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| November 29, 2007 Shelton Mason County Journal |  |
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q
00ournai of Opinion: -- ....... e
A real class act
I$
For the politicians, it was a perfect piece of legislation. With (.B tO',f n
another unfunded mandate they could pretend to be solving a
problem, recruit some children for their war machine, attack the
hated educational establishment and when everything went into
the toilet the public would blame the educators, not them. From
the same administration that brought you Mess O' Potamia comes
the No Child Left Behind Act.
You see, the way to improve education is to give
educators hacks the way teachers used to belt kids back
when children were still getting a decent education and
leaving school at age 15 to work on the farm or in the
woods or get married.
How else to explain teachers and administrators working fbr
years to improve instruction as uncaring parents send unmotivated
children to school only to receive federal sanctions when student
performance doesn't improve every year. Educators were set up
for failure by this bureaucrats' dream and paperwork nightmare
in which "conservatives" instruct the federal government to tell
people at the lowest local level what they must do. And the ironic
sanctions compound the problem of low performance by taking
funds from instruction.
The Shelton School District is caught up in the NCLB
maze as are hundreds of others around the country. Just
this month The Journal printed a story illustrating how
NCLB chickens can come home to roost. Because the
district didn't make "adequate yearly progress" this year,
it faces sanctions if it is judged wanting in 2008.
The district's director of special services told the school board
that if "progress" isn't made next year the district could be
forced to use 10 percent of its Title IA budget, $75,000, for staff
development under NCLB sanctions as well as write a "district
improvement plan." That means the $75,000 can't be used for
existing programs, which translates to cuts, which could mean a
staffing cut even though that's the last thing she wants to do.
Would it surprise you that special-education children
at all levels in Shelton didn't pass the math portion of
the Washingtbn Assessment for Student Learning? Or
that Evergreen Elementary children with limited English
didn't pass it? Or that four groups - Evergreen's low-
income, limited-English, Hispanic and general student
body with 49 percent Hispanic students - didn't pass the
WASL reading test?
The district was judged in 70 classifications or "cells" and made
adequate NCLB progress in 56 of them, which isn't good enough
to escape the feds' list of failures.
Shelton Superintendent Joan Zookis all for improvement,
but she wishes the heavy-handed sanctions of NCLB would
be left behind. State-level requirements for improvement
have helped education in Washington, she says. "Our kids
are getting a better education than ever," she insists.
You'd never know it by the Shelton School District's "failure"
label under No Child Left Behind.
Food for thought
We'll be brief and frank. The Christmas Fund needs a little of
your money.
For 61 years The Journal and the 40 et 8 veterans have
teamed with donors to provide Christmas food baskets
for Mason County's needy. Hundreds of families with
thousands of members receive them. The Journal collects
the money; the vets do all the work of buying food, filling
baskets and distributing them.
Caring people in the community have the most important role:
providing the money that makes it all possible. This year the goal
is $25,000, the same as 2006.
Our plea is that you help the vets reach their goal in
a timely manner. Please don't make them sweat out the
fund-raising. We've noticed a few things about the effort
over the years (our family has been involved in 42 of the
annual campaigns). Many faithful givers have contributed
for decades as a tradition, into their 70s and 80s. We're
concerned that a new generation of givers is not replacing
those who have left this Earth, because it often takes until
the last minute to raise the money, and in 2006 the goal
wasn't met. Last year the fund was only halfway to its goal
with 10 days till Christmas, and it was still $6,000 short
four days before the holiday.
When the fund is in good shape early, the 40 et 8's director of
the project, Gene Strozyk, can do little things like add oranges to
the baskets as special treats.
Imagine that. Your child will get a special treat this
Christmas when he opens his Xbox, iPhone, computer, car
keys or fiat-screen TV, and someone else's child will get an
orange if you kick in a few bucks.
-CG
lllllllllllllllll1lllll1lilil
ournal
eounty? usps 492-8oo
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Shelton-Mason
County Journal, P.O. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584.
Published weekly by Shelton Publishing Inc. at 227 Wast Cota Street, Shelton, Washington
Mailing address: RO. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584
Telephone (360) 426-4412 * www.masoncounty.com
Periodicals postage paid at Shelton, Washington
Member of Washington Newspaper Publishers' Association
SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $31.00 per year in-county address,
$45.00 per year in state of Washington $55.00 per year out of state
Charles Gay, editor and publisher. Neweroom: Sean Hanlon, managing editor; Steve Patch,
sports editor; Jeff Green, general assignment, city government, schools, Port of Shelton; Rebecca
Wells, society editor, county government; Mary Duncan, police, courts. Advadtsing: Stephen
Gay, advertising manager; Dave Pierik and Harvey Morris, ad sales. Front office: Julie Orme,
business manager; Kathy Lester, circulation; Donna Kinnaird, bookkeeper; Cricket Carter, mailroom
supervisor. Composing room: Diane Riordan, supervisor; Margot Brand, Jan Kallinen, pagination;
Frank Isaac, pagination, photo technician; Koleen Wood, typesetter, computer system manager;
William Adams, ad builder, computer system manager; Clinton Kendall, proofreader. Pressroom: Nick
Can', pressman; Jon Hughes, pressman's assistant.
ul
Page 4 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, November 29, 2007
]
I
i00eaders" <'Journal: :'
Make county safe for cyclist00!00..
Editor, The Journal: width to roads commonly used by types who prefer driving and
Comments made by a Mason bicyclists, ing Big Macs to exercise..': 1
County Planning Commission This commission member called The planning commzsl.
member during a public hearing them "donor lanes" as in organ do- should be helping our comm $]'
have me boiling mad. The corn- nors, implying that children and improve safety, which will enl
ments were made in resnonse to a others who ride a bike on public age healthy behaviors such as q[,"
presentation of the Mason County roads in Shelton or Mason County riding and walking. .c
, , .... area oodsourceofs are or ans DanaL Ande
trails Plan that identifies safety g p g . . le,
issues such as adding shoulder I guess organs for the sedentary She" i
• :t'
Beef up antl-war movement
Editor, The Journal: for oil and the pride of the politi- Cattleman's Beef Association
Geez, come on, folks, do you re- clans of this country who refuse to stated that they were no longerls
ally want to stop the war? Iarch- admit that a serious mistake was ing to consume any beef prodigy c
in in the street isn't going to do made in engaging in this military until this war is ended. (It's siP si
it, nor is writing to your elected of- adventure. (Remember Rumsfeld. bly healthier for you anyway).t
ficials. Face it, they couldn't care
less about your opinions. "Dubya"
and his warmongering minions
only understand one thing and one
thing only: MONEY.
This corrupt administration has
made it possible for the defense
industry, independent contractors
and various suppliers of death-re-
lated materials to make some se-
rious dough on our nickel. When
faced with facts, logic, history and
appeals to self-interest, the numb-
skulls of this country continue to
wave the flag, slap on the "Support
the Troops" stickers all over their
cars and trucks, and turn a blind
eye to the deaths of a half million
Iraqi men, women and yes (al-
though mainstream media don't
allow us to see actual pictures),
children who have perished, all
This war won't last six months.
Wolfowitz? Iraqi oil will pay for
this war and the reconstruction of
the country.)
Economics is the only thing that
is going to bring this war to an end.
Comes right down to it, a small mi-
nority of the American population
could end this war inside of a few
months. Comedian Dick Gregory
proposed this method for ending
the war in Vietnam years ago, and
the formula still holds true today.
All that would be required is for a
fraction of the people who seriously
oppose this war (say one-fourth) to
make a real commitment to bring-
ing this adventure to an end.
Imagine if 25 percent of the
people who opposed this war wrote
their congressmen, senators and
most importantly The National
talking no Big Macs, Whopper u
Jumbo Jacks. Now if you conslqf n
that four of the top beef-produlild
states, according to the Univer (
of Nebraska, are Texas, NebraSl c,
Kansas and Oklahoma (whicbor
the way are among the reddetf
red states) and that they w.0k,
economically suffer dramatio
W0
ly within a few months, I o
think that it wouldn't be too
before the cattlemen would
banging on W s door and lettJ
him and "Darth Cheney" kno¢ sl
no uncertain terms that it's t3 ]
to end this misdirected "maC] v
war against terrorism. "
Come on, people, I've made "
commitment myself. Now it's u
everyone else to join in. i
Donovan Wol,
r
Q
t
tl
horrible things happen to € _,
nerable children. What I want
point out is that there are foO
children and youth who are t
loved and eared for by their fo#
succeed.
families and who do , c
If everyone acted and " '
one thing to help a youth dnidJ '€,
what a difference it could make
0
society, and right here in our o"
community. Stop reacting and Vi. s
Donate your time to mentor,
unteer or be a foster parent
self.
Susan
Need to foster a better image
Editor, The Journal:
As both a foster parent and
a professional in the fbster-care
field, I find it unfortunate and
frustrating that media coverage
only focuses on the negative when
it comes to foster care and foster
parents.
Where are the stories about the
dedicated, hardworking families
who have given homes to children
in need, or about the positive out-
comes we see on a daily basis?
With nearly 11,000 children in
foster care in Washington State,
there are many successes to write
about!
For example, did you know that
Community Youth Services' Fos-
ter Care Program has a 90 percent
success rate on placement stabili-
zation and the best retention rate
for foster parents? And through-
out the state, there are thousands
of young people in foster care who
have completed high school, gone
on to college and beat the odds to
become successful adults. (This
is in spite of foster parents being
overloaded and undersupported
by the foster-care system.)
I don't argue it is heinous when
Putting in his two bucks
Editor, The Journak
I was somewhat amused after
reading the article in The Journal
November 15 about the shooting of
two buck deer, one still standing,
with interlocked horns and the
comment, "It has never happened
before in Western Washington."
I was hunting back in the '60s
and while tracking a buck that I
had shot, I found two skeletons of
4x4 bucks, horns interlocked to-
gether in the vicinity of Mary M.
Knight School. They had evidently
starved to death.
They had been there for quite
some time as the antlers and all
the skeletal bones had bleached
out white. All the bones lay in
place just as the deer had fallen. It
really amazed me that some ani-
mal had not dragged them away to
chew on!
It has happened in Western
Washington with blacktail deer,
and I still have the interlocked
horns to prove it!
Congratulations to Rick Hayes
for being in the "right place at the
right time." I agree getting a "tro-
phy" like that is not
happen again. But, who
Pete
q
00ournai of Opinion: -- ....... e
A real class act
I$
For the politicians, it was a perfect piece of legislation. With (,B tO',f n
another unfunded mandate they could pretend to be solving a
problem, recruit some children for their war machine, attack the
hated educational establishment and when everything went into
the toilet the public would blame the educators, not them. From
the same administration that brought you Mess O' Potamia comes
the No Child Left Behind Act.
You see, the way to improve education is to give
educators hacks the way teachers used to belt kids back
when children were still getting a decent education and
leaving school at age 15 to work on the farm or in the
woods or get married.
How else to explain teachers and administrators working fbr
years to improve instruction as uncaring parents send unmotivated
children to school only to receive federal sanctions when student
performance doesn't improve every year. Educators were set up
for failure by this bureaucrats' dream and paperwork nightmare
in which "conservatives" instruct the federal government to tell
people at the lowest local level what they must do. And the ironic
sanctions compound the problem of low performance by taking
funds from instruction.
The Shelton School District is caught up in the NCLB
maze as are hundreds of others around the country. Just
this month The Journal printed a story illustrating how
NCLB chickens can come home to roost. Because the
district didn't make "adequate yearly progress" this year,
it faces sanctions if it is judged wanting in 2008.
The district's director of special services told the school board
that if "progress" isn't made next year the district could be
forced to use 10 percent of its Title IA budget, $75,000, for staff
development under NCLB sanctions as well as write a "district
improvement plan." That means the $75,000 can't be used for
existing programs, which translates to cuts, which could mean a
staffing cut even though that's the last thing she wants to do.
Would it surprise you that special-education children
at all levels in Shelton didn't pass the math portion of
the Washingtbn Assessment for Student Learning? Or
that Evergreen Elementary children with limited English
didn't pass it? Or that four groups - Evergreen's low-
income, limited-English, Hispanic and general student
body with 49 percent Hispanic students - didn't pass the
WASL reading test?
The district was judged in 70 classifications or "cells" and made
adequate NCLB progress in 56 of them, which isn't good enough
to escape the feds' list of failures.
Shelton Superintendent Joan Zookis all for improvement,
but she wishes the heavy-handed sanctions of NCLB would
be left behind. State-level requirements for improvement
have helped education in Washington, she says. "Our kids
are getting a better education than ever," she insists.
You'd never know it by the Shelton School District's "failure"
label under No Child Left Behind.
Food for thought
We'll be brief and frank. The Christmas Fund needs a little of
your money.
For 61 years The Journal and the 40 et 8 veterans have
teamed with donors to provide Christmas food baskets
for Mason County's needy. Hundreds of families with
thousands of members receive them. The Journal collects
the money; the vets do all the work of buying food, filling
baskets and distributing them.
Caring people in the community have the most important role:
providing the money that makes it all possible. This year the goal
is $25,000, the same as 2006.
Our plea is that you help the vets reach their goal in
a timely manner. Please don't make them sweat out the
fund-raising. We've noticed a few things about the effort
over the years (our family has been involved in 42 of the
annual campaigns). Many faithful givers have contributed
for decades as a tradition, into their 70s and 80s. We're
concerned that a new generation of givers is not replacing
those who have left this Earth, because it often takes until
the last minute to raise the money, and in 2006 the goal
wasn't met. Last year the fund was only halfway to its goal
with 10 days till Christmas, and it was still $6,000 short
four days before the holiday.
When the fund is in good shape early, the 40 et 8's director of
the project, Gene Strozyk, can do little things like add oranges to
the baskets as special treats.
Imagine that. Your child will get a special treat this
Christmas when he opens his Xbox, iPhone, computer, car
keys or fiat-screen TV, and someone else's child will get an
orange if you kick in a few bucks.
-CG
lllllllllllllllll1lllll1lilil
ournal
eounty? usPs 492-8oo
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Shelton-Mason
County Journal, P.O. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584.
Published weekly by Shelton Publishing Inc. at 227 Wast Cota Street, Shelton, Washington
Mailing address: RO. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584
Telephone (360) 426-4412 * www.masoncounty.com
Periodicals postage paid at Shelton, Washington
Member of Washington Newspaper Publishers' Association
SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $31.00 per year in-county address,
$45.00 per year in state of Washington $55.00 per year out of state
Charles Gay, editor and publisher. Neweroom: Sean Hanlon, managing editor; Steve Patch,
sports editor; Jeff Green, general assignment, city government, schools, Port of Shelton; Rebecca
Wells, society editor, county government; Mary Duncan, police, courts. Advadtsing: Stephen
Gay, advertising manager; Dave Pierik and Harvey Morris, ad sales. Front office: Julie Orme,
business manager; Kathy Lester, circulation; Donna Kinnaird, bookkeeper; Cricket Carter, mailroom
supervisor. Composing room: Diane Riordan, supervisor; Margot Brand, Jan Kallinen, pagination;
Frank Isaac, pagination, photo technician; Koleen Wood, typesetter, computer system manager;
William Adams, ad builder, computer system manager; Clinton Kendall, proofreader. Pressroom: Nick
Can', pressman; Jon Hughes, pressman's assistant.
ul
Page 4 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, November 29, 2007
]
I
i00eaders" <'Journal: :'
Make county safe for cyclist00!00..
Editor, The Journal: width to roads commonly used by types who prefer driving and
Comments made by a Mason bicyclists, ing Big Macs to exercise..': 1
County Planning Commission This commission member called The planning commzsl.
member during a public hearing them "donor lanes" as in organ do- should be helping our comm $]'
have me boiling mad. The corn- nors, implying that children and improve safety, which will enl
ments were made in resnonse to a others who ride a bike on public age healthy behaviors such as q[,"
presentation of the Mason County roads in Shelton or Mason County riding and walking. .c
, , .... area oodsourceofs are or ans DanaL Ande
trails Plan that identifies safety g p g . . le,
issues such as adding shoulder I guess organs for the sedentary She" i
• :t'
Beef up antl-war movement
Editor, The Journal: for oil and the pride of the politi- Cattleman's Beef Association
Geez, come on, folks, do you re- clans of this country who refuse to stated that they were no longerls
ally want to stop the war? Iarch- admit that a serious mistake was ing to consume any beef prodigy c
in in the street isn't going to do made in engaging in this military until this war is ended. (It's siP si
it, nor is writing to your elected of- adventure. (Remember Rumsfeld. bly healthier for you anyway).t
ficials. Face it, they couldn't care
less about your opinions. "Dubya"
and his warmongering minions
only understand one thing and one
thing only: MONEY.
This corrupt administration has
made it possible for the defense
industry, independent contractors
and various suppliers of death-re-
lated materials to make some se-
rious dough on our nickel. When
faced with facts, logic, history and
appeals to self-interest, the numb-
skulls of this country continue to
wave the flag, slap on the "Support
the Troops" stickers all over their
cars and trucks, and turn a blind
eye to the deaths of a half million
Iraqi men, women and yes (al-
though mainstream media don't
allow us to see actual pictures),
children who have perished, all
This war won't last six months.
Wolfowitz? Iraqi oil will pay for
this war and the reconstruction of
the country.)
Economics is the only thing that
is going to bring this war to an end.
Comes right down to it, a small mi-
nority of the American population
could end this war inside of a few
months. Comedian Dick Gregory
proposed this method for ending
the war in Vietnam years ago, and
the formula still holds true today.
All that would be required is for a
fraction of the people who seriously
oppose this war (say one-fourth) to
make a real commitment to bring-
ing this adventure to an end.
Imagine if 25 percent of the
people who opposed this war wrote
their congressmen, senators and
most importantly The National
talking no Big Macs, Whopper u
Jumbo Jacks. Now if you conslqf n
that four of the top beef-produlild
states, according to the Univer (
of Nebraska, are Texas, NebraSl c,
Kansas and Oklahoma (whicbor
the way are among the reddetf
red states) and that they w.0k,
economically suffer dramatio
W0
ly within a few months, I o
think that it wouldn't be too
before the cattlemen would
banging on W s door and lettJ
him and "Darth Cheney" kno¢ sl
no uncertain terms that it's t3 ]
to end this misdirected "maC] v
war against terrorism. "
Come on, people, I've made "
commitment myself. Now it's u
everyone else to join in. i
Donovan Wol,
r
Q
t
tl
horrible things happen to € _,
nerable children. What I want
point out is that there are foO
children and youth who are t
loved and eared for by their fo#
succeed.
families and who do , c
If everyone acted and " '
one thing to help a youth dnidJ '€,
what a difference it could make
0
society, and right here in our o"
community. Stop reacting and Vi. s
Donate your time to mentor,
unteer or be a foster parent
self.
Susan
Need to foster a better image
Editor, The Journal:
As both a foster parent and
a professional in the fbster-care
field, I find it unfortunate and
frustrating that media coverage
only focuses on the negative when
it comes to foster care and foster
parents.
Where are the stories about the
dedicated, hardworking families
who have given homes to children
in need, or about the positive out-
comes we see on a daily basis?
With nearly 11,000 children in
foster care in Washington State,
there are many successes to write
about!
For example, did you know that
Community Youth Services' Fos-
ter Care Program has a 90 percent
success rate on placement stabili-
zation and the best retention rate
for foster parents? And through-
out the state, there are thousands
of young people in foster care who
have completed high school, gone
on to college and beat the odds to
become successful adults. (This
is in spite of foster parents being
overloaded and undersupported
by the foster-care system.)
I don't argue it is heinous when
Putting in his two bucks
Editor, The Journak
I was somewhat amused after
reading the article in The Journal
November 15 about the shooting of
two buck deer, one still standing,
with interlocked horns and the
comment, "It has never happened
before in Western Washington."
I was hunting back in the '60s
and while tracking a buck that I
had shot, I found two skeletons of
4x4 bucks, horns interlocked to-
gether in the vicinity of Mary M.
Knight School. They had evidently
starved to death.
They had been there for quite
some time as the antlers and all
the skeletal bones had bleached
out white. All the bones lay in
place just as the deer had fallen. It
really amazed me that some ani-
mal had not dragged them away to
chew on!
It has happened in Western
Washington with blacktail deer,
and I still have the interlocked
horns to prove it!
Congratulations to Rick Hayes
for being in the "right place at the
right time." I agree getting a "tro-
phy" like that is not
happen again. But, who
Pete