Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
Sorted by date Results 951 - 975 of 1021
The Shelton High School student who stabbed another student six times during a fight on Sept. 20 was found guilty of second-degree assault with a deadly weapon in Mason County Juvenile Court. According to juvenile court documents, the student, 16, was sentenced to nine months in a juvenile rehabilitation administration facility, beginning after the sentencing hearing on Dec. 21 and had to pay fines and fees of $200. The student also had to complete DNA testing, to not contact the victim of the...
Mason Transit Authority has a lot to look forward to in 2022 after a big year in 2021. One of the accomplishments for MTA in 2021 was the opening of most of the Park & Rides in Mason County. All of the Park & Rides are open other than the Belfair Park & Ride, which is slated to open in early 2022 after the building receives it’s electrical panel. “It was ordered I think back in September or October and we’ve just been continually told it’s on order but we haven’t received anything,” MTA General...
The Shelton-Mason County Chamber of Commerce’s Zoom meeting split into focus groups Dec. 16 to answer several questions designed to help the Shelton School District develop a five-year plan. When asked to describe what they saw as the school district’s reputation in the business community, Melissa Strong, chief nursing officer at Mason Health, credited the district with being “pretty involved” in the Health Science Academy rollout, which she deemed a “really great experience for us” and a “reall...
The Rev. Barbra Weza, development director of Community Lifeline, addressed the League of Women Voters of Mason County on Dec. 21 about how the pandemic has affected the 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Community Lifeline's mission is to provide low-barrier shelter, meals, showers, case management, advocacy, education and resource connections as pathways to permanent housing. Weza said limits on crisis services have made it more difficult to serve people already in need, even with diverse...
Skydive Kapowsin soon won't be the only Sanderson Field tenant to enable people to plummet thousands of feet to Earth. The Seattle-based company SQRL has leased land at the Shelton airport, and plans to erect a building in the spring, said Port of Shelton Wendy Smith. The company will manufacture wingsuits, skydiving gear and base-jumping equipment. "We have been part of the Skydive Kapowsin crew for a few years now, since 2013, and that is how we came to know Shelton and the airport," company p...
Beginning today, a series of storms could affect much of the Northwest through the weekend and into next week. The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for much of the Olympic Peninula and the Cascade Range until 4 p.m. today. A second storm system is expected to move from the ocean early Christmas morning. The Seattle/Tacoma office of the NWS forecasts that snow is likely on Christmas Day, Christmas night and into Sunday. While little accumulation is forecast in Shelton, the N...
Mason County has announced free Christmas tree recycling available from Dec. 27 to Jan. 10 at two locations. According to a news release, recycling will be available at the Shelton Transfer Station at 501 West Eells Hill Road, which is open Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Recycling is also available at the Belfair Solid Waste Drop Off Facility at 2001 NE Sand Hill Road, which is open Tuesday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Customers of Mason County Garbage and Recycling curbside service can cut up their trees and stick them in...
Mason County has announced a public hearing at 6 p.m. Jan. 10 to present information on the proposed Belfair sewer extension. According to a news release, the workshop will be held through Zoom and questions and comments from the public are welcome. The URL will be available on the Mason County website at masoncountywa.gov. Staff will present information describing the proposed project, project funding options and the history of the Belfair sewer/water reclamation facility. During the Dec. 21...
Among the Mason County school bus drivers, James L. McCallister was known as a joker and prankster who was great with kids and took new drivers under his wing. COVID claimed the life of the 58-year-old Elma resident on Dec. 4, leaving a hole at the Mason County Transportation Cooperative bus barn across the street from Shelton High School. On Friday, the bus drivers paid tribute to their fallen co-worker with a parade of buses that filed past the schools in the Shelton School District....
Two students at Hawkins Middle School have been arrested after being overheard talking about plans to bring guns to school and kill people. According to the Mason County Sheriff’s Office, Hawkins Middle School staff investigated, and the two students involved were placed under emergency expulsion and released to their parents or guardians. Deputies and detectives were notified and interviewed witnesses to the conversation and established probable cause to arrest the two students for felony h...
Mason County Fire Protection District 12 is going through an accountability audit from the state Auditor’s Office following the Nov. 18 meeting in Matlock. The meeting was in response to the public being upset with the lack of communication from the district, which prompted the state Auditor’s office to conduct an accountability audit. According to the 2019 financial data available on the state Auditor’s website, Mason County Fire District 12 had good financial health indicators in cash balan...
Hed: ‘Green Amendment’ proponent recaps history of environmental movement Word count: 964. By Kirk Boxleitner [email protected] The League of Women Voters of Mason County’s Climate Change Committee meeting on Zoom opened the floor to Maya K. van Rossum, author of “The Green Amendment; Securing Our Right to a Healthy Environment.” Van Rossum opened her remarks Nov. 18 by saying permitting is essential to environmental protections, because “environmental pollution and degradation...
The recount of two close races in the Nov. 2 general election did not change the results, with Miguel Gutierrez beating George W. Blush by five votes for a seat on the Shelton City Council, and Arla Shephard Bull defeating Michael Curtin for another term on the North Mason School Board. The vote counts remained the same from the most recent results released on Nov. 22, Mason County Auditor Paddy McGuire wrote the Journal in an email Friday morning. Gutierrez received 728 votes for 49.59% and Blush 723 votes for 49.25% in their race for a...
Repeatedly blasting loud music, continuously revving your engine, or allowing your dog to bark excessively at night could land you a ticket if the City of Shelton passes a new noise ordinance. The Shelton City Council discussed the proposed new ordinance Nov. 23 at a study session. Under the proposal, residents who receive complaints about loud noise between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. would be issued a warning, and if police have to return, a $1,000 fine. The proposed ordinance aims to quiet down “loud music, house parties, those types of things,” sai...
Details about what happened leading up to a student being stabbed at Shelton High School on Sept. 20 have been released. According to the Shelton Police Department documents, two students got into a fight and one student was the victim of six stab wounds, one on his neck under his left ear, a slicing wound on the left side of his stomach, two stab wounds on his left side, one stab wound on his back and one stab wound behind his left armpit. The stabbing victim told police the suspect had been taunting him throughout the day for being gay and...
Tuesday is the deadline to comment on the state's proposed cleanup of the city's former C Street dump. The state Department of Ecology's draft cleanup plan calls for adding a soil cap to the site to cover the landfill waste to prevent contaminants from coming into contact with people and animals. Fencing, a gate and signage would be put in place to warn visitors of the site to the west of downtown Shelton, north of Goldsborough Creek and south of the proposed Shelton Hills development. The cap...
Mason County COVID-19 cases are in decline with 142 confirmed cases since Nov. 23. The 7-day case rate per 100,000 has declined from 167.6 on Nov. 23 to 88.4 on Nov. 30. The 14-day case rate per 100,000 is 269.6. The county is 54.1% vaccinated. Mason County Public Health made changes to their COVID reporting, including turning the case reporting of the data to the state Department of Health. Public Health continued to report out numbers using various reports from the Washington Disease...
In the wake of Belfair Self-Storage hosting Native American musician Vince Redhouse and painter Tai Connell for a holiday reception before Thanksgiving, Belfair Self-Storage owner and manager Barbara Treick is putting any further live appearances by artists on hold through at least the holidays. “The reception with Vince Redhouse and Tai Connell went well,” Treick said. “However, with the arrival of winter, we won’t be able to host guest artists for the simple reason that it would be too col...
The recount of two close races in the Nov. 2 general election did not change the results, with Miguel Gutierrez beating George W. Blush by five votes for a seat on the Shelton City Council, and Arla Bull Shephard defeating Michael Curtin for another term on the North Mason School Board. The vote counts remained the same from the most recent results released on Nov. 22, Mason County Auditor Paddy McGuire wrote the Journal in an email Friday morning. Gutierrez had 728 votes for 49.59% and Blush 723 votes for 49.25% in their race for a four-year...
Mason County Fire District 12 addressed public concerns that the district has violated state law that turned heated during public comment before the state Auditor’s office spoke to the fire district commissioners Nov. 18 at the fire station in Matlock. The meeting was held as people are growing frustrated with the department’s lack of communication and transparency with the public, according to several people at the meeting. Members of the state Auditor’s office were in attendance and spoke...
The Shelton City Council on Tuesday approved a $41.1 million budget for 2022. No one spoke during a public hearing, nor did anyone at the first public hearing on Oct. 19. None of the council members commented on the budget. The city was required to adopt the budget before the end of the year. The $41,146,160 in expenditure includes $15,097,780 for the general fund, $1,872,280 for the street fund, $2,986,620 for the capital resources fund, $62.900 for the tourism fund, $177,300 for the bond...
The state legislative session that begins in January is not the ideal time for the City of Shelton to ask for money for big-ticket projects, said Troy Nichols, the city’s lobbyist. The short 60-session that begins Jan. 10 is generally reserved for minor tweaks in policy and the state budget, Nichols told the Shelton City Council Nov. 9 at a study session. The state “left very little as far as bonding capacity for the entire state,” he said. “In fact, in terms of general obligation bonds, they left about $82 million to spend for the entire...
In the most recent ballot count from the Nov. 2 election, Miguel Gutierrez held a three-vote lead over George W. Blush for a seat on the Shelton City Council. In the Mason County Auditor’s Office results released on Nov. 4, Gutierrez had 714 votes for 49.51% and Blush 711 votes for 49.31% in their race for a four-year seat as council member No. 7. Write-in candidates had received 17 votes. The votes are scheduled to be updated yesterday, after the Journal had gone to press. On Friday, Mason County Auditor Paddy McGuire told the Journal his o...
Lake Cushman Maintenance Company has been the victim of theft twice in the span of a week. According to General Manager Aaron Nix, the company has had people cutting off the catalytic converters to some of their vehicles, along with stealing some tools and truck battery. There were two separate incidents of theft in the early morning hours of Oct. 25 and Oct. 30. The thefts occurred at its maintenance shops and both instances have been reported to the Mason County Sheriff’s Office and i...
