Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
Sorted by date Results 351 - 375 of 859
The HUB Center in Belfair hosts its fourth annual Haunted HUB Drive Thru starting at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 28 at 111 N.E. Old Belfair Highway. The event is billed as kid friendly. Family fun packs will be handed to patrons in the first 150 vehicles that complete the drive, which will feature strange and spooky characters. Admission is the suggested donation of $5. The HUB (which stands for Hospitality, Unity and Belonging) is also seeking businesses, organizations and families who love Halloween to...
Increasing student attendance, decreasing the number of off-campus suspensions and helping ninth-graders have a successful first year of high school are among the goals this school year at Shelton High School. Principal Bruce Kipper presented the school's plan Sept. 26 at the Shelton School Board meeting. One goal is to increase student attendance by 10% from last school year. "As you know, that's a tricky subject," he said. "There's a lot of things that are out of our control ... There's...
After more than 40 years of prodding and mandating by Mason County and the state, the City of Shelton signed off on the final cleanup of the toxic C Street landfill. The Shelton City Council on Tuesday evening voted unanimously to close out the contract on the construction part of the cleanup of the 17-acre landfill west of downtown Shelton and U.S. Highway 101, which was completed in June. "Staff does not expect any additional action on the city's part pertaining to this project and can be...
Twenty-four years ago, a teenage Abe Gardner as an Eagle Scout project led a campaign to create a memorial to Shelton-area students who died young. Today, Gardner - an emergency prevention specialist with North Mason Regional Fire Authority - is seeking permission from families to add the names to the two-sided memorial at the entrance to the trail across the street from Shelton High School. No names have been added since 2014. Interested families can contact him at 360-801-9555. In 1996 or...
John Steinbeck's ties to Hood Canal topic of historian's talk Historian/author Michael Kenneth Hemp will talk about "Western Flyer's Departure and Connections to the Hood Canal" at 4 p.m. Oct. 11 at the Alderbrook Golf & Yacht Club, 330 E. Country Club East, Union. Hemp is investigating the Hood Canal connections to ecologist Ed Ricketts, author John Steinbeck ("Grapes of Wrath," "East of Eden") and the ship The Western Flyer. The Gig Harbor resident is a member of the Mason County Historical...
Meeting Oct. 18 on Theler wetlands trail projects A public information meeting on the planned restoration and improvements to the Mary E. Theler Wetlands trail in Belfair will be from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Oct. 18 at the Belfair branch of the Timberland Library, 23081 NE state Route 3. Email www.pnwsalmoncenter.org to RSVP. On Sept. 26, the Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group Project Manager Andy Hokit and state Department of Fish and Wildlife employees talked about the goals and benefits of the...
Voters in the Hood Canal School District will vote Nov. 7 on a proposed $33.5-million building bond that would create space for preschool classrooms, an ADA-accessible playground, arts, music and science, and replace a 70-year-old transportation facility. The district states voters should start receiving their ballots about Oct. 12. A 60% majority is required for the bond to pass. A similar bond proposal failed by 80 votes in February 2020. Passage of the bond would add a tax of $1.05 per...
Here comes Santa Claus, here comes Santa Claus, right down ... Lilliwaup Lane? In September? And isn't that Mrs. Claus? During the past 1½ years, you might have spotted in Mason County a Saint Nick look-alike in red shorts, red suspenders, bells jangling from his neck, the red stocking cap, blue eyes twinkling, the snowy beard clearly real; sometimes he's accompanied by a woman in a candy cane apron. Other clues are the stencilings on their red car that include "Making a list and...
In a “re-review” of eight books already approved by the district but flagged by some parents as offensive, the Shelton School Board on Tuesday evening voted to remove two books from the grades 7-12 reading curriculum: “Like a Love Story” and “Looking for Alaska.” During board meetings the past four months, some parents and guardians complained about eight of the 150 literature books for grades seven through 12 that were recommended by the district’s Instructional Materials Committee and then approved by the school board June 27. Other parents,...
Quixote Village fundraiser event The second annual Quixote Communities’ Tiny Homes Big Future Celebration fundraiser is hosted from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday at The Pavilion, 190 W. Sentry Drive in Shelton. Quixote Communities has three villages for homeless people, including one devoted to local veterans that recently opened in Shelton. At the event, the nonprofit will thank its 2023 Partners of the Year: Mason County VFW Post 1694, Mason County VFW Post 1694 Auxiliary and the Puget Sound Veterans Hope Center. April Pooler and Garrett Ratfield a...
The Shelton City Council voted Tuesday evening to raise basic monthly water service rates from $46 to almost $75 by 2029 and basic monthly sewer rates 4.5% in each of the next three years to meet operating expenses and pay back loans. The council unanimously gave preliminary agreement to the rates at its Sept. 5 regular meeting. They were recommended by the consulting firm of FCS Group. No one spoke Tuesday during the public comment period on the rate increases. The basic rate for monthly water...
Salmon in Oakland Bay, the Union and Tahuya rivers in North Mason, and Cranberry, Deer, Goldsborough and Mill creeks will benefit from $8.2 million in salmon recovery grants from the state. On Monday, the Washington State Salmon Recovery Funding Board and the Puget Sound Partnership announced the awards of 150 grants in 29 counties totaling $81.5 million. The grants focus on improving salmon habitat and conserving shorelines and riverbanks. "These are important projects that will help us...
Growing up in Shelton's Hillcrest neighborhood in in the 1940s, Pete Replinger at age 3 began venturing over to the vacant lot to watch the trains in the Simpson Lumber switching yards. The next year, he started drawing pictures of trains, sketches he still owns. At 10, he rode a steam locomotive for the first time. Replinger's love of trains, trestles and tracks has produced a slew of books and magazine articles. He'll talk about his work and signs copies of his new book "Atlas of South Puget...
Chris Kostad, who has worked for the Shelton Police Department since 2002, will become the city’s new police chief in November. The city last week announced Kostad will replace Carole Beason, who recently announced her intention to retire. She has been in that position since January 2021. Kostad is a captain, a position he has had since 2021. He has also been a corporal, sergeant and lieutenant in the department. A news release from the city states that as captain, Kostad manages the department’s daily operations, including hiring, sta...
The Shelton City Council is slated to vote Tuesday evening to raise basic monthly water service rates from $46 to almost $75 by 2029 to meet operating expenses and pay back loans. The council unanimously gave preliminary agreement to the proposed rates at its Sept. 5 regular meeting. They were recommended by the consulting firm of FCS Group. The proposed basic rate for monthly water service, before any water is used, would rise 14% from $46.09 currently to $52.54 in 2024; increase 14% again in 2025 to $59.90; another 14% in 2026 to $68.28; 3%...
In the fall of 1937, Shirley "Winkie" Jaccard was a frightened 14-year-old taking the 40-minute bus ride from her family's isolated farm in the Pickering area to enter the eighth grade at Shelton Junior High School. Her education so far had been conducted inside the one-room Grant School - one year, she was the school's sole girl. She and her four siblings rose at 4 a.m. to milk cows and tend to chickens before their half-mile hike to Grant School. The family's outhouse was perched directly over...
Turning Pointe Survivor Advocacy Center in Shelton recently completed redesigning and renovating its kitchen that serves adults and children who are victims or witnesses of domestic violence. The project was funded by $130,000 in private donations, including money from the Ben B. Cheney Foundation, Mary Kay Ash Foundation, Sampson Family Foundation and Forest Foundation. The kitchen was closed to clients for three months while staff and volunteers prepared meals for them. "The idea was to...
Quixote Village fundraiser event in Shelton Sept. 30 The second annual Quixote Communities’ Tiny Homes Big Future Celebration fundraiser is hosted from 6 to 8 p.m. Sept. 30 at The Pavilion, 190 W. Sentry Drive in Shelton. Quixote Communities has three villages for homeless people, including one devoted to local veterans that recently opened in Shelton. At the event, the nonprofit will thank its 2023 Partners of the Year: Mason County VFW Post 1694, Mason County VFW Post 1694 Auxiliary and the Puget Sound Veterans Hope Center. April Pooler a...
The classic image of school bullying has Big Billy beating up Little Bobby for his lunch money has mostly been replaced by online bullying on social media, including Mason County students. The National Center for Education Studies reports that in 2019, about 22% of students ages 12 to 18 reported being bullied during the school year. That’s a 10% drop from 2009. Of the students who reported bullying in 2019, about 15% reported being the subject of rumors; 14% reported being made fun of, called names or insulted; 6% reported being excluded f...
Amber Carlson, director of behavioral health services for Mason Health, grew up in a family of alcoholics and drug addicts. Her mother and brother died of overdoses. Her father was also an addict. "It's hard to have hope," she said. Yet there was Carlson's father, marching alongside his daughter Friday evening at the seventh annual Overdose Awareness March from Kneeland Park through downtown Shelton. He got clean 20 years ago and now counsels others, Carlson told a crowd of more than 100 at the...
Sept. 25 is the deadline to challenge property values The Mason County Assessor's Office states notices of values for property owners were mailed on Aug. 23, and the last day to file an appeal if an owner disagrees with the new value is Sept. 25. The new values are based on sales of similar properties prior to Jan. 1, 2023. All sales occurring in 2023 will not be used to set assessed values until next year. Sales and statistical data are available at www.masoncountywa.gov/assessor/sales-data.php...
As a projected 4,150 students returned to classrooms yesterday, the Shelton School District is focusing special attention on the new freshmen at its three high schools, Shelton, Cedar and CHOICE. The Freshman Academy is making its debut. Ninth-graders will take two trimesters of the freshmen seminar, to help them learn to navigate the transition to high school. "Ninth grade is hard," said Superintendent Wyeth Jessee. A major goal is to ensure freshmen end the school year with six or more...
The Pioneer School District started the 2022-2023 school year in turmoil. In February 2022, the Pioneer School Board had placed Superintendent Jill Diehl on paid administrative leave almost two months after the Pioneer Education Association presented the board with a vote of "no confidence" against her. Former Southside Schools Superintendent Doris Bolender replaced her as acting superintendent. Jeff Davis took the helm as superintendent the first week of July 2022. The native of Newberg,...
The Southside School District started the school year Aug. 30 with a cooling system for the first time in its 120-year history. Last spring, classes were sometimes conducted outside or in the gym when the building temperatures climbed into the lower 80s, said Superintendent Paul Wieneke. The heating system was also remodeled. "My challenge was getting it done in one summer," he said. The district projects it will start the school year with 207 students in kindergarten through seventh grade....
