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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
September 8, 2011     Shelton Mason County Journal
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September 8, 2011
 
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Shelton-Mason County Journal Rotary, MACECOM scheduled to hold 9/11 gathering The Shelton Rotary Club and Ma- son County Emergency Communications (MACECOM) are jointly sponsoring a Pa- triot Day gathering on the 10-year anniver- sary of the 9/11 attacks. The event will be held this Sunday, Sept. 11, in the Walmart parking lot. Patriot Day 2011 is a community gather- ing to recognize and remember the anniver- sary of the tragic events ten years ago. A further purpose is to honor and thank all public servants working in our local commu- nity for their ongoing dedication and com- mitment to the citizens of Mason County. Our desire is to be a unified community, liv- ing and working together to embrace justice with values and peace with hope. MACECOM will have emergency servic- es recognized with equipment and displays beginning at 10 a.m. Shelton Rotary's pro- gram will then begin at 2 p.m. Efforts are under way to provide air shows, patriotic music, a three-gun volley and many other displays of patriotism. The Honorable Ben- jamin Settle will be the keynote speaker. In the United States, Patriot Day occurs on September 11 of each year, designated in memory of the 2,977 killed in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Most Americans refer to the day as "Nine-Eleven (9/11)," "September Eleventh," or some variation thereof. Ini- tially, the day was called the Prayer and Re- membrance for the Victims of the Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001. US House of Representataves Joint Resolution 71 was approved by a vote of 407-0 on October 25, 2001. It requested that the President desig- nate September 11 of each year as "Patriot Day." President George W. Bush signed the resolution into law on December 18, 2001. It is a discretionary day of remembrance. On September 4, 2002, President Bush used his authority created by the resolution and pro- claimed Sept. 11, 2002 as Patriot Day. On this day, the President directs that the American flag be flown at halfstaff at individual American homes, at the White House and on all US Government buildings and establishments, home and abroad. The President also asks Americans to observe a moment of silence beginning at 8:46 A.M. (eastern daylight time) the time the first plane struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. The entire community is invited to at- tend. Guy Beaudoin demonstrates how to program the Lego robots "Nerdy and Proud" uses. Journat DnOTOS b Natalie Johnsorl Do the ROBOT Pioneer robotics team competing in challenge By NATALIE JOHNSON Most middle school students are preoccu- pied with sports, video games or even Justin Bieber. However, a group of Pioneer intermedi- ate and middle school students have formed, with the help of coaches Dan Beaudoin and Jonathan Seil, the Pioneer First Robotics group, who have named themselves "Nerdy and Proud." "We're pretty much all nerds," said Guy Beaudoin, a team member and Dan Beau- doin's son. For the next six weeks, the/ll be getting ready to compete against approximately 10,000 teams in the international First Lego League (FLL) 2011 Food Factor Challenge. "One of the things that's lacking at Pio- neer is after-school activities," Dan Beau: doin said. "I see robotics as being the next big thing to take off." Last school year, Dan Beaudoin and Sell, a physicist and former Boeing employee, formed the group with about 10 students. "I noticed that there was nothing going on in Mason County," Dan Beaudoin said. "It's set up so it can take place in any age group." Several weeks ago the team received a preliminary set of instructions allowing them to set up a table and set of obstacles for their robots to manipulate. However, it wasn't until midnight last Thursday that the group received their "mission." "Nerdy and Proud" team member Charles Seil works on a robot. .............. ii!ii#`!;;i.i:;;;:i:1:#i;!!i!i!;i!ii!ii!i!iJ;!;@i)Jii: i i!ili!ii!ili00i0000iiii!i i!iii:iii) ,i!!;;;:::::;!:i!i .................................. :;i Nerdy and Proud, which is sponsored by Pioneer Kiwanis, will focus for the next six weeks on learning how to do the missions they have been assigned. According to the FLL Challenge website, the team will have to send their Lego robot through missions on their table, navigating obstacles and ma- nipulating tools, to learn about keeping food safe from contamination. In October the team will travel to the state competition in Seattle to compete head-to,head against other FLL challenge teams from across Washington. To their knowledge, Nerdy and Proud is the only team from Mason County. While Nerdy and Proud members are, safe to say, proud of their nerdiness, they said there is room for more than just robot nerds in the group. Each team in the competition is scored on several criteria, including their robot's abil- ity to complete missions, teamwork and at- titude and a presentation on the subject of the challenge "keeping food safe." Josie Beaudoin said she isn't really inter- ested in robots, but wanted to help. "I'm part of the design team. I do T-shirts and other stuff," she said. She also designed the team's website. Most members of the team were new to robots before they began getting involved with the Lego challenge early this year. "I haven't really gotten into robotics be- fore," Guy Beaudoin said. "I think it's awe- some - it teaches me programming and a lot of other things." The robots, all manufactured by Lego, come with software designed to let children and teens easily program their robots to per- form a multitude of tasks. While the project is intended to lead stu- dents toward careers m science, Dan Beau- doin said that it also strongly encourages teamwork and gets them away fom video games, if only for a few hours. "It's beyond playing games on the com- puter," he said. "It teaches you physics, math, engineering ... it s a real game. For more information on Nerdy and Proud go to pioneerfirstrobotics@blogspot.com. For more information on the FLL Challenge, visit firstlegoleague.org/ challenge/2011foodfactor. Thursday, September 8. 2011 HICC guest speaker will from Mason be County Parks Judy and I just spent the Labor Day weekend up in Packwood. They have a twice-a-year, all-city garage sale. Every inch of Packwood was packed with ven- dors and in between those inches were shoppers. Traffic was backed up at least seven miles trying to get into town. I know it's seven miles because that is where my cousin lives and where we were camping. I was a little curious about Labor Day's origin, so this is what I found on Wikipedia. The Central Labor Union of New York observed the first big Labor Day in the United States on Sept. 5, 1882. Peter McGire of the American Fed- eration of Labor first proposed it in May 1882. Oregon was the first state to make it a hOliday i:n 1887.-By the img it became a federal holiday in 1894, 30 states of- ficially celebrated Labor Day. Following the deaths of a number of workers at the hands of the U.S. militm3r and U.S. Mar- shals during the Pullman Strike, Presi- dent Grover Cleveland reconciled with the labor movement. Fearing thrther conflict, legislation making Labor Day a national holiday was rushed through Congress unanimously and signed into law a mere six days aider the end of the strike. Still speaking of labor, those volun- teers for the senior lunch sure work hard. They served a wonderful lunch of baked chicken. The next lunch will be on Sept. 21.They will have beef stew. biscuits, pickled beets, pickles and fresh ..... apple cake. If you want to join this crowd, they open the doors at noon. but get there a little early and visit. All over 50 and guests are welcome and they only want a $3 donation what a deal and what a way to keep our corn- MIKE munity close. CALLAGHAN Ken and Sandy ..... .... Kramer have been la- boring away arranging the programs for the HICC. This month's meeting will be Friday, Sept. 9. The pro- gram subject will be on our Mason County Parks. John Keates, Mason County Parks and Trails director, will give an overview of the many and varied properties that fall under the county parks department. Ken is excited about the program because as a newbie to the area, he is particularly in- terested in these public recreation oppor- tunities that are spreading throughout the county. He and Sandy are still in learn- ing mode of all the fun places to recreate in this beautifully wooded and watered county. The meeting doors open around 6 p.m. with the potluck dinner starting at 6:30 p.m. and the speaker program start- ing around 7 p.m. Our local Pioneer Kiwanis just served up some hamburgers to all the returning teachers at Pioneer. Then, the school's Ro- botics Club that Kiwanis partially spon- sors has already made news for their success in the elevator to space contest. Last Wednesday's Kiwanis speaker was Lt. Commander Donald Davis. Don talked to the club about the early days of the SEALs. His significant duty assignments included selection as the team corps- man on the first U.S. Navy SEAL team deployed to Vietnam, comptroller of the Naval Hospital in Beaufort S.C., Assistant Comptroller of the National Naval Medical Center and comptroller for the Navy Re- gional Medical Center in Great Lakes, Ill. - Shelton-Mason County Journal- Page B-1