Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
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Less than a year after he was hired, the Hood Canal School Board has accepted the resignation of Superintendent Jose-de-Jesus Melendez. The district announced the decision Monday in a news release and legal notice. "He will complete the remainder of his contract on administrative leave," Susan Vining, the district's executive assistant wrote in the news release. "We appreciate his service to the district and wish him well." Vining added, "There is still work to be done, children to teach and...
School choirs perform March 7 The Shelton High School and Oakland Bay Junior High School choirs perform the concert “Women of Word and Song” at 7 p.m. March 7 at the Shelton High School Performing Arts Center. Paul Nakhla directs all the choirs, and Anne-Marie Nakhla is the accompanist. The high school groups performing are the Chamber Singers, Concert Choir, Shades and Illusions. Donations will be accepted at the door. Welding, construction programs at Olympic College Shelton Olympic College Shelton offers information sessions March 9 on con...
U.S. Congressman Derek Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor, lauded the achievements of President Joe Biden's administration, called Medicare and Social Security "the most successful public policy programs of all time," and called for increased high-speed internet connection at a town hall meeting Tuesday evening at the Mason PUD 3 building. About 100 people attended the presentation by Kilmer, whose district includes Mason, Clallam, Kitsap, Jefferson and part of Pierce counties. They applauded when he said he...
Presentation on atomic Washington Steve Olson will talk about “Atomic Washington: Our Nuclear Past, Present and Future” at 1:30 p.m. Sunday at the Harstine Island Community Club as part of the Inquiring Minds/Humanities Washington program. This is the 14th year the Harstine Island Community Club and Inquiring Minds/Humanities Washington have presented the programs, which are staged at 1:30 p.m. on the last Sunday in January, February and March at the Community Club, 3371 E. Harstine Island Road North. Donations will be accepted to support Inq...
The Shelton City Council on Tuesday evening postponed a vote on annexing 370 acres of Peacock Ridge into the city because about a dozen nearby residences hadn’t received notices from the city on the proposal. The council voted unanimously to move the vote to the meeting at 7 p.m. March 7. Jae Hill, the city’s community and economic development director, speaking in place of an ill Senior Planner Jason Dose, said about 12 residences within a 300-yard radius of the proposed annexation did not receive mailings from the city. He recommended mov...
The Shelton School District's replacement levy was narrowly passing at 51.6% on the initial ballot count Tuesday evening, while the Pioneer School District's replacement levy was passing at 54.55%. The results of the second ballot count were scheduled to be released at 4 p.m. Wednesday, after the Journal had gone to print. The results are available at the Mason County auditor's website under "Elections." For approval, the levies need a simple majority of 50%, plus one. Voter turnout in the...
The Shelton City Council is scheduled to vote Tuesday evening on annexing 370 acres of Peacock Ridge into the city. Four property owners have petitioned the city to annex forested Mason County land behind Olympic College Shelton. Green Diamond Resources owns two parcels totaling 240 acres, JPS Properties has almost 40 acres, Alpine Evergreen owns 50 acres and Bence Parcels 41 acres. The neighborhoods bordering the properties are Terrace Heights, Manke's Alpine View, Hiawatha Park and Capital...
Hood Canal Food Bank annual meeting Monday The Hood Canal Food Bank hosts its annual meeting at 3 p.m. Monday at the Hoodsport Community Hall, 331 N. Finch Creek Road, Hoodsport. Reports on 2022 operations and finances will be presented and new board directors will be elected. For more information, contact Lou Bedingfield, the food bank’s president, at 360-877-6086. Pioneer Kiwanis seafood dinner/auction March 25 The Pioneer Kiwanis Foundation hosts its annual seafood dinner and auction March 25 to benefit youths of the Pioneer School D...
Two of the three Shelton City Council members whose four-year terms expire at the end of the year say they will not run for re-election. In response to a question from the Journal, Deidre Peterson and James Boad said they don’t plan to seek new terms on the Nov. 7 ballot. Kathy McDowell, the longest serving member whose tenure stretches back to the three-member Shelton City Commission, said she plans to run for another term. “I have two projects to finish and want to get those done,” McDowell wrote to the Journal. “We finished the largest...
The annual Point in Time homeless census count conducted in Mason County on Jan. 27 tallied 477 individuals, nearly double last year's number. Of those 477 homeless people, 21 slept the night of Jan. 26 in RVs and boats; eight in abandoned buildings; 106 in vehicles; 158 outdoors; and 184 in shelters and transitional housing, said Tanya Frazier, the executive director of the nonprofit Crossroads Housing in Shelton. Last year's February count, which included the shelter numbers, noted 186...
City moves on public works yard design The Shelton City Council on Tuesday voted to award a $145,410 contract to Williams Architecture of Shelton to further design a new public works maintenance yard across the street from Olympic College Shelton to replace its overcrowded site behind Evergreen Elementary School. Williams Architecture completed a planning study that was presented to the City Council in June. The planning study concluded that the facility should have a minimum lifespan of 50...
On Feb. 1, about 100 people joined the nonprofit Community Lifeline in celebrating the grand opening of the Recovery Café at its shelter in downtown Shelton. The Recovery Cafe is committed to being a safe, drug-free and alcohol-free space and is designed to "help people maintain recovery, reduce relapse and fulfill potential," the agency states. The program offers weekly recovery circles, fun activities, health clinics, support meetings, job readiness training and classes, and peer support and...
Polar Bear Plunge fundraiser Saturday The Hood Canal Lions Club hosts its 13th annual Polar Bear Plunge from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday at Alderbrook Resort and Spa. Plungers collect donations to help the club provide money for the Mason County Sheriff's Department's chaplain fund, K-Team and Marine Patrol, and the Mason County volunteer fire departments in Union and Hoodsport/Lake Cushman. The 2022 Polar Bear Plunge raised more than $10,000 for local emergency services. Businesses that donate...
OCCU offers scholarships to 2023 graduates April 30 is the deadline for local graduating high school seniors to apply for seven $1,000 scholarships offered by Our Community Credit Union. The scholarships are open to graduating 2023 high school seniors who attend school in Mason, Grays Harbor and Thurston counties, and on Vashon Island. The students must be a member of OCCU to be eligible. Applications and guidelines for the scholarship are available for download at www.ourcu.com/scholarship-program. The winners will be announced in May. For...
Lauren Gilmore, a research analyst for the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, is the new member of the Shelton School Board. At a special meeting Tuesday night at CHOICE High School, the school board voted 3-1 to choose Gilmore from five applicants to replace Marty Best on the five-member board. Best was vice chairman of the board when he died Nov. 20. He was 67. Best joined the board in 2021 and represented District 2. Best was appointed to the five-member board in September...
A profile on an anti-government and anti-law enforcement extremist set to air on NBC's "Dateline" at 9 p.m. Friday will feature the recollections of his former wife, a longtime Shelton resident, and his son, a 2002 Shelton High School graduate. Lloyd Barrus, 67, is serving three concurrent life sentences without parole in a Billings, Montana prison. He was in the driver's seat when he and his now deceased son Marshall Barrus lured Broadwater County Deputy Mason Moore into chasing them, and...
OCCU offers scholarships April 30 is the deadline for local graduating high school seniors to apply for seven $1,000 scholarships offered by Our Community Credit Union. The scholarships are open to graduating 2023 high school seniors who attend school in Mason, Grays Harbor and Thurston counties, and on Vashon Island. The students must be a member of OCCU to be eligible. Applications and guidelines for the scholarship are available for download at ourcu.com/scholarship-program. The winners will be announced in May. For more information,...
Love INC workshop focuses on trauma Love INC (In the Name of Christ) of Mason County offers a free 12-week workshop on healing from trauma that began Wednesday at the Mountain View Alliance Church, 314 J. St., Shelton. The faith-based “Reboot Recovery” class is presented from 6 to 8 p.m. every Wednesday, with a light dinner at 6 p.m. Roy Harrington, a retired Army Reserve colonel who is in the process of becoming a Washington State Patrol field chaplain, wife Diana, and Andrea Sehmel teach the course. For more information, contact Roy Har...
The Parent Teacher Student Organization at Mountain View Elementary School in Shelton last week surprised the students by unveiling a book vending machine in the school's lobby. The group spent about $8,000 on the custom-made machine, which features the school's logo on the side. Students earn tokens, which they can deposit into machine and make their selection. On Jan. 25, students dressed for Pajama Day assembled in the lobby and were asked to guess the concealed gift. The first students to...
Shelton High School's theater, drama club and entertainment production students stage two one-act plays "10 Ways to Survive: The End of the World" and "The Zombie Apocalypse" at 6:30 p.m. Friday, and 2:30 and 6:30 p.m. Saturday in the school's Performing Arts Center. Admission is free, with donations accepted to support the performing arts program. Doors open a half-hour before each show. Don Zolidis wrote both short comedies. The show takes an absurd look at the fears of impending doom....
Valentine's Day is the deadline to cast ballots for replacement levies in the Shelton and Pioneer school districts. Both would replace existing levies that expire at the end of 2023 and both need a simple majority to pass. Ballots were mailed last week. The Shelton School District's three-year levy would be $2.09 per $1,000 of assessed property value. If passed, the levy will collect $7.1 million in 2024, $7.6 million in 2025 and $8.2 million in 2026. The levy money provides about 11% of the dis...
The City of Shelton is planning to move its congested public works yard from behind Loop Field and Evergreen Elementary School to a wooded 5-acre site that houses Well No. 1 at Shelton Springs Road and North 13th Street. The "laydown yard" would just be the start for the transformation of the triangle-shaped piece of land just north of Mason General Hospital. "All public works would be combined in one center," Public Works Director Jay Harris told the Shelton City Council on Jan. 17. The...
Three school district superintendents, two with replacement levies on the Feb. 14 ballot, shared what's going on in their classrooms at an "Education in Mason County" forum sponsored by the Shelton-Mason County Chamber of Commerce Jan. 19 at the Mason County Public Works building. Shelton Superintendent Wyeth Jessee, Hood Canal Superintendent Jose-de-Jesus Melendez and Pioneer Superintendent Jeff Davis took turns talking about their districts. Jesse outlined his district's replacement levy on...
Roy Olmstead evolved from the youngest lieutenant in Seattle Police Department history to the leader of a gang that took over bootlegging operations during Prohibition in the Northwest. Des Moines resident Steve Edmiston will talk about the “Rumrunning King” at 1:30 p.m. Sunday at the Harstine Island Community Club as part of the Inquiring Minds/Humanities Washington program. This is the 14th year the two entities have presented the programs, which are staged at 1:30 p.m. on the last Sunday in January, February and March at the Community Clu...
Polar Bear Plunge fundraiser Feb. 11 The Hood Canal Lions Club hosts the 13th annual Polar Bear Plunge from noon to 2 p.m. Feb. 11 at Alderbrook Resort and Spa. Plungers collect donations to help the club provide for the Mason County Sheriff’s Department’s chaplain fund, K-Team and Marine Patrol, and the Mason County volunteer fire departments in Union and Hoodsport/Lake Cushman. The 2022 Polar Bear Plunge raised more than $10,000 local emergency services. Businesses that donate $300 or more will have their name/logo on the back of this yea...
