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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
September 27, 2012     Shelton Mason County Journal
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September 27, 2012
 
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Letters Continued from page A-4 Is it "just a phrase?' Editor, the Journal That little old-fashioned lady is here again -- the one who believes "right is right, and wrong is wrong." It ruffles my feathers "just a bit" when I hear a politician -- and especially our president -- ending a message (no matter its sub- ject or value) with: "and -- God bless America!" That is a blatant "slap in the face" to the God who did, could and would if we allow Him to. He did -- our country was blessed above other nations for many years, when we founded our nation upon the prin- ciples of God's word; hon- ored Him in our homes and schools; and raised our children to honor and respect Him and our coun- try's leadership. He could -- because He has "all power" to do so. He would -- if we would "humble ourselves, seek His face, and turn from our wicked ways" -- "then He would heal our land." But, we (some of us) have tried to remove His name from our coins, re- move His name from our pledge, refuse to teach His principles in our schools -- and even worse, are "legal- izing~ same-sex marriage, and respecting it as a "nor- mal way of life." In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth -- made us "in His image" -- male and female -- for the purpose of procreating children. This ultimately results in families -- which, to any- one thinking rightly, would proclaim this to be the "nornl." What will happen to our nation without this? It will ultimately be "destroyed." God destroyed Sodom .... and Gomorrah for the .... same immorality --de- stroyed' (the then known) world by a flood, when "... they did what was right in their own eyes..." Are our beloved servicemen and women fighting for a coun- try that "is not worth fight- ing for?" Our country will not be destroyed from "without" but from "within!" A truly sad commentary, Doris Myers Shelton A bunch garbage Editor, the Journal The Mason County Commissioners attempted to award a roughly $15 million contract to Al- lied Waste without going through the public bid pro- cess and violated State Bid and Open Public Meeting Laws. This contract affects every citizen who lives or visits, every business and industry that is located or trades within Mason County. What should have been done: Mason County needed and still needs to look at the most efficient way of reducing, collecting, recycling, transporting and disposing of its solid waste (garbage) for one year, five years and 20-plus years. We as a county will be creating garbage forever. This process should have included the Mason County staff, Solid Waste Advisory Committee (SWAC), con- sultants, the public (us), Washington State Depart- ment of Ecology, Utilities and Transportation, to name a few. Collectively, Mason County should have updated its Comprehensive Solid Waste Management Plan, making recommenda- tions for the unique needs of Mason County for com- prehensive waste reduc- tion, recycling, hazardous waste, collection, transpor- tation and disposal. This plan would map out all long-range needs for facili- ties, capital, construction, private operation, public operation and bid it ac- cordingly. In August 2010, SWAC made a presentation to the Mason County Board of Commissioners that the current contract was coming to an end and the county needed to look at all options, including privatiz- ing transfer stations and putting the solid waste con- tract up for bids. The com- missioners responded by firing David Baker, Mason County solid waste man- ager, in March 2011, which also was the last time the nine-member SWAC would ever meet. What did happen: on April 30, 2012, all three commissioners went into executive session with Al- lied Waste to negotiate and write the terms and conditions of a roughly $15 million no-bid contract. My guess is other meetings oc- curred that are not known. This is a violation of the Open Public Meetings Act. On June 4, briefing min- utes and briefing was very vague. At the regularly scheduled commissioners' meeting on June 5, with very little advertisement during public comment, David Baker with Wilson Recycling, Eric Johnson with Waste Management and Rick Fredrickson with Mason County Garbage testified to put the contract out for bid. Mason County's own staff (Tom Moore, di- rector of utilities and waste management) testified to put the contract to the SWAC for review and com- ment and Brian Matthews, public works director, rec- ommended putting it out for public bid. No public or Mason County staff com- ment was presented in favor of awarding the con- tract to Allied Waste. Lyn- da Ring Erickson chaired the commissioners' meet- ing and was present at the April 30 executive session and acknowledged that she had a conflict of inter- est. She excused herself from only the vote, while chairing the meeting and lobbying to approve the contract. Steve Bloomfield recommended extending the comment period for two weeks for public comment. Tim Sheldon made a mo- tion to approve the contact. It should have died for a lack of a second, however Ring Erickson requested action to be taken. Bloom- field finally seconded and it passed 2-0. In politics, "fol- low the monkey." What happened: Isn't it hard to believe this group of commissioners, spending such little time with such little advice with such little information has served the citizen, business and indus- tries of Mason County? Jack Johnson Belfair Where is the leadership? Editor, the Journal It was interesting to read the letter to the editor in a recent paper pertain- ing to the poor leadership of Mason County Commis- sioners for the past eight years and the one from Tom Davis referring to all the lawsuits against the county costing the taxpay- ers thousands of dollars that should have been used for the betterment of Ma- son County. These two letters from different people in differ- ent communities in Mason County go hand-in-hand, demonstrating the lack of leadership by the commis- sioners when the county gets sued for violation of bid laws, age discrimina- tion, unfair firing practices and failure to bargain with unions in good faith. The latest round of frivo- lous spending by the com- missioners was due to un- fair labor negotiations with the Teamsters' bargaining unit for five different de- partments. This stems back to 2009 when the com- missioners appointed/hired a negotiator who came to an agreement with the bargaining unit and then obtained the signatures, outside of a public meeting from Lynda Ring Erickson and Ross Gallagher for the intent to settle. When it came time to approve the contract in a public meeting, they tried to worm their way out of it. Wow, what were they thinking? This caused the union to say that the com- missioners refused to bar- gain in good faith. Natu- rally, the Teamsters filed a grievance to a hearing examiner who ruled that this was an unfair labor practice. The commissioners then appealed this decision to the Washington State Pub- lic Employees Committee, who upheld the hearing ex- aminer and ruled failure to bargain in good faith. The latest ruling was from the Washington State Superior Court in Thurston County, who ruled failure to bargain in good faith. Think what this cost the county in taxpayer dollars for these appeals, plus the fact that the county is still left with a possible $2 mil- lion settlement. Lynda Ring Erickson even testified that the com- missioners were aware of the offer to the union, and she signed an agreement made by their negotiator, but failed to approve it at a public meeting. Age discrimination, un- fair firing practices~ viola- tion of bid laws and unfair labor practices are serious lawsuits against officials that have sworn to uphold the laws of the state of Washington. Again, where is the lead- ership? Could it be that our commissioners are at- tending to other interests instead of representing the citizens of OUr county? . i ~Annette McGee Shelton Thank you, County within the Shelton city lim- its, is an outcome that was anticipated When the 2004 ordinance was adopted and successfully enforced. Comments from several citizens and a recent Jour- nal editorial implied that enforcement of a complete ban on the sale and dis- charge of fireworks would be problematic. However, the model for the success of the 2005 or- dinance, which limited the discharge of fireworks to one day, is appropriate for this next phase. In that effort, the city, including the police and fire departments, mounted an extensive public cam- paign, with an emphasis on education rather than enforcement. That campaign started in January 2005, six months ahead of the appli- cation of that ordinance. Examples of that effort included: • The Shelton-Mason County Journal ran several stories and editorials about the new ordinance. • Presentations were made to all schools in the Shelton School District. • Presentations were made to a variety of local service clubs. • Information flyers were produced and distrib- uted by Shelton fire and po- lice personnel and through city and county offices. • KMAS radio produced two live drive-time inter- view opportunities and supported information to the Hispanic community. • Information flyers and a fireworks fact sheet were provided to Shelton fire and police personnel. • The city provided information in utility bill- ings. and compassion unfolded throughout the Shelton community. Starting with my call to Shelton Animal Services and KMAS Radio, the Shopper's Weekly and the Shelton-Mason County Journal, sympathy poured out and one suggestion invariably led to another. For example, my call to Cheryl with the Shelton School District resulted in an email to others and a transfer to Deanna in fa- cilities, who referred me to Abstract Electric and the Fairmont Apartments. As we drove around Shelton handing out flyers; we spoke with residents on Fairmont Avenue who promised to keep an eye out for our dogs. We also talked to several business- es, including Manke Lum- ber, where the flyer posted in the shop alerted the night crew of our missing dogs. We talked to security at Simpson, the barista at Riverside Espresso, the bartenders at Bob's Tavern, and left flyers at Tozier's Ace Hardware, Ta- queria Las Palmas, Spike's Hydraulics, Safeway, Red Apple and Taylor Town 76. My friend Marlys sug- gested I contact local vet- erinarians and Adopt-a-Pet and those folks added Sam and Mickie to their lost and found lists. Throughout our search and afterward, we encoun- tered the nicest people willing to help and happy to hear we finally found them - like Lynn on Johns Prairie Road, Linda Sue on Fairmont Avenue and the facilities worker at Walker Park. We are so thankful to the Shelton residents who shared our concern and helped us search for our dogs. And to Steven and the guys working the night shift at Manke's shop, who accepted nothing but our thanks for the safe return of our pets, we are forever grateful for your compassion. You guys not only found and secured our dogs, but you also cared for them until we got there. You are all amazing people. Our sincerest thanks. Teresa Parsons Olympia American In Washington, retail fireworks fit into two dis- tinct and totally different categories: • Legal fireworks (or so-called safe and sane), which are legal in the state and are sold through state- the other, incumbent Rep. Kathy Haigh, is at only 16 percent. In addition to this fact, the House Democratic Campaign Committee (HDCC) has provided more than $30,000 to each of the Democratic candidates. And where did the HDCC money come from? By far the biggest source is sur- plus funds from Speaker Chopp and his district mate, both of Seattle. This fact reinforces the idea that our incumbent does not re- ally represent her district, but votes almost exclu- sively with her Seattle-led caucus; whether it is the income tax, citizen's ability to petition their govern- ment through the refer- endum/initiative process, or private property issues. One issue she continues to voice as a tough fight for her district is levy equal- ization for local schools. The problem is, she was fighting primarily with her own party on this issue! The 35th District needs fresh representation, not a compromised incumbent or a flawed county com- missioner. Dan Griffey, a firefighter, and Drew MacEwen, a local business owner, understand the dis- trict and will work ibr the people they serve. (All contribution data from Washington Public Disclosure Commission, as of Sept. 18.) Robert Rogers Shelton Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012 - Page A-5 of a complete sales and lagher was involved in Le g i o n d a y discharge ban is the elimi- many of them. Many people nation of legal fireworks, are quick to place blame on Editor, the Journal which are often sold asthe other two commission- Once again Shelton and Editor, the Journal fundraising efforts by ser- era but please don't forget, Mason County stepped On Sept. 16, 1919, the vice clubs, there were three votes to forward to help and raise Congress of the United However, anything less reject the five union con- money for our local food States granted a federalthan a total ban would be tracts that are the center of bank! The Benefit Block charter called the Act to an enforcement nightmare the charge of unfair labor Party for our local food Incorporate the Americanfor the city and the com- practice and one of them bank, Saint's Pantry, have Legion. munity, was cast by Ross Galta- so many to thank, but most- Since then, millions of Local governments have gher. ly the generous citizens and veterans have joined one of long realized the public's In addition to this ma- businesses of Shelton and America's service organiza- passion for celebration dur- jor blunder, Mr. Galla- Mason County. Particular tions. American veteransing the FOurth of July. In gher, as Board of Commis- thanks goes to Kelly Mayo can get help because of the response to growing citizen sioners' representative, for being such a good sport American Legion for educa- complaints, the city!s up- failed to keep the county in our dunk tank; to David tion, VA assistance, burial proach to manage the im- commission apprised of Pierik and Natalie Johnson and other areas, pact of fireworks gradually, the Mason County Emer- from the Journal for their So let's celebrate as vet- has so far, proven to be gency Communications' support; to our sponsors: erans and citizens this day successful, financial status in 2010 Olsen's Furniture, Tozier for our veterans of the past The same studies as- when the organization was Brothers, Green Diamond and especially the veterans sessment of this next phase spending $238,000 more Resource Company, Mela- now and in the future, will result in a quieter and than they had in revenues, nit Bakala State Farm Insurance, Black Star Bob Stone much safer community, resulting in a finding by the state auditor. Accord- Printing, Shelton United Shelton Dave Salzering to the state auditor, Methodist Church, and Shelton "the Board of Directors Lynch Creek Floral. Thank failed to allocate costs in you again, Mason County and Shelton, for your caring 35th District compliance with its inter- and support! ban will local agreements." As if we need another JosephMikelsucceed needs new reminder, Mr. Gallagher was one of the commission- Shelton era that chose to condemn Editor, the Journal property for a Belfair sewer pump station rather than A good In May 2012, the Wash- Editor, theJournal negotiate a land purchase ington State Fire Marshal Campaign contributions price with Clifton Heights issued a report stating that are not the only thing to Properties, LLC. The dif- dog story 6o Washington cities have review when considering a ference between the coun- enacted bans prohibitingcandidate, but they do pro- ty's offer and the property Editor, the Journal both the sale and discharge vide hard data, which may owner's offer was $12,340. On the afternoon of Sept. of fireworks, reinforce voter concerns. Instead of continuing to 11 our two beloved dogs, It appears that the cityIn the 35th Legislative negotiate in good faith, Sam and Mickie -- a black of Shelton is approaching District, such is the case as this land purchase ended lab and lab mix -- man- that same decision, contributions parallel the up costing the county aged to escape froth the In 2004, the Shelton voting record of the incum- $575,000 after losing a law- back of my husband's pick- City Commission adopted bent. suit. up while he was working an ordinance that limited The two Republican Mason County cannot on his log truck near Man- the discharge of legal fire- candidates for positions in afford to put Mr. Gallagher ke's log yard. After hours works within the Sheltonthe 35th have more than back in office. Please vote of searching, we started city limits to the Fourth of half of their contributions for Terri Jeffreys and bring to panic because we live July and New Year's Eve.from within the district, smart leadership - and in Olympia and knew the That ordinance went intoDrew MacEwen (53 per- some sanity -- back into dogs would not be able to effect one year later, in cent) and Dan Griffey (50 county government. 2005. find us. While we were con- percent). One Democratic sumed with worry over the The current proposed candidate is at 37 percent, Caitlin Kincaid ordinance, banning the sale Linda Ring Erickson, and Shelton next two days, kindness and discharge of fireworks licensed fireworks booths. I/,-- ~- -- | .IC~ .. • Illegal fireworks, vo~e Je,, reys which are sold only on Na- tive American reservations. Editor, the Journal As Mason County voters Illegal fireworks are the shake their heads at the source of most of the fires plethora of lawsuits the and noise complaints that commissioners have faced, occur every Fourth of July. it is important to remind An unfortunate outcome voters candidate Ross Gal-