Letters to the Editor

Manager Ziegler

Editor, the Journal,

Mark Ziegler for city manager.

First, he's local; he knows Shelton and has lived here his entire life. Also, Mark has worked for the City of Shelton for 30-plus years. His experience and work ethic speaks volumes and will undoubtedly make him a great city manager.

Dave Putvin, Shelton

No evidence

Editor, the Journal,

Katherine Price has been an assiduous detective for the last two weeks, sniffing out hate crimes in the Journal's letters section. (Shame on you, Journal, for not finding and warning us of this hate!) In your April 6 edition, she accused Mr. Ardean Anvik and I of being "Hate speech writers."

Generally, I distrust anyone accusing another of committing a "hate crime." I'm sure real ones are out there, but I am not some new-age Nostradamus and cannot read minds like Ms. Price apparently can. There are just too many hoaxes loudly spread by leering, talking hairdos on TV or by greedy, liberal network bosses eager to advance racist narratives. (Jussie Smollett or Nick Sandmann come to mind, anyone?)

I have been a regular contributor to the Journal's letters section since February 2019, and have clipped and saved all of what I have written. I've reviewed that body of work and found no evidence of "hate-speech writing."

This was difficult for me. I confess to having a very, very dim view of today's Democratic Party, from its reckless spending to its recent lurch to the far left and to the constant and outrageous lies by President Joe Biden to the American people. Nevertheless, I approached this project with as much equanimity as I could muster. Also, I'm confident a sharp-eyed editor would have caught me earlier and not published anything.

So, Ms. Price, the ball is in your court. All I (and the readers here) want to see is some real evidence to back up your charges. Just tell us the date of the Journal and the precise words from my "hate-speech writing" and I will confess to being a dirty, hate-filled rat. Your move.

Oh yes, one more thing. You wrote another letter in the April 13 Journal titled, ironically, "What Biden has done." I apologize for not being able to respond to all of Biden's brilliant "accomplishments" that you listed. I just couldn't concentrate, because at most every turn, the loud ka-ching of a cash register kept intruding. You see, Biden and his one-party, Democratic Congress have spent trillions of inflation-building taxpayer dollars for those listed items, like climate change (good grief!) and a bigger IRS (yay!). You conspicuously avoided listing China anywhere among these "accomplishments."

China, of course, invites the question, "How did Joe Biden and his family become filthy rich in the last few years?" And on a politician's salary?

Robert E. Graham, Union

Thank you, donors

Editor, the Journal,

The Belfair Masons who meet at the hall of Hood Canal Lodge hosted the 70th annual Easter dinner on Sunday April 9. They would like to thank the North Mason businesses and families who donated money which was converted to dinner tickets. These tickets were passed on to North Mason Food Bank and Faith in Action. Tickets were then given to people in need to attend the dinner.

The donors are as follows:

Cascade Floral Products, Les Schwab Tire, Belfair Bob's Locksmith, Scott McLendon's Hardware, Olympia Federal Savings, Edward Jones Financial, Barbara Huson (Reid Realty), Peggy Huson, Andy and Pam Withers, Dan and Vicki Voorhees, Jimmy Johnson, Bill Crockett and Earl and Nancy Kratzer. Peninsula Topsoil & Landscape, Belfair Landing and Reid Realty were kind enough to provide advertising on their digital signs to promote the dinner.

Darold (Lee) Ison, Secretary, Hood Canal Lodge No. 288

Thanks, Billy

Editor, the Journal,

It was great to see content like Billy Thomas' column - "A call to action for our community." I couldn't agree more, so sign me up as antiracist. Diversity, equity and inclusion make our beautiful community healthier. Thanks, Billy.

Mya Keyzers, Oakland Bay

'Nonsense letter'

Editor, the Journal,

Did you know that there appears to be words that are distinctly attributable to Democrats or Republicans? Thus saith the Mason County literary sage, Ardean Anvik in his rebuttal to my April 6 response to his Senate Bill 5427 screed in the March 23 edition of the Shelton-Mason County Journal.

He also took issue with another rebuttal letter, from Katherine A. Price, in the same April 6 issue. I've always thought choice of words were distinctly personal. Now, perhaps not. I wonder if more "Republican" (i.e., Trumpian) words like "moron," "dolt" or the more descriptive one, "loser," had been used Mr. Anvik would have grasped the criticisms of his screed. Three more salient observations about Mr. Anvik's letters: 1) in his original letter, he used the logical fallacy of "ad baculum" (in layman's terms, "when baseless fear is employed in an excessive or exaggerated way to persuade others to accept a concept or adopt a behavior") i.e., "Woe be unto you if this law passes." 2) in his rebuttal letter, Mr. Anvik never disavows the criticisms; he only mocks them. Accordingly, could one reasonably assume that the criticisms were accurate? 3) By the way, what is a "nonsense letter"? The whole or a part or the writer? You be the judge.

Bill Pfender, Shelton

Celebration?

Editor, the Journal,

It was sad, amusing and ironic that the article "celebrating the celebration" of the colonist invader name that attached itself to what for 10,000 years was land under Native ownership on the prairie between Puget Sound and the canal just a few weeks ago, here, in your paper failed in any way to note that very recently, local Native people enjoyed complete and original ownership of that land under international law, how invaders stole it from its owners even before the federal government gave them permission to do so, and how that same federal government later gave invaders permission to steal Native land even before we were a state and before the treaties through which the state and federal government stole it from them.

The article also spoke of the sadness of the settler family as the federal government razed their grandparents' home and failed to note either that that same federal government had paid the family fair market value for the land or the sadness its Native original owners must've felt when the land that they had stewarded unselfishly for tens of thousands of years came under private ownership and exploitation for selfish economic gain.

Our slave-owning federal Constitution-writing white Founding Fathers included the right of compensation at fair market value for the taking of land for public use under eminent domain when they set out intentionally to steal land from its Native aboriginal ("from the origin") owners - as, again, the article failed to mention; instead, the article made it sound like a huge sacrifice, when the fact is they got paid. The hyperlink at the end of this sentence is to a very informative and even enlightening talk on United States settler colonialism and its ties to both right-wing fascism in the form of Trump-like and DeSantis-like government and even what seems to be its obvious opponent, Inslee-like modern liberalism: http://www.youtu.be/AQl4piQXgYo.

We all need to read and to know more than we have read and than we know, right now.

This could be a start.

Eric Valley, Shelton

Very proud

Editor, the Journal,

"Neglected graves are a pitiful thing."

That was a quotation from a television series. Hats off to the crew at Shelton Memorial Park. You will not find neglected graves.  Please visit and see. 

Tom Aaron, Shelton

Truth prevails

Editor, the Journal,

Finally, truth and facts prevail over misrepresentations, lies and inuendo. The Dominion Lawsuit settled for $787.5 million and an admission by Fox News that the overwhelming evidence presented to the judge prior to the trial demonstrated that Fox management, producers and pundits were not purveyors of truthful or factual information and could not claim in trial to have done so. Fox was forced to admit this as part of the settlement.

Unfortunately, Fox News was part of a misinformation campaign led by the former president to undermine confidence in our elections, a basis of our democracy. It is difficult to believe that the many Americans who believed the lies and misrepresentations did not avail themselves of the many other sources of information in this country. For those in the Fox News bubble, it is time to step out and explore the world where truth and facts do exist. Remember, the former president's attorney general, head of election security and many administration officials acknowledged that Joe Biden won the election and that there was no evidence of errors or fraud that would have changed the outcome of the election. Secretaries of state and elections officials in all fifty states submitted electors to Congress based on audited, certified vote counts.

Two and a half years later, there is no evidence of voter fraud despite the protestations by those who would take advantage of the division in our country exacerbated by those same gas lighting, snake oil salesmen who made fools of themselves and mislead so many. Sadly, the lies and misrepresentations resulted in an insurrection that left several police dead, one hundred forty police injured, and several million dollars damage the United States Capital Building. Locally, Mason County lost an experienced and capable auditor to the same misinformation and inuendo as pointed out twice by Channel Five News. To date, the same tactics continue, and no doubt are influencing those who want or need to be misled. It is time for many to step out of the Fox News bubble and figure out that they are stuck in a cycle of confirmation bias where they only listen to or believe that which conforms to their belief system. Remember, over time truth and facts will prevail.....if our democracy is to prevail.

Ron Bock, Union