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LETTERS TO THE '
Amendment
thoughts
Editor, the Journal,
A few weeks ago, Toby Kevin criti-
cized the armed citizens at the Shel-
ton Black Lives Matter demonstration
in September. He said these yahoos
weren’t part of any militia. Mr. Kevin
used insulting, hateful language v
regarding patriotism. He’s also con-
fused about the Second Amendment.
The Supreme Court says our Second
Amendment right is fundamental; we
have a strong presumption of indi-
vidual liberty. Recent Second Amend-
ment decisions shows the following:
. I The 2008 Heller decision de—
clared for individual rights and self-
defense.
I The 2010 McDonald decision
said it applies to both states and fed-
eral jurisdictions and limited the type
of weapons available for common use
to pistols, rifles' and shotguns.
When the Constitution was enact-
ed, the frontier was an unsafe place
with both animal and human invad-
ers. Nearly every rural and town citi-
zen had weapons for protection from
these dangers. Nearly all belonged to
a voluntary force of militia for group
protection.
Fast forward 200 years. Keep-
ing and bearing arms is still critical
in the defense of self and family.
The Minneapolis, Portland, Seattle
and Olympia violence and looting
concerned some Shelton citizens. In
other cities, police were overwhelmed.
Here it was peaceful and we thank
the cops. But was it peaceful because
BLM policed their own ranks or did
Shelton’s Second Amendment civilian
militias help keep the peace? Only
antifa knows for sure.
Last weekend, Nov. 14 and 15,
Trump supporters were marching in
Washington, D.C., and were attacked
by anti-Trump people and antifa.
They injured Trump supporters, dam-
aged private property, attacked police
and harassed Trump people leaving
restaurants. You might not have seen
this because you watch MS/NBC or
CNN. Watch other networks and
see American flags, MAGA hats and
Trump signs being burned and police
being attacked by Trump haters. The
left Wing’s push to defund police and
handcufi' other police actions is pri-
marily responsible for this violence.
Kevin, Katherine Price, Bill
Pflender and Tom Davis haven’t criti-
cized any violence from the left but
were very judgmental about wearing
holstered pistols or carrying shoul-
dered weapons at the Shelton rally.
This evidently is worse than defacing
businesses in Olympia, looting stores
, in Philadelphia, burning buildings
in Minneapolis or shooting people in
Portland. '
Will they criticize this latest activ-
ity in Washington, D.C.? Will they
criticize any of the violence following
BLM marches? Will they even ac-
knowledge any of this happened? Is
there an apology coming? I doubt it.
Ardean Anvik
Shelton
Help a Texan
Editor, the Journal,
All of us have seen those personal-
ized auto license plates. The ones I
have seen are usually pretty witty
and clever and sometimes I have had
to really decipher the intended mean-
ing. One time I asked a driver what
his plate meant and it was his ham
radio call sign. That is one that I
Thursday, Nov. 19, 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@masonc_ounty.com, drop it off
at
227 W. Cota St, or mail it to R0. Box 430, Shelton, WA' 98584.
would never have figured out.
I recently heard about a Texan who
had his personalized plate approved
and then the state of Texas told him
to give it back. The plate read JAIL
45. When I saw the plate label I in-
stantly knew what it meant. The 45
refers to the 45th president of the
United States and the word “jail” is
still jail. So the implied meaning of
the plate is jailDonald Trump. It was
cute, clever and witty and of course
typical American sarcasm and humor.
Well some other Texan was offended
by the plate and complained to the
state of Texas department of licensing
and the owner of the plate had to turn
it in.
Well, I felt sorry for the Texan that
had to give up his plate. I really liked
the label. So I have come up with an
idea on how to be supportive of that
poor abused Texan. But I need your
help to show support for the poor
Texan. ‘
My request is this. I want one of
you reading this letter to borrow a
MAGA (Make America Great Again)
hat from one of your friends or family
members. Then I want you to write
with a heavy Sharpie on a piece of pa-
per the label JAIL 45. Then please set
the paper to the right of the hat and
then take a cellphone photo of both
the hat and the paper. The photo will
show the hat and the paper together.
The photo should read, “MAKE
AMERICA GREAT AGAIN JAIL 45.”
With the photo on your phone would
you be so kind as to send the photo
to your family and friends in Texas
showing true Washingtonian support
of the poor Texan that lost his license
plate? Thank you. A question I ask
you: Do you think that the Trumpeter
will actually be going to jail?
Earl W. Burt
Bremerton
Trump could
have won election
Editor, the Journal,
President Donald Trump could
have won the election. Career gov-
ernment people from the Bush and
Obama teams warned Trump in Jan-
uary about the coming pandemic, and
all the transmission details.
Sadly, his ego and his lack of
knowledge of science made him
choose to only focus on his re-‘election.
And, now that the Virus has resurged,
almost one-quarter of a million people
have died, 11 million have contracted
the coronavirus and many hospitals
nationwide are at capacity.
If Trump had just put the people
and the country as his first priority
and attacked the Virus head-on with
masks, wartime PPE production and
isolation, the country would have kept
the virus under control and he would
have been a hero and re-elected in a
landslide.
In the past day or two, the Depart—
ment of Homeland Security’s Cyber-
security and Infrastructure Security
Agency declared that this election
was the most fraud- and error-free in
US. history.
Ultimately, there is no one else to
blame but the “Donald” himself. In
just 10 days, Joe Biden has shown
more true leadership skills than Don-
ald did in four years.
William Busacca
Shelton
Standing for
district employees
Editor, the Journal,
I was sent a video today of the
flooding that still exists in and around
the newest construction of drives into
and around Shelton High School. I .
guess I need to ask who is responsible
for this? The architects? The contrac-
tors? The administration? All three?
Who and how much was spent on
the newest upgrades just this past
month to the drainage coming into
the high school between the student
parking lot and stadium? We might
as well add the areas that are flooding
at Oakland Bay Junior High School
as well. Why are drains and gutters
still overflowing all these many years
since I graduated at the high school?
Architects are notorious for seeing the
big picture items, but often miss the
little details and small ticket items
that add up to some needless, miser-
able conditions. Who is responsible to
alleviate and pay for these inadequa-
cies?
Some will call me a disgruntled
former employee. I guess you can call
me that depending on what you think
you know. Am I bitter? Yep. At this
point my story is not what is impor-
tant, it is just a small piece. of the pie.
I am standing for the Shelton School
District employees who are fearful
for their jobs. I am not worried about
any form of retribution. I am free of
the oppression. They are not. I receive
private messages, personal emails,
telephone conversations and indi-
viduals who look over their shoulders
while spilling their guts in a public
space, grocery stores, restaurants, cof-
fee shops. They are afraid. They live
in a hostile work environment. Why
is there no whistleblower policy in the
school district? Why is the underlying
current one that does not encourage
employees to speak their mind to
school board members? Why would
those members not want to commu-
nicate directly with the people on the
ground? How many issues are being
swept under the rug? The superinten-
dent works for the school board, but
more importantly the school board
works for us. One person does not
dictate the truth. At what cost does a
bond being passed or a property being
bequeathed allow so many issues with
possible nonfeasance and integrity is-
sues to be overlooked? I am disgusted
thinking that I caxmot look in the eyes
or trust the words’ from leadership.
We do not have to look much further
than the transparency issues we have
with the Shelton School District’s
open meeting debacle. There are state
laws for that issue too. Try to find
any public source for full transpar-
ency for the last community forum
or an actual transcript for any school
board meeting. Nope, nada, nothing.
They wiped out the YouTube format.
We cannot see any of the visual aids
or follow any of the speakers unless
they are acknowledged during the
Zoom meetings that the public cannot
log into, though we can phone in on
a separate line and listen. I am dis-
gusted and I stand with those who are
voiceless.
' Kim Goldsby
Shelton
Nero fiddled, and
the Donald golfed
Editor, the Journal,
Legend tells us that Emperor Nero
fiddled while Rome was destroyed
by fire during his reign. Last week,
the lame-duck president, Donald
Trump, played golf and complained
about (nonexistent) voter fraud as
people died by the thousands in the
country over which he purportedly
presides. He and his administration
have essentially ignored the worst
public health disaster in our history,
which has already claimed the lives
of 250,000 Americans with 1,000-plus
people dying every day. As horrific as
these numbers are, the trend is for
them to escalate at ever-increasing
rates. N o matter what FOX News,
Rush Limbaugh or QAnon central
falsely claim, these are official US.
government statistics available to
the public in numerous places. The
criminally negligent Trump adminis- ‘
tration has consistently downplayed
the threat while taking virtually no
action to deal with it, claiming that
public health is the responsibility of
each state. In the 61 days remaining
until the adults take over the White
House, at least another 85,000 Ameri-
cans will die as the president golfs
and sulks about his landslide election
defeat that he claims is a fraud. Spoil-
er alert: Biden won with the same
electoral vote count as the Donald
had in 2016. Do I think Trump caused
all these deaths? Of course not. But,
if anybody genuinely believes there
was nothing he and his minions could
have done to reduce the death toll, I
have a bridge in Brooklyn the I will
sell cheap.
Toby Kevin
Shelton
Get out of
the way, Trump
Editor, the Journal,
This agenda of a Donald Trump-
aligned cadre, (let’s not lay blame
on total Republican participation) is
further evidence of their disrespect
for the norms and rules that have
kept our precious society united in
purpose. Their’s is little but a stupid,
immature attempt to deflect and stall
what this election has truly exposed,
a loss of confidence in the present ad-
ministration. ,
Now, get out of the way and let’s
get back to trying to rebuild a differ-
ent approach to governance. After all,
our constituted methods have built-in
checks and balances no matter who’s
in charge, or did they sleep through,
(or choose to ignore), that class on
American government?
G. OwenRay
Allyn
I see LETTERS, page A-6