Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
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On Monday, the City of Shelton enacted a complete burn ban in city limits, according to a news release. “All burning, including recreational fires and charcoal, will be banned in the City of Shelton until further notice. Propane-fueled equipment and pellet grills will remain legal during this time,” the release says. The National Fire Rating System changed to Very High Fire Danger, prompting the ban. The rating system uses current and preceding weather conditions, fuel types, and live and dead fuel moisture to decide the dangers. The Dep...
The City of Shelton is considering changing its code on temporary signs, which now allow for a size of 16 square feet. At the Shelton City Council meeting July 16, the council voted 5-1 to re-examine the city’s code on temporary signs. Sharon Schirman cast the dissenting vote. The motion will now go before a city committee, then be explored at a council study session before a public hearing and a council vote. Council member George Blush introduced a motion to suspend the city’s code on temporary signs until Dec. 31. “The reason I am bring...
In an article in the July 18 issue of the Journal, a story on the July 16 Shelton City Council meeting incorrectly quoted Jackie Jewett saying City Council member Miguel Gutierrez “winked” at her when she actually said “waved.” Reporter Gordon Weeks misheard the quote. The Journal regrets the error and apologizes to all affected....
What led to 30 credit union representatives from eastern Africa dancing and creating letters with their arms to the Village People tune "YMCA" July 16 at the Shelton Family YMCA? The 30 people from Kenya and Malawi visited the Puget Sound region July 13-20, including stays in Olympia and Seattle, and a day in Shelton. The Learn and Share trip was organized by the African Confederation of Cooperative Savings and Credit Association that supports Savings and Credit Cooperative Organizations in 29 c...
Schafer State Park celebrated its centennial Saturday, July 20, with food, games, storytelling and discussions about the past and future of the park. Around 700 people attended the event, according to Shafer Park Ranger Angela Galli, who told the Journal it was "a great turnout." Galli said officials originally planned for 300 attendees. Trina Young, president of the Friends of Schafer and Lake Sylvia State Parks (FOSLS), put attendance at around 800, and said more than 50 Schafer family...
In February 2023, Recovery Cafe opened at the Community Lifeline shelter in downtown Shelton as a place to support people on their journey out of homelessness and addiction. In January, as the new nonprofit Recovery Cafe Mason County it reopened in side-by-side buildings at 208 and 210 S. 2nd St., formerly the home to The Saints' Pantry food bank, which moved across the street. Recovery Cafe Mason County is part of a network of 66 Recovery Cafes, the first one opened in Seattle. The guiding...
Drunk driver crashes, thinks he’s home Police say an intoxicated Seabeck man drove into a ditch near Allyn and thought he was in his driveway. Shawn Ferguson, 29, drove off state Route 302 near the intersection of East Coulter Creek Road around 10 p.m. July 9 and his car landed “with its nose within the south bound ditch and the rear bumper of the vehicle was just outside of the southbound fog line,” Mason County Sheriff’s Deputy J. Ogden wrote in a probable cause document. Ferguson allegedly exited the crashed vehicle with a bottle in his han...
Roadwork continues this week on state Route 108 west of Kamilche and travelers should expect periodic closures, according to the state Department of Transportation. Crews will be removing and replacing culverts to allow for fish passage. During each closure, drivers will be detoured to U.S. Highway 101 via Mud Bay and state Route 8 to McCleary. Times, dates and locations are: ■ 8 a.m. Friday to 8 a.m. Aug. 9: Just west of Eich Road. ■ 8 a.m. Aug. 14, to 8 a.m. Aug. 28: Just west of Eich Road. Travelers can sign up for email updates about maj...
The Grapeview Community Association hosts the 29th annual Grapeview Water & Art Festival from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Fair Harbor Marina on the Grapeview Loop Road off state Route 3. Fifty-one Northwest artists will display and sell their wares, including watercolor and oil paintings, jewelry, sculpture, wood, glass, photography, fabric arts, and more. Children can enjoy such free activities as boat building and decorating, crafts, face painting and the Kids Fishing Derby. The food inc...
Shelton City Council member Miguel Gutierrez on Tuesday evening moved to remove himself from the council meeting, and then walked out after four other council members voted for him to go following a testy exchange with two downtown business owners. His departure came 13 minutes into the meeting, following public comments by Jackie and Dean Jewett, who own Radio Fryer in downtown Shelton. Both said the city is failing to address problems caused by street people downtown, including urinating and defecating on their garbage cans. Dean suggested...
Green Diamond Resource Co. forest lands in Mason and Grays Harbor counties see 20 to 30 tons of garbage dumped illegally each year, and that amount keeps rising, Policy and Communications Manager Jason Callahan told the Journal. Cleanup costs for the company have also increased fivefold in the past few years, he said. Disposing of just one RV can cost $1,300, “and we get a number of those every year,” Callahan said. Green Diamond has cleaned up all types of garbage dumped on their property, including household garbage, old boats, cars, app...
Hot, dry weather has descended on Western Washington, causing a variety of burn bans for Mason County. The Department of Natural Resources has issued a statewide burn ban through Sept. 30. The DNR can extend or shorten the date depending on fire conditions, according to a news release. The Mason County Fire Marshal also implemented restrictions through that date, subject to changing conditions. All outdoor burning, including campfires in firepits, charcoal briquettes and any other equipment that creates ash is prohibited on all lands in the cou...
State Route 106 blocked after crash A suspected drunken driver allegedly caused a head-on collision on state Route 106 north of Twanoh State Park Sunday, injuring three people. Bremerton woman Katharine Cuyle, 40, was driving westbound near Twanoh Tides Drive at 7:25 p.m. when she crossed the center line and struck a vehicle driven by Sergey Bezzabara, 44, of Federal Way, according to the Washington State Patrol. The accident blocked both lanes. Cuyle was taken to St. Michael Medical Center in Silverdale and Bezzabara and two of his three...
A $14-million state Department of Ecology loan will help Harstene Point Water and Sewer District, on Harstine Island, update 50-year-old lines and reduce operating costs, according to General Manager Jeff Palmer. “We are very excited to receive this loan, which is $14 million, but $5 million of it is forgivable principle, bringing it down to $9 million in repayable,” Palmer told the Journal. DOE provided the money from its clean water fund at 1.2% interest. “Washington’s clean water funding is a mix of state and federal funds dedicated toward...
Fire District 12 commissioners agreed to change regular business meeting days to 6 p.m. the second and fourth Wednesdays of every month at a meeting July 3. Meetings are currently at the Matlock Grange, 61 West Beeville Road in Matlock. The district is also getting a new website at mason12.org, which should be up and running soon, acting Chief Mike Brown said. Brown gave an update on maintenance happening on apparatus and emergency equipment at Station 1 during the meeting. “We’re making headway,” he said. Oil filters on the vehicles haven’t be...
Ballots for the Aug. 6 primary election were mailed Monday to Mason County voters. In the two Mason County Commission contests, the two candidates who receive the most votes will square off in the November general election. Mason County Commissioner Randy Neatherlin, an independent, is seeking a fourth four-year term representing District 1 on the commission. He faces two Republican challengers, Ted Jackson and William Harris, both of Allyn. Republicans Richard Beckman and Pat Tarzwell, and Tom Beben, who states no party preference, are seeking...
Fire crews are monitoring the area underneath the High Steel Bridge after a wildfire started there July 4, according to the U.S. Forest Service. No active suppression is happening now because the terrain is too dangerous for firefighters, but the Vincent Creek fire appears to be out, Keith Alholm, public affairs specialist with Olympic National Forest, told the Journal. “There are no active flames or smoke,” Alholm said. A helicopter dumped water on the fire and engines sprayed water down at the flames from the bridge, according to the For...
City receives zero library project bids No contractors offered bids to repair the Shelton Timberland Library deck. The Shelton City Council was scheduled to give preliminary approval at its July 2 meeting to awarding a contract to install a new waterproof membrane and steel safety railing to meet building and safety codes and "provide a more aesthetically pleasing public space." But City Manager Mark Ziegler announced that the city hadn't received any bids yet for the project. The invitation to...
Central Mason Fire & EMS Chief Jeff Snyder joined state Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz on July 2 at the site of last year's McEwan Fire to talk about fire safety on forest lands. Snyder gave a brief history of the McEwan Fire that started on the Fourth of July last year around 2 p.m. Central Mason was dispatched to a possible brush fire behind Rainbow Lake and units arrived within minutes, he said. The fire was about one-fourth of an acre but there was "rapid fire growth," Snyder...
Police have arrested an Elma man in connection with the death of a woman whose decomposing body was found in a ravine near Schafer State Park. Joshua Morris, 43, was seen on video surveillance May 22 leaving the Lucky Dog Casino with Joanna Ruth Saunders, 29, according to court documents. Saunders was later identified as the body found June 11 on West Beerbower Road in Elma, about 1 mile away from the state park. Mason County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Morris on July 3 for manslaughter. Deputies discovered Saunders June 11, after gravel pit em...
CJ Allen, a 2013 graduate of North Mason High School, is headed to the Paris Olympics with Team USA. Competing in the 400-meter hurdles at the U.S. Track & Field Olympic Team Trials on June 30 in Eugene, Oregon, Allen finished with a time of 47.81 seconds in the event finals, earning second place and qualifying for the Olympics, which begin later this month. “I was 10 years old when I saw the Olympics go off. I said that one day I’d be an Olympian,” Allen said in a YouTube interview with CITIU...
The City of Shelton is considering installing 12 cameras at city entrances that read vehicle license plates and within 20 seconds alert Shelton Police of stolen plates or cars, missing persons or abducted children. At a June 25 study session, the Shelton City Council heard presentations on the system by Flock Safety that is used in 61 locales in the state, including the cities of Olympia, Kent, Marysville, Omak, Centralia and Aberdeen. “One of the biggest things to understand about this is if someone is rolling into our city with a stolen c...
Shelton native Alicia Otto kicked her addictions to methamphetamine and heroin eight years ago. "At first I fought it tooth and nail," Otto told the audience at the annual Mason County Family Reunification Day gathering June 27 at Kneeland Park in Shelton. But being clean was the only way Otto could regain her four children, now ages 8 to 17. Now she's helping others as the program director for the Recovery Cafe in downtown Shelton. Otto and her children were among the celebrants at the Family...
