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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
September 10, 2020     Shelton Mason County Journal
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September 10, 2020
 
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V LE TM'IT ERS, confirmed from page Where Trump s loyalities lie Editor, the Journal, Can anybody now doubt that this president wants to destroy democ- racy in this country, that he wants to emulate his idol, Vladimir Putin, and become president for life? His latest actions to destroy the Post Of ce and suppress voting are only the latest manifestations of this. Robert Clark Shelton No sign of Inslee Editor, the Journal, No signs. Don t see any Jay Inslee signs? No worry, he doesn t need signs to advertise for re-election, he has Se- attle in his back pocket. John Ervin Shelton Times: This feels surreal . continued from page A-4 We re here to keep the peace, Leonard said when I asked him why he was here, which is not an easy question to ask of a stranger armed with a, shot- gun and revolver, but he didn t take offense. We want to make sure our of cers are loved and they are backed. Those others can take their stuff back to Seattle and Portland. p Standing near Leonard was Caleb McGill of Shelton. He was accompa nied by an AR-15 ri e and a .45-caliber handgun. I m here to back the blue, armed just to make sure, Caleb said. BLM and antifa are the ones that are creat- ing the damage. We re not the ones damaging things. Meanwhile, in a quiet city' park a block to the north, BLM marchers gath- ered and milled about. The mood was apprehensive, illustrated best by the words of a woman who piped up while Shelton s police chief and the county s chief criminal deputy paid a quick visit to ensure their safety. They have guns! the woman said, which seemed very much to the point. Here s a story from Oregon: The 22-year-old son of a friend of mine is running for the Oregon House of Rep- resentatives, and he s active in the ,BLM movement. The candidate, Nolan Bylenga, and others organized a march Aug. 29 in Pendleton, which nished without major con ict, but it was tense. Afterward, Pendleton s police chief had some barbed words for the support-the- . police counterprotesters who badgered the BLM protesters throughout the Pendleton march. , I get the whole Second Amend- ment piece of this, but why carry the rearm? Pendleton Police Chief Stuart Roberts Roberts told the East Orego- nian newspaper. The counterprotesters claimed to be in support of police, Roberts told the newspaper, but the actions and intentions of some in attendance were merely antagonistic. When I challenged them verbally they wanted to debate with me (about) their rights and said they were here to support the police, Roberts said of the counterprotesters who trailed the march. My position is you re not sup- porting me by creating more work for me or making my job more dif cult. Back to Shelton: While the BLM marchers gathered in the park, coun- terprotesters made occasional forays through their midst, including two men who strutted through waving little U.S. ags like they were Fourth of July sparklers. I spotted a young man standing near the curb with a much larger US. ag, which I assumed was intended to be a much larger provoca- tion. It wasn t. The ag carrier, Kristoffer Pennington 0f Shelton, was on the side of patriots. The ag is a sign of freedom, even if it has been co-opted by misguided pa- triots, Kristoffer said. Being a patriot is loving your country and also wanting to x it. A man decked out in video gear was recording the gathering he would end up shooting 2% hours of the day s events (go to YouTube and type in in- fopig Shelton ) The man, who wouldn t give his name, said he was in Portland the previous night, which marked the 100th straight night of protests in that city. , A little more gas than usual, he said, as if giving a weather report. Sandra Partridge, a Shelton resi- dent, also was among the early march- ers gathered at the park. It s scary, Sandra said. You should be able to support your-causes peacefully, but this feels surreal I . grew up supporting civil rights. While the crowd grew and as a speaker gave instructions to the BLM marchers, aheckler on the sidewalk erupted with some loud grunts, but the speaker pressed on. I'walked up to the heckler and asked him why he was making those noises. I m in opposition to the Communist Manifesto, the man responded. Moving on ' I stuck with the march for an hour as it coursed through downtown, witnessing the repeated, and unsuc- cessful, efforts of counterprotesters to goad BLM marchers into a physical response. I wandered back and forth between the line of of cers separating the two sides. I passed a mask-less Shelton police , of cer standing next to his car. He smiled and said, We re getting our steps in today, aren t we? I took that carefree comment as a sign the protest was winding down; While returning along Railroad Avenue to the Journal, a man with baby in arms wanted to talk, so we ducked into an alley where it was quieter. Sam Kline of Shelton said he was walking out of Safeway with his baby when he heard shouting and saw a lot of armed people who I thought at rst were police, but I realized they weren t. They were carrying weapons around. I ve been around guns, but I ve never seen such a thing. I don t understand whyI Kline said he spent 25 years in the service, including time in Iraq and Af- ghanistan. He moved to Shelton a few years ago. I talked to them, Sam said. They don t have good reasons for carrying weapons. You have to leave it to the police to deal with it because it changes the whole nature of protest in this country when you introduce guns into it. It s becoming more about who can intimidate whom. I came to Shelton to get away from all this, he said. We ve managed to keep this armed thing out of our elec- toral politics for much of our history. We were walking along a relatively quiet stretch of Railroad Avenue when Sam put down his 14-month-old son, allowing him to toddle along the side- walk, while Sam talked and hopped around quickly to keep the child out of danger. A question hangs in the air: What kind of country is Sam s child toddling toward? I Contact Kirk Ericson at kirk@ masoncounty.c0m FALL SEMI-ANNUAL SALE HOME FURNISHINGS 3520 KITSAP WAY, BREMERTON 360-377-5582 - l-800-533-53ll www.arnoldshomefumishings.c om Mon-Fri: 9:300m - 6pm So r: 9:300m 5:30pm 0' Sun: Closed We Are Observing Phase Covid- 79 Guidelines BR GCIWMI 0 east ia P'lle ' more Miami] c,lilll CBgSleB all Gas Stoves, lnserts Fireplaces Pellet Stoves & Inserts SERVICE SALES INSTALLATIONS