Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
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In the end, they pulled it off. The problem with measuring any sequel to Mel Brooks' "History of the World, Part I" against the film that inspired it is that Brooks' original film in 1981 somehow managed to feel like much more than the sum of its somewhat uneven parts. In one sense, Hulu's "History of the World, Part II" streaming miniseries, whose debut ran March 6 to 9, learned the best lesson possible from its predecessor's mistakes, because while it spans eight episodes, each one lasts less...
Port of Allyn Commissioner Ted Jackson was appointed to the Rural Broadband Task Force on March 6. Jackson was invited by Dan Teuteberg to take part in the task force’s work in Mason County on behalf of the United Way and the Port of Allyn. Teuteberg is an associate professor and 4-H youth development regional specialist, and is the director of Washington State University Extension programs in Mason and Grays Harbor counties. Teuteberg told Jackson that WSU Extension is joining with the W...
The Port of Dewatto bid farewell to winter by reiterating that its campground cleanup is still scheduled for Saturday, March 25. Campground coordinator Joe Newman reported several inquiries from prospective participants this year. Port Manager Jeana Crosby estimated 25 to 30 volunteers will take part this year, which led Port Commissioner Ted Edwards to request that logs be removed from the water. Edwards said he believes the logs are a safety hazard, which he’d had removed years ago. Port C...
'Star Trek: Picard' Three episodes into the third and allegedly final season of "Star Trek: Picard," and too much of it has already been wasted on recreating the hide-and-seek fight inside of a nebula from "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan," which seems to be the all-too-obvious inspiration for other key aspects of our protagonist's intended character arc this time around. In terms of pacing overall, this season has already introduced two new adult children of core cast members from "Star Trek:...
North Mason School District's CORE+ Maritime program recently received a $40,000 grant that will help pay for the program's supplies and equipment as it expands from woodworking into metalworking and body shop operations, using lumber, epoxy composites and molded fiberglass. The grant was provided through the Legislature's allocation for the CORE+ Maritime programs. Gavin Forseth teaches woodworking and CORE+ Maritime, and is the district's Career and Technical Education Department leader. Lexi...
The HUB Center for Seniors revival of what had traditionally been a semiannual runway show has settled on the theme for its Patio Party in May: Fashions inspired by the late 1960's through the 1970s. Barbara Treick, manager of Belfair Self-Storage and creator of its art wall, received emails of interest last year from people who wanted to participate, and then received their fashion designs by Feb. 28. Treick said the event would feature two runway shows, one before lunch and the other...
Last week saw two compelling releases from Netflix, plus a friend's recommendation of a streaming release that premiered last year, in which the ghost story was the most lighthearted and family-friendly. 'The Strays' The racial commentary of "The Strays" is as confrontational as "Get Out," but stripped of Jordan Peele's satirical edge, while also infused with a distinctly British flavor of internalized racism. Ashley Madekwe plays a dual protagonist role that takes cultural code-switching to...
Port of Grapeview Commissioner Mike Blaisdell shared his findings on having the port use social media, one of several online matters commissioners addressed at their Feb. 21 meeting. A recent port workshop included a suggestion that the port create a Facebook page, but no action was taken on it. Blaisdell has since discovered the port must adopt policies on how it would administer and manage such social media accounts. Due to open public meeting laws that cover government entities such as...
Rae Van Fossen is relatively new to Mason County and acrylic painting, but she's been building toward developing as an artist while settling into home. Her work is on display at Belfair Self-Storage as artist of the month for March. A California native, Van Fossen moved to Washington in 2013 and then hopscotched through Renton, Lakewood and Elma before the currents of the housing market brought her to Shelton in 2021. Van Fossen credited a handful of paint-and-sit sessions, in which she was...
Forest McCullough of Northwest Land & Tree told the Port of Hoodsport Commission on Feb. 8 that tree and debris removal at the port’s parklands was almost done, despite “Mother Nature giving us headaches.” As soon as a stretch of dry weather arrives, McCullough predicted the parking lot would be “all cleaned up, fixed up,” and ready to receive treatments such as beauty bark. He assured Port Commissioner Lori Kincannon they were “still on target” for the parking lot grading to be finished and rea...
There's a good chance you can soon see Allyn photographer Brent McCallister's work displayed on Belfair Self-Storage's art wall. McCallister and Barbara Treick, manager of the self-storage business, were put in touch with each other by a friend of McCallister's who, like many who know him, has more confidence in McCallister's photographic skills than he does. McCallister told the Shelton-Mason County Journal that his self-confidence and his photographic skills are areas he needs to work on....
At North Mason School Board’s Feb. 16 meeting, Hawkins Middle School Principal Robert Kalahan and Vice Principal Kevin Pattison introduced the robotics club and teacher Sommer Landers, who presented the robotics project that will compete at the Washington Technology Student Association State Championship in Seattle from March 22-25. The school’s robotics team includes seventh-grader Alan Strange and eighth-graders Jackson Keller, Zanual King, Gavin McKee, Elizabeth Ordway and Yadira Solis, who...
After the Port of Dewatto received $50 for a birthday party building rental in December, the port took stock of its campground’s cleanliness after the winter holidays. Port commissioners David Haugen and Ted Edwards went to the campground to check on its sites and river’s edge, and aside from some beer bottles, Haugen found the campground to be clean of trash, although enough debris remains to be picked up during the campground’s cleanup day March 25. Port Commission Chair Ray Mow sugge...
It took me a while, in the midst of other assignments and recommendations, but I finally finished watching both seasons of "Reservation Dogs" on Hulu, per the suggestion of reader John Skans, and I find myself wishing I'd made more time for this show before. Like "Northern Exposure" did with its fictional small town of Cicely, Alaska, "Reservation Dogs" depicts the amusing and occasionally discouraging idiosyncrasies of everyday life in its isolated rural community, trading traditional sitcom st...
Dock damage, pier replacement, potential surplussing of property and some unexpected new developments on long-standing projects kept Port of Allyn commissioners busy during the Feb. 8 board meeting. After the port’s Hood Canal Marina dock was damaged between Christmas and New Year’s, port insurer Enduris hired a consultant and marine surveyor, with whom Port Executive Director Lary Coppola met while inspecting the dock. Of the port’s two bids to repair the dock, Coppola expected the port to sele...
The last week of January and first week of February saw intriguing variations in the formulae of some weekly TV shows I've recommended in this space before, so I thought I'd touch upon each of them briefly. 'The Last of Us,' Sundays on HBO Season 1, Episode 3, "Long, Long Time" on Jan. 29 began with Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) making their way west from Boston, before it detoured into a 20-year-long, nearly episode-length flashback, fully encompassing the relationship of...
The Port of Allyn is considering surplussing a park it owns along North Bay, port Executive Director Lary Coppola told representatives of the state Recreation and Conservation Office at a Jan. 23 special meeting. RCO Compliance Specialist Myra Barker asked why the port wants to dispose of Kayak Park, a property a quarter of a mile south of the Port of Allyn offices that covers less than an acre. Barker said the goal of the state office is to keep such property open and available for outdoor...
Port of Grapeview commissioners voted in Mike Blaisdell as president, and Art Whitson as secretary and public records officer at their meeting Jan. 17. Brad Pomroy, with the Case Inlet Fisheries Task Force, said members met that morning for their first meeting of 2023. Pomroy noted that over the preceding three weeks, Coulter Creek is up and running, and is raising fry salmon for release this coming year. He added that the Department of Fish and Wildlife has been funding work at Coulter Creek....
Engaging the community is critical to the success of any update to the Port of Grapeview’s comprehensive scheme, said Brad Pomroy of the port’s Strategic Planning Advisory Committee. At a port workshop Jan. 22, port Commissioner Jean Farmer added that listening to constituents is essential because “what the people want may be different from what we want, and we work for them, so we need to make sure we’re doing what they’re asking of us.” When Commission Chair Mike Blaisdell asked when the po...
The Port of Hoodsport opened 2023 by ensuring its finances were in order. Port of Hoodsport Operations Manager Kathleen Wyatt noted Jan. 18 that Port Commissioner Lori Kincannon, during the previous month’s port meeting, had tasked Wyatt with doing “a real comparison, with real numbers, on the end-of-year, and it turns out, we did go over budget,” by $15,230, before she went into further detail about how it was offset. “We did put in the $20,000 from January 22nd’s resolution to cover the Hoods...
Ever since COVID reacquainted me in 2020 with Peter Falk's "Columbo," I've considered how neat it would be to see the murder-mystery genre diversified by creating a female version of the Columbo character. Until recently, one niche of character portrayals where women have been underrepresented, especially outside of relationship-oriented dramedies, is the "clever mess" category. You'd recognize this character as a man, because he's Hugh Laurie as Dr. Gregory House and Peter Falk as LAPD Lt....
Sand Hill Elementary Principal Jason Swaser, Assistant Principal Rosanna Lampano and special education teachers Aurora Tollestrup and Rachel Caraway addressed the North Mason School District Board on Jan. 19 about their school’s inclusionary practices. “Our vision of inclusion at Sand Hill Elementary is that we are engaging and challenging every student, in every classroom, every day,” Lampano said. “How are we going to address that goal within our building? We identified three main areas of stu...
Western Washington filmmaker Brion Rockwell, and Don Manning, with whom he's worked on three of his films, found themselves overwhelmed by the bustling turnout for a Jan. 21 afternoon screening at the Roxy Theater in Bremerton. The screening included the Rockwell-directed, Tacoma-based "Till I Reach You" and selected scenes from the still-under-production "We All Got Up to Dance," which Rockwell wrote and directed, and filmed in Bremerton. "We got about 100 folks on Facebook who said they'd be...
I have spent an inordinate amount of time thinking about a sitcom that has arguably always been designed to be entirely disposable. I was a huge fan of the original "Night Court," which ran for nine seasons from 1984-92 on what became known as NBC's "Must See TV" Thursday night primetime lineup, and I was far from alone. John Larroquette, who played the unrepentantly randy and acerbic prosecutor Dan Fielding, won four consecutive Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series...
The Friends of Lake Cushman Dog Park spoke to the Shelton-Mason County Journal about what lies ahead for the nonprofit group in the wake of its recent progress. Bill Long, treasurer for the group, said the group’s efforts to create an off-leash dog park in Mason County yielded the signing of an agreement by members of the Friends of Lake Cushman Dog Park, a 501(c)(3) organization, and Mason County to provide such a dog park at the county’s current Foothills Park, at 241 Foothills Park Road nea...
