Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
Sorted by date Results 776 - 800 of 1021
Randy Collins accepted the Mason County fire marshal job after having lunch with Todd Cunningham, county building inspector. Cunningham mentioned he had just written a job description for the open fire marshal position. “He kind of bugged me about it so I thought, well, why not?” Collins told the Journal. “I applied and here I am.” Before coming to Mason County, Collins spent more than 40 years in the fire service. He started as a volunteer in the Arcata Fire District just north of Eureka, California. Collins, who started the job May 16, spe...
National LGBTQ+ Pride Month proclamation Mason County commissioners signed a National LGBTQ+ Pride Month proclamation at their June 7 meeting. According to the information packet, the proclamation recognizes the diverse LGBTQ+ community in Mason County and is committed to supporting visibility, dignity and equity for all people in the community. The proclamation states the commissioners observe June as a time to celebrate the dynamic LGBTQ+ community, raise awareness of quality services and foster a dialogue to promote healthy, safe and...
Submitted by Washington State Department of Transportation Travelers who use US 101 in Shelton are encouraged to plan additional time to help prevent delays. From 8 p.m., Friday, June 17 through 6 a.m., Monday, June 20, both directions of US 101 will detour using the City Center/Matlock exit in Shelton. Travelers will return to US 101 via each ramp. Flaggers will help keep people moving at both intersections. The detour allows crews working for the Washington State Department of Transportation to make repairs to the driving surface of the US...
A tireless advocate for the Latino community who was “more of an angel than a man,” a big-hearted Shelton High School secretary always ready to help students, the all-time points leader for the Shelton Highclimbers boys basketball team, a longtime math teacher who wouldn’t give up on her students, and an inspirational teacher and track coach last week were inducted into the Shelton School District and Community Hall of Fame. Respectively, Ricardo del Bosque, Jamie Dobson, Chris McGee, Connie Jo Nelson and Doug Sells were celebrated at a cerem...
The Shelton City Council on Tuesday voted 4-3 to pass new animal ordinances that allow residents to own five hens, but no roosters, on residential lots of up to 5,999 square feet, and up to 12 hens on lots between 6,000 square feet and 1 acre. By another 4-3 vote, the council also removed a proposal to require the registration of cats. The proposal called for a $25 per year charge, or a lifetime license with the insertion of a microchip. Mayor Eric Onisko called the proposal to license cats “silly” and said he doesn’t want the city’s code of...
CHOICE High School celebrated the graduation of 37 students at a commencement ceremony June 2 in the Shelton High School Performing Arts District. CHOICE Principal Stacey Anderson pointed out the members of the Class of 2022 weathered a challenging education that included learning from home during part of the COVID pandemic and then returning, wearing face masks and social distancing, to the campus in downtown Shelton. "You'll always be a CHOICE (wild)cat, no matter where you go," she said....
The Mason County Forest Festival returns to its full format for the first time in three years, kicking off today with the carnival at a new location on First Street, and culminating with the Shelton Car Show Off and the Duck Race on Sunday. The COVID pandemic cancelled the event in 2020. Last year, the event was dubbed Timber Days and staged over three weekends in June, July and August. Fittingly, “Back to Our Roots” is the theme of this weekend’s festival. “We’re excited to be back,” said Amy Cooper, vice president of the Mason County Fore...
The City of Shelton is considering amending its codes on camping on private property that could grant community groups permits to accommodate up to 30 people - with many proposed rules and regulations. The proposed requirements would include an around-the-clock host, visual screening from the neighbors, exterior lighting pointed down, and a posted code of conduct. People with police warrants would not be allowed. The Shelton City Council talked about the proposed code amendment changes at a...
A resident’s proposal to work with the Port of Hoodsport on creating a public dog park was tabled after port commissioners voted 2-1 on May 11 not to proceed with investigating the proposal. While Port Commissioner Terry Brazil said he intended to investigate further on his own, he and Port Commissioner Lori Kincannon voted against the port moving forward with the proposal. Port Commissioner Cody Morris voted in favor. Dog park proponent Bill Long expressed interest in using an acre and a h...
Mark Woytowich, the outdoors columnist for the Shelton-Mason County Journal for seven years and the author of "Where the Waterfalls and Wild Things Are," was remembered as a gregarious, big-hearted lover of nature and his fellow humans at a memorial celebration Sunday at Rest-A-While RV Park's Art & Music Fair north of Hoodsport. Friends shared their stories of the Lilliwaup resident, who died of a heart attack at age 65 on May 6 at Mason General Hospital in Shelton. The Ohio native who adopted...
The Forest Festival logging show and chainsaw exhibition is staged from noon to 4:30 p.m. Saturday at Loop Field. The logging show is hosting the STIHL Timbersports Western Qualifier for men and women. Events include the standing chop, horizontal chop, springboard, hot saw, stock saw, stock chainsaw and single buck. "I think, with the competition, the event that's most popular is the springboard competition," Forest Festival Board President Mick Sprouffske told the Journal. "You're pairing two...
The North Mason School Board reviewed the redistricting reports and maps produced by Sammamish Data Systems so it could approve moving to the next phase of the school district’s redistricting. North Mason School District Superintendent Dana Rosenbach summed up the report from Sammamish Data Systems, which the district contracted to evaluate the latest U.S. Census information. “We do have a requirement, when the new census comes out, that we have to evaluate the distribution of our director dis...
Some downtown Shelton business owners say street people are urinating and defecating outside their shops, leaving trash, stealing and sleeping in their doorways. Businesses in a two-block radius of Post Office Park are seeing the most negative aspects. But most of the business owners say it's only a few individuals causing the trouble, with an average of three to five homeless people causing them problems during a month. Those are some of the takeaways from a survey Mason County Public Health...
Mason County Commissioner Sharon Trask faces two challengers in the Aug. 2 primary election: Miguel Gutierrez, a first-term member of the Shelton City Council, and Mark Carlson. The two top vote-getters will face off in the general election Nov. 8. Trask and Carlson are Republicans, and Gutierrez is a Democrat. Mason County auditor and assessor, and seats representing the 35th Legislative District, are also up for grabs in the primary. Friday was the deadline for candidates to apply for election at the Mason County Auditor’s Office. I...
Pandemic restrictions might be mostly gone, but COVID-19 is still prominent throughout Mason County. Director of Community Services Dave Windom updated the Board of Health during Tuesday’s meeting. Mason County Division of Emergency Management reported a seven-day case rate per 100,000 people of 161.5 as of May 22, and a 14-day case rate of 292.5. The county reported 38 cases from May 20 to 22. Windom said that is an undercount because it only accounts for PCR tests, not the at-home tests t...
Grapeview School District Superintendent Kurt Hilyard is retiring, with his last day at the post June 30. The district's board of directors on Tuesday hired Jerry Grubbs as his replacement. Grubbs is the part-time superintendent of the Starbuck School District in Eastern Washington, and he will perform both jobs. Grubbs is the husband of Nikki Grubbs, who is leaving as superintendent of the Hood Canal School District to be assistant superintendent of the North Thurston School District. In an...
Mason County Fire District 12 decided to keep on fire chief Kelli Walsworth pro tem in order to help the district transition to a new fire chief. At the May 17 fire commissioners meeting, commissioner Albert Wilder said after talking as a board and with the attorney, they decided to retain Walsworth as the pro tem chief “to help the community and help the district in finding a new fire chief and doing a proper pass down to a new fire chief.” “It is a nonsalaried position she will be assum...
After a three-year hiatus due to the COVID pandemic, the Shelton nonprofit Sound Learning will stage its popular fundraiser Spell-E-Bration June 17 at the Shelton Civic Center. About 10 teams of three spellers, some in colorful outfits, will showcase their skills during the spelling bee. Each team is sponsored by a business or group. The event features a silent and live auction, loads of desserts and other food, some light-hearted banter between the teams and the judges - sometimes "bribes" are...
The North Mason Regional Fire Authority spoke with the Shelton-Mason County Journal on Monday about its new headquarters building at 490 NE Old Belfair Highway. "It's been a crazy morning," North Mason RFA Chief Beau Bakken said. "We spent all of last week making the move into this facility. By the afternoon of Friday, May 13, we knew we had to have everything over here that we would need in order to function." Bakken deemed Friday night the station's "special soft grand opening," leading into t...
Mason Health, in collaboration with the Shelton School High School Health Sciences Academy, awarded scholarships to three graduating seniors who hope to pursue careers in the medical field. Eryka Delgado-Hernandez, 17, and Carly VanAagten, 18, received full-ride scholarships from Mason Health to the registered nursing program at South Puget Sound Community College this fall. At the same time, they will work as nurse technicians at Mason General Hospital. If Mason Health has open job positions...
A 32-year-old Shelton woman has been charged with one count of vehicular homicide after striking and killing a pedestrian in the road just prior to midnight April 30 on the 1400 block of West Railroad Avenue in Shelton. According to court documents, Lindsay Ray Hartman is charged in the death of 35-yard-old Rocael Perez Pablo, who was pronounced dead at the scene after being hit by Hartman’s car. Hartman’s initial arraignment was Monday in Mason County Superior Court before Judge Daniel Goo...
