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 shopping cart ordinances designed to help prevent their theft and abandonment on streets, in the woods and in ravines. The council can make the new laws official with a vote at its Sept. 17 meeting. The laws would go in effect Jan. 1. An estimated 300 shopping carts are stolen from Shelton stores each year. No one spoke Tuesday at the public hearing on the proposal. The proposed requirements would not apply to any business...
About 200 people Friday participated in the ninth annual Mason County Overdose Awareness Walk & Resource Fair that began with a resource fair and speakers at Kneeland Park. The attendees, many carrying photos of loved ones lost to overdose, then marched through downtown Shelton. The Belfair Overdose Awareness Walk & Resource Fair was staged the next day. The events honored the memory of lives lost to overdose and provide hope to people who are struggling....
The Mason County Economic Development Council announces the Port of Shelton has been awarded a $200,000 Industrial Site Readiness Grant by the state Department of Commerce. The grant will fund wastewater engineering studies for the Port of Shelton’s development of Johns Prairie Industrial Park, a 400-acre industrial site northeast of the City of Shelton within the Shelton Urban Growth Area. “Expanding the sewer system at this business park represents more than mere infrastructure development; it symbolizes a catalyst for revitalization. By mov...
Fire District 12 commissioners appointed Nick Jones, who was the only elected member of the previous board, for the position 3 vacancy at the Aug. 28 regular meeting. Commissioner Dave Persell resigned at the Aug. 14 meeting. In May, Fire 12 lost its insurance coverage due to mismanagement, was declared a disaster area by the county and saw commissioners Kelli Walsworth and Cinda Compton, who were appointed by the previously recalled board in 2023, resign along with Jones. “We received a total whopping number of one application for this open p...
Two people suffered injuries in a propane explosion Aug. 22 at the Alderbrook Resort & Spa maintenance building. One person was critically injured and airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle and the other person was treated and released by Mason General Hospital, Union Fire Chief Clint Volk told the Journal. “A very large underground propane tank” ignited by static possibly caused the explosion, though that is not confirmed, according to Volk. “The investigation is ongoing for the cause,” Volk said. Union Fire, along with Central...
North Mason School District Superintendent Dana Rosenbach announced her retirement at Monday's board meeting. She will work throughout this school year and retire June 30.. "This will be my eleventh year at North Mason. This will be my last year," she said at the meeting. "I am looking forward to taking on new opportunities and I think it's a wonderful opportunity for the district as well to have new leadership," Rosenbach said. Board Member Erik Youngberg thanked Rosenbach for serving the distr...
A packed City Council meeting Aug. 6 might not have been a spontaneous uprising of downtown business owners fed up with crime and the homeless. A flyer posted on social media seemed to suggest the city was hosting a forum on the topic. “A City in CRISIS!” the flyer said. “If you would like to see positive change in our amazing city? Please attend the City of Shelton Council meeting held at City Hall Civic Center on Tuesday August 6, 2024 at 6:00pm,” the flyer reads. It then lists a Zoom meeting ID and password and states “For questions...
Sharon Johnston remembers playing in the field at her grandparents' Peste Farm in Shelton before the U.S. government in 1941 exercised eminent domain and acquired the property for use by the U.S. Navy, which planned to build a Naval Air Station on the property and adjoining land. Now 86, Johnston on Aug. 19 stood on the property for the dedication of a plaque and two benches that celebrates it as the former site of the G. Peste Farm, established in 1909. In February 2023, the Port of Shelton...
The City of Shelton is working to improve pedestrian and vehicular safety at some of the city's most dangerous crossings. At its Aug. 20 meeting, the Shelton City Council gave preliminary approval to accepting a federal grant of almost $1.3 million for the design and construction of four Systemic Pedestrian Improvement Projects. The council can make the move official at its meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Shelton Civic Center. If passed, the grant will be used at four intersections. At the...
The railroad tracks from the former Simpson Lumber Co.'s yard in Dayton and its mill on the Shelton waterfront used to rumble with activity. Simpson is gone and the rails are no longer used, except by the Vance Creek Railriders in the woods west of Shelton. Blackberry bushes, shrubs and small trees are sprouting through the tracks. At its Aug. 20 regular meeting, the Shelton City Council gave preliminary approval to accepting a $679,000 grant to remove the rails from three crossings. The...
Three new Washington State Patrol Troopers in Shelton are part of the first lateral program that allows certified law enforcement officers to sign on with WSP after shortened training. Troopers Noah Cameron, Levi Gundacker and Daniel Osborn graduated with six other troopers in May. “We need more great people to join our agency who’ll help us continue to meet the needs of Washingtonians. The bottom line is we have to think outside the historical box and still maintain the high standards for which our agency is known. Each of these nine has alr...
Fire District 12 Commissioner Dave Persell resigned at the Aug. 14 meeting, so the board could appoint a “more qualified individual. Perhaps one that the voters of this district already voted onto this board,” he said, seeming to suggest Nick Jones, who was the only elected member of the previous commission. Mason County commissioners appointed Trina Young and Persell to Fire 12 positions 1 and 3 respectively, on May 24. Persell said previous commissioners agreed “not to apply for any of these vacated seats until all three seats have been...
An estimated 300 shopping carts are stolen from Shelton stores each year, and the city is considering adopting laws governing them. The members of the Shelton City Council and city staff have devoted two work sessions, on June 11 and Aug. 13, to talking about adopting shopping cart ordinances designed to help prevent their theft. At the Aug. 13 session, they discussed a proposed ordinance to introduce at the council’s regular meeting Sept. 3. Mayor Eric Onisko said he hand-delivered copies of the proposed shopping cart ordinances to the m...
The Shorelines Hearings Board meets next week to review appeals on the Taylor Shellfish proposed floating oyster bag farm in Oakland Bay. A Mason County hearing examiner ruled Nov. 21, approving the project with certain restrictions. Friends of Oakland Bay filed a petition for review challenging approval of the project, which will take up 9.1 overwater acres with a 50-acre project boundary for floating aquaculture gear. The group claims the farm is inconsistent with public access policies, doesn’t comply with views and aesthetics policies a...
Aug. 30 used to be a depressing date for Shelton resident Jamie Ellertsen. That's the birthday of her brother, who overdosed on drugs and died at age 21. Then Ellertsen, who overcame her own drug addictions, discovered eight years ago that Aug. 31 was International Overdose Awareness Day. She messaged Abe Gardner, another recovered addict, about staging an event in Shelton. "I didn't think anyone would show up," Ellertsen said in an interview with the Journal. About 25 to 30 people did show up a...
Council OKs license plate cameras at city entrances The Shelton City Council on Tuesday evening gave final approval to contracting with Flock Safety to install 12 cameras at city entrances that read vehicle license plates and within 20 seconds alert Shelton Police of stolen plates or cars, missing persons or abducted children. The council gave the measure preliminary approval at its Aug. 6 meeting. A two-year subscription to Flock Safety will cost the city $40,800 the first year, $36,000 the second. The first year’s cost includes startup f...
Judge protects some evidence in North Mason school suit A judge has ruled video recordings of a bus ride and a police interview of a kindergartner allegedly abused on the bus by another student are confidential and exempt from public disclosure. Mason County Superior Court Judge Monty Cobb granted a protective order Aug. 6 in the suit filed by parents of a 5-year-old kindergartner against North Mason School District after video footage showed the child being “sexually and physically abused” by a fifth grade student during a bus ride home, acc...
United Way of Mason County dissolves United Way of Mason County announced Aug. 14 it will dissolve. “With a heavy heart, United Way of Mason County announces its dissolution. After many years of dedicated service to the community, the organization will cease operations and quit taking pledges effective immediately,” Board of Directors Chair Dani Cook said in a statement. When Executive Director Ted Jackson resigned June 6, Cook told the Journal United Way was “taking time to evaluate the program,” and would not be immediately seeking a new exe...
Union Fire Department firefighters battle a blaze Friday in the 200 block of Alderney Road in Union....
Arriving at work one Monday morning, Kathleen Blanchette found remnants of a fire at the front door of Forest Funeral Home on West Railroad Avenue in downtown Shelton. "I have installed outdoor cameras at my business at the advice of the police," Blanchette told the Shelton City Council at its Aug. 6 meeting. "I have also put in extra lighting, but I still have human feces, both front and back at different times, in the built-in planters out front. There has been soiled men's underwear, there...
Mason County Strike Team firefighters are back home for now after spending two weeks deployed at the Big Horn Fire in Klickitat County and the Retreat Fire in Yakima County. "It's been two weeks and we come home tonight," West Mason Chief Matthew Welander said. Welander spoke with the Journal from the Retreat Fire on Aug. 6 as the team was being demobilized. Firefighters split their time between the two fires, spending about seven days at each fire, Welander said. The Big Horn Fire is no longer...
The success of the inaugural Shelton Art Walk on July 27 might help the city secure state money to establish a Downtown Shelton Creative District. The event hosted by the City of Shelton, the Creative District Committee and the Shelton Downtown Merchants featured more than 80 local vendors and artists on West Cota Street. About 20 businesses exhibited works by artists. The city spruced up the street by painting new angle-in parking spaces and adding streetlights and 18-inch planter boxes with tr...
The Shelton City Council on Tuesday evening gave preliminary approval to installing 12 cameras at city entrances that read vehicle license plates and within 20 seconds alert Shelton Police of stolen plates or cars, missing persons or abducted children. The council can make the move official with a vote at its Aug. 20 meeting. At a June 25 study session, the council heard presentations on the system by Flock Safety that is used in 61 communities in the state, including Olympia, Kent, Marysville, Omak, Centralia and Aberdeen. At that work session...
