Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
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Sunny skies and temperatures that pushed 80 degrees greeted thousands of seafood, music and beer enthusiasts who descended on Shelton’s Sanderson Field on Sept. 30 through Oct. 2 for the return of OysterFest after a two-year hiatus due to COVID. The Shelton Skookum Rotary Club, which has staged the event since 1982, was tabulating attendance numbers as the Journal was going to press. The group estimates about 11,000 patrons passed through the main gate, which does not include 450 people who camped in RVs at the site or the thousands of vendors...
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The Shelton City Council on Tuesday gave preliminary approval to a $40.2 million budget for 2023. The council will host a second public hearing on the proposed budget at its meeting at 6 p.m. Nov. 1. The budget must be approved by the end of the year. Last November, the council approved a $41.1 million budget for 2022. The proposed expenditures in the 2023 budget include $15,011,415 for the general fund, $2,068.316 for the street fund, $2,824,585 for the capital improvement fund, $7,035,937 for the sewer fund, $3,510,407 for the water fund,...
Mason County Fire District 12 in Matlock has begun the process of an internal investigation to look into the allegations raised in the state Auditor’s Office fraud investigation and accountability audit reports. The reports were released Sept. 20 at the fire commissioner’s regular monthly meeting, with state Auditor Pat McCarthy attending over Zoom, where she raised concern for what the audit found. Brian Snure, lawyer for Fire District 12, told the Journal the investigation process is pro...
City homeless forum on Tuesday The City of Shelton hosts a “Spotlight Shelton” community forum on homelessness from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday in the Shelton Civic Center. Some of the nonprofit groups that partner with the city will give presentations, and residents can share their thoughts. The city’s homeless task forces’ last scheduled meeting is set for Oct. 11, before the community forum, where it will produce two short-term goals, two intermediate goals and two long-term goals. Those goals will be presented to the city council. City gives O...
League hosts ‘speed dating’ with candidates The League of Women Voters of Mason County host a “Speed Dating with the Candidates” public event from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Oct. 13 at the Shelton Civic Center, 225 W. Cota St. Attendees will sit at tables as candidates rotate through the room answering questions at each table. Invited are all the candidates for 35th Legislative District 35 positions 1 and 2; Mason County Auditor, assessor and clerk; Mason PUD 3 Commission; and Mason County Commission. Also invited are the candidates running unoppos...
Around 8 p.m. Sunday night, Washington State Patrol and Mason County Sheriff’s Office responded to a fatal accident between a car and man sitting in the road on state Route 3 near Deer Creek north of Shelton. A news memo from State Patrol says the driver was not impaired and that the man in the road is the cause of the crash. About 10 miles south and 30 minutes earlier, State Patrol and MSCO went to a motorcycle accident on U.S. Highway 101 near its intersection with Old Olympic Highway South b...
I often feel guilty when I stroll past someone who’s in a wheelchair, maybe because it seems like bragging. Here’s a new, less judgmental phrase for suicide: Self-checkout. The gut gets too much credit for making sound decisions. There are more of us than there are of them. When people decide telling the truth is better than lying, they become their unguarded and grateful selves. Adolf Hitler wouldn’t have looked so evil if we had a picture of him sitting in a La-Z-Boy recliner. In the inter...
Editor’s note: Paddy McGuire is a candidate for Mason County auditor. This letter is being published as a rebuttal to a previous letter. Letters by candidates for public office in Mason County will generally not be published except in response to previous letters. Duenkel traffics in doubt Editor, the Journal, In his letter in last week’s Journal, my opponent says that he wants to “educate voters on every aspect of our election system.” I’ve been an election professional for two decades and I prefer educators that have at least a vague und...
1. Why do you want to be elected as county prosecutor? I started in criminal prosecution as a part-time Assistant City Attorney for the City of Shelton in 2000 when I was still a Rule 9 Intern in a position that also involved working in civil litigation and other legal areas. I quickly gravitated toward criminal prosecution in part due to the pace of litigation and in part due to the fact that I found reward in serving my community by pursuing justice. I have been with the Mason County Prosecutor’s Office since January 2004, I was first e...
Julianne Gale 1. What qualifications would you bring to the job of state senator? I’m looking forward to bringing all my professional qualifications, life experiences, and community connections to the job of state senator. I have served on the steering committee of the statewide Office of Recovery Partnerships and on the monitoring team of the Washington Climate Assembly. I was Valedictorian at the University of Southern California, where I earned a B.S. in Computer Science, an M.A. in Applied Theatre Arts, and an M.A. in Teaching. I have w...
Paddy McGuire 1. Why are you running for the county auditor’s office? Serving as County Auditor for the last four years has been a pleasure and an honor, but I still have things that I want to accomplish. I am very proud of what we have done in my first term including producing the first-ever county voters’ pamphlet giving you information about the people and measures on the local ballot and getting the state to pay its fair share of election costs, saving Mason County taxpayers money. I installed 24/7 security in our ballot processing roo...
Pedestrian dead in Route 3 accident A pedestrian died in a one-car accident on state Route 3 near East Agate Road on Sunday evening. According to a Washington State Patrol news release, Paul B. Taft, 56, of Shelton was struck and killed while sitting in the southbound lane by a 63-year-old Shelton driver. WSP spokesperson Katherine Weatherwax said Taft is suspected of attempting suicide. No charges have been filed against the Shelton driver. The driver and a 58-year-old Shelton female passenger were not injured in the accident. One dead in...
County surplus of old vehicle Mason County commissioners approved declaring a vehicle surplus at the Sept. 27 meeting. According to the information packet, Equipment Rental and Revolving Fund has a 2007 Toyota Prius with 70,000 miles, a 2001 small unit deicer, a 2002 herbicide unit and 1999-2002 Ford F350 Rear End, Ford F150 Cab Guard, a sander and a chip spreader that has now been declared surplus and will be disposed of at public auction. The auction will be through the state Surplus Program at 7511 New Market St., Tumwater. Auction...
Our Favorite Things Resale shop is the one of the stores to open in a revamping of businesses along Railroad Avenue in Shelton. Rishell Kidd, the owner, opened the store Feb. 14. She said her vision is to reinvent the second hand shopping experience. "I provide new and very gently used items in a boutique-style environment," Kidd told the Journal. "It's not thrift and it's not vintage, it's everything in between." Kidd said she's always had a good eye for buying nice stuff at a good price, and...
In 1854, Joseph Sherwood and his brother Warren traveled from their home in Vermont to Sawamish County (name changed to Mason County 10 years later) in the Washington Territory, bringing with them considerable experience in sawing and water power. Soon after settling on land at the western edge of North Bay, they built a waterwheel and sawmill near the mouth of what is now known as Sherwood Creek. They created a dam at the mill site to turn the wheel, and a second one farther up the creek for...
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Bewitching ladies in blasts from the past dominated this past week's streaming releases, targeted toward different ages of audiences, and to wildly varying degrees of success. Blonde Christopher Lee said actors occasionally can't avoid appearing in bad films, "but the trick is to never be bad in them." Ana de Armas has made a career out of abiding by that advice, with breakout roles in quality films, including 2017's "Blade Runner 2049" and 2019's "Knives Out." When I saw that Netflix's...
Belfair Self-Storage's artist of the month for October is visual artist Sharon Taylor, for whom business manager Barbara Treick will display a sampling of her pieces this coming month on the self-storage offices' art wall. "Describing the type of art that I create is somewhat difficult, because I don't have one particular type," Taylor said. "I love all art. I see art in just about everything. It really comes from my heart. I love to paint with acrylics and watercolor. I love using various...
The Owls' took flight with gusto. Led by strong serving and veteran leadership from its five seniors, the Mary M. Knight volleyball team dispatched league foes Oakville and Wishkah Valley in straight sets last week. MMK entered this week with a 2-0 record in 1B Coastal League action (3-4 overall). In the Sept. 27 match against Oakville, the Acorns led 5-2 early before a 13-2 scoring surge by MMK, capped by a one-handed kill from Owls' senior Hailey Lohman - one of two players for the Owls that...
The Highclimbers fell to Montesano 35-13 in a nonleague football game Sept. 30 at Highclimber Stadium. Montesano had 353 yards of offense compared to 266 yards for Shelton. Shelton quarterback Mason Goos was 10 of 18 passing with 111 yards. Bradley Eleton led the Shelton backfield with seven carries for 66 yards for one touchdown. Bradley Tiller had one carry for three yards and a score and Conner Gilman tallied 19 carries for 46 yards. Gabe Menefee led Shelton receivers with five catches for...
Shelton Girls Soccer Shelton earned a win against Rochester before a loss to Aberdeen in EvCo girls soccer action last week. The Highclimbers won 2-1 in Rochester on Sept. 27, but dropped a match 3-0 in Aberdeen on Sept. 29. Shelton (2-6, 1-4) hosted Black Hills on Tuesday and is on the road in Chehalis today against W.F. West. Shelton Volleyball The Highclimber volleyball team earned a win against Aberdeen last week in an Evergreen Conference match. Shelton fell in a 3-2 match to Rochester at home Sept. 27. The Highclimbers hosted Aberdeen on...
The Olympic Sunset View apartments will soon have people coming and going, as they are set to begin renting to tenants in November. Harbor Custom Development Chief Operating Officer Jeff Habersetzer said it was a challenging construction site. "It's on a bit of a hillside and after a very wet winter, we came through the other side in pretty good shape," Habersetzer told the Journal. "The project is really rounding into form now and it's going to turn out to be a big success for us." The...
During the North Mason School Board’s Sept. 15 meeting, high school counselor Rebecca Roberts spoke about the work being done for the Comprehensive School Counseling Plan before Board Director Laura Boad moved to approve the plan as presented. According to Roberts, the American School Counseling Association has a model they’ve published for more than a decade outlining the best practices in counseling. “School counseling has shifted, in the last decade or two, from being very individualized (to)...
Mary's dad caught a skunk in a trap. Now you know that must have been a bit of a challenge to remove it without getting sprayed. The terminology "hair spray" wasn't being used yet and Mary refers to it as "hair lacquer." I think hair spray is more ladylike. More food, flowers, shopping in Seattle and meetings. Mary is a busy gal this week. Friday, Oct. 1, 1948 Arose early and picked up Ruth Small. We parked car and caught the 8:30 ferry. We parted on 2nd Ave. to go to our respective meetings....
