Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
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When was the last time you stopped by the office at the Julia Butler Hansen Refuge for Columbian White-tailed deer? The landscape surrounding the main office is more welcoming these days thanks to the hard work of volunteer Chris Davis and some local students involved in a Youth Conservation Corps each summer, according to Refuge Manager Jake Bonello. They have managed to create a more inviting, park like setting and Bonello hopes local residents will stop by and check it out and maybe enjoy a p...
There was a bit more excitement than usual for some people attending the Wahkiakum County Fair this weekend when a black bear was seen wandering around the campground area on Saturday evening a little after 7 p.m. “It was not afraid of people,” Wahkiakum County Undersheriff Gary Howell said. “It walked into dog kennels after dog food, right next to campers while they were playing corn hole.” Howell said that the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife was working with the sheriff’s department...
By Diana Zimmerman At the Wahkiakum School District Board of Directors meeting on Tuesday, Mayor David Olson presented the district with a Cathlamet town flag and talked about matters that affected the town and school, and directors heard about security improvements, ongoing maintenance issues, as well as enrollment projections for the school year which begins next Wednesday, August 30. Superintendent Brent Freeman gave an update on Phase 2 of the district’s installation of new security measures...
There are four candidates competing for two positions on the Wahkiakum School District Board of Directors. Next week we will hear from the other two candidates. One incumbent has a challenger, and two are vying for a position being vacated by outgoing Director Paula Culbertson. What did I learn? They may all have different definitions for critical race theory or different ideas about how to help local students, but they all care about the kids. Interviews were edited for length. After four years...
Kandice Merz is challenging incumbent Patty Anderson for the Director 4 position on the Wahkiakum School District School Board. Born and raised in Cathlamet and the daughter of a dairy farmer, Merz is a local business owner who is now raising her own family here. She attended Wahkiakum School District until the 10th grade before transitioning to home school, where she earned her diploma at age 18. Simultaneous to starting home school, she began taking classes from a beauty school, and also...
The money saving app recently adopted by Cathlamet Market Fresh is going away. When Michael Kirby bought the grocery in Cathlamet, it became an independent store, no longer a part of Kirby Co. “The company that developed the app for Kirby Co. said we couldn’t use the same app going forward,” Kirby said. “They wanted me to pay to develop a new app. When it was split between eight stores, it was a lot more doable. It doesn’t make sense for us to continue it.” “We don’t want to go out and raise p...
The Wahkiakum County PUD Board of Commissioners discussed recent fires and what that means to utilities, learned about PFAs and continued efforts by staff to find funding for projects around the county. Commissioner Bob Jungers spoke about the fires on Maui and how there is now concern that Hawaiian utilities’ negligence in maintaining infrastructure may have contributed to the cause. “This reflects on stuff we’ve seen in eastern Washington counties, where liability by utilities can exten...
Wahkiakum County Port 1 commissioners approved several bids for coming projects at their August meeting last Thursday, and heard some good news about sailing races planned for next year. The biggest news came toward the end of the meeting when Port Manager Todd Souvenir said that the Willamette Sailing Club decided to move their annual Al Morris Memorial Regatta to Cathlamet. The sailing races will take place in the Cathlamet Channel in early August 2024, and bring participants to the Elochoman...
Another Wooden Boat Show is in the books. "For the most part I would say it was a success," Organizer Michael Armstrong said on Tuesday. "Saturday was better than Sunday. The heat drove people away." But yes! They plan to do it again next year. Puget Island residents David and Cindy Stockwell showed off their 1959 Skagit at the Elochoman Slough Marina on Saturday. "This is our little treasure," David said. The boat belonged to one of their neighbors and sat idle in his barn until they bought it...
At 73, Puget Island resident Ron Wright still knows how to have a bit of fun. On Friday, Wright left his East Sunny Sands home on a raft made out of items he found on beaches over the last few years. It wasn't his first raft, and it wasn't his first adventure. He rowed in a slough along Whites Island to the top of Puget Island, making his way upriver along Jackson Inlet into the Cathlamet Channel, crossing over toward town, and traveling along the high cliffs to his final destination, the Elocho...
The Wahkiakum County Port 2 Board of Commissioners talked about updating their comprehensive plan, a coming kite festival, and a burn ban instituted at Vista Park on Tuesday. Looking over vouchers, Commissioner Allen Bennett asked about the port’s new utility trailer. Port 2 Assistant Manager Terina Davis said it was a 6 x10 utility trailer from Cowlitz River Rigging and it was already proving to be useful. She said staff were really busy at the park, cleaning, keeping it going, and keeping t...
A new family holiday has etched its way into Bill and Suzanne Holmes' lives, as friends, children, grandchildren, and more happily land at their home each summer to help with the honey harvest. "We are lucky," Bill Holmes said. "So many families split up and have little contact. All our girls get along. It is wonderful." Holmes took up beekeeping about a decade ago. It was, according to his daughter Sara Maurer, another in a long line of hobbies that Holmes immersed himself in until he was an...
One week from today, the 2023 Wahkiakum County Fair will open the gates to offer their annual late summer delights, and like this year’s motto, they plan to “Stirrup Some Fun." Fair Manager Patty Dursteler and her band of volunteers are really busy right now getting ready for those three days, Thursday through Saturday, August 17, 18 and 19. It’s time for all the final touches, Dursteler said, and for some reason, lots of meetings. Superintendents are preparing the Youth Barn, the T-Bui...
On Tuesday, Columbia Land Trust transferred responsibility for a new bridge on Risk Road to Wahkiakum County. The bridge was built last year as part of a project by Columbia Land Trust and funded by Bonneville Power Administration to improve habitat and rectify a problem with flooding in the area. "The bridge is here because we have had a long problem of flooding on Risk Road," Wahkiakum County Engineer Paul Lacy said. "Last winter we didn't have one drop of water go over the road, it went...
On August 3, one Cathlamet resident was on her daily walk around the track at Wahkiakum High School when she noticed what appeared to be a female osprey in distress at the base of its nearby nest. Thinking it had been shot, she and her partner made a call to the Wahkiakum County Sheriff’s Department, which forwarded the concern to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. WDFW Police did respond to a call of an injured osprey, Becky Elder wrote in an email. Elder is a Washington State F...
Do you have any interest in performing or singing in a play or musical? On Thursday, September 7, Joe Baker will hold a meeting to gauge interest in a community performance of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol during the holidays. The meeting will begin at 7 p.m., and will be held in what was the Cathlamet Community Center, the meeting room below the Cathlamet Library. Depending on turnout, auditions for several speaking roles and a choir will begin that night. All interested Wahkiakum C...
The District 4 Fire Department will receive an office upgrade after securing a 2023 House Bill 1168 computer grant through the Department of Natural Resources, according to District 4 volunteer and grant writer, M.D. Johnson. It is one of 55 $4,000 grants being given statewide, he said. Johnson, along with other district volunteers Beth Johnson and Chief Randy Hoven, were instrumental in getting the grant application submitted, and volunteer Justin Roberts, who is the district IT expert, put...
Every year, commercial fishermen and women from Wahkiakum County head to Alaska to make their living. They’ve been doing it for generations, and it’s because, as one of those fishermen explained to me, fishing isn’t something you do, it’s who you are. What they are right now is angry. On July 17, the Bristol Bay fishing community learned that they would receive $0.50 per pound for their catch, less than half the price they received the year before, which was $1.15, plus the $0.30 per pound t...
Last Wednesday, 12 youth between the ages of 10 and 14 showed up for a kayak event sponsored in partnership with the Wahkiakum County Sheriff's Department, the Washington State Parks Boating Program, the Elochoman Slough Marina, and Wahkiakum School District. "It went amazing," Deputy Lucas Getman said on Monday. "All the feedback we had was super positive. We've had numerous requests to do it again next year." According to Getman, the kids learned how to enter boats safely and practiced basic p...
Wahkiakum County PUD General Manager Dan Kay had some good news for the board of commissioners when they met on Tuesday. He recently received a call from Congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez who serves Washington’s 3rd District, letting him know that the PUD was being awarded nearly a million dollars for their project to find a secondary water source on Puget Island. Kay said the PUD asked for $2 million, but this was a very large chunk moving forward. “She is going to continue to look for oth...
Every two years, the Wahkiakum chapter of the Marine Resources Committee awards grants to local applicants, supporting education, improving parks, and more. They recently announced their approved projects for 2023-2025. Carol Ervest was awarded $1,000 to teach a fish preservation workshop. The workshop will give participants a hands-on opportunity to learn how to preserve fish using an approved USDA pressure canning method, and provide information on other preservation methods like...
Local food banks are seeing more traffic these days thanks to a trifecta of higher prices at the grocery store, a decrease in SNAP benefits, and no summer lunch program. If you think it’s just families with kids, think again. The pantries are getting visited by seniors more than ever, as they look for ways to extend their sometimes limited incomes. Tom Gartski at the St. Catherine Catholic Church/St. Vincent de Paul Food Bank in Cathlamet says numbers are up because of the price of food. “A lot...
Esther Mendez is the Early Care and Education coordinator, Early Achievers coordinator, and a family support specialist at St. James Family Center. "She wears a lot of different hats, but she really is our expert on early care and education," SJFC Director Beth Hansen said. Family support and parent involvement are part of the focus of ECEAP, which stands for Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program and the Early Achievers Program, which sets a standard of care for children and families...
There are some new faces at the Wahkiakum Chamber of Commerce, and with them come new ideas and a new energy for supporting local business, as well as promoting tourism, future events, and economic development. Assistant Director Dan Lorenzen is the bridge between the last director, Monica Budd, and this new partnership. With nearly one year of experience at the chamber under his belt, he was able to help frame the new team's experience organizing this year's Bald Eagle Days. Joining Lorenzen...
On Sunday in the early afternoon, a fire was spotted in a clearcut above Westport, Oregon. According to Neal Bond of the Astoria office for the Oregon Department of Forestry, the fire was initially reported at 1:30 p.m. Bond, the incident commander for what is now being called the Broken Gate Fire, was first on scene. Along with ODF, Knappa, Svensen/Burnside, Clatskanie, and Westport were just some of the Oregon community fire departments that responded to the scene. They found a fire burning...
