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00ournal of Opinion:
Just the way it is
That's just the way things are these days. There's nothing you
can do about it. So why worry about it?
A tinge of sadness overcame us as we read about the
proposed new superbuilding at Shelton High School.
A facilities task force has recommended replacing five
buildings at SHS with one 57,000-square-foot building
linking the administration and student union buildings.
It wasn't the need for new or better or larger facilities that
bothered us. It was the change in structural philosophy,
apparently partially brought about by modern times. The change
"would enhance student safety and staff supervision."
Part of what made SHS such a unique and beautiful high
school when it was built in the early '70s was its campus
arrangement with multiple buildings. Students got to
walk in the fresh air and elements - a brief encounter with
nature - between classes.
Now it seems that maniacs who walk into schools and start
shooting, and children who are behavior problems, dictate a
fundamental change in the sensory enjoyment students are
allowed at school. More than once, Pioneer bond boosters have
used student satty as one reason to construct a new school to
replace a beat-up one with multiple ways for bad guys to enter.
It's always disheartening to see the actions of a few
dictate the freedom and beauty the majority is allowed
to enjoy. Witness how the world has changed since the
actions of 19 fanatics in four planes. Part of the beauty of
the SHS campus was its tall and majestic firs, but many
trees came down when some kids started smoking and
doing "biological experiments" under them.
When we first visited the new middle school in the 1990s, we
were struck by how little natural light was let into classrooms,
as if a conscious eflbrt was made to deprive students of sunshine
and snowflakes, trees and hills, clouds and sky, the nature a soul
longs for. The focus, it seemed, was on the math the kids have
never learned. If you deprive them of the natural beauty around
them, they'll master binomial equations.
Perhaps the subtlety of the deprivationwas lost on 13-
year-olds, only noticeable to an adult who had enjoyed
sunlight streaming through his schools' windows and
walked to a store at lunch. Give kids phones they stare
at and punch six hours a day and computers they stare at
five hours a day and televisions they stare at four hours
a day and they'll be okay. And have the technonuts ride
everywhere, not walk in nature.
The same people who enjoyed nature and freedom are telling
today's kids they can't have those things. But that's just the way
things are these days. There's nothing you can do about it.
In an age when Sheltonians lock their doors when they
leave home and identity thieves go through garbage for
information, The Journalcan't run a subscription campaign
with young salespeople as it did for half a century because
parents don't want their 10-year-old going door to door in
today's dark world.
In today's dark world, you must have policemen in schools. Little
Mason County does. The adults who never had police in their
schools have decided it's necessary. The City of Port Townsend
just fired three people in its building department so it could have
a "school resource officer," spend $100,000 more on maintenance
and increase its cash on hand.
Modern times are dark and financially tough. The
taxpayers have spoken, There's nothing you can do about
it. So in Shelton, the city with the ninth highest crime rate
in the state, you don't replace a policeman who resigns.
In a growing county with tens of thousands of structures,
you propose axing the fire marshal.
That's just the way things are these days. The death spiral
is to cut government services and leave infrastructure upkeep
unfunded ibr decades so citizens get even madder at government
and send Tim Eyman even more money. In five years, when
growth hasn't paid for itself, it will just be worse.
In this atmosphere, for us to write our recent editorial
begging citizens to act on the need for parks is a joke. As
it does at school, nature will take a back seat.
The touch of nature is being lost as is the human touch. The
government must save money and turn off more citizens by
setting up phone mazes. We call the city number to reach the
administrator, reach an automaton, punch in a number to contact
him but get the city front desk and have to tell the receptionist
what we want, and she rings his office. We call another official
insulated by a secretary and get the secretary's voice mail. Four
days later she still hasn't called back. We call a fire district to
have the automaton give us mary options and tell us to punch
a number if no option fits. When we reach a human, she wants
to know why we got her. We explain that the machine told us to
punch her number. "No it didn't," she insists.
It's a different world out there now. That's just the way
things are these days. And the only thing more scary than
the fact that's the way things are is that people believe
nothing can be done about it.
-CG
ll
ournal
eounty usPs 492-800
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Shelton-Mason
County Journal, RO. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584.
Published weekly by Shelton Publishing Inc. at 227 West Cota Street, Shelton, Washington
Mailing address: P.O. 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: $32.00 per year in-county address,
$46.00 per year in state of Washington $56.00 per year out of state
Charles Gay, editor and publisher. Newsroom: 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. Advertising: Stephen
Gay, advertising manager; Dave Piertk and Harvey Morris, ad sales. Front office: Julie Orme,
business manager; Kathy Lester, circulation; Donna Kinnaird, bookkeeper; Cricket Carter, maUroom
supervisor. Composing room: Diane Riordan, supervisor; Margot Brand, Jan Kalllnen, pagination;
Frank Isaec, pagination, photo technician; Koleen Wood, typesetter, computer system manager;
William Adams, ad builder, computer system manager; Clinton Kendall, proofreader. Pressroom:
Wally Thaanum, pressman; Jon Hughes, pressman's assistant.
u
Page 4 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, December 27, 2007
M E MOR00E00 I LI A
SHOw
I00e. gders"
Kids commit Capital o
Editor, The Journal:
I commend Shelton High
School students who attended
the basketball game at Capital
on Tuesday. They sat corralled
in a corner of the gym, sur-
rounded by Shelton School Dis-
trict employees, like convicts on
a field trip.
Meanwhile, Capital students
hurled insults at them with
seemingly little or no conse-
quence. Aside from breaking
league rules concerning audi-
ence sportsmanship, three full
lister, Hollister" and "You shop
at Wal-Mart." Apparently their
school district employees didn't
think this was offensive enough
to warrant removal of all stu-
dents involved in the chant.
Our students showed great
self-control and behaved in
the manner expected of them.
That's real class. In contrast,
Capital students proved that
class is something that can't be
purchased, even at Hollister.
However, I am astounded at
how ineffective SHS staff was
and protectors of our kids, c
as guards to keep the allege
naughty, volatile Shelton Higl
School students in line? If thel
are not operating on the pren
ise that our kids are good, thel
they have no business beinl
involved in any aspect of the
education.
Does SHS staff think the
policing efforts were a success'
Probably, after all, no fightl
broke out, and no one went homl
scarred, right? Well, at least na
visibly.
rows of Capital students were al- at stopping the insults. Were Ione K. Vrabe
lowed to chant things like "Hol- they in attendance as advocates Sheltol
Applause for combined choirsll
Editor, The JournaL" back, we did not have the op ..... A sincere "well-done" to Eliza I
.I am sure that I speak for those portunity to attend anything of beth Berndt and Matthew Melen
dez Blegen ibr showing Us' Sha[
by cooperative effort, you trnlt
fortunate citizens who attended
the joint Harstine Island/Annas
Bay choral concert December 16
at Shelton High School when I
applaud the choirs for their out-
standing performance of holiday
music.
The quality of performance
was extremely high. A few years
this caliber, for no such musical
groups existed.
Should a similar program be
offered next year, it might be
hoped that two performances
could be scheduled so that more
people would have the opportu-
nity to hear what is a community
treasure.
can attain something which il
greater than the sum of its parts
I am looking forward eagerly t
future ventures by their organi
zations.
Myron SkubinnS
Unio
'Prevented genius' idea flawed
States as were present in Thomas
Jefferson's lifetime. Does anyone
see 100 statesmen of Jefferson's
stature in modern U.S. govern-
ment? Madison's? Washington's?
I sure don't. I don't even see one.
Advocates of the "prevented
genius" idea never, ever men-
tion the flip side of the same coin,
namely that population stabili-
zation could prevent the births of
new Stalins, Torquemadas, Josef
Mengeles, Genghis Khans, Jack
the Rippers, Vlad the Impalers
and their ilk. Unfortunately, I do
see rather more characters like
these on the modern scene than
people like Jefferson, Lincoln or
Shakespeare.
Good people and even ex-
ceptional people develop from
educational opportunities and
worthwhile challenges, not from
random genetic recombinations.
Overpopulation interferes with
education - think expanded clas
sizes for a close-to-home exam'
ple. By driving shortages of fuel,
ibod, housing, fertile land, wate
and other resources, populatio
growth produces more desperate,
violent people than ones likely to
improve our human condition.
In terms of the kinds of people
likely to be created by it, popu"
lation growth actually tips the
balance in the negative direction.
Birth control and educational op"
portunities for real people who
are here now are our best bets for
a livable future, not vague hopes
that an endlessly growing popu"
lation will somehow produce Jef"
fersons and Einsteins.
David H. Milne
Shelto
Editor, The Journal:
One of the standard objections
to the idea of stopping population
growth and stabilizing human
numbers is always "... but just
think of all the geniuses whose
births would be prevented if we
do that!" A recent writer men-
tions this idea (December 13,
"Don't be pessimist on growth"),
invoking Lincoln, Einstein and
Mother Teresa. Unfortunately,
this claim is totally bogus.
If larger populations are sup-
posed to guarantee more excep-
tional people, then why hasn't
it happened? Britain now has
about 13 times as many people
as during Shakespeare's day. So,
where are the 13 modern Shake-
speares?
There are now about 100 times
as many people in the United
Gratifying to read The Journall:l
Editor, The Journal."
I have a real fondness for our
weekly newspaper. Last Thurs-
day's Journal pleasantly brought
more evidence for my respect and
admiration.
Good reading and good writ-
ing spread throughout its pag-
es. From the wonderfully warm
front-page piece by Sean Hanlon
(a 91-year-old makes violins and
cares for his 90-year-old wife) to
The Belfair Herald's reportage
of an unusual effort to clean up
Highway 3 eyesores (Brian and
Jacquie Petersen's unique mon-
etary contributions for signboard
destruction), The Journal was
replete with reader satisfactions.
The paper was heftier than
usual. And that was because of
the many delightful Christmas
posters submitted by grade-
school artists and wonderfully
reproduced by The Journal. I pc-
rused them all (and by so doing
of course took notice of the local
merchants who thoughtfully un-
derwrote them with their spon-
sorships).
There was the usual detailed
coverage of hard news. These
reports ranged from the latest
assessment of storm damage in
Mason County to the in-depth re-
portage of court trials. One may
not read every word of court-
house happenings, but it is there
for you if you want it. I know of
no other weekly in the state that
provides its readers such de-
tailed accounts of criminal trials.
In fact, I know of no other weekly
newspaper whose coverage of lo-
cal issues is so comprehensive.
Is there any newspaper in the
state, weekly or daily, that cov-
ers local school sports like The
Journal? The sports section is a
gem.
From Charlie Gay's delightful
"Christmas list" editorial(his ed"
itorials and the letters to the edi-
tor are always must-reads) to the
newsy weekly report from Har-
stine Island (in which I was
pleased to see mention of Rod
Hammett, the famous KJR disc
jockey of days gone by), The Jour"
nal as always informs and enter"
tains its readers.
I am truly grateful we have
The Journal. I applaud its staff"
ers. As a retired newsman, mY
appreciation is huge for their ef'i
ibrts producing The Journal. It iS
truly gratifying to receive in mY
mailbox every Thursday the re"
suit of all the hard work they've
done that week.
I wish them all, and all their
readers, a Happy New Year for
2008.
John Kome
Mason Lake
00ournal of Opinion:
Just the way it is
That's just the way things are these days. There's nothing you
can do about it. So why worry about it?
A tinge of sadness overcame us as we read about the
proposed new superbuilding at Shelton High School.
A facilities task force has recommended replacing five
buildings at SHS with one 57,000-square-foot building
linking the administration and student union buildings.
It wasn't the need for new or better or larger facilities that
bothered us. It was the change in structural philosophy,
apparently partially brought about by modern times. The change
"would enhance student safety and staff supervision."
Part of what made SHS such a unique and beautiful high
school when it was built in the early '70s was its campus
arrangement with multiple buildings. Students got to
walk in the fresh air and elements - a brief encounter with
nature - between classes.
Now it seems that maniacs who walk into schools and start
shooting, and children who are behavior problems, dictate a
fundamental change in the sensory enjoyment students are
allowed at school. More than once, Pioneer bond boosters have
used student satty as one reason to construct a new school to
replace a beat-up one with multiple ways for bad guys to enter.
It's always disheartening to see the actions of a few
dictate the freedom and beauty the majority is allowed
to enjoy. Witness how the world has changed since the
actions of 19 fanatics in four planes. Part of the beauty of
the SHS campus was its tall and majestic firs, but many
trees came down when some kids started smoking and
doing "biological experiments" under them.
When we first visited the new middle school in the 1990s, we
were struck by how little natural light was let into classrooms,
as if a conscious eflbrt was made to deprive students of sunshine
and snowflakes, trees and hills, clouds and sky, the nature a soul
longs for. The focus, it seemed, was on the math the kids have
never learned. If you deprive them of the natural beauty around
them, they'll master binomial equations.
Perhaps the subtlety of the deprivationwas lost on 13-
year-olds, only noticeable to an adult who had enjoyed
sunlight streaming through his schools' windows and
walked to a store at lunch. Give kids phones they stare
at and punch six hours a day and computers they stare at
five hours a day and televisions they stare at four hours
a day and they'll be okay. And have the technonuts ride
everywhere, not walk in nature.
The same people who enjoyed nature and freedom are telling
today's kids they can't have those things. But that's just the way
things are these days. There's nothing you can do about it.
In an age when Sheltonians lock their doors when they
leave home and identity thieves go through garbage for
information, The Journalcan't run a subscription campaign
with young salespeople as it did for half a century because
parents don't want their 10-year-old going door to door in
today's dark world.
In today's dark world, you must have policemen in schools. Little
Mason County does. The adults who never had police in their
schools have decided it's necessary. The City of Port Townsend
just fired three people in its building department so it could have
a "school resource officer," spend $100,000 more on maintenance
and increase its cash on hand.
Modern times are dark and financially tough. The
taxpayers have spoken, There's nothing you can do about
it. So in Shelton, the city with the ninth highest crime rate
in the state, you don't replace a policeman who resigns.
In a growing county with tens of thousands of structures,
you propose axing the fire marshal.
That's just the way things are these days. The death spiral
is to cut government services and leave infrastructure upkeep
unfunded ibr decades so citizens get even madder at government
and send Tim Eyman even more money. In five years, when
growth hasn't paid for itself, it will just be worse.
In this atmosphere, for us to write our recent editorial
begging citizens to act on the need for parks is a joke. As
it does at school, nature will take a back seat.
The touch of nature is being lost as is the human touch. The
government must save money and turn off more citizens by
setting up phone mazes. We call the city number to reach the
administrator, reach an automaton, punch in a number to contact
him but get the city front desk and have to tell the receptionist
what we want, and she rings his office. We call another official
insulated by a secretary and get the secretary's voice mail. Four
days later she still hasn't called back. We call a fire district to
have the automaton give us mary options and tell us to punch
a number if no option fits. When we reach a human, she wants
to know why we got her. We explain that the machine told us to
punch her number. "No it didn't," she insists.
It's a different world out there now. That's just the way
things are these days. And the only thing more scary than
the fact that's the way things are is that people believe
nothing can be done about it.
-CG
ll
ournal
eounty usPs 492-800
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Shelton-Mason
County Journal, RO. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584.
Published weekly by Shelton Publishing Inc. at 227 West Cota Street, Shelton, Washington
Mailing address: P.O. 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: $32.00 per year in-county address,
$46.00 per year in state of Washington $56.00 per year out of state
Charles Gay, editor and publisher. Newsroom: 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. Advertising: Stephen
Gay, advertising manager; Dave Piertk and Harvey Morris, ad sales. Front office: Julie Orme,
business manager; Kathy Lester, circulation; Donna Kinnaird, bookkeeper; Cricket Carter, maUroom
supervisor. Composing room: Diane Riordan, supervisor; Margot Brand, Jan Kalllnen, pagination;
Frank Isaec, pagination, photo technician; Koleen Wood, typesetter, computer system manager;
William Adams, ad builder, computer system manager; Clinton Kendall, proofreader. Pressroom:
Wally Thaanum, pressman; Jon Hughes, pressman's assistant.
u
Page 4 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, December 27, 2007
M E MOR00E00 I LI A
SHOw
I00e. gders"
Kids commit Capital o
Editor, The Journal:
I commend Shelton High
School students who attended
the basketball game at Capital
on Tuesday. They sat corralled
in a corner of the gym, sur-
rounded by Shelton School Dis-
trict employees, like convicts on
a field trip.
Meanwhile, Capital students
hurled insults at them with
seemingly little or no conse-
quence. Aside from breaking
league rules concerning audi-
ence sportsmanship, three full
lister, Hollister" and "You shop
at Wal-Mart." Apparently their
school district employees didn't
think this was offensive enough
to warrant removal of all stu-
dents involved in the chant.
Our students showed great
self-control and behaved in
the manner expected of them.
That's real class. In contrast,
Capital students proved that
class is something that can't be
purchased, even at Hollister.
However, I am astounded at
how ineffective SHS staff was
and protectors of our kids, c
as guards to keep the allege
naughty, volatile Shelton Higl
School students in line? If thel
are not operating on the pren
ise that our kids are good, thel
they have no business beinl
involved in any aspect of the
education.
Does SHS staff think the
policing efforts were a success'
Probably, after all, no fightl
broke out, and no one went homl
scarred, right? Well, at least na
visibly.
rows of Capital students were al- at stopping the insults. Were Ione K. Vrabe
lowed to chant things like "Hol- they in attendance as advocates Sheltol
Applause for combined choirsll
Editor, The JournaL" back, we did not have the op ..... A sincere "well-done" to Eliza I
.I am sure that I speak for those portunity to attend anything of beth Berndt and Matthew Melen
dez Blegen ibr showing Us' Sha[
by cooperative effort, you trnlt
fortunate citizens who attended
the joint Harstine Island/Annas
Bay choral concert December 16
at Shelton High School when I
applaud the choirs for their out-
standing performance of holiday
music.
The quality of performance
was extremely high. A few years
this caliber, for no such musical
groups existed.
Should a similar program be
offered next year, it might be
hoped that two performances
could be scheduled so that more
people would have the opportu-
nity to hear what is a community
treasure.
can attain something which il
greater than the sum of its parts
I am looking forward eagerly t
future ventures by their organi
zations.
Myron SkubinnS
Unio
'Prevented genius' idea flawed
States as were present in Thomas
Jefferson's lifetime. Does anyone
see 100 statesmen of Jefferson's
stature in modern U.S. govern-
ment? Madison's? Washington's?
I sure don't. I don't even see one.
Advocates of the "prevented
genius" idea never, ever men-
tion the flip side of the same coin,
namely that population stabili-
zation could prevent the births of
new Stalins, Torquemadas, Josef
Mengeles, Genghis Khans, Jack
the Rippers, Vlad the Impalers
and their ilk. Unfortunately, I do
see rather more characters like
these on the modern scene than
people like Jefferson, Lincoln or
Shakespeare.
Good people and even ex-
ceptional people develop from
educational opportunities and
worthwhile challenges, not from
random genetic recombinations.
Overpopulation interferes with
education - think expanded clas
sizes for a close-to-home exam'
ple. By driving shortages of fuel,
ibod, housing, fertile land, wate
and other resources, populatio
growth produces more desperate,
violent people than ones likely to
improve our human condition.
In terms of the kinds of people
likely to be created by it, popu"
lation growth actually tips the
balance in the negative direction.
Birth control and educational op"
portunities for real people who
are here now are our best bets for
a livable future, not vague hopes
that an endlessly growing popu"
lation will somehow produce Jef"
fersons and Einsteins.
David H. Milne
Shelto
Editor, The Journal:
One of the standard objections
to the idea of stopping population
growth and stabilizing human
numbers is always "... but just
think of all the geniuses whose
births would be prevented if we
do that!" A recent writer men-
tions this idea (December 13,
"Don't be pessimist on growth"),
invoking Lincoln, Einstein and
Mother Teresa. Unfortunately,
this claim is totally bogus.
If larger populations are sup-
posed to guarantee more excep-
tional people, then why hasn't
it happened? Britain now has
about 13 times as many people
as during Shakespeare's day. So,
where are the 13 modern Shake-
speares?
There are now about 100 times
as many people in the United
Gratifying to read The Journall:l
Editor, The Journal."
I have a real fondness for our
weekly newspaper. Last Thurs-
day's Journal pleasantly brought
more evidence for my respect and
admiration.
Good reading and good writ-
ing spread throughout its pag-
es. From the wonderfully warm
front-page piece by Sean Hanlon
(a 91-year-old makes violins and
cares for his 90-year-old wife) to
The Belfair Herald's reportage
of an unusual effort to clean up
Highway 3 eyesores (Brian and
Jacquie Petersen's unique mon-
etary contributions for signboard
destruction), The Journal was
replete with reader satisfactions.
The paper was heftier than
usual. And that was because of
the many delightful Christmas
posters submitted by grade-
school artists and wonderfully
reproduced by The Journal. I pc-
rused them all (and by so doing
of course took notice of the local
merchants who thoughtfully un-
derwrote them with their spon-
sorships).
There was the usual detailed
coverage of hard news. These
reports ranged from the latest
assessment of storm damage in
Mason County to the in-depth re-
portage of court trials. One may
not read every word of court-
house happenings, but it is there
for you if you want it. I know of
no other weekly in the state that
provides its readers such de-
tailed accounts of criminal trials.
In fact, I know of no other weekly
newspaper whose coverage of lo-
cal issues is so comprehensive.
Is there any newspaper in the
state, weekly or daily, that cov-
ers local school sports like The
Journal? The sports section is a
gem.
From Charlie Gay's delightful
"Christmas list" editorial(his ed"
itorials and the letters to the edi-
tor are always must-reads) to the
newsy weekly report from Har-
stine Island (in which I was
pleased to see mention of Rod
Hammett, the famous KJR disc
jockey of days gone by), The Jour"
nal as always informs and enter"
tains its readers.
I am truly grateful we have
The Journal. I applaud its staff"
ers. As a retired newsman, mY
appreciation is huge for their ef'i
ibrts producing The Journal. It iS
truly gratifying to receive in mY
mailbox every Thursday the re"
suit of all the hard work they've
done that week.
I wish them all, and all their
readers, a Happy New Year for
2008.
John Kome
Mason Lake