Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
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Some Mason County elected officials will be getting raises, a commission studying the issue said in a news release April 23. The Mason County assessor, auditor, clerk, coroner, county commissioners and treasurer will make $104,501 per year and the sheriff will make $164,232 per year, starting Jan. 1, 2025. The salaries will increase in steps starting May 1 for all the officials except the sheriff, so salaries will rise from the current $87,565 to $95,979 this year. Sheriff Ryan Spurling’s current salary of $160,226 is 5% above Undersheriff T...
The High Steel Bridge is known for its breathtaking views, but it also has a history of misfortune. The area surrounding the 375-foot-tall bridge, including the deep canyon that plunges into the south fork of the Skokomish River, is restricted to hikers but that doesn't stop them, Mason County Fire District 6 Assistant Chief Cody Daggett told the Journal. Daggett ran a search and rescue training at the bridge April 24 and 25 for attendees to get certified in rope rescue. District 6 is the only o...
Taylor Shellfish break-in A man discovered inside Taylor Shellfish’s fenced property by Taylor Town Restaurant was arrested April 23 for allegedly stealing fuel cans. Mason County Sheriff’s Office Deputy J. Ogden said he received a dispatch call after Taylor employee Carl Goldsby saw a man walking inside the restricted area. “I approached the alleged suspect vehicle and noted a male, later identified as Edgar Mendoza Castillo, 29, lying down at the front of the vehicle, and appearing to be looking up under the vehicle. I also noted two gas c...
Increased fecal bacteria may cause harvest changes in Annas Bay and the Hood Canal 6 area near Hoodsport, according to the state Department of Health. The state analyzed water sample data and found increased levels, the DOH said in a news release April 25. High fecal bacteria levels can prompt the state to change “harvest classification which could lead to a seasonal, environmental, or year-round closure,” the release says. Fecal bacteria come from “many different sources throughout the watershed,” Kara Kostanich, with the DOH, told the Jou...
A Financial Reality Fair for North Mason High students is today in two sessions from 8 to 10:30 a.m. Before the event, students will download an app on their phone or borrow a device that has the program. "Teens are given a fictional occupation, salary, credit score, spouse and a child, student loan debt, credit card debt and medical insurance payments. The teens then walk around to various table-top stations to 'purchase' housing, transportation, food, clothing and other needs. Fortunately,...
Police arrested an alleged shoplifter outside of McLendon’s Hardware in Belfair after the store manager called to report the theft and said the thief punched him. The incident happened the morning of April 25 when employees opened the store and a woman walked in acting “weird,” according to the Mason County Sheriff’s Office probable cause document. Store manager Roy Arbogast said the woman, later identified as Anne Belson, 29, began walking down store aisles removing products from their packaging. “Roy kept an eye on Anne while she was in th...
A water main break April 24 at North Mason High School caused classes there and at James A. Taylor High School and Hawkins Middle School to be dismissed early. The schools were closed all day April 25 while repairs were made and students moved to remote learning. Buses operated on normal hours Thursday morning so students could come to school and collect computers and grab-and-go food. Buses then took students back home, according to the North Mason School District. Schools returned to normal schedules April 26 following repairs of the water...
Public defenders receive honors Mason County commissioners recognized two county public defenders who have received the Washington Defender Association President’s Award at the April 23 commission meeting. The award singles out the state’s best public defender, according to Mason County Chief Public Defender Peter Jones. Rose Boughton was named this year’s recipient and Ron Sergi won the award in 2018, but was not recognized by the county at the time, Commissioner Randy Neatherlin said. “This is pretty huge for Mason County public defense...
Mason County Superior Court Judge David Stevens on April 22 denied a writ of mandamus filed by a Seattle-area attorney suing a Mason County District Court judge for appointing him to defend a local man charged with DUI. Jonathan Lewis, who has a legal practice in Seattle, sued Mason County District Court and Judge George Steele on Feb. 27, saying Steele improperly appointed him to defend Martin Andres Alonzo, who was being charged with DUI for the third time and whose primary language is Kanjobal. Lewis said the appointment violated GR 42, a...
A husband and wife who confronted a group of men allegedly spray painting a Ukrainian flag with a heart symbol in the middle of Forest Road 23 say a man from the group threatened them with a gun. Reuben and Leila Bashans were driving down West Govey Road, known as Forest Service Road 23, near Browns Creek on April 14 when they came upon a group of men “actively spray painting something in the road,” according to a Mason County Sheriff probable cause document. Reuben Bashans said the men “were not moving out of the way, and he told them they...
The Bremerton's Sportsmen's Club is finally getting recognition for a good deed done in 1948. That's when the club donated waterfront properties on Wooten, Devereaux and Haven lakes in Mason County and Mission and Wildcat lakes in Kitsap County to the Department of Game, now the Department of Fish and Wildlife. The club wanted to preserve public access to the lakes at a time when shoreline property was being bought and developed for private use. Local fishers, canoers and kayakers now know who...
Fire District 12 Commissioner Nick Jones accused Chief Brian Walsworth of “dereliction of duty” at the April 9 commission meeting after Jones saw the state of disrepair in fire station 12-3, on Beeville Loop Road, he said. Community members told him April 3 that the station was left open, so Jones went to take a look with three witnesses. Jones said they went inside the open building after notifying the sheriff. “All I could smell was mouse feces and urine,” he said. There was a dead mouse in a fire engine compartment, rodent nests, and “a...
Mason County Sheriff's Office deputies seized more than 60 dogs and one horse from a woman in Grapeview during an animal cruelty investigation, according to a MCSO news release. Deputies confiscated animals on the property Sunday, April 14, with support from the Humane Society of Mason County volunteers. "This incident occurred in the Grapeview area. We are currently serving a search warrant at the location and working with outside agencies, including the Humane Society, to ensure these animals...
Couple sue Harstine Island HOA over wheelchair modifications A Grays Harbor County couple is suing the Harstene Pointe Maintenance Association for improperly denying them a building permit that includes Americans with Disabilities Act modifications, according to a complaint filed in Mason County Superior Court April 9. Daniel and Jolene Tupper want to add wheelchair access features to their home on Harstine Island that’s subject to the nonprofit homeowners association covenants, conditions and restrictions (CC&Rs). The Tuppers submitted t...
A horrific crash on U.S. Highway 101 at the intersection of Lynch Road 6 miles south of Shelton killed two Kitsap County residents and injured a Washington State Patrol trooper. Charles Ferree, 72, and Deolia Blandford, 49, both of Ollala, died at the scene of the accident when their vehicle collided with a southbound WSP patrol vehicle en route to an emergency April 6, according a WSP news release. The patrol vehicle was traveling south on U.S. 101 and had activated lights and siren at the time of the collision, Mason County Sheriff’s O...
Three suspects in a shooting at the Little Creek Casino Resort in Shelton on April 3 led multiple law enforcement agency officers on a high-speed chase, ending with their arrest in Thurston County. Roberto Evans, 22, Austin McCord, 19, and a 17-year-old juvenile were arrested in connection with the shooting that happened in the casino’s parking garage, wounding Damien Castellane, 21, and Roger Allen Turner Ford, 27, according to a Mason County Sheriff’s Office probable cause document. A third person, Malique Eckstein, 20, was “scared but uninj...
8th District Reps. Travis Couture and Dan Griffey, both Republicans from Allyn, and state Sen. Drew MacEwen, R-Shelton, discussed the legislative session that ended March 7 at a breakfast hosted by the Shelton-Mason County Chamber of Commerce. At the April 5 event, at the Shelton Civic Center, Chamber President and CEO Diedre Peterson thanked the representatives for being “cognizant of the needs of our businesses and our communities.” MacEwen opened the wrap-up, saying it was a “contentious” session. The passage of HB 1589 “will affect th...
A Shelton floral company will pay workers back wages and fines of $1.85 million after the U.S. Department of Labor sued on behalf of the workers March 21 in US District Court, Western Washington. Shelton business Continental Floral LLC, known as Continental Floral Greens, owner Jim Milgard, Jr. and Pacific Northwest General Manager Scott Schauer agreed to a consent judgment March 26 and will not contest claims they didn’t pay migrant workers overtime wages, failed to provide the workers safe transportation and safe housing, and did not d...
Three convicted in murder cases with Mason County ties After a five-month trial, a jury in Kitsap County on Friday convicted three men of murdering a Seabeck family, including the father whose body was discovered on a tree farm on Northeast Dewatto-Holly Road, south of Forest Springs Road, in Mason County. The family, John Careaga, 43, his wife Christale Careaga, 37, and her 16-year-old son Johnathon Higgins and 16-year-old stepson Hunter Schapp were all killed in January 2017. The mother and sons were found inside their burned-out home near...
Installation of Jersey barriers along U.S. Highway 101 from the intersection of Wallace Kneeland Boulevard to state Route 3 in Shelton is one step closer after $2 million in legislative funding was approved March 7 for engineering. Additional funding will be needed for construction, according to Doug Adamson with the state Department of Transportation. A WSDOT project document shows the design has been funded but work hasn’t started. “Barriers are not placed with the assumption that the system will restrain or redirect all vehicles in all con...
Bigfoot protection on agenda At a briefing April 8, Mason County commissioners unanimously agreed to put a resolution on the next meeting’s agenda “declaring Mason County a sasquatch protection and refuge area” after Grays Harbor County elementary school students wrote in asking for protection of the cryptid. “We are the students of Miss Andrews class in 5th grade at Lincoln Elementary school in Hoquiam, Washington. The reason we are writing this letter to you is because we believe that Mason County should have laws to protect Bigfoot...
Editor’s note: The Journal does not identify minor victims of sexual crimes or their families. The parents of a 5-year-old kindergartner have sued North Mason School District after video footage showed the child being “sexually and physically abused” by a fifth grade student during a bus ride home, according to the complaint filed April 1 in Mason County Superior Court. The complaint states the child has developmental and speech delays and attended kindergarten in the North Mason School District. The district provided door-to-door trans...
Mason County Chief Public Defender Peter Jones told commissioners his office is about to be “hit by a train” thanks to updated Washington State Bar standards that “drastically” change attorney caseloads, which will affect how the county prosecutes and defends criminal cases. At a March 24 briefing, Jones requested commissioners immediately form a committee to study the problem and begin implementing changes to the county’s criminal justice system. “I think we need to start putting together a committee right now that figures out how to minimize...
A Port Orchard man has been arrested for stealing a car in Mason County and leading deputies on a high-speed chase down state Route 106. Joseph Hubbard, 22, of Port Orchard, was arrested on felony charges of eluding police and possession of a stolen vehicle March 26. A Mason County Transit employee called MACECOM on March 11 to report a man trying to break into parked cars at Northeast Log Yard Road in Belfair, according to a Mason County Sheriff incident report. While the caller was on the phone, he said the suspect had entered a gray Nissan...
A Seattle attorney suing Mason County District Court and Judge George Steele for appointing him to defend a local man charged with DUI wants the suit to proceed even though he’s been removed as the man’s counsel. Jonathan Lewis, who has a legal practice in Seattle, filed a writ of mandamus in Mason County Superior Court on Feb. 27. The writ is used when government officials have allegedly taken a legally prohibited action. Lewis says Steele improperly appointed him to defend Martin Andres Alonzo, who is being charged with DUI for the third tim...
