June 19, 1969 Shelton Mason County Journal | ![]() |
©
Shelton Mason County Journal. All rights reserved. Upgrade to access Premium Tools
PAGE 4 (4 of 24 available) PREVIOUS NEXT Jumbo Image Save To Scrapbook Set Notifiers PDF JPG
June 19, 1969 |
|
Website © 2025. All content copyrighted. Copyright Information Terms Of Use | Privacy Policy | Request Content Removal | About / FAQ | Get Acrobat Reader ![]() |
What's your attitude? Le.er box-
o,t.erec e00com World needs help
munity attitude survey conducted by the Shelton
Jaycees show that re.idents are aware of the
city's urgent needs and a goodly percentage are
willing to pay to supply them.
The three items heading the problem list
are schools, recreation, and streets and side-
walks. Storm drainage and sewers came in fourth.
The school and street deficiencies are on
the way to correction. The school district's long-
range building plan has, so far, won the approval
of voters and will provide Shelton with adequat
educational facilities when it is completed.
A massive LID (mpaign is currently
underway to improve several miles of the city's
streets and the Plan of Progress organization is
developing workable plans for the entire street
network, plus the storm drains needcul before
streets cm be decently surfaced.
Nothing new is being done about recreation,
a subject which creates paradoxes whenever it is
discussed. Although recreation is listed in the
survey as the second most-wanted item, the
voters twice last year turned down proposals to
include an athletic plant a.t the new intermediate
school site on Mt. View.
May veers aPim, rently thought the ath-
letic complex would be an expensive layout used
by a limited number of students -- football lflay -
ers and track men -- when it: a('tually would be
used by all students for physical education pur-
po;s and non-sch(ml recreation.
A request for' recreational opportunities
for all age groups, but predominantly teenagers,
probably constituted the majority of comments
penned on the survey forms, yet when meetings
are held to discuss teen centers and such, turnouts
are not large and enthusiasm dies quickly.
The recreation lmZZh needs an answer, and
we susiwt it will involve a small group of per-
sons willing to work their heads ot'f until the job
is done.
The complete results of the survey are con-
tained in a special section of this week's Journal.
They make interesting reading. For those who
were not included in the questioning, a survey
. form is printed in the section, so they can com-
pare their attitudes vt the. 6 oT tI/eir higfilSbrs,
Shelton's Jaycees deserve the thanks of
the entire community for a tMious job well done.
On-the-job straining
The Washington State Personnel Board is
apparently hustling business for the medical
profession.
A 50-year-old Bremerton woman has been
fired from lier job in a state liquor store because
she couldn't lift a box containing a 45-lmund
chunk of concrete 54 inches in the air n times in
one minute, a performance test required by the
personnel bmrd for b(mzc clerks.
"I got it up six times the first time and eight
times the second time I tried," said the sacked
Lady, "but Fin all through trying to take the test."
We attempt to keel:) abreast of current
trends in the business world here at the Journal,
so took a mental inventory of employts with the
thought that maybe this performance test would
improve the physical condition of the journalism
troops. (You will remember that George Wash-
ington made his troops spend a winter in Valley
Forge to prow his m,'txim: "Strong bodies, alert
minds.")
After milch cogitating, we determined that
the test would result in three hernias, one slipped
disc, an aggravated case of hives, 13 smashed
toes, four resignations and two fist fights.
Since the two fist fights and one hernia
involved the publisher, we abandoned the idea in
favor of a performance test which calls for lifting
a Imncil to chin level ten times in one hour.
If the personnel board intends to continue
its search for perfection it should, in fairness,
extend performance tests to all persons involved
in state government. We humbly suggest two:
Liquor board members should be able to
imbibe ten drinks during a two-hour luncheon
without falling face-first into the sour cream, in
ease the need ever arises (luring a meal paid for
by a distillery representative.
As a requirement to hold the office, the
governor should be able to lift a personnel board
member (holding a box containing a 45-pound
chunk of concrete) over" his head and heave him
into the job market,
Page4 Shelton-Mason County Journal Thursday, June
"Boy! I can.see it all now -- broken pop bottles,
ice cream cartons, transistor radios . . ."
Capitol dome:
Cities, counties blame legislators for lack of loot
By ROBERT C. (1MMINGS
[l Without actually joining for-
ces, the state's two largest en-
tities of local government, the
cities and counties, are blaming
the 1969 Legislature for their fin-
ancial woes.
' This tack first was adoffted by',:;
Seattle cib' counc.ilmen hs they
laced a serious deficit in budget-
ing for the coming year. It was
echoed by Tacoma city officials
and then others in various parts
of the tate.
The problem was that they
had anticipated a state grant
much larger than they received
two years ago, commensurate
with rising costs and increasing
t)rol)lems.
When they didn't get it, they
fl:,und themst, lves neck deel) in
red ink.
NOT SEEKING HANDOUT
Now the staff of the Washing-
ton State Association of County
Commissioners, through the or-
ganization's official publican[ion,
"The County News Advocate,"
has joined the cry.
The staff, headed by Jack Rog-
ers, former legislator and more
recently a former county com-
missioner, charged the 41st Leg-
is]ature did "virtually nothin K to
held lee&l, government, parttculnr-
ly counties, "administering the
bulk of services to both people
and property."
"No direct handout or shared
revenue was sought," the staff
members said, "though such an
approach would not have been
unreasonable considering the dis-
tribution of tax revenues in this
state."
Tim counties had sought a self-
help program through local op-
tional taxing authority, specifical-
ly he right to levy an additiomd
excise tax on real estate such
as the 1 per cent now collected
for school districts.
"Except for local-option sales
tax with numerous built-in faults,
the Legislature proved unwilling
to grant any local optional tax-
ing authority," they said.
"Placing the local sales tax
in the governor's jealously-guard-
ed tax package assured the veto
it rec.eived."
They did have kind words "for
a number of courageotks legisla-
tors" who attempted to solve the
counties' problems, and for the
tIouse of Representatives, which
passed the association's excise
tax proposal.
The bill died in the Senate.
WILI, SUPI'ORT TAX REFORM
Editorially, the staff said "the
much-touted tax reform package
is not an cquitable distribution
of either tax burdens or tax re-
venues, "but added that the as-
sociation will still support the
progTam."
"The tax reform lmckagc des
contain the return of 2 mills to
the county current expense fund,
accomplisbing in 1972 or '73 what
Initiative 244 would have done
in 1969.
For these 2 mills the counties
Let's talk books:
It happened, caro mio, in Rome
By IJA)YD A. ODOK
]l Many novels are no d:ubt
hsed on a writer's life, things
seen and done, people well
known, places familiar, but few
books are admittedly so. William
Murray in "The Americano"
(NAL-World, 1968 is an excep-
tion to this rule.
Murray's mother was Italian,
his father American. ttis grand-
mother, who did much to shape
his life, is buried on a hill over
"the Rome she loved so deeply
all her life." los early childhood
was spent in Italy to which, af-
ter college and military service,
he returned to study opera. He
sang as a professional in both
Italy and the U. S. before tak-
ing up writing as a career. This
is his sixth novel.
"Americano" follows somewhat
the above story line. I was so
taken by the tale, so involved
with Bill and Claudia, that I did
not sense, until late my failure
t() pick up the bonus offered
readers as they move along. The
bonus is the view of Rome and
Italy denied aliens, notably tour.
ista on a tour.
Sights they see - the American
Express, Rome's seven hills, the
Coloseum, Bay of Naples, Capri,
St. Mark's at Venice - are there,
of course, but they are not the
Roma the author writes ab::ut.
It would be fun to dwell on
this if one could avoid saying
at the end: "Well, go there, be
there, see and learn."
Bill met Claudia and Ian her
husband at the Press Club bar
in Rome and, some weeks later,
has drinks with them at their
lflac.e near the Spanish Steps.
Rill is a lyric tenor, studying
1969
opera under the G. I. Bill, and
a stringer for Time-Life. Ian
writes movie scripts, though with
no'success. Claudia is no strik-
ing beauty yet would d,'aw at-
tention anywhere. As we get to
know her, she is quite a case.
. Erratic, tempermental, self-cen-
tered, with a yen for sex. "You
know what I am," she said to
Bill, "I can't help being myself."
After Ian makes his first sale,
he goes on location out cf town
to rework the script and Claudia
begins regular visits to Bill's
place. She would come to live
but she has a baby at home,
baby's nurse, a cook, a maid.
Ive making is intense yet never
enough for either of them. Ian,
one to take his pleasures where
he finds them, arrives home and
the break is made clean. He gets
a job in London and takes the
child with him. Bill and Claudia
go away for two weeks to Capri,
then settle into his attic flat, with
its leaky walls and roof.
All along Bill is meeting people
who appeal to him. There was
the old man on the liner New
York to Naples who, after 47
years of labor in the States, was
returning to his village in the
Abruzzi. Bill's cousin, Ruggero,
a socialist, and, when he got
into business, a capitalist who
shot himself after gambling a-
way a large sum. There was
Pietro, a revolutionist, hired to
fix the leaky roof. On any party
with girls, he was the one to
s h o u t : "Avanti, Am ricano!
Avanti!" Best of all, there was
,Max, another voice student on
the G. I., and his battle with
the Turks.
Max, new in Rome, found a
large flat, cheap if he could get
a friend or two to move in and
share the costs, except that one
room housed two stubborn Turks.
They had lived there for years,
paid a ridiculous rent due to the
prewar value of the lira, could
not be charged more or evicted
under Italian law. Max worried
not at all about this. What he
and Bill (lid was to round up
musical friends, invite them to
come and practice.
One, who could do E flat over
ttigh C, st¢>d at the piano,
struck a chord and went up the
scale. "Not there," Max said.
"Out in the hallway, where they
can get the full benefit." It did
not take many days and nights
until the Turks came charging
out, mad as hornets, bags pack-
ed, never to return.
Bill and Claudia quarrel and
then break up, anti she becomes
a fashion model. Bill goes on
with singing lessons and his de-
but, when it comes, is not much
of a success. He sings for agents,
trying to get cast, but ends as
a performer in a nightclub. In
deslmir, he moves on to Milan
where he tries out for a musical
show. Accepted at less than a
living wage, he sings "Go Down,
Moses" in an Hawaiian skit.
Claudia has said time and again
that he could not make grand
opera and, believing it at last,
he quits his job and takes a
boat to New York.
Since the novel is autobiograph-
ical, I like in particular the way
the author writes about himself.
No false note, no immodest pride,
no effort to cover up obvious
shortcomings. One can assume
that, in New York, be began the
career for which his talents
suited him and went on to be-
come a success.
are lfledged to suppot reform
of the taxing structure - and this
association will actively fulfill
that promise."
Initiative 24.1 was sponsored by
the county commissioners' as-
sociation in 1968, but because it
.was filed late, it failed o get the
100,000 valid si.natures needed
to qualify for balh)t. ,...
PARKS PROGRAM
UNDER PIRE
Many legal authorities concede
there is merit in a school direc-
tor official's contention that
sehtx)l resources are t)eing "se-
riously eroded" by the practice
of leasing 15,321 acres of prime
school hinds to the Pai'ks and
Recreation Commission for $28,000
a year.
In a letter t(, the State Board
of Natural Resources, Elmer W.
Stanley, executive secretary of
the Washington State School Dir-
ectors Association, said these
lands are worth at least $16 mil-
lion.
If sold to the parks commis-
sion for this price, he said, it
would yield $744,000 a year which
could be used for pay-as-you-go
school construction, or to amor-
tize bonds.
Tbe state's emtbling act deed-
ed the lands to the public schools
as a resource, and nuxnerous
legal experts agree with Stanley
that the enabling act has the
legal status of a treaty or con-
venant, superior to law, and
can't be altered excel)t by mu-
rural agreement of the Legisla-
ture and the U. S. Congress.
When the law authorizing lease
of state lands to the parks com-
mission was enacted, numerous
legislators conceded it would be
on shaky ground if challenged.
COULI) BE LONG WAIT
It would lxe some time before
there is a Supreme Court de-
cision on Atty. Gen. Slade Gor-
ton's opinion that pinball ma-
chines without automatic pay-
offs are illegal gambling devices.
A King County Superior Court
judge has dismissed the first
charge filed under this opinion.
The prosecutor plans to file oth-
ers, but if other Superior Court
judges follow the lead of the
first judge, nothing can be done.
The state doesn't have .the
right of appeal in criminal cas-
es. Only a conviction in the low-
er court could land the issue in
the Supreme Court.
It might be done by man-
damus proceedings, but this
would require the cooperation of
a prosecutor who would refuse
to prosecute on the basis of Got-
toffs opinion, and of somebody
who would sue for the wirt.
TELEPHONE RATES GOING UP
There doesn't seem to be any
question that a telephone rate in-
crease will result from current
hearings before the State Utilit-
ies and Transportation Commis-
sion. The only question is how
much.
Pacific Northwest Bell has
asked for rates which would
bring in a rate of return of 8.5
per cent on Its investment,
Editor, The Journal:
Does Mr. Grinnell realize what
he was asking us to do in his
speech at the commencement
exercises last week? Does he
really want us to bury ourselves
under a stack of books at col-
lege and never DO anything?
As I see it, this world needs
some improvements and it will
take a lot of concerned persons
a long time to accomplish it.
Certainly we won't be helping
anyone by sitting around twid-
(lling our thumbs for four years!
I agree that sometimes a few
(very few) of the students go a
little overboard. I do not like the
idea of violence on campus any
better than Mr. Grinneli does.
That does not mean, however,
that every student wishing a
change in colhge or worhi af-
fairs is a communist or danger-
ous radical !
I'm afraid that I lost a great
deal of respect for Mr. Grin-
nell when be
involved
gory of
bent on
(The truth is,
my tongue
to shut up.)
Everyone
generation
all its
to take care
something
changed I'll
can within the
to change it.
sort to
constitution
waccably
I'm very
nell that
does. I
mindedneSs.
ly against
opinions I
erintendent
Fight them Reds
Editor, The Journal: emotionally
I have read the speeches giv- No wondc
en at the Shelton Graduation - committee
those printed on pages 14 anti sch,fl systen
19 of The Journal (June 12 issue), sed by the .
Boy. this younger generation dent: leadersl P'
has it all over the insecure, I find
frightened oMer generation, does- speeches qt
n't it? trast. The
I've also been privileged to their way to
hear the speeches at Elma, Sil-
v(irdale, and North Mason. These our wagons
young people go right to the , fight off thcra
point - no smoke screen and
The other Jackson
Editor, The Journal:
With the objective of furthering
public support of the administra-
tion's ABM program, Sen. Henry
M. Jackson, chairman of the
Armed Services Committee, has
been warning of the strides made
by the Soviet Union in its stra-
tegic offensive and defensive ndl-
itary strength.
Personally, I should rather lis-
ten to the remarks by the same
(?) Henry Jackson made October
12. 1949 before the Hmse Foreign
Affairs Committee when he was
Rep. Henry Jackson. He announc-
ed at the beginning of his speech,
"We now know that Russia has
the atomic bomb."
Anti what was he then suggest-
ing that the U. S. do? Accelerate
an arms race with the Soviet
Union? Demonstrate military su-
periority in conventional and nu-
clear weapons?
No that her Henry Jackson,
a member of the Joint Commit-
tee on Atomic Energy! Quite the
contrary,
In the face of President Tru-
man's sudden anouncement of
Russia's possession of the bomb,
Rep. Jackson declared that this
knowledge "should drive home
the fact that the world can no
longer afford fundamental dia-
greement - at least when it comes
to controlling the forces of physi-
cal destruction."
He was urging consideration of
House Concurrent Resolution No.
64 which sought leadership of
the U. S. in the development of
the UN into a world federation
as the surest way of permanently
controlling the forces of mass de-
struction. The purpose in doing
so, he explained, would be "to
preserve
gression
interl)r(at i0n
world laW."
"As I see
"all we
the people
exercise :
the right to
into battle
ject the
possibly
JacksOn
a moral
vorhl into ar
limitl poWC
effective
felt that
fective co
ttx) much
Nations.
"/ks I seC
essary
that all
sul)mit to
matters
steal force.
ventional
use of
NoW Se'
President
in his
mcMified
growing ,'
gon's I111
any ace,
race.
It looks
Jackson
fight. If
of twent
ership
he said,
noble
lievc
has the
Beautiful and
Editor, The Journal:
How many of you readers saw
the display in Clifton's window
during the Forest Festival? If
you didn't see it you have really
missed something rare, beauti-
ful and unusual.
What I don't understand Is the
classification it was under. Mr.
Irvin McArthur, the artist, was
awarded first place in Pop Art.
Don't get me wrong, now. He
deserves first place. But my un-
derstanding of Pop Art is an
object or things put together but
their meaning known only to the
artist.
ThiS diS
and
art that
gination,
tarianisra
Aren't
have a
ing the
Hope to
works of
And to
it, rush
still there.
and
welded
us much.
Founded 1886 by Grant C.
Mailing Address: Box 430, Shelton, Wash.
Published at Shelton, Mason County,
Entered as Second-Class Matter at the
Member of National Editorial
Member of Washington Newspaper
SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $5.00 per
vance Outside Mason
"EDrrOR AND PUBLISHER Henry G. GaY
PLANT SUPERINTENDENT -- Jim Shrt
OFFICE MANAGER -- Lodema JohnSon
NEWS EDITOR Alan Ford
OFFICE ASSISTANT Mary Kent
JLDGR'I8IG MANAGER Don Ad01f"