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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
October 15, 2020     Shelton Mason County Journal
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October 15, 2020
 
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Page A-4 Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020 COVID isn’t done with him columns in October 2017, and not once — not once in 156 straight weeks — have I written the words “Donald Trump.” I usually don’t leap on dogpiles. Instead, I’ve written about boy baristas, Darn Tough Socks, gluten-free bacon, a female taxider— mist, Hello Kitty tattoos, trilliums, Howard Hughes, taxes in Sweden, poets, trampolines, Olympic Mountain Ice Cream, skiing in North Korea, blueberry fields, mountain goats, Irene Bowling, paprika, Harry Truman in Mason County, Shelton quilters, inking eyes, plastic straws, McMicken Island, chanterelles, un- employment fraud, local farmers, law-flaunting sheriffs, a Mongolian high school reunion, PUD 1 founder Morrison F. Pixley, spontaneous sex reversal, the Bayshore Preserve, tongues, a gun show, Attila the Hun, “Jaws,” freedom masks, the coro- navirus, H. Parry Jones, migrating chum, and a city planner in North Carolina named Kirk Ericson. I’ve chosen not to let Trump bur— row too far under my skin, and I’ve chosen to provide mostly Trumpless reading for readers. He slinked into a few columns as a bit player. He’s appeared as “the current occupant of the Oval Office,” “this guy” and “President T_ _ _ ,” and once I called him “Captain Cha- os,” but I’ve been restrained, mostly because words and facts apparently have limited value in moving people off their adoration of this preening beauty king who has the stability of a dull chainsaw. But now ballots have been mailed to Mason County’s registered vot- ers and the name Donald Trump waits next to a little square box to be judged. So let’s judge Donald Trump. And let’s judge him on this virus that has yet to “magically disap- pear,” as he predicted nearly eight months ago. ‘ I always thought magic worked faster. He claims that if he wasn’t presi- dent U.S. deaths would be more than million, if we can believe that he believes what he said he believes in the first presidential debate: “If you were here,” he told Joe Biden, “it wouldn’t be 200,000 people, it would be million people.” First, he confirms that 200,000 people have died from COVID-19, which must be news to some fellow Istarted writing these Witwmswmnty lionmal USPS 492-800 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Shelton—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—441 2 Website: www.masoncounty.com Periodicals postage paid in Shelton, Washington. By KIRK ERICSON conspiratorialists. Second, the death toll in the US, with 4% of the world’s popu- lation, would be TWICE as much as what it currently is for 100% of the planet? As Joe Biden would say, “C’mon, man! So, here’s the deal ” If Trump was a pitcher who was yanked in the first inning after surrendering 215,000 runs, he’d blame his loser infielders, insult his fat slob of a coach, call the umpire a major— league deadbeat, point to a guy wearing a chef’s hat in the stands, and then insist the fake media can’t admit that any other pitcher would have given up million runs in the first inning. We’ve seen this shtick repeatedly in the past four years. One thing he wouldn’t do is work harder to become a better pitcher. We know ardent Trump sup- porters don’t hold him accountable for what he says or writes or does or thinks, but let’s press on. Let’s go back a few years to the Ebola outbreak of 2014, when fear of that virus spreading in the US. sent Trump scurrying to his Twitter ma- chine. Looking back at his tweets, we ’ learn that a virus that erupts when he isn’t president is an extremely serious matter. Here are the Trump tweets from October of 2014: “Ebola has been confirmed in N.Y.C., with officials frantically trying to find all of the people and things he had contact with. Obama’s fault.” Shortly afterward, Trump tweet- ed, “I have been saying for weeks for President Obama to stop the flights from West Africa. So simple, but he refused. A TOTAL incompetent!” A few days later, Trump tweeted, “All the governors are already back- ing off the Ebola quarantines. Bad decision that will lead to more may- hem.” One person in the United States died of Ebola in 2014. Let’s pin that death on Obama, but 215,000 dying on Trump’s watch from a virus is a success? What multiplier can you add to the phrase “TOTAL incompe- tent” in 2014 before you get an accu- rate measure of Trump’s competency in 2020? How about this equation: “TOTAL incompetent” multiplied by 215,000. We’ve seen Charlatans like Trump before. In my birth town of Spokane, , see TIME—S, page A-5 The Shelton-Mason County Jour- nal is a member of the Wash- Publisher: Tom Mullen EDITOR’S CHAIR An award-winning team hen it comes to bringing the news to you, our faithful Mason County readers, it’s truthful to say that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. The Shelton—Mason Coun- ty Journal has been fortunate Shelton and for an emotional image of family members re- acting to a baptism. Editorial page columnist Kirk Ericson won awards related to his “These Times” column series. Lastly — because I hate writing about myself —— I was to have had some pretty By JUSTIN fortunate to be chosen by the good parts during its storied JOHNSON WNPA as Sports Writer of 134-year history, and Friday the Year. night the Journal’s staff saw its current efforts rewarded during the Washington Newspaper Publisher’s Associations annual Better Newspa- per awards announcement. In total, the Journal won 21 awards from the WNPA, which boasts more than 100 members throughout the state. News- paper staff from other states’ associa- tions judges the contest each year. The New York Press Association judged this year’s WNPA entrants. Journal reporter Gordon Weeks received several awards. His investiga- tive reporting on the City of Shelton’s toxic C Street dump and an education profile of Shelton School District Superintendent Alex Apostle earned first place in their respective cat- egories. His coverage of the Shelton district’s transformative construc- tion projects prior to the start of the 2019-2020 school year and a personal- it’y profile of Steph Fyfe —— owner of- Steph’s Espresso in Shelton who overcame drug addiction and related problems to forge a new life of service to others also earned awards ‘ Journal photographer Shawna Whelan earned first place awards for a breaking news photo of firefight- ers battling a house fire in downtown nwn', Front office: Dave Pierik, Office Administrator Karen Hranac, Customer Service ington Newspaper Publishers Advertising: 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, lnc. Justin Johnson, Editor Gordon Weeks, Reporter Kirk Ericson. Columnist/ Proofreader Kirk Boxleitner, Reporter Isabella Breda, Reporter Niel Challstrom Composing room: Quoting the judges’ com- ments: “Justin Johnson is a pure sto- ryteller. He gives you the sights and sounds to put you right in the middle of the story. Justin gets your attention right away and keeps you there appre- ciating the subject until the end. Clear winner in this category.” Gee, who knew there were onions in the newsroom? My sports story on Shelton High School’s bowling team during the 3A state championship in February earned first place in sports news and a related photo also earned an award. Our sports page design surrounding the annual Mason County Cup football game between Shelton and North Ma- son high schools also earned an award. The WNPA’s awards program cov- ers every facet of newspaper making. Awards given for advertising, special sections, writing, photography and page design. . . I’m definitely proud to be a part of this award-winning team. I Justin Johnson is the Editor of the Shelton-Mason County Journal. He can be reached by email at justin@ masoncounty.com. Design: Lloyd Mullen, Creative Director All regular editorial, advertising and legal deadlines are 5 pm. the Monday prior to publication. To submit a letter to the editor, email editor@masoncounty.com. William Adams, Advertising Design and Technical Support they v flash 1 their : mothe Sheltr when of Led first h for Ba said, i becau