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  • Habitat breaks ground for 38th house

    Gordon Weeks|Feb 15, 2024

    On Feb. 7, Habitat for Humanity of Mason County broke ground for a new house, the third of a trio of structures in a row on Park Street on the edge of downtown Shelton near Kneeland Park. The house at 529 Park St. will be home to Christina Salt and her three children, 20-year-old Alonya Barnes, 14-year-old Trevor Johnson II and 7-year-old Larry Dee III. This is Habitat for Humanity of Mason County's 38th house. Habitat for Humanity is a global nonprofit housing organization working with...

  • Education Briefs

    Compiled by reporter Gordon Weeks|Feb 15, 2024

    Mutoli awarded scholarship from PLU Shelton High School student Kaylin Mutoli received a President’s Scholar scholarship of $34,000 per year to attend Pacific Lutheran University. The university announced Mutoli was part of a pool of more than 500 students, of which 133 President’s Scholars were selected. The university states the students awarded the scholarship “displayed exemplary qualities in leadership, service and academics, while also displaying a potential to enrich our campus community in the classroom and beyond.” This year’s...

  • Community Briefs

    Compiled by reporter Gordon Weeks|Feb 15, 2024

    Northwest rock talk at Harstine lecture The Harstine Island Community Club and Humanities Washington's Inquiring Minds series continues with Peter Blecha and "Stomp and Shout: The Untold Story of Northwest Rock & Roll" at 2 p.m. Feb. 25 at the Harstine Island Community Hall, 3371 E. Harstine Island Road N. Blecha, the director of the Northwest Music Archives and an author, talks about the musicians who laid the foundation of the regional music scene before grunge, including Ray Charles, Quincy...

  • Gas prices may raise city garbage rates

    Gordon Weeks|Feb 15, 2024

    Higher gasoline prices prompted Mason County Garbage to seek approval from the City of Shelton to raise monthly collection bills. The Shelton City Council in a 6-1 vote gave preliminary approval to the increase at its Feb. 20 meeting. If given final approval Tuesday, residential customers will see a 20-cent increase on their monthly bills, and commercial customers an extra $1.63 through the end of the year. Council member George Blush cast the dissenting vote. He pointed out that the proposed in...

  • Realty owner running for commission

    Gordon Weeks|Feb 8, 2024

    Richard Beckman, owner of Richard Beckman Realty Group in downtown Shelton, is running for the seat on the Mason County Commission occupied by Kevin Shutty, who told the Journal on Tuesday he won't run for re-election. This is the first campaign for public office by the 55-year-old Beckman, who is running as a Republican. Shutty, also a Republican, won the District 2 seat in 2017. Beckman was a member and chair of the Mason County Realtors Government Affairs Committee and pointed out he...

  • Community Briefs

    Compiled by reporter Gordon Weeks|Feb 8, 2024

    ‘Shelton Stories’ Saturday at library Shelton Timberland Library hosts “Shelton Stories,” billed as “a day of events celebrating community,” on Saturday at the library at 710 West Alder St. The “Women Leaders of Mason County” exhibit is open all day on the main floor. Also on the main floor, coffee and doughnuts will be served at 9:30 a.m., the “Faces of Shelton: A Living Gallery” opens at 10:15 a.m., and readings from “Mason County Remembers” will be presented at 11 a.m. Downstairs, arts and crafts tables are set up between 10 a.m. and 2:3...

  • City Briefs

    Compiled by reporter Gordon Weeks|Feb 8, 2024

    Apply for Shelton Police Citizens Academy The Shelton Police Department is accepting applications for its Citizens Academy, an eight-week program highlighting the department’s community-oriented policing mission, partnerships with local agencies and a judicial overview. Starting Feb. 15, classes will be hosted in person from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursdays in the Shelton Civic Center. The Citizens Academy will have a maximum of 30 people. City of Shelton residents and business owners will be given priority, followed by Mason County residents. The goal of...

  • Two Shelton High performers going to state music event

    Gordon Weeks|Feb 8, 2024

    Shelton High School students Sophia Nakhla and Richard Beckman were selected from thousands of applicants statewide to participate Feb. 16-17 in the Washington Music Educators' Association All-State Honors Groups in Yakima. Nakhla, a junior, will sing alto with the All-State Treble Choir. Beckman, a senior, will play tenor saxophone in the All-State Symphonic Band. The two will join other music students at the gathering and perform in Gala Concerts on Feb. 17 under the direction of noted...

  • Getting Out

    Gordon Weeks|Feb 8, 2024

    The long-running soap opera "The Bold and the Young" is in its last days. The hunky hero has self-esteem issues, the actor playing the villainous old man on the series for 40 years is more interested in soup, and the heroines are slightly psychopathic. The executive producer gives the squabbling cast an ultimatum: complete one episode overnight or the show dies. But when the director ends up murdered, the other cast members start dying. Can the cast discover the murderer before the show is...

  • Shelton creating new plan

    Gordon Weeks|Feb 1, 2024

    The City of Shelton started preliminary work on a new comprehensive plan for a city whose residents are younger, poorer, less educated and more likely to rent than surrounding communities. Demographics of the city's population was one of the topics when the Shelton City Council heard updates on the comprehensive plan development at a study session Jan. 23 at the Shelton Civic Center. In October, the city kicked off the process of developing the comprehensive plan, which isn't slated to be...

  • COMMUNITY BRIEFS

    Compiled by reporter Gordon Weeks|Feb 1, 2024

    Soup & Song benefit helps families in need The Shelton-based nonprofit Love INC hosts its annual Soup & Song benefit concert at 4 p.m. Saturday at Shelton Presbyterian Church, 1430 E. Shelton Springs Road, Shelton. Tickets are $20 and are available at the Love INC office at 109 Second St., downtown Shelton, or by calling the office at 360-462-5683. Gabe Sartori and his family will perform worship music. Local harpists Emily Hageman and her daughter Ellen will also perform. The event includes seven homemade soups, a live auction of dozens of...

  • Road to recovery on drug treatment truck

    Gordon Weeks|Feb 1, 2024

    The day after Christmas, a large white truck bearing the initials ETS pulled up next to the Community Lifeline homeless shelter in downtown Shelton. Ever since, residents with homes or without have been treated for opioid use disorders inside the truck six mornings a week. The nonprofit Evergreen Treatment Services, funded by a grant from the Health Care Authority, states that it "aims to minimize barriers to accessing substance use treatment by meeting patients where they are." Established in...

  • City eyes new pathway

    Gordon Weeks|Jan 25, 2024

    The City of Shelton is considering creating a 2.5-mile paved path that connects the Shelton Marina to Kneeland Park to the city's western boundary on Railroad Avenue. Jae Hill, the city's community and economic development director, gave a presentation on the proposal to members of the Shelton City Council on Tuesday evening at a study session at the Shelton Civic Center. In his report, Hill said "desired amenities" in preliminary concept plans envision a 12-foot-wide paved path separated from...

  • Grapeview voters face replacement levy

    Gordon Weeks|Jan 25, 2024

    On the Feb. 13 ballot, voters in the Grapeview School District are being asked to replace an expiring educational programs levy that would tax property owners 63 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value, the same as the levy that is expiring. If passed, the levy would collect $946,724 in 2025, $990,095 in 2026, $1.024.570 in 2027 and $1.042,216 in 2028. The Grapeview levy is one of five education funding measures on the Feb. 13 ballot. Voters in the Mary M. Knight School District are also...

  • EDUCATION BRIEFS

    Compiled by reporter Gordon Weeks|Jan 25, 2024

    Flagging, computer courses at OC Shelton Olympic College Shelton is offering a course on understanding your personal technology from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays Feb. 6-29, and a course on flagging from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 8. For information, call 360-432-5400 or go to www.olympic.edu/academics/continuing-education. Dental exams offered at Shelton schools The Shelton School District has joined with Big Smiles to offer dental care at schools. Dental exams can be scheduled by filling out and returning paper forms sent home by...

  • COMMUNITY BRIEFS

    Compiled by Gordon Weeks and Justin Johnson|Jan 25, 2024

    Woody Guthrie subject of Northwest lecture Sunday on Harstine Island Olympia actor/teacher/musician/historian Joel Underwood brings the singer and the times to life with "That Ribbon of Highway: Woody Guthrie in the Pacific Northwest" at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Harstine Island Community Hall, 3371 E. Harstine Island Road North. The Harstine Island Community Club, in association with Humanities Washington, hosts the Inquiring Minds series. Admission is free. To get to the hall, turn left off the...

  • GETTING OUT

    Gordon Weeks|Jan 25, 2024

    Anjelah Johnson-Reyes, a former Los Angeles Raiders cheerleader, was a fledging standup comic when her YouTube clip "Nail Salon" attracted a reported 100 million views. Her character of a Vietnamese-American nail salon employee named My Linh/Tammy changed her life, Johnson-Reyes said in a telephone interview with the Journal from Los Angeles. "I had nothing to my name and then I'm on a hit TV show and touring the country," she said. Johnson-Reyes performs shows at 6 and 9 p.m. Feb. 3 at the Litt...

  • Big year for city capital projects

    Gordon Weeks|Jan 18, 2024

    Replacing brass water meters with an advanced drive-by system that eliminates monthly manual meter readings and reconstructing an aging water line from Well 1 to the high school water tank are among the City of Shelton's biggest capital projects this year. Public Works Director Jay Harris and Capital Projects Manager Aaron Nix gave the members of the Shelton City Council updates on those projects Jan. 9 at a work session in the Shelton Civic Center. City officials, including Mayor Eric Onisko, a...

  • Griffey lays out 2023 session goals

    Gordon Weeks|Jan 18, 2024

    Editor’s Note: A story in the Jan. 11 issue of local legislators and the current session stated that the Journal did not receive questionnaire responses from Rep. Dan Griffey, and his responses came after the Journal went to press. Here they are: 1. Are you introducing any bills? We want to do something right and real about sexually violent predators (SVPs) that are being released into our communities with virtually no notice to less restrictive alternatives (LRAs) that in many cases are not operated by or overseen by the state. These are j...

  • Shelton School Board elects new chair

    Gordon Weeks|Jan 18, 2024

    Matt Welander is the new chairman of the Shelton School Board. The Shelton School Board at its Jan. 9 meeting voted 4-1 to appoint Welander, who had been serving as vice chair. Board member Becky Cronquist cast the dissenting vote without comment. Welander was elected to the school board in 2021 and represents District 3. He is a firefighter/paramedic with the West Mason Fire Department. He replaces Keri Davidson, who was elected unanimously by the board as vice chair. Davidson talked about the role of the board chair before the election of...

  • CITY BRIEFS

    Compiled by reporter Gordon Weeks|Jan 18, 2024

    Portillo is Shelton's Officer of the Year Gary Portillo, who Tuesday night evening was sworn in as a corporal for the Shelton Police Department, is the department's Officer of the Year. Portillo received the award at the Shelton City Council meeting. Portillo is an 11-year law enforcement veteran who was hired by the Shelton Police Department in 2021. Before coming to Shelton, he was a law enforcement officer for the Nevada Department of Public Safety and the Clark County School District. With...

  • GETTING OUT

    Gordon Weeks|Jan 18, 2024

    The vocal trio The Starlets perform pop, doo-wop, rhythm-and-blues and Motown tunes from the 1950s and '60s from 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday at the Shelton High School Performing Arts Center. The Mason County Community Concerts Association presents the show as part of its annual program. Single-concert tickets are $30 for adults, with children under age 18 admitted free. Ticket packages for the remaining season are $80. For more information, go to www.masoncountyconcerts.org. The Mason County...

  • GETTING OUT

    Gordon Weeks|Jan 18, 2024

    Bruce Coughlan, the longtime singer and songwriter for the Canadian Celtic folk band Tiller's Folly, performs a solo concert at 3 p.m. Saturday at St. Germain's Episcopal Church, 600 N. Lake Cushman Road, Hoodsport. Admission is the suggested donation of $15, but organizers say no one will be turned away. For 26 years, Tiller's Folly has written and recorded songs that draw from Scottish, Irish and maritime traditions "to preserve a measure of the West's colonial history in stories and songs,"...

  • Legislators dive into session

    Gordon Weeks|Jan 11, 2024

    The state Legislature launched its 2024 short session Monday, with the 35th District that includes all of Mason County represented by Reps. Travis Couture and Dan Griffey, both Republicans from Allyn, and state Sen. Drew MacEwen, R-Shelton. The state's 98 representatives and 49 senators are scheduled to be in session through March 7. Couture is the assistant ranking minority member of the Appropriations Committee, the assistant ranking member of the Human Services, Youth and Early Learning...

  • Shelton mayor will run for state House

    Gordon Weeks|Jan 11, 2024

    Shelton Mayor Eric Onisko announced he will run on the August primary ballot for a seat in the state House of Representatives. Onisko will be running as a Republican in a bid to unseat fellow Republican Travis Couture, who is in his first term in Position 2 representing District 35. Onisko, a 56-year-old retired businessman, last week was unanimously elected for a second term as mayor of Shelton by the other six members of the Shelton City Council. In an interview with the Journal, Onisko said...

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