CITY OF SHELTON NEEDS NEW LEADERSHIP

WE ARE AT A CROSSROADS IN SHELTON

Submitted to Shelton Blog by Katherine Price Mason County Progressive

Mayor John Tarrant has announced he will not seek re-election. The March 17th issue of the Journal reported that Dawn Pannell, City Commissioner of Streets and Public Improvements, is going to run for mayor.

I like Dawn Pannell; I like her husband Ron. We have flipped pancakes together in Kneeland Park, and I have hit them up for money for Turning Pointe and the Extreme Weather Shelter operated by St. David's. I believe Dawn has been a good commissioner. But I believe that a change is needed in Shelton, and here is why.

The City of Shelton, of which I am a taxpaying resident, does not exist to serve Simpson Timber Company, Olympic Panel, Green Diamond Investment Company, Solomon Renewable Whatever...or any of the other guises that Simpson does business as.

Simpson is lucky that the city, where it performs a large part of its polluting activities, tolerates it. It is tolerated because of the people Simpson employs. It is the workers who matter; not the company.

Simpson is especially lucky that the citizens of the City of Shelton STILL tolerate it in this day and age, when we know for certain EXACTLY what those plumes are doing to the health of our citizens, especially to our children and our elderly.

We are at a crossroads in Shelton, and it strikes me there are two directions this city can go:

We can elect a "good ol' boy" who will continue the practice of putting corporate interests ahead of citizen interests, or we can elect a citizen who plans to put the citizens' needs before the needs of industry.

We need a mayor who is appreciative of the jobs Simpson and it's various incarnations provides the city's citizens, but also one who recognizes the reality of the pollution that goes along with it.

This community of air breathers, in particular, has come to the inevitable conclusion that clean air is a basic human right. That no one, no matter how many jobs they provide, has the right to knowingly rain tons of pollutants on our town FOREVER.

We need someone who can help Simpson come to the reality that it can no longer pollute with impunity in the City of Shelton because the citizens of Shelton will not allow it.

No matter how corporate our County Commissioners are, or our City Commissioners, or our Port Commissioners, unless and until they take away our right to vote, we still have a say in what is done in our city.

I hope the next mayor, and perhaps the next Commissioner of Streets and Public Improvements, comes from the air-breathing side of town.