Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
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The Port of Hoodsport temporarily closed the public pier and dock in downtown Hoodsport. According to Port of Hoodsport Commissioner Lori Kincannon, the port has been awaiting the results of a new site inspection report before beginning the bid process for needed repairs. “The port has not yet received the contractor’s inspection report, or the engineers’ letter on their findings,” port Executive Director Kathleen Wyatt said. On Sept. 16, representatives of Hoodsport-based Integrated Northwe...
My first Port Townsend Film Festival was in 2016, and my first marathon review of the film festival for the newspaper was in 2017. This event has evolved yearly, but this year has brought welcome changes. The festival now allows attendees to make digital reservations for their chosen shows and the festival's handouts include guides to all the places to buy snacks and drinks between screenings. My goal was to watch as many as a dozen films in four days. Sept. 21: Day 1 "Red, White & Brass"...
North Mason High School counselor Kim Walters shared information on the new YouScience program with the school board at the district school board meeting Sept. 21. North Mason High School will be implementing YouScience in order to support each student in completing their "High School and Beyond" plan. Hawkins Middle School will implement the first phases of YouScience for exploration beginning in the seventh grade. Walters said students would be tasked with completing the following courses in...
Sept. 13 marked the date when the Port of Dewatto’s remaining two commissioners were able to conduct their first regularly scheduled meeting since July 12. Port of Dewatto Manager Jeana Crosby told the Herald the port has found a “person of interest” to fill the port’s District 2 commissioner position, which was left vacant by the death of commissioner Ray Mow on April 8. Crosby said the potential commissioner has not been sworn in, but she did say Sept. 15 she expects that Wilson Sapp, a lieut...
Mason Health and eight other regional hospital systems took steps this summer to meet new statewide goals aimed at creating safer workplaces. Participating hospitals are working to reduce injuries and create safer work environments by launching safety campaigns for employees. Those hoping to receive top performer status this year are required to inaugurate and complete safety campaigns, running from Aug. 1 through Nov. 30, that focus their employees’ attention on how to conduct themselves m...
After nearly half a century, the rock band Foreigner is in the middle of its “Historic Farewell Tour,” which began in late 2022 and is set to conclude in 2024, but not before appearing at Little Creek Casino on Sept. 23. Keyboardist Michael Bluestein, a band member since 2008, admitted to bittersweet feelings about the band’s last tour even as he appreciates the chance to feed off the fans’ energy, live and in-person, during the band’s cross-country tour. “It’s thrilling that the band’s catalog...
Meet Ray Shoesmith. He's a fascinating animal. Australian actor, writer and director Scott Ryan spent the better part of 20 years honing this character, and the results impressed no less than actress Helen Mirren and her husband, director Taylor Hackford. Ryan's first draft of Ray's character came in a low-budget but critically acclaimed 2005 independent film called "The Magician," streaming on Amazon, which established Ray in Melbourne, before Ryan transplanted the character to Sydney, for...
Port of Grapeview Commissioner Art Whitson said several matters worthy of public interest were raised at the port’s special meeting Aug. 22. Under the port’s maintenance plan, landscaping, irrigation and septic systems were addressed, its trees have been trimmed, and its restrooms and gutters have been cleaned, although replacing the women’s restroom toilet requires some work. Whitson praised AAA Septic in Shelton, which had to deal with hundreds of pounds of invasive roots infiltrating the p...
The Port of Allyn’s special meeting Aug. 24 saw port officials and port district residents comment on the port’s comprehensive plan for harbor improvements, with Port Commissioner Ted Jackson suggesting that broadband expansion be added to the community survey regarding the plan. Jackson recommended a specific grant writer for his fellow commissioners to meet, and Port Executive Director Lary Coppola agreed a lot of unclaimed grant money is available that could help the port’s work on its infra...
Ralph Pulsifer came to art relatively late in life, in the wake of surgery three years ago that left him with a lot of time on his hands. "My children have always been artists, so it was also a way to connect with them," said Pulsifer, a Shelton resident and member of the Skokomish Indian Tribe. Indeed, Pulsifer credits "plenty of coaching from my kids" with helping him develop as an artist, along with what he referred to as "the University of YouTube." Pulsifer renders his pictures in a...
North Mason School District Superintendent Dana Rosenbach recently informed her students' families, through a letter sent to welcome them back to school for the 2023-24 year, that the district sees the process of fostering certain values in its students as similar to tending a garden. Rosenbach recounted how district and building administrators devoted one of their training and leadership sessions to selecting "impact words" to describe ways of "building our garden and developing our soil."...
Grapeview School District Superintendent Gerry Grubbs noted the changes students and families can expect as they start the new school year, beginning with a new administrative team, which he said is "working toward unity in leadership and vision." Cynthia Breeze is the district's director of student services and athletics, while Hannah Nelsen is its new principal. Grubbs touted their efforts to bring back the "robust volunteer program" the district had prior to COVID. Grubbs promised students...
When it comes to sources of casually consumable storytelling, polymath scholar Umberto Eco isn't the first name anyone thinks of, which is a shame, because while he produced challenging, data-dense novels such as "The Name of the Rose" and "Foucault's Pendulum," he was playful for an intellectual, as director Davide Ferrario reveals in his documentary, "Umberto Eco: A Library of the World." Before Eco died in 2016, he gave Ferrario a tour of his library, which has since been donated to the...
Port of Grapeview Commissioner Art Whitson has found several outlets at the port for his talents — particularly in the field of environmental issues — over the course of his decades spent working in commercial and government sectors. So it’s not surprising the port will be sending him to a statewide discussion of environmental concerns with fellow Washington port officials. On Sept. 21-22, Whitson will join the Washington Public Ports Association’s 2023 environmental seminar in Ruston, just no...
The Union-based Great Bend Center for Music has nabbed the jazz stylings of the Kareem Kandi World Orchestra, which will be featured at the center’s second annual “Jazz in the Barn Gala” fundraiser Sept. 16. Kandi recently announced his impending stint as the new host of the “Jazz Northwest” show, which can be heard at 2 p.m. Sundays on KNKX 88.5 FM. The show highlights the jazz scene from Portland to Vancouver, so Great Bend Center for Music General Director Matthew Melendez touted this particu...
After watching the first two episodes of "Ahsoka" on Disney+, my reaction was this: "So this is what 'Star Wars' feels like for those who aren't already fans." I grew up with "Star Wars." I saw the original trilogy when each film premiered in theaters, and I saw each installment of the prequel trilogy on its opening night, too. But there's a generation for whom the prequel trilogy was their first "Star Wars," just like the original trilogy was mine, and they didn't just watch the live-action...
During the North Mason School Board’s Aug. 17 meeting, summer school principal Laura Pugh and teacher Rachel Mayo were joined by Hawkins Middle School students Tora Kawai-Seguin, Zevin King and Rukan Bruemmer as they presented a film the students made during summer school. Pugh reported the summer school program had ended the previous week, with literacy support for students in grades four through eight, and “credit recovery” for students in grades 10 through 12. Over three weeks, break...
Is 1985’s “Back to the Future” one of the greatest movies ever made? Opinions vary, but science says “yes,” and the city of Shelton agrees, because it’s running the sci-fi classic as the final installment of this summer’s free-admission “Movies in the Park” series, starting between 8:30-8:45 p.m. on Friday, in Kneeland Park. The 1970s and the 1980s produced scores of excellent films, but what the recent passing of William Friedkin, who directed 1971’s “The French Connection” and 1973...
The Port of Grapeview’s Aug. 15 meeting saw commissioners consider renovations and spending, and as the port’s 100th anniversary approaches, celebrations. Port commissioners Jean Farmer and Mike Blaisdell agreed the anniversary in November isn’t the best time to mark the centennial because they prefer an outdoor open house that could take advantage of pleasant weather and draw “big names” to the festivities. Farmer and commissioner Art Whitson agreed such an occasion should also use the marin...
The Port of Dewatto canceled its scheduled Aug. 9 commissioners meeting because a personal emergency arose that would have left the board without a quorum, according to Port Manager Jeana Crosby. The port did have a special meeting Aug. 11, both remotely and in-person at the port office building in Tahuya, to sign vouchers that would allow the port to pay its bills and salaries. However, according to Crosby, the rest of the business that had been scheduled for the port’s August meeting will l...
If you're the sort of binge-viewer who can't stand to start a new season of a show until it's all online, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that all 10 episodes of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" Season 2 are now on Paramount+. The bad news is that, at the risk of revealing spoilers, the "Strange New Worlds" Season 2 finale ends on the biggest cliffhanger since "The Best of Both Worlds, Part I," on "Star Trek: The Next Generation." "Strange New Worlds" continues to be the best...
Port of Hoodsport Commissioner Cody Morris provided an update on the port's renewal of its lease of a state Department of Natural Resources dock. Hoodsport-based Integrated Northwest Construction conducted a preliminary inspection of the dock and expressed optimism, not only about the state of the pilings, but also about its ability to perform relatively inexpensive "surface-level fixes" to improve the dock's safety and appearance until long-term improvements are possible, Morris said at the...
The Port of Allyn’s Aug. 7 meeting saw its executive director and commissioners address replacing its pier, updating the port’s comprehensive plan and what to do with the sea lions. Port of Allyn Executive Director Lary Coppola said the port had $515,000 in its capital budget for a pier replacement project. “Our options are to replace the entire pier with a completely new structure, to sleeve the existing pilings — which effectively gets the creosote out of the water, as well as stops the det...
The Hoodstock Music and Arts Festival, at the Hood Canal Marina in Union on Aug. 19-20, aims to be bigger and better this year, thanks to event organizers Kelli Kohout, Meghan Maes and Shannon Crabb-Stanton. Each has a role in staging the festival, with Kohout handling promotions, Maes coordinating vendors and managing the Union City Market, and Crabb-Stanton booking concert acts while shouldering her share of marketing. When asked what this year's more significant upgrades are, Crabb-Stanton...
When Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird co-created the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 1984, the most popular superhero comics on the market during the early '80s included Marv Wolfman and George Perez's "The New Teen Titans," Chris Claremont's "Uncanny X-Men" and Frank Miller's "Daredevil," so angsty teen heroes, outcast mutants and ninja crime-fighters were all the rage. Ever since, the popularity of teenagers, mutants and ninjas in superhero stories has remained relatively strong, but what's been...
