YEAR IN REVIEW 2023 - OCTOBER

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 closed out," the city's report states.

That doesn't mean the city's involvement in the project is over. The land will be surveyed next year, and the water in the eight wells monitored for five years.

The city paid almost $2.6 million to the contractor on the cleanup, Brumfield Construction. The state Department of Ecology paid about $2.1 million of that cost.

"That was a very, very long project," said Mayor Eric Onikso.

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About 12,000 to 13,000 people enjoyed sunny skies, seafood and live music during the 41st OysterFest hosted Oct. 6-8 at Sanderson Field in Shelton.

That's the crowd estimate from the hosts, Shelton Skookum Rotary Club, which met Monday morning to discuss how it went, said Laurie Brown, the group's public image director. Paid admission was 11,000, with children admitted free on Saturday and Sunday, she said. More than 1,200 people were vendors and volunteers, Brown added. More than 420 RV sites were filled.

The Shelton Skookum Rotary Club doesn't have an estimate of the size of the crowd at Friday night's opening event, OysterFunk, but "it was very well attended," said Brown, who was at the concert.

The event "was a very uplifting time for the people of Mason County, celebrating the bounty that we have," she said.

Four Mason County Rotary clubs participating. Along with the host group, the Salish Sea Rotary Club ran the wine pavilion; the Shelton Rotary Club staged OysterFunk and sold curry mussels and oyster fritters; and the North Mason Rotary Club sold shrimp melts. Profits paid for student scholarships.

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Police arrested Shelton murder suspects William Williams, 40, and Kennedy Karpf, 24, "without incident," on Oct. 11 in Medford, Oregon, according to the Medford Police Department.

The pair were sought in connection with the shooting death of Janus Afo on Sept. 28 in downtown Shelton.

Police say they used a SWAT team, drones and crisis negotiators to surround a residence in Medford where Williams was staying. Williams surrendered within 15 minutes.

Karpf was at a nearby business and was also arrested without any issues, according to police.

Prosecutors have charged Williams with second-degree murder and felony possession of a firearm and Karpf with first-degree rendering criminal assistance.

Police will transport Williams and Karpf back to Shelton if both waive extradition. If they contest, Mason County prosecutors will have to get Gov. Jay Inslee to issue an arrest warrant for presentation to Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, according to law enforcement officials.

Medford police located the pair with the help of U.S. Marshals, according to a news release.

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The Mason County hearing examiner will reconsider the approval of a controversial Taylor Shellfish floating oyster bag farm in Oakland Bay after the seafood company objected to requirements that the black color of the oyster bags be replaced with blue or green and that it pay for a monitoring plan prepared by a third-party expert to check for environmental impacts.

These were the only two significant conditions added by the examiner before approving Taylor's permit in its entirety and filing it on Oct. 9, according to a report by Examiner Phil Olbrechts.

Taylor filed a motion for reconsideration Oct. 19, prompting the state Department of Ecology (DOE) to notify Mason County that the previous filing of the permit was invalid because the reconsideration period was still open. Mason County then withdrew the permit, according to Planner Luke Viscusi.

Now, persons who submitted verbal hearing or written comments on the application have until 5 p.m. Nov. 1 to submit a written response to Taylor's motion for reconsideration.