Page A-4 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, Feb. 10, 2011

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Published weekly by Shelton-Mason County Journal, Inc.at 227 West Cota Street, Shelton, WashingtonMailing address: P.O. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584Telephone (360) 426-4412 • www.masoncounty.comPeriodicals postage paid at Shelton, Washington

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Shelton-Mason County Journal is a member of Washington Newspaper Publishers’ Association.

SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $37 per 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 Journal, Inc

Rick Kennedy, publisher

Newsroom: Jesse Mullen, editorKevan Moore, news editor Dean Siemon, sports Arla Shephard, North Mason, environment, reporter Natalie Johnson, reporter Advertising:

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Front office: Donna Kinnaird, bookkeeper Margot Brand, circulation Cricket Carter, mailroom supervisor

Composing room: William Adams, graphics

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Pressroom: Kelly Riordan, production manager Travis Miller press operator

Commissioner Erickson misled Washington House committee

On Friday, Mason County Commis-sioner Lynda Ring Erickson testified be-fore the Washington House’s Local Gov-ernment Committee. It is the opinion of this newspaper that Erickson misled the committee while garnering support for House Bill 1478.

Erickson claimed that with “the amount [Mason County] spent on these publications we could keep the auditor, the asses-sor, the treasurers office open for two hours a day, they are now closed, and add full services for homeless teens.”

That amount was $153,895 according to Erickson.

The bill Erickson was testifying about only pertains to re-quired legal notice publications in newspapers of record, but the number Erickson presented was supposedly all media spending by the county, nearly 80 percent of which she and her fellow commissioners already have the choice not to spend.

While presenting this informa-tion, Erickson did not know the actual amount Mason County had spent on le-gal notices in 2010. After the committee questioned the validity of her numbers, she admitted she might not be compar-ing “apples to apples.” Erickson claims she later sent an e-mail to the commit-tee with an updated (but still incorrect) amount of “about $60,000.”

When questioned about the presented amounts by the Journal on Tuesday Erickson still did not know the amount Mason County spent on legal notices.

The number is less than $35,000. The Journal discovered this after a two min-ute phone call to the county auditor’s office.

When presented with the accurate amounts, Erickson shifted blame for her misinformation to the Washington State As-sociation of Counties (WSAC), saying that it provided the infor-mation. But Erickson sits on the legislative steering committee of the WSAC and is a past president of the organization.

By our count, Er-ickson misled the leg-islature once, was too

lazy to fact check her information when she presented it a second time, and has defended her ignorance of the facts by passing the blame to the WSAC.

During Erickson’s meeting with the Journal editorial board, she claimed that “if” she made a mistake she was apologetic.

There is no “if” Commissioner Erick-son. You presented misleading informa-tion to a Washington House Committee with the intent of promoting a bill that undermines the public’s ability to keep tabs on local government.

All of Mason County deserves an apology.

Washington HB1478

Modifies publication requirements to allow certain local government entities to post information related to the adoption of ordinances and the scheduling and content of public meetings on government web sites.

According to the Wash-ington State Dept. of Social and Health Services, Ma-son County ranks poorly in most every category tracked, especially those re-lating to health, economics, high-risk profiles and acci-dental deaths. Such statis-tics are a dismal reflection of our current priorities.

It would seem that much of what works in our County derives from car-ing individuals moved to participate in programs like Mason County literacy, S.O.C.K, Mason Matters, St. David’s outreach, Habi-tat for Humanity, Immi-grant rights advocacy, local food banks and other social aid efforts.

Clearly, there is no shortage of good people in our community, only a shortage of good political leadership.

From 2000 to 2006, our County experienced one the biggest and longest periods of prosperity in its his-tory, yet by 2008 we were already mired in economic hardship. That’s what poor leadership looks like in dollars and sense; no plan, no future. Just as with our own, personal finances our first course of action should be to stop digging ourselves into a hole. Yet, just last week the BOCC authorized over $108,000 for new courthouse security (real cost, about $150,000). In an effort to save money, public services are being cut and streetlights turned off, but two of our three County Commissioners still find ways to waste public funds on programs of which there is no immediate need.

In this age of shifting priorities our officials need to back away from policies that have failed not only the public, but the business community as well.

Tourism, timber, and shellfish industries play an important role in any eco-nomic recovery effort, but our current path toward biomass to power plants will sharply curtail tour-ism, jeopardize the shellfish industry and use our for-

ests as fuel for the proposed Adage and Simpson plants. Make no mistake; imma-ture trees are already being harvested for that purpose.

As a result, future tour-ism will likely be pushed far north of Shelton, pol-luted storm-water will continue to attack the Oak-land Bay shellfish and poor forestry practice will result in excessive erosion and a nutrient starved ecosystem.

But it doesn’t have to be that way; there are other, more viable options avail-able.

Starting this year, eight to ten thousand Baby-Boomers will turn sixty-five every day and this trend will go on for the next eighteen years; the larg-est demographic with the most personal wealth our country has ever produced. Many of these folks will be looking to relocate to more rural communities, but few will want to live in the shadow of towering smoke-stacks emitting pollutants from the incineration of biomass.

The fact is, most people prefer standing trees to those going down the road on the back of a truck, which means forests are a source of revenue even before the trees are har-vested.

If even a small fraction of Boomers choose to relo-cate to Mason County, the economic benefits will be dramatic, long lasting and could easily result in put-ting our financial house back in order.

The timber industry plays an important role in this new paradigm, maybe even the biggest role. My wife and I moved here in 2005, partly because we loved the idea of living in an area where people used local resources in a sustain-

able and responsible man-ner. We viewed the Simp-son train that periodically stops traffic across Railroad Avenue as an attraction, and still do.

As a member of the first wave of Boomers (1946), we brought our money, our enthusiasm, our skills and our dreams to our new com-munity; creating jobs as we remodeled homes and de-veloped property. No other demographic embodies the entrepreneurial spirit more than Boomers. And like many to follow, we also have a need to contribute to our community through participation in volunteer programs.

But biomass to power plants will put an end to that and to any possibility of Shelton becoming a com-munity that attracts new people with new ideas. The real tragedy is that we also lose an opportunity for eco-nomic growth from new en-trepreneurial ventures that would have brought more employment opportunities than could ever be gained from the biomass industry.

Mason County can over-come its challenges without losing our identity, but we need to diversify our eco-nomic base if we are to ben-efit from a rapidly changing business environment.

‘Adapt or Die’ is the law of nature as it is the rule of capitalism; it matters little if we like it, but it will mat-ter greatly if we ignore it.

Now is not the time for followers, but the time for leaders with the courage and vision to chart a new course toward a more prom-ising future. Let other com-munities bite the hook bait-ed with biomass, commit-ting themselves to cycles of poverty. Mason County should heed the instinct of the salmon our area is fa-mous for and swim against the current for the sake of future survival. The old gives way to the new; it is simply how the world turns, and those who come to terms with it sooner than later will prosper or fail, accordingly.

Streetlights out and increase of

graffiti?Editor, the Journal

Recently I read in the Journal an article titled “Dark nights with fewer lights” explaining that phase one of the city’s project to turn off selected streetlights throughout the city in an effort to save money has been complet-ed. According to the ar-ticle, 47 streetlights have been turned off as a re-sult of phase one. The city commission is being asked to approve phase two of the project, which would turn out an additional 36 streetlights. Eventually, a third phase plans to elimi-nate another 24 street-lights.

Has anyone noticed the sudden increase in graffiti spray painted all around town? Probably just a co-incidence.

Jim KilloranShelton

No longer green

Editor, the JournalNow its 2017Back to see what’s come

to be

Out on fateful John’s Prairie

It doesn’t look so green to me

Empty homes, the woods scraped bare

A choking smog hangs in the air

People tried to say, “Please don’t”

Niceness didn’t stop the smoke

How were we to know, they say politicians feign dismay

Bellowing our dreams away

Many had foretold this day

We gave up and moved away

Now to check on those who stayed

Politicians had assured us

Money, it will cure what ills us

We need revenue, they cried

Then turned their heads as people died

Give us back our peti-tion

3,000 names and what’s been done?

Those who stayed they bought air filters

But something is way out of kilter

When kids must play all sports indoors

Now we’re all prisoners, of a sort

They’re held in deten-tion, even now

Prison inmates breathe air that’s foul

Is this an extra punish-ment

for the inmates of a prison town?

We were ignored, our questions shunned

Plans went ahead, the damage is done

I still remember the happy days

When kids could go out-side to play

Now its 2017Back to see what’s come

to beOut on fateful John’s

PrairieIt doesn’t look so green

to me

Time to adapt or die

By Tom Davis

Journal Letter PolicyThe Journal welcomes and encourages your letters to the editor. We will print signed, original letters of local interest. We will not publish letters that are libelous or scurrilous in nature. Letters should be under 350 words and provide contact and address information for the Journal.