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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
October 30, 1969     Shelton Mason County Journal
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October 30, 1969
 
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Editorials: Tuesday is D-Day The fate of Shelton School District&apos;s Iong-ranme building program is now in the hands of the district's voters. The $3,100,000 bond issue for a new high school on next Tuesday's ballot is the key portion of that program. It will unlock the door to a new era in Shelton's educational system, providing the means to break the pattern which has crowded nearly all of the district's students into a small downtown area. The plan is a good one and seems to have the support of a majority of the voters. The soundness of the proposal is evident in the lack of organized opposition to it. There will be those who will cast negative votes, but it would appear that most citizens realize the time has come to take this important step in the growth of their schools. Many individuals and groups have worked to assure its approval. The Journal has attempted, during the past several years, to outline the need for each step in the long-range building program so that voters would understand its importance before going to the polls. The time has now arrived for the big decision. Tuesday is D-Day for Shelton's schools. We believe that the district's voters will approve this phase of the building program as they . =,__ By STEVE ERICKSON It had been a long time since I thought much about Tim. Since anybody had, I suspect. Nine years, in my case. But there was his name again, last week, listed number 2 on the weekly circuit court arraignment list. Thf charge was armed robbery. Tim was just a kid - albeit a tough-talking kid - when I knew him. He lived, more or less alone, in a house next door to wife's grandparents. In those days, he seemed to evoke maternal feelings in women, with the possible exception of his mother. He was a nice-looking boy of 14 who hung around a lot, because he Sometimes I'd bump into himas I entered tlt4 y Tavern for a beer. He'd be in his parents' car, outside, waiting for them to come out. Usually, he'd been there for hours. Once he accompanied wife and I to Lake Quinault, where he showed off for us by stealing a bag of carmel corn from a ma-and-pa grocery store. It was about that time that Tim's formal education abruptly ended. He slugged a member of his junior high school faculty in the school auditorium, and was expelled. He never went back. And now, armed robbery. I borrowed Tim's file from the district attorney and browsed through it. Tim and three other men were accused of offering a ride to a young hitchhiker, then robbing him at pistol-point. The robbery grossed $21. I attended arraignments to see Tim. I guess I expected to see a likeable, tough-talking 14-year-old boy. Most of the boy was gone. Tim is 23 now, a pale, sturdy, yet gaunt young man whose eyes dart restlessly around places like jails and courtrooms. Little of the youthful cockiness is left visible through a hard, brittle shell. I tried to catch his eye. It took a while and quite a bit of staring, but eventually his stacatto gaz e flashed across mine. Did he recognize me through the haze of years, I wondered? Maybe. It was difficult to be sure. Nothing seemed to register with him, but maybe he had quit letting things register years before, in the parking lot of the Parkway Tavern, or the Wigwam, or the Cozy or even the Sailor's Rest. What if he HAD recognized me? I tried to imagine how that would be for him. Everyone else always seems so damned NORMAL at such times. I suppose I appeared that way to Tim now. The judge called Tim up and Tim pleaded not guilty in a voice that had dropped an octave since 1960. Then Tim was returned to the county jail to await developments. I talked to his lawyer. "What kind of guy is he?" I asked. "A narco," the lawyer said. LeBalese for a narcotics addict. "What kind?" I asked. "For how long?" He consulted his file on Tim. "Seven years. He's tried everything." Seven years ago Tim was 16 years old, an age when you and 1 worried about easing through plane geometry with passing grades. "What happens now?" I asked. "Oh," the lawyer said, stretching and slapping Tim's file shut, "I think we'll be able to get him into a federal narcotics rehabilitation program." That seemed to take care of that. I left the courtroom then, leaving the lawyer to think of other clients, other kids-gone-wrong, other places he'd rather be on this Indian summer day. Who wants to spend his time brooding about a castaway kid who has to u drugs to bend the world into a nice place to live? A narco. Punk. Junkie. It will be a long time before anyone thinks of Tim again, I suppose. And if they do, it won't be as a nice-looking young kid pathetically trying to impress an indifferent world. It wtll be as an unwanted mirror of their own ignosance snd guilt. And who wants to think about that? l 0 0 O Subsequent to the public meeting held last night at the Evergreen School Auditorium, relative to the drug problem in our community, I would like to submit the following observations. Since society has decreed certain drugs are not conducive to the public welfare, the law enforcement agencies are pledged to apprehend and bring to justice those who violate this law. Here, again, I would like to emphasize - "apprehend and bring to justice." The responsibility of the peace officer ceases when the case is presented to the courts, as the penalty is determined by the judge. Our problem now is to seek out and bring to justice those who would traffic in this menace. Because of the individual rights set forth in the Constitution and interpreted by the courts, our law .Letter box: , Chief needs help Editor, The Journal: uPfleers 111 are hampe, o,. fulfillment of their duffties. .j As this is such a secretive P insidious menace, all of  M0 Dad and youngsters, nat be:. involved. By this, l y+%O and active assistance ,_, officers. If anyone has knOWt of, or is'witnesS t°; misdemeanor, report it P'; willin to assist in its t il g --.£e " disposition. All too I,,_+,, eq • " on't ltletv- the feehng, d .... ,at tO name", or, "I dent 1 • become involved • T ..,a involved; it is reaching into *'" home. As commissioner safety for the City of have taken an oath society and fully intend this responsibility assistance of Department, and, citizens. FRANK RAINS Chief of Police City of Shelton measure to assess property on the basis of current use, which was made possible by a constitutional amendment approved in 1968. Earlier plans to split the measure into two parts have been abandoned. Except for an increase in penalties, it will r6tain the same form in which it passed the House last session, old, in need of extensive and expensive remodeling and is still remote from other school district buildings. It needs to be replaced and relocated. The retarded youngsters and their parents and teachers are entitled to and deserve new modern classroom facilities in a location beneficial to all involved. If the school is to be replaced the violence that follows, he is only to die in the Senate Ways lucky to escape with his life. What and Means Committee. and relocated, and nobody doubts your support. -':s + " cea " "n "-" the need, now is the most ::+;"ql gives the novel strength is the low, .. i_ cnan ,_at o_t .pas_ 8tn -pportune and advantageous time .ii' low key in which the story is told. ume aren( o tei nan 3u-zu. `RlHWuuHulluMmmHmHM Ilil7 Don't argue with wrong-way driver By FRED OSMERS A couple of newspaper stories in recent weeks, concerning motorists traveling the wrong way down the freeway lanes, gave us pause to consider what we, as motorists, could do if we should see another car coming toward us on the freeway in our lanes. We thought of several solutions: We could drive onto the shoulder, get in the farthest lane away from the oncoming car, pull off the freeway and sit there until he goes past, or simply abandon the car and run for cover (not very smart from several different standpoints). What really worried us as we thought about it, was trying to deterdne the psychological makeup of the person coming toward us. Anyone who does manage to get into a wrongway situation on the Freeway obviously is in no condition to be driving at all. He may be emotionally upset, drunk or on drugs or what have you. Consequently, the mere fact that he's there, in the wrong lanes, going the wrong way poses the question of whether or not he can act rationally at all. Therefore, we can't rely on knows for sure what 'way' that is?). The Patrol experience has been that generally are under the influence of drugs or They usually are by themselves, 1 they are doing something wrong or, as the t "realize they are not doing the job right." But they cannot determine what they are Consequently, they want to avoid suspicion or so, they move into their right lane of tra file which actually is YOUR fast-moving left lane as you go southbound at 70 mph in the left northbound in "his" right hand, Cardinal rule number one is DON'T YOURSELF, the WSP warns. Don't trY oncoming car or in any way try to physically as far away from him (laterally) as you can lights, honk your horn, but get out of his waY. Don't try to pursue him. Even the ordinarily pursue a wrong-way driver. him to realize suddenly what he's doing, and quietly pull off far enough ahead of him, turn on their ope to catch him there i " h "  the road and turn around. • -rely :! :o +at :o o ,o ' Wh3ac:sP a:::,;o:caYOUmamk?no ictionUjUd t=nghdotO? a rnYknrS,iwsPtotii:m!!tawefre:y!!i+. , pred" " . " i , leit predictable case. We talked with the Washington State Patrol how long ago you passed him. They 11 hand .l on this and while the trooper tried to be helpful, we . Meeting a car coming toward you in your l". understood his reluctance to pinpoint a definite action other norrendo _us experience but your best chance r qlCpl " lll ,, , ,, look o i" + than getting out of the oncoming cars way (and who ut for yourself In'st: keep cool and S e "'+!/i : |llmlll|lllllulllllR|ll|mlll|||H|m|lmnm|llu|m|ml|l||l|||HHHuR§| " l| ..... man n. After he has died he wil! J ] • It I II age 4. Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, October 30, 1969 By LLOYD A. COOK THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE. By Paul Gallico, Coward-McCann, 1969. The Poseidon, an old luxury liner, is on her way home, South America to Lisbon. Off the Azores she is hit by a massive seismic wave, coming from s quake a mile down, and is capsized. Among her several hundred passengers and crew, only a few survive. The novel is about the efforts of these few to climb the great upside I down ship, get to the hull topside, and hope for rescue. The survivors are a mixed lot - young and old, male and female, those who dare and those afraid. The water level is rising, fires break out everywhere, bodies and debris all around. The effects of panic on people, its role and bringing out the best and worst, is nowhere better depicted than in this novel. I have long admired Galileo for his imaginative yarns such as THE SNOW GOOSE. I applaud him now for his cool realism, his calm perceptive writing. A TIME TOO SOON. By Edward Lindall, Morrow, 1967. Here is an older one, a raw shocker, well worth reading. The setting is New Guinea, the action between four whites and many blacks in the outback. The time is "too soon" for the independence of that small, wild country. One white man is district officer, the other a plantation manager. Wives are friends but m_ce one has slept with the other's husband. There s rising unrest among the natives, followed by hit-run attacks on the forced-up whites. The officer, a proper sahib, is off in pursuit of a marauding band. He is ambushed, his men are killed, his head is crushed. The other whites are taken captive and made to witness a shattering spectacle. • Natives have found in their midst a young black Christ, an eight year old, and they proceed to crucify him in the biblical (they_ believe) join God in heaven and bring them all good things. It helps here if one has read some anthropology Boas, Levy-Bruhl, Malinowski - to realize that all of this could have happened, to sense the logic of the preliterate mind. The tale is not for the squeamish. The book is Suzanne Blanc THE SEA TROLL, Doubleday, 1969. After two typhoons, the old freighter limps into Hung Kong. With repairs made, freight and passengers aboard, she sets out for Singapore. Capt. Haugen has had a rough night in port. He remembers being drunk, picking up a woman, killing her because she reminded him of Elise, his wife. What bugs him most is his feeling that Elise has been unfaithful, that the man if Rolf his chief officer. Still unsteady on his feet, he showers, dresses, and goes to look for Cory Reynolds. He has decided to comfort her on the trip. The theme is the mental collapse of the captain, including an attempt to murder Cory for she toc resembled his wife. David St. John, THE MONGOL MASK, Weybright & TaUey, 1969. Word has come to the CIA that the Chinese have a missile base at Ling-Nor, deep in the Gobi Desert. Pete Ward's job is to find out for certain. He is to fly to Hong Kong, then make his way as best he can. Chances of getting in are poor; of getting out, zero. Appeal of the book is not the effort to plant Red agents as Pete's contacts, or to seduce him by use of pretty Commie girls or, as he drew near Ling-Nor, to murder him, for all are pat ploys in spy tales. Appeal lies in what Red China is like - its riots, purges, hunger, chaos, and greed. The author was for 20 yearsa CIA man. In P. M. Hubbard's COLD WATER, Antheneum 1969, Gifford, the non-hero, is hired by a stranger to live on a remote island on a British lake owned by the latter, to run a boat to and from the mainland. The place is spooky, even menacing,, from the first. There is a big stone house and, behind that, a tremendous power plant, but for what? Gifford, a timid man except with Fifi the maid and Mrs. Callender, sets out to uncover what it all is about. In Let's talk books: Donger on'd suspense, o potpourri anybody except Gov. Dan Evans thinks it is necessary. The key issue, however, will be the same as any other session - money. To avert a $5 3 million projected general fund deficit without raising taxes, a lot of juggling will be required. Anticipated savings to be effective by the governor's directive for a cutback in spending will have to be reappropriated to areas which now face a shortage of funds. lening up the bill which was passed by the 1969 session, and opening up the budget is like cutting the draw string, on a grab bag. School teachers, who already are seeking another pay raise on top of the 4 per cent voted for next year, will the latter may have to settle for self-help legislation. And The Deep, Blue Sea The legislators will be trapped between the deep, blue sea of a general fund deficit much larger than that already projected, or enacting another tax increase, which in an election year could represent an excellent facsimile of the devil to most law-makers. It isn't any wonder most legislators wish the governor would let them stay home next year. ,: They can ',oid opening up the general budget bill, of course, by putting what is needed in the supplemental budget. This is a measure which died in limbo with adjournment of the 1969 session. It includes many small appropriations to +settle claims This could be one of the rare occasions when the legislators could be more fearful of raising taxes than of the pressures which are exerted for more spending. The governor favors holding the line on speeding,and has indicated he will cooperate. The real pressures haven't started to really build up, however, and when they do, it won't be easy. If the law-makers are able to hold the session to 21 to 30 days as most of them hope, they might be able to kAep control of tile"purse strings. ';q q But if the session runs too long, it is likely to break wide open. If it does, it will be a case of hang on to your hats; here we go again. But if the law-makers go on a following the regular, the Legislature passed a budget bill without providing the necessary i00le / d revenue; then sent a committee to "Yes" vote u notify the governor it was ready to adjourn. The message which the Editor, The Journal: to proceed with committee brought back was Rogers School was established do so. Here is whY. short buttothepoint: over fourteen years ago as a 4th, there will be "The governor sends his temporary public school facility the voters in respects and says he w!see yOU , to house the mentally retarded 309, a bond • Monday. ' , .... ' ,,, ....... • .," L  children m Mason County. The . the coffstruq li The law-makers got the classrooms were set up in old four-year high message. Back for a second special Navy barracks which were Included in that session, they finished the job in remodeled to accommodate the sum which will just 11 days. youngsters. The school is located for construction At this point, the legislators adjacent to the Shelton airport house the have only three tax measures in and is still leased from the Port classes now he Commission. School. mind, and only one of these would help the state general fund. After all these years, Rogers Should the issue be e This is a tax on steam-powered School is still at that same it is ex acted that state electrical generating plants, location and still in outmoded be avaiPble to offsetL Another measure on the and makeshift facilities. Rogers of the cost. If tide ' agenda would reduce revenue School has provided a place for successfully suPp°rtffes somewhat rather than increase it, instruction of the retarded, and it may be several " I though most of its impact would has served that purpose quite well another opportt'it'o r variable to replace " -, be at the county level. This is the over the years, but the building is :n th n only at s €0 d e - -tit  sacrifice in cost bu ..td standpoint of cost es.. • - of state "+ posmble loss ,, ,,-^f et It behooves an.tel parents, teachers, cit, 0 la all that is po.ble.t, the bond issue ts'lter " Mason County t;_dtti Washington A ss< Retarded children + difference, colleges are ready to dip in, and bill. whip hand. If the law-makers recommended a bond issue be appropriate in excess of revenue, placed on the ballot Tuesday, The difference is that hardly so are cities and towns, though Gun-shy On Taxes then adjourn, the governor can November 4th. The reason for the call them back again. Citizen's recommendation is that This has been done before, all factors, including both the Former Guy. Arthur B. Langlie did it in 1951. In a special session percent of State building aid for did the first two steps, additional classrooms at Bordeaux and Mt. View elementary schools. The time is There is one mishap however, that could send the now Shelton School District alld ., program down the drain. That is an insufficient turnout to "She wantp e to know if the Red Chinese will Editor, The Journal: financial participation, .ire iI+: :-t .aJ meet the legal requirement of forty percent of those casting using flaming arrows." The Shelton School Board is ballots in the last general election, asking the support of all members all-time high. Since thiS c,o"-ts-'eti[ ,. It would be a tragedy if the new high school were lost by of the community in passing the and building costs are ,, Etf default, bond issue for a new high school rising, we believe there, W+l  101Lql0" and .classrooms for the be a more econoiC..]l 111 Capitol dome: handicapped children of Shelton the taxpayers to Outto  on November 4th. The need for school. -'llle t° .lllP; lhe Fiapdoodler" Legislators to battle over (surprisel) money This istherighttet0.l '" secondary facilities for our fryk. ,''= ever-expanding high school all of our students tl From ..... caramel €0r population and to replace out-elementary, juni°rlthth p s moded buildings is imperative at school buildings. Wi of 0urYle By ROBERT C. CUMMINGS be after more money, against the state and must be spending spree, the governor will this time. of this bond issue all The 1970 special session of If the school teachers get it, passed. Opening up this bill to insist that they provide the Your school board has studied people will be well housed facTO  armed roLLer--oo y the Legislature will be different state employees-will be after general appropriations, however, additional taxes to raise the building problems over the past number of years. -ollS J '[II.1 to from others in one respect, but more, too. Some segments of could be just as catastrophic as money, several years and the Citizen's BOARD OF DIRECI ,, KtE4 . ,ua there seems to be only one major higher education and community opening up the general budget On this the governor holds the Advisory Council recently Shelton School DiSt-ri,,' T 1 HERBERT L. HERGtm ' |illl'_.  Chairman .... a tel RICHARD C. BRw .... ERNEST HAML --, + ( DOUGLAS m. LAg- Or aS THOMAS R. WESTOr ' RI r'++