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 Shelton City Council on Tuesday evening gave preliminary approval to a budget of almost $46 million for 2025. The budget can pass with a vote at the council’s meeting at 6 p.m. Nov. 19 at the Shelton Civic Center. No one stepped up to the microphone at the public hearing. The proposed budget totals $45,902,596, with a general fund appropriation of $16,789,551. The state requires that the budget be approved by the end of the year. The proposed 2025 budget is $1.9 million higher — a 4.3% increase — than the adopted 2024 general fund budge...
Commissioners continued to make progress on the 2025 county budget, with an estimated Jan. 1 beginning fund balance of $26.5 million, revenues at $43.9 million for a total beginning balance of $70.4 million for maintenance level, according to an Oct. 22 workshop. Department heads put in requests for funds and now it’s up to commissioners to decide what the county can afford. All three commissioners gave thumbs-down to creating new staff positions and nixed advanced requests for overtime. When commissioners see hundreds of thousands of d...
New Horizon Communities and South Sound Solar on Oct. 30 hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony and reception marking the completion of the Shelton Veterans Village solar project in Shelton. "It takes a special dedication to come out in the rain," said Dave Redman, the program supervisor at the Shelton Veterans Village. Construction of the solar array on Shelton Veterans Village's 30 tiny homes and community center was completed in September. The Shelton Veterans Village has 156 solar panels, 102 of...
For the special Homecoming edition on Oct. 22, 1951, reporters from the Shelton High School newspaper, "The Saghalie," interviewed several SHS "students of yesteryear." This story is from those interviews. Mrs. Horace Crary (Geneva Sargison) was in the second class to graduate from Shelton High School, in 1911. The 50 high school students occupied the upper floor of the newly built Lincoln School and "were principally interested in education, since activities were few." Team sports offered...
The Veterans of Foreign Wars #1694 and its auxiliary host a breakfast and Veterans Day ceremony Monday morning at Memorial Hall, 210 W. Franklin St., downtown Shelton. The doors open at 9:30 a.m., and breakfast is served at 11 a.m. Members of the Shelton NJROTC will participate in the ceremony. The microphone will be passed around so veterans can share their stories....
Local author signs books at library Shelton author Mary May reads from her book “Sheltered by Hope: My Journey out of Homelessness” and also signs copies from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday at the Shelton Timberland Library, 710 W. Alder St. Operation Christmas Child donations Operation Christmas Child, a project of the nonprofit Samaritan’s Purse, seeks donations of shoeboxes filled with gifts for children. In 2023, almost 11.3 million shoebox gifts were collected worldwide, more than 10 million from the United States. The shoebox gifts can b...
Monday's blustery weather met power lines in a head-to-head match. Numerous outages occurred throughout the day, but most customers in PUD1 had power back by the afternoon, according to General Manager Kristin Masteller. "These were all small tree and limb related outages due to the high winds today. All relatively quick fixes," she told the Journal in an email. Crews made repairs from Brinnon to Union, she said, logging driving hours between Bee Mill, Finch Creek, Galloway/Point Whitney and...
Mason County Public Health is monitoring a Halloween “trick” that could potentially sicken children with salmonella. The Panhandle Lake 4-H Camp Kids Haunted Halloween event Oct. 26 provided candy treats, but an individual at one cabin also gave away real chicken feet as a trick, according to MCPH. Many participants thought the chicken feet were rubber “so extensive handling by some of the recipients did take place,” MCPH said in a statement. No illnesses have been reported as of Oct. 28, according to the county. “The chicken feet were purc...
The Shelton-Mason County Chamber of Commerce and Shelton Downtown Merchants Association put on its annual Halloween Spooktacular trick-or-treat event on West Railroad Avenue in Shelton on Oct. 31. The event was well attended despite rain showers and featured more than 60 local businesses and nonprofits....
The body of 24-year-old Haley Benjamin, of Elma, was recovered Oct. 29 by Thurston County Sheriff's Office Dive Rescue Team. Benjamin fell through a decommissioned train trestle near Kelley Road in the Schafer Grade area near Matlock while hunting Oct. 25. A police drone located Benjamin, who was deceased, but the steep terrain was inaccessible that night and by the next morning, her body had been swept away by the rising river. "Over the last four days several agencies assisted in the search...
Randy Neatherlin seems set to serve a fourth term on the Mason County Commission. Neatherlin, an independent, received 15,338 votes for 55.11% on the first ballot count in the general election Tuesday while William Harris, a Republican, received 12,329 for 44.30% in their bid to represent District 1 for four years on the three-member commission. In an interview Tuesday evening with the Journal, Neatherlin said he thought he was going to lose the race. He said his hours on his commission job kept him from campaigning by doorbelling, and he noted...
In the initial general election ballot count on Tuesday evening, Republican Pat Tarzwell was leading Tom Beben, who states no party preference, in their contest for a four-year term representing District 2 on the Mason County Commission. In the first ballot count released at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Tarzwell had 14,320 votes for 53.31% and Beben 12,963 votes for 47.36%. Tarzwell ran a small manufacturing business for 33 years. Beben owns the High Steel Beer Co. “It’s not over yet, but it looks pretty darn good,” Tarzwell told the Journal on Wedne...
State Sen. Drew MacEwen, R-Shelton, will return to Olympia holding his current office, falling short to Democratic challenger State Sen. Emily Randall in the 6th Congressional District race. Tuesday’s initial count across the entire district showed Randall with 167,826 at 57.3% and MacEwen with 124,717 at 42.58%. In Mason County, MacEwen captured 55.32% of the vote to Randall’s 44.52%. The 6th District encompasses most of Tacoma and all of the Kitsap and Olympic peninsulas from the Mason-Thurston county border north. “It’s not the result...
A steady downpour didn't prevent adults and kids from enjoying the Trunk or Treat event on Halloween at Hood Canal Market Fresh. Offerings included a bouncy house, a deejay, a costume contest and refreshments....
Madison McClanahan, a 2024 graduate of Shelton High School, was crowned 2025 Miss Teen Rodeo Washington. McClanahan, an 18-year-old freshman at the University of Idaho, earned the title at the annual competition Oct. 11 and 12 in Ellensburg. On the first day, she competed in the horsemanship competition at the Kittitas County Fairground and the public speaking and media interview in the theater in the Central Washington University student union building. The next day, McClanahan visited...
Mason County Auditor Steve Duenkel wants the community to know its election ballots are safe. Fires set in ballot drop boxes in Vancouver, Washington, and nearby Portland early Monday morning prompted Gov. Jay Inslee to issue a statement later in the day saying there will be 24-hour enhanced security around ballot drop-off locations in Washington. “Mason County Ballot Drop Boxes have multiple layers of security,” Duenkel told the Journal in an email Tuesday. “All drop boxes have internal fire suppression devices. All have internal GPS monit...
An Elma woman hunting Friday in the Matlock area fell through an old train trestle, plunging 100 to 150 feet and dying on impact with the riverbank, according to the Grays Harbor Sheriff’s Office. An Aberdeen Police Department officer used a drone in steep terrain to locate the victim, 24-year-old Haley Benjamin, and determined she was dead. She fell from a decommissioned train trestle near Kelley Road in the Schafer Grade area, according to the Mason County Sheriff’s Office. Fire 12 in Matlock got the original call, Chief Mike Brown told the...
The Youth Connection has submitted building permits to the City of Shelton to remodel its two-story building at 2nd and Cota streets that will include 12 apartments upstairs for homeless youths ages 18-24. The almost $7 million project is projected to be completed by the end of 2025, with an opening in January 2026. If the building permits are approved, Youth Connection will then put the project out for constriction bids, said Susan Kirchoff, executive director of the nonprofit organization. The upper floor of the building is now mostly empty....
The Mason County Planning Advisory Commission staff presented another draft for short-term rental regulations, including a permit requirement and mandatory management plan that includes rules of conduct for guests, according to a public hearing Oct. 21. Mason County commissioners directed the PAC to come up with rules for short-term rentals to address residents’ concerns about overuse of septic systems, beach trespassing and harvesting, and noise complaints, according to the county. The PAC solicited public comments and hosted several workshops...
A Union woman was arrested Oct. 18 on 15 counts of animal cruelty after deputies performed a welfare check and discovered numerous animals, including dogs, cats, sheep, goats and horses living in deplorable conditions, according to a Mason County Sheriff’s Office probable cause document. Jenny King, 63, said the animals belonged to her and “stated nothing was wrong with her dogs and failed to acknowledge the animals’ condition,” MCSO Detective Drogmund wrote in the document. King was allegedly caring for homeowner Brian Cook. Cook’s friend ca...
Olympic Highway North, last repaired in the 1990s, is "shattered," says City of Shelton Public Works Director Jay Harris. At an Oct. 22 study session devoted to city's pavement preservation program, Harris told the Shelton City Council, "You can tell about every 20 feet you hit a crack, another crack, another crack, every 20 feet or so you go ka-thump, ka-thump, ka-thump, when you're going down the road, there's what's called the old market road is laying under there." He added, "We can't let...
Journal reader Tammy Reeves submitted these photos of her Agate area yard....
Allyn church hosts Holiday Bazaar St. Hugh Episcopal Church hosts its Holiday Bazaar from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at 280 E. Wheelwright in Allyn. The offerings include colorful driftwood, seashell art, seasonal arrangements, soup mixes, handmade items and baked goods. The silent auction items include a Trader Joe's Italian dinner basket, a Seattle sports basket, an Ali'i Hawaiian ukulele. Coffee, cider and freshly baked scones will be available. Last year's proceeds from the sale, and the...
Mason Health hosted its popular Trunk or Treat Halloween event on Friday in the parking lot of Mason General Hospital....
