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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
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Page A-4 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, Dec. 27, 2012