Letters to the Editor

Editor’s note: The following two letters are from current political candidates rebutting previously published letters. The Journal did not allow new endorsement or candidate letters in this week’s paper.

Mandated function

Editor, the Journal,

I am writing in response to a letter published in last week’s Shelton-Mason County Journal from Ginger Brooks. The letter seeks to defend the incumbent’s record in office by using the statements made by the incumbent to support Ms. Brooks’ comments. In contrast, the issues I’ve addressed throughout my campaign are supported by documentation obtained through public records requests from the Administrative Office of the Courts and the Mason County Clerk.

Ms. Brooks commented that “the process of collections is not a mandated function of the Clerk’s Office.” This comment is misleading in that it seems to imply that the county clerk has no obligation, whatsoever, to collect legal financial obligations as ordered by the court. This is hardly the case. RCW 9.94A.760 clearly details the role of the clerk with respect to collections. In addition, the RCW states that the county clerk is authorized to collect unpaid legal financial obligations at any time the offender remains under the jurisdiction of the court and that “for offences committed on or after July 1, 2000, the court retains jurisdiction over the offender until the obligation is completely satisfied.” Collections is absolutely an essential function of the county clerk and, if elected, I intend to ensure collections are handled with the highest level of integrity.

Charles Rhodes, Republican candidate for Mason County clerk, Shelton

Duenkel a gifted politician

Editor, the Journal,

In last week’s paper, my opponent for county auditor used a letter to the editor and a paid advertisement to continue to lie to you about our election system. The paid ad spouted the same lies that he had used before and appeared two weeks after a front-page story appeared in the Journal titled “State rebuts Duenkel claims.” Proven wrong, he doubles down and buys an ad to lie to you.

My opponent is a gifted politician with a great smile who will tell you exactly what he thinks you want to hear. At public forums on consecutive nights in September, he told the League of Women Voters that his “election integrity” report was nonpartisan and the next night in Union he described it as an effort of the Mason County Republican Party. He tells people that he moved to Mason County six years ago, but five years ago he voted in Snohomish County. If you did that he would howl fraud, but he hides behind Washington’s voter-friendly laws that he decries as inviting fraud to justify this. And he hasn’t bothered to vote in half of the elections since he moved here.

In his campaign signs and ads, he promises integrity and transparency, but his campaign has delivered neither. There is no integrity in telling lies to voters to try to get elected. And there is no transparency in a candidate that won’t talk to reporters. He refused to talk to reporters from KING 5, the Seattle Times and The Associated Press. Reporters ask hard questions and have follow-ups. He is afraid of hard questions because they expose his lies.

After his thoroughly discredited report on election fraud in Mason County, he has a new report based on the fact that he got fewer votes than Rep. Dan Griffey in the primary election. He assumes that voters are not smart enough to cross party lines and vote for the person rather than just the party. It is unimaginable to him that a Mason County voter could value my experience and Rep. Griffey’s experience and vote for us both.

Here’s the truth: my opponent is hyper-partisan and only trusts elections in which the candidates he likes win. I’m an election professional with over 20 years of experience at the federal, state and now local level. I have promised to accept the result of this election whether I win or lose, my opponent has not.

Serving as your county auditor for the last four years has been an honor. I am proud to have the endorsement of former Republican Secretary of State Sam Reed and to have been selected by my colleagues to be president of the Washington State Association of County Auditors in 2024. I am proud of the fact that I was selected by the Trump administration to be an official election observer in Ukraine in 2019 and by the Biden administration to Kyrgyzstan in 2021. I hope to have the opportunity to continue to do a job that I love and serve you for the next four years.

Paddy McGuire, Mason County auditor, Shelton

The oil barons

Editor, the Journal,

We’ve all see the headlines about how much profit the oil companies are making during these difficult times.

I do not understand why the bill that barely passed in the House that will give President Joe Biden authority to declare an energy emergency that would make it unlawful to increase gasoline and home energy fuel prices in an “excessive” or exploitative manner, has not passed in the Senate. This bill will direct the Federal Trade Commission to punish companies that engage in price gouging. I would like to know, yes or no, if they are engaging in price gouging.

I would imagine that the folks being represented by the senators who are opposing this bill do need and buy gas and are probably struggling to do so. Why do us regular folks have to suffer to buy gas and heat our homes while the oil companies are raking in record profits? Oh, I know, they donate money to those senators and those senators do not care about their constituents — only the money. You do not have to vote along your party line 100% of the time; you need to vote for the person that actually cares about you and our future.

Karen Bouton, Lilliwaup

Old growth critical

Editor, the Journal,

The Evergreen State is blessed with abundant forests. Both our private and public forestlands provide needed wood products and jobs for local communities. Long-term sustainability of the timber industry means we must look at the big picture and pay attention to the evolving research about forest ecology. Forest management decisions on our public forestlands must be in alignment with the current realities of climate change and loss of biodiversity.

One of the miracles of trees is their ability to sequester carbon. Sequestration is a term for the ability, via photosynthesis, for trees to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and turn it into wood fiber. Trees are essentially pillars of carbon.

Climate scientists see mature and old-growth trees as massive storehouses of carbon. Trees remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, one of the greenhouse gasses forcing the climate to spin out of control. Trees keep the carbon and release the oxygen back into the air, constantly refreshing the atmosphere. The bigger the tree, the more carbon it has stored.

The forest is not just the trees, but a complex ecosystem, where the carbon stored in the soil is as important as the aboveground biomass. This is a key to our understanding of all the aspects of carbon sequestration in forests. Mature and old-growth forests generally store more carbon in trees and soil than young forests, and continue to accumulate it over decades to centuries.

Recent forest ecology research has been revealing critical information regarding the importance of protecting mature and old-growth forests on public forestlands, in light of the reality of climate change and the loss of biodiversity.

A 2022 report synthesizing more than 90 research studies demonstrated the importance of preserving intact, mature and old-growth forests on public forestlands to reach our goals of limiting climate change. (Creating Strategic Reserves to Protect Forest Carbon and Reduce Biodiversity Losses in the United States, https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/11/5/721).

In addition to reducing our consumption of fossil fuels, we need to draw down the dangerous levels of CO2 in the atmosphere. The most feasible and effective (natural solution) for the latter is preserving our mature and old-growth forests on public forestlands. Climate change mitigation and biodiversity protection is an essential component of forest management decision-making.

An excerpt from the article [regarding public forestland]:

“Preserving and protecting mature and old forests would not only increase carbon stocks and growing carbon accumulation, they would slow and potentially reverse accelerating species loss and ecosystem deterioration, and provide greater resilience to increasingly severe weather events such as intense precipitation and flooding.”

The mature and old-growth forests on Washington’s public forestlands are some of the most carbon rich and biodiverse ecosystems in the world. Their ecosystem services include climate regulation, erosion control and hydrological regulation. They are treasures not only for Mason County, but the state and the entire planet.

Sherri Dysart, Shelton

Think for yourself

Editor, the Journal,

I would like to address my comments to last Thursday’s letter from Rex Davis (and other like-minded souls). Before the 2020 election, I asked a neighbor, a Democrat, if she agreed with and supported all the planks of President Joe Biden’s/Democrats’ platform, some of which were so against the good of our country I couldn’t believe anyone would vote for them. Her answer was, certainly not; she did not think any of them were a good idea. Then why are you voting a straight Democrat ticket, I asked.

Her answer was that her family has voted Democrat for generations and she didn’t want to buck tradition. Closing my gap-mouth, I thought, now that was the most stupid thing I have ever heard. That is until I read Mr. Davis’s letter. I don’t care what you think of ex-President Donald Trump or the lies you heard; I don’t care if he were a two-headed four-armed alien from outer space, but to dump all your conservative beliefs and votes and vote Democratic simply because a candidate mentioned she had met this so called “monster” and, at the time was impressed with him; or that her picture was taken with him, or that any worthy candidate that is supported by voters who may have voted for Trump should be poop-canned, now that is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. Mr. and Mrs. Davis, you have drunk the Kool-Aid of the left that so hated Trump they did atrocious things to his campaign and administration, perpetuating lies anyone who followed him daily would know were not true. The fact that you misquoted him “Maybe we could inject Lysol into humans to cure COVID” proves to me you have been hoodwinked by left-wing media, propaganda and lies. I watched that particular press conference where doctors were discussing the properties of disinfectants and ultraviolet light in killing the COVID virus on surfaces. Trump asked about the possibilities of using virus killing components internally, i.e., antivirals that are now used. By the way, using ultraviolet light internally has been done before. At no time did Trump suggest injecting cleaning agents into the body. The press purposely misinterpreted and ran with it and idiots believed it and spread it. This is true with just about everything this man did and accomplished, but Trump is not on the ballot, so chill out. I won’t go into Trump, but I will say that, as a Republican, abandoning very good, conservative candidates, some veterans still strong, some new faces, energy and ideas just because a Trump voter happens to support them is just an excuse to not do your homework; ignorance at its worst. So go ahead, if the last two years have been great for you, vote for people that have turned America upside down, spreading hate and lies while doing it. With your kind of thinking, you will fit right into the Democratic party, but I’m hoping you wise up. America is sick; let’s make America great again. God bless her.

Katie Groves, Shelton

What we care about

Editor, the Journal,

I’ve been campaigning throughout the 35th Legislative District and voters have told me they are for clean air, water, land and food. They are concerned about good schools and affordable/accessible housing/health care plus services for seniors, including continuing robust Social Security, Medicare and transportation. In this district, people want representatives working for solutions to current problems which move us closer to solving environmental/transportation challenges more equitably.

They remind us that we are a nation united for liberty and justice for all. Please vote Democratic by Nov. 8 to move us forward toward a “more perfect union.”

Michael Siptroth, Belfair

More to the story

Editor, the Journal,

The auditor and media claim that there were never any challenges to voter registrations filed, in an attempt to discredit the canvassing work done by the Mason County Voter Research Project. This is not true. Voters should understand that there is more to the story.The research project found that 18 of the 239 confirmed voter anomalies found in the 2020 General Election “voted” again in the 2022 primary. In response, I carefully followed the process spelled out by state law: I used official forms provided by the auditor and then personally carried them to his office on Sept. 6 and placed them directly in his hands. These challenges were filed at least 45 days prior to the upcoming General Election as required by law. Instead of investigating these repeat anomalies, the auditor dismissed the challenges, stating that we had not submitted the required documentation with the forms. In fact, this documentation was hand-delivered to the Auditor’s Office on June 14, per RCW 29A.08.810 (1)(c)(ii) in an initial inquiry with him. Apparently he chose to ignore it, or he forgot. Did the auditor contact us for follow-up? No, instead he hid behind the law, and dismissed the challenges.

Our auditor is not interested in responding to our concerns, or in cleaning up our voter rolls. Mason County needs and deserves an auditor who will respond to citizen concerns and take the job seriously.

Michael Hill, Shelton

None so blind

Editor, the Journal,

After reading some of the letters to the editor on our gold standard election system it appears Steve Duenkel is right over the target to get this much attention from The Associated Press and other national media. It appears Paddy McGuire is important to a lot of people not just in this county.

KING 5 News even sent a team to investigate claims of anomalies which is the equivalent to having the mainstream investigate Hunter Biden’s laptop. A topic the mainstream doesn’t want to talk about.

It is said there is no fraud in our elections because of mail-in voting and drop boxes in spite of all the evidence to the contrary. This is like saying the sun isn’t hot but you won’t see it on the mainstream as much as they try to hide it.

Yes, the truth does matter and it is coming out. For those who refuse to believe that the 2020 election was ripe with fraud in spite of all the evidence available for those who look for it. It can only be said there are none so blind as those who will not to see.

Ralph E. and Bonnie Aldrich, Shelton

Republic needs you

Editor, the Journal,

I have lived through more of our country’s history than most, eight decades. Now that was a lot of time spent hearing and seeing members of my society trying to bend, twist and generally fabricate situations to their own version of truth and facts. In school it was the bullies who had you believe them in fear of humiliation or physical harm. So, you learned it was sometimes better to act out in a way to please them than risk the challenge.Still, you knew it was not right and it did not change your own opinion for doing and saying what you felt was right in the freedom of your own world. And that, my fellow citizens, is exactly what is represented in our constituted republic’s right of voting representatives to govern the rest of us. Except those bullies are back to make you feel there is something wrong with our expression of voting. They would have you believe our process is wrongfully in the control of an unnamed force. But you should take note that their arguments always lack the who, what, where, when, how and why (read evidence) of that unnamed force.

That’s right, not a single case of those expressions of voting control by the unknown has been successfully proven in our courts or in the unfettered investigations by our social watchdog, the legitimate news media. Only in the minds and words of those who would twist truth and facts to their own version of mind control by bully tactics is this farce being manufactured.So, bear in mind this contentious world those bullies have created. Yes, created because this nation did not spend its last 200 plus years becoming one of the world’s most successful and financially stable places to live without finding its own faults of government and a way to fix them. You may even consider that it is the very reason the last administration of government was voted out after an only single term.It’s why this country has always been the desired place by all who have immigrated here to enjoy those freedoms and opportunities and continue to want access as their place to live and contribute. Many of them leaving countries subject to totalitarian rule rather than laws and voting influence.Vote as you please my fellow citizens, but choose wisely because your right of that expression is being challenged by those that would have you believe we should be a nation controlled by the politics of mere people, and not laws. Just be wary and informed, your republic needs that.

G. Owen Ray, Allyn