Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
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Shelton girls bowling The Shelton girls bowling team lost narrowly to Aberdeen 1,482 to 1,447 in an Evergreen Conference match Jan. 5 at Rainier Lanes in Aberdeen. Ezra Winslow bowled her high game of 100 and the varsity bowled its high game of 146. All nine bowlers increased their match averages and Kylee Moore increased her average to 121.75. Shelton competed in senior night on Tuesday against Black Hills at Westside Lanes in Olympia and wrap up the regular season today against W.F. West at Fairway Lanes in Centralia. Shelton boys basketball...
Ray Bonnell is in his first year as athletic director at North Mason High School. His journey to Belfair took him around the world with American football. Bonnell was born in Cincinnati. His family moved to Kent while his uncle, Barry Bonnell, played baseball for the Seattle Mariners from 1984 to 1986. He attended Kentwood High School and played football, which got him recruited to play linebacker at Washington State University from 2000 to 2003. The Cougars had three 10-win seasons while Bonnel...
While Mason County Fire District 12 is fighting legal battles to keep the fire chief and commissioners in place, it appears the community has had enough. The final meeting of 2022 on Dec. 27 was attended by about 25 community members, who asked questions and directed criticism at fire district officials. Some asked the district for records, including the district's 2023 budget, previous meeting minutes and the fire chiefs' contract. There were questions about the district's 2022 spending and...
The state Department of Transportation used a blog post to update North Mason on the state Route 3 Freight Corridor project, pushing back the expected construction year to 2026 instead of 2024 as it had been projected. According to the blog post, the Move Ahead Washington funding package included two more roundabouts for the project, which are at the intersection of state Route 3 and state Route 302 near North Mason High School. The connections of the roundabouts will allow new local roads to...
Mason County receives block grant Mason County applied for and received a Public Services Community Development Block Grant through the state Department of Commerce. According to the information packet, the county joined with the Community Action Council to provide referrals or direct client services for eligible participants who are residents of Lewis or Mason counties. The contract is for $102,000 with a performance period from July 2022 to June 2023. This is a formula grant that can be applied annually. The county has agreed to serve as the...
Olympic College offers courses Olympic College Shelton is offering courses in creative writing, flagger certification and forklift certification. The class Creative Writing — Making Scenes is from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesdays Jan. 25 through Feb. 23. The class explores how to develop scenes through selling, exposition, action, conversation, pacing and clarity. Sign up by calling 360-432-5400 or go to tinyurl.com/anm42zsj. The class on flagger certification is from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Jan. 14. Become a certified flagger by learning safety for e...
The past two weeks in Mason County has seen several extreme weather events. On Dec. 23, the county had to deal with freezing rain and cold, making roads slick and taking out power for several Mason PUD customers. On Dec. 27, the county had a low pressure system that included high winds coinciding with a king tide, causing flooding and damage throughout Mason County. Mason County commissioners hosted an emergency meeting on Dec. 27 and approved a resolution for a countywide state of emergency and...
North Mason's Winter Classic wrestling tournament was pinned due to weather before Christmas, but Jake Mathews and Pedro Salvador did some pinning of their own Dec. 28 as each won their respective weight classes. The Bulldogs finished fourth as a team at the North Mason Hawkins Memorial Classic tournament Dec. 28 in Belfair. Salvador wrestled at 152 pounds and defeated North Kitsap opponents by pin, against Solomon Furne in the quarterfinals and Mason Holmes in the semifinals, before winning...
Free parks days announced Discover Pass free days for 2023 were announced by lands managed by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, state Parks and Recreation Commission and state Department of Natural Resources. The first date to mark on the calendar is Jan. 16, which is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Other free days include March 9 and 19, April 22, June 10, 11 and 19, Sept. 23, Oct. 10, Nov. 11 and 24. National Parks, including Olympic National Park and Mount Rainier National Park, are also free to the public on Jan. 16. For more informati...
Mason County Fire District 12 is under investigation by the FBI, according to the Mason County Sheriff's Office. In an email to the Journal, Detective Corporal Michael Sargent wrote, that the Sheriff's Office has suspended its investigation into the case and "it has been adopted for investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation." Fire District 12 hosted its monthly meeting Tuesday in Matlock. When asked about the investigation being handed over to the FBI, Commissioner Albert Wilder said,...
A woman injured in a Christmas Eve apartment fire at 1100 North 12th St. at the Saratoga Springs Apartments died two days later at a Seattle hospital. According to a news release from Central Mason Fire and EMS, CMFE responded to the fire around 6:30 p.m, arriving to find a resident attempting to put the fire out with a garden hose. An elderly woman living in the residence collapsed and became unresponsive as the fire began, and paramedics immediately administered CPR. The woman was revived and...
PUDs deal with power outages Mason County PUD 3 and 1 dealt with power outages throughout the Christmas weekend. According to PUD 3’s Facebook page, the power was out Dec. 22 at Fawn Lake, but was restored in the evening. There was an outage affecting 300 customers in Belfair on Dec. 23 and an outage in the Matlock area affecting 145 customers in the morning before crews came out and restored power. A tree fell near the Collins Lake Substation on the Tahuya Peninsula and knocked out power p...
I looked back on the year that was for Seattle sports teams in my previous column, but this time, I want to focus on one team: the Seahawks. What a year it has been for the Seahawks. From winning their final regular season game in January against the Arizona Cardinals, to one of the craziest and most controversial off seasons in my lifetime. If you were living under a rock or aren't a huge sports fan, in March, the Seahawks traded quarterback Russell Wilson, who was the quarterback since he was...
Shelton girls basketball Shelton earned its second-straight win with a 57-29 nonleague victory against River Ridge on Dec. 23 in Lacey. The Highclimbers will try to extend their winning streak at the Lady Trapper Invite at Heritage High School in Vancouver Wednesday through Friday. Shelton faced Ashland, Oregon, Wednesday. The Highclimbers face Fort Vancouver at 3 p.m. today and wrap up the tournament tomorrow at 5 p.m. against Evergreen. North Mason girls wrestling Sadie Evans won and Sarah...
Shelton's Alauna Carstens ended her senior year with an exclamation point, winning the State 2A 1,600- and 3,200-meter races Thursday and Saturday at the state 2A, 3A and 4A track and field meets at Mount Tahoma High School in Tacoma. Carstens competed in the 1,600-meter race Thursday and pulled ahead in the third lap and was able to narrowly edge Ellensburg's Kate Laurent at the finish line with a time of 4:58.34 to Laurent's 4:58.48. The time was a personal record and school record. "It feels...
What a difference a year makes. The Shelton Highclimbers football team was back in a Kansas tiebreaker once again on Monday at Tumwater District Stadium with Black Hills and Aberdeen, with two spots in the district crossover playoff games on the line. Shelton defeated Black Hills in the first matchup, and then took down Aberdeen to secure the No. 4 seed out of the Evergreen Conference into the District crossover games. The Highclimbers will travel to Washougal to take on the Panthers at 7 p.m....
North Mason senior Addilyn Varick saved her best for last to earn second place in the state 2A girls javelin throw Thursday at Mount Tahoma High School. Varick's final throw of her high school career measured 116 feet, 4 inches, a personal best and good enough to take second place. Tumwater's Natalie Sumrok won the state title with a toss of 126 feet, 2 inches. "It felt really nice because I've been dealing with really bad rib issues all season and that one was probably my best because I was abl...
After the final event of the state 2A girls swim meet in Federal Way, the Shelton relay team of Lelia Ollenburg, Madeline Allred, Kaylin Mutoli and Abbi Sachs jumped into the pool to celebrate their 2022 season accomplishments. As the team scores were revealed, Shelton celebrated again. The big readerboard showed Shelton taking ninth place, the highest finish in school history, at the state 2A swim meet Nov. 11 and 12 at the King County Aquatic Center. "That's awesome. That's the first time the...
They say "If you do what you love, you'll never work a day in your life." If that is the case, Lisa Cree hasn't worked many days in her life. Mason Transit Authority celebrated its 30th anniversary earlier this month, and for 28 of those 30 years, Cree has been driving people around Mason County. Cree started her driving career in 1990 with Paratransit Services in Pierce County while living in Mason County. Paratransit was the original contractor for transit services in Mason County. Mason Trans...
Mason County Fire District 4 welcomed new fire chief Gregory Rudolph in October. "It's exciting, it's a good challenge," Rudolph told the Journal. "I'm enjoying my time here so far." Fire District 4 covers the southeast corner of Mason County, from Arcadia Road south county line and west to the county line on state Route 108. Rudolph, 49, took over from Bob Burbridge, who retired in April. Before becoming fire chief, he was the assistant chief at Griffin Fire Department for two years in Thurston...
County purchases building for coroner, facilities Mason County commissioners gave preliminary approval to purchase the property at 126 Kneeland St. in Shelton as the new location for the Mason County coroner and facilities at the Tuesday meeting. According to the information packet, Mason County facilities and coroner's offices need more space, with the lease on the current building set to expire in March. The coroner's office has office space, but needs more operational space and cold storage...
Mason County PUD 1 will receive $594,857 from the Bonneville Power Administration’s Power Dividend Distribution Credit through the next 10 months. PUD 1 will pass that money on to its customers after approving the action at the Dec. 13 commissioners meeting. PUD 1 staff proposed setting aside $25,000 in the local government investment pool to help fund the PUD’s low-income energy assistance program as required by the state’s Clean Energy Transformation Act and the remaining $569,857 will be di...
Car accident knocks out power lines A car ran into a pole on state Route 3 in Belfair near North Mason High School, knocking down a power line Friday night. According to Mason County PUD 3 social media posts, the incident was reported around 8:15 p.m. and PUD 3 sent out a lineman to investigate. In order to make repairs, the lineman had to cut power for customers in Allyn, LakeLand Village and Victor. The power was only out in Allyn and LakeLand Village for an hour before PUD 3 was able to reroute power from a different substation. Power was...
Jordan and Jareau Afo were sentened Tuesday for the murder of Derrick Wily in November 2020. Jareau pled guilty Nov. 8 to second-degree murder in Mason County Superior Court. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison, according to Mason County Clerk Sharon Moore-Fogo. Jordan pled guilty to one count of first-degree criminal assistance and received a five-year prison sentence. He also pled guilty to one count of unlawful disposal of human remains and received 90 days in prison, according to...
Since he was a baby, Kayden Lucas has had a bat and a ball in his hands. The 12-year-old still has a bat and ball in his hands, but now he takes it with him around the country, playing baseball for two teams. The Allyn native has traveled to eight states and 10 cities and played 100 games this past season. "I have a lot of fun because I always think of baseball day in and day out," Lucas told the Journal. "I have a love for the game, not a like for the game. Every time I am around or playing, I...
