Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
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Sheriff’s Office purchasing boat The Mason County Sheriff’s Office bought a patrol vessel from the Lakewood Police Department. According to the information packet, the Sheriff’s Office had an opportunity to buy an additional patrol vessel for a discounted price from Lakewood. The vessel is reportedly better equipped to handle conditions encountered on Puget Sound. The purchase will allow the Sheriff’s Office to put a vessel on Lake Cushman. The budget effect is up to $65,000 from the restricted reserve in the boating fund to purchase the ves...
One dead in Timberlake fire A person died Aug. 11 in a single-family residence fire at Timberlakes near Shelton, according to Central Mason Fire & EMS. According to a news release, another resident was hospitalized at Mason General Hospital with severe smoke inhalation. The victim was found on the floor of a bedroom near the window by firefighters while firefighters were extinguishing the blaze. Central Mason Fire was dispatched at 2:50 p.m. and the cause of the fire is still under investigation, but it is believe to be an accidental equipment...
Sharon Trask and Miguel Gutierrez will be facing off in the general election in November with the primary election results set to be certified next week. The last update was Aug. 5 and the results will be certified Aug. 16. Gutierrez leads all candidates for commissioner District 3 with 2,350 votes for 43.09%. Trask, the incumbent, is second in the race with 1,638 votes for 30.03%. Fellow Republican candidate Mark Carlson is still third with 1,462 votes for 26.81%. Only people in District 3...
The City of Shelton started a plastic film recycling program in April. Three months in, the program is going strong, according to City Manager Jeff Niten. The program added plastic film as part of the city’s curbside recycling program, which allows residents to recycle clean and dry plastic bags, plastic storage bags such as Ziploc brand bags, dry cleaning bags and other flexible plastic film. Shelton partnered with SC Johnson to help with sending the plastic to a company that can recycle the p...
Transient killer whales have been spotted in the southern reaches of the Salish Sea. Julie Watson, killer whale policy lead for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, said transient killer whales are the ones most often spotted in Oakland Bay or Pickering Passage in recent months. Southern resident orcas are endangered, while transient killer whales are not. "They are called transient because they come and go, but we have been seeing in recent years more transients and them spending longer p...
Assessor’s notice of value mailed The Mason County Assessor’s annual notice of value has been mailed out to taxpayers to notify them of any change in the true and fair market value of their property. In a news release, the county states it is saving money by printing notices of value in postcard format. Property owners can sign up to receive their annual property valuation notice via email instead of through the United State Postal Service. People can sign up for the paperless option at www.enoticesonline.com. If you do not agree with the value...
The year is 1995, and the Mariners are facing the New York Yankees in Game 5 of the American League Divisional Series. Edgar Martinez hits the ball down the left field line and Ken Griffey Jr. motors around the bases and slides home for the game-winning run to send Seattle to the American League Championship Series. Fast forward to 2001, a young Matt Baide attended games in the brand-new Safeco Field as the Mariners went on to tie the record for most wins in a season with 116. Seattle defeated...
Mason County awarded $2 million for bridge projects Mason County Public Works was awarded $2.027 million by the Federal Local Bridge Program. According to a news release for the Mason County commissioners, the federal bridge program provides funding under the National Highway Performance Program used to improve the condition of city or county-owned bridges. Public Works was awarded $167,000 to replace the south timber pile on the North Fork Goldsborough Bridge on Little Egypt Road with concrete pile cap. The Toonerville Bridge on Bear Creek...
Woman dies while diving in Hood Canal A 57-year-old Oregon woman died July 24 while diving in Hood Canal. According to the Mason County Sheriff’s Office, the woman experienced a medical problem while diving and died when she came back to the surface. There was no information on what medical problem occurred. Monkeypox case in Mason County The state Department of Health notified Mason County Public Health of a positive test for monkeypox in Mason County on Monday. According to a news release, Mason County Public Health is conducting a case a...
Note: This story has been updated to reflect Wednesday's 4:30 p.m. second ballot count. Miguel Gutierrez and Sharon Trask are leading the race for Mason County Commissioner District 3. Gutierrez, a Democrat, received a majority of the votes with 2,119, or 43.93%. Trask, a Republican, accumulated 1,500 votes, or 30.27%. Mark Carlson, a Republican, trails Trask by 3.5% of the vote at 26.90%, which is 1,333 votes. Only residents of Mason County Commissioner District 3 were able to vote in the...
Education had to adjust to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and more than two years later, many schools are still trying to navigate the world the pandemic has created. Olympic College Shelton is still recovering from the pandemic and is trying to figure out how to get students back on campus. "When the pandemic first began and the governor issued proclamations, higher ed was kind of the least important things for him to worry about at the time when he had other things and it continued that way thr...
A July 10 fatal accident on Northcliff Road near 8th Street involved two cars and the arrest of Matthew J. Galvin, 38, for vehicular homicide, vehicular assault and assault in the third-degree. As of press time, Galvin is not in custody and a court appearance hasn't been scheduled. According to the incident report, Shelton Police Department officer Jared Ford arrived to two front-end damaged vehicles. Galvin's pickup truck reportedly crossed the center line and hit a white sedan traveling in the...
A 91-year-old Hoodsport woman died in a two-car crash at the intersection of U.S. Highway 101 and state Route 102 on July 16. According to a news release, a 25-year-old Shelton man was driving south and a car with four Hoodsport residents was traveling north on 101 near the intersection of state Route 102. The 25-year-old's car crossed the center line and hit the second vehicle head-on. The 25-year-old Shelton man fled the scene upon the arrival of law enforcement but was later apprehended. He...
The Belfair sewer project has received bids for its proposed extension, and Mason County commissioners will decide Tuesday what action to take. The commissioners had a briefing July 6 to go over information with County Administrator Mark Neary, Public Works Director Loretta Swanson and Deputy Director of Utilities and Waste Richard Dickinson. According to the briefing information packet, commissioners voted April 5 to authorize the Public Works Department to advertise and set a bid opening for...
Fourth of July is usually a busy time for fire departments, but not this year, according to local fire districts. West Mason Fire Chief Matthew Welander said it was a quiet Fourth of July for his department. "Agencies and organizations got ahead of most of the issues and put rules in place and did a good job of advertising them," Welander wrote in an email to the Journal. "We had one incident involving a firework starting a very small fire. We had prepositioned crews in that area and the fire...
Members of Irene S. Reed High School's Class of 1952 celebrated their 70th high school reunion with lunch at Railroad Tap Station in Shelton. The Class of 1952 featured 129 graduates - 71 men and 58 women. Twenty-six men and 30 women are alive, and 13 graduates, two spouses and one daughter attended the June reunion. Dorene Stevens Rae organizes the reunions for the Class of 1952, being voted in by her classmates. "I just like to keep people up front, so they know what's going on and they love...
Mason County Disc Golf Club vice president Janice Jones won the women's Amateur Master 60+ Championship tournament at the 2022 Pro Disc Golf Association U.S. Championships on June 30 to July 3 in Madison, Wisconsin. Jones, 64, won with a score of +14, four shots better than second-place Janet Cranshaw. "I'm thrilled. In the last year, I think I've worked very hard, deliberately, to put myself in that position," Jones told the Journal. Jones said she moved back to the state about a year ago...
One of the greatest players to ever put on a uniform in Seattle will be retiring at the end of the WNBA season. Sue Bird, who has played for the Seattle Storm since being drafted first overall in 2002, is calling it a career after this season. If there was a Mount Rushmore of Seattle sports athletes, she would certainly be on it, along with Walter Jones, Ken Griffey Jr. and Gary Payton. She’s won four WNBA titles in Seattle in 2004, 2010, 2018 and 2020, and she’s a 13-time WNBA all-star. Bir...
The Shelton-Mason County Chamber of Commerce is hosting the Chamber Expo & Bite of Mason County from 11:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Friday in downtown Shelton. Admission is free. Nearly 100 vendors with local restaurants, services, retailers and community groups will be there. More than a dozen local food and beverage vendors will be showcased in the Bite of Mason County. Dale's Mobile Kitchen, Shelton Candy Shoppe, Snacksidents, Tasty Bites and Wilde Irish Pub will make their first appearance at the...
Most of the pandemic restrictions are gone and people have gone back to “normal” life, but COVID-19 is still prominent in the country and Mason County. Mason General Hospital and Mason Health still deal with the virus daily. So, what is the state of COVID in Mason County? “Alive and well,” Mason Health Chief Medical Officer Dr. Dean Gushee said. “It’s certainly still out there. Case counts have gone up. What’s a little harder now is at one time we were tracking cases, which are test positivi...
Mason County commissioners approved a correction officers retention bonus at a special commission meeting June 23. The county jail has had a problem with attracting and retaining employees in “law enforcement positions in general,” according to County Administrator Mark Neary. “We obviously have a 24/7 operation there very dependent on the population of inmates that we have and as we see individuals maybe getting out of law enforcement all together and wanting to identify other career paths...
WSDOT striping roads this weekend The state Department of Transportation crews from Tacoma will be striping roads this weekend. According to a Twitter post, the striping takes place annually and usually takes a day and a half to complete. Crews will begin striping Friday with an expected completion by Monday afternoon. Shelton has 36 miles of yellow and white road striping. Seven county vehicles replaced Mason County will receive seven new vehicles as part of replacement vehicle order requests from Enterprise in 2022 and 2023. According to the...
Pierce Parnell of Lacey won the advanced division at the Washington State Amateur Championships disc golf tournament at Shelton Springs disc golf course July 2-4. Parnell finished at 11-under, one shot better than Noah Phillips in second place. Bryan Roush won the Amateur Masters 40+ division at 1-over, two shots better than second place Deane Phillips. The Amateur Masters 50+ division was dominated by James Huestis, shooting 17-under for the three-round tournament. Jeffrey Arnold won the...
