Thursday, October 18, 2018  - Week 42

Technicolor tunes

Journal photo by Gordon Weeks

Shelton High School Chamber Choir members, from left, Cameron Correa, Annika Fisk and Olivia Abbe, rehearse Tuesday morning at the school for the fall concert “Autumn’s Whisper,” which will be staged at 7 p.m. today at the school’s Performing Arts Center. Admission is free. The students and teachers were wearing tie-dye outfits on Tuesday as part of Spirit Week.
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No ballot? No worries

By MICHAEL HEINBACH
michael@masoncounty.com

On Tuesday, the Mason County auditor’s office sent out ballots for the Nov. 6 general election to registered voters. That means that by the time the weekend rolls around, every registered voter in the county should possess their ballot, adorned with prepaid return postage to send back via U.S. mail free of charge. 

Voters can also submit ballots to any of the eight ballot drop box locations throughout the county. For a detailed list of drop box locations, visit https://bit.ly/1GJZbUU.

But what happens when someone thinks their ballot is missing, has been misplaced or sent to an incorrect address?

According to Fina Ormond, Mason County elections superintendent, it’s easy for those without a ballot to check the status of their registration and see if their ballot has been mailed. Just visit www.myvote.wa.gov and enter your name and birthdate. The website has up-to-date information regarding registration status and where ballots were sent.

Though the deadline to register online to vote in Washington passed earlier this month, county residents can still register to vote in person at the Mason County auditor’s office between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday through Oct. 29. The auditor’s office is located on the second floor of the county administration building at 411 N. Fifth St., Shelton. 

For additional voter information, contact the Mason County Elections Department at 360-427-9670, ext. 470. To view the department’s online voter’s guide, go to https://bit.ly/2pklpHh.

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Rocks, fish crashing under living room

By GORDON WEEKS
gordon@masoncounty.com

When Canyon Creek is surging under her house in downtown Shelton, Kelly Olson can lie in her bed and hear rocks and fish careening under the floor.

Built in 1928, the house at 204 W. Birch St. has been flooding for decades.

Now Olson says she’s ready to sell it and move near relatives in Arizona.

That wish came closer to fruition when the Shelton City Council on Tuesday agreed to enter formal negotiations to buy the property. The city doesn’t want the house — it wants the property as a “stormwater asset,” perhaps for a water retention site or small park, public works director Craig Gregory told the council.

“I hope they make us a fair offer,” Olson said on Monday.

During heavy rains, the city’s storm department has been forced many times to place sandbags at the site to prevent the overflowing creek from doing more damage to the house. In his report to the council, Gregory stated that the house has not flooded since the Canyon Creek bypass was installed in 2013, but high waters have threatened to overwhelm it in the last couple years.

​For more of the Shelton-Mason County Journal, subscribe to our weekly edition.

Journal photo by Alexandra Smith

North Mason High School sophomore Desirae Macomber, left, and Amber Johnson, right, play a 50-50 ball during an Oct. 13 home match against Lindbergh High School. Bulldogs coach Scean Pickering said the team was slow against the Eagles due to two tough, physical matches earlier in the week.

Bulldogs girls soccer faces Lindbergh

By ALEXANDRA SMITH
alexandra@masoncounty.com

The North Mason High School girls soccer team lost 4-0 to Lindbergh High School on Oct. 13 in a home nonleague match.

“We had heavy legs today,” North Mason head coach Scean Pickering said. “Without a JV game today, the plan was to shorter minutes for some of the girls who have played a lot of minutes for us recently. A number of our starters were limited in minutes today. We were just trying to save them for the upcoming week. This game didn’t mean anything. I thought it was an alright game. We didn’t get ran through. There’s only so much you can do after two straight physical games and the team is just tired.”

The Bulldogs were without starting goalkeeper Morgan Mihelich, who was sidelined with an injury from the previous match. Freshman goalkeeper Brie Criess stepped in for Mihelich.

North Mason faces Sequim High School today, and it could decide Olympic League playoff seeding. 

“The Sequim game this week, I wasn’t there for the first one, but my understanding is that they have one particular player they like to force the ball to and play through,” Pickering said. “We went out there and won that game with PKs without Grace Borah and without Kristen Griffey. To do that during a very emotional week was fairly impressive. I am hoping that we do some of the same things. It will probably be that game that decides whether we make playoffs or not.”

As of Monday, the Bulldogs were 3-6-0 in Olympic League play and 4-9-0 overall. 
On Tuesday, the Bulldogs traveled to Bremerton High School. Those results were unavailable as of the Shelton-Mason County Journal’s deadline.


​For more of the Shelton-Mason County Journal, subscribe to our weekly edition.