September 13, 2007 Shelton Mason County Journal | ![]() |
©
Shelton Mason County Journal. All rights reserved. Upgrade to access Premium Tools
PAGE 4 (4 of 46 available) PREVIOUS NEXT Jumbo Image Save To Scrapbook Set Notifiers PDF JPG
September 13, 2007 |
|
Website © 2025. All content copyrighted. Copyright Information Terms Of Use | Privacy Policy | Request Content Removal | About / FAQ | Get Acrobat Reader ![]() |
00ournal of Opinion:
On the home front
Another census of Mason County's homeless has been taken,
once again spotlighting one of the community's most heartrending
problems often hidden from view. The situation becomes
especially disturbing with autumn's approaching cold nights,
when the elements literally will chill to the bone the unfortunate
inhabitants of the woods and streets.
When you read the numbers - 504 people with no home
or at risk of losing their shelter - remember that those
figures are low. Census takers, because they don't have
the resources to go out and seek the homeless, depend on
people coming forward to be counted.
That's a great start, says Lisa Hayes of the Cold and Hungry
Coalition, but it doesn't record the majority of the homeless, who
by definition are very private. Most are ashamed or afraid to come
forward. So the 504 are "a scary representation of what really
exists," Hayes says. She estimates at least 1,500 utterly homeless
in the woods, in cars and on the streets. While decision-makers
are doing their best with limited funds to support at-risk people
who come forward for aid, most of the truly homeless aren't being
helped, she says.
Hayes contends you cannot solve a problem or obtain
the resources to solve it if it's not defined accurately. She
praises the work being done to help the homeless here but
believes it will continue to be a partial solution as long as
the census portrays an inaccurate picture.
Meanwhile, she continues work with the coalition to reopen the
emergency cold-weather shelter in Saint David's Parish Hall in
Shelton on freezing nights this year. Last winter it cost $17,000 to
run the shelter, and this year the county allocated $2,500, which
means thousands of dollars must be raised.
Anyone with a heart for the homeless may send a check
to the Cold and Hungry Coalition at 329 West Railroad,
#203, Shelton. Or you can volunteer to staff the shelter,
donate blankets or sleeping bags or call Hayes at 490-
1411 for information. Or give food to the soup kitchen
downtown or support other ministries that serve the poor
and homeless.
It wouldn't hurt, either, to act socially and politically to strike
at the heart of things causing homelessness. For, when the
homeless are surveyed, loss of a job isn't the main reason they're
on the street. It's sixth. The top five in order" are family breakup,
alcohol or drug use, domestic violence, inability to pay rent or a
mortgage and conviction for a felony crime.
That's a ton of work that needs to be done to solve a
problem in a society where most look the other way.
On the waterfront
Just as the Oakland Bay Action Plan is approved in an attempt
to clean up the mess humans have made of a beautiful body of
water at one end of the county, a proposal is made for a monstrous
resort on Hood Canal that would affect an equally beautiful body
of water at the other end.
The proposed Brinnon Master Planned Resort isn't in
Mason County. It's a few miles over the Jefferson County
line. But just as a NASCAR track in Kitsap County a few
miles from Belfair would have had drastic effects on Mason
County, so would the Brinnon resort change the nature of
this county's northwest tip.
If you moved to Brinnon because it's Brinnon - someplace in
the middle of nowhere - this is your worst nightmare. If a $300-
million resort at Pleasant Harbor with a hotel, 890 rental units,
golf course, 290-slip marina, commercial village and conference
center is built, Brinnon will have lost its character.
As the hearing process before Jefferson County officials
begins this month, some in Brinnon are excited about the
possibility of an economic boost, same as for the NASCAR
track. Others are extremely concerned. At a time when
Hood Canal has an oxygen deficit because of pollution,
developers hope to bring thousands more people to the
shores of the fragile tord.
Tireless defender of the environment, Donna Simmons of
Hoodsport, says her Hood Canal Environmental Council has deep
concerns about whether developers can mitigate the impacts
of the resort on the environment. Water quality will be a huge
issue, she says. An estimated 42 acres at the resort would be
impervious surface; that's a lot of stormwater. Questions remain
about aquifers and drinking water for thousands.
Simmons recalls her first inkling that Hood Canal had
a pollution problem. It was st 1972 study indicating high
levels of bacterial coliform. For 35 years some residents
have been concerned about pollution while others poured
still more pollutants into the water.
One house, one business or one farm dumping nitrogen into
the canal won't ruin the body of water, but there is a cumulative
impact of all the development over the years. And a Brinnon
resort would not be a minor addition.
-CG
l
,,.,.ton- ournal
(00ounty usPs 492-600
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to ShaRon-Mason
County Journal, P.O. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584.
Published weekly by Shelton Publishing Inc. at 227 West Cota Street, Shelton, Washington
Mailing address: RO. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584
Telephone (360) 426-4412 • www.masoncounty.com
Periodicals postage paid at Shelton, Washington
Member of Washington Newspaper Publishers' Association
SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $31.00 per year in-county address,
$45.00 per year in state of Washington $55.00 per year out of state
Charles Gay, editor and publisher. Newsroom: Sean Hanlon, managing editor; Steve Patch,
sports editor; Jeff Green, general assignment, city government, schools, Port of Shelton; Rebecca
Wells, society editor, county government; Mary Duncan, police, courts. Advertising: Stephen
Gay, advertising manager; Dave Pierlk and Harvey Morris, ad sales. Front office: Julle Orme,
business manager; Kathy Lester, circulation; Donna Kinnaird, bookkeeper; Cricket Carter, mallroom
supervisor. Composing room: Diane Rlordan, supervisor; Margot Brand, Jan Kalltnen, pagination;
Frank Isaac, pagination, photo technician; Koleen Wood, typesetter, computer system manager;
William Adams, ad builder, computer system manager;, Clinton Kendall, proofreader. Prewroom: Nick
Carr, pressman; Jon Hughes, pressman's assistant.
u
Page 4 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, September 13, 2007
,7!
//./" /t
il ,•
"FII00T Coot
DO YOU "TI.IINK Tt0000Y'LL Go AFT00 NLZY3 ", DICK?'
i00eaders" ¢]ournal:
Vet story had negative spin
Editor, The Journal:
I was extremely disappointed
to read last week's front-page
story regarding Allison Moore,
the first female member of the
Shelton 40 et 8. You took what
should have been a positive ar-
ticle and put a very negative spin
on it. Several of the facts as you
reported them are, in my opinion,
inaccurate and misleading.
I do have a little background
knowledge of the 40 et 8. My fa-
ther, a World War II veteran, was
proud to be an active member of
the 40 et 8 in Okanogan County
for years. My mother, even after
his death, continued her active
membership in the women's aux-
iliary association of the 40 et 8.
My husband, a retired Special
Forces sergeant, is a new mem-
ber of the 40 et 8 in Shelton.
I contacted the National Voi-
ture of the 40 et 8 for additional
information. At the national con-
vention in 2006, they changed
their bylaws to accept women.
Until the fall of 2006, a local
chapter could not grant member-
ship to female veterans, even if it
wished to do so.
Here is an excerpt from an
August 2007 press release for
the Voiture Nationale regarding
women in the 40 et 8:
"The Forty & Eight was Amer-
ica's only remaining all-male vet-
erans fraternity until last year
when women members of The
American Legion were, by con-
vention floor vote, allowed en-
try into the 88-year-old Forty &
Eight honor society. The majori-
ty opinion was that the increased
role of women in the U.S. mili-
tary, and the risks they endure
in combat, have grown signifi-
cantly from the all-male troops of
WW I to today's male and female
combat veterans of Iraq and Af-
ghanistan."
Regardless of whether Allison
Moore's initial application for
membership encountered any
resistance, the facts are that she
was accepted by majority vote
into the Shelton 40 et 8 within
months of the national organiza-
tion making the bylaw change.
I would contend that the club's
quick decision indicates a willing-
ness by the previously all-male
membership to be open-minded
and progressive.
Furthermore, I have been a
guest in the club on many occa-
sions, as have female friends of
mine. We are treated with the
utmost respect and courtesy by
those present. The negative inci-
dent alluded to in the article was
an isolated one unrelated to Alli-
son's quest for membership and
was resolved.
I also take exception to the
term, "gentleman's club," and
what it implies. These "gentle-
men" all share a common bond,
in that they served in the armed
forces during wartime, and the
majority of them were in com-
bat. They have joined together
in a veterans' club to support
each other and all
rently serving in the
They have put their lives
line for this country.
vice and membership in
should not be trivialized
term, "gentleman's club."
I do applaud Allison's
to be a groundbreaker, but
concerned that your
discourage additional
and also men, from
membership in the 40 et 8.
is unfortunate. It is a sad
that service clubs, such as
40 et 8, have an aging
ship. While the Shelton
is currently healthy, other
are not as fortunate.
been unable to attract a
membership, therefore,
dying a slow, painful death.
Women can certainly do
part to reinvigorate these d
nizations, which have bee
torically run by men.
admission into the 40 et 8
have been handled as a
women breaking through
those remaining barriers
a slam on the
As a community
you should do everything i
power o support service
zations and encourage
ty members to take an
in these clubs.
aging articles such as th
published last week are
conflict with that role
Pamela D.
Mill sans sprinklers risked
Editor, The Journal:
The Journal's August 30 sto-
ry of the Shearer Brothers mill
burning described a devastat-
ing loss to a local business. The
article was brief and did not ad-
dress an obvious question: Was
the building sprinklered? And if
not, why not?
In the paper's subsequent re-
port on September 6 it was re-
vealed the plant indeed did not
have sprinklers, having operated
for years under the excuse of its
being built as a "maintenance
structure" not requiring sprin-
klers. Of course it did run as a
fully operational wood hog-fuel
processing mill.
This would raise the next ques-
tion: How did the owner afford to
risk the loss and endangerment
of his employees, his business,
the building, equipment and a
dozen local jobs? The initial
of a modern dry-pipe
sprinkler system
been an easy choice.
As the fire marshal, the i
ance underwriters and the
will dictate, this won't
again. And hopefully
be a watchman on duty
the next in-plant
Those loose sticks jinx shi
Editor, The Journak
This week we were visited by
yet another surprise and most un-
welcome visitor to our buoy and
boat that is moored out in front
of our house. In the past year,
on three separate occasions, we
and our next-door neighbors have
helplessly watched our boats and
buoys being helplessly sucked out
of the sand and floating away with
one of the monster derelict boom-
sticks guiding them down the bay
and out to sea.
In our eyes, there is no excuse
for this problem that us boat own-
ers have to bear for neglect in po-
licing log booms in Oakland Bay.
We see them freely floating by al-
most every day just waiting and
searching for a helpless buoy to
affix to.
Enough is enough! We need a
daily log patrol by the owner of
the booms to take these monsters
back home where they belong and
permanently secure the
and for all. These logs are
gational horror and
essary. We do not want aY
grief from someone else'S
gence.
People are fined for
the roadways and dum
refuse in the woods. Let's
the littering of waterway s
make it fair to all.
Patty and Bob
HammersleY
Singing Medic One's praises
Editor, The Journak
The people at Mason County
Medic One do not get enough
praise for the job they do. There
should be a billboard at both
ends of town singing their praise;
there should be a full-page ad in
The Journal every week.
I have had occasion three times
in the last five years to call 911
for family members, and each
time I have been impressed and
grateful when their trucks have
rolled into the driveway.
These skilled young men and
women not only take charge of
the emergency at hand,
compassion for the family
friends of the patient is
ing.
You can bet I will alway
my support to Medic One!
Cheryl
00ournal of Opinion:
On the home front
Another census of Mason County's homeless has been taken,
once again spotlighting one of the community's most heartrending
problems often hidden from view. The situation becomes
especially disturbing with autumn's approaching cold nights,
when the elements literally will chill to the bone the unfortunate
inhabitants of the woods and streets.
When you read the numbers - 504 people with no home
or at risk of losing their shelter - remember that those
figures are low. Census takers, because they don't have
the resources to go out and seek the homeless, depend on
people coming forward to be counted.
That's a great start, says Lisa Hayes of the Cold and Hungry
Coalition, but it doesn't record the majority of the homeless, who
by definition are very private. Most are ashamed or afraid to come
forward. So the 504 are "a scary representation of what really
exists," Hayes says. She estimates at least 1,500 utterly homeless
in the woods, in cars and on the streets. While decision-makers
are doing their best with limited funds to support at-risk people
who come forward for aid, most of the truly homeless aren't being
helped, she says.
Hayes contends you cannot solve a problem or obtain
the resources to solve it if it's not defined accurately. She
praises the work being done to help the homeless here but
believes it will continue to be a partial solution as long as
the census portrays an inaccurate picture.
Meanwhile, she continues work with the coalition to reopen the
emergency cold-weather shelter in Saint David's Parish Hall in
Shelton on freezing nights this year. Last winter it cost $17,000 to
run the shelter, and this year the county allocated $2,500, which
means thousands of dollars must be raised.
Anyone with a heart for the homeless may send a check
to the Cold and Hungry Coalition at 329 West Railroad,
#203, Shelton. Or you can volunteer to staff the shelter,
donate blankets or sleeping bags or call Hayes at 490-
1411 for information. Or give food to the soup kitchen
downtown or support other ministries that serve the poor
and homeless.
It wouldn't hurt, either, to act socially and politically to strike
at the heart of things causing homelessness. For, when the
homeless are surveyed, loss of a job isn't the main reason they're
on the street. It's sixth. The top five in order" are family breakup,
alcohol or drug use, domestic violence, inability to pay rent or a
mortgage and conviction for a felony crime.
That's a ton of work that needs to be done to solve a
problem in a society where most look the other way.
On the waterfront
Just as the Oakland Bay Action Plan is approved in an attempt
to clean up the mess humans have made of a beautiful body of
water at one end of the county, a proposal is made for a monstrous
resort on Hood Canal that would affect an equally beautiful body
of water at the other end.
The proposed Brinnon Master Planned Resort isn't in
Mason County. It's a few miles over the Jefferson County
line. But just as a NASCAR track in Kitsap County a few
miles from Belfair would have had drastic effects on Mason
County, so would the Brinnon resort change the nature of
this county's northwest tip.
If you moved to Brinnon because it's Brinnon - someplace in
the middle of nowhere - this is your worst nightmare. If a $300-
million resort at Pleasant Harbor with a hotel, 890 rental units,
golf course, 290-slip marina, commercial village and conference
center is built, Brinnon will have lost its character.
As the hearing process before Jefferson County officials
begins this month, some in Brinnon are excited about the
possibility of an economic boost, same as for the NASCAR
track. Others are extremely concerned. At a time when
Hood Canal has an oxygen deficit because of pollution,
developers hope to bring thousands more people to the
shores of the fragile tord.
Tireless defender of the environment, Donna Simmons of
Hoodsport, says her Hood Canal Environmental Council has deep
concerns about whether developers can mitigate the impacts
of the resort on the environment. Water quality will be a huge
issue, she says. An estimated 42 acres at the resort would be
impervious surface; that's a lot of stormwater. Questions remain
about aquifers and drinking water for thousands.
Simmons recalls her first inkling that Hood Canal had
a pollution problem. It was st 1972 study indicating high
levels of bacterial coliform. For 35 years some residents
have been concerned about pollution while others poured
still more pollutants into the water.
One house, one business or one farm dumping nitrogen into
the canal won't ruin the body of water, but there is a cumulative
impact of all the development over the years. And a Brinnon
resort would not be a minor addition.
-CG
l
,,.,.ton- ournal
(00ounty usPs 492-600
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to ShaRon-Mason
County Journal, P.O. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584.
Published weekly by Shelton Publishing Inc. at 227 West Cota Street, Shelton, Washington
Mailing address: RO. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584
Telephone (360) 426-4412 • www.masoncounty.com
Periodicals postage paid at Shelton, Washington
Member of Washington Newspaper Publishers' Association
SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $31.00 per year in-county address,
$45.00 per year in state of Washington $55.00 per year out of state
Charles Gay, editor and publisher. Newsroom: Sean Hanlon, managing editor; Steve Patch,
sports editor; Jeff Green, general assignment, city government, schools, Port of Shelton; Rebecca
Wells, society editor, county government; Mary Duncan, police, courts. Advertising: Stephen
Gay, advertising manager; Dave Pierlk and Harvey Morris, ad sales. Front office: Julle Orme,
business manager; Kathy Lester, circulation; Donna Kinnaird, bookkeeper; Cricket Carter, mallroom
supervisor. Composing room: Diane Rlordan, supervisor; Margot Brand, Jan Kalltnen, pagination;
Frank Isaac, pagination, photo technician; Koleen Wood, typesetter, computer system manager;
William Adams, ad builder, computer system manager;, Clinton Kendall, proofreader. Prewroom: Nick
Carr, pressman; Jon Hughes, pressman's assistant.
u
Page 4 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, September 13, 2007
,7!
//./" /t
il ,•
"FII00T Coot
DO YOU "TI.IINK Tt0000Y'LL Go AFT00 NLZY3 ", DICK?'
i00eaders" ¢]ournal:
Vet story had negative spin
Editor, The Journal:
I was extremely disappointed
to read last week's front-page
story regarding Allison Moore,
the first female member of the
Shelton 40 et 8. You took what
should have been a positive ar-
ticle and put a very negative spin
on it. Several of the facts as you
reported them are, in my opinion,
inaccurate and misleading.
I do have a little background
knowledge of the 40 et 8. My fa-
ther, a World War II veteran, was
proud to be an active member of
the 40 et 8 in Okanogan County
for years. My mother, even after
his death, continued her active
membership in the women's aux-
iliary association of the 40 et 8.
My husband, a retired Special
Forces sergeant, is a new mem-
ber of the 40 et 8 in Shelton.
I contacted the National Voi-
ture of the 40 et 8 for additional
information. At the national con-
vention in 2006, they changed
their bylaws to accept women.
Until the fall of 2006, a local
chapter could not grant member-
ship to female veterans, even if it
wished to do so.
Here is an excerpt from an
August 2007 press release for
the Voiture Nationale regarding
women in the 40 et 8:
"The Forty & Eight was Amer-
ica's only remaining all-male vet-
erans fraternity until last year
when women members of The
American Legion were, by con-
vention floor vote, allowed en-
try into the 88-year-old Forty &
Eight honor society. The majori-
ty opinion was that the increased
role of women in the U.S. mili-
tary, and the risks they endure
in combat, have grown signifi-
cantly from the all-male troops of
WW I to today's male and female
combat veterans of Iraq and Af-
ghanistan."
Regardless of whether Allison
Moore's initial application for
membership encountered any
resistance, the facts are that she
was accepted by majority vote
into the Shelton 40 et 8 within
months of the national organiza-
tion making the bylaw change.
I would contend that the club's
quick decision indicates a willing-
ness by the previously all-male
membership to be open-minded
and progressive.
Furthermore, I have been a
guest in the club on many occa-
sions, as have female friends of
mine. We are treated with the
utmost respect and courtesy by
those present. The negative inci-
dent alluded to in the article was
an isolated one unrelated to Alli-
son's quest for membership and
was resolved.
I also take exception to the
term, "gentleman's club," and
what it implies. These "gentle-
men" all share a common bond,
in that they served in the armed
forces during wartime, and the
majority of them were in com-
bat. They have joined together
in a veterans' club to support
each other and all
rently serving in the
They have put their lives
line for this country.
vice and membership in
should not be trivialized
term, "gentleman's club."
I do applaud Allison's
to be a groundbreaker, but
concerned that your
discourage additional
and also men, from
membership in the 40 et 8.
is unfortunate. It is a sad
that service clubs, such as
40 et 8, have an aging
ship. While the Shelton
is currently healthy, other
are not as fortunate.
been unable to attract a
membership, therefore,
dying a slow, painful death.
Women can certainly do
part to reinvigorate these d
nizations, which have bee
torically run by men.
admission into the 40 et 8
have been handled as a
women breaking through
those remaining barriers
a slam on the
As a community
you should do everything i
power o support service
zations and encourage
ty members to take an
in these clubs.
aging articles such as th
published last week are
conflict with that role
Pamela D.
Mill sans sprinklers risked
Editor, The Journal:
The Journal's August 30 sto-
ry of the Shearer Brothers mill
burning described a devastat-
ing loss to a local business. The
article was brief and did not ad-
dress an obvious question: Was
the building sprinklered? And if
not, why not?
In the paper's subsequent re-
port on September 6 it was re-
vealed the plant indeed did not
have sprinklers, having operated
for years under the excuse of its
being built as a "maintenance
structure" not requiring sprin-
klers. Of course it did run as a
fully operational wood hog-fuel
processing mill.
This would raise the next ques-
tion: How did the owner afford to
risk the loss and endangerment
of his employees, his business,
the building, equipment and a
dozen local jobs? The initial
of a modern dry-pipe
sprinkler system
been an easy choice.
As the fire marshal, the i
ance underwriters and the
will dictate, this won't
again. And hopefully
be a watchman on duty
the next in-plant
Those loose sticks jinx shi
Editor, The Journak
This week we were visited by
yet another surprise and most un-
welcome visitor to our buoy and
boat that is moored out in front
of our house. In the past year,
on three separate occasions, we
and our next-door neighbors have
helplessly watched our boats and
buoys being helplessly sucked out
of the sand and floating away with
one of the monster derelict boom-
sticks guiding them down the bay
and out to sea.
In our eyes, there is no excuse
for this problem that us boat own-
ers have to bear for neglect in po-
licing log booms in Oakland Bay.
We see them freely floating by al-
most every day just waiting and
searching for a helpless buoy to
affix to.
Enough is enough! We need a
daily log patrol by the owner of
the booms to take these monsters
back home where they belong and
permanently secure the
and for all. These logs are
gational horror and
essary. We do not want aY
grief from someone else'S
gence.
People are fined for
the roadways and dum
refuse in the woods. Let's
the littering of waterway s
make it fair to all.
Patty and Bob
HammersleY
Singing Medic One's praises
Editor, The Journak
The people at Mason County
Medic One do not get enough
praise for the job they do. There
should be a billboard at both
ends of town singing their praise;
there should be a full-page ad in
The Journal every week.
I have had occasion three times
in the last five years to call 911
for family members, and each
time I have been impressed and
grateful when their trucks have
rolled into the driveway.
These skilled young men and
women not only take charge of
the emergency at hand,
compassion for the family
friends of the patient is
ing.
You can bet I will alway
my support to Medic One!
Cheryl