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Page A-4 - She~ton-Mason County Journal.- Thursday, Nov. 15, 2018
[
J
This week seems to be the week ons of mass destruction sales pitch, and
to talk about veterans, so I'll he didn't understand why we couldn't
tell you about one. just wait for Saddam Hussein to die.
Don Ericson was a veteran of World Saddam wasn't going anywhere.
War II, but he didn't have to kill any- "He's not going to live forever." he
one and no one got the chance to kill said.
him. He got lucky. My father died eight He was especially discouraged dur-
years ago, but until that happened, he mg the phase of the Iraq War when
was a very lucky fellow indeed. U.S. service members were being
I don't remember my father ever ordered to break into Iraqis' homes in
referring to himself as a vet- the dark of the Middle East
eran, probably because he ~ night to look for those ever-
hadn't suffered like many ~ elusive evildoers.
World War II combat vets did. "Can you imagine how
Maybe he felt he hadn' fully we'd react if we had foreign
earned the title of "veteran." soldiers' breaking into our
Because those two A-bombs homes?"-he asked me once. He
fell from the sky in August knew the answer.
1945, my future dad and the World War II was benefi-
other boys who were training cial for my father. He went
for the Naval Air Corps - and By KIRK to college on the GI Bill and
all the other Joes in the U.S. ERICSON made lifelong friends from
military - didn't have to tray- his time in the Naval Officer
el halfway across the world to Training Corps.
kill and get themselves killed on the When my father learned World
Japanese mainland. War II was over, he told me his im-
My brothers and sis- mediate reaction was
ter and I, and many of severe disappointment.
you readers, might owe ~:.~,~ ~ He wanted to get into
our existence to what the action overseas.
happened on those two " ~ Save democracy and all
bright summer days in that.
Nagasaki and Hiroshi- "I can't believe I ever
ma when hundreds of thought tha way," he
thousandsofJapanese ~@~ ~H~!~J toldme.
were made to disappear. Aftdr the war, he
Because of those bombs,"~ '- ~ ~ ~ was in the Nav.al Re-
generations of us Amer- serves for 20 years,
icans got the chance to ~ working in intelligence,
be and generations of a job that occasionally
~ ~ '~. ~//.;4~.~ ,%~
Japanese didn't get the
j~ ; ,%: ~:~; ~% required tracking sus-
chance to be. pected homosexuals.
Because I was born, I got the He said the military's justification for
chance to know my father, and he was tracking homosexuals was that they
(and continues to be) one wise owl. We were susceptible to blackmail. My dad
talked often about our nation's wars, did no~ like spying on people.
from Vietnam through the Iraq War, Thank God we've evolved on homo-
and we mostly agreed on the futility of sexuals in the military.
it all, but his views were always wiser My father was a big fan of Je-
and more informed than my own. sus and a quote attributed to him:
A couple of weeks before we started Blessed are the peacemakers. My fa-
dropping bombs on Iraqis in January ther was a peacemaker in our family,
1991, I asked my father whether he in his business, among his friends, in
thought this war was a good idea. his church. He wasn't a preachy sort.
"It's the right thing to do now," he The closest he came to preachingwas
said. "But in 10 years, it will have when he talked about the power of
been the wrong todo." forgiveness and redemption. He ad-
What happened 10 years later? mired the traits and actions of peace-
Osama bin Laden, who was infuriated makers, including Martin Luther
that U.S. troops were still stationed in King Jr Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson
his birth nation of Saudi Arabia, or- Mandela and Jimmy Carter.
chestrated the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks He volunteered almost as many
in the U.S. hours as he worked - mostly for the
My father predicted the blowback Spokane YMCA.
to the Persian Gulf War to the precise A war veteran. A peace veteran.
year.
He was not similarly conflicted about Contact Kirk Ericson at kirk@
the Iraq War. He didn't buy the weap- masoncounty.com.
"idterm voter turnout was
way up in Mason County.
Last Tuesday's general
election showed a marked improve-
ment compared to four years ago,
when 60 percent of registered county
voters took part in the 2014 general
election.
The Mason County Auditor's most
recent numbers show 70 percent
of voters returned their ballots for
this year's general election, which
included a variety of hotly contested
congressional, legislative and local
races.
Although that percentage falls
short of the 2016 general election --
a presidential election year - we're
pleased to see that local residents
made their vote a priority this year.
In the 2016 election, which saw
Americans election Donald Trump
their 45th president of the United
States, 77.7 percent of county voters
returned a ballot.
But it wasn't all about numbers
at the poll. At the Shelton-Mason
a new
County Journal, we use another
number -- the number of letters to
the editor - to quantify an election
season.
A letters-to-the-editor page that's
filled to the brim with ideas, com-
mentaries and celebration is at the
heart of any healthy newspaper.
During the past month, we've re-
ceived more than 100 letters to the
editor.
That's how we can tell vo~ers were
engaged thispast election season.
We hope the Mason County Audi-
tor's recent numbers show a grow-
ing trend. Local and state elections
officials have been experimenting
with waysto increase voter turn-
out. During this year's primary and
general elections, the state prepaid
the postage on Washington state
ballots.
We're sure saving voters a stamp
did increase voter turnout, but we
like to think that our product played
a role in encouraging you, the read-
er, to return your ballot.
YOU BETTER
GIVE US WHAT
WE WANT, YOU
MONSTER.
.%
Shelton-~oson County
JOURNAL
~J SHELTON-MASON COUN~ a
01 I"
The She~ton-Mason Co'unty Jour- Publisher: Tom Mullen
nal is a member of the Wash-
USPS 492-800 - ingt0n Newspaper Publishers Newsroom:
Association. Adam Rudnick, editor in chief
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Shelton-Mason Gordon Weeks, reporter
County Journal, RO. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Michael Heinbach. reporter
$52 per year ($43 for six months) Dana Kampa, reporter
Published.weekly by the Shelton-Mason County Journal for Mason County addresses and
at 227 W Cota St Shelton, Washington. $75 peryear ($55 for six months)
Mailing address: RO. Box 430 Shelton. WA 98584 outside of Mason County. Advertising."
Telephone: (360) 426-4412 John Lester, general manager
Website: www.masoncounty.com Owned and published by Theresa Murray, ad representative
Periodicals postage paid in Shelton, Washington. Shelton-Mason County Journal, Inc.
Front office: Delivery:
Donna Kinnaird, bookkeeper Jon Garza
Dave Pierik. circulation and Penny Wilson
classifieds manager
Karen Hranac. customer serwee
representative
Composing room:
All editorial, advertising and legal
deadlines are 5 p.m. the Monday
prior to publication
William Adams, technology and To submit a letter to the editor,
desigrl manager email adam@masoncounty.com:
Linda Frizzell, graphics
+