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Page 4 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday. Sept. 29,
Election seasonbegins in Mason County
elcome to the circus.
This week marks
the beginning of the
general election season
here at the Shelton-Mason
County .
Starting with this week’s
edition of the paper, the
Journal will begin running a
series of question-and-answer
pages with the candidates in
the Nov. 8 election.
This week, we look at the
races for Mason County as-
sessor, Mason County sheriff
and the 6th Congressional
District.
You can see the planned
schedule in the breakout box.
Both candidates in each
race are asked the same five
questions, followed by the
candidates asking a ques-
tion of their opponent. The
responses are printed exactly
as submitted without any
V.
oases memos
EDITIIII’S
CHAIR
correction.
We have planned our
scheduled pages to run over
the next four Weeks, with the
final responses set to run Oct.
20. Ballots are scheduled to
be mailed to Mason County
voters Oct. 18.
Also beginning this week,
we have reopened our Letters
to the Editor to letters about
candidates, including those
for and against. Several let-
ters included in this edition
were submitted earlier in the
month and are now being
published.
We will run candidate-
related letters until the Oct.
edition. No original let—
ters regarding candidates
will be published on Nov. 3
due to Election Day being
the following Tuesday, how-
ever letters directly rebut-
ting a previous letter will be
considered.
For those considering writ-
ing a Letter to the Editor in
the upcoming weeks, here are
a few things to know:
What we
will publish
Letters that support,
oppose or ask questions of the
candidates. Don’t feel afraid
to ask tough questions and
demand answers. Anyone
running for political office
should be willing to truth—
fully answer questions from
their constituents. Ask about
their platform, their plans
if elected and why they’re
running. Letters will be ed—
ited for grammar and style.
We also reserve the right to
edit or reject letters contain-
ing profanities or excessive
graphicness.
What we
won't publish
Letters that allege can-
didates of illegal conduct
-or law-breaking. If you be—
lieve. a candidate has bro-
ken the law, report it to the
appropriate authorities or
jurisdiction. The Journal is
not a courtroom nor a place
for public litigation. If you
would like to submit materi-
als for the Journal to review,
feel free to do so, but publish-
ing unsubstantiated and un—
founded claims of illegalities
places the writer of'the letter
and the newspaper at risk of
legal action.
Elections offer us an op—
portunity to have our voices
heard about our futures and
the future of our cities, coun—
ty, state and nation. It’s one
of the most sacred rights we
have as citizens.
I Justin Johnson is the
editor of the Shelton-Mason
County Journal. He can be
reached by at justin@mason-
county.com.
What’s on Our mind? Serial killers, apparently.
was at an Alcohol—
Iics Anonymous ’
meeting many
years ago when a fel-
low shared a story
about baseball and
beer.
The guy said that
before watching a
ballgame, he would
.buy a case of beer (24
‘ containers) and then
drink one at the top
and one at the bottom
of each inning, making
for a minimum of 17 beers consumed
per ball game. Someone asked what
he would do with the extra beers,
and the man replied, “In case of extra
innings.”
When he quit drinking alcohol and
tried to watch a baseball game sober,
the man said, “I had no idea baseball
was so boring.”
That story doesn’t have too much
to do with this column, but it is a ‘
wonderful sports story with a happy
ending. And, it’s a nice counterpoint
to the depravity that follows.
I was home last week with a couple
of friends watching the Seattle Mari-
ners’ game against the Oakland A’s,
the one that was 0-0 throngh the top
of the seventh. The A’s eventually
‘ won '2-1. It was nine innings of ho—
hum, so I invented a parlor game with
my phone.
I’d type in a first name into the
Google search bar on myAndroid
phone’s home screen and ask my pals
Slpllonmdsottflonntn ilowmal
uses 492-800
KIRK ERICSON
THESE
TIMES
to guess which last
name showed up first
in Google’s suggested
this-is-what-you—
might-be-looking—for
list. V
Here’s what Google.
com has to say about
items that show up in
such a list: “When a
user enters a query,
our machines search
the index for matching
pages and return the
results we believe are
the highest quality and most relevant
to the user. Relevancy is determined
by hundreds of factors, which could ,
include information such as the user’s
location, language and device (desktop
or phone). For example, searching for
“bicycle repair shops” would show dif-
ferent results to a user in Paris than it
would to a user in Hong Kong.”
I typed in some random first
names, then started typing in the first
names of the people in the house. I
typed in “Gordon,” and No. 1 on the
list was chef GordOn Ramsey. I typed
in “Kirk,” and the first name listed
was Kirk Cousins, an NFL quarter-
back. I typed in “John,” and the first
name was John Wayne Gacy, the ‘
clown/serial killer from Illinois.
Having Google suggest I’d be most
interested in learning about such an
exceptionally sinister John seemed
odd, especially when considering the
other Johns that could have showed.
up as_No. 1: Lennon, Depp, Mulaney,
Cena, Appleseed, Legend, Fogerty,
the Baptist, Kennedy, Locke, Stuart
Mill, Wayne, Steinbeck, Oliver, Good-
man, Candy, Malkovich, Krasinski,
Stuart, Travolta, Cusack, Cleese,
Leguizamo, Doe, Denver, Mayer,
McCain.
Instead, I was encouraged to click
on the last name that summons a
man who was convicted of sodomy,
and the murder of 33 young men and
boys?
So we started thinking up other se-
rial killers with common first names.
Typing in “Charles”'put Charles
Manson as No. 2, after King/Prince
Charles. “Richard” had Richard “The
Night Stalker” Ramirez as No. 1.
Ramirez was convicted of killing 13
people in California in the 19805.
“Ted” put Washington’s own Ted
Bundy as No. 1. ' ,
“Henry” summoned Henry Louis
Wallace, who I hadn’t heard of. He
showed up as No. 4 in the “Henry”
rankings. Wallace was convicted in
1997 of killing nine people in South
and North Carolina. No. 6 was Henry
Kissinger. Considering Mr. Kissing.
er’s rap sheet, his ranking seems a
little low. v
And coming in at No. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
6, 7, 8 and 10 in Google’s ranked list-
. ings under the name “Jeffrey” was
cannibal, killer and joke punchline
Jeffrey Dahmer. The only person who
prevented him from sweeping in the
“Jeffrey” category was Jeffrey Ep-
stein. Having “Monster: The Jeffrey
Dahmer Story” being the top-watched
show on Netflix likely aided Dahmer’s
prominence.
To ensure Google hadn’t
mistakenly thought that myself and
my phone were inordinately inter-
ested in serial killers, I typed five first
names into Mrs. Ericson’s phone —
my wife might be the most un-serial~
killerish person you’d want to meet.
Here are the results from her phone:
John: John Wayne Gacy, No. 1; Rich-
ard: Richard Ramirez, No. Ted: Ted
Bundy, No. 1; Charles: Charles Man-
son, No. 1; and Henry: Henry Louis
Wallace, No. 3.
Serial killers all.
I emailed Nils “Nick” Marcks Von
Wurtemberg, a friend who lives in
Sweden, to ask him to type the word
“Jeffrey” into his phone’s Google
search bar. I wanted to test whether
our homegrown cannibal killer has
international appeal. Here is his
response: . .
“Hi Kirk, first is Jeffrey Epstein
and two is Jeffrey Dahmer. A canni-l
bal from Wisconsin? Will be interest-
ing to read your column. Right now
I’m watching a soccer game between
Sweden and Slovenia. Still 0-0. Nick”
Let’s conclude with a quote from
George Carlin, this column’s favorite
comedian: ’
“When you’re born into this world,
you’re given a ticket to the freak
show. If you’re born in America, you
get a front row seat.”
I Contacthirk Ericson at kirk@
masoncounty.com '
Owned and published by
Shelton-Mason County Journal, Inc.
POSTMASTER: Send. address changes to Shelton-Mason
County Journal, R0. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584.
Published weekly by the Shelton-Mason County Journal
at W. Cola St, Shelton, Washington.
‘ Mailing address: P.O. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584
Telephone: 360—426-4412
Website: www.masoncountycoin
Periodicals postage paid in Shelton, Washington.
The Journal is a member of the
Washington Newspaper Publish-
ers Association.
SUBSCRIPTION RATES:
$79 per year ($55 for six months)‘
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$99 per year ($70 for six months)
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Single issue price $2.00
Publisher: John Lester
Advertising:
Theresa Murray, Ad Representative
Newsroom:
Justin Johnson, Editor
Gordon Weeks, Reporter .
Matt Baide, Reporter
Kirk Boxle'rtner, Reporter
Kirk Ericson, Columnist/ Proofreader
Shawna Whelan, Photographer
Front officer ' ‘
Dave Pierlk, Office Administrator
Karen Hranac, Customer Service
Delivery:
Jon Garza
David Olson
Niel Challstrom
Composing room:
Kim Fowler, Advertising Design
Linda Frizzell, Advertising Design
a
Creative Director: Lloyd Milllen
All regular editorial, advertising
and legal deadlines are 5 pm. the
Monday prior to publication.
To submit a letter to the editor,
email editor@masonoounty.com.