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JOURNALEDITORIAL
KOMENCOMMENT
Security cameras surround us. They're
on us as we drive about town, especially
when we stop for traffic signals. Career-
as watch us shop in Walmart, browse antique
stores, look for bargains in thrift shops, visit
a bank in downtown Shelton.
Look above you when next you're stopped
at an intersection. More often than not you'll
find a small TV camera affixed to the over-
head traffic-light structure. It's observing
you, and it is taping you.
These tiny television cameras watching us
have become so ubiquitous and we've become
so accustomed to them that we no longer pay
them much attention. They are there, and
we've accepted them as a matter of course.
They've become an invisible factor in our
daily lives.
They're not hidden. Many of these cameras
are in plain sight as they record you in the
bank or making a transaction in the gas-
station convenience store. And these estab-
lishments make no bones
LETTERSTOTHEEDITORTM
about the fact you're being
recorded. There are signs
and written notices tell-
ing you -- warning you, in
fact -- that you are being
observed. They are not re-
ally warning you, exactly.
They are warning shoplift-
By JOHN ers to be aware they are be-
ing watched, so don't steal
KOMEN anything.
Crime was a major rea-
son why cameras went up in the first place.
Years ago cameras were first installed -- and
very visible to everyone -- to monitor activi-
ties in crime-ridden neighborhoods. Police
would watch, live, as drugs were dealt, cars
vandalized, businesses burglarized. The cam-
era/recorder was a great crime-fighting tool in
the inner cities.
And it still is being used to fight crime.
We've all seen newspaper photos of a robber
caught by the camera/recorder as he rifled
a cash register, held up a bank, broke into a
store. On television, the actual tapes are of-
ten shown, so we see movies of the bandit in
action.
All this crime fighting is well and good.
But what of the great majority of us who are
law-abiding, tax-paying, God-fearing citizens?
Why should we be subjected to this constant
spying on our daily activities? What about
our privacy? Our right to conduct our daily
business without interference of cameras and
recorders? Isn't there some Constitutional
right to be left alone that is being abrogated
here?
Too late. The cameras are here, and they're
• not about to be removed by some citizen
crying about his Constitutional rights. The
ubiquitousness of cameras observing us is too
solidly entrenched to ever be reversed.
And it is about to get enhanced. Already a
few cities are augmenting the cameras with
sound recorders and instantaneous location
devices that can pinpoint the exact location of
a gunshot.
Called "ShotSpotter," the system detects a
gunshot, sends an instant electronic alarm to
a central location where a technician quickly
focuses on a computer screen, zooms in on a
satellite map, determines within a dozen feet
where the shot occurred and immediately or-
ders up a police response.
ShotSpotter's system has acoustic detec-
tors attached to buildings, utility poles and
anything else handy. By computerized trian-
gulation, a near-precise location where the
shot was fired is immediately determined.
The ShotSpotter company will set up its sys-
tem in your city for a yearly fee of $40,000 to
$60,000 per square mile of monitored area.
The New York Times reports Oakland, Ca-
lif., has ShotSpotter. So does Richmond, Calif.
Detroit recently rejected a $2.6 million Shot-
Spotter contract because the city can't afford
to hire enough officers to answer all the city's
gun shots.
ShotSpotter has one big drawback. Any
sharp sound -- not just a gun going off -- is
detected and instantly tracked. So don't blow
off an air horn or crash your car into a trash-
can. You might wind up an acoustic suspect.
• 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.
Shelton-Mason County
mmm
There is a YouTube video circulat-
ing on the Internet that shows a high
school English teacher from Mass-
chusetts telling the Class of 2012 at
Wellesley High School that "none of you
is special."
For 12 minutes and 36 seconds,
David McCullough Jr. insists that the
graduates sitting before him, and their
37,000 fellow graduates across the
country, are "not exceptional."
"Even if you're one in a million," Mc-
Cullough says, "on a planet of 6.8 bil-
lion, that means there are nearly 7,000
people just like you."
Part of McCullough's point seems to
be that high school graduation is not
the end. It is intended, instead, to be
only the beginning -- a message clearly
conveyed at each of the four high school
graduation ceremonies in Mason Coun-
ty over the past two weeks and the 478
gradutes.
While no one is special -- or if, in-
deed, we all are special -- it is para-
mount to note that each member of the
graduating Class of 2012 is distinct.
No matter your label, group or cat-
egory, then, each graduate is account-
able only to himself or herself about the
individual impact, good or bad, he or
she chooses to make on society.
And by being distinct, each graduate
has the opportunity to make a unique
-- er, special -- impact on society, be
it Mason County, Washington or any-
where else.
Shelton High School social studies
teacher and girls basketball coach Jus-
tin Parker addressed the Highclimbers
during the school's 103rd commence-
ment exercises on June 9 at St. Mar-
tin's University in Lacey.
Parker hit the proverbial nail on the
head when he told graduates to be "re-
lentless, unyielding and persisent."
He encouraged students that when
life knocks you down, "get back up,
brush yourself off.., and get going."
And that's what can separate every-
one who is special from those who are
distinct.
"Don't be passive about what is
ahead of you," Parker said. "Fight,
scrap, claw. Get it done."
And in doing so, make a difference.
Be distinct.
need work
Editor, the Journal:
I have never seen a shod-
dier compilation. The 2012
yearbook has more misspelled
words, names askew (Cale
Gloor - Paige Rune Goldsby)
backward pictures, than is
imaginable. Don't they edit
any part of it? It makes me
wonder what kind of educa-
tion our kids are getting,
don't know how to spell, can't
get names right on pictures
and can't tell when a photo is
backward. These books are
not cheap. We expect bet-
ter. We did not get what we
thought we were paying for.
Arline Goldsby
Shelton
Don't let the
county fool
you
Editor, the Journal
If it were possible to talk
away violent crime, pollution
and a bad economy, these
things would not be taking
place in Mason County. But
they are.
In an effort to distract from
the issues, citizens are made
to endure the occasional of-
ficial self-congratulation and
interdepartmental award.
But the only real measure of
how a community is doing is
how people feel about their
safety, their prospects for the
future and their overall well-
being,
County commissioners
tell us that times are tough
and cutbacks to services are
necessary. But the fact is cur-
rent cash/investment have
exceeded expenditures in each
of the past three years, with
reserves now at $7.2 million,
a six-year high. For whatever
reason, commissioners would
like us to think we can't even
afford a fuU-time receptionist
at the county administra-
tive building; walk into the
lobby on any Friday and you
are greeted only by your own
echo.
Have a concern? Don't
bring it to a county commis-
sion meeting, unless you want
to be drowned under a wave
of excuses, ranging from "Our
hands are tied" to '`you're
misinformed." If you happen
to represent a special inter-
est.group, however, you can
expect to have the county's
Comprehensive Plan amended
to accommodate your needs.
Given all the attention to
special interests, you'd think
they were the primary source
of revenue, but you'd be wrong;
the county budget is balanced
on the backs of ordinary citi-
zens who dutifully pay their
property taxes to the tune of
more than $68 million in 2011
(more than $70 million, if you
include property excise tax).
Why is all this so impor-
tant? Because the job of local
government is to protect the
citizenry, provide services and
create public policies that ben-
efit the community at large, Editor, the Journal
not cater to special interests. I believe if we want trans-
When it comes to the contract parent government, we should
of taxes versus public services, see transparency from candi-
ordinary citizens are getting dates before an election. Don't
the short end of the stick, you agree?
Am I being unfair? Per- I am a citizen in Belfair
haps. But ask yourself this who wants to see a future
question: In public policy deci- transparent government not
sions involving safety, jobs, run by hidden agendas. There
growth and the environment, is a community forum corn-
are your concerns being ad- ing up on June 25 inviting
dressed? Now ask yourself the candidates for county corn-
same question, only this time missioner, state representa-
imagine you have political tive, and U.S. Congress. The
influence and a pocket full of names of the organizers were
money, listed in the June 7 Belfair
Ordinary people are the Herald. I wrote a simple let-
heart and soul of Mason ter to the Belfair Round Table
County. Not big business, not Yahoo Group, a group that
the politicians, and certainly appears to be one outreach of
not special interests. It is the North Mason Community
ordinary people doing extraor- Voice (NMCV), asking for
dinary things that make our some simple disclosures since
county a place worth living in. the forum was promoted as
And it is ordinary people who being completely neutral.
can bring a sense of commu- The only responses I re-
nity back by electing the right ceived by anyone in a position
people, of leadership were negative
responses insinuating I was
Tom Davisstarting rumors and trying
Sheltonto undermine the integrity
of the forum. I don't believe I
was because I went directly
Clarification and openly to the source and
asked for disclosures.
on SR 3 Here are the main ques-
tions I asked to NMCV and
the Belfair Round Table dis-
repairs cussion group:
1. Who is in charge
Editor, the Journal of the upcoming candidate
I asked my 35th District forum: The Chamber of Com-
representatives, Kathy Haigh merce or NMCV?
and Fred Finn, for informa- 2. How did the chamber
tion on state activity to repair and NMCV team up on this
the slide damage along State event? Are there minutes to
Route 3 near Shelton. the meetings?
I received the following re- 3. Who will see the ques-
spouse from Washington State tions emailed or sent in and
Department of Transportation how will the questions be de-
(WSDOT) Region Administra- termined for the candidates?
tot Kevin J. Dayton, which I 4. Why do the candi-
would like to share with read- dates need time to consider
ers of the Journal: the questions? Why the prepa-
"Immediately after the ration time?
slide occurred, WSDOT ex- 5. Has anyone involved
pedited the development of a in the decision-making for
contract to replace the exist- this upcoming forum been in-
ing retaining wall that failed, volved in any kind of strategy
A new retaining wall will be meetings with any particular
built to restore the roadway candidate?
to its previous condition. 6. If the answer to ques-
Using emergency contract- tion 5 is "Yes,' was the upcom-
ing methods, the project ing forum or the partnership
was awarded to Rognlins, with the chamber in any way
Inc. on May 29, 2012. Un- tied to any strategies for any
fortunately, due to the lead particular candidate?
time required to procure and
fabricate the structural piles The reason these questions
necessary to build the new were asked is because it had
retaining wall, the onsite been observed that one par-
work will not begin until mid ticular candidate for county
to late July. WSDOT antici- commissioner seemed to have
pates the contractor to corn- an inordinate number of sup-
plete the repairs and have porters among those names
two lanes restored in early
October."
Lee Hatch
Shelton
Let's keep it
transparent
mentioned in the Journal on
June 7. After investigating on
the state's public disclosure
website, it turns out that
at least half of the names
mentioned as organizers in
the article have financially
supported one particular
candidate for county commis-
sioner, yet have not supported
others, and one of the other
organizers in particular owns
at least one website domain
with the same commissioner
candidate's name, making
the apparent support for one
particular candidate more
than half of those mentioned.
In addition to that, the other
partner in this forum named
the same candidate "Man of
the Year" recently. I wasn't
accusing at all. I was simply
asking for disclosures and it
feels like I was stonewalled.
I have yet to receive an-
swers to the questions I ask.
All I'm asking for is transpar-
ency, simple transparency. I
don't care who wins the elec-
tion at this point, as long as it
is done transparently. Other-
wise, how can we anticipate
a transparent government in
the future if we cannot even
get it during the election pro-
cess? Please investigate this.
John Gunter
Belfair
Republican
nastiness
unneccesary
Editor, the Journal
I realized that I am an old
lady, but the national politi-
cal climate really upsets me.
I've voted at times Republican,
Democratic and even third
party.
The utter viciousness, pet-
tiness and nastiness of Eric
Cantor, John Boehner, Mitch
McConnell and Mitt Romney
is horrible.
They apparently would
rather see the economy go
down the drain than do any-
thing to help. Every time there
is a new set of figures that are
a bit disappointing, they are
absolutely gleeful. They have
become downright mean.
Between them and Karl
Rove's super PACs -- thanks
to the stupid Citizen's Union
decision -- I will probably nev-
er vote Republican again.
What ever happened to the
party of Lincoln, Teddy Roos-
evelt, Eisenhower, Dan Evans
and even Nixon?
They put the good of the
country ahead of self interest
and actually knew what the
word compromise meant.
Perhaps the OWL Party
some years back had the right
idea.
Bonnie Rice
Shelton
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Page A-4 - Shelt0n-Mason County Journal - ThursdaY, June 21, 2012
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