Letters to the Editor

Fire support

Editor, the Journal,

I am a Matlock Fire District 12 resident and I am asking Mason County residents to please support the West Mason Fire District 16 levy. I have heard that there is a lot of confusion over the district boundaries and also that the recent corruption in Matlock Fire 12 has negatively impacted West Mason Fire 16’s levy. We in the Matlock district are dealing with our issues as best we can but we do not want our problems to negatively affect West Mason Fire 16. West Mason Fire 16 is professional and fiscally responsible and is doing an outstanding job in their own district and they deserve your support. But they have limited resources and are being stretched thin even without the added duties of responding to multiple districts. The residents of West Mason District 16 have in their fire department what we in Matlock can only dream of.

I urge you to support West Mason Fire District 16’s levy request. If you do not know what district you are in, please call any local fire district or Google Mason County WA fire district maps and you will get multiple maps that show the boundaries. All of Lake Nahwatzel is within Fire District 12. The dividing line between the two districts is 200 feet west of Stoner Road on the West Shelton Matlock Road. If you are west of that line, you are in Fire District 12 and east of it is Fire District 16. Become informed and support your levy, as your own life may depend on it.

Trina Young, Elma

Weight loss

Editor, the Journal,

Here’s a new topic: America has an obesity problem, especially the older generation. The following is why I feel the medical profession has exacerbated the problem by an omission.

There is a billion-dollar market for diet pills (approved by the FDA). When you go into a doctor’s waiting room have you ever seen a list of “safe” diet pills? 

I knew a physician (ex-husband) who said, “There are no obese prisoners of war.” My suggestion to doctors, “It is not enough to tell patients to exercise and eat a diet of mostly vegetables for weight control when their patient’s chart shows consistent weight gain.” Gaining a pound or two each year over 30 years will result in a 60-pound weight gain. The fact is that as we age (over 50) our body metabolism slows. The simplistic “run faster and eat less” mantra that our medical profession chants may be responsible for a systematic feeling of failure for the many who struggle to control weight. Depression. Getting old is hard enough. Who feels good about being labeled obese?

Wait, weightloss the doctors say, can often help reduce blood pressure and the onslaught of diabetes. Complications from obesity necessitating lab tests, pills and surgeries is an income producer for clinics, hospitals and labs. Who loses if the patient loses? Who gains if the patient loses? Who gains if the patient doesn’t lose?

Enough is enough. Complications from multiple medications (older patients) would dictate caution when taking diet pills. Patients need a doctor to sort out the safe from the hype. Please doctors, guide your patients by providing a list of safe diet pills.

Irene Graham, Union