Week of December 19, 2024
Week of December 19, 2024
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)...
William Williams has been sentenced to 35 years for the murder of Janus Afo. Judge Daniel Goodell imposed the state’s recommendation Dec. 12 after hearing from six of Afo’s friends and relatives and Williams’ mother. A jury convicted Williams of second-degree murder Oct. 4. During the trial, jurors heard testimony from Williams, who said Afo was the aggressor on Sept. 28. Williams said he was sleeping in his car with Kennedy Karpf, his girlfriend, when Afo showed up looking to collect an alleged debt Karpf owed to Afo’s friend....
By a 4-3 vote, the Shelton City Council on Tuesday evening rejected passing a sales tax increase of 0.01% on taxable goods in the city, designed to collect about $310,000 per year to help house the homeless and provide them services. Mayor Eric Onisko and council members Tom Gilmore and Miguel Guttierez voted for the tax. Deputy Mayor Sharon Schirman and council members Melissa Stearns, Lyndsey Sapp and George Blush voted against it. Eleven residents stepped up to the microphone during the public hearing — six of them said they favored the...
Items from the December issues of the 1959 Shelton-Mason County Journal: On Dec. 3, Police chief Paul Hinton reminded local merchants that "this is the time of year when shoplifting, bum check passing, and till tapping are at their peak. A gang of hoodlums who tapped tills here for $1,100 about a year ago are still active and may be in this area any time." The Washington State Employment Security Service announced there was a shortage of experienced Christmas tree bundlers in local yards....
Shelton Memorial Park hosted Wreaths Across America, a nationwide program honoring military veterans, on Saturday. Local military members led a tribute and Boy Scout Troop 110 placed wreaths on veterans'...
A Christmas swing dance was Dec. 12 as part of the Festival of Firs at the downtown tree maze at 425 W. Cota St. in Shelton. Another dance is scheduled tonight. Journal photos by Shawna...
Connection Street Theatre stages a play based on the movie "A Christmas Story" at 7 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at Faith Lutheran Church, 1212 Connection St. in Shelton. Admission is $10 at the door. The doors open 30 minutes before the show. Set in the 1940s and based on a book by Jean Shephard - who also narrated the movie - the story chronicles young Ralphie's attempts to convince his parents, teacher and Santa Claus that a Red Ryder Range 200 Shot BB gun really is the perfect Christmas...
The Shelton City Council on Tuesday evening gave preliminary agreement to extend MACECOM's lease through 2025 at the Shelton Civic Center. The council can make the move official with a vote at its Jan. 7 meeting. The agency that operates as a 911 center would rent a 2,472-square-foot space. In the new proposed agreement, MACECOM would pay $1,085 per month for rent and $3,936 per month for other expenses such as utilities, building maintenance, custodial services, supplies and communications....
Wild overnight weather left a quarter of Mason County without power at one point early Wednesday morning, closed roads due to downed power lines and felled trees, flooded roads and delayed schools. At 6:45 a.m. Wednesday, almost 25% of PUD 3 customers lacked service, according to the utility’s website. As of 11 a.m., that number had dropped to 4,419 customers (12.45%) throughout the county, PUD 3’s outage tracker showed. Roads were slower to recover. As of 9 a.m., Purdy Cutoff Road was closed due to multiple downed trees, Skokomish Valley...
Mason County commissioners adopted the 2025 county budget at a special hearing Dec. 2 and next year is looking good financially. The total amount is $184,439,408, with the general fund at $70,816,717 and total other county funds at $113,622,691. The beginning fund balance of $26.6 million plus revenues of $44,216,717, equals the total revenue and beginning fund balance of $70,816,717. Salaries and benefits are $37,566,883, operating expenditures $19,037,321, ending fund balance $14,212,513 for a total of expenditures and ending fund balance...
Appraisers visiting properties throughout county for 2025 Throughout December, county appraisers will be visiting property in Area 2, which includes the Shelton city limits and Shelton Matlock Road to Dayton, Shelton Valley Road, Brockdale Road to just before McEwan Prairie Road, Shelton Springs Road, Johns Prairie Road and state Route 3 out to Bayshore, Arcadia out to Totten Shores, a portion of the beginning of Cole Road and the Mill Creek area. Inspections will be used for the 2025 assessment year/2026 tax year, according to a news release...
City approves legislative wish list> On Tuesday evening, the Shelton City Council gave final approval to its wish list of capital projects for state funding at its regular meeting in the Shelton Civic Center. The requests include $2 million for a homeless mitigation site in partnership with local nonprofits, $2.5 million for a roundabout at Wallace Kneeland Boulevard and 13th Street, $4 million for the Mountain View water pressure zone and $3.5 million for the 2.5-mile multimodal trail from the Western Gateway to the Oakland Bay Marina. The...
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...
Judy and Rod Whittaker live at the corner of 2nd and Cedar streets in downtown Shelton. But for the past several weeks, they've been residing in Stinktown, USA. Shelton Creek cuts through their property, as it does through several residential properties downtown. More than a month ago, spawned-out summer chum started dying in the creek, raising a stink of such pungency, urgency and endurance that Judy said she would take a big inhale and hold her breath before walking out the door. "I take a...
A shoutout Editor, the Journal, I am the project coordinator for Bridges to Life For Washington Correction Center prison in Shelton. Bridges to Life is a faith-based restorative justice program based on victim impact. It’s a 14-week program. When the program is completed, we have a graduation ceremony and I would like to give a huge thank you and shoutout to Jaron Garza, general manager for Domino’s in Shelton for his generosity. I appreciate the support Jaron has given to the Bridges to Life program by helping out with pizza for our...
I lean into the aisle seeing the cockpit door from my seat 8D as the 737 enters the runway. The engines get loud, and I'm pushed back in my seat as we pick up speed. The nose comes up and then we are off the ground. I have done it too many times to even count. This time I keep looking at the cockpit door. I have an idea of what is going on in there but don't know all the details. I can't see the pilots, but I have faith in them. It grows into belief, and it becomes success as we leave the...
The Bluegrass Regulators, Faddis & Adkins, The Dirty Birds and Runaway Train will perform at the ninth annual Midwinter Bluegrass Celebration starting at 6 p.m. Dec. 28 at the Shelton School District Performing Arts Center at Shelton High School. Kristmas Town Kiwanis sponsors the concert. Admission is $20, with kids younger than 15 admitted for free. Donations will be accepted for refreshments. Tickets are available at BluegrassFromTheForest.com and at the door. The event raises money for the...
When "Pretty Woman" premiered in 1990, I remember certain critics treating it as a subversion of Walt Disney Productions' 1950 animated adaptation of "Cinderella," not in the least because Touchstone Pictures, which produced it, was owned by Disney. But writer-director Sean Baker's "Anora" is a far more transgressive subversion of that romantic fairy tale, enough that it also qualifies as a subversion of the relatively tame "Pretty Woman." In both 2015's "Tangerine" and 2017's "The Florida...
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...
