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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
September 17, 2020     Shelton Mason County Journal
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September 17, 2020
 
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Page A-4 - Shelton-Mason County Journal — Thursday, Sept. 17, 2020 TIMES 9/ 1 1: It might be on the test ur 16—year-old son let me tag along to his U.S. history class last Friday afternoon, if I didn’t make noise and I remained fal- low against the corner of the couch, beyond the view of the Chromebook screen where the eyes of 22 high school juniors and one teacher were vertically By KIRK ERICSON and horizontally scaled and ar- rayed and pointed toward the bookcase in our living room. Here are a few things I learned at school last week: I High school students still complain about teachers, but many of their teacher-related complaints are now technology related. A boy mentioned a teacher who left private messaging on during a class last spring. Several students groaned. That’s what passes for an embarrassing act in high school these days. I Students in the fall of 2020 have new problems. One student yelled at some— one who dashed in and out of her back- ground: “Get out! And close the door!” The student seemed well-practiced at yelling that. I “Chillax” is a word in one teacher’s vocabulary. I The dog cannot eat your homework anymore. Imagine being in high school and having a parent be present — kind of while you were in class, among your mates. It was inconceivable once, but it’s conceivable now, and it’s happening across this country. And as long as we’re imagining, imagine not knowing what you know about Sept. 11, 2001. Imagine not knowing about box cutters and people jumping from towers, or not remem- bering how you heard the news of that day. Imagine not having those fiery orange blossoms emblazoned in your brain. Imagine not being aware of the line between that sunny day in September and the blood and money spilled in Iraq and Afghanistan in the years to come. Those kids sitting in a U.S. history class in Olympia High School on Sept. 11, 2020, were born in 2003 and 2004, so what happened 19 years ago in New York, Washington, D.C., and that field in Pennsylvania is complete history to them, although it’s sometimes aug- mented with bits of cultural flotsam, like knowing that “Saturday Night Live” performer Pete Davidson’s father was a firefighter killed on 9/11. When my son’s teacher asked her class “Does anyone know what hap- pened on this day in history?” the long silence that followed shouldn’t have surprised me. My son told me before his history class that no one had mentioned 9/11 in his ear— lier classes. After the stillness, which lasted probably long enough for someone to Google “Sept. 11,” a student piped up with a de- scription of 9/11 that sounded a bit scripted: Hijackers on two planes flew jets into the World Trade Center towers, another hijacked plane hit the Penta- gon and a fourth plane crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. That stu- dent might be angling for an A. “It was a sad day,” the teacher said. “And your parents and grandparents know exactly where they were when they heard the news. It hit everybody really hard.” That didn’t stir any classroom con- versation, so the teacher divided the class into five groups and asked them to discuss two questions among them- selves, each for about four minutes. The first was, “What do you know about 9/1 1?” No one in my son’s group spoke until a kid said, “If 9/11 happened today, a lot of people wouldn’t care.” “What if it caused a forest fire?” my son offered. N 0 answer. When they returned to the main class, one of the students reported to the teacher, “We didn’t talk about it. We were just talking.” The teacher pressed on, as teach- ers do. “Does anyone know why people wanted to attack the United States?” Silence, again. The teacher gave a “super tiny nutshell” explanation that involved Osama bin Laden, U.S. troops stationed in the Mideast, Afghanistan and the Soviet Union. I remember how vengeful and fear- ful the mood in this country was after 9/11 and how the political and cultural environment made it heretical to even ask a question about motive. The ex- planation that was supposed to satisfy us was, “They attacked us because they hate our freedoms.” Because the teacher wasn’t getting much play from her students, she end- ed by talking about the firefighters and police officers who died on that day and how “They were going up the staircases while other people were going down. “We need to remember this day be- cause of the sacrifices people made.” Before we get too smug about our own generation and how we remember 9/11 like it was yesterday, let us ask ourselves whether we learned the les- son of that day: What sacrifice are we willing to make? I Contact Kirk at kirk@masoncounty. com. Slpltmtflllaaentnnnty ileum-trail USPS 492-800 POSTMASTF R Sen-:1 address changes to {the/tun Mason County Journal, PO. Box 430, Shelton. WA 98584. Published weekly by the Shelton-Mason County Journal at 227 W. Cota St, Shelton, Washington. Mailing address: PO. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584 Telephone: 360-426-4412 Website: www.masoncounty.com Periodicals postage paid in Shelton, Washington. > The Shelton—Mason County Jour- nal is a member of the Wash- ington Newspaper Publishers Publisher/Editor: Tom Mullen Advertising: TO EDITOR Not a good neighbor Editor, the Journal, Greeting to all concerned. Almost six years ago this month, we as a neighborhood welcomed the new homeowner on the 2000 block of Stevens Street with open arms. We heard he was a retired gentleman moving down from the Seattle area. Naively, we welcomed him, what could be bad about a retired man wanting to move to a smaller town? It was within two months we figured out him and his “house guests” would not fit in our quiet, family—friendly and retired-person neighborhood. The problems started with asking them nicely not to be so noisy when they came home after 10 p.m. Since we had moved into our retirement home in 1991, I had kept my bedroom window open, to let in fresh air, so I could sleep better at night. That came to a quick end. The disturbances and multiple incidents of illegal activities continued escalating in severity, and tranquility for the rest of the resi- dents of Steven Street have been lost. For six uncomfortable and unsafe years, nothing but “catch and release” has been done to confront the problem household. We are done with tact, and Front office: Dave Pierik, Office Administrator Karen Hranac, Customer Service Association. John Lester, General Manager Theresa Murray, Ad Representative Delivery: SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Jon Garza $62 per year ($43 for six months) Newsroom: David Olson for Mason County addresses and $75 per year ($55 for six months) outside of Mason County. Owned and published by Shelton-Mason County Journal, Inc. Justin Johnson, Sports/Outdoors Editor Gordon Weeks, Reporter Isabella Breda, Reporter Kirk Ericson, Columnist/ Proofreader Kirk Boxleitner, Reporter 7 Niel Challstrom Composing room: William Adams, Advertising Design and Technical Support ,' «.1 hoping that the city officials would take action for all the unlawfulness that has gone on daily for six years now. We insist you inform us of why 'all the illegal activities are allowed to continue? We can only speculate. And those speculations are not pleasant, as a law—abiding taxpayer. We appreciate the police depart— ment has a hard job when it comes to a known drug house. But knowing does not make us have any peace of mind when we hear the word of the arresting officer, stating he is inform- ing a male he is arresting that the residence is a known drug house. So what is the remedy to do it quicker, we don’t feel safe in our own home, because we are done with the status quo. We, as citizens of Shel— ton, find this to be unacceptable and repugnant. I am sure this is not the only example of drug houses in Shel- ton, but I can voice the activity of this one drug den. I can only hope that something of substance can be accom- plished if we all work together. Sincerely, The Allen family Shelton see LETTERS, page A-5 Design: Lloyd Mullen, Creative Director All regular editorial, advertising and legal deadlines are 5 p.m. the Monday prior to publication. To submit a letter to the editor, email justin@masoncounty.com.