Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
Sorted by date Results 301 - 325 of 987
Northwestern Mason County received a small jolt early Christmas Eve. A light earthquake registering 4.1 on the Richter scale struck at 7:15 a.m. Dec. 24. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the earthquake’s epicenter was 3.8 miles west of Quilcene at a depth of 31 miles. It was the second 4.0 or greater quake to hit the Olympic Peninsula this year after a 4.3 quake was felt in Port Townsend on Oct. 9. No damage was reported....
The Mason County Historical Society received a $3,000 grant from the Washington Trust to help restore the windows on its museum at 427 West Railroad Ave., formerly the home of Shelton City Hall and the Shelton Library. The windows are the originals from the building's construction in 1914. The Valerie Sivinksi Grant is a start, with more money and perhaps volunteer help needed to finish the project, Executive Director Liz Arbaugh said in an interview with the Journal. "They're in pretty bad...
Jacob Rivera, 44, will be arraigned Jan. 2 in Mason County Superior Court on charges of first-degree arson in connection with an explosion and house fire in Hoodsport on Dec. 13 and attempting to elude police Dec. 11. Witnesses identified Rivera leaving the scene of the fire, which started at 6:23 a.m., according to the Mason County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies were called to the home in the 200 block of North Mount Washington Drive in Hoodsport by the fire marshal. Deputy J. Cozad said he viewed a neighbor’s video surveillance of the exp...
All seven puppies found abandoned in a Walmart bag at the Matlock logging gate Oct. 17 have been adopted. "All of them found great homes," The Humane Society of Mason County Executive Director Katherine Johnson told the Journal. The puppies were less than 2 days old when they were found and taken to HSMC for around-the-clock care. The puppies were spayed and neutered before going to new homes Dec. 13, Johnson said. One of the puppies, Pickles, was the 3000th spay and neuter surgery the group's...
Health department closes shellfish areas Several areas in Mason County have been closed for shellfish harvesting due to high levels of biotoxins that cause diarrhetic shellfish poisoning, according to the state Health Department. Pickering Passage, Peale Passage and Squaxin Passage are closed for all harvesting. Beaches closed for all harvesting are West Dougall Point, Jarrell Cove State Park and Jarrell Cove State Park East, Hope Island State Park and DNR areas 33 and 34 on Harstine Island. Diarrhetic shellfish poisoning causes nausea, vomitin...
JANUARY 2023 The Shelton City Council on Jan. 3 made a preliminary move to buy land on Olympic Highway North for a new sewer lift station. The council voted unanimously to purchase parcels by two landowners at Olympic Highway North and A Street for $405,000. The council can make the move official at its Jan. 17 meeting. The North Division Sewer Life Station would redirect most of the wastewater flow in the northwest sections of the city and pump to the membrane treatment plant near Sanderson Field. According to the report from the city’s p...
FEBRUARY 2023 A profile on an anti-government and law enforcement extremist set to air on NBC's "Dateline" on Feb. 4 featured the recollections of his former wife, a longtime Shelton resident, and his son, a 2002 Shelton High School graduate. Lloyd Barrus is serving three concurrent life sentences without parole in a Billings, Montana prison. He was in the driver's seat when he and his now deceased son Marshall Barrus lured Broadwater County Deputy Mason Moore into chasing them, and Marshall...
MARCH 2023 Shelton City Manager Jeff Niten will leave his position to be the new city manager of Mountlake Terrace. Niten made the announcement March 7 at the Shelton City Council meeting. His last day is March 31. Niten prefaced his remarks by saying his departure was in "the rumor mill." "It's bittersweet," he said. "I really enjoyed my time here and I can't tell you how much I appreciate the opportunity to work with council to address the issues we wanted to address." Niten said he will set...
APRIL 2023 The Shelton City Council gave final approval for the annexation of 40-acres of land, known as “Meadows Edge,” into the city at the April 4 meeting. According to the background information, the city of Shelton received notice in February of intent to petition for annexation. The property being annexed is in the Shelton urban growth area and is north of the Shelton Springs subdivision and south of Island Lake. The property is owned by one person and is the subject of a 36-lot subdivision, which is under review by Mason County staff. Th...
MAY 2023 Lance Gibbon, a former superintendent of the Oak Harbor and Snoqualmie Valley school districts, will be the new superintendent of the Hood Canal School District, pending a contract agreement. On May 1, the Hood Canal School Board voted unanimously to hire Gibbon. He replaces Jose-de-Jesus Melendez, who resigned in February after seven months on the job to return to his family in Oregon. According to the district at the time, he was to complete the remainder of his contract on...
JUNE 2023 A former Shelton High School freshman counselor was arrested June 2 at his Shelton residence by Mason County Sheriff's Office deputies after a two-month investigation. Samuel Martin Caffey, 29, faces charges of child rape, child molestation, sexual misconduct with a minor, delivery of a controlled substance and possession of child pornography. Caffey was booked into Mason County Jail on Friday afternoon and made his initial court appearance Monday in Mason County Superior Court, where...
JULY 2023 A brush fire about 4 miles northeast of Shelton forced the evacuation of 200 structures July 4. The fire, driven by wind, began at about 2 p.m., just west of the Rainbow Lake community near the intersection of East McEwan Prairie Road and East Mason Lake Road. According to a news release from Central Mason Fire & EMS, the fire is burning on industrial timberland and private land that is flat and accessible terrain. "The crews did an outstanding job of protecting life and structures,"...
AUGUST 2023 George Blush and Tristen Smith will compete for a seat on the Shelton City Council in the November general election, and voters solidly support increasing the size of the Mason County Fire District 5 board of commissioners from three to five. Those are among the preliminary results of the Aug. 1 primary election posted at 8 p.m. The initial voter turnout was 28.17%. The results are scheduled to be certified Aug. 15. In the contest to whittle the Shelton City Council member No. 1 seat race from three candidates to two, Blush...
SEPTEMBER 2023 Chris Kostad, who has worked for the Shelton Police Department since 2002, will be the city's new police chief starting in November. The city in early September announced that Kostad will replace Carole Beason, who recently announced her intention to retire. She has served in that position since January 2021. Kostad is currently serving as a captain, a position he has held since 2021. He has also served in the department as a corporal, sergeant and lieutenant. A news release from...
OCTOBER 2023 After more than 40 years of prodding and mandating by Mason County and the state, the City of Shelton signed off on the final cleanup of the toxic C Street landfill. The Shelton City Council on Oct. 3 voted unanimously to close out the contract on the construction part of the cleanup of the 17-acre landfill west of downtown Shelton and U.S. Highway 101, which was completed in June. "Staff does not expect any additional action on the City's part pertaining to this project and can be...
NOVEMBER 2023 In three Shelton City Council races on Nov. 7's ballot, the longest-serving member was handily defeated by a fellow lifelong Shelton resident, a downtown businessman was elected after losing a council race two years ago by five votes, and a third contest was too close to call on the initial count. Melissa Stearns, a local Realtor and lifelong resident Shelton, defeated eight-year incumbent Kathy McDowell for a four-year term as council member 2. On the first ballot count, Stearns...
DECEMBER 2023 An “atmospheric river” of torrential rain over several days caused the Skokomish River to crest at its second-highest recorded point Dec. 5 and flooded and closed roads throughout Mason County. The National Weather Service on Dec. 5 issued flood warnings in parts of western Washington, including much of the Olympic Peninsula. Flooding and hazardous conditions prompted the state Department of Transportation to close state Route 106 from U.S. Highway 101 to Alderbrook at 10:30 a.m. Dec. 5. Other roads closed that day included Skokom...
City officials are wondering whether Shelton really needs a height limit on buildings, whether it should limit height to various construction types in zones, and whether the definition of a building "story" should be removed from zoning qualifications altogether. Those were the questions bandied about by members of the Shelton City Council and staff members at a work session Dec. 12 at the Shelton Civic Center. The current height limits in the city are: ■ 30 feet and two stories in n...
The Hood Canal School District's proposed $33.5-million building bond fell 45 votes short of passing in the November general election. District voters will see the proposal again on the Feb. 13 ballot. The Hood Canal School Board on Nov. 21 voted to put the same proposal in front of voters. The Nov. 7 ballot received 58.1%, short of the 60% super majority required. The board didn't alter the request because "the needs haven't changed," said Superintendent Lance Gibbon. He added, "The board felt...
The most conspicuous derelict house in downtown Shelton is gone. Last week, City of Shelton employees from the public works and community development departments, police and private companies filled five dump truckloads of trash and debris, removed four junk vehicles and asbestos, and demolished the structure at 1411 West Railroad Ave. It was the beginning of the end of a code enforcement case that started last year. Along with being an eyesore, the property was the scene of a SWAT raid this...
Police have arrested an arson suspect wanted in connection with an explosion in Hoodsport. Jacob Rivera, 44, was arrested by Grays Harbor County deputies Dec. 16, after he allegedly fled the scene of a Dec. 13 explosion and suspicious house fire in the 200 block of North Mount Washington Drive in Hoodsport. Rivera had previously been accused by his girlfriend of making bombs when he was arrested over the summer on domestic violence charges. Witnesses identified Rivera fleeing the scene, “while a female victim sought refuge with a nearby neighbo...
Two soldiers have been arrested for first-degree malicious mischief after a man captured them on a trail camera shooting his new excavator in the Sherwood Forest area of Allyn. Judge Monty Cobb found probable cause to arrest Zacharia Miller-Young, 20, and Hanby W. Sykes, 23, but neither one has been charged. Miller-Young and Sykes are soldiers attached to the Marine Corps Security Force Battalion Bangor, according to the probable cause document. Jason Wistrand, who owns the excavator, called police Nov. 3 to report vandalism, saying his...
City's K9 will receive protective vest Valor, the Shelton Police Department's K9, will receive a bullet-and stab-protective vest courtesy of a donation from the nonprofit Vested Interest in K9s. In a news release, the city states the protective vest will be delivered in eight to 10 weeks. It will be embroidered with the words "In memory of K9 Hobbs, Des Moines, IA - EOW 12/12/23." Established in 2009, Vested Interest in K9s provides the protective vests and other assistance to dogs of law...
A city hearing examiner is considering Community Lifeline's request to expand the capacity of its downtown Shelton homeless shelter from 35 beds to 54. On Monday evening, city hearing examiner Andrew Reeves heard three hours of testimony from the City of Shelton, Community Lifeline board members, business owners and neighboring residents about the shelter at 218 N. Third St. at the Shelton Civic Center. The nonprofit is requesting an amendment to an existing conditional use permit to expand its...
The City of Shelton's new neighborhood park is 1.8 acres with playground equipment, a disc golf basket, a field and trees on Northcliff Road. Contractors for the city erected the playground equipment Dec. 7 and 8, and about 30 volunteers Dec. 9 worked on the park. The park is designed for the residents of Terrace Heights, Barnhard Street, Joyce Street and Northcliff Road. Because it is a neighborhood park and not a community park, no public parking is available for vehicles. Unlike the...
