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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
June 18, 2009     Shelton Mason County Journal
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June 18, 2009
 
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JOURNAL OF OPINION: This is a fine season for celebrations, graduations and weddings. Last Friday, more than 250 Shelton High School seniors received their di- plomas during the school's 100th commencement cer- emony. When the two long lines of red- and black-robed students marched into the steamy Saint Martin's University Pavilion in Lac- ey, proud parents and fam- ily members leapt to their feet and cheered and applauded out their names. "You have grown both personally and academi- cally," Principal Stacey Anderson said. "Remem- ber the obstacles you over- came to be here tonight." Teacher Ron Grinnell, who has taught at Choice for all 25 years of the alter- native school's existence, was the evening's keynote speaker. "The goal of high school is to prepare young adults to be productive, informed citizens of their thunderously. It made one's hair BEHIND stand on end. THE Afterwards, in the gloaming out- ,'~('~'~]~'~{::~~.~v--..--..~ side the pavilion, the newly graduat- ed students hugged their relatives, friends and each other. Some chat- ted on cell phones; others mugged for the cameras. Tears of joy streaked down the cheeks of one woman, as she dabbed unsuccess- fully to stop their flow. It was that kind of eve- ning; a time for relief and reflection. The students could look back on many long hours spent at school and their parents could pat themselves on the back for the sacrifices they made for their children. Longtime SHS English teacher Randy Baugh was selected by the graduating students to be the faculty speaker and he delivered a talk that gave kudos to the students as well as a caution to them about the brave new world they were heading to. "What is your American dream? What will success look like for you?" Baugh asked. He said he's had five careers and the out- look for the graduates is they'll have six to eight ca- reers during their lives. On Thursday, Choice High School held its graduation ceremony in the Shelton Civic Center. Thirty-five Choice seniors graduated and most of them showed up to "walk" during the commence- ment, held before 500 or more people. The Choice graduates wore black and purple robes, the school's colors. They walked down the staircase from the second floor as members of the au- dience cheered and called By JEFF GREEN community," he said. De- veloping relationships doesn't happen overnight, it takes a lot of trust and that's something done ex- ceptionally well at Choice, he noted. The Choice staff has eternal patience, he said, "They keep telling kids they can do it." Several of the gradu- ates overcame long odds to earn their diplomas. Chris Dods should have graduated three years ago. "If it wasn't for Choice, I wouldn't have graduated," he said. He came to Choice at a fourth- or fifth-grade read- ing level and through the Read Right program, now reads at the level of a col- lege freshman. Dods plans to study auto-body restora- tion at Clover Park Tech- nical College in Lakewood. Dods worked full time and took care of his father through high school. He was in Choice's Contract Based Education program and said without it, he would have dropped out. He received a $1,000 schol- arship from the Yesteryear Car Club. "He struggled to get things down on paper," said Cho added. Jesse Matz stood inside the civic center beaming and taking in every mo- ment of the graduation. "It's such an amazing feel- ing," he said. "Every sec- ond," he said when asked if he was enjoying the eve- ning. "This is a big day for READERS' JOURNAL: Recycling important for county Editor, the Journal: I moved to Harstine Is- land from Olympia several months ago. I was excited to live in a rural place, pleased to have discovered such a beautiful location, and happy to be living in Ma- son County since I've been working here since Janu- ary. While I loved the curb- side pick-up of mixed re- cycling and composting in Thurston County, I pleas- antly readjusted to sorting my recycling and toting it to the recycling drop-off at Highway 3 and Pickering. The other day, I had been driving around with recy- cling in the trunk in my car for several days when I final- ly had time to stop and drop it off at Highway 3 & Picker- ing. I was extremely disap- pointed to see this posting: "Sorry Glass is No Longer accepted at this Site." Not only was the inappropriate capitalization annoying, I'm still driving around with my recycling. To be fair, the sign does direct me to a drop-off site open from 8-4 daily. Very accessible for my 8-5 work- day. A June 10 New York Times article described the city of San Franciso's ef- forts to send zero waste to landfills by 2020. They are starting to enforce manda- tory recycling and compost- ing laws, with a possible fee of $1,000 for noncompliance. The national trend is to in- creasing recycling, making it easier, more accessible to people. And Mason County is cut- ting its recycling. Perhaps John Mellen- camp says it best, "If you're not a part of the future, ~~::¢~:SheltoliMason County : USPS 492-800 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Shelton-Mason County Journal, P.O. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584. Published weekly by Shelton-Mason County Journal, Inc. at 227 West Cota Street, Shelton, Washington Mailing address: P.O. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584 Telephone (360) 426-4412 • www.masoncounty.com Periodicals postage paid at Shelton, Washington everyone, not just me." Matz should have grad- uated from SHS last year, but admits he got into par- tying and it brought him down. He turned his se- nior project in one day late in 2008 and was told he couldn't walk in that year's graduation so he lost heart and quit. He entered the Contract Based Education program at Choice and fell under the sway of Fennel. "She pushed me so hard. She got me in gear," Matz said. "I got my life completely turned around." "He kind of struggled to get things done," Fennel said. "He's really smart. He would come in the eve- nings. He would sit down and just get to town. He just got a fire under him and got things done." Fennel said she thinks college will be good for Matz, who loves to debate and examine things close- ly. Matz is thinking of at- tending the University of British Columbia, The Evergreen State College, Washington State Univer- sity or other colleges. He wants to be a physician. Seventeen students from Fennel's program earned their diplomas this year. "They have a lot of things to overcome," she said of students in the pro- gram. "They really have to start thinking about the future. It's hard for them. They live moment to mo- ment." There are a maximum of 30 students plus one teach- er (Fennel) in the program. "They come whenever they can; some weekends, defi- nitely nights," she said. The students get a class syllabus and it lists every- thing they need to do, in- cluding homework. At the end of each month, Fen- nel meets with each of her students and they go over what they did and what they need to do to gradu- ate. "They come in for help whenever they need it. I do teach, it's more like orches- trating," she said. The stu- dents visit regional two- year colleges and guest speakers from the commu- nity come to speak to the students during the year. This year, the students did a lot of community service, which looks good on their college applications. get out of the way." Mason County, please be a part of the future. I'm not asking for curb- side pick-up or curbside composting (though, both would be nice). I just want to be able to drop off my glass recycling at the High- way 3 and Pickering drop spot late on a Saturday af- ternoon or at 6:30 p.m. on my way home after work or at 7 a.m. on my way into work. I'll continue paying for the gasoline to drive it in. I'll continue hounding my husband to separate the garbage and recycling. I'll even continue to take my work recycling home with me. Meet me in the middle, Mason County. Continue to offer glass re- cycling at Highway 3 and Pickering. Kate Dugan Harstine Island 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. NIGHT MUSEUM B,ATT'LE OF 114[ READERS' JOURNAL: Healthcare 'facts' offered Editor, the Journal: Usually a letter to the editor, no matter how out- rageous, contains at least a kernel of truth. The letter by Sandy Tarzwell regard- ing healthcare reform fails to meet even that minimum standard. Here are the facts on the current state of healthcare in the United States. Of all the developed nations of the world Americans pay more and receive fewer benefits and inferior care. American taxpayers al- ready pay for the uninsured Ms. Tarzwell - every time an uninsured person goes to the emergency room for care it costs the citizens of Wash- ington one thousand dollars minimum. We also pay in addition to outrageous pre- miums every month billions to fat-cat insurance corpora- tion CEO's who have done nothing but "watch over a failing system. Thirty percent of our "healthcare" costs go to pay profits for the stockhold- ers of insurance companies, which now specialize in de- nying claims of policyhold- ers. The lie that Europeans and Canadians must line up for medical treatment and can't pick their own doctor is just that - a lie! The rea- son the insurance industry is propagandizing misin- formed Americans like Ms. Tarzwell is because they stand to lose millions in profits if President Obama gets his way! As P.T. Barnum said: "There's a sucker born every minute" and as Ms. Tarz- well's letter proves the cor- porate insurance bosses are taking full advantage of it. William F. Johnston Hoodsport Mental money Editor, the Journal: Our county commis- sioners need to do their job and raise our taxes. I'm sure "the people" will forget about the 1/10th of 1 percent tax increase before the next election. Are we assum- ing people with mental illness don't vote? Tak- ing money from mental health no matter how little it is cannot be an option. Calling it excess founds does not change what it was designated for. Don't blame every- thing on the economy and take some credit for the fine work you all have completed up to now. Casey Carr Shelton Fire district controversy continues Editor, the Journal: At last the long-awaited report from the Washing- ton State Auditor's Office regarding Mason County Fire Protection District No. 6 has been made pub- lic. The primary Assertion 1 states, "A commissioner voted on his spouse's em- ployment as Deputy Chief and her salary, in which he has a beneficial interest." The Results in the audit report include the state- ment "We conclude a Dis- trict Commissioner had a beneficial interest in his spouse's employment as Deputy Chief and her sal- ary at the time he voted on those two matters." The District Commissioner is Steve Grout who voted to promote his spouse, Dee Grout. Later in the Results, the audit report includes the statement "Further, had the Commissioner (Steve Grout) abstained from voting for the promo- tion, the motion would not have passed because two of the three Commissioners were needed to approve a motion and only one Com- missioner able to vote on this issue was present." This finding renders moot the promotion of Dee Grout in February of 2008 and her salary increase in March of 2008. Dee Grout should still be holding her original position as Secretary to the Chief at her old salary. To date this action has caused the taxpayers in Fire Pro- tection District No. 6 over $15,000. Under the audit report section FIRE DISTRICT'S PLANS OF RESOLU- TION, the response from the District's Chairman of the Board, Barbara Bodin includes the statement "The commissioner in ques- tion (Steve Grout) felt that the prenuptial agreement in place at the time of the vote provided sufficient au- thorization for him to par- ticipate in the vote." As the audit report points out, the prenuptial agreement in place, dated May 1985, did not make the spouse's earn- ings separate property and was not even signed. Not in the audit report, but on a similar matter, Steve Grout in 2007 abstained (recused himself) from voting when his spouse, Dee Grout, was promoted to the full-time position as Secretary to the Chief. Apparently at that time Steve Grout did not feel the prenuptial agree- ment provided sufficient authorization to vote on matters involving his wife. The Chairman of the Board also states in her re- sponse that a new "Sepa- rate Property Agreement" was put into effect. The agreement was put into ef- fect March 19, 2009 AFTER both the vote to promote Dee Grout and the vote to increase her salary. Fur- ther, the Chairman of the Board, Barbara Bodin, ap- parently makes an extraor- dinary reach that this new agreement makes every- thing right when she says "The added salary received by the Commissioner's wife during the brief period be- tween pay raise and initia- tion of the new agreement was reimbursed to the Fire District out of~the wife's private bank account. No financial gain was realized prior to the initiation of the new Separate Property Agreement." This is tanta- mount to closing the door af- ter the proverbial horse has already left the premises. The bottom line is that the promotion of Dee Grout to Deputy Chief and her salary increase for this new position remains to this day an unauthorized action. Signing a post-vote Sepa- rate Property Agreement does not negate the fact that the vote should never have happened. As one of the people who called in to the State of Washington Audit Hotline on this issue, the only answer I would find acceptable and reason- able would be for the Fire Protection District No. 6 commissioners to acknowl- edge that the promotion and salary increase for Dee Grout is unauthorized and require that Dee Grout re- turn the excess pay to the Fire District. The Chair- man of the Board response to the audit findings totally misses the mark. Don Minor Union We welcome letters RO. Box 430, Shelton Direct e-mail letters to dan@masoncounty.com or greg@masoncounty.com J Owned and published by Shelton- Mason County Journal, Inc., Dan Mancuso, publisher, dan@ masoncounty.com. Newsroom: Gregory Skinner, managing editor; Jeff Green, features, schools, Port of Shelton; Mary Duncan, police, courts; Chris West, sports; Clinton Kendall, copy editor; Kevan Moore, city government. Advertising: Dave Pierik, advertising manager; Harvey Morris. Cheyanne Kelly, Belfair Herald ad sales. Front office: Donna Kinnaird, bookkeeper; Margot Brand, circulation; Cricket Carter, mailroom supervisor. Composing room: Diane Riordan, supervisor; Koleen Wood, legals, computer system manager; William Adams, graphics. Pressroom: Kelly Riordan, production manager; Jon Hughes, press operator; Travis Miller. Page A-4 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, June 18, 2009