LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Join a caucus

Editor, the Journal,

Dear fellow neighbors of Mason County,

All across our state the precinct caucus will take place Saturday, Jan. 13. Doors will open at 9:30 a.m. for registration, with the caucus beginning at 10 a.m. and will conclude by approximately noon.

What is a precinct caucus? At its core, the county caucus is about unity. It's about bringing together diverse voices under shared principles and goals. It's a significant gathering of the "grass-roots" right here in our Mason County. Republicans from across the county, come together to define the party's platform and elect delegates who will move on to our Mason County convention.

What you can expect to happen when you attend the caucus. The day of the caucus you will meet at the location listed for your individual precinct. At that location, you are required to sign in, declare that you consider yourself to be a Republican, and that you will not be attending any other party caucus. We will be verifying the precinct that you live in, and that you are a registered voter. You will be directed to the table and the precinct committee officer hosting your caucus. You will meet with your neighbors, precinct/neighborhood to discuss the county platform and local topics of interest. You will nominate and elect your precinct's allocated delegates and alternates to the Mason County convention. A few county and state candidates may show up to introduce themselves. It would be good to review our platform before attending. The platform, caucus locations and to determine which precinct you live in, can be found at masoncountyrepublicans.com.

Fellow neighbors of Mason County, let's stay positive and united during this year of 2024 elections.

Leslie Peterson, State committeewoman for Mason County Republicans, Shelton

Fix the phone service

Editor, the Journal,

I write this on Saturday, Dec. 30, which is eight days after the landline service to the 372 prefix in North Mason quit. This is generally the Dewatto and Tahuya-Blacksmith area. People living here will still have to pay their bills but cannot call 911 or any number in Belfair or beyond.

Not all people here have cell service available because of poor signal coverage or for financial reasons. Many people use the land lines for internet service and hope to rely on those lines for emergency, urgent or routine medical service.

I understand that low-life thieves are stealing wires from Inland Phone Company and Lumen equipment and low-life scrap dealers are buying from them. However, this time, the phone companies are not treating as priority effecting repairs to restore the life-safety 911 service. It also seems that there doesn't seem to be any push from any tax-supported individuals to help the situation. The state Utilities and Transportation people say phone companies need not work extra hours to get the maintenance issues resolved, even when 911 service is involved. I would like to see our state House and Senate representatives do something to change any RCW or WAC that discourages less than priority response to loss of 911.

David R Haugen, Tahuya

#ThisIsOurLane

Editor, the Journal,

AR-15 rifles butcher the human body. This is a gun whose sole purpose is to shoot a lot of high-caliber bullets rapidly.

You can check it out yourself on Google, you disbelievers. Read "The Blast Effect" from The Washington Post. I dare you.

Joyce Vance, former U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, shared that, "The No. 1 killer of children ages 1-19 in the U.S. is gun violence."

Naik-Mathuria is one of many doctors in our nation taking part in a social media movement that uses the hashtag #ThisIsOurLane.

The hashtag was created in 2018 in response to an NRA tweet that read, "Someone should tell self-important anti-gun doctors to stay in their lane," after several reports on gun violence were published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine. Most of the articles called for policies to reduce the rate of firearm injuries and deaths in our country.

The social media campaign was also created in the wake of two mass shootings: one at a California bar that ended in 12 deaths and another at a Pittsburgh synagogue, where 11 people were killed; and it resurfaced after the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.

"We take care of these patients. We operate on them. We have a very close bond with them. We take care of their families," Naik-Mathuria said. She also said that gun violence is a public health problem that needs to be addressed immediately.

"There is no place for assault-style weapons, high-velocity weapons, in civilian life. I really believe that and think most people in my society and most surgeons believe that - trauma surgeons especially, because we just know how destructive they are," she said.

For those readers who think the AR-15 is simply a gun that gun owners should be legally entitled to own, please do some research. Your knee-jerk reaction to any gun control has blinded you to the reality of these deadly weapons.

These deadly weapons have no place in our homes, schools, parks, churches, restaurants, theaters, malls, etc. These deadly weapons do not belong beyond the battlefield.

The only function of an AR-15 is rapid-fire mass destruction which leaves a child's body so mangled he or she must be identified by DNA, as was necessary in Uvalde, Texas. To defend ownership of these weapons in our communities is the height of madness.

Inform yourselves; and you won't defend ownership of these weapons by civilians. They have no place whatsoever in our communities if we are not at war.

Katherine A. Price, Shelton

Be on the good side

Editor, the Journal,

War can be justified as good versus evil. Evil starts a war and good fights back. But the very nature of war itself with death and destruction is never good. Evil Hamas started a war against Israel that responded with a plan of good riddance.

It seems oxymoronic but there are "rules of war." Protecting noncombatants/civilians is primary. Reliable sources report Hamas intentionally killed or captured over 1,000 Israeli civilians in the Oct. 7 attack. In Israel's response against Hamas, it claims to have killed 8,000 Hamas militants so far out of an estimated force of 40,000 hiding among a civilian population of over 2,000,000.

Reliable sources also report that over 20,000 Palestinian civilians, mostly women and children, have been killed by Israel as unintentional collateral casualties along with well over 1,000,000 now homeless and starving. Israel is not accidentally dropping bombs and firing rockets on Gaza. It is intentional for their riddance of Hamas.

Rockets still being fired into Israel by Hamas have killed 15 Israelis since Oct. 7.

The metrics of war do not tell the whole story but do detail the overwhelming asymmetry of this conflict. Hamas, with its avowed purpose of eliminating the state of Israel, has defined itself as evil. The good goal of Israel is to live in peace with its neighbors. I believe Israel's short-term goal of eliminating Hamas is a definition of evil to the extremely suffering Palestinian people and to so many worldwide witnesses.

In this war of good versus evil, Israel should herald and define its goodness by declaring a unilateral cease-fire. Continued death and destruction of Gaza will further define Israel as not good.

Hamas started this war to get the world's attention. Israel amplified it with its response. Now with the world's attention is the best time to resolve this Israeli/Palestinian horror and define yourself as the good side.

J. Anderson, Shelton

Why oh why?

Editor, the Journal,

If I were to be charged with even one indictment, I would be in court as soon as possible to prove my innocence. Four times indicted (as of this writing) Donald Trump keeps declaring he did nothing wrong, so why oh why does he keep trying to delay the process?

Karen Bouton, Lilliwaup