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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-