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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
November 12, 2020     Shelton Mason County Journal
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November 12, 2020
 
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re 11 il 1e LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Love you, Robert Editor, the Journal, In an article in the Nov. 5'editi0n of the Shelton-Mason I was thrilled to see Bill Barker had written an article about a charming friend of mine, Robert “Bob” Gilroy. As as I saw those sparkling eyes and contagious smile, I recog- nized this dear man. I had no idea he had been a sailor, I have only known him as a very funny guy. He was al- most always present at local music venues around town, causing smiles and delightful belly laughs from the crowds that gathered. Oh, how we could use his funny stories and (mostly) P.G.-rated wit— ticisms right now. I’m sure he could entertain us, get us to chuckle and V laugh and probably downright crack up — a much-needed dose of the best medicine we could all use right now. I think I can speak for many us in saying we miss you Robert and look forward to the day when things are safe again, the music gatherings are back and you, dear friend, can do something you do so well — make us laugh until our bellies hurt. Love you, Robert. Hope to see you again soon! Deb Hart Shelton Reykdal’and R-90 Editor, the Journal, The unofficial results of the recent election provided enough information to make an analysis of Mason County choices. The county went mostly Re- publican, but in a few races the voters chose Democrats. This shows the lime: pendent streak in Mason County. The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) race shows Democrat Chris Reykdal received just under 51% of Mason County votes and Republican Maia Espinoza got just over 43% of votes with 6% not voting for either candidate. In contrast, Ref- erendum 90 was approved by 46% of Mason County voters and rejected by 53% with 1% not voting. R—90 was designed by Reykdal. It’s ‘ a bad education law because of the way it was forced upon us. The law requires sex education for children starting in preschool. It was controversial for some parents. Some felt it was a parental duty, not an educator’s job, to teach sex to their kids. ’ R-90 required parents to opt out for their kids to avoid this class. The criteria should have been for parents to opt in, but Democrats believe they have a right and a duty to run our lives and raise our children. What the law should do is require schools to sell the importance of this class to parents Thursday, Nov. 12, 2020 Shelton-Mason County Journal Page A-5 Journal Letter Policy The Journal encourages original letters to the editor of local interest. Diverse and varied opinions are welcomed. We will not publish letters that are deemed libelous or scurrilous in nature. All letters must be signed and include the writer’s name, address and daytime phone number, which will be used for verification purposes only. All letters are subject to editing for length, grammar and clarity. To submit a letter, email editor@masoncounty.com, drop it off at 227 W. Cota St, or mail it to P0. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584. and require the parents to sign their kids up for this class rather than the reverse. Decades ago it was required for students to recite the Pledge of Al— legiance at the start of the school day. Some religions believe you should only pledge allegiance to God, not topoli- tics. The kids whose parents objected had to stand in the hallway while the pledge was being recited. Later those kids were teased by bullies and others for being “different.” This could happen again. The simple solution is to have parents choose the class (opt in) rather than have parents take their kids out of the class (opt out). With the approval of R—90, this is no longer an option. Unfortunately, Reykdal is more interested in forcing a sex-ed class on students and parents than in selling the program. He thinks he knows bet- ter. While Mason County rejected R—90, they re-elected Reykdal. Now R90 is law and Reykdal is still SPI. Pity! Ardean Anvik Shelton Canines might have nose for COVID Editor, the Journal, Back in‘the first part of May, essen— tially six months ago, I wrote a bevy of letters to various leaders/folks/organi- zations about using dogs to detect the coronavirus. Well, my efforts were like whistling in the wind. However, there is encouragement. The Kitsap Sun on Nov. 2 had a front-page story about using dogs, i.e., their noses, to detect COVID-19. So I have an idea. While I was briefly a politician for a few months before the primary election in August, I would stand by my truck with my campaign signs and wave at thousands and thousands of vehicles. I noticed that you folks really, really like your dogs. So to you dog-loving folks, why don’t you train up your dogs and you to detect the Virus? Once you and your dogs are trained, think of the differ- ent venues you and your four-legged companion could be hired to monitor. A cash flow stream coming your way instead of going in the other direction. That would be a novel concept.In vari- ous articles that I have read, the noses on the'mutts have a very high success rate of detecting the virus in the vicin- ity of about a 94% success rate. This high detection rate is awesome and it is nonevasive and it is fast. So what do you folks need to do? Well, organize, get dead virus samples that are in some type of container that your dog won’t eat, train up you and the mutt, test you and the mutt and then put up your shingle for business. You see, you folks are in the driver seat. There are no rules or regulations or oversight about COVID-sniffing dogs. Everything you would do and claim would be based on your integrity. I will be watching for your motivation and success in this endeavor. Remember, in this pandemic stay smart, better yet stay alive. Earl W. Burt Bremerton C02 fees a nd 0 O O . drIVIng miles Editor, the Journal, For his Oct. 22 letter to the editor, I wanted to thank Phil Wolf for bringing up the factor of “miles traveled” for ru- ral vs. urban drivers and its financial impact on Mason County residents for a proposed CO2 fee and dividend bill. As facts are indeed very important, fol— lowing several weeks of more research, I provide some new information for our continuing community discus- sion. Although wealthy folks making $204,975 per year in 2014 do consume 2.1 times more fuel than lower- income residents making $31,237, Phil is right that rural county residents do own more vehicles than city dwellers (2.7 vs. 1.7 in 2014 according to a January 2015 Washington road use assessment study),and Mason County residents do drive 22.8% more miles than King County residents (4,922 vs. 4,007 miles per capita for light-duty vehicles in 2019, according to the state Depart- ment of Transportation. So, if you have a good job and commute a long dis- tance, you might indeed end up paying slightly more in C02 fees versus what you would receive in a yearly dividend check. I know all my less-fortunate- neighbors would receive more back than they would pay. Almost everyone would receive more money in their pocket for this C02 fee and dividend plan versus a C02 tax where the rev- enue would go into the state’s coffers to fund various environmental projects. However, instead of looking so closely at how many cents per gallon each of us would make or lose under various C02 reduction scenarios, why can’t we focus on the most equitable approaches for reducing C02? I realize most of us older newspaper readers will not live to see the very dire impacts of global warming, but can’t we make some sac— rifices for our kids’ future? I continue to call on our state representatives to reveal their climate change plans so we can all be good renters and not trash our planet. Dave Daggett Shelton The Tree Editor, the Journal, I remember when I discovered the name of the tree that grew in back of the porch of the “cold water flat” we rented when I was a child. We called the area of Chicago that we lived in “Southside Irish Poor.” The tree is called The Tree of Heaven, “Ailanthus Altissimo,” but also called, “The Tree of the Poor.” I didn’t know then nor do I know now why this ugly tree has that name. It seemed to be the only tree that grew in the area where I lived, and very in— vasive, and I have learned it is consid- ered a noxious weed. All the kids knew this tree, and some were allergic to the leaves that grew on the long stems. We would break off these stems and pull the leaves off (you could then smell the bad odor) and they would become limp swords that we would use to chase each other, trying to hit one another’s legs with. Don’t ask me why. A movie came out called “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.” The movie made it very clear that this was a tree of the poor. , After that, I tried to ignore it, be- cause I realized that we were poor, and even though my father worked very hard, we had a difficult time making ends meet, which was a nicer way of saying it. And then when Dad died, things got worse, but that is another story. L The tree didn’t seem to be found in any other yards in the neighborhood, but we lived in a rented flat, and had no choice. It is strange that something so simple, like a tree, can define your sta- tus in an area. But everyone was nice to me and didn’t treat me any differ— ently, and made me feel accepted, and I learned to make the best of it. Patricia Vandehey Shelton ‘de LETTERS, page A—e Timcsi Iustchange Trump flag from 2020 to 2024 7 continued from page A-4 I felt that, too. On election night, I stopped watching returns around 8:30 when the Florida Panhandle sealed the state for Trump. I didn’t want to watch this 4-year— old movie again, so I went to bed, bearing that weight James mentioned, and I arose around 7 the next morning. I schlumped barefoot into our darkened living room, where I stepped into a tawny-colored pile of cat vomit. Stepping in cat vomit felt like the icing on Trump’s victory, and I marveled at my naivete, all over again. I had been bewitched and be- dazzled, once again, by poll- ing and I had forgotten, once again, that Trump is a necro- mancer. He’s Nosferatu. I avoided election returns all of Wednesday, relying only on Mrs. Ericson to dribble out news she thought I could handle. By Thursday after- noon, she said, “Pennsylvania and Georgia are looking fa- vorable.” And I was back in the game. James, who said he origi- nally supported Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth War- ren for president and vice president, is out of step with most voters in his voting pre- cinct, where Trump received some of the highest percent— age of votes in Mason County 414 for Biden and 617 for Trump. Biden’s best precinct, incidentally, appears to have been Skokomish, home of the Skokomish Indian Tribe, where the president-elect re- ceived 222 votes to Trump’s 46 votes. As for Trump, “He’s just too abrasive,” James said. “I’ve never been able to un- derstand how these conserva- tive Christians could support him through all of this. It just doesn’t make sense.” For those grieving Trump’s loss, I know it hurts. Per— haps it feels as though you’ve just stepped into a mound of cat vomit. But take comfort in this: You can keep your Trump flags and signs be- cause you’ll be able to display them again in 2024. Just use a Sharpie to cross out the 0 and replace it with a 4. I wrapped up my conversa- tion with the 88-year-old lib- eral living in the woods near Matlock by asking what he was planning for the rest of Saturday. “My daughter and son-in- law are coming over,” he said. “They’re both great help. I’m making a big kettle of pea soup'and we’ll just spend time discussing the happen- ings of the day.” ‘ ' I Contact Kirk Ericson at kirk@masoncounty.com.