A CHANCE FOR CHANGE IN MASON COUNTY

OUR LIVES REALLY DO DEPEND ON IT!

Submitted to Shelton Blog by Katherine Price   Mason County Progressive

Mason County is presently the poster child for dysfunctional government.  We seem to attract the "wrong" sort on many levels.  

For some years, I have watched our various "government leaders" turn our County into a waste dump for treated sewage (Webb Hill), and allow the lower Skokomish River and the mouth of the Canal to become an outhouse for fishermen each year. I have seen and smelled Simpson burning away in the harbor no matter what the air quality, while waiting for the other shoe to drop in the future when the Port of Shelton or the County of Mason (or both?) allow another biomass incinerator to be built over our heads.  Seeing all this has been a little frustrating.

But now, we have a chance to replace the leadership at the County Commission with a full, clean slate. I hope we do not blow it.

I attended the 31st Oysterfest this weekend, under the smoke of an unusual October wildfire, and experienced firsthand what too much smoke from burning does.  I have never respected our firefighters more, or prayed harder for their safe-keeping.  The several hours I breathed that wildfire smoke caused me to act for two days like a cat trying to hack up a fur ball -- my husband said I should go out on Halloween as Golem from the Lord of the Rings, because trying to hack up particulate matter made me sound perfectly Golem.  

And then there were the nose bleeds...apparently all that lovely particulate matter really messes up the sinuses!  And I had never thought of myself as one of the "at risk" members of the public: Not too young, not too old, no respiratory complaints to speak of (until this weekend), no preexisting conditions that would land me in the groups most at risk for dying from breathing particulate matter... and yet, I experienced some real problems from the smoke.

I would like to see the statistics for how many folks were treated at Mason General Hospital for complaints linked to the smoke, if anyone has access to such information.

We are terribly blessed in Mason County that our firefighters are some of the most dedicated in the country, and further blessed by lots of help from the State of Washington. Given the tinder dry conditions that existed when the fire started, we are lucky to have suffered only as much as we did.  

For those who experienced the ill effects of the smoke, remember ADAGE?  It promised us high levels of particulate matter on a daily basis, every day, all year round.  We dodged a pretty big bullet on that one, and the folks closest to the fire can now do more than just imagine what ADAGE would have done to our health and community.

And now, the specter of a Solomon Renewable Energy Co. incinerator has raised it's ugly head again... so far only in rumors, but it pays the citizens of Mason County to give credence to some rumors because our elected officials love to do things "under the radar" and out of sight of the citizens until the deal is nearly done.  Lake Nahwatzel residents know this all too well!

Thanks to this blog for the link to the air monitor, which I checked many times this weekend.  We had a scary weekend, and the rain has not come yet, so everyone needs to be extra careful.

If you did not like that smoke, if it caused you distress, or distress to people you care about, then be on the alert for signs that a another "ADAGE" might be coming to town, or that the Solomon Renewable Energy Co. incinerator is rearing it's ugly head in more than just rumors.

If you want to protect yourselves from the toxic effects of increased exposure to inhaled particulate matter from burning wood (i.e. another biomass incinerator burning legally 24/7/365), then you better be sure to vote your ballots when they arrive on or about the 19th of October, and you better vote for the candidates who think that citizens health trumps corporate profit every day of the week. 

Vote for the County Commissioners who will take our concerns seriously, who will look at the science and the medicine, and who will take advice form the medical and scientific community, as well as from citizens.

Vote for Roslynne Reed, Denny Hamilton and Ross Gallagher for clean air and clean water.
 
Vote as if your lives depend on it, because after the recent fires, we know what we can expect.  Even those who thought we were not in the "at risk" groups can testify as to how our bodies react when we breathe in too much particulate matter 2.5.

Lastly, I love Oysterfest!  I don't know if we will have one next year without our fairgrounds, and while I went out with full knowledge that the air was bad, very bad, how many people there had no idea how bad it was?

I want to know why the Mason County Health Department let Oysterfest go forward when the air was so compromised?

I am curious why the Mason County Health Department did not have people at the gate recommending "at risk" members of the public wear masks or go home?

I consider this just par for the course with our Health Department... allowing thousands of people to spends hours in the smoke, including the campers who were in it 24/7 for as many as three days.  

Mason County Health Department has been criticized on many occasions when it comes to air quality and the compromised health of our citizens.

I am hopeful that under the new leadership of Reed, Hamilton and Gallagher, there will be some improvements in the Health Department, and that the Health Department becomes more than a cover-up agency doing the bidding of Sheldon and Ring Erickson, minimizing health risks to our citizens, and telling us we all get cancer in Mason County because we all smoke cigarettes and eat badly.  It cannot possibly be environmental, right?
 
Remember, under this Health Department, and with the current commissioners at the helm, we have achieved the inglorious distinction of being number one in incidences of cancer in Washington's counties.

Vote wisely fellow air-breathers.  Our lives really do depend on it!

Graphic: www.123rf.com