Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
Sorted by date Results 1 - 22 of 22
A mountainous landscape line featuring a single tree received the most votes for the City of Shelton’s new logo, but the Shelton City Council has decided to go back to the drawing board. In online voting on the city’s website from Nov. 3 through Dec. 8, residents preferred the logo to two other choices, one that featured a blue heron, another that showed a two-person handsaw. The poll received 626 responses, said Mary Ricker, the city’s communications and government relations specialist. At a Dec. 14 work session dedicated to the new logo, all...
Skydive Kapowsin soon won't be the only Sanderson Field tenant to enable people to plummet thousands of feet to Earth. The Seattle-based company SQRL has leased land at the Shelton airport, and plans to erect a building in the spring, said Port of Shelton Wendy Smith. The company will manufacture wingsuits, skydiving gear and base-jumping equipment. "We have been part of the Skydive Kapowsin crew for a few years now, since 2013, and that is how we came to know Shelton and the airport," company p...
A majority of teachers in the Pioneer School District have given a vote of "no confidence" to Superintendent Jill Diehl, and have asked her to resign. The Pioneer Education Association submitted the letter to the Pioneer School Board at its Dec. 14 meeting. In the letter, the group states that if Diehl does not resign, the board should ask her to do so. "We all believe these problems directly stem from an inability or unwillingness of the Superintendent to provide effective, competent,...
The Shelton School District plans to begin recruiting employees for the 2022-2023 school year in February, a few months earlier than usual. "We'll know what we're doing early on, and that's going to make such a huge difference, I believe, in the quality of people we'll get," Linda Arnold, the district's executive director of human resources, said at the Shelton School Board's Dec. 14 meeting. Arnold added, "The crux of this (hiring) was happening during the summer, and it stymied us, because by...
Shelton-Mason County Journal reporter Matt Baide drove around Shelton late Monday afternoon looking for holiday decorations. Here's a few of the homes he found....
This is a story about a gift my father gave me when I was about 5 years old. This story is as true as any memory summoned from a long-past Christmas. I’m child No. 4 in a four-child family, and when we were wee our family was the type that put Christmas presents under a Christmas tree. We lived in northwest Spokane in a house atop a steep hill where the distant field lights of Joe Albi Stadium could be seen from our living room window. When the stadium lights illuminated the night, the scene w...
The unspeakable Editor, the Journal, This is a difficult subject and one I expect many will find objectionable in today’s divisive climate. I’m a white man who has had many and various relationships with people of color during my life. None of which support the idea of my personal “racism.”. I was raised in a color-blind home. For example, as a child, I recall a local Black pig farmer who came to our home to ask his friend, my father, to help him sort out some zoning ordinances that seemed biased and were affecting his ability to success...
If you'd told me years ago that homemade compost can be ready to use in 21-24 days no matter the weather, I might have gone the extra mile to formulate it properly. Had I known it continues to be optimally bioactive for another six months, I would have distributed it as quickly as I made it, rather than letting it sit until it becomes glorified topsoil. I tend to save things that are difficult or time-consuming to make or obtain. Hitherto, my compost took so long to mature that it was too...
Beginning today, a series of storms could affect much of the Northwest through the weekend and into next week. The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for much of the Olympic Peninula and the Cascade Range until 4 p.m. today. A second storm system is expected to move from the ocean early Christmas morning. The Seattle/Tacoma office of the NWS forecasts that snow is likely on Christmas Day, Christmas night and into Sunday. While little accumulation is forecast in Shelton, the N...
In January 1924, 17-year-old George Clifton began working for Simpson Logging Co. at a camp near Lake Nahwatzel. For the next two years, he kept a sporadic journal of his experiences. This story is taken from that journal. George's words are in italics. Saturday, January 12, 1924 - Walked from the Y. (The Frisken Wye, near the Grays Harbor county line.) Had old clothes on and my belongings in a gunny sack. Will try to get a job on Walters section. January 13 - Introduced to Walters and to a...
Mason County has announced free Christmas tree recycling available from Dec. 27 to Jan. 10 at two locations. According to a news release, recycling will be available at the Shelton Transfer Station at 501 West Eells Hill Road, which is open Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Recycling is also available at the Belfair Solid Waste Drop Off Facility at 2001 NE Sand Hill Road, which is open Tuesday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Customers of Mason County Garbage and Recycling curbside service can cut up their trees and stick them in...
Car drives off state Route 106 into Hood Canal A 76-year-old McCleary man drove off state Route 106 into Hood Canal on Dec. 15. According to a news release, the man was driving east and suffered a medical emergency and drove off the road to the right and struck an embankment. He drove his car back onto the road and crossed the center line and drove off the road to the left, rolling down an embankment and coming to rest in Hood Canal. The man was transported to Mason General and state Route 106 was blocked for an hour and 20 minutes. Democratic...
Mason County has announced a public hearing at 6 p.m. Jan. 10 to present information on the proposed Belfair sewer extension. According to a news release, the workshop will be held through Zoom and questions and comments from the public are welcome. The URL will be available on the Mason County website at masoncountywa.gov. Staff will present information describing the proposed project, project funding options and the history of the Belfair sewer/water reclamation facility. During the Dec. 21...
Commissioners appoint Jaime Taylor as acting coroner Mason County commissioners approved the appointment of Jaime Taylor as acting coroner Jan. 1 until a replacement coroner has been appointed at the Dec. 21 meeting. According to the information packet, former coroner Wes Stockwell belonged to the Democratic party and a letter has been sent to the Democratic party requesting three nominations be submitted for commissioner consideration. The nominations will not be submitted until mid-January. Taylor will be paid at the coroner’s salary b...
Ann Olli passed away on December 9, 2021. She was born in Yakima on August 1, 1933 and she spent some of her younger years there but it was the time of her early childhood, between five and six years old, when she was at her grandparents farm that she recalled with the greatest fondness. That farm, which sits in Shelton Valley (and once belonged to James Shelton), is where she helped her grandmother with the chickens and watched her grandfather milking cows by hand in the big old barn next to so...
On Saturday December 4th, 2021, Dana Sarff passed away in his Shelton, WA home. Dana, age 70, was preceded in death by his life love Donna Wilkie of Neah Bay, WA, and by his father and his stepmother in Kansas. Dana had no children or siblings. A private ceremony will be held to honor Dana’s wishes. Donations in Dana’s honor can be made to his charity, “Peninsula Friends of Animals”....
With profound sadness we announce the passing of Lola Mae (Wilson) Lindblom, our loving and devoted mother and friend, on December 11, 2021. Lola was the fifth child of Chauncey and Stella Wilson. She was predeceased by her devoted husband John Lindblom, sisters Harriet, Joanne, and Marcia Kaye and brother Jack. She was the beloved mother of Connie (Jay) Himlie, Deborah (Rocky) Robinson, Don (Tami) Putvin, David (Sandra) Putvin, Carolyn Putvin, and Karen (Jim) Torrell. She was the proud grandmother and great grandmother of Michelle Himlie and...
Steven Craig Whybark passed away peacefully at home on December 18, 2021. He was born on October 8, 1952 to Quentin and Catherine Whybark in Seattle, WA, and lived in Bremerton, Washington throughout his childhood. He has two siblings, a brother Doug Whybark and a sister, Ann Whybark. He attended and graduated from Bremerton High school where he was a gymnast. He attended Olympic College. He married his high school sweetheart, Lori Huntley and they made their first home in Pullman, WA in 1972....
Steven Dudics Jr. age 60, passed away at his home in Matlock, WA, on September 17, 2021. Steven was born April 10, 1956, in Kirkland, WA, to Steven Sr., and Marion Dudics. Steven lived in several different communities while growing up. He always excelled in school and made many friends along the way. The home that had the biggest impression on him was his childhood home on the beach in Hansville, WA. This was where he learned to fish, hunt ducks, dig clams and go crabbing. Many times in the...
Virginia Joy (Sis) McNair received her wings and departed this world on December 6th, 2021. Sis was the middle child and lone daughter (thus the name "Sis") of Charles Happy (Hap) Smith and Virginia Estella (Virgie) McMahon Smith, born a miner's daughter in Wallace, Idaho on September 12, 1933. She was raised in Wallace, Idaho, and also in Belfair, WA. She attended grade school in Burke and Coeur d'Alene, then in Belfair, at the Rock Chalet. High School days were spent in Wallace and she...
