Letters to the editor for the week of Dec. 10

Dear Editor,

Recently attending Eatonville High School then graduating to the University of Washington Tacoma came with some major changes.

First the usual changes like the style of commute, size of the school, smell of the air and the list could go on. The biggest change however was the divide in political sides.

Growing up in Eatonville, it's undeniably republican beliefs were apparent and incorporated throughout the town. The rural setting was like comparing night and day to a school in a major metropolitan area in our beautiful state. The divide was bigger than anticipated even though it's only 30 miles north.

The county we reside in is only about 51 percent to 60 percent democratic leaving a good 40 percent republican. This is almost half the population in such a large county.

Most of the Republican residents tend to live more on the southeast side of the county grouping with the east side of the state that is strongly red. There are 39 counties in Washington state out and of all of them only 10 of these counties are predominantly democratic. You’d think because of these numbers alone the state would be considered a republican state, but we all know it's definitely not.

Despite the numbers it all relies on the population. The majority of the population lives along the sound and in the 10 counties that are democratic. This makes the state blue over red.

According the U.S. Census Bureau, the population of Pierce County is 876,764 in 2017, about 200,000 away from a million. The apparent and rapid growth of our county creates a bigger divide each year.

The population of rural areas are growing fast. Each year in the Eatonville School District my class size went up an average of 10 kids a year. That seems small but its’s 10 children growing up around the beliefs of a republican community. Ten more added t0 the percentages that dictate which political side our county takes each year.

Sincerely,

Malori Yates