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Page A—6 s Shelton—Mason County Journal A Thursday, July 30, 2020
LETTERS cont. from page A~5
BOCC cuts
meetings
by half, keeps
pubficout
Editor, the Journal
At the July 20 briefing
meeting the Board of Ma—
son County (Ion‘unissioners
chose to reduce the number of
regularly scheduled meetings
from four to two per month,
No coherent explanation
was {iven for the decision
and there was no legitimate
public health reason for it,
since meetings have been
held remotely since July 7.
hrloreover, there was no le~
gitimate reason for commis—
sioners to continue restricting
iii—person public attendance
at these meetings since public
attendance has been at their
discretion since July 7.
Most. notably, at the same
time. the commissioners
were prohibiting public at—
tendance at meetings they
were extending invitations to
the public for private conver-
sations, which is a poor sub-
stitute for comments meant
to be included in the official
record. HoWever you slice it,
there‘s no getting around the
fact that when you reduce
the number of monthly meet—
ings by half. you effectively
reduce the number ofoppor—
tunities for public comment
by half, and in an election
year.
The governor’s Stay Home.
Stay Healthy proclamation
may have been ajustifiable
reason to prohibit public at:
tendance at meetings from
March through June. but
the recent (lecision to reduce
the number of meetings and
to continue prohibiting in—
person public attendance at
these n'ieetings is an abomi-
nation ofthe commissioners
own making.
No discussion, no process,
no public comment or an-
nouncement. This is no way
to run a county government.
Take the first step toward
the only form of selflgovern»
ment authorized by Washing—
ton’s constitution:
Home Rule charter, simply
is a better way to govern.
Sign the petition. Signa~
ture gatherers will be sta
tioned outside the Shelton
. Post Office on Friday, July
311, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30
p.m.
Follow the link below for
more information about home
rule charter form oflocal gov—
ernment.
htt p://mason webtveom/
download—home-rulc-charter—
instructions—petition/
Tom Davis
Shelton
Democrats
have no clue
Editor, the Journal
I saw my first “Biden for
President" yard sign today.
lt was around 14“ x 16” and,
like Joe, a cardboard cutout.
Because of this lone Hider)
sign, passersby would notice
even more the many "Trump—
Pence" placards that sur—
round it and dot the neigh~
borhood.
()b, and from a flagpole
on a nearby neighbor’s upper
deck, 1 spied a large "Trump"
flag, and on the rails next to
it, yet another “Trunip—Pence"
sign.
Also, let me thank the
numerous people in stores
around Shelton who flashed
big smiles and said, “Me too!”
when they saw and pointed
to my “Trum p 2020” ball
cap. Drivers on the freeway,
clearly seeing the cap. gave
thumbs—up on outstretched
arms and several beeps as
they passed.
All Democrats, from the
DNC bosses to the lone voter,
still haven‘t the slightest clue,
why multitudes ofAmericans
heartily support and are ea~
ger to vote for Donald Trump.
Hillary and her cronies still
have no clue either.
Polls today are absolutely
worthless.
This should be a fun elec-
tion.
Robert E. Graham
Union
The king has
no clothes
Editor, the Journal
()ne ofthe signature
claims of King Donald has
been his spectacular turn-
around of the American
economy. This is important,
because His Majesty always
claims that you‘ve never seen
anything like it. Now, do
you all remember what His
Majesty promised? Well 1 do.
In order to give his buddies
a fat tax break, he promised
us all a tremendous growth
in the economy. He promised
4’}, 5% or even 0% sustained
growth. So. what, did be de-
liver?
I wanted to know so I took
the trouble to look it up. His
actual performance for 2017
through 2019 was 2.5%.
Now 1 cut him a break and
excluded 2020. First quarter
GDP was negative 5.1%. But
1 graded on a curve and threw
out the pandemic figures.
So, what was the awful
performance of President
()bama? From 2010 through
2010,2271 annual GDP
growth. For an equal period,
2014—2010, it Was 2.3%. Did
Trump beat it? Well yes. By
a whole 0.2% to 0.3%. Let
us look at the comparison.
()bama took over an economy
that was tanking. King Don—
ald inherited an economy on
a general upswing. But, as
is typical oins Majesty, he
comes in as a pinch runner
at third and acts like he hit a
triple.
But you will notice that
2.5% is nowhere near 4%.
And farther away from 5%.
And farther yet from 6%. This
is a typical pattern of King
Donald. His Majesty claims
there is a horrible problem
that only he can solve. Then
once he has thejob, he, claims
that pretty much the same
numbers are a great victory.
He acts like a great economic
genius when in fact his chief
Journal Letter Policy
The Janna/encourages original letters to the editor of local interest.
Diverse and varied opinions
are welcomed. We will not publish letters that are deemed libelous or
scurrilous in nature. All
letters must be signed and include the writer’s name, address and daytime
phone number,
which will be used for verification purposes only. All letters are subject
to editing for length,
grammar and clarity. To submit a letter, email news@masoncounty.com, drop
it off at 227 W.
Cota St, or mail it to PO. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584.
accomplishment. was simply
going with the flow. His Maj—
esty would have us believe
that he has given us chicken
salad when he is giving us a
much different chicken prod—
uct.
Andrew Makar
Hoodsport
Let them eat
bread: A sweet
COVlD-19 story
Editor, the Journal
COVID—l9 hit the ()lym—
pic Bakery and Deli on East
Pickering Road hard. As an
essential business, the bak—
ery was allowed to stay open.
But customers were not out
and about or assumed the
bakery was closed. Day after
day customers did not come
to the bakery. Owner Neil
lt‘reitas says he was within
a hairsbreadth of having to
close. But adds that “they
would have had to carry me
out of here by my toes before
1 would close the doors.”
Through the dark days of
the shutdown, Neil kept
his long—time staff Ty and
Harley and his new assis—
tant Danny working regular
hours.
Every day they baked.
They baked to meet the needs
ol'the community. They sent,
their baked goods to the hos—
pital, to food banks, to fire
departments and to churches.
Neil says, “There were lots of
people out there in real seri—
ous need. Some couldn‘t come
out; others were afraid to
come out. But the community
really stood up. People came
forward to help distribute
food to those in need. Lots of
people from many different
groups helped to get the job
done.”
As people realized that. the
bakery was open for business,
customers returned. Every—
one wanted bread. Neil says
that every (lay they baked as
much bread as they could.
“We sold lots of bread,” he
says “but it was difficult to
meet the demand because
the supply chain began to
break down. It became hard
to get flour, sugar, and yeast
and prices increased signifi-
cantly." People even wanted
to buy flour or a tiny bit of
yeast from the bakery. The
bakery and nearby Spencer
Lake Bar and Grill started
working together to try to get
the supplies they needed and
to keep costs down as much
as possible.
Happily, the supply chain
is now pretty much back to
normal and prices are. coming
down. Hopefully, the worst
of the crisis has passed. At
the bakery, the lingering im-
pression on the tough times
is how many members of'the
community pitched in to help
at a time ofcritical need and
the power of this type of re—
sponse.
Judith Judd
Grapeview
Englewood, Colorado
Make your
minds up:
Communism
or community
Editor, the Journal
The choices you make this
November are the choices you
will have to live with. The
harsh reality is just this:
1. If you want your cities
and states to burn then vote
Democrat. _
2. If you want to see inno-
cent bystanders shot, includ-
ing little baby boys and girls,
then vote Democrat.
ii. lf'lawless streets run-
ning wild with looters, de—
struction of businesses, and
burning are OK with you,
then by all means vote Demo—
crat.
4. 1f major cities like Se-
attle. Chicago and Portland
are burned, small business
destroyed, innocent babies,
.‘l~year—olds, fi—iiioiitli-olds,
1~year-olds are shot by stray
bullets. just flat murdered.
Ifyou believe this is peaceful
protest like their Democrat
govornors and mayors do,
then vote Democrat. Let the
carnage continue and one of
your own family may be next.
1 hope and pray it. does not.
Pact: Name one Republi—
can state with a Republican
governor and one city with a
Republican mayor, that has
been shot up, burned, small
businesses destroyed, very
violent demonstrations with
the American flag burning
and police shot and killed.
That’s right; you cannot be-
cause there are none. This
fall, choose community over
communism and carnage.
Vote Republican, not perfect
but a solid alternative and
safer. More l.)emocrats equals
more violence. Just that-
simple.
P.V. LaPrath Jr.
Shelton
Plenty of
questions for
Republicans
Editor, the Journal
1 have questions for all the
Republicans.
Why are you silent? The
president of these United
States advertising Cuban
beans from the oval office?
Did you see it on FOX? Mil-
lions upon millions of all the
rest of us did!
Why are you silent when
your president has so obvi-
ously lost touch with reality?
Why? Have you lost the
capacity to think?
Please insult me all you
wish that still does not an—
swer the questions I asked.
137,500 of your fellow citizens
are dead.
Gregory Dallum
Grapeview
Winners
should write
history
Editor, the Journal
This is just my take on
this Whole tearing down of
Confederate history. It is long
overdue. What you see hap—
pening today is the results
of letting losers help write
history. The Union Jack was
not only defeated, but was
also surrendered to the red,
white and blue. Like Ger—
many, Japan and others. they
could not fly the flag that
was used against the United
States ofAmerica. But it
did n’t take long for the Con-
federate states to get back in
the game by using our own
Declaration of independence
and the Constitution against
our own values. Because they
had the right to do so using
our own amendments against
us they erected their statues
and made heroes of their los-
ing generals and those they
called war heroes. They sent
men to Washington, D.(.J.,
and still do with those same
values today. They have
just become better at hiding
them. The real dark side of
this is they were alloWed to
bring their own values when
it came to white supremacy
and the treatment of Black
people. lt was tolerated at
first because it. remained
mostly in the South. It has
now spread throughout the
whole country.
A good example would be
Pearl Harbor. If Japan had
won the war, Pearl Harbor
would have been on Dec. 8
because that is what the (late
was at that time. in their his-
tory. Only winners are sup-
posed to write history. All
so called Southern heroes
should be expunged from all
our history. Slavery should
be taughtto our children in
the context that it happened.
Nothing should be sugar coat—
ed. If we don't learn from his-
tory, then we are doomed to
repeat it. Which we continue
to do so, and will continue to
do so, until we clean up this
terrible era ofour history.
It’s never too late to right a
wrong. Blue dogging on the
right side ofBlack Lives Mat~
terl
Bert Mullen
Shelton