THE HUNGRY BEAR restaurant, an Eldon landmark, burns to the ground on Tuesday night. The cause wasn't immediately known. Gary Webb of Eldon snapped the photo of the conflagration.

REPRESENTING THE American Cancer Society at the nation's capital are Beth Biser, left, and Selena Myers. They will be working on the Shelton Relay For Life.

BARITONE ROBERT ORTH, as the lecturer in the opera A Water Bird Talk by Dominick Argento. presented in the Annas Bay Music Festival's summer program.

STANDING ARMED and ready are "top guns" of the Mason County Hare Triggers 4-H club, which focuses on raising rabbits and marksmanship. Standing in the back row are: Cory Skipworth, Teryssa Toppano, Jimmy Kiliz, Cassy Willey and Dean Goldy. Kneeling in the front row are Ethan Johnson and Timothy Diggle. Cory recently won the state trap-shooting championship, followed by Jimmy.

CLIMBER PLAYOFF-CLINCHING action Friday night in Ingersoll Stadium finds fullback Jacob Hanes breaking into the secondary on one of the visitors' long runs and then moments later junior classmate Chad Cook getting a little felt-pen encouragement on the sideline courtesy of Climber assistant coach Eric Rehwaldt. Practically taking a would-be tackler's head off at near right is 6-2, 230-pound junior tight end Matt Tuttle. And what, pray tell, was the message Coach 'Grey Wolf' scrawled? One word: "Swagger!" The Climbers did, too, humbling once-mighty Capital's Cougars 43-16 behind Hanes' 124 rushing yards and a touchdown and junior Kyle Burbridge's 139 and three scores.

DISTRICT CROSS-COUNTRY scenes Saturday at American Lake Golf Course in Lakewood find repeat state qualifier Charles Langdon kicking for the finish chute (that's the senior team captain casting the rightmost shadow, near) and then holding up his place card moments later as he's joined by likewise state-bound Climber Sarah Brownstein (sweatshirted, right) along with sister/teammate Leah Langdon (left). Inset right is a crowd's-eye view of the boys' 3A field about a third of the way into the 3.1-mile race. And at left is the Climbers' other state qualifier, junior age-group All-American Dan Paine, emerging from a wooded incline moments later en route to 22nd place overall, a shade over six seconds behind Charles. Sarah was 34th in the distaff race from which the top 40 advanced. Charles? Place card notwithstanding, he actually finished 14th among the 3A boys, whose state-bound ranks included the top 35. Both Climber genders came up just short of advancing as a team. The all-Washington showdown is this weekend in Pasco.

AN AMERICAN soldier from Belfair was killed last month while serving in Iraq. Staff Sergeant Joseph M. Kane, 35, was killed near Baghdad on Saturday, October 14, when a bomb exploded near the vehicle that he was riding in.

Volleyball squad headed
to district action

North Mason's volleyball squad is headed to district action this Saturday at Fife High School. The girls placed first in the 2A division of the Nisqually League at 11-3 and second overall behind 3A Olympic High School. The team includes, in back from left, assistant coach Julie Baker, Hannah Marshall, Michelle Cook, head coach Robert Stevens, Danielle Cook, Becca Henry and assistant coach Marla Hunt. In the middle, from left, are Maci Hunt, Stephanie Hicks and Cristy Norcross. In front are Alex Beeber and Joanna Sprouffske. The girls' first post-season game is noon on Saturday.