Letters to the Editor

Get to the point

Editor, the Journal,

Mass murders used to be locking people in churches, meeting halls and other buildings and setting them on fire. It still happens, but not usually in this country and not seen in the popular press.

Seditionists used to use pitch forks, scythes, butcher knives, and other farm and household implements. They are only considered as seditionists or rebels due to the government of the time being the victors. If it were not for the “seditionists” of the Revolutionary War, the United States of America (US) would still be under British rule or whatever other country was able to take over whatever section of the U.S. between then and now.

To the winner goes the spoils. History is written as it is because the winners do not want their real deeds seen. There are groups of people who want their history quashed because things in their history would color the justification of their movement. The real reason of many movements might not be what is being stated publicly.

Is it corruption, ignorance or stupidity? Why do people confuse their point with wordiness? Why do people rely on opinion and not fact? Is a trusted person always correct? Why do people only look for and cite the facts which prove their opinion?

If you want me to consider your side of things or vote for your candidate, know all facets of the subject. Be willing to cite the facts against as well as for and all the gray in between. Get to the point. If you cannot state your point in the first three or four sentences, you have lost me.

Edwina Dawn Howard, Shelton

Consider chipping

Editor, the Journal,

Why are timber slash piles burned and not chipped up?A while back (decades ago) around Salem, Oregon, on Interstate 5, in August, some grain farmers had harvested their grain and were in the process of burning the grain stubble off of the fields. The resulting smoke was so thick that vehicles on I-5, going 60 to 75 mph, entered the smoke and the result was a gigantic pileup of wrecked cars and hurt and dead people.

The agricultural industry changed its farming processes concerning stubble field burning by using cultivators, discs, duck foots, etc., to work the stubble fields rather than by burning the stubble fields.

The logged trees have essentially done their part by converting carbon dioxide gases to oxygen (stuff we breathe) and carbon (the stuff that is in wood). All of us have seen large columns of smoke coming from logging areas due to slash burning. That smoke contains lots of nutrients that are blowing away. And the resulting fire is again adding more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.

The smoke from slash burns introduces an incredible amount of dirt particles into the air. And the tiniest of these particles can get past our nose hairs, the mucus in our sinuses, and the celli fibers in our windpipe and lungs, and that is not good.

The timber industry could use gigantic wood-chippers to chip up the slash piles and distribute the wood chips back onto the logged area. The wood chips scattered over the logged area would add to the soil nutrients thus helping the newly planted trees grow.

Would the timber industry voluntarily use wood-chippers or would there have to be a state law requiring the timber industry to use wood-chippers in their logging practices? Those of you who have an opinion and/or knowledge on this subject please respond. Thanks!

Earl W. Burt, Bremerton

Let’s make a deal

Editor, the Journal,

Back in 2018, a company named PCI LLC purchased 10 acres in the Belfair UGA (urban growth area). Roy Boad Road (Boad Road) ran perpendicular to and through the western one-third of the property serving many residences beyond the PCI property. PCI proposed 100 units of apartments and petitioned to vacate Boad Road in Mason County Commissioner Randy Neatherlin’s District 1.

Boad Road has significant importance and value to the public. If the road were vacated, it would affect the future development of property beyond the PCI property, which is inside the Belfair UGA. Boad Road serves as a utility’s corridor and access for many residents. Neatherlin supported the apartments, but he opposed the Boad Road vacation. Many petitions against vacation of the Boad Road were sent to the Mason County Board of Commissioners. Neatherlin told me, as a matter of fact, that he was contacted by the developer that would be the beneficiary of the $8,000,000 loan that put sewer infrastructure on the developer’s property paid for by Mason County taxpayers. Neatherlin was told if he supported the sewer loan, then the other two commissioners would not vacate Boad Road, a “quid pro quo.” Neatherlin said he could not support Mason County accepting the $8,000,000 sewer loan. Accepting the loan and/or vacating Boad Road did not benefit Mason County.

Whether you believe this or not, whether you agree with vacating Boad Road or not, Mason County Commissioners Kevin Shutty and Sharon Trask voted in a 2-1 vote to vacate Boad Road. What were the benefits to them and their districts? The only commissioner to vote “no” was Neatherlin, who represents the Belfair UGA, and it took both commissioners voting against Neatherlin to defeat him. During the commissioners’ meeting that decided the fate of Boad Road, the developer who would benefit from the $8,000,000 sewer loan, and has nothing to do with PCI LLC or Boad Road, attended the meeting via Zoom to observe the art of persuasion and the commission vacating Boad Road.

Maybe that is just the way the commission rolls. I am concerned about who is making all the decisions in the Belfair UGA. Trading this for that when it is not in the best interest of Mason County. The lack of transparency and back-door communications. Most importantly, I feel the public deserves to know what is going on so the citizens of Mason County can make their own informed and educated decisions.

Jack Johnson, Belfair

Bible and abortion

Editor, the Journal,

Many think that humans are created at the moment of conception, but believing such is simply not biblically supported when it indicates clearly that a fetus is not a living person until after drawing its first breath. After God formed man in Genesis 2:7, He “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life [pro-life] and it was then that the man became a living being.” Although the man was fully formed by God in all regards, he was not a living being until after taking his first breath.

In Job 33:4, it states: “The spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.” [pro-life] The breath, not the sperm/egg conception is when we become a life.

In Ezekiel 37: 5 and 6: “Thus says the Lord God to these bones [fetus]: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and then put breath in you, and you shall live.” Interpreted: Not a living human being until you take your first breath.Those of you who don’t read the Bible, because it can be awfully boring, you are likely tuning out about now, but for those who want truth, you’ll likely be surprised at the following:

Exodus 21:22, it states that “if a man causes a woman to have a miscarriage, he shall be fined. Not a murder charge against a living human being, not a capital offense punishable with a jail or a death sentence. A mere fine. One does not kill a potential something that has not been born and not yet taken its biblical breath. Is a breathless stillborn considered a human being? Did God “kill” that stillborn in the womb? Is God a murderer? Then God should pay a fine. Millions of potential sperm are aborted and the American religious shrug their “oh well” shoulders with that potential loss of life. And one more thing, God, for one reason or another, allows one-third of all pregnancies to be terminated by a spontaneous abortion, aka miscarriage. If he can do it, why can’t we? We are made in his image, so they say. In Numbers 5:22 we see that the Lord God himself ordered an abortion. “May this water that brings a curse enter your body so that your abdomen swells and your womb miscarries.” If God’s choice is to order an abortion, then let a woman choose to have one too.

Darrell Barker, Shelton

Hypocrisy is thick

Editor, the Journal,

Whoa! Check it out, here comes the hypocrisy tsunami. The supremes have reversed Roe v. Wade to “protect” the unborn. But, once they’re born, the ultraconservatives who like the Supreme Court decision will continue to vote against Head Start, public school funding, aid to indigent families, student loan forgiveness, etc. In other words, the kids are on their own — good luck sucker, we hope you make it.

Oh, and balancing the federal budget? Yes, in the case of social spending, but not the gilded airplanes, aircraft carriers, etc., that run way over budget. And how quick these same folks forget that Donald Trump’s tax breaks helped primarily the ultra-rich while unbalancing the federal budget.

Trump was America’s all-time grifter president who mostly helped his rich grifter friends. A truly spoiled rich kid who virtually was never disciplined, nor seemingly, ever had to tell the truth. He loaded up the Supreme Court with Mitch’s help and continued to push the concept that it was your constitutional right not to wear a mask or get vaccinated, but it was OK to back the government right into your family’s bedroom about family planning.

More than two-thirds of Americans support the right of families to make their own personal decisions about family planning, and more than 90% support the personal right to terminate a pregnancy due to incest, rape, major birth defects and imminent danger to the mother. The most egregious of the ultraconservatives think it’s OK if the mother dies as a result of fetal abnormalities.

Middle-class Americans, please wake up, vote, and throw the Trumpian bums out before America is destroyed.

William Busacca, Shelton

Cheers for court

Editor, the Journal,

There’s a great cause for celebration today.

Thanks to former President Donald Trump’s appointments, the U.S. Supreme Court is now considered a more conservative one. On June 24, the court released two momentous 6-3 decisions.

In one, the 50-year-old Roe v. Wade case was overturned, and authority for an abortion was moved from the Constitution to the various state legislatures and citizens. In spite of tearful fear mongering by the loathsome Nancy Pelosi, this decision does not affect in any way other rights, such as same-sex marriage.

Locally, Washington’s Gov. Jay Inslee waxed tough guy at a recent news conference. Though Washington already allows abortions, Inslee wants more.

Proposed new pro-abortion measures would include a state constitutional amendment, at least $1 million (of our tax dollars, by the way) to help abortion seekers moving here from other states, and an order that all Washington State Patrol officers not co-operate with agencies from other states who try to enforce violations of their own abortion ban. (Heaven help us — the morality police!)

The other SCOTUS decision was from New York state Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen. It simply stated that any person who is allowed to own a gun also has a right to carry it outside the home for self- and family defense. This is already allowed in Washington and many others. A raucous response from the left is expected. We’ll hear shrieks and obscene shouts from ignorant activists who don’t know the difference between a dog or carry license. New Democrat mayor of New York City Eric Adams recently told a crowd that because of this decision, the streets will turn into the “wild West.” He’s moving toward the toaster.

I’ve heard that (again, sigh) some of Hollywood’s limousine liberals are planning an exodus. Singer/actress Cher, it’s reported, will be leaving this rotten old United States and moving to South America.

I will happily chip in for her airfare.

Robert E. Graham, Union