment maintenance, Chicken little activists
motels, real estate and lost come from Seattle to block
license fees to the state, progress, then return to
state park income, etc., it- their high paying Microsoft
seems something could be and Boeing jobs, leaving us
done to resolve a bunch of unemployed.
these problems and make a Chicken little once argued
lot of fishermen happy. Why that if we did not save the
is it that Hood Canal is get- spotted owl, the sky would
ting squeezed so badly when fall. Does anyone remember
the rest of Puget Sound, the how many jobs chicken little
straits and ocean are getting and the spotted owl cost us?
along pretty well? Now we have chicken little
What is the answer? two and the wild Olympics.
Twenty five years ago, then Chicken little environmental-
Senator Brad Owen, started ists believe species first, hu-
a push for the canal fish- mans second. The novel, "Ani-
ery to be divided between mal Farm." said it best -- An-
the native fishery which is imals good, people bad! Wild
controlled by the Boldt deci- Olympics will kill family-wage
sion and the sport fishery jobs, but will provide a new
with elimination of the non- career path: restaurant work-
native commercial fishery, ers. motel maids, gas station
The fisheries department attendants and bartenders.
stated that they had an Chicken little three will
ambitious plan to improve prevent jobs from being
the spor~ fishery and would born. It will shut down the
show results in a few years, fledging coal trains, prevent
Needless to say, the plan the keystone pipeline from
did not help as the fishery being built and eliminate
continued downhill. Senator biomass electricity produc-
Owen again pushed for the ers. But chicken little advo-
division of the fishery in his cates do make bad invest-
next two terms and again ments in questionable tech-
his legislation was rejected, nology using public funds.
This division was only Following the recall elec-
south of the Hood Canal tion in Wisconsin. Mr. Ed
bridge. Senator Owen was from MSNBC displayed
convinced that Hood Canal a Wisconsin map to show
would become the sport fish- which counties voted for
ing capitol of the nation, if and against the recall. His
the fishery was divided as comment on the failure of
stated. Recreational fishing the recall was the rural vs.
groups eagerly supported urban argument. He sug-
the proposal. The one fish- gested progressives ought to
ing proposal that was ac- concentrate on urban issues
cepted was for the elimina- and let rural folks go back to
tion of the drag fishery in their guns and religion. This
Hood Canal. shows the lack of respect ur-
The Owen proposal seems ban progressives have for our
to be a great way back to rural lifestyle and beliefs.
the health of Hood Canal. Chicken little policies will
The only loss would be for prevail unless we defeat chick-
the non-native commercial en little politicians. Many de-
fishery south of the floating structive policies of the Envi-
bridge. This fishery will not ronmental Protection Agency
be pleased. The sport fisher- and Washington Department
men will be pleased along of Ecology must be reversed.
with businesses in Mason, Federal, state and local politi-
Jefferson and Kitsap coun- clans and bureaucrats must
ties. The state of Washing- respect individual property
ton should be happy with rights.
the increased income to li- It is freedom of choice.
censes, parking and launch- Either vote your rural job
ing and state parks use. and your rural lifestyle or let
The tribal fisheries should Washington, D.C. and Olym-
welcome the change with pia politicians and bureau-
the growth of their seafood crats plan your future. Good
market. The benefits swing luck with that.
heavily for the change. Let's
go. Ardean A. Anvik
Elma
William Aker
Lilliwaup See Letters on page A-5
Kari Sleight, publisher
Newsroom:
Jesse Mullen, editor
Natalie Johnson, reporter
Kevin Spradlin, reporter
Emily Hanson, sports reporter
Adam Rudnick, copy editor
Advertising:
Dave Pierik, Sr. Acct. Executive
Sharee Miller, ad representative
Maggie Burich ad representative
Kel[i Alexander, ad representat ve
Front office:
Donna Kinnaird, bookkeeper
Margot Brand, circulation
Cricket Carter, mailroom
supervisor
Composing room:
William Adams, graphics
Pressroom:
Kelly Riordan, production manager
Travis Miller, Dress operator
Mary Northove~ press operator
Page A-4 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, June 14, 2012