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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
December 13, 2012     Shelton Mason County Journal
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December 13, 2012
 
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Caro's collection on LBJ worth your time 1" t was on best-seller lists for good | reason. It is well-written, of course. Robert A. Caro is an au- thor renowned for his writing ability. But more than just his artistry with words, his latest work is a master- piece of research. The book is "The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Passage of Power," the fourth in a planned five-volume his- tory of Lyndon Baines Johnson, the 36th president of the United States of America (one is moved patriotically to use the full title of the office). If you are inter- ested in politics, the presidency, our history of war and assassinations, cor- ruption in high of- rice, honesty and dishonesty among our leaders and the exercise of power for By JOHN both good and evil, KOMEN then Caro's book is your meat. At first one has to wonder how LBJ can be worth a five-volume biography. His time in office is badly marred by the Vietnam War, and he is even- tually all but driven from office by massive protests in the streets. The upheaval persuaded him not to run again. So as one reads Caro's opus, questions arise: Why is Caro devot- ing his life and thousands upon thou- sands of pages to this man? You have to ask whether any presi- • dent (aside from George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and perhaps Franklin D. Roosevelt) is worth such immense biographical effort by one historian-author. But the reader be- gins the 611 pages and soon realizes this is a book well worth one's time. (Those 611 pages are augmented by 80 pages of reference notes and a 20- page index, all of which are also wor- thy of attention.) And if you have been paying at- ' tention to Caro's work these past 30 years, you have already read the first three LBJ volumes: "The Path to Pow- er, (1982), "Means of Ascent" (1990) and "Master of the Senate" (2002). Furthermore, you were probably first impressed by Caro's 1974 biographical masterpiece "The Power Broker: Rob- ert Moses and the Fall of New York." Caro is a genius at work. He de- votes full days at his writing desk after first compiling research notes • that fill many filing cabinets in his nondescript Manhattan office. He's already at work on volume 5 of his LBJ biography. One waits in anticipation for that last volume. We'll want to find out what Caro's research and writing will say about Johnson's last days. For "Passage of Power" concentrates on just seven weeks--from Nov. 22, 1963 to Jan. 8, 1964, a period Caro calls "the transition story.,' It is a day-by-day, at times minute by min- ute, account from President John F. Kennedy's assassination in Dallas to LBJ's State of the Union address to Congress on Jan. 8, 1964. "In the life of Lyndon Baines John- son," Caro writes at the end of the book, "this period stands out as dif- ferent from the rest, as perhaps that life's finest moment, as a moment not only masterful but, in its way, heroic." It was in that transition period that LBJ won passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a victory that signaled his eventual accomplishments of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Medicare and Medicaid, Head Start and Model Cities. It was in his State of the Union address that he declared the War on Poverty, an economic pivot point in the nation's history. Now Caro is turning his attention to the rest of the story, the remainder of LBJ's time in office dominated, of course, by the Vietnam war. As Caro says in his book, "The longer story will be very different in tone." • John Komen, who lives on Mason Lake, was for 40 years a reporter and editor, TV anchorman, national TV network correspondent, producer, col- umnist, editorial writer and commen- tator. His column, Komen Comment, appears each week in the Shelton-Ma- son County Journal. Bloomfield will Policy Editor, the Journal Nov. 27, 2012, marks I I' (11 publ's I a saddayfortheMasonletters of oca interest not h ette County community, as it " . I rs wasSteve the Bloomfield last day for to serve Mr. that are libelous or scurrilous in nature. Signed us as our commissioner. I would very much like to letters should providecontact and address publicly add my thanks to those of thousands of other Mason County citizens for the great work commission- er Bloomfield accomplished during an all-too-short ten- High School in 1952. happened, and as children we ure. In those days, we referredheard the awful story about Seldom do you find the to cigarettes as lung cut-our grandparents. integrity, work ethic, com- ters, coffin nails and cancer I am glad that someone passion, intelligence and just sticks. They were 18 cents a cares enough to keep history plain good common sense pack and easily available to of our little town current and continuously demonstrated minors. Filters were not com- in the public's interest. by this individual, mon. Thank you, thank you, Mr. And that's the way it was. Elizabeth (Hickson) Bloomfield, for your great P.S. -- I wrote this letter Swigert work in helping this county almost two years ago and Mossyrock move forward, never mailed it. I just ran across it recently. The senti- Elizabeth Levin Frew ment still holds. Wa I m a rt Shelton Cigarettes not changed Editor, the Journal Just a Word from a semi old-timer: In the Feb. 3, 2011, issue, Karen Skinner wrote: "For many years, before cigarettes were recognized as a cause of lung cancer, smok- ers were, in fact, dying of lung cancer." Here's my take on that. In 1948, I was just learn- ing to smoke. I was pretty good at it by the time I graduated from West Seattle Karl Krull inconsistent West Seattle and Phillips Lake with service Thank you to the Editor, the Journal Journal I happened to be in the Walmart store in Shelton the other day and came Editor, the Journal across a lady with a so- Dear Ms. Johnson; called foo-foo dog in her Thank you for the history shopping cart in the grocery of the Mason County Court- section of the store. The dog house, from Oct. 25. was a very beautiful, well- I love history and it is kept looking animal, but close to home, since I am one should not be in a grocery of Joe and Juanita Kirk's store in a shopping cart. granddaughters. My father If there is a reason for was their oldest son (James the animal to be with the E. Kirk Hickson). lady, then it should be well- We have some older ar- marked as a service animal ticles of when the incident and kept on the floor or in its own container. I asked the store man- ager what the deal was and she told me that if someone claims it to be a service ani- mal then the store has to let it in, even in the shop- ping cart. I told the manager that I would most likely not return to her store again because of her response. To my surprise, she said OK, so goodbye Walmart for me. It is my understanding that any animal that comes through the door can be de- olared a service animal and allowed entry. So what do you say folks, let's bring in dogs, pigs and chickens. I called the state health department. The lady says that it would be OK. Just say they are service animals. I really hate to leave my mangy cat at home when I go shopping. Come to think about it, I even saw a dog in a restaurant not long ago. Maybe I will take my cat there, too. It only sheds a little. I left a message with Sen. Tim Sheldon's office. Bill Robbins Shelton The name of Carsen Bobby Shelton, was misidentified in a morial service was incorrectly ' Bay Chorale wows Big Apple," Huber, the 3-month-old mem-photo in our Dec. 6 issue,printed as taking place Dec. 9. Morgan Wiktorek's name was ber of the Brewer family that In the Dec. 6 story "Shelton The memorial took place Dec. misspelled in the caption. operates Brewer Christmas teen dies after Lacey house 8. The Journal regrets the er- Trees and Wreaths outside fire, Jerame Humphreys' me- In the Nov. 29 story "Anna's rors. Shelton-Mason County USPS 492-800 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Shelton-Mason County Journal, RO. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584. Published weekly by Shelton-Mason County Journal, Inc. at 227 West 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 ;helton-Mason County Journal is a member of Washington Newspaper Publishers' Association. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $37 p~r year for Mason County addresses, $51 per year in state of Washington but outside Mason County, $61 per year out of state. Owned and published by Shelton-Mason County Joumal, Inc Kari Sleight, publisher Newsroom: Adam Rudnick, editor Natalie Johnson, reporter Gordon Weeks, reporter Emily Hanson, sports reporter Advertising: Dave Pierik, Sr. Acct. Executive Maggie Burdick, ad representative Front office: Donna Kinnaird, bookkeeper Rene~ Chaplin, circulation Cricket Carter, mailroom supervisor Composing room: William Adams, graphics Pressroom: Kelly Riordan, production manager Travis Miller, press operator Mary Northover, press assistant Page A-4 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012