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Page A-6 — Shelton-Mason County Journal — Thursday, Sept. 10, 2020
LETTERS, continued from page A—5
Letter-writer
extends a hand
Editor, the’Journal,
Well Robert Graham, thank you for
your bio, and as I always do, thank you
for your service to your country. I now
understand where your hate really
comes from. There were six brothers
in my Navy dad’s family, all raised by
Blue Dog Democrats.
Four of the six of us did military
service. Two of my brothers, like you
did tours in Vietnam. One in the Navy
and the other, who was my bunkmate
for the first 17 years of our lives, was
a crew chief in the air cav. He might
have been one of yours, Robert. In that
whole war, Robert, did you ever ask
any of your door gunners if they were
Democrats or Republicans? Doubt it.
I always picked them up at the
airport. I know what it is like to walk
through the same protesters you did.
I can understand where your hate for
these liberals, as you call us on a nice
day, comes from. We would surround
them as soon as they got off the plane
and escort them in a group out of the
airport. It took us as a family a while
to get over that kind of behavior our-
selves, Robert. You on. the other hand
did just the opposite. You came out
and immersed yourself right in the
middle of where far-left liberal think-
ing comes from. A college campus. You
complained about what you had to put
up with in your second career being
around all those liberals. Well, that
half of your career, Robert, is on you.
You chose to be a college professor and
all that comes with it. You could have
done anything different you wanted.
It is pretty obvious that you are not
over the' hate you must have felt at the
time, Robert. Now with a like-thinking
person in the White House whose only
. purpose in life seems to revolve around
hate, yours, like your presidents, has
exploded into hate of the whole demo- f
cratic process. Whether you like it or
not, Robert, thatis theprocess that
allows that kind of behavior. I believe
you might even know the writer that
wrote the letter about hate begetting
hate.
Please find something good to im-
merse yourself in in your old age,
Robert. That’s what I did. As a mat-
ter of fact, Robert, Google up a group
called Calm Waters. It is a group of
correction officers in a level 4/5 facility
with 5 being supermax. Me anda late
friend started the group 10 years ago.
We bring 20 Wounded Warriors out to
the little community of Sekiu and put
on a two-day fishing derby for them.
Look us up Robert, as of this moment
you have an open invitation to join us
at your convenience.
There are a lot of Trumpers in
our group, but no haters. A Blue Dog
Democrat holding out an olive branch
today. I remain Bert Mullen.
Bert Mullen
Shelton
Save our country
Editor, the Journal,
Sirs — as a-former LCDR naval
aviator and an American, I have been
appalled by many aspects of the cur-
rent administration. The lying, the re-
cord number of convictions, the sheer
banality of the criminal behavior and
attempts to disenfranchise American
citizens not even to speak of the
behavior and language of the president
it is embarrassing and shameful.
I worked and lived overseas nearly
20 years. America used to be a “shin—
ing city on the hill ...” and it has been
reduced to an international laughing—
stock. And now veterans and our dead
war heroes are called “losers” and
“suckers.” Vets for Biden — save our
country from this disgrace.
Dana Partridge
Shelton
The mob.
Editor, the Journal,
e A small group of individuals are
spreading lies and misinformation
to try to assassinate the character
of Commissioner Randy Neatherlin.
These tactics seem to be nothing new
in politics today. The mob does not care
about the honest man. they are try-
ing to destroy only to place into power
the person of their choosing to follow
their directions. The mob does not care
about all this man has done for Mason
County and all citizens of Mason Coun-
ty. The mob concocted a false federal
lawsuit for nothing more than to .hand
it over to the newspapers to attempt to
give the commissioner a “black eye” in
the press before the primary election.
The mob intends to serve this federal
lawsuit before the general election.
They are hoping these tactics work
with you. They are hoping you aren’t
paying attention to fact, but that you
will be influenced by fiction. These tac-
tics are disgusting, dishonest and noth-
ing more than organized libel. What
will county, state and federal govern-
ment become when the most qualified
' and caring men and women decide it is
not worth serving anymore?
Rob Drexler
Shelton
Write and’talk to
your grandparents
Editor, the Journal,
This year, National Grandparents
Day will be on Sept. 13, the first Sun-
day after Labor Day. When President
Jimmy Carter signed the proclama-
tion creating a National Grandparents
Day, on Sept. 6, 1979, he stated that
the holiday would recognize “the im-
portance and worth of the 17 million
grandparents in our nation.” President
Carter further stated that grandpar-
ents “are usually free to love and guide
and befriend the young without having
to take daily responsibility for them;
they can often reach out past pride
and fear of failure and close the space
. between generations.” That might
have been true when I was raising my
children, but not so much, now. There
are more than 70 million grandparents
throughout our United States. How
many of these grandparents are being
recognized? I
I ponder, at what age did being a
grandparent come to mean that my
husband and I would be set aside and
become expendable? For those of you
who are not familiar with the term
“expendable,” the actor, Sylvester Stal-
lone, gave this explanation in one of
his “Rambo” movies: “If you’re invited
to a party and you don’t show up, no—
body misses you. That’s expendable.”
Of my seven adult grandchildren, three
are now having babies of their own.
I’m pleased to inform that three great-
grandsons and one great-granddaugh-
ter have been added to the family tree
now.
In my generation grandparents
were revered, as a source of family his-
tory and life experiences. My paternal
grandmother told me and my siblings
about her family’s travels from Penn-
sylvania to Ohio in a Conestoga wagon.
Those of you who may have watched
the television series “Wagon Train” can
probably imagine how difficult that
trip must have been, for my grand-
mother and her siblings. Her stories
of what life was like, when she was a
child, became an integral link in the
history of our family chain. She read
books to us, helped us to understand
the worth of family and taught my
sister and I how to bake an apple pie.
Grandma always saw the best is us;
encouraged us to succeed. We learned
how important the morals of honesty,
integrity and courage are in one’s life.
Grandma passed on family traditions,
which my sister, brother and I passed
on to our children. The three of us rev-
eled in her wisdom and felt blessed to
have at least this one grandparent,
during our formative years. Unfortu—
nately, for my two daughters, many of
those traditions went by the wayside
and most of their children tend not to
display any semblance of even “new”
family traditions; which I find sad for
the new generation of great-grandchil-
dren. Even though greeting card com-
panies feature grandparents cards and
my daughter, Wendy, makes cards, we
nolonger receive cards. As my daugh—
ter, Amy, would so often say, “Mom, it
is what it is.” We sure do miss her.
Unless you’re a “tech-savvy” grand-
parent and on social media, you’re not
likely to receive photos, thank-you
notes, birthday, anniversary, Easter,
Thanksgiving, Christmas or “Happy
Grandparents Day” cards. Phone calls
are few and far between; my husband
and I don’t “text,” “twitter” and defi-
nitely don’t “twerp.”
While sorting out some “memory”
boxes from the attic, I actually came
across some Grandparents Day cards
that my adult grandchildren had made
when they were very young. 80, I sup—
pose that my husband and I can enter-
tain ourselves every September, when
Grandparents Day rolls around, by
taking out those cards and enjoying the
memories of being acknowledged by my
grandchildren, when they were very
young. I continue to hold out hope that
there will be a social change in how
grandparents are valued and acknowl-
edged; so that when my grandchildren
become grandparents, they will not be
set aside and made to feel that they are
expendable.
Cheryl A. Dunning
Shelton
Where are
the priorities?
Editor, the Journal,
Rioters curse the loss of black lives
at the hands of cops but where’s the
concern for the murder of black chil-
dren by gangs? Evidently anarchists
have a limited amount of sympathy.
There was a 20-plus young white
woman ripping into a black police of-
ficer protecting the CHOP area of Se-
attle. She claimed he was a “traitor to
his race.” She assumed she knew and.
understood racial bigotry more than
he. She knew nothing of the nuances of
life generally or the life of cops protect-
ing us all. She had even less knowledge
of black lives.
This young woman, like her class—
mates, is ignorant of history and ar-
rogantly proud of her ignorance. She’s
passionate about the cause but unable
to express her passions Without anger,
profanity, and property destruction.
She’s ignorant of the issues, impatient
as, to changes, unclear of expectations,
and lacks the knowledge of the suc-
cesses and failures in our American
history.
Undoubtedly after this white, mid-
dle-class young woman gave her one-
way lecture to the Black police officer,
she happily returned to her, suburban
home, proud of her accomplishments.
She will regale her classmates at her
obscenely expensive university as to 1
how she saved the world from bigotry
by using profanity-laced words to dis-
cuss bigotry with a Black police officer.
If she’s the face of America’s future,
we’re in trouble.
A quality education would have
given her an understanding of the
nuances between a'Black Lives Mat-
ter slogan and a planned agenda for
change. Today we have indoctrination,
not education. This young woman is a
proud graduate of Biased University on
the corner of Ignorance and Stupidity.
Joe Biden is running for president
and running away from his 45 years
of political do-nothingness. He’s blast—
ing Trump about Trump’s failures but
Joe had 45 years in Congress; he had
. numerous opportunities to fix these
problems but did nothing. Did he just
discover these problems yesterday or
did he ignore them for 45 years?
Joe claims he’s against violence.
When he went to Kenosha, Wisconsin,
on Sept. 3, he met with the family of
the man shot by the police. He never
met with the owners of businesses put
out of business because of violence; the
violence he loudly claims he’s against.
Has he ever met with the families of
murdered police officers?
Joe Biden is a politician and he’s
playing his political Ponzi scheme
with Democrats right now. Democrats
should ask Joe two questions; where
was he forthe previous 45 years and
why has he changed his political posi-
tions since the Democratic convention?
Ardean A. Anvik
Shelton
Let’s find’the
middle ground,
Editor, the Journal, .
As a white woman who was influ—
enced by the civil rights movement of
the.196OS, I never thought of myself as
a racist. ,
But especially this year, it’s pretty
clear that my limited encounters with
police are vastly different from what
many people of color experience. I usu-
ally think of police officers andstate
troopers in a positive light, that they
are there to help. I’ve been pulled over
a time or two for speeding and once for
an expired license plate, but it never
gave me a feeling of panic. I wasn’t
afraid that things might go very wrong,
very fast. I was never worried about
i the possibility of being arrested, or
thrown on the ground, or tased, orsuf-
focated, or killed. What we are hearing
and seeing, is that the latter is an ev-
eryday reality for many people of color.
Mydaughter shared that her
neighbor “had the talk” with her black
grandson: “When you enter a store,
keep your hands out of your pockets.
Don’t Wear a hoody. Be polite, no mat-
ter how you’re treated.” In all the years
of parenting my white children, I never
needed to have that conversation with
them.
I’m conflicted about the protests u
happening in Shelton and other parts
of the country, pitting people who want
to rid AmeriCa of deep-rooted racist
policies, and those who say they are
there to support police and protect
businesses. (Some of whom are non-
deputized citizens carrying guns.)
I, too, don’t want to see businesses-
looted. And I’m glad when first re-
sponders show up during an emergen-
cy. My dad was a fire chief, I know how
important those services are. ,
But surely there is some middle
ground — a way to root out racism in
law enforcement and treat everyone
fairly under the law. And to create
communities where all 'people, what-
ever their color, feel safe and protected.
We should all work for that.
Sandra Partridge
Shelton
see LETTERS, page A—7
O‘CD
9’11
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