Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
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A four-car, chain-reaction accident sent two people to hospitals and partially blocked U.S. 101 near Shelton for almost four hours Tuesday night. According to a Washington State Patrol news release, a 65-year-old Shelton man was southbound in a 2017 Kia Soul just north of the Shelton-Matlock exit. His car crossed the centerline and struck a 68-year-old Shelton man’s vehicle and a 42-year-old Shelton man’s 2019 Kia Soul. The 2019 Kia then hit a Nissan Sentra driven by a 59-year-old Shelton man...
The HUB (Hospitality, Unity, Belonging) Center for Seniors is reviving its runway show next year. Beth Gizzi, executive director of the HUB, said the center has had a fashion show “on and off” since 2007, but COVID prompted an extended break. Gizzi said the show in May will be the HUB’s first wearable art fashion show, and possibly the first of its kind for the area as well. “We started a ‘found’ fashion show — items that are found in a thrift shop, like our own HUB shop — to showcase what g...
The Shelton City Council on Tuesday gave preliminary approval to a $40.2 million budget for 2023. The council will host a second public hearing on the proposed budget at its meeting at 6 p.m. Nov. 1. The budget must be approved by the end of the year. Last November, the council approved a $41.1 million budget for 2022. The proposed expenditures in the 2023 budget include $15,011,415 for the general fund, $2,068.316 for the street fund, $2,824,585 for the capital improvement fund, $7,035,937 for the sewer fund, $3,510,407 for the water fund,...
Mason County Fire District 12 in Matlock has begun the process of an internal investigation to look into the allegations raised in the state Auditor’s Office fraud investigation and accountability audit reports. The reports were released Sept. 20 at the fire commissioner’s regular monthly meeting, with state Auditor Pat McCarthy attending over Zoom, where she raised concern for what the audit found. Brian Snure, lawyer for Fire District 12, told the Journal the investigation process is pro...
Mason County Fire District 12 in Matlock says it is conducting an internal investigation into the allegations of fraud and misappropriation of public money by the state Auditor’s Office. The accountability audit and the fraud investigation reports were released Sept. 20 at the fire commissioners’ regular monthly meeting. The fraud investigation report alleges the district misappropriated almost $70,000, and had $95,000 in questionable spending. Mason County Sheriff’s Office Chief Criminal Deput...
Children who are victims of or have witnessed domestic violence have more space to play, learn social-emotional skills, and connect with their peers at the Turning Pointe Survivor Advocacy Center shelter in Shelton. On Friday, the nonprofit organization celebrated the completion of a 400-square-foot addition to accommodate its growing youth programs with a ribbon-cutting ceremony with employees, board members, donors and public officials. The two new offices will be the focal point for youth...
Mason County Fire District 12 officials misappropriated public money and broke state laws, according to an accountability audit and fraud investigation report by the state Auditor’s Office released Tuesday. According to the fraud investigation report, the district misappropriated almost $70,000 in public money and $95,000 in unsupported expenses. State Auditor Pat McCarthy, along with other members of the state Auditor’s Office, attended the district’s regular monthly commissioners meeti...
The Shelton Centennial Lions Club will break ground for its basketball and pickleball courts at 11 a.m. Monday in the Shelton Civic Center parking lot. Work is scheduled to begin the next day, and the project is expected to take 40 days, said Kathy McDowell, a member of the group and a Shelton City Council member. "It's been a long process," she said. Such a facility was recommended in the city's Downtown Visioning Plan in 2015. "The court was in those plans, somewhere in town," McDowell said....
The Shelton High School swimming pool reopened Monday to students after cracks in the plaster walls were repaired. The state Department of Health on Friday certified the pool's safety said Jeff Slakey, the Shelton School District's interim communications specialist. The pool reopened in time for the girls swim team to host a meet Tuesday. When the water was drained from the pool this summer, district employees noticed cracks in the plaster on the walls of the pool, Slakey said. The contractor...
The Port of Hoodsport has readjusted its timeline to remove debris and dead and decaying trees from its parks. During the port’s Sept. 7 meeting, port commissioner Terry Brazil said Forest McCullough of Northwest Land & Tree had “really been going to town” on cutting the park’s timber. Brazil said McCullough was fortunate to get help from port maintenance man Scott Lindgren on the project, “because he hasn’t got a lot of other help.” Brazil said McCullough has been shipping “a lot of rotten t...
The person believed to have caused the three-car accident that claimed the lives of Rita L. Lyman of Shelton and Duane M. Wharton of Olympia last Wednesday on U.S. Highway 101 near Shelton said he recalls drifting toward the centerline and hearing his wife scream, according to incident reports. According to a Washington State Patrol news release, Wharton, 58, was driving the dump truck and Lyman, 66, was driving the Toyota 4Runner that the truck crushed. The Mazda driver, Mitchell Larsen, 66,...
Workers broke ground last week for the Shelton Veterans Village, designed to house 30 homeless Mason County veterans on North 13th Street near Olympic College Shelton. The village, which will be operated by the nonprofit organization Quixote Communities, is expected to open next summer. Quixote Communities also has tiny home villages in Olympia and Orting. All three communities will benefit from the Tiny Homes Big Future fundraiser from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Saturday at the Hands On Children's Museu...
Shelton City Manager Jeff Niten said some residents are misinformed about the city's new rules on homeless encampments as well as believing the problems caused by some downtown street people are not being addressed. "There is a concern the city is doing nothing," Niten said at the Shelton City Council's meeting on Sept. 6. On the contrary, the city manager said, the changes passed by the council on Aug. 2 are amendments to a 1995 ordinance that "strengthens the criteria" for allowing a homeless...
Teresa Sanders is no stranger to The Pavilion in Shelton. During the 2000s, her three children attended high school prom in the building down the road from Gillis Auto. For four years, Sanders dropped customers off at the building when she was driving for the Patty Wagon. Both parents were members of the center operated by the Mason County Senior Activities Association until her stepmother died. At the nonprofit's annual membership meeting two weeks ago, Sanders was introduced as the new activit...
Two people died and at least one other person was seriously injured in a three-vehicle wreck early Wednesday morning on U.S. Highway 101 near the Shelton Matlock Road interchange. According to Washington State Patrol spokesperson Katherine Weatherwax, around 7:30 a.m. a southbound Mazda pickup truck crossed the centerline and struck a northbound dump truck loaded with gravel, knocking the dump truck into a southbound Toyota 4Runner. The drivers of the dump truck and the 4Runner were killed....
The City of Shelton’s proposed capital improvement plan for 2023 calls for upgrading well No. 1, replacing downtown trees that are cracking sidewalks and removing two railroad crossings. Jay Harris, the city’s Public Works director, gave a presentation on the proposed projects Tuesday at the Shelton City Council meeting. The proposed plan includes $1 million to replace a 16- to 24-inch steel pipe from the city’s well No. 1 to the high school tank, replacing the pump, and improving the chlorine disinfection system and backup power gener...
The Mason Conservation District updated the public on federal regulations and the Skokomish Valley Road project at its Aug. 30 meeting at the Skokomish Community Church. Senior Conservation Manager Keith Underwood led the meeting and talked to the 20 people in attendance. He said the Federal Emergency Management Act states that if a rise is created for the 100-year flood event by making changes in the floodway, as some of the projects Mason Conservation District might do, the public must be...
Shelton City Council member Deidre Peterson will be the new president and CEO of the Shelton-Mason County Chamber of Commerce. Peterson, a Shelton native who was elected to the council in April 2018, is the chamber's vice president of business development. She will replace Heidi McCutcheon, who is leaving the organization after 14 years for a new job at the Thurston County Economic Development Council and Center for Business & Innovation. Peterson is a fourth-generation Mason County resident....
One person had a confirmed case of Monkeypox in Mason County, but a county official said it’s unlikely that “a lot of” cases will occur. According to Mason County Public Health Nurse Audrey O’Connor, there was one case and one contact from the case who has been treated. There were 650 cases in the state as of Sept. 2, with most of those cases in either King, Pierce or Clark counties. O’Connor said case rates have declined steeply in the past two weeks in urban areas such as New York City and Chi...
Shelton-Mason County Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Heidi McCutcheon is leaving for new employment after being with the chamber for 14 years. According to a Tuesday news release, McCutcheon was the president and CEO for 12 of her 14 years. She's taken a new job at the Thurston County Economic Development Council and Center for Business & Innovation. During her time at the chamber, she helped coordinate the Shelton Downtown Visioning Plan, produced the Business Matters publication,...
Downtown Hoodsport business co-owner Katherine Yackel and the Port of Hoodsport appear to have settled their concerns about the community at the port’s Aug. 17 meeting. Yackel, instructor and operations manager of YSS Dive in Hoodsport, acknowledged using the port’s park without an event form April 30. She said she’d been unaware of such event forms beforehand. “I do apologize for that,” Yackel said. “We did instruct our divers to use the parking lot where we had our tents. We did have one te...
