Letters to the Editor

Apparently qualified

Editor, the Journal,

I have recently read letters in your paper expressing support for our superior court judicial candidate David Stevens. I admit a lack of knowledge on a personal basis for the judicial qualifications of Mr. Stevens, as I also admit a similar lack of my personal knowledge of qualifications for the current serving superior court judge, Cadine Ferguson-Brown.

As members of the Mason County electorate, it is difficult for us to obtain adequate personal qualification information for judicial candidates. In Washington, they are elected offices purposely independent of political party affiliation that conduct their business largely out of public view or media assessments.

But I am aware that the following is a matter of evaluation record. Both Mr. Stevens and Judge Ferguson-Brown appeared before and were evaluated by a panel composed of represented members of our county’s professional community for the selection process of our open seat for a Superior Court judicial position. The fact that Judge Ferguson-Brown was the chosen candidate of a peer group speaks volumes to the overall examination for her total quality of judicial qualifications to serve the office she was selected to staff.

For that I find reason enough for supporting those professional qualifications and will vote to retain Judge Ferguson-Brown as a member of our Mason County community to serve as a judge of our superior courts.

G. Owen Ray, Allyn

Where’s the outrage?

Editor, the Journal,

Reference: Aug 10 Shelton-Mason County Journal article, “District defends book selection process.”

In the above-referenced article, the following sentence was more shocking than a few books that might lead our kids astray.

“(Shelton School District Superintendent Wyeth Jessee) pointed out only half of the district’s high school students are reading at or above grade level, and only 33% of its elementary school students read at grade level.”

Shouldn’t we be at least as outraged that so many of our students cannot read at grade level? I saw no mention of the public’s concern about this most discouraging statistic the superintendent provided.

We should be yelling and screaming that we are paying on a $65-million dollar bond, providing $19,000 per student for the upcoming school year and getting such dismal outcomes.

Let’s get back to basics. If Mississippi can turn around poor reading results on less than half of what we’re providing in Washington, then surely we can get on the road to major improvement.

Brenda Hirschi, Shelton

Community and environment

Editor, The Journal,

I have a couple of things on my mind. I’ve been very concerned about the integrity of our elections. Not elections we’ve had in the past, but elections we will have in the future.

Our current auditor, newly elected by a slim margin, spoke out a lot about election fraud in Mason County during his campaign. I note that several citizens have asked for a report from Mr. Deunkle and have received invites, obfuscations and insinuations but no facts or statistics. If he was wrong about election fraud, an honest person would say just that, “I was wrong.” I’d like him to explain all those speeches which threw shade on our auditor— who did a fine job in my humble estimation. I do hope there is a reason behind spending our tax dollars on moving employees and changing the locks.

As to the Taylor Shellfish eyesore plan: I wonder what Thurston County citizens would do if Taylor wanted to place this enterprise in Budd Inlet? Or Eld Inlet? Olympia would be up in arms. How about Gig Harbor folks? What would their reaction be? Nisqually area … no it’s attempting to preserve nature and habitat. Why does Taylor get a pass on a use of state resources affecting hundreds of residents, tourists and wildlife? Who profits— not the neighbors, not the tourists, and not the orca pod that visits regularly. The rumored 99-year contract is especially onerous; no one knows how this immense contraption will affect the water, water quality, water traffic, native species, or the psyche of the many whose homes will be invaded by the visage of a huge eyesore. Will residents get a big discount on property taxes? Will their incomes and property values tank? How does that help Mason County tax coffers?

In Mason County, all too often the health and welfare of people and their environment takes a back seat to business and profits to business. We have solidly Republican representatives and elected officials so why is Mason County floundering? Why the empty and derelict buildings? If the R’s are so helpful to business in general, why are ours so bad at it? With our scenic beauty and abundant natural resources, we could be another Gig Harbor, Olympia or Poulsbo, raking in tourist dollars, reveling in our lovely, profitable waterfront.

Constance Simpson, Shelton