Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
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Washington got bluer, America got redder and Mason County didn't change much. That was the overall takeaway of the initial results from the Nov. 5 general election, released late Tuesday night. With more than 29,500 ballots counted in Tuesday's tally, Mason County's initial turnout was 63.6%, placing it in the top 10 by turnout of Washington's 39 counties. The next ballot count was scheduled for 5 p.m. Wednesday, after the Journal went to press. The county has an estimated 5,000 ballots left to... Full story
Pioneer School District closed Monday due to alleged online posts that said someone was coming to the middle school with a weapon, according to Superintendent Jeff Davis. Davis decided to shut down the school until police could investigate, he told the Journal in an email. “On Sunday evening, a student sent our middle school principal some social media threads that mentioned someone coming to the middle school on Monday with a weapon. Our principal contacted the Sheriff’s Department and provided the information. Based on the information tha...
The Shelton City Council on Tuesday evening gave preliminary approval to a budget of almost $46 million for 2025. The budget can pass with a vote at the council’s meeting at 6 p.m. Nov. 19 at the Shelton Civic Center. No one stepped up to the microphone at the public hearing. The proposed budget totals $45,902,596, with a general fund appropriation of $16,789,551. The state requires that the budget be approved by the end of the year. The proposed 2025 budget is $1.9 million higher — a 4.3% increase — than the adopted 2024 general fund budge...
Commissioners continued to make progress on the 2025 county budget, with an estimated Jan. 1 beginning fund balance of $26.5 million, revenues at $43.9 million for a total beginning balance of $70.4 million for maintenance level, according to an Oct. 22 workshop. Department heads put in requests for funds and now it’s up to commissioners to decide what the county can afford. All three commissioners gave thumbs-down to creating new staff positions and nixed advanced requests for overtime. When commissioners see hundreds of thousands of d...
New Horizon Communities and South Sound Solar on Oct. 30 hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony and reception marking the completion of the Shelton Veterans Village solar project in Shelton. "It takes a special dedication to come out in the rain," said Dave Redman, the program supervisor at the Shelton Veterans Village. Construction of the solar array on Shelton Veterans Village's 30 tiny homes and community center was completed in September. The Shelton Veterans Village has 156 solar panels, 102 of...
To submit a Public Notice/Legal advertisement, please email a Word file to [email protected], along with your phone number, and someone will contact you for payment. Thank you, Shelton-Mason County Journal... Full story
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)... Full story
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... Full story
You often read or hear about a crowd or the appearance of someone’s hair being “unruly,” but you rarely encounter a “ruly crowd” or “ruly hair.” “Ruly” is an example of what’s called a “lost positive,” a word that has lost its use in our daily language. Other examples of lost positives are “couth,” “ept,” “whelmed” and “gruntled.” You can lead a cat to a scratching post, but you can’t make it itch. We have the word “reflection” — an image created by light being cast on another image — but we don...
In aisle 1 at Safeway, there are nearly 40 different types of toothpaste and at least two life lessons to be found. When I was in my early 20's, living in Alaska over 2,000 miles away from my parents, I called them. I was in love, again, and said to my dad, "This could be the one." He stated, "Don't get caught up on toothpaste issues." "What are toothpaste issues ?" I asked. First, there are several ways to discharge toothpaste from the tube. Just grab and squeeze, push from the bottom and...
For the special Homecoming edition on Oct. 22, 1951, reporters from the Shelton High School newspaper, "The Saghalie," interviewed several SHS "students of yesteryear." This story is from those interviews. Mrs. Horace Crary (Geneva Sargison) was in the second class to graduate from Shelton High School, in 1911. The 50 high school students occupied the upper floor of the newly built Lincoln School and "were principally interested in education, since activities were few." Team sports offered...
The Veterans of Foreign Wars #1694 and its auxiliary host a breakfast and Veterans Day ceremony Monday morning at Memorial Hall, 210 W. Franklin St., downtown Shelton. The doors open at 9:30 a.m., and breakfast is served at 11 a.m. Members of the Shelton NJROTC will participate in the ceremony. The microphone will be passed around so veterans can share their stories....
Local author signs books at library Shelton author Mary May reads from her book “Sheltered by Hope: My Journey out of Homelessness” and also signs copies from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday at the Shelton Timberland Library, 710 W. Alder St. Operation Christmas Child donations Operation Christmas Child, a project of the nonprofit Samaritan’s Purse, seeks donations of shoeboxes filled with gifts for children. In 2023, almost 11.3 million shoebox gifts were collected worldwide, more than 10 million from the United States. The shoebox gifts can b...
Monday's blustery weather met power lines in a head-to-head match. Numerous outages occurred throughout the day, but most customers in PUD1 had power back by the afternoon, according to General Manager Kristin Masteller. "These were all small tree and limb related outages due to the high winds today. All relatively quick fixes," she told the Journal in an email. Crews made repairs from Brinnon to Union, she said, logging driving hours between Bee Mill, Finch Creek, Galloway/Point Whitney and...
Mason County Public Health is monitoring a Halloween “trick” that could potentially sicken children with salmonella. The Panhandle Lake 4-H Camp Kids Haunted Halloween event Oct. 26 provided candy treats, but an individual at one cabin also gave away real chicken feet as a trick, according to MCPH. Many participants thought the chicken feet were rubber “so extensive handling by some of the recipients did take place,” MCPH said in a statement. No illnesses have been reported as of Oct. 28, according to the county. “The chicken feet were purc...
The Shelton-Mason County Chamber of Commerce and Shelton Downtown Merchants Association put on its annual Halloween Spooktacular trick-or-treat event on West Railroad Avenue in Shelton on Oct. 31. The event was well attended despite rain showers and featured more than 60 local businesses and nonprofits....
The body of 24-year-old Haley Benjamin, of Elma, was recovered Oct. 29 by Thurston County Sheriff's Office Dive Rescue Team. Benjamin fell through a decommissioned train trestle near Kelley Road in the Schafer Grade area near Matlock while hunting Oct. 25. A police drone located Benjamin, who was deceased, but the steep terrain was inaccessible that night and by the next morning, her body had been swept away by the rising river. "Over the last four days several agencies assisted in the search...
Randy Neatherlin seems set to serve a fourth term on the Mason County Commission. Neatherlin, an independent, received 15,338 votes for 55.11% on the first ballot count in the general election Tuesday while William Harris, a Republican, received 12,329 for 44.30% in their bid to represent District 1 for four years on the three-member commission. In an interview Tuesday evening with the Journal, Neatherlin said he thought he was going to lose the race. He said his hours on his commission job kept him from campaigning by doorbelling, and he noted...
In the initial general election ballot count on Tuesday evening, Republican Pat Tarzwell was leading Tom Beben, who states no party preference, in their contest for a four-year term representing District 2 on the Mason County Commission. In the first ballot count released at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Tarzwell had 14,320 votes for 53.31% and Beben 12,963 votes for 47.36%. Tarzwell ran a small manufacturing business for 33 years. Beben owns the High Steel Beer Co. “It’s not over yet, but it looks pretty darn good,” Tarzwell told the Journal on Wedne...
State Sen. Drew MacEwen, R-Shelton, will return to Olympia holding his current office, falling short to Democratic challenger State Sen. Emily Randall in the 6th Congressional District race. Tuesday’s initial count across the entire district showed Randall with 167,826 at 57.3% and MacEwen with 124,717 at 42.58%. In Mason County, MacEwen captured 55.32% of the vote to Randall’s 44.52%. The 6th District encompasses most of Tacoma and all of the Kitsap and Olympic peninsulas from the Mason-Thurston county border north. “It’s not the result...
I entered "The Apprentice" wary from the failures of Oliver Stone's "W." in 2008 and Adam McKay's "Vice" in 2018, worried that yet another attempted biopic of a right-wing leader would fall short in spite of its acting and directorial talent. What I instead saw was a nonspectacular but nonetheless solidly competent film, directed by Ali Abbasi and written by Gabriel Sherman, that succeeded by focusing less on the mannerisms of its real-life subjects than on examining the consequences of their...
A steady downpour didn't prevent adults and kids from enjoying the Trunk or Treat event on Halloween at Hood Canal Market Fresh. Offerings included a bouncy house, a deejay, a costume contest and refreshments....
