Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
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United Way workplace campaigns to begin United Way of Mason County on Oct. 1 will launch its workplace fundraising campaigns for 2022-2023. Since 1966, Mason County businesses, nonprofits, school districts, county and state employees have participated in workplace campaigns to help improve education, financial stability and health for county residents. United Way of Mason County has supported food banks and Mason County Public Health to secure lodging and food to families quarantined with COVID. The agency also worked with Mason County...
The Shelton High School swimming pool reopened Monday to students after cracks in the plaster walls were repaired. The state Department of Health on Friday certified the pool's safety said Jeff Slakey, the Shelton School District's interim communications specialist. The pool reopened in time for the girls swim team to host a meet Tuesday. When the water was drained from the pool this summer, district employees noticed cracks in the plaster on the walls of the pool, Slakey said. The contractor...
Workers broke ground last week for the Shelton Veterans Village, designed to house 30 homeless Mason County veterans on North 13th Street near Olympic College Shelton. The village, which will be operated by the nonprofit organization Quixote Communities, is expected to open next summer. Quixote Communities also has tiny home villages in Olympia and Orting. All three communities will benefit from the Tiny Homes Big Future fundraiser from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Saturday at the Hands On Children's Museu...
Shelton City Manager Jeff Niten said some residents are misinformed about the city's new rules on homeless encampments as well as believing the problems caused by some downtown street people are not being addressed. "There is a concern the city is doing nothing," Niten said at the Shelton City Council's meeting on Sept. 6. On the contrary, the city manager said, the changes passed by the council on Aug. 2 are amendments to a 1995 ordinance that "strengthens the criteria" for allowing a homeless...
Teresa Sanders is no stranger to The Pavilion in Shelton. During the 2000s, her three children attended high school prom in the building down the road from Gillis Auto. For four years, Sanders dropped customers off at the building when she was driving for the Patty Wagon. Both parents were members of the center operated by the Mason County Senior Activities Association until her stepmother died. At the nonprofit's annual membership meeting two weeks ago, Sanders was introduced as the new activit...
Reception for photographer Friday The Mason County Historical Society Museum hosts an artist’s reception for photographer John Tylczak from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday at the museum at 427 West Railroad Ave., downtown Shelton. The photographer’s show is called “Loggers Laments and Other Tales from the Dark Woods.” Shelton YMCA hosts Welcome Week The Shelton YMCA welcomes visitors during Welcome Week activities Friday through Sept. 18. The free events include a resource fair and donation drive to collect school supplies for Oakland Bay Junior High Sc...
Shelton student making the grade in North Dakota Christinia Roberton of Shelton earned a spot on the president’s honor roll for the summer semester at Bismarck State College in Bismarck, North Dakota. To be eligible, a student must maintain a GPA of 3.5 or better while enrolled in at least 12 semester hours of classes. Quintet of county students excelling in New Hampshire Five students from Mason County achieved honors for the summer term at Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester, New Hampshire. Desolee Bang and Mark Risko of S...
The City of Shelton’s proposed capital improvement plan for 2023 calls for upgrading well No. 1, replacing downtown trees that are cracking sidewalks and removing two railroad crossings. Jay Harris, the city’s Public Works director, gave a presentation on the proposed projects Tuesday at the Shelton City Council meeting. The proposed plan includes $1 million to replace a 16- to 24-inch steel pipe from the city’s well No. 1 to the high school tank, replacing the pump, and improving the chlorine disinfection system and backup power gener...
Shelton City Council member Deidre Peterson will be the new president and CEO of the Shelton-Mason County Chamber of Commerce. Peterson, a Shelton native who was elected to the council in April 2018, is the chamber's vice president of business development. She will replace Heidi McCutcheon, who is leaving the organization after 14 years for a new job at the Thurston County Economic Development Council and Center for Business & Innovation. Peterson is a fourth-generation Mason County resident....
The Shelton City Council on Tuesday gave final approval to an application request by two property owners on Peacock Ridge east of Olympic College Shelton to be annexed into the city. On Aug. 16, the council had given gave preliminary approval to accepting the proposed annexation request of two properties totaling 50 acres owned by the Alpine Evergreen Co., and two properties totaling 51.44 acres owned by Terry and Patricia Bence. The council April 5 voted to accept the proposed annexation request of two other properties totaling 280 acres on...
Ten local performers will bring to life pieces by Oscar Wilde, William Shakespeare and themselves in Harstine island Theatre Club's "A Reader's Theatre Collection of Monologues, Poems and Original Works" at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday at the Harstine Island Community Club. Admission is donation of nonperishable food for the Pioneer Food Bank. The club is at 3391 E. Harstine Island Road North. Daniel Frishman, the show's director, became the group's manager last year. His long list of...
Olympic College scholarships The Olympic College Foundation is awarding more than $190,000 in scholarships for the fall quarter. Friday is the deadline to apply. The scholarships will be awarded in time for the beginning of fall quarter Sept. 19. Several of the scholarships focus on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. Other scholarships focus on the performing arts, communications and academic excellence. Applicants are required to write brief essays about themselves and what matters most to them, their continuing education, and how...
Shelton YMCA hosts Welcome Week The Shelton YMCA welcomes visitors during Welcome Week activities Friday through Sept. 18. The free events include a community dance from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, a Native American art gallery from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday, community volleyball Monday, story time from 3 to 5:30 p.m. Sept. 13, a screening of the family movie “Encanto” from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Sept. 14, Chip and Chat discussions with trainers and instructors and chips with salsa Sept. 15, a resource fair and donation drive to collect school supplies for...
Karla Knudsen-Johnston, who taught elementary students for 33 years in Shelton schools, is the new member of the Shelton School Board. In a special meeting Monday evening at CHOICE High School, the board members voted 3-0 to select the Shelton native from five candidates to replace Marilyn Ward in an at-large position on the five-person board. Ward moved out of the district with three years remaining on her term. Board member Matt Welander was unable to attend the special meeting because he was...
The Hood Canal School District opens its doors Sept. 7 to about 335 students in prekindergarten through eighth grade, and with a new superintendent in Jose-de-Jesus Melendez. Melendez - who grew up in a Mexican village of about 50 people in the state of Zacatecaz - replaces Nikki Grubbs, who was hired as assistant superintendent in the North Thurston School District. He has been a teacher, principal, program director and superintendent in California, Colorado, Oregon and Washington. "My...
On Tuesday, Paul Wieneke began his second school year as the superintendent of the Southside School District. "We are not aspiring to return 'back to normal,' " he said. "We are returning to 'back to better,' better instruction, better connections with staff and students and stronger partnerships with our families." "Our staff is very enthusiastic about coming back," he added, "Our parents and students are very enthusiastic about coming back." The district anticipated about 200 students in...
The Shelton School District on Wednesday opened its doors to its eight schools, where 4,125 full-time equivalent students are expected. That's the same number budgeted at the beginning of the last school year. The district ended the last school year with 4,141 FTE. The first official count of students will be conducted Sept. 6. "We do not anticipate an enrollment decline for the 2022-23 school year," Superintendent Wyeth Jessee wrote to the Journal in an email. In a recent newsletter to the...
The Pioneer School District welcomes its students next Wednesday with a new superintendent and two principals among 42 new employees. The last school year was tumultuous for the district. In February, the Pioneer School Board placed Superintendent Jill Diehl on paid administrative leave almost two months after the Pioneer Education Association presented them with a vote of "no confidence" against her. Former Southside Schools Superintendent Doris Bolender replaced her as acting superintendent....
Mary M. Knight School District students returned to school Wednesday to find a much smoother campus. During the summer, Granite Construction employees replaced the gravel driveways and parking lots for the two Matlock schools with 3 inches of asphalt. The lots offer angled parking, handicapped parking and ramps into the schools. Drainage links were re-established during the $630,000 project. "You don't have to go through mud puddles and potholes to get to the high school," said Superintendent Ma...
Faith Lutheran offers grief-support seminar Terry Oliver, the pastor of grief support and care with Faith Lutheran Church in Shelton, recently completed 30 hours of classroom education in grief training from the Center of Loss and Life Transitions in Fort Collins, Colorado. Oliver and his wife, Doris, have been leading seminars dealing with grief and recovery for the past three tears at Faith Lutheran. They will begin the new seminar “Reconciling Your Losses” at 2 p.m. Sept. 15 at Faith Lutheran Church at 1212 Connection Ave. in Shelton, fol...
Local Huskies excelling at University of Washington Twenty-three students from Mason County earned spots on the dean’s list for the winter quarter at the University of Washington. To qualify, a student must have completed at least 12 graded credits and earn a GPA of 3.5 or better. Local students are junior Nathan Jacob Hipple of Allyn and junior Audrey R. Pelczar of Union. Students from Belfair are senior William Bennett, senior Ozelleaona Shu-Jun Chu, freshman Tomas Francisco-Juan, senior Joshua Michael Geiser, junior Daniel Juan Juan and s...
Members of the Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group and TrashMash! Litter Posse on Aug. 25 hauled away debris and invasive plants from the future site of Sweetwater Creek Waterwheel Park, in the woods next to Belfair Elementary School. The park, across state Route 3 from the Mary E. Theler Wetlands Nature Preserve Center, is designed to be sustainable, accessible and enhance public spaces and the ecosystem. The work on the project includes removing trash and invasive species, restoring the...
Are the men and women living on the streets of downtown Shelton natives of Mason County or transients bused in from Thurston County to take advantage of homeless services? And do those services "enable" homeless people, or help them move on to more stable lives and housing? Downtown business owners, service providers and others shared their thoughts during the public comment period Aug. 16 at the Shelton City Council meeting. The comments came two weeks after the council voted 6-1 to approve...
Shelton schools pass $78M budget The Shelton School District on Tuesday evening approved a $78-million budget for the 2022-2023 school year. The district is required to approve its budget by Wednesday. The budget is based on the district's projected enrollment of 4,125 full-time equivalency students. The budget projects $78,766,889 in revenue, and $78,087,902 in expenditures. The expenditures are $3.6 million higher than the 2021-22 budget. Of the $78 million, $64.8 million is for personnel,...
Heinrich resigns from Union Fire Mason County Fire District 6 commission chair Richard Heinrich has resigned with the intent to retire Aug. 31 at midnight. According to Mason County Fire District 6, he gave his resignation verbally Aug. 16 at the regular commissioner meeting. “Commissioner Richard Heinrich has served the citizens of Mason County for over 40 years as a member of the fire service,” Chief Clint Volk said in an email to the Journal. “Starting as a volunteer firefighter with Mason County Fire District 5, next as a career firef...
