Week of March 28, 2024

  • Journal News Submissions

    The Journal encourages Announcements and News Releases of local, timely interest to our readers. Local photo submissions are also welcome. Include information on the who, what, when, where, why and how of your news lead. Deadline is each Monday by 5 PM. All submissions should include the sender's name, address and daytime phone number which will be used for verification purposes only. Submissions are subject to editing for length, grammar and clarity. To submit your Announcement or News Release: • Email [email protected] (preferred)...

  • Beben running for county commission

    Gordon Weeks

    Tom Beben, owner the High Steel Beer Co. in downtown Shelton, this week announced he will seek a seat on the Mason County Commission. Commissioner Kevin Shutty last month announced he will not seek another term in the fall representing District 2. Richard Beckman, owner of Richard Beckman Realty Group in downtown Shelton, has also announced he is running for the seat as a Republican. Commissioner Randy Neatherlin hasn't responded to the Journal's inquiries about whether he's tossing his hat...

  • Shelton football coach resigns

    Gordon Weeks

    The Shelton School Board on Tuesday evening accepted the resignation of Mark Smith, the Shelton High School head football coach, who is also the district’s K-8 athletic and activities director. Smith, a 1987 Shelton High School graduate, coached the team for four seasons. His resignation was effective March 13. Smith did not immediately reply to a request for comments from the Journal. The Shelton School District is investigating the injuries that five Shelton High School students sustained Jan. 31 during a weight training class. Smith and...

  • City makes moves to help preserve its past

    Gordon Weeks

    The City of Shelton last week made a move to help preserve its past. The Shelton City Council assured the Mason County Historical Society it will help the nonprofit group pursue a state historical grant to add storage space to its museum at 427 W. Railroad Ave. The structure was first the city hall, then the city library, and it's owned by the city. "It's a perfect location, I think, for the museum," Liz Arbaugh, the group's executive director, told the Shelton City Council at its March 19...

  • A gathering of elk

  • Ballot mailed, but allegedly not counted

    June Williams

    Mason County resident Scott Gordon says he dropped off his March 12 presidential primary ballot at the Belfair post office drive-thru mailbox in February and was “shocked” to see it wasn’t counted. Gordon contacted the Journal after he checked on his ballot through the Mason County elections website. If you are a registered Washington voter, you can sign in and learn when your ballot was mailed, when it was received by Mason County and when it was accepted. “With all this talk about mail-in voting I decided to check on my ballot...

  • Fire 12 has contentious meeting

    June Williams

    Fire District 12 Commissioner Nick Jones requested at the March 19 commission meeting that any “members or commissioners” in the district who are under investigation be immediately suspended until the inquiry is complete. Fire 12 covers western Mason County, including Matlock and some areas of eastern Grays Harbor County. “It was stated at the last meeting by Mason County Sheriff’s Office that members of the district are under investigation. We should work with the sheriff’s office to determine the names of the members or...

  • North Mason Food Bank gets relocation money

    June Williams

    The North Mason Food Bank will be relocating to a larger building, helped in part by $47,000 in state money secured in the last legislative session. The nonprofit group recently purchased the property at 24131 NE state Route 3, Belfair, in the old HD’s Pub’s building just a few miles from its current location. “For more than 20 years we have been operating out of a small, converted house on a main highway. Parking is extremely limited, and our clients have to back out onto the busy road. In addition, we are very small, so our folks wait...

  • History at a Glance

    Jan Parker

    In her book "Long, Long Ago in Skokomish Valley," written in 1965, Emma Richert included a chapter on transportation. In the very early days in Skokomish Valley, transportation consisted of horse-drawn wagons or buggies, or riding horseback. By 1893, bicycles were coming into popular use. In 1897, Barber Wehnes rode her bicycle from Shelton to visit the Will Hunters in the Valley in an hour and a half - a "nice record," according to the Journal. Emma remembered the crookedness, the narrowness...

  • Community Briefs

    Compiled by reporter Gordon Weeks

    Mardi Gras Gala raises money for youths in need Help support homeless and at-risk youth in Mason County by attending Mardi Gras Gala 24, a fundraiser for the Shelton Youth Connection on April 6 at the Alderbrook Resort and Spa, 10 E. Alderbrook Drive in Union. Tickets are $150 per person. Specialty drinks for VIPS are served is from 6 to 6:30 p.m., the social hour and silent auction from 6 to 7 p.m., and the dinner and live auction is at 7 p.m. Information, 1-360-462-0125 and www.sheltonyouthconnection.org. Hundreds of books on sale The...

  • Union owner disputes bulkhead fine

    June Williams

    Union property owner Philip Bayley is challenging $250,000 in fines and $33,492 in mitigation fees assessed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for an illegal bulkhead. Bayley told the Journal the EPA’s news release about the judgment is “slanderous” because he still has motions before U.S. District Judge David Estudillo, who ruled on the case. The EPA sued Bayley, his mother, Joan, and their business Big D’s Beach Cabin LLC in 2020 for Clean Water Act violations related to a bulkhead that he says had all required permits....

  • Scholarships

    Compiled by reporter Gordon Weeks

    Shelton and Skookum Rotary clubs April 5 is the deadline to apply for scholarships from the Shelton and Skookum Rotary clubs. Scholarships are available in the categories of academic education, continuing education and vocational/trades education. The Robert Burns scholarship is awarded to applicants going into the performing arts, the Janis Byrd scholarship for business art, the Mary Penny scholarship for the medical arts and the Bryson Finlay scholarship for the computer arts. The scholarship amounts range from $1,500 to $3,000....

  • Mary's Memoirs

    Clydene Hostetler

    It snowed this week in 1950! This week is a continuation of the same old, same old. Sunday, March 19, 1950 Today there was such a cold wind we could not be out all day. I ironed clothes and put them all away. Then up to the Masonic Temple where I watched the girls go through their addenda for Alice Pope. It is so clever. I'm sure it will be well received. Home and ate venison steak for dinner. Very good. Took a box of weaving to Eunice Duffield's and she will exhibit it at social club Tuesday....

  • Dancing at state

  • Next level

    Matt Baide, For the Journal

    Shelton seniors Lelia Ollenburg, Kaylin Mutoli and Jayden Lovingfoss all signed to swim in college next year. Ollenburg is staying the closest, signing with the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma. Ollenburg finished fifth in the 100-yard butterfly and eighth in the 200-yard individual medley at the state meet. She was also a part of the second-place 400-yard freestyle relay and third-place 200-yard freestyle relay. Mutoli signed to swim with Fresno Pacific University in Fresno, California....

  • Journal Letter Policy

    The Shelton-Mason County Journal encourages original letters to the editor of local interest. Diverse and varied opinions are welcome. We will not publish letters that are deemed libelous or scurrilous in nature. We reserve the right to reject any letter for any reason. When submitting a letter, please observe the following guidelines: Writers are limited to one original letter plus one rebuttal or counter-rebuttal per calendar month; Letters should be no more than 300 words; Letters will be edited for grammar, spelling, style, clarity and...

  • These Times

    Kirk Ericson

    If you could have been present at an event that occurred sometime, somewhere in your life, what event would you choose? What would I choose? Thanks for asking. ■ I would have liked to be in the South Pacific on April 12, 1970, when the Apollo 13 astronauts put their feet on the flight deck of the USS Iwo Jima. Much of the world had been riveted by the struggle to return the crippled ship to Earth after a malfunction aborted its mission to the moon. Imagine witnessing those men who had spent...

  • Guest Column

    Jessie Farrington, Co-owner, Skydive Kapowsin

    Each year, approximately 500,000 people in the United States take the adventure of a lifetime and try skydiving. Washington is home to five drop zones, each hosting thousands of these tandem skydives per year. Tandem skydiving - where you're attached to an experienced skydiving instructor for your jump - has maintained an excellent safety rate. In fact, 2023 was the safest year ever for U.S. skydiving. Yet, local skydiving centers are under attack. Legislation that is unnecessary and...

  • Letters to the Editor

    Sunshine act Editor, the Journal, In response to Ed Reiter "Vote on the clock." I totally agree a vote of the people would have been a great way to find out the "will of the people" regarding staying Pacific Standard Time or switching the clocks to Daylight Saving Thief. As it stands now, in 2019 a group of our legislators changed the RCWs and gave the decision to switch to Daylight Stealing Time permanently to Congress. Thank goodness they took forever to select a speaker of the House and the...

  • Getting Out

    Gordon Weeks

    In playwright Susan Sandler's charming comedy "Crossing Delancey," Isabelle Grossman seems to be living the dream. She has a rent-controlled apartment in New York City's Upper West Side, a job at a prestigious independent bookstore, lots of friends and a handsome local author to dream about. However, none of this matters to Bubbie, a strong-minded traditional Jewish grandmother who worries that her granddaughter is living alone. Unbeknownst to Isabelle, Bubbie hires a marriage broker, who...

  • In the Dark Reviews

    Kirk Boxleitner

    As was the case with 2021's "Ghostbusters: Afterlife," I registered the divergence in reactions to "Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire." As with the previous film, many reviewers can't seem to stand it, whereas audience reaction scores have been overwhelmingly positive. "Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire" is not a film whose screenplay will be studied by future film nerds for how well-constructed it is, in the way the original "Ghostbusters" and 1985's "Back to the Future" are now. But what's ironic is...

Rendered 03/29/2024 05:14