Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
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Respiratory illnesses are surging in Mason County, according to the last Mason County Board of Health meeting of the year Nov. 29. According to Public Health Officer Dr. Keri Gardner, the county is seeing high rates of influenza A, RSV and COVID-19. “Unfortunately, this is coming at a time when for reasons that we don’t really understand, hospital occupancy rates are quite high,” Gardner said during the meeting. “So we’re asking people to continue to practice all of the things we’ve been doing...
On Dec 3, the Mason County Republicans had their biannual reorganizational meeting. In spite of the weather conditions, 27 precinct committee officers and many guests gathered at the meeting. Mason County Prosecutor Michael Dorcy asked the newly elected PCOs to raise their hands as he swore them into office. Sen.-elect Drew MacEwen served as the temporary chairman and led the precinct committee officers in electing the executive board that will serve for the upcoming two-year term. Elected to the executive board were chairman Melissa Upson,...
The City of Shelton has contracted with the Nisqually Correctional Facility on Yelm Highway to provide jail beds for detainees. The Shelton City Council on Tuesday unanimously passed the contract, which calls for the Nisqually Correctional Facility to receive $130 per day per inmate, with no guaranteed beds. Shelton Police Department employees will drive the inmates to the facility. The city has been contracting with the Mason County Sheriff’s Office for jail services, and currently pays for seven guaranteed beds per day. Five of the beds a...
It's autumn on the calendar but winter weather appeared with a week of steady snow and precipitation that knocked out power and forced school cancellations. According to weather.gov, Shelton received 3.21 inches of precipitation from Nov. 29 to Tuesday. Belfair received 2.76 inches of precipitation, according to weather.com. A Facebook post by a Union resident showed 24 inches of snow piled up. Two winter weather advisories were issued last week. The Mason County Sheriff's Office also reported...
Mason County Public Utility District 3 has increased its rates for 2023, which was included in adopting the 2023 budget in a vote on Nov. 22. According to a news release, PUD 3 commissioners adopted a 5% effective energy rate increase for various rate schedules and a monthly “low-income energy assistance surcharge” to comply with state legislation for low-income programs. The residential increase will take effect in April and raise the energy rate from $0.07710 per kilowatt-hour to $0.08160 per...
Establishing a mitigation site for a year where homeless people could erect tents would cost the City of Shelton about $35,000, while employing staff to oversee the encampment at night would cost about $100,000. The Shelton City Council discussed and ranked seven recommendations by its homelessness task force Nov. 22 at a study session at the Shelton Civic Center. “I’m hearing the mitigation site is the number one thing we should be working on,” said City Manager Jeff Niten. “I think a mitigation site is the most important start,” Mayor Eri...
Marty Best, the vice chairman of the Shelton School Board, died Nov. 20. He was 67. The Shelton resident joined the board in 2021 and represented District 2. The board and the district mourned his death at the Nov. 22 meeting in the Mountain View Elementary School cafeteria and honored him with a moment of silence. “Marty did a lot of work in public service, not just the school board,” said Superintendent Wyeth Jessee. Best was the administrative services manager for Grays Harbor Transit and president of Whirlwind Ministries Inc. He had bee...
The North Mason Regional Fire Authority is launching a physician’s assistant program in 2023, hoping to fill a need for medical services in the community. NMRFA Chief Beau Bakken said the authority was looking to start a similar program before COVID hit, but the logistics were too complicated at the time. The pandemic did allow time to plan on how to execute the program. The intention of the program is to fill a gray area in coverage. When NMRFA responds to a call for medical attention, it h...
Washington’s COVID state of emergency ended Oct. 31, but for Mason Health and General, not much has changed. “There’s a big health care exclusion. We have to continue masking … patients, visitors, staff — we all continue to mask,” Chief Nursing Officer Melissa Strong told the Journal. “That is a requirement. We have expanded our visitor hours, we went back to pretty much pre-pandemic visiting hours.” COVID is not over. Kimberly Cooper, program manager for infection prevention and employee health and safety, said Mason County is one of eight co...
After nearly a decade of planning, the Belfair Park & Ride opening was commemorated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony late last month. “It was great to have them there to thank them for their hard work over the last eight to 10 years that this project has been going on,” Mason Transit Authority General Manager Amy Asher told the Journal. “There’s a lot of folks that were there, including our previous general manager and it was good to have everyone there that has been working on it for a long ti...
Mason County Fire District 12 commissioners on Nov. 16 appealed a recall petition filed against them to the state Supreme Court. Mason County Superior Court Judge Monty Cobb ruled all three recall petitions can move forward after a hearing Nov. 3. Kristin Masteller and Amanda Gonzales were the plaintiffs moving the recall petition forward. They are hosting a community meeting at 1 p.m. Nov. 28 at the Matlock Grange to discuss the next steps for the recall petitions. “The community has e...
A single mother of four with little income is hoping you pluck her wish list off the Christmas Giving Tree at T's Café and Espresso in downtown Shelton and make her family's holiday brighter. Her requests and others hang in purple paper from the sparkling tree at the café at 118 S. Third St., one of several Mason County sites where donations are being accepted. This is the third year T's Café has hosted the Giving Tree donation drive. Mason County residents who are low-income, disabled or un...
Port of Hoodsport officials recently contacted the Shelton-Mason County Journal to sum up the work being done at the Hoodsport Trail Park and the Hoodsport Hills Disc Golf Course, both of which are closed to the public. Port Commissioner Lori Kincannon said the removal of diseased, dying and fallen hazardous trees at the Hoodsport parks started in mid-July, and upon assessment of those trees, workers discovered that poria-laminated root rot was widespread and that the Douglas fir bark beetle...
Three Mason County residents were among 12 arrested in Lewis County last weekend as part of “Operation Net Nanny,” a multi-agency operation identifying people allegedly involved in the sexual abuse and exploitation of children. According to a news release, Zachary Case, 21, of Belfair, Wayne A. Rigby, 72, of Shelton and Antonio T. Nolasco, 36, of Shelton, were all taken into custody. The primary crimes being investigated are rape of a child in the first degree, rape of a child in the second deg...
The Shelton City Council on Tuesday passed a $40.5-million budget for 2023. The $40,492,117 budget also has a General Fund appropriation of $15,949,791. The budget must be approved by the end of the year. Last November, the council approved a $41.1 million budget for 2022. The expenditures in the 2023 budget include $15,949,791 for the general fund, $2,066,825 for the street fund, $2,824,585 for the capital improvement fund, $7,030,664 for the sewer fund, $3,505,951 for the water fund, $1,906,410 for the solid waste fund, $1,617,991 for the...
The Port of Hoodsport’s budget hearing last week saw its port commissioners unanimously approve all three budget-related measures, which included a $40,000 transfer of money to the port’s parks and a $5,000-per-year increase in the annual contracted fee for Port of Allyn Executive Director Kathleen Wyatt. Wyatt outlined the specifics of next year’s port budget. Wyatt said the port’s ending balance for 2022 had originally been projected at $95,956, but its true ending balance for 2022, and the...
Almost two years after the crime, Jordan and Jareau Afo each pled guilty to criminal charges Nov. 8 in Mason County Superior Court. The Afos are scheduled for a sentencing hearing Dec. 20. According to court records, Jareau U. Afo, 28, pled guilty to one count of second-degree murder for killing Derrick Wily. Jordan T. Afo, 31, pled guilty to one count of criminal assistance in the first degree and unlawful disposal of human remains. According to a Shelton Police report, Jareau choked Wily to...
Don Wilson has retired after 33 years of service on the Public Hospital District commission of Mason County. According to a news release, Wilson announced his retirement at the November meeting. The Board of Hospital District Commissioners appointed Don Welander to fill Wilson’s seat as commissioner No. 1 and on the finance and facility committees. “It is with gratitude that I announce the retirement of Don Wilson from our public hospital district board,” Public Hospital District No. 1 Superintendent & Mason Health Chief Executive Offic...
The Lewis-Mason-Thurston Area Agency on Aging’s Case Management and Information and Assistance programs connect adults with disabilities with social and health services to help them remain in their homes. Most clients have modest means and health conditions that limit their ability to care for their daily needs. Your donations will help them have a spark of joy and a small wish fulfilled during the holiday season! This year, much like last year, we will be doing things a little differently — we are asking for donations via PayPal or check by...
The Mason County Jail has space for 93 inmate beds and a current target population of 60, but staffing shortages mean only people arrested on felony charges are being booked into the facility in downtown Shelton. The City of Shelton has reserved seven of those inmate beds, but is looking at booking up to 20 beds per month with the Nisqually Tribe for a year, which would be a temporary solution. Mason County and City of Shelton administrators talked about staffing shortages at the county jail...
Recall petitions for Mason County Fire Protection District 12 were allowed to proceed after a motion hearing on Nov. 3 in Mason County Superior Court. Judge Monty Cobb presided over the hearing. Kristin Masteller and Amanda Gonzales, who filed the recall petitions, were in attendance. Fire commissioners John Pais, Albert Wilder and Brian Jutson did not attend the hearing and were represented by attorney Aaron Haynes. About 25 people attended the hearing. "The Matlock community showed up last...
Mason County Fire Marshal Randy Collins said the 2022 fire season was “quieter than most” regarding wildfires within the county. Collins said he thinks most of that has to do with the late spring rains and not having any mega heat waves, like the temperatures reached in 2021. From September 10 to 16, Mason County instituted a recreational burn ban when the National Fire Danger Rating System was elevated to very high fire danger, which caused red flag fire conditions. “With the exception of th...
U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell and U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer say they want the City of Shelton and Mason County to benefit from a new $1 billion federal grant program to help bring businessses to the county. On Friday, Cantwell and Kilmer met with city, county and economic leaders at the Shelton Civic Center for a roundtable discussion on economic development opportunities. They then boarded a bus to tour local development and infrastructure sites, including the Port of Shelton's industrial parks....
Members of the group Multilingual Shelton are asking the Shelton School District to hire an administrator to coordinate the English Learner and Dual Language programs, hire more dual language-certified teachers, and "restore quality and integrity" to Evergreen Elementary School's program. On Oct. 20, about 100 people packed the gym at Evergreen Elementary School in downtown Shelton to hear updates and concerns about the Shelton School District's dual language program. The group Multiligual Shelt...
