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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
November 19, 2020     Shelton Mason County Journal
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November 19, 2020
 
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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