Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
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Tuesday's meeting of the Wahkiakum County board of commissioners covered a wide range of topics ranging from camping at Fairgrounds Park to a presentation of an updated county emergency management plan. Skamokawa resident April Murdoch urged county officials to investigate the long term camping at Fairgrounds Park, located next to the Skamokawa Grange. Murdoch said it appears campers have set up residence and have unlimited and unsupervised access to kitchen and other facilities on the adjacent fairgrounds. There are other problems, she said,...
Wahkiakum County government can expect to receive $1.3 million this year from the harvest of state managed trust timber. That amount is almost right on the 10-year average of trust timber revenue, $1.37 million, according to a report Tuesday to the county board of commissioners. Revenue from the harvest of trust timber has traditionally played a major role in funding courthouse departments. According to the report presented by regional and district managers Chris Wills and Steve Ogden, the highest yield since 2008 has been $1.8 million in 2011...
Wahkiakum County officials are moving toward a comprehensive energy upgrade for most county facilities. Personnel from Willdan Performance Engineering, Inc., have begun an initial audit of energy upgrade needs and will present initial findings to the county board of commissioners in two weeks. Lauren Bromley, a certified energy manager and senior energy analyst for Willdan, presented her company's process to the county board of commissioners on Tuesday. The company will identify outdated and inefficient equipment and system weaknesses, design...
Community service groups and Wahkiakum High School students have raised nearly $10,000 for children's cancer programs at Doernbecher Children's Hospital in Portland. The Kiwanis Club of Cathlamet hosted the groups for an award dinner Tuesday evening. Firefighters from Puget Island, Cathlamet, District 4 and Skamokawa departments raised $4,400 for Doernbecher, said Kiwanis President Linda Barth. The firefighters held a boot drive at the end of January and collected donations from motorists. In...
Wahkiakum County commissioners expressed confidence Tuesday that Columbia River channel dredging this summer will be able to bolster eroding beaches at Cape Horn and on Puget Island. And with that, commissioners would be able to focus on other issues, such as siltation of Grays Bay. On behalf of the Grays River Habitat Enhancement District, Rosburg resident Poul Toftemark on Tuesday asked commissioners to work with the US Army Corps of Engineers to tackle that issue. The Corps created an island from dredge spoils that blocks the outlets of the...
Organizers of a mid-March listening tour have released findings of the day-long effort to collect people's concerns and desires for the county and its communities. The tour was part of a program started by the state Democrat Party's Ag and Rural Caucus to collect concerns and desires from rural communities across the state so they can be championed among statewide policy makers, who are heavily influenced by large urban populations. The local program was a bipartisan effort coordinated by the central committees of the county's Democrat and...
Members of the Cathlamet Town Council are ready to move forward with development of the controversial parking lot at the intersection of Main and Butler Streets. At their monthly meeting on Monday, council members supported Mayor Dale Jacobson's moves to turn the parking lot into a small park. Also at the meeting, council members heard a report from Sheriff Mark Howie about law enforcement activity in the town during the past two years, and the council addressed issues with the municipal...
Wahkiakum County commissioners and local residents had a chance Tuesday to discuss fish and wildlife issues with Kessina Lee, the new regional director for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Lee visited the board of commissioners meeting for a workshop discussion that focused on management of salmon and strayed into department politics. Commissioner Mike Backman commented that it's difficult to have good communication with the agency. Different parts of the agency, such as biologists and habitat managers, don't communicate well...
Wahkiakum County citizens got together last Friday in a bipartisan effort to express their concerns and desires for their community. Members of the county's Democrat and Republican central committees sponsored a day-long program that brought three members of the state Democrat party's ag/rural caucus to the county in what they called a listening tour. The goal of the visit, said visitor Don Schwerin of Walla Walla, is to get people working together across party lines and to gather input to highlight issues that rural dwelling members of both...
Wahkiakum County commissioners on Tuesday agreed to contact the state senate to oppose legislation that would outlaw non-tribal gillnet commercial fisheries in Washington Jan. 1, 2023, and establish a buyout program for retiring licenses by Dec. 31, 2022. Proponents say gillnets are non-selective gear that ensnare wild and endangered salmon and with other species, they are not a good management, and they adversely impact the recreational fishing industry. Senate Bill 5617 would also establish a three-tier program to buy out gillnetters' license...
Commentary from me? No need for me to write something about national affairs; the letter writers have that covered. State issues: Our county's Republican and Democrat political parties are sponsoring a listening event this Friday, 6:30 p.m. at the Skamokawa Grange. The goal is to collect comment and input from the public about issues important in our area, issues which seem to be ignored by residents and politicians in the urban parts of our state which wield political power. I agree that denizens of the metropoleis have a hard time understandi...
Wahkiakum County commissioners hosted two workshops Tuesday, with one aimed at clearing up confusion over hiring by Health and Human Services (H&HS) and the other a round table addressing watershed issues. Commissioners and staff of the H&HS and the auditors office addressed confusion over budget status and hiring by H&HS. H&HS Director Chris Bischoff has asked the commission to approve hiring new personnel and adjusting salaries for positions not in his department budgets. Funding has been available from grants and contracts and from shifting...
Following discussion at their Feb. 26 meeting, Wahkiakum County commissioners on Tuesday agreed to boost funding for the manager of the Wahkiakum County Fair. In other business, commissioners approved a new position for the Department of Health and Human Services; they approved adjustments to county ferry fares, and they heard a variety of reports. Members of the Wahkiakum County Fair Board last week asked that the board restore or increase the funding for the fair manager's work hours. County...
Wahkiakum County fair board members visited the county board of commissioners Tuesday to press for adjustments to their 2019 budget. The 2019 budget allocation reduced the number of hours the fair manager may work, and this hampers fair operations, said fair board member Becky Thacker. There are other issues to address, Thacker and Kay Walters said. The small heaters in the office are inadequate in the recent cold weather, they said, and utility expenses are far beyond what was expected when the budget was set. Wahkiakum PUD acquired the West...
Wahkiakum County should begin preparing for the 2020 US Census, county officials were told Tuesday. US Bureau Partnership Specialist Lorraine Ralston introduced the county board of commissioners to the process and suggested the county form a local group called a "complete count committee" to support local efforts. Census data has important uses, she said, including becoming a deciding factor in funding appropriations ranging from Medicaid to highway construction. It is also used to redistrict the seats in the US House of Representatives. To opt...
Members of the Cathlamet Town Council addressed a variety of issues when they met Tuesday. --The council voted 4-0 to contract with John Morgan and his Morgan CPS consulting firm to develop a long-term strategic plan. Councilor Jean Burnham commented that the $20,000 price seemed expensive. Colleagues Sue Cameron and Laurel Waller countered that the planning would give the council and staff a basis for making decisions. "I think it will be much more integral to getting us to the future we want," Waller said. --Councilors and members of the...
Wahkiakum County commissioners heard a plea for drainage work near Deep River, decided how to address the latest challenge to their dredging permit process and addressed other issues when they met Tuesday. Wirkkala Road resident Nick Nikkila expressed frustration with drainage issues that cause flooding in that neighborhood. Two culverts and tidegates on Wirkkala Road need to be replaced; they're failing and too small to handle drainage in heavy rain events. He showed a video of his vehicle ploughing through water to reach his driveway and his...
The latest hurdle to finishing Wahkiakum County's permit applications to deposit dredge spoils on eroding beaches isn't very big, but it could delay any beach nourishment to next fall. A biological assessment of one of the county's four flood control erosion zones has found streaked horn larks use it as a nesting area. Because they're a federally designation endangered species, they can't be disturbed during their nesting season. That season runs June through September, the bulk of the permitted dredging season. County Public Works Director...
The effort to recall Cathlamet's mayor and three council members has gone to the Washing State Supreme Court. The attorney for petitioner Bill Wainwright filed a notice to appeal on February 7. The state justices will review the filing and decide if they want to hear the appeal, let the Superior Court ruling stand, or send it back for another hearing. Wainwright had filed the charges alleging misfeasance and malfeasance and violation of oath of office against Mayor Dale Jacobson and Council Members Sue Cameron, Jean Burnham and Ryan Smith. The...
The measles outbreak affecting the Portland-Vancouver area hasn't hit Wahkiakum County, yet. As of Sunday, 51 cases of the highly contagious disease had been diagnosed in Portland, Vancouver and Seattle. So far, there have been none locally, Chris Bischoff, director of Wahkiakum County Health and Human Services said Tuesday as the county board of commissioners met as the county board of health. There is one possible case in Cowlitz County. According to the Mayo Clinic website, "Measles is a childhood infection caused by a virus. Once quite...
Wahkiakum County commissioners covered a wide variety of business at their Tuesday meeting, including having discussions on changes to ferry rates and use of the vacant Johnson House as a rental residence. Ferry patrons have complained about the rates for vehicles with trailers. They say a vehicle and trailer can be charged $28 per trip, taking up the same space as two cars, which would be charged a total of $12. It discourages use. Public Works Director Chuck Beyer said the rates established two years ago were structured to show state...
Wahkiakum Superior Court Judge Donald J. Richter on Friday ruled that charges to recall Cathlamet's mayor and three council members were legally insufficient to proceed toward election. Cathlamet resident Bill Wainwright had filed the charges alleging misfeasance and malfeasance and violation of oath of office against Mayor Dale Jacobson and Council Members Sue Cameron, Jean Burnham and Ryan Smith. The charges alleged that all four participated in the purchase of a vacant lot contaminated with gasoline at an exorbitant price that benefitted a...
The Town of Cathlamet came away with two recommendations after a Washington State Auditor's Office audit in late fall. Overall, the auditors said they found no problems with the town's numbers. However, they pointed out that the town clerical staff has only one person who can monitor cash receipting and disbursements. According to the management letter sent to the town: "• Funds were transferred between the Deputy Clerk and Clerk/Treasurer without evidence to document the custody transfer. "• The Mayor’s and Clerk/Treasurer’s signatu...
Wahkiakum Superior Court Judge Donald J. Richter on Friday ruled that charges to recall Cathlamet's mayor and three council members were legally insufficient to proceed toward election. Cathlamet resident Bill Wainwright had filed the charges alleging misfeasance and malfeasance and violation of oath of office against Mayor Dale Jacobson and Council Members Sue Cameron, Jean Burnham and Ryan Smith. The charges alleged that all four participated in the purchase of a vacant lot contaminated with gasoline at an exorbitant price that benefitted a...
The effort to recall Cathlamet's mayor and three council members took two steps forward this week. In a special meeting last Thursday, the council voted to pay initial legal expenses for the four respondents to the recall petition. On Tuesday, the petitioners and respondents appeared before Superior Court Judge Donald J. Richter for a hearing for a ruling on whether or not the charges for recall are specific enough to meet legal test and whether or not the ballot synopsis proposed by Wahkiakum County Prosecuting Attorney was acceptable. The...
