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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
December 27, 2012     Shelton Mason County Journal
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December 27, 2012
 
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GUESTCOLUMN KOMENCOMMENT les imp all know of the first ladies of the White House. Every one of them, from Martha Washington to Mi- chele Obama, is familiar!to us. And rightly so, for they have made their mark in our history books. But what of the first ladies in Wash- ington state history? The women who oc- cupied the Governor's Mansion in Olympia deserve to be recognized for the role they played in our state's history. We've had two women governors, Dixy Lee Ray and Christine Gregoire, and their names are familiar. But hardly anyone can recall the names of those who presided in the man- sion as the wives of governors, the state's By JOHN KOMEN first ladies. So it was a welcome find to come across a slim volume titled "First Families." Published and writtenlin 1988 by Mary Lou Hanify, the 92-page booklet ,traces the state's first ladies from Sarah Ferry to Jean Gardner. Sarah Kellogg Ferry, the wife of the state's first governor, Elisha Ferry, was a 90-pound dynamo who joined her husband in the little village of Olym- pia in 1872 when he was first appointed governor of Washington Territory. She had 11 children, seven of whom survived child- hood diseases to accompany her on the trip to Olympia from Illinois. "Sarah Ferry proved to be a most ef- ficient and gracious mistress of the gover- nor's household," wrote author Hanify. A formal portrait of the first first lady shows a confident, petite Sarah in a fashionable hat and full-length gown; she's looking di- rectly into the camera. It was a reluctant May McGraw who became the second first Lady of Washing- LETTERSTOTH EEDITOR ton. The wife of John MqGraw, she wanted nothing to do with Olympia when her hus- band was elected in 1892. "May, who had no interest in politics or society, also had begged her husband not to run for office," says Hanify. It is understandable; he took office just before the devastating depres- sion of 1893. It was not a good time to be governor or first lady. Nor did the next first lady, Sarah Rog- ers, like the role, "caring little for politics." Fourth first lady Alice Marie McBride, statuesque when photog~'aphed in a full- length formal gown, was the wife of Gov. Henry McBride, the only governor not elected to the job. He succeeded to the of- fice when Gov. Rogers d~ed, and McBride then lost his only bid at election. Even more unusual were the events that faced Zephorina Cosgrove, wife of the sixth governor of Washington, Samuel Cosgrove. Stricken with Bright's disease, Gov.-elect Cosgrove and his first lady were able to spend only a single day in Olym- pia, just long enough for Cosgrove, on a for the healthier climate California. The first first lady to i stretcher, to be sworn in as governor. He was granted an immedi~.te leave of ab- sence, and he and Zephc rina left directly s of Southern ive in what is now the Governor's Mansion on Capitol Cam- pus was Lizzie Muir Ha r. Her husband, Marion Hay, was lieute~ Lant governor and became the chief executive when Gov. Cos- grove died in 1909, the year the mansion was built. Lizzie moved ~n and personally set about to fill the unfurnished place with furniture. She became klaown as the "be- loved lady of the mansion." Maintaining the mansion became the cause of a more recent first lady, Nancy Evans, wife of three-term Gov. Dan Evans. In 1973, Mrs. Evans led efforts to save the old building from being torn down. With her leadership, funds wSre appropriated to renovate the building instead of razing it. Others have followed Mrs. Evans' ex- ample, and the stately Governor's Mansion continues to be in the caring hands of first ladies. • John Komen, who lives on Mason Lake, was for 40 years a reporter and edi- tor, TV anchorman, national TV network correspondent, producer, columnist, edito- rial writer and commentator. His column, Komen Comment, appears each week in the Shelton-Mason County Journal. Shelton-Mason County Early childhood programs pay off in long run When legislators from high-quality preschools have cally been shown to reduce terming a student's success Mason County and found that at-risk kids who murder and assault rates by in kindergarten all the way across the state re- do not attend these programs 20 percent, through to graduation. When turn to Olympia next month, are more likely to drop out One of the few programs a disadvantaged child ar- they will once again under- of high school and abuse il- shown through rigorous rives at kindergarten lagging take the daunting task of legal drugs, research to increase gradu- behind his peers by one, two writing a balanced budget.~ They are ation rates is high-quality or even three years because These continue to be tough ~ 70 percent preschool. In the Perry Pre- he lacked access to quality times in our state, and tough more likelyschool Study, at-risk 3- and preschool, the state has not times require tough decisions to be ar- 4-year old children enrolled "amply provided" for his edu- -- decisions about what to rested for in the program were 44 per- cation. cut and what to keep. a violent cent more likely to graduate Our Legislature has dem- Added to Washington's crime by from high school than similar onstrated a commitment to projected budget shortfall age 18 children randomly assigned early learning during the of nearly a billion dollars is By CASEY and five not to participate in the pro- past several years, but there the need to make a signifi- times more gram. are still far too many low- cant down-payment on full SALISBURY likely to be The Washington State income children left out of funding of basic education as repeat of- Institute for Public Policy high-quality preschool due to required by the Washingtonfenders by age 27. recently told a legislative lack of funding. state Supreme Court in theIn contrast, at-risk chil- committee that high-quality This is why I have joined McCleary decision, which dren who participate in high- preschool for low-income more than 100 sheriffs, po- required Washington to fully quality preschool programs kids can increase high school lice chiefs and prosecutors fund K-12 education, are significantly less likely to graduation rates by 5.6 per- throughout the state in urg- My experiences as a peace end up in the criminal justice cent. ing governor-elect Jay Inslee officer, educator and par- system. As strongly as I support and the Legislature to in- ent have taught me that one Why is this? High school high-quality early learning crease funding for the Early place we must continue to graduation seems to be a key, programs on their merits Childhood Educatio~ and invest, and invest more, is and high-quality preschool alone, I also believe it is im- Assistance Program in the in early childhood education makes that more likely. High portant that the Legislature 2013-2015 budget. and development programs, school dropouts are 3 1/2meet both the spirit and Additional investment in Proven programs for at- times more likely to be ar- the letter of the McCleary ECEAP will not only help en- risk children from birth to 5 rested and eight times more decision -- that the state's sure that the state fulfills its years have shown over and likely to be incarcerated than paramount duty is "to make "paramount duty" to educate over that they not only re- high school graduates, ample provision for the our children, it will also lead duce child abuse and neglect, According to research cited education of all children in to less crime and safer com- they ensure that kids arrive in a report from Fight Crime: Washington" munities in the future. at school ready to learn. They Invest in Kids, a national In doing so, our policy- also save lives and money in crime prevention organiza- makers in Olympia must not • Casey Salisbury has the long-run, tion, a 10 percent increase in overlook the critical impact of been Mason County Sheriff Long-term studies of graduation rates has histori- high-quality preschool in de- since 2007. Thank you for quick response Editor, the Journal So often we take our utilities for grant- ed. When we experience outages, there are many who work many hours to make sure the rest of us get our power turned back on as quickly as possible. I would like to say a public thank you to Mason County PUD 1, PUD 3, Olympic Air and everyone else in- volved, for minimizing last week's outage! Kathryn Adams Union Some thoughts on gun control Editor, the Journal The recent massacre of first-graders, educators and administrators in Connecti- cut is disturbing to say the least. What is even more disturbing is that a member of the Republican-controlled Tennessee state Legislature plans to introduce a bill that would allow that state to pay for secretly armed teachers in classrooms so potential shooters don't know who has a gun and who doesn't. The stated reasoning behind that absurd approach is that if "the shoot- er" doesn't know which teacher has train- ing, then he wouldn't know which teacher had a gun. Let's hope, no, let's pray, the good citizens of that state do not allow that legislation to move forward. If any school district in the country can afford to secretly train and arm teachers I have to ask, '~/Vhat are your district's achievement results?" To expand the cul- ture of violence and treat our public schools as just another venue to conduct violence is absurd. What country am I living in? Now, I have been told that some hunt- ers need to take four, five or six shots to take down their game, but do hunters need ammunition dips for rapid, high capacity firing in excess of say, 12 shots? If so, I am not sure what kind of sport is involved. Poor marksmanship is a poor excuse for high-capacity ammunition clips: perfect the cral~ one shot at a time. Now, what about military-style assault weapons? Oh, yeah, they are a trophy in a gun collector's case. How cool is that? Impress your friends and maybe a You- Tube audience with your big, bad gun. I appreciate the history of a vintage firearm and understand why someone would want to own one or more, but really, how far should that excuse be accepted to stockpile weaponry? Legislation regarding firearms is in order. The insane should not be able to procure firearms. People convicted of violent felony crimes involving a firearm should not be able to buy guns at a gun show. The people up to no good should not be able to stockpile weapons and ammunition. Sales of firearms on the Internet should not be allowed. The gun culture is out of control and the burial of 20 tiny, little bodies should spur some kind of reform. Elected officials should stand up and resist the NRA's ab- surd mission to completely deregulate the sale of firearms. At the very least, legisla- tors should enact reform to strengthen registration requirements and prevent the gun show loop holes and heavily tax the sale and resale of assault weapons and the ammunition for those types of fire arms and use the tax money for victims of gun crimes and for law enforcement. Amendment II of the U.S. Constitution states "A well regulated militia, being nec- essary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." In my opinion, crime cartels, insane people, gun collectors, hunters and members of fringe movements do not meet the definition of "a well regu- lated militia." The U.S. Constitution does not forbid common sense reform regarding manufacture, sale, use and taxing of fire- arms and ammunition, but again, that is just my opinion. A gun enthusiast who collected firearms and who reportedly enjoyed target shoot- ing with her son ended up being shot to death, while she was sleeping, by her own son, with her own weapon, who then went on a flail-scale violent rampage assault on a public school. How sad is that? What's even sadder is that 20 tiny, little human beings don't get to live. Victoria Pavel Shelton Chamber awards are not rigged Editor, the Journal I would like to take the opportunity to respond to Judith Giroux's letter on Dec. 20 concerning the Shelton Chamber of Commerce's annual awards. I donot know what is driving the accusation of" ... (Does) their vote re- ally count or has the chamber already decided who will receive an award." Here is how the process works: first, a member in good standing of the cham- ber may nominate any other chamber member in good standing for Business of the Year, Citizen of the Year, or Volunteer of the Year. All nominations are accepted and then submitted to the membership in our newsletter and emails. In early November, members received a ballot that is key-coded so that each business may only cast one vote. Those votes are tallied and a win- ner is determined by popular vote of the membership. The chamber staff and beard do not pre-select winners. Each beard member through its own business has one vote just like every other mem- ber of the chamber. Our annual awards have become a big attraction to our membership as has the annual awards gala. I look forward to celebrating our 91st year with our fellow members in January. Drew MacEwen, President, board of trustees, the Shelton Mason County Chamber of Commerce Union USPS 492-800 i Shelton-Mason County Journal is a member of Washington Newspaper Publishers' Association. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Shelton-Mason SUBSCRIPTION RATES: County Journal, RO. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584. $37 per year for Mason County addresses, Published weekly by Shelton-Mason County Journal, Inc. $51 per year in state of Washington but outside at 227 West Cota Street, Shelton, Washington Mason County, $61 per year out of state. Mailing address: P.O. Box 430, $helton, WA 98584 Telephone (360) 426-4412 * www.masoncounty.com Owned and published by Periodicals postage paid at Shelton, Washington Shelton-Mason County Journal, Inc Karl Sleight, publisher Advertising: Dave Pierik, Sr. Acct. Executive Newsroom: Maggie Burdick, ad representative Adam Rudnick, editor Natalie Johnson, reporter Front office: Donna Kinnaird, bookkeeper Gordon Weeks, reporter Emily Hanson, sports reporter Renee 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. 27, 2012