A Broad Spectrum of Respectable Citizens

9/1/10 ORCAA Demonstration

Submitted to Shelton Blog by Clear Cut

Appearance is Reality

The fine folks of Concerned Citizens of Mason County and Incinerator Free Mason County have been working tirelessly for almost a year now to inform the citizenry, inform our political leaders, making public presentations and picketing to get our message out and inform the general public. We have been working with the various government entities to make our opposition and concerns known and to work within the legal system to stop what we perceive as a danger to public health.

Most of us are well into our fifties and beyond, have good jobs, own homes and property, and have good standing within our respective communities. We are doctors, lawyers, paralegals, real estate investors, lab technicians, politicians, teachers, police and law enforcement officers to name but a few. We are a broad spectrum of respectable citizens.

Sometime ago we got a little taste of how politics works when one of our County Commissioners accused us of name calling and other transgressions we weren't responsible for. This was in spite of some of us suffering vandalism to our vehicles and other acts of intimidation.

This is the strategy of dirty politics and mud slinging...it is centuries old. Perception is reality, and those who get the upper hand in public perception, real or not, hold the upper hand in the public discourse. It is the time we live in.

As respected citizens, it behooves us to guard our image, our reputations and our public perception. We know some of the people involved with ORCAA are also involved with Mason County politics, and these people were responsible for spreading unfounded rumors earlier. It is a relatively closed circle. We need to be ever mindful of this fact.

That the Olympia Police Department makes certain associations and tries to ascertain a motive is to be expected. They have a job to do and a crime was committed. In order to guard our credibility and reputations, we need to be keenly aware of our actions, and make every effort to help the Olympia Police to the degree possible to guard the ORCAA facilities from vandalism, and assist them if we uncover information that would help them solve the question of who committed the vandalism at ORCAA.

The vandalism at ORCAA is not only an attack on a public tax payer owned facility, it is a direct attack on those who are legally and respectfully exercising their constitutional rights to petition their government, but who may be unjustly accused or associated with the thoughtless acts of those who don't have as much invested in their community, or in their reputation and standing in the community.

As Warren Buffet says, "It takes years to build a good reputation and only a moment to destroy it."

We all need to be keenly mindful of this reality. We should not remain passive. We should cultivate a dialogue with the ORCAA staff, and to the degree possible, with the various local law enforcement organizations and make sure they understand we have acted, and will continue to act lawfully through our government agencies and the courts, and that they can count on us to remain respectful of the law.

We should give them notice of any activities we plan at public facilities in the future so they can be on the lookout and guard the facilities as well as our reputations.

We may not agree with the findings of the ORCAA staff, but so far they have been nothing but polite and respectful in their interactions with us.

The Olympia Police quietly drove by to make sure we were orderly at protests organized by members of our community on September 1st and October 6th at the ORCAA offices, and we have been fairly treated by both the Olympia and Shelton Police Departments. We owe it to ourselves and to them to maintain that mutual respect.

Photo by Christine