Centralia resident raises concerns about parental‑notification bill and Social Security service changes; commissioner confirms bill passage

Ray Chapman Wilson of Centralia used the public‑comment period on May 6 to urge the Lewis County commissioners to act after social media messaging and state legislation he said have upset parents.

Wilson told the commissioners he saw a county commissioner Facebook post he described as inaccurate and said the post had been widely shared and not corrected. He said the post led to "parents walking around in my neighborhood, everybody's neighborhoods, in this county furious at their neighbors and other parents and democrats and teachers and schools." Wilson also expressed two policy concerns: that a parental‑notification bill would bar notifying parents of certain non‑life‑threatening school procedures, and that the Social Security Administration plans to stop mailing paper checks in September and eliminate 7,000 workers, including phone‑service staff, which he said would harm people who rely on paper checks and phone verification.

Wilson urged the three commissioners "to do all that you can to ensure that veterans and seniors continue to receive the uninterrupted benefits and entitlements they have sacrificed so much for." He offered his phone and email to anyone needing help navigating benefits.

Commissioner Swope responded during the meeting, saying, "The parental bill of rights did pass...for a non life threatening procedure that parents do not have to be notified at school, and they if there's costs that are incurred with that, the parents would be subject for that cost, which I think is a huge violation," and expressing concern about providing procedures to children without parental involvement.

No board action resulted from the comments; the public‑comment period closed and the meeting proceeded to business items.