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I
JOURNALEDITORIAL
Neither snow nor rain nor hea
Our hearts go out to the 28,000 United
States Postal Service (USPS) employees
about to lose their jobs and all of the peo-
ple that will be adversely affected by the
pending close of processing centers across
the United States.
Benjamin Franklin founded the USPS
and the first public library. He was also a
newspaper man and for the better part of
300 years these three entities have been
intrinsically tied to one another.
And each has had to radically change
from what they once were to survive.
The postal service has, by its own es-
timation, lost 30 percent of its first class
mail service. That's easy to believe as most
communication, perhaps too much commu-
nication, now happens via electronic mail
and texting~
But the letters we once posted and
mailed to one another account for the
smallest percentage of the postal service's
lost business.
The trash bins near the exit doors of
your local post office no longer overflow.
That is to say, what we generally refer
to as junk mail is the largest part of the
USPS income.
t nor gloom of night...
"Good riddance," is what we'~ like to say
but that would be cold comfort ~br every-
one, because everyone loses in this latest
strategy to save the service Mrt Franklin
ibunded. |
Unsolicited mail, as anyone ~ver the age
of 20 can recall, used to be the ~ed-headed
step child of the advertising in~lustry.
Nobody wanted it and that maple a lot of
people angry when they d pull t~arbage
from their mailbox.
But the truth is that somebc
it. Somewhere between 10 and
of Americans are bargain hunt
hunt for a deal whether delivel
mailbox or their inbox. And dic
enough that junk mail prolifen
hit its peak in 2006.
And then it moved to junk e:
known as spam. The overfundi
pensions aside, that fact accou]
predicted 50 percent loss of po~
by 2015.
Mass emails are ignored by
us, even when we know the seI
enough people read those thin
LETTERSTOTHEEDITOR
friend"). But,
he's sat there
dy wanted
20 percent
~rs and will
ed to their
so often
Lted until it
nail, also
~g of postal
~ts for a
tal revenue
host of
Lder, but
's that they
gee whiz,
more than 30
years now an~l look where
we are? He's l~ecome just
another rubb, ~r stamp for
every pie-in-t:
leftist/Democl
It's time fo:
to be retired.
we'll be payin
in retirement
won't be need
from the Doll~
Christmas.)
Funding oL
defense is su~
our nation's f
Without our i
have no freed
1e-sky liberal/
'at whim.
• Norm Dicks
I'm guessing
g him enough
his family
[ng donations
~r Store at
r national
posed to be
rst priority.
~ilitary we
)m. Without
our freedom, ~vhat the heck
do we have? ~essie Young
- thank you (}od - is very
passionately ~ware of this
reality.., and
we need to se:
in Norm Dick
military famf
able to depen
than donatioI
pers at the D~
Proud
Shelt(
the ef
to he
other
Editor, the
I recently
to help Gene
his teams reg
Christmas ba
at the 40 et 8
Shelton. Gen~
been a Peace
teer in Guate
thought I mi~
was delightec
I arrived al
at 8:45 a.m. a
aback at the
Here were do:
(there were s(
I saw mostly~
tiently waitin
their families
assistance. E~
was treated
and those wit
documentatio
rolled. Those
the required (
were advised
essary and in"
later. Some ot
line were rece
from Central
with limited t
Th a n k yo u Olympic Wilderness pro-
posal. They missed hear-
ing from some very well-
FD 1 1 informed, very articulate
local folks about how this
Editor, the Journal project would hit local fish-
ing, hunting, logging and
All of a sudden we heard private property rights.
a fire engine siren go off Interestingly, Jessie
right in front of our home in Young, who's running to
Island Lake Manor. All we replace Dicks, did come
could think about was that and had some good ques-
someone's home or family tions. I was delighted his
was in trouble. My wife first question would have
and I rushed outside to see been the exact question I'd
what calamity was happen- hoped someone would be
ing. But, what did we see? asking. It went something
A fire truck all decked-out like this: Dicks has always
in Christmas lights - being billed himself as "our mili-
shepherded by fire fighters tary's friend"... So why is
and rescue personnel, all he comfortable proposing
wearing their official gear. unneeded new spending on
They had broad smiles onthis project .... while defense
their faces and were hand- spending is being slashed?
ing out packages of holiday That question actually
treats saying "Thanks from popped into my mind last
the Mason County Fire Dis- time I was at the Dollar
trict 11 fire fighters" to each~ Store's checkout counter.
of the well wishers. These The clerk asked if I'd like to
volunteers greeted everyone donate a dollar item for our
with good cheer and sincere military this Christmas. Of
thanks. They even ran their course I did. Who doesn't?
sirens again in order to en- Ironically, I'd just heard
tice our Alaskan malamutes about the way politicians
to sing back. double and triple dip their
Here we citizens are, way into astonishing, lavish
struggling with bad eco- taxpayer funded retirement
nomic times and other incomes. As I recall, Gary
hardships. Yet, these men Locke will be raking in
and women of fire district about a quarter million per
11 came out on their own year, between his state and
time -prepared as always federal deals. I found my-
to attend to any emergency self thinking out loud about
and simply wanted to bring that, right there in the
some happiness and cheer checkout line. And when
and wish everyone a Happy I wondered "What's wrong
Holiday. We don't know with this picture?"...Every-
their names but to eachone agreed it's upside-down
of you we'd like to return for politician's families to be
a heartfelt thank you for funded like royalty and our
being who your are - the military families to need
volunteers of Mason County charity. Shameful, really.
Fire District 11. I'll confess I'm not cer-
tain of Gary Locke's precise
Richard andretirement deal(s). We
JoAnn Curtis typically never know such
Shelton things, even though we pay
for them. Also, I'll add I do
i want people paid for their
Lib service. But who is more
era, deserving of a comfortable
leftist income? Military folks who
w volunteer to suffer and/
or die for us? Or political
democrat folks who've spent us into
blinding debt; destroyed our
whim economy; sent our jobs over-
seas as a result of crushing
regulation and taxation;
Editor, the Journal set Social Security on the
path to its destruction ....
The crowd was disap- and slashed our national
pointed Representative defense .... all while squan-
Norm Dicks and Senator dering trillions of our tax
Patty Murray didn't show dollars on one boondoggle
up (Shelton Civic Center- after another?
Dec. 2) to answer questions There was a time when
about their latest multi- our family voted for Norm
million dollar project, the Dicks ("the military's
il[' She! t°niMas°n C°unty .........
Shelton-Mason County Journal
usPs 492-800 Washington Newspaper Publish
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Shelton-Mason
County Journal, P.O. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584.
SUBSCRIPTION RATES:
$37 per year for Mason County
Published weekly by Shelton-Mason County Journal, Inc. $51 per year in state of Washinc
at 227 West Cota Street, Shelton, Washington Mason County, $61 per year oul
Mailing address: P.O. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584
Telephone (360) 426-4412. www.masoncounty.com Owned and published by
Periodicals postage paid at Shelton, Washington Shelton-Mason County Journal,
worL
Companies like Google spy on us when
we browse the internet. They use sophis-
ticated software to predict how we will
spend our money and then sell that infor-
mation to advertisers. That specificity of
market allows an infinitely fractionalized
media like the internet to work.
But it works only fractionally as well as
all other advertising.
Chances are pretty good that you paid
for this newspaper which means chances
are pretty good that you think you'll find
something interesting within these pages.
That's why the press, despite the chang-
es we've made to keep up with the times, is
still the best advertising media buy.
Whether magazine or newspaper, we
know that if we can deliver something to
you on a regular basis that speaks to your
life, that gives you information that's im-
portant enough for you to shell out a few
quarters, we will continue to be successful.
And we apologize in advance to our out-
of-county readers who may soon be waiting
an extra day to receive this newspaper. We
hope it's worth the wait.
As the line shortened,
I mused on the similarity
between this event and the
situation my own grand-
mothers were in when they
were new immigrants in
1905. Money was tight and
jobs were scarce in those
days and those two strong
women needed help to navi-
gate and succeed in a new
country. Their neighbors
did help them out with
support, material assis-
tance and advice and now
lO0-plus years later their
grandson was proudly wit-
nessing his town welcoming
and supporting a new wave
of Americans on the start of
their own journeys in their
In"Rom~
mously ast
As it tu
matter. W
news -- nn
that are fi
newspape~
we strive
our stories
Page A-4 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, December 8, 2011
andJuli,
:s, "What':
ms out,
often se
eaning tb
atured in
that mat
m get ew
and phot
;t,"Shakespearefa-
in a name?"
uite a bit. Names
y that names are
at it is the people
the pages of this
Ler most. As such,
~ry name right in
)s. It's also part of
the reason~hat we i~sist that letters to
the editor ~re signedt When a person is
under suspicion of c~mmitting a crime
we list that person's ~ge and address to
leave no d
thorities a:
Sometin
can lead t~
torial page
at least t~
Shelton. C
and the ot
One coupl
the other ]
avoid any
we'll try a
ter writer~,
live in so ]
neighbors
paper.
trillion; of that the cost to
the United States was $288
billion. The cost to the Unit-
ed States of the current war
is estimated to be $1.2 tril-
lion by the end of 2011. On
the basis of monetary cost,
let alone the humanitarian
costs, maybe this "great na-
tion under God" also should
have better things to do
with its time?
Charles L. Winne
Hoodsport
Olympic
new country.
I am proud of Shelton xn n, ,nn
~e's the man and give thanks to Gene for
~d to D.C. allowing me to participate
~' place. Ourin this wonderful effort, a mystery
ies must be
t upon more ... Brian Walsh Editor, the Journal
Ls from shop- te, Shelton
dlar Store. It is a mystery why the
federal government is pro-
Donna Mann Th is is wa r posing to expand parklands
Shelton and wilderness areas at a
time when resource-based
Editor, the Journal economies are suffering
of December 7, 1941, Pearl much worse than the rest of
Harbor. President Frank-the nation•
n a n d lin Delano Roosevelt: "APart of the proposal is to
day of infamy." There were allow the purchase of pri-
five Sullivan brothers from vate productive forestlands.
fo rts Waterloo, Iowa. They allThese private lands provide
enlisted in the U.S. Navy habitat, passive recreation
and did when the USS and a resource base for lo-
Juneau was sunk on Nov. cal mills. Why on earth
13, 1942. November 12, would we want to take
2011 Romney's campaign -these productive lands and
presidential candidate Mitt then allow the young trees
Romney: "This is war!" He to grow unmanaged? It will
~urnal was emphasizing a point take thousands of years for
lunteered during a debate simulta-these lands to reach an old
trozyk and neously pounding on the growth condition without
[ster folks for podium with both hands, thinning (which is not al-
skets and toys The five Romney brotherslowed in the park). Fur-
Chateau in are serving their country therm0re, these lands will
knew I had by enlisting in Mitt's cam- be taken offthe tax rolls
Corps volun- paign for the presidency, further punishing our local
nala and he The following pertains to economies.
ht be useful. I his response to an IowanIt is difficult to recre-
to help out. woman questioning if hisate on federal lands when
the Chateau five sons would serve in the wilderness designations
~d was taken military, in part, "one of the prohibit mechanized use
)ectacle. ways my sons are showing(including mountain bike
ens of women support fbr our nation is travel). Instead of promot-
me men, but helping me to get elected." ing tourism it will make
vomen) pc- Mr. Romney expressed ap-these land less accessible
,~ to sign up preciation for the country's to some - limiting tourism
for neighborly volunteer army and said,potential.
cry person "That's the way we're going Instead of spending
ith respect to keep it." He explained millions of dollars buying
1 the required his sons had made different private land, perhaps the
were en- career choices in life and federal government could
~ho lacked had not chosen to serve in expand the AmeriCorps
ocumentation the military. No question, programs and hire crews
~hat was nec- they are all fine citizens, to improve and maintain
dted to return but like many, such as Dick the thousands of miles of
the folk in the Cheney, they have bettertrails, stream crossing and
at immigrants things to do with their time. bridges in the hundreds of
kmerica, many The direct economic costthousands of acres of park-
',nglish. of World War II was $1.6lands. This sounds more
; a member of
,rs' Association.
ddresses,
ton but outside
of state.
Karl Sleight, publisherAdvertising:
Jesse Mullen, general mgr. Dave Pierik, advertising manager C
Harvey Morris, ad representahve K
Newsroom:
Kevan Moore, managing editor Front office:
Aria Shephard, North Mason, Donna Kinnaird, bookkeeper
environment, reporter Margot Brand, circulationP
Natalie Johnson, reporter Cricket Carter, mailroom
Emily Hanson, sports reporter supervisor
Adam Rudnick, copy editor
Inc
)ubt abou~ who it is the au-
• e accusin~ of wrongdoing.
ms, though, a person's name
, some confusion on our edi-
s. It turnsI out that there are
o men napled John Price in
ne is married to Catherine
~er is ma]
lives ne
ives in to
confusio~
little har
by the n
'eaders k~
are actua
ried to Katherine.
ar Lost Lake and
en. In an effort to
moving forward,
ter to identify let-
eighborhoods they
tow which of their
[ly putting pen to
-- KPM
like progress and proper
environmental stewardship
then purchasing private
forestlan~s.
Thirty~ve percent of
this state'is locked into a
wilderness or park designa-
tion -- dol we really need
more? Cap this state and
nation afford more?
Phil Wolff
Allyn
Progam
director
says
Goodbyes aren't always. :::
possible ot necessary, but in
this case, I feel that a good-
bye is entirely appropriate.
Up until e~ week ago and for
the past three and a half
years I've been program di-
rector and afternoon air per-
sonality a~ your local Shel-
sonality r
they're dc
on their r
was the c,
my sepan
on the las
period ju~
The SI
County J,
ton radio gtation, KMAS. My
name is l andy Roadz and
my passion is serving my
community. As I mentioned,
goodbyes aren't always pos-
sible and gometimes that's
by designI A radio air per-
rely knows when
ing their last show
~dio station, as
tse with me upon
ttion from KMAS
t day of my pay
t over a week ago.
elton-Mason
~urnal has ex-
tended m~ the opportunity
to thank trod to say goodbye
to a lot off people who've
made my stay here in Shel-
ton a fun and rewarding
one. Star~ing with (and in
no particular order) Janis
Byrd from our local Edward
Jones offibe, Kristy Buck
from Joh~ L. Scott and host
of Radio Real Estate, Dr.
Bill Busa~ca, my friends
Mike andl Cathy Gango at
Quality Appliance, the Gil-
lis Auto'Center family, Ste-
ven Andrbwski at EFI, Ma-
son County Sheriffs Office
Chie~ Del~uty Dean Byrd,
Bob Buhl (former Allstate
agent), Bfllie and Justin at
Mason COunty Historical
Society Museum, and one of
the first people I met up in
the MartiNi Bar at Steven's
when Da e first hired me
See I~etters on page A-5
omposing Iroom:
'illiam Ada®s, graphics
~leen Wood, classifieds/legals
.=cky Corr, t yping
ressroom:
.=lly Riordar, production manager
avis Miller )ress operator