LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Defense of 300 words

Editor, the Journal,

Unlike Scott Peterson and others who are not happy with the 300-word limit, I am. My high school journalist teacher taught, in the mid-1970s, if you could not catch the attention and make your point in the first 50 words you have lost your reader.

I appreciate the 300-word limit because it will limit the superfluous comments and name-calling. Writers will have to take a hard look at what they are writing and decide if the insult is worth the loss of words to make their point. If you want your letter read by more people, then learn to write or start using what you learned about writing.

E. Dawn Howard, Shelton

Maintain the legacy

Editor, the Journal,

Studies have shown that our temperate forests, such as those in Washington, are most effective in sequestering carbon, thus helping slow down climate temperature rising. We should be planting more diverse forests and not clear-cutting our existing structurally complex, carbon-dense (legacy) forests.

The Department of Natural Resources has ignored hundreds of letters, petitions, public comments and scientific evidence by Washington citizens. It is imperative we save our legacy forests for the biodiversity, rainfall enhancing, regenerative economic benefits and treaty rights promised.

The money raised by the capital gains tax is going to schools and local governments, thus lessening the pressure on our forests. We can use already existing plantation forests to meet demand. It is our ethical commitment to stop cutting forests and look to sustainable ways to ensure a healthy future for all beings.

Michael Siptroth, Belfair

Editor's note: Rebecca Bechtolt is a candidate for a Pioneer School Board position and is affiliated with Take Back Mason County, a local political action committee.

Support Stevens

Editor, the Journal,

In response to Victoria Meadows,Victoria Meadows, who is working on Cadine Ferguson-Brown's campaign, wrote into the Shelton-Mason County Journal last week asking readers to review the qualifications of Dave Stevens and Ferguson-Brown. I don't have access to any resumes or applications of either candidate (and I question how Ms. Meadows has access to those); nevertheless, I was able to find both candidates on LinkedIn and agree with Ms. Meadows that you should look at each candidate's qualifications.

Ferguson-Brown apparently has no experience as a prosecutor or as a public defender. She has worked as a guardian ad litem (a job commonly done by nonlawyers) and handled immigration cases.

Gov. Jay Inslee clearly did not appoint her based on her courtroom experience.

By the time of the election, Mr. Stevens will have been a senior felony deputy prosecutor for Mason County going on three years. He has almost 17 years' experience as a prosecutor and has been working as a prosecutor for the last five years. He also has six years' experience as a public defender.

As a public defender, he represented individuals charged with felonies in neighboring jurisdictions for free in Superior Court. The Washington State Bar Association for several years sent him commendations for his pro bono work. In addition, Mr. Stevens has trained prosecutors and judges not only in the United States but also in the Middle East and Europe. Later this year, he will be training prosecutors and defense attorneys in jury selection. He has done more than 200 criminal jury trials, six of them this year.

After reviewing the qualifications of each candidate, ask yourself who will better protect a defendant's rights and protect victims and our Mason County community. From what I see, Dave Stevens is the only qualified candidate to do both.

Rebecca Bechtolt, Shelton