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 moves on tourism grants The Shelton City Council on Tuesday evening gave preliminary approval to awarding $97,000 in tourism grant requests to local organizations for 2025. The grant awards can be finalized with a vote at the council's meeting at 6 p.m. Nov. 5 at the Shelton Civic Center. The money comes from taxes collected from motels in the city. The city's Local Lodging Tax Advisory Committee met Sept. 18 to review the tourism grant applications, with local groups requesting...
The Shelton-Mason County Journal won 33 awards, including nine first-place prizes, at the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association’s 2024 Better Newspaper Contest. Staff members received their awards at the 137th annual convention Oct. 5 at the Indian Summer Golf & Country Club in Olympia. The entries were judged by members of the Arizona Media Association. Fifty Washington newspapers sent entries. “Over the last four years, our paper has received more than 100 awards from WNPA,” Journal Publisher John Lester wrote in a statement. “Our reade...
Port of Allyn commissioners approved the 2025 budget at their Oct. 7 meeting, laying the groundwork for a better year. “2024 was just a year of surviving,” Erin Civilla, the port’s accountant, said, adding 2025 “is going to be good.” Executive Director Lary Coppola died Sept. 30, 2023, a few weeks after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. LeAnn Dennis replaced Coppola and died suddenly on Christmas Day in 2023. Travis Merrill, now the port’s executive director, quickly took over administrative duties. Over the next months, Merrill att...
OysterFest 2024 wrapped up Sunday after a weekend of food, music and shucking contests. 460 RV campers stayed onsite, a record for the 42nd festival, and almost 10,000 people paid admission. An additional 1,000 volunteers and vendors attended, Volunteer Chair/Public Image Chair Laurie Brown told the Journal. Ticket sales showed many visitors were from out of state and throughout Washington, Brown said. Jerry Obendorf, who served as the Grand Old Oyster, said the event was a great success and...
William Williams, who testified in his own defense Oct. 2, said he didn’t go to 710 Cedar in downtown Shelton to shoot Janus Afo. “I had no reason to shoot Janus,” Williams said. “He believed I owed him money because of my girlfriend.” Williams told the jury Afo was a “collector” and an “enforcer” and was trying to collect a debt Kennedy Karpf allegedly owed to Afo’s friend. Williams described what happened in the early hours of Sept. 28, 2023, before he shot and killed Afo. Santana Krise, Afo’s girlfriend who was also there the night of th...
Washington State Patrol Trooper Shaeffer Subcleff started his evening shift Sept. 27 by explaining to the civilian passenger how to use a patrol radio. "In case a suspect tries to fight me or I need help," he said. "Just press down the button and tell dispatch." Subcleff opened the trunk of his WSP vehicle and pointed out the first aid kit, road flares, latex gloves, blood sample vials, fire extinguisher, traffic cones and other equipment inside the multidrawer toolbox. After checking his...
Members of more than 30 indigenous tribes reside in the Shelton School District, including the Squaxin Island and Skokomish tribes. Attendees can get a taste of some of their culture and cuisine while enjoying indigenous dancing, storytelling and a traditional meal at the Shelton School District's Indian Education Parent Advisory Committee's Fall Indigenous Vividness Showcase Benefit Dinner and Auction starting at 5 p.m. Saturday at the Shelton Civic Center, 525 W. Cota St. Tickets are $50. All...
For perhaps the first time in district history, the middle school students at Hood Canal topped the state average in four of five learning subjects. In the state Smarter Balanced Assessment results released recently, the district's seventh and eighth grade students from last school year scored above the state average (in competency) in seventh grade English/language arts with 53.6%, eighth-grade English/language arts at 48%, seventh grade math at 39.3% and eighth grade science at 41.4%. Eighth...
In accordance with WAC 458-12-360 & RCW 84.40.045, the Mason County assessor announces the countywide mailing of our annual Notice of Value on or before Oct. 14. These notices represent value as of Jan. 1, 2024, for taxes payable in 2025, which was based upon 2023 and prior sales data. In accordance with state law, properties must be assessed at 100% of market value; this is based upon sales data of similar homes within your area. Mason County is divided into six geographic areas for...
On the occasion of his 80th birthday in April 1938, William "Billy" Sargison was interviewed for a front-page article in the Journal. "Hale, hearty, and active," Bill referred to the diary he had kept for half a century to refresh his memory. Bill was born in LaGrande, Maine, on April 6, 1858. Twenty-six years later, he set out with his friends Frank Hathen and George Weymouth to cross the country in "poky, smoky rattletrap trains" that took a full two weeks to transport them to the West Coast,...
The Karen Hilburn Cancer Fund donated $59,545 to purchase a new server for the mammography unit at Mason General Hospital in Shelton. Members of the group presented a ceremonial check Thursday at the hospital. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Established in 2004, the mission of the Karen Hilburn Cancer Fund is to help Mason County residents with medical expenses for breast and cervical cancer who are uninsured or underinsured. In an addition to breast and cervical cancer, the...
Port of Hoodsport commissioners sponsored an appreciation event for state legislators, friends of the pier and community members Friday to celebrate receiving funding for the Hoodsport's dock and pier emergency repairs. The port could not have made repairs without the state funds, Commissioner Cody Morris said at the event. "The award of $40,000 covered most of the immediate repairs," he said. The dock and pier were closed to the public at the end of October due to "significant safety...
When North Mason School District Superintendent Dana Rosenbach announced her retirement in August, the board began preparing for her replacement. Rosenbach will work throughout the school year and retire June 30. At a special meeting Monday, the board interviewed four search firms and will choose one at the regular Oct. 28 meeting to lead the hunt for Rosenbach’s successor. Ray & Associates, Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates, McPherson & Jacobson LLC and Northwest Leadership Associates submitted proposals for the board to review. “We have bee...
Firefighters discovered Mistelle Huskey, 49, dead after a residential fire Saturday in the Mountain View neighborhood, according to officials. A neighbor who called in the 6:02 a.m. fire at Washington and East K streets, told dispatch someone lived in the home. Within four minutes, Central Mason Fire & EMS were there with mutual aid resources and crews quickly determined the house was occupied, Central Mason Chief Jeff Snyder told the Journal. "It was a small house with heavy, heavy smoke...
The City of Shelton’s water customer meters are more than 20 years old and have “reached the end of their useful life,” the city states. The city is close to falling out of compliance with the state Department of Health’s regulatory requirements to ensure accurate customer billing for water use and sewage discharge. On Tuesday evening, the Shelton City Council gave preliminary approval to awarding a contract to install already-purchased new meter boxes, lids and transmitters to replace every water meter in the city. With the new system,...
Six salmon and trout recovery projects in Mason County this week received almost $3 million in state grants. The Washington State Salmon Recovery Board on Monday announced the award of $50.3 million in grants for 145 projects throughout the state to improve habitat for salmon and steelhead and bull trout. About half ($21.6 million) was funded through the Climate Commitment Act and targeted restoration of shorelines and riverbanks, known as riparian areas, which are essential to salmon, the...
Championship oyster shucking, country and rock bands, children's activities and a tsunami of wine, beer and food offerings are among the draws at the annual OysterFest event from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at the Port of Shelton's Sanderson Field, one-half mile north of Shelton just west of U.S. Highway 101. The 33 vendors include civic groups, clubs, churches, Scout troops and lodges. Eighteen wineries offer their wares in the Salish Sea Wine Pavilion, with 19 kinds...
Twenty-three names of Shelton youths who died while in grades six through 12 will be recognized at a rededication ceremony from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Oct. 18 at the student memorial at the City of Shelton's Huff'n'Puff Trail across the street from Shelton High School. The ceremony will also note the installation of two granite benches. The event will be presented rain or shine. Parking is limited at the Huff'n'Puff trailhead and attendees are invited to park nearby at the Shelton YMCA....
Hoodsport dock celebration Port of Hoodsport commissioners host a celebration for the dock and pier at 1 p.m. Friday. Commissioners Lori Kincannon, Cody Morris, Terry Braziland and state legislators will attend and refreshments at Potlatch Brewing Co. will follow the event. “Thanks to your ongoing support and signatures on the Capital Funding Letter of Support urging our state Legislature to invest in this community asset, the Port received funding to make emergency repairs and reopen the dock for use,” the port wrote in a news release. Ham...
Dean Jewett, who owns Radio Fryer with his wife, Jackie, told Mason County commissioners illegal homeless camping is increasing in Shelton's woods. "I want to talk about the railroad camps," Jewett said at the Sept. 24 regular commission meeting. The camps sprawl on either side of the tracks that wind by Sierra Pacific Industries' lumber mill up behind the Shelton Yacht Club and beyond. Jewett said the county manager told him a 5-gallon bucket of human feces can contaminate 13 acres of...
A gaggle of Canada geese watch the sun rise Monday at Potlatch State Park....
In an effort to further our role as a community voice and teacher, the Shelton-Mason County Journal is partnering with Tom Hallman Jr., a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author who writes for The Oregonian in Portland, with a series of community voice stories that will occasionally appear in the Journal. Our first few stories will be from Hallman’s students, but it it’s our hope that as your read these stories, it will inspire our readers to write about their own life and submit those stories to the paper that we might print them and give...
A derelict vessel has been at the Port of Allyn and the owner owes $816 in moorage fees as of Sept. 20, according to Executive Director Travis Merrill's report presented at a special meeting Sept. 25. Since then, the owner has made "small payments," but has not paid off the debt, Merrill told the Herald. Vessel WN 1504 SA has phone numbers and email addresses "clearly listed on the vessel," Merrill wrote in his report, so the port was able to make contact. Merrill said he left messages throughou...
If freshmen start the school year with good grades and regular attendance, success will follow, North Mason High School Assistant Principal Steve Hackett said at the Sept. 23 monthly board meeting. “We all know the data for freshmen. It’s the biggest year. If that year can be successful, the rest of their high school — everything is set up really well,” Hackett said. North Mason wants to “get kids on the right track early,” he said. Last September, 24% of freshmen were failing one class. By June, the number dropped to 14%, according t...
