Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
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Furever Love, a fundraiser for the Humane Society of Mason County and Kitten Rescue of Mason County is this Saturday at Bent Bine Brewery in Belfair. Adoptable pets will be at the event, and there will be raffles, a live auction and kissing booth, according to the organizers. “Last year, HSMC experienced significant growth in both capacity and animals served. We moved into our new Belfair office and Community Clinic! Our small-yet-mighty staff and team of dedicated volunteers worked tirelessly to promote responsible pet ownership, deliver l...
The Port of Allyn will be posting applications on its website for the District 2 Commissioner position, current commissioners said at the Feb. 5 meeting. The post is open after Commissioner Ted Jackson’s sudden resignation Jan. 19. Jim Freeman, a prospective candidate, introduced himself at the meeting and said he “wanted to give back to the community.” Freeman grew up in Port Orchard and currently lives in LakeLand Village. He’s spent most of his career in the waterworks industry and works at the Belfair water district. “There’s certainly b...
StreamTeam is looking for Hood Canal-area interns to help with a variety of research projects that help protect wild salmon and restore their habitat. The organization is part of the Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group and based at the Pacific Northwest Salmon Center in Belfair. Interns can expect to hike in rugged areas, perform wading surveys, drive on remote logging roads (with company vehicles) and perform basic data entry using MS Excel and MS Word, according to the job description. Interns will gain skills in field work and research that...
Mason County Coroner Jaime Taylor is getting comfortable in her new Shelton office at 126 Kneeland St. Taylor and her staff moved the last week of November. When Taylor started as coroner, she worked below the family court building in an area "basically just a cooling space," she told the Journal. "We love our new office," Taylor told Mason County commissioners at a recent meeting. After the move, Taylor hosted an open house for the commissioners and other officials, including former coroner...
Public defense attorneys get raise Mason County commissioners approved a pay raise for public defense attorneys at their Jan. 30 meeting. Attorneys providing indigent defense for misdemeanors, heard in district court, will get a pay raise from $75 an hour to $100 an hour. Attorneys providing indigent defense for felonies, heard in superior court, will see their pay increase from $100 an hour to $125 an hour. Hourly indigent defense investigators will now make $75 an hour. Chief Public Defender Peter Jones thanked the commissioners at a...
Adams Street car fire Central Mason Fire & EMS crews fought a car fire on Adams Street in Shelton Monday morning. The call was reported about 10:15 a.m. and fire crews arrived in minutes to find a passenger vehicle in the alley between Adams Street and Olympic Highway North on fire. Crews quickly extinguished the blaze. The driver of the vehicle was evaluated at the scene for minor burns and transported to Mason General Hospital for further evaluation and care. The cause of the fire is under...
Port of Allyn Commissioner Ted Jackson has resigned, the remaining port commissioners said at a special meeting Jan. 23. Commissioner Judy Scott read Jackson’s terse resignation letter at the meeting. “Please accept this as my resignation letter as Port of Allyn Commissioner District. I have returned the Port of Allyn computer, cellphone, office key, and credit card to Travis Merrill. I have also provided Travis Merrill with the computer and cell phone passwords. Sincerely, Ted Jackson,” the letter said. The port has seen recent upheaval with t...
The Port of Hoodsport dock adjacent to Ingvald J. Gronvold Park on U.S. 101 in Hoodsport could be open by May if approved repairs are promptly completed, Commissioner Lori Kincannon told the Journal in an email. Port commissioners signed off on the work at the Jan. 17 meeting after receiving a favorable bid from Marine Floats in Tacoma. "We are hoping that permits can be received and that repairs can be made quickly so that the dock can be re-opened before the upcoming shrimping season in May,"...
Coroner needs space in Belfair Commissioners approved Mason County Coroner Jaime Taylor’s request for $45,875.02 for additional equipment, including a cooler, storage racks and a lift, at the Jan. 22 meeting with department heads. Taylor also asked for an additional cooler space in Belfair. “We have a lot of calls up there,” she said. Belfair is about 40 minutes from the Shelton office and Taylor said it would be “fantastic” to have a permanent storage space in the north end of the county. Commissioners discussed whether the additiona...
In 2022, fire killed 81 civilians in Washington, according to the most recent figures from the state Fire Marshal’s Office. More than 30,733 fire incidents resulting in $330 million in property damage happened that year. Most of these events are preventable, state officials say, by taking steps such as installing multiple smoke detectors, having fire extinguishers handy and having an escape route. Rural Mason County residents may face additional challenges with fires, including increased response times, limited driveway access and lack of a...
North Mason School Board members met the Sasquatch on Jan. 22. James A. Taylor High School's new mascot made its debut at the monthly board meeting. "I think it looks strong right before it gets scary," District 2 Director Leanna Krotzer said. The logo features a stern bigfoot face popping out of evergreen trees and holding "JTHS" with its claws. Superintendent Dana Rosenbach said staff used artificial intelligence to design the logo so that it's "totally original" and students approved it. "I...
The Evergreen State College hopes to offer free tuition through a new program for Shelton High School graduates starting with the Class of 2025, according to a presentation Evergreen President John Carmichael and Director of Government Relations Sandy Kaiser gave Mason County commissioners Jan. 8. Carmichael said the college is seeking legislative funding. Evergreen is asking for $285,000 to fund the program’s first year and estimates the total for four years will be $3.5 million. “If we get that legislative funding we would first make tha...
An initiative that will amend Washington’s police pursuit law and allow officers to “engage in a pursuit when there is a reasonable suspicion a person has violated the law” has been certified and presented to the Legislature, Secretary of State Steve Hobbs said Jan. 12. Currently, a police officer can pursue a vehicle if there is reasonable suspicion that the person in the vehicle is committing or has committed a violent offense, a sex offense, a vehicular assault, domestic violence, has escaped or is driving under the influence. The pursu...
County Line Fire has been warming up the old State Bank of Shelton building on Railroad Avenue since it opened in October, when the restaurant specializing in wood-fired pizza moved into the airy space. Owner Tobi Robinson told the Journal he was overjoyed with the location. "To renovate an old bank building!" Robinson said he loves restaurants like the McMenamins brewpubs that rehabilitate historic properties. "This is my dream restaurant," he said. There's plenty of room for the most...
Alleged shoplifter returns to confront store employee A convenience store clerk obtained a temporary protection order against an alleged shoplifter after he was released from jail and returned to harass her, according to court documents. Police arrested James Elmlund, 19, at the Airport Grocery in Shelton on Oct. 15, for allegedly stealing candy and soda and assaulting employee Kimberly Espinoza, who tried to stop him. “Kimberly told me that she had witnessed the suspect in the store place items into his sweatshirt pocket. Kimberly, who was d...
A hardy group of community and AmeriCorps members performed restoration work in subfreezing temperatures at the Belfair Salmon Center on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Jan. 15., a federal holiday that encourages Americans to volunteer in honor of King. Local AmeriCorps members with the Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Association organized the “Day of Service” event. AmeriCorps is a national service program that provides stipends for volunteers, who typically work full time for one year. AmeriCorps Environmental Educator Brett Larson originally pla...
Mason County cannabis retailers don't have the near-daily stolen vehicle smash-and-grab burglaries that the Seattle area does, but local pot shop owners struggle with security concerns that a proposed state bill aims to address. State Sen. Karen Kaiser's, D-Des Moines, substitute Senate bill 5259 will provide a tax break for retail cannabis store owners who install security upgrades. The bill requires stores to spend at least $3,000 on "physical security improvements" such as bollards, security...
Karpf sentenced to time served Kennedy Karpf, 25, pleaded guilty Jan. 5 to first-degree rendering criminal assistance in connection to helping William Williams, 41, who fled after allegedly shooting and killing Janus Afo on Sept. 28 in Shelton. Judge Daniel Goodell followed state’s recommendations and sentenced Karpf to time served in Mason County, 79 days, with no restitution or probation. Karpf’s attorney Rose Boughton said Karpf had “no criminal history whatsoever,” and that Karpf was “quite afraid” of Williams. “She knows this is a ser...
Residents in the Tahuya and Dewatto area who rely on land lines to call 911 had their service restored Jan. 3, almost two weeks after the initial disruption, according to Inland Telephone Company. Thieves who vandalized phone equipment, causing the outage, were likely attempting to sell copper wire stripped from equipment, Inland representative Amy Wait told the Journal. “Over the last two years we have experienced several damaged cables and vaults from vandalism, and we are working on a plan to help eliminate this by installing underground vau...
ICU nurse named Mason Health employee of month Intensive Care Unit nurse Tina Lohmeyer, RN, has been selected by her Mason Health coworkers as January's employee of the month. Lohmeyer is known for her "excellent patient care" while working in the ICU, according to a news release by Mason Health. "When I was a kid, my sister was at Harborview Medical Center, and I was really impressed and intrigued by the nurses I saw," Lohmeyer said. "I started at Mason General Hospital in 2006, after I...
Port of Allyn commissioners were expected to vote on a proposed change to the gazebo rental policy at the Jan. 10 meeting that happened after the Herald went to press. Patty Noel, who was appointed interim executive assistant at the Jan. 1 meeting, proposed changing the current rental schedule that's set at 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., to a minimum four-hour rental with an additional hourly charge after four hours. "Right now, the gazebo is only able to be rented twice in one day," Noe...
Master Beekeeper Debra Langley-Boyer, a North Mason resident, has filed a claim with the county for reimbursement for the loss of her bees due to herbicide spraying. Langley-Boyer is asking for $4,035.48 and provided the county with an itemized list for the deaths of her bees in 2020 and 2023, including $800 for the loss of queens, $483 for honey lost and “unrecoverable” for native bee loss. “This is the second time (May 2023) Mason County has killed my honeybees and native bees due to spraying herbicides along the Tee Lake county road. The h...
WIC contract extended At the regular Jan. 2 meeting, commissioners extended the performance period of a Women, Infants and Children contract through Feb. 29. The additional time is for continued staff training. The WIC program provides supplemental food, health care referrals and nutrition education for low-income pregnant, breastfeeding, and non-breastfeeding postpartum women, and to infants and children up to age 5 who are found to be at nutritional risk, according to the federal website. WIC will be a three-way partnership with Mason County...
Driver hits pole to avoid deer A driver suffered injuries when his car rolled over and struck a pole on state Route 3 near mile post 18 in the early morning of New Year’s Day as he swerved to avoid a deer, according to the Washington State Patrol. Grapeview resident Caleb Tobin, 22, was taken to Mason General Hospital for treatment. Tobin’s Kia Forte was totaled, police said. Arson suspect pleads not guilty Mason County Judge Daniel Goodell entered a not guilty plea on behalf of Jacob Rivera,44, at Rivera’s initial appearance Jan. 2. River...
Port of Allyn commissioners observed a moment of silence at the regular meeting Jan. 1 for interim Executive Director LeAnn Dennis, age 55, who died Christmas Day. “LeAnn will be greatly missed. She left a big hole,” Commissioner Judy Scott said. Scott read a statement from Dennis’ daughter, Alena Dennis, at the meeting. “Anyone who ever met LeAnn would tell you that their lives changed forever after knowing her. She made everything brighter and gave her whole heart to anyone who showed her kindness and love. Her commitment to caring for her...
