July 13, 1978 Shelton Mason County Journal | ![]() |
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OPINION00
Too late every time
Dear Mum:
Just a note to let you know what is going on with me.
You probably read this week that Governor Ray has
ordered a reduction in payments for 5,000 welfare
recipients. They will now get "a $60 a month allowance for
food" rather than the $212 they have been receiving.
Your loving son is one of those 5,000 the governor says
should not be getting welfare because they are employable,
healthy citizens. God knows I have tried to get a job, but I
keep running into this one big problem wherever I apply.
My friends say I am crazy to try to get a job because
you can live pretty high off the hog on that $212 a month.
Even after I bought the new car and made the down
payment on that property on Fox Island, I' still had enough
money left to pay for your stay in the hospital and your
birthday trip to Hawaii.
But I knew it couldn't last, so I've been training for a
number of jobs. You will remember when I was a little kid
I made a list of jobs I'd like to have when I grew up. The
thing I wanted most to do was pilot a supertanker, so I
trained hard for that job.
But when I got down to the supertanker place, there
was this lady already at the helm. She wore a baseball cap
and a big smile, and looked a lot like Governor Ray.
The second job on my list was helmsman on a
hydrofoil. I figured my supertanker training would help
qualify me for that, so I hustled down to the dock where
they keep the hydrofoils. I couldn't believe it. That same
lady was already there and ready for action behind the
wheel.
I figured I'd better look for work on land because all
the water jobs were apparently tied up in some kind of
affirmative action program for women, so I trained as a log
truck driver. I've wanted to run one of those big rigs ever
since I was five years old.
When I thought I was ready, I went to this logging
company to apply for work. I hadn't even gotten through
the gate xhen I spotted this big, shiny log truck with a
smiling driver behind the wheel. Guess what, momma?
You're right; it was that same dame in the baseball cap
who had beaten me to the other two jobs.
I was pretty discouraged by then, so I used my welfare
money to take a trip to Europe, a couple of short whacks
at the Los Vegas tables, and a theatre tour of New York.
But I knew I had to get a job, so I took another look
at my list and decided to become a railroad engineer. This
time, however, I thought I'd check out the employment
., possibilities before I started training.
I went down to the depot and there, believe it or not,
IIWS that same grinning, sol::, upl in the gab of Old 98 with
::!i oe iand on-the throttle' and t other on thi whistle.
I was talking to myself for a week, but I didn't let it
destroy me. You develop a lot of perseverance from
standing in a welfare line waiting to collect all those big
bucks. So I looked at my list again.
Remember when daddy gave me that miniature
Goodyear blimp? For about two years all I could think
about was becoming a blimp pilot, and that job was next
on my list. I prayed that the smiling lady's poppa had
never given her a miniature blimp.
But apparently he had. I spotted her from a mile away
as I approached the airport, so didn't even bother to put
on my baseball cap and blimp driver's T-shirt with the
picture of the Hindenburg.
I've had it, momma. You know I don't give up easily,
but I'm at the end of my steam and have run out of rope.
Just getting this off my chest has made me feel better,
however, so maybe I'll give it one more try. I'm leaving
tomorrow for Alaska to look for work as a dog sled driver.
If that doesn't work, I can always run for governor. No
training or talent is required for the job and I think I could
learn to live on $4,600 a month.
Love,
Sonny
--- programs both
8flU. C)F WlCKE9
OOt00C0000SSlO0000,t. WITCR. •
K[ 4E D C0vIE Editor, The Journal: (to the judge's surprised
"' D|[[' 0' , . ,, . . • to legally hit the bricks
'the 00ome 00ome, ou t side w o.
Olql'r Sf[XS f ,,,, ta. lg of _mff_ny thi.ngs:" Intensive rarote grogram.
t.,j noe, ann stops, aria sealing wax, Similarly, persons
"'Of cabbages and kingz "' records successfully
- Lewis Carroll con game to a
committee operating in
Indeed, Mason County the four guard towers. In quick and would.receive favor
_-----, residents are increasingly talking succession occurred the loss of m!scmcmauon, while a
to one another; particularly one of the three cell blocks on Ingnteneo resident,
those who live within the the Dayton Road side of the anger anu fear reac
C__apitol aDome:
Timber tax at top of list
By ROBERT C. CUMMINGS Some fear allowing too much
The state timber tax which time would encourage further
doesn't please anybody will delay. Meanwhile, Ihe
probably be extended when the Department of Revenue has
Legislature convenes here next announced it has increased
January. stumpage values for the secomt
The present law expires next half of this year. Young-growth
December 31, so passage of a bill Douglas fir will average 2.2
extending it will be one of the percent higher; hemlock, 9.9
first actions taken by the percent.
lawmakers. A Three-Way Approach
Despite almost Universal
The House Ecology
dissatisfaction with the present
method, those involved have Committee has instructed its
staff to prepare three alternativc
been unable to agree upon a
substitute, bills on water resource
management, to be taken up fin
Target Date is March consideration some time this fall.
The Attorney Gener'al's One bill would establish; a
', office has ited i offieial';''water supply forecasting bbard,
opinion that the Legislature has and require forecast reports to
until March to enact a new tax
law and make it retroactive to
January 1.
The length of the extension
hasn't been determined. Some
senators favor a full two-year
extension, but there is a question
whether the House will agree to
it.
the Legislature. Another would
tighten the five.year
relinquishment provisions of the
water rights law, while a third
would require land transfer
documents to contain pertinent
information regarding water
rights.
Meanwhile the commiltee
Quote:
"Any school district that decides to get serious about
minimum competency, especially in the big cities,
could fail students in droves. But what will happen in
a state like California, where each school system is free
to set its own standards of minimum competency?
One can almost conjure up visions of a modern
generation of academic Okies, families moving from
school district to school district in search oJ'a
minimum competency test that their chiMren ca
pass." Gone I. Maeroff
i II
'V
Stop me if you e heard...
By KARL L. MONROE
Collinsville (Ill.) Herald
Are you ready for this one?
The operator of one of those Marineland resorts heard
that a rival establishment was billing "The Ancient
Mariner," a porpoise that had apparently achieved
immortality. Jealous and curious, he went to see it.
The carbon-14 dating and other exotic tests by which
they dated the porpoise's birth somewhere the far side of
Noah's Ark, he was skeptical of. What convinced him was a
beard a foot long, snowy white.
He had never seen that on a porpoise. He believed.
At incredible cost, he bought The Ancient Mariner. It
would be a great box office attraction, and besides, the
operator secretly yearned to live forever himself, and
00tl, e00;00Jour00al
Mailing Address: Box 430, Shelton, Wa. 98584 Phone 426-4412
Published at 227 West Cota Street, Shelton, Mason County,
Washington 98584, weekly.
Second-class postage paid at Shelton, Washington
figured he could get the technique from The Ancient
Mariner.
Within a few days, the ancient porpoise lost its pep,
began behaving like several tlaousand years old, and
hadn't eaten a smidgin of the chopped octopus and other
delicacies the operator tempted him with. Frantic, he laycd
the problem before the former owner.
"I forgot to tell you," the sly seller said, "The Ancient
Mariner owes all his success to an exotic diet. In the bay of
a little island a thousand miles from here, is the nesting
ground of a certain sea-gull. They are - well, different. The
Ancient Mariner eats only the fledgling sea-gulls. We would
rob the nests and feed them to the immortal porpoise, and
thus guarantee he'd live forever. It wasn't automatic, you
know.
"I am a man of honor and former Eagle Scout, and I
will give you my left-over stock of young gulls."
Great. The operator couldn't wait to get back to his
own Marine land with the good news and life-preserving
tonic for The Ancient Mariner.
Unfortunately, the road ran through safari land. Draped
squarely across the road, dozing peacefully, was the
magnificent boss lion of the herd, a truly regal creature.
The operator discarded the idea of waiting until the
lion woke' to move on. He decided to proceed on foot.
Very cautiously, he stepped over the lion. Sirens wailed,
and a crew of state policemen leaped from the bushes and,
nabbed him.
"What's this all about? Unhand me, you slobs," he
bellowed. "What am I arrested for?"
"Mann Act. Taking a young gull across a stately lion for
Member of National Editorial Association
Member of Washington Newspaper Publishers' Association
SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $7.00 per year in Mason County,
11;9.00 per year in State of Washington $12.00 per year out of State
decided Io conduct legislative
oversight meetings on the
l)epartment of Ecology's
prop()sed John Day/McNary
waler management regulations.
Here We Go Again
The platform which
I)em*crals adopted at their state
convenlion may get nlore
ciculali(m at the hands of the
Republicans than. by their own
candid:des.
The Ilouse minority leader,
I)uanc Berenlson, Burlington,
mid William Polk, Mercer Island,
we're quick Io challenge the
I)cmocralic plank calling for a
slale irlcolllo lax.
Rerrresenltive Claude Oliver,
Ken,ewick, wasn't far behind
wilh a blast against the
I)et/ioctals for favoring a
moratorium on planning of new
mtclear plants.
Standard Procedure
The income tax is an old
Democratic standby. It has been
J n every state Democratic
phtlform since 1932. And despite
the loci (hal it has been rejected
in six separate elections, it has
had ]illle if any effect on
Democratic fortunes at the polls.
In vicw of the current "tax
rew)ll," the Democrats may be
taking a calculated risk this year.
But they may have been
encouraged by a questionnaire
circulaled in Thurston County
showing a surprising 37.9 percent
favoring some form of
re, lrcted income tax as an
alternative to special levies.
The lasl time the income tax
was on the ballot, in 1973, only
20.8 percent of Thurston
County's electorate voted for it.
Republicans meanwhile
appear to be ignoring the fact
that the last two income tax
proposals were placed on the
ballol by a Republican Governor,
at a time when Republicans
controlled the llouse.
l)epends Upon the Authors
It is a maxim in politics that
party platforms seldom are
written by those who run for
of lice. So candidates usually are
inclined to ignore them.
Apparently .... judging from
the results .... so do the voters.
At least two of the planks in
the 1978 state Democratic
platform ..... calling for a
mo]atorium on additional
mtclear facilities planning, and an
extension of the ban on
supertankers to include coastal
wate)s . are out of tune with
l)emocratic Governor Dixy Lee
Ray's views.
So What's Basic
Whether interscholastic
aclivities should be considered a'
basic purl of education, to be
funded by the state, is being
considered by the Senate
lducalion Committee.
Under the 1977 basic
education act, interscholastic
activi(ies are excluded and must
be funded out of local levies.
A major issue is whether the
stale .)r local school districts
sh()uhl pay stipends to faculty
members for the additional time
devoted to such activities.
Fnl'rnR AND PUBLISHER ...................... Henry G. Gay immortal porpoises."
Page 4 - Shelton-Mason Coun'ty Journal - Thursday, July 13, 1978
immediate area of Washington
Corrections Center.
The fears they have been
forced to keep to themselves -
many of them are families placed
in double jeopardy by reason of
their dependency on the
breadwinner's earnings at the
institution - are feelings of
extreme anxiety in regard to the
safety of family members
following an escape by prisoners.
The recent successful escape
at WCC in broad daylight and in
sight of unmanned guard towers
has made them fearful that a
subsequent escape may turn into
the hostage-kidnapping, murder
binge that recently occurred in
Oregon.
During recent years, such
families have stood helplessly by,
hardly daring to talk to one
another, lest reprisal be heaped
upon the wage-earning family
provider and. the reprimand be
followed by retribution in the
form of tiffing - loss of job
suffered at the bureaucratic
hand.
Also helplessly, they have
stood by while a predatory
bureaucracy has run amok, like a
fox in a chicken coop, recklessly
and heedlessly destroying vital
life-support systems - the very
bone and sinew of an institution
- originally commissioned under
the firm but wise and innovative
hand of the late Garrett Heyns,
possibly one of the most highly
respected penologists our nation
has produced.
Sadly, too, they have
watched as the Olympia
bureaucracy, fattening on the kill
of attritioned jobs (always in the
name of economy), destroyed
line services of the troops while
sweetening official positions
above.
Sadly, also, they watched
while a program focused toward
successful rehabilitation of the
offender was arbitrarily reduced
in regard to staff participation in
inmate activities in what was
regarded as a safe,
well-controlled environment.
Included were self-help and
self-improvement groups, usually
laden with much friendly social
interaction, including the
discussion of the problems of
serving time in a controlled
environment while readjusting
social values, gaining an
education and needed
employment skills while
anticipating a successful reentry
into society when released.
Following the retirement of
Dr. Heyns, the Adult Correction
Division was quickly captured by
persons whose careers had been
given over to the "baby-tending"
activities related to the care and
treatment of juvenile offenders.
The first signal of retreat
from responsible adult penal
control was, as Walla Walla
warden Bobble Rhay admitted in
a Life magazine article, the
turning over of much of the
penal activity control to the
convicts. Such con control was
manifested by turning over to
the control of con boss-led
groups such as Hells Angels
complete units, or even
buildings, such as the old boiler
building.
In such "sheltered areas" con
rule reigned supreme (and
continues to do so) without any
interference from custody
officers who had been deprived
of the keys to such buildings.
This haeant that weaker residents
were victimized by the strong by
physical aggression: fights,
stabbings and sexual assault.
Such pressures exerted by
con rule forced all residents to
choose safety within such
convict-controlled groups to
avoid being victimized as weak
persons. Such admonitions as
"do 'our own time" and "avoid
bad associations" were quickly
thrown away by the new
resident who was forced to seek
safety in numbers.
Meanwhile, at WCC, the first
obvious signal of dismantling of
a formerly highly regarded
custody and treatment program
was the unmanning of two of
institution, given over to the
protective custody of the weaker
residents and sexual offenders
who are at the bottom of the
criminal population (the R-3
unit).
Foreshortened or abandoned
entirely were diagnostic services,
the gaining of vitally needed
information concerning a
convicted person's background,
past criminal record,
sophistication, type of offense
for which sentenced, along with
testing and adequate evaluation.
Similarly, the former strict
control of visits with crime
partners or association with
criminal members of a family
were abandoned. Residency was
reduced from six weeks to two
weeks, and the "body," often
accompanied only by a court
commitment paper, was shipped
on to another institution or
haphazardly placed by guess and
by golly in a minimum custody
situation, such as apparently
happened in the case of the
recent WCC escapees, described
as highly dangerous by the
authorities.
Thus, also, as in a recent
Mason County case, a judge,
using ordinary good sense, gave
the less sophisticated offender a
year's jail sentence. The more
sophisticated was sent up, only
unconsciously,
hard time and hard
Meanwhile, the
attritioned in regard to
casework by a sociolo
this highly needed
available for the
process of
psychiatrists who would
work in 'the dark, also.
board members were
in their efforts to cope
increasingly chaotic
system. (How would
reader, like to make
a parole board member
penal system provides
information upon which
time upon an individual?)
As reflected by the
editorial in this news
voracious appetite o
bureaucracy shows no
diminishing.
Where is the money
In the past, all
been headed by a
superintendent. Now,
to latest staff emplo
information, four (4) nov/
positions are to be staffed
central Olympia office,
example of incre
bureaucratic multiple
job positions.
Robert O.
Senior Sociologist,
Spencer
Bring back the
Editor, The Journal:
This letter is referenced to an
incident that occurred on the
night of July 4th. Did you know
that there are some people ,that
would enter private property and
remove items which did not
belong to them? Well strange as
it may seem, there are.
This particular night some
thieves got into my car (in my
own backyard) and stole my
wallet, some tapes and a
baseball. This may not seem like
a big thing, however the wallet
contained a good deal of money,
credit cards, all my personal
identification and most
important, pictures of my boy
that I cannot replace. The tapes
are incidental so there is no need
to comment on them.
The baseball was no ordinary
baseball. This ball was caught by
me in the Kingdome last week in
a game between the Mariners and
the Brewers. As far as I'm
concerned the ball was just a
ball, but to my four year old
boy it was somethin
special. We had
taking it up next
getting it signed by the
who hit it. Because sum
now possesses it, this
seem impossible.
This letter when it gets
to brass tacks is aimed
individual(s) who
belongings. If" you have
feeling at all, just
ball, the wallet with my
in it and the four year
disappointment when I
tell him of his loss and
gain.
Keep the money, but
can find it in yourself
back the wallet and the
please do. Because you
have noticed the address
rush it is 919 Elllnor
you would rather give me
and tell me where I can
items, the number is
Jef
and J
Yankees suckered
Editor, The Journal:
The boys from below the
Mason-Dixon line, our President
being one of them, have
outmaneuvered the Yankees,
All the labor unions from the
North were suckered into playing
cards with the southern rebels
with their marked decks.
Ever since the Civil War, the
labor unions have been trying to
organize the southern labor in
the unions so the northerners
would have equal rights with
them. It seems the South has
been laughing at us. They have
been enticing manufacturers of
all kinds to come south to
manufacture their goods so they
coold ship it into European
countries and the Orient to try
to compete with their chea p
labor.
These same manufacturers
are shipping the finished
products to all of the states
above the Mason.Dixon line and
underselling the northern
manufacturers.
Now the biggest joker this
year was when our labor unions
took the bait hook, line and
sinker, when President Carter
and a few of the Representatives
and Senators conned the labor
unions into believing they would
help to organize labor into all
the right-to-work states and all
the southern states. The
President and the southern boys
knew the labor bill had no
chance of passing.
With their slave labor
South, which we went to
free and a great many
lost their lives over, it
though the Yankee
failed terribly when they :t
have made it possible
labor people of the South'
permitted to join the
the manufacturers of all
had to pay union wages
could not ship
manufactured goods
North and undersell the
manufacturers.
I was working in
Alaska, when the' Texas
got the contract to
pipeline from
coast. The Texas outfit
the contract below the
bid because it was not
any union wages. The
were paid $200 a month;
union scale was $400 a
The southerners
right-to-work states
northern union laborerS
manufacturers to hold tlae
this year which kept
laborers from
wages.
I have belonged to
since 1912 and will be 81
next birthday. I now
the Operating Engineers
302 of Seattle and Alaska.
J. L. (Red)