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00ournal of Opinion:
Shelldom scene
It's taken forever - a generation - but the local Indian tribes
and commercial shellfish growers that depend on shellfish for their
livelihoods can take great pleasure in a recent legal settlement
ending the long dispute over shellfish harvesting rights. A
celebration of the pact involving the federal government, the
state, the tribes and commercial growers was held on the shores
of Mason County's Little Skookum Inlet last week.
Almost 20 years ago we interviewed an amazingly frank
state fisheries director, then in the middle of negotiations
with treaty Indian tribes over shellfish rights. That was
14" years after the Boldt decision giving tribes half of
the salmon in their customary fishing grounds, and the
fisheries director knew what would happen if the case
went to court. He said Boldt had given Indians shellfish
rights, and the state didn't want to get into a position
where a court quantified those rights.
Those who have been following the decades-long saga know
the negotiations dragged on, the tribes went to court and another
federal judge confirmed the tribes' rights to half the shellfish in
their customary gathering places. That included private land,
and the ruling upset private landowners who didn't want Indians
harvesting on their beaches. It was clear the government long ago
had solved the seeds of the conflict by allowing sale of tidelands to
private citizens with no regard for the Indians' treaty rights. You
couldn't blame the Indians for insisting on their treaty rights,
and you couldn't blame landowners for thinking their private
property was inviolate.
Now a settlement means the Indians will give up their
rights to harvest millions of dollars worth of shellfish
from commercial shellfish beds but will receive millions
of dollars in state and federal money to buy and lease
tidelands for their exclusive use.
It seems only fair to all parties.
Burning issue
File this one among your list of burning issues within the city
limits of Shelton: Not only is it rude, but it's against the law to
burn debris in your yard.
Walking on Ar/gleside recently we were overcome by
thick, acrid smoke from what we guessed had to be quite
a fire. We followed our nose three blocks to find a man
standing beside his house with a hose to keep a large
debris fire under control. Surprisingly he was standing
upwind of the blaze instead of positioning himself in the
middle of the smoke he was so generously pouring into his
neighbors' yards and homes.
Whether the pyrocitizen was oblivious to the rules or defiant
of them, the fire was illegal. The city is within an urban growth
area. Residential yard-debris fires and land-clearing fires are not
allowed in such an area. So, no, you can't do a spring pruning or a
fall raking and burn the branches and leaves "just this once." At
least not without risking a fine.
It is not legal to get rid of construction debris by building
a fire in your yard. Nor is it legal to burn household
garbage or trash in your yard or your fireplace. And the
state has outlawed use of burn barrels for any outdoor fire
anywhere in Washington.
That doesn't mean you can't cook outdoors with charcoal or gas
barbecues or a recreational fire. A recreational fire is defined as
a cooking fire, campfire or bonfire using charcoal or firewood in
a designated area or on private property for cooking, pleasure
or ceremonial purposes. It may give you great pleasure to burn
your leaves, but that's outside the law. It is not legal to use a
recreational fire for disposal of debris.
Note that, even if you're enjoying a legal recreational
fire, if it generates a complaint it must be extinguished.
An illegal outdoor fire in the city is a violation of the state's
Clean Air Act enforced by the city fire department and the
Olympic Regional Clean Air Authority. Those who see an illegal
fire may call the fire department for some action.
As long as we're at it, our lungs will make their annual
plea: When autumn's chill settles in, if you must burn
wood to heat, use hot, clean fires in your woodstove,
not air-starved, smoldering fires with unseasoned wood
that produce excessive smoke and worsen the city's air
pollution. The smoke, with particulates that penetrate
deep into the lungs, just hangs in the air at times.
This place is growing, and it's going to be a sizable city soon.
If it's to remain a nice little city with friendly neighborhoods, it's
imperative that the residents show simple courtesy for each other
by kindly obeying laws in such areas as burning, noise, fireworks,
animal control and driving.
There are composting, chipping and recycling
alternatives for yard and construction debris that are
much more courteous than breaking the law and filling
your neighborhood with smoke.
-CG
uul
Shelton- . _. - A
. qournal
oNnl
y r USPS 492-800
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Shelton-Mason
County Journal, RO. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584.
kly by Shelton Publishing Inc. at 227 West Cota Street, Shelton, Wa
Mailing address: RO. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584
Telephone (360) 426-4412 • www.masoncounty.com
Periodicals postage paid at Shelton, Washington
Member of Washington Newspaper Publishers' Association
SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $31.00 per year in-county address,
$55.00 per year out of state
Published weekly by Shelton Publishing Inc. at 227 West Cota Street, Shelton, Washington
$45.00 per year in state of Washington
Charles Gay, editor and publisher. Newsroom: Sean Hanlon, managing editor; Steve Patch,
sports editor; Jeff Green, general assignment, city government, schools, Port of Sfielton; Rebecca
Wells, society editor, county government; Mary Duncan, police, courts. Advertising: Stephen
Gay, advertising manager; Dave Pierik and Harvey Morris, ad sales. Front office: Julia Orme,
business manager; Kathy Lester, circulation; Donna Kinnaird, bookkeeper; Cricket Carter, mailroom
supervisor. Composing room: Diane Riordan, supervisor; Margot Brand, Jan Kallinen, pagination;
Frank Isaac, pagination, photo technician; Koleen Wood, typesetter, computer system manager;
William Adams, ad builder, computer system manager; Clinton Kendall, proofreader. Pressroom: Nick
Carr, pressman; Joey Parrott, pressman's assistant.
uiu
Page 4 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, July 12, 2007
i00eaders" 00Journai:
Use LIDs to repair city
Editor, The Journal:
In 1981 I bought a house on
Boundary Street in the 1700 block.
It was on a dirt street with gravel.
At first we tried to keep the
dust down with used oil until the
government would not let us do it
anymore.
Then people got together and
formed a local improvement dis-
trict (LID). Why can't the rest of
the people do the same thing to
improve their streets? I had to pay
my share, a little each month.
When it was paid off there were no
more taxes.
The street is used by
es two times a day
is open and Mason Transit
hour.
Everetto
Try streets sales tax instead
Editor, The Journal:
Anyone who has read past is-
sues of your newspaper is aware
that the city feels the best option
to fix our roads is through raising
our property taxes. Perhaps that is
the ideal option in our local govern-
ment's eyes.
In summer of 2001, I went back
home and visited my family in Mis-
souri. Same bumpy potholes and
various roads in town that were still
gravel and dusty just like back in
the old days when I was a kid. Does
this sound familiar? Some things
never change in small towns.
Well, that is what I thought un-
til I went back for my class reunion
last summer in 2006 and found
a very different hometown. My
brother worked for the local pub-
lic works, and I asked him about
how our hometown of Excelsior
Springs, Missouri, could afford to
fix and pave all of the roads that
extend to the city limits. He said it
was the best thing that ever hap-
pened! It was called the 1/2 percent
sales tax.
He went on to explain that at one
time the City of Excelsior Springs
proposed a property-tax increase
for the roads, but too many people
complained that there were rent-
ers, people who lived outsidel
city in the county and tran
travelers who used their roads
would never have to pay for tit
With the a/2 percent sales tag;
eryone who lives in or comes l
Excelsior for business pays
sales tax, which goes directl:
the upkeep and improvemed
the city's roads.
Perhaps our local officials sh{
look into a 1/2 percent sales
Shelton with the idea that it d
go into a general fund and it
directly to our roads.
Steve
Shd
Good candidate for demolitio
Editor, The Journal:
In response to last week's front-
page story in The Journal about
the city's efforts to have the dilapi-
dated Parkview Manor apartment
building demolished:
When it comes to tearing down
old buildings, how about that old
red "barn" on North First Street
that used to house a tavern and a
bowling alley?
That building has been an eye-
sore since I first'came to Shelton
in 1942.
My two younger sisters used to
set pins there when they were in
junior high. They are now in their
70s.
It is really ugly. It belong
a farm and not in the n d
town.
Something needs to be do
the old Olsen Furniture sto
least clean it out. It would m
good roller-skating rink.
Mary Profltt J°lhS
Applause for little theater
Editor, The Journal:
I would like to applaud all who
gave so generously of their time
and talents to make possible the
Harstine Island Theatre Club's
production, Happy Birthday,
America.
Community theater can't com-
pete with what is available in the
cities as far as professionalism or
grandeur is concerned. But those
who participated in making our
show give just as much of them-
selves as those in elaborate pro-
ductions.
There is some magic in little
theater that big theater can't du-
plicate.
It's hard to imagine a more ful-
filling experience than seeing our
youngsters interacting with
other and with us oldsters.
Those who attended the s
know what I mean.
To all who were unable to
tend, you missed being part of
wonderful magic.
Fredrick Burgdorf, dire
Harstine Islt
00ournal of Opinion:
Shelldom scene
It's taken forever - a generation - but the local Indian tribes
and commercial shellfish growers that depend on shellfish for their
livelihoods can take great pleasure in a recent legal settlement
ending the long dispute over shellfish harvesting rights. A
celebration of the pact involving the federal government, the
state, the tribes and commercial growers was held on the shores
of Mason County's Little Skookum Inlet last week.
Almost 20 years ago we interviewed an amazingly frank
state fisheries director, then in the middle of negotiations
with treaty Indian tribes over shellfish rights. That was
14" years after the Boldt decision giving tribes half of
the salmon in their customary fishing grounds, and the
fisheries director knew what would happen if the case
went to court. He said Boldt had given Indians shellfish
rights, and the state didn't want to get into a position
where a court quantified those rights.
Those who have been following the decades-long saga know
the negotiations dragged on, the tribes went to court and another
federal judge confirmed the tribes' rights to half the shellfish in
their customary gathering places. That included private land,
and the ruling upset private landowners who didn't want Indians
harvesting on their beaches. It was clear the government long ago
had solved the seeds of the conflict by allowing sale of tidelands to
private citizens with no regard for the Indians' treaty rights. You
couldn't blame the Indians for insisting on their treaty rights,
and you couldn't blame landowners for thinking their private
property was inviolate.
Now a settlement means the Indians will give up their
rights to harvest millions of dollars worth of shellfish
from commercial shellfish beds but will receive millions
of dollars in state and federal money to buy and lease
tidelands for their exclusive use.
It seems only fair to all parties.
Burning issue
File this one among your list of burning issues within the city
limits of Shelton: Not only is it rude, but it's against the law to
burn debris in your yard.
Walking on Ar/gleside recently we were overcome by
thick, acrid smoke from what we guessed had to be quite
a fire. We followed our nose three blocks to find a man
standing beside his house with a hose to keep a large
debris fire under control. Surprisingly he was standing
upwind of the blaze instead of positioning himself in the
middle of the smoke he was so generously pouring into his
neighbors' yards and homes.
Whether the pyrocitizen was oblivious to the rules or defiant
of them, the fire was illegal. The city is within an urban growth
area. Residential yard-debris fires and land-clearing fires are not
allowed in such an area. So, no, you can't do a spring pruning or a
fall raking and burn the branches and leaves "just this once." At
least not without risking a fine.
It is not legal to get rid of construction debris by building
a fire in your yard. Nor is it legal to burn household
garbage or trash in your yard or your fireplace. And the
state has outlawed use of burn barrels for any outdoor fire
anywhere in Washington.
That doesn't mean you can't cook outdoors with charcoal or gas
barbecues or a recreational fire. A recreational fire is defined as
a cooking fire, campfire or bonfire using charcoal or firewood in
a designated area or on private property for cooking, pleasure
or ceremonial purposes. It may give you great pleasure to burn
your leaves, but that's outside the law. It is not legal to use a
recreational fire for disposal of debris.
Note that, even if you're enjoying a legal recreational
fire, if it generates a complaint it must be extinguished.
An illegal outdoor fire in the city is a violation of the state's
Clean Air Act enforced by the city fire department and the
Olympic Regional Clean Air Authority. Those who see an illegal
fire may call the fire department for some action.
As long as we're at it, our lungs will make their annual
plea: When autumn's chill settles in, if you must burn
wood to heat, use hot, clean fires in your woodstove,
not air-starved, smoldering fires with unseasoned wood
that produce excessive smoke and worsen the city's air
pollution. The smoke, with particulates that penetrate
deep into the lungs, just hangs in the air at times.
This place is growing, and it's going to be a sizable city soon.
If it's to remain a nice little city with friendly neighborhoods, it's
imperative that the residents show simple courtesy for each other
by kindly obeying laws in such areas as burning, noise, fireworks,
animal control and driving.
There are composting, chipping and recycling
alternatives for yard and construction debris that are
much more courteous than breaking the law and filling
your neighborhood with smoke.
-CG
uul
Shelton- . _. - A
. qournal
oNnl
y r USPS 492-800
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Shelton-Mason
County Journal, RO. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584.
kly by Shelton Publishing Inc. at 227 West Cota Street, Shelton, Wa
Mailing address: RO. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584
Telephone (360) 426-4412 • www.masoncounty.com
Periodicals postage paid at Shelton, Washington
Member of Washington Newspaper Publishers' Association
SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $31.00 per year in-county address,
$55.00 per year out of state
Published weekly by Shelton Publishing Inc. at 227 West Cota Street, Shelton, Washington
$45.00 per year in state of Washington
Charles Gay, editor and publisher. Newsroom: Sean Hanlon, managing editor; Steve Patch,
sports editor; Jeff Green, general assignment, city government, schools, Port of Sfielton; Rebecca
Wells, society editor, county government; Mary Duncan, police, courts. Advertising: Stephen
Gay, advertising manager; Dave Pierik and Harvey Morris, ad sales. Front office: Julia Orme,
business manager; Kathy Lester, circulation; Donna Kinnaird, bookkeeper; Cricket Carter, mailroom
supervisor. Composing room: Diane Riordan, supervisor; Margot Brand, Jan Kallinen, pagination;
Frank Isaac, pagination, photo technician; Koleen Wood, typesetter, computer system manager;
William Adams, ad builder, computer system manager; Clinton Kendall, proofreader. Pressroom: Nick
Carr, pressman; Joey Parrott, pressman's assistant.
uiu
Page 4 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, July 12, 2007
i00eaders" 00Journai:
Use LIDs to repair city
Editor, The Journal:
In 1981 I bought a house on
Boundary Street in the 1700 block.
It was on a dirt street with gravel.
At first we tried to keep the
dust down with used oil until the
government would not let us do it
anymore.
Then people got together and
formed a local improvement dis-
trict (LID). Why can't the rest of
the people do the same thing to
improve their streets? I had to pay
my share, a little each month.
When it was paid off there were no
more taxes.
The street is used by
es two times a day
is open and Mason Transit
hour.
Everetto
Try streets sales tax instead
Editor, The Journal:
Anyone who has read past is-
sues of your newspaper is aware
that the city feels the best option
to fix our roads is through raising
our property taxes. Perhaps that is
the ideal option in our local govern-
ment's eyes.
In summer of 2001, I went back
home and visited my family in Mis-
souri. Same bumpy potholes and
various roads in town that were still
gravel and dusty just like back in
the old days when I was a kid. Does
this sound familiar? Some things
never change in small towns.
Well, that is what I thought un-
til I went back for my class reunion
last summer in 2006 and found
a very different hometown. My
brother worked for the local pub-
lic works, and I asked him about
how our hometown of Excelsior
Springs, Missouri, could afford to
fix and pave all of the roads that
extend to the city limits. He said it
was the best thing that ever hap-
pened! It was called the 1/2 percent
sales tax.
He went on to explain that at one
time the City of Excelsior Springs
proposed a property-tax increase
for the roads, but too many people
complained that there were rent-
ers, people who lived outsidel
city in the county and tran
travelers who used their roads
would never have to pay for tit
With the a/2 percent sales tag;
eryone who lives in or comes l
Excelsior for business pays
sales tax, which goes directl:
the upkeep and improvemed
the city's roads.
Perhaps our local officials sh{
look into a 1/2 percent sales
Shelton with the idea that it d
go into a general fund and it
directly to our roads.
Steve
Shd
Good candidate for demolitio
Editor, The Journal:
In response to last week's front-
page story in The Journal about
the city's efforts to have the dilapi-
dated Parkview Manor apartment
building demolished:
When it comes to tearing down
old buildings, how about that old
red "barn" on North First Street
that used to house a tavern and a
bowling alley?
That building has been an eye-
sore since I first'came to Shelton
in 1942.
My two younger sisters used to
set pins there when they were in
junior high. They are now in their
70s.
It is really ugly. It belong
a farm and not in the n d
town.
Something needs to be do
the old Olsen Furniture sto
least clean it out. It would m
good roller-skating rink.
Mary Profltt J°lhS
Applause for little theater
Editor, The Journal:
I would like to applaud all who
gave so generously of their time
and talents to make possible the
Harstine Island Theatre Club's
production, Happy Birthday,
America.
Community theater can't com-
pete with what is available in the
cities as far as professionalism or
grandeur is concerned. But those
who participated in making our
show give just as much of them-
selves as those in elaborate pro-
ductions.
There is some magic in little
theater that big theater can't du-
plicate.
It's hard to imagine a more ful-
filling experience than seeing our
youngsters interacting with
other and with us oldsters.
Those who attended the s
know what I mean.
To all who were unable to
tend, you missed being part of
wonderful magic.
Fredrick Burgdorf, dire
Harstine Islt