Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
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Preservation work on the State Route 409 Puget Island Bridge seems to be getting underway with workers scoping out the bridge this week. A contractor for the Washington State Department of Transportation next week will begin installing structures for repainting the bridge. According to an April 9 WSDOT announcement, until further notice, traffic on both directions of the bridge, will alternate on work days through a single-lane starting next Monday, with temporary flaggers controlling the flow....
Legislative and lobbying issues dominated the meeting of the Wahkiakum County board of commissioners on Tuesday. The day started at 8 a.m. with a regional forum featuring state Senator Dean Takko and representatives of Congresswoman Jamie Herrera Beutler and US Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell. Topics ranged from this year's legislation in Olympia to the slow progress in completing permit applications for beach nourishment. The legislature had some successes and still has some work to do, Takko said. They passed a bill to address the...
A woman has died after walking off the bow of the ferry Oscar B. while the vessel was crossing the Columbia River Friday night. The ferry crew witnessed the incident and notified the US Coast Guard about 9:30 p.m. The crew began searching for the woman, who has been identified as Barbara Cole, age 51, from the Goldendale area. A Coast Guard helicopter crew arrived on the scene at 10 p.m. and helped recover the woman. The helicopter crew flew her to a Clatsop County hospital, but she did not survive. The Clatsop County Sheriff's Office has...
News from Naselle: Sports calendar for the Naselle Comet teams this week: Today (Thursday) High School Comet Invite, high school baseball and fast pitch at Lake Quinault at 4 p.m.; Monday, high school baseball in Naselle with Mary M, Knight at 4 p.m.; Wednesday, middle school track at North Beach at 3:30 p.m. Go Comets! If you are looking for something to do this Friday or Saturday evening, here’s a fun suggestion that will also support a great group of students. The Naselle Drama Club will perform their latest production of Usher: A Totally Te...
Officials from Wahkiakum County and the Town of Cathlamet on Tuesday set the parameters for a request to lower the SR 4 speed limit to 35 miles per hour. County commissioners will prepare a draft, and once town officials have reviewed and approved it, they'll send it to the Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT). The request is the latest step in the two entities' plan to slow traffic between the intersections at Boege and Elochoman Valley roads to address safety concerns. The officials agreed they wanted to present a unified request...
Because of hot markets and good timing, Wahkiakum County stands to receive higher than expected revenue from harvest of timber on county trust timberland. Last fall, commissioners estimated timber sale revenue at $1.1 million, but on Tuesday, representatives of the state Department of Natural Resources, which manages the trust timberland, estimated 2018 revenue at $1.7 million. DNR District Manager Padraig Callahan estimated the value to the county of the Universal Sorts sale at $1.5 million, but after it was sold in February, they now expect...
News from Naselle: Following a week of Spring Break, students will return to classes on Monday. Sports calendar for this week includes: Friday, high school baseball at PWV at 4 p.m.; Saturday, high school track at the Daily Astorian Meet; Monday, fastpitch at Taholah at 4 p.m., high school baseball in Naselle with Knappa at 4 p.m.; Wednesday, middle school track in Naselle for a home meet at 3:30 p.m. Go Comets! The Comet Booster Club will meet for their regular monthly meeting on Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the School Commons. Are you ready to make...
Wahkiakum County commissioners on Tuesday approved a resolution updating the county's public records policy. The resolution, board Clerk Beth Johnson told the commissioners, was drafted in response to new legislation regarding public records indexes and fees in an attempt to decrease the county's liability risks from public records requests by adopting state attorney general guidelines. The resolution states that it is unduly burdensome to maintain an index of records and that it is unduly burdensome to calculate the actual costs for fees for p...
Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT) officials came to Puget Island last week to update travelers about impacts from approaching construction on the Puget Island bridge. The contractor will begin painting the bridge in April. The starting date is yet to be determined. "During the work, traffic will alternate through a single-lane of the highway with a 10-foot-wide travel lane," WSDOT communication officer Tamara Greenwell said in an email. Painters will encase portions of the bridge...
It is so good to be home where I belong after a two-week absence, and the more trips I take away from this wonderful place, the more I believe it. That is not to say you shouldn’t leave occasionally, but it seems I have been away too much lately. It was a wonderful visit with family and a cold (colder than it was here) race weekend but still had a good time. The desert, I will never like, whether it is hot or cold. I did come home to my favorite spring flowers, the trilliums are blooming, the frogs sing all night and the ever present rain. I l...
Wahkiakum Health & Human Services is slowly bringing their new quarters, tentatively called the Hope House, into operation. Last summer, the congregation of the United Church of Christ, Congregational, disbanded and donated their church building and parsonage to Health & Human Services so that it would benefit the people of Wahkiakum County. Since then, Health & Human Services has been painting, moving and repositioning. On Tuesday, department staff held an open house to show what they've done...
Motorists will soon see a reduced speed limit on SR 4 through Cathlamet. Both the Cathlamet Town Council and Wahkiakum County Board of Commissioners agreed to ask the Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT) to lower the speed limit to 35 miles per hour. The move would be part of a long range effort to increase safety along the highway through Cathlamet. Officials from both the town and county have supported proposals for lower speed and other changes to improve safety on SR 4 between the Elochoman Valley and Boege roads intersections....
Wahkiakum Commissioners covered issues ranging from department staffing to insurance for events at the fairgrounds when they met Tuesday. They approved four of five staffing requests from Health and Human Services Department (H&HS)Director Chris Bischoff. They tabled a decision to increase the salary and hours for the Wahkiakum Community Center outreach coordinator. Bischoff said the wage increase for the part-time position would go from $11.50 per hour now to $14.72 by the end of the year, and hours would increase from the current 60 per...
By Rick Nelson Commissioners of Port District 2 are in a building mood. They've called for bids to construct a building to house a laundry and the Skamokawa Vista Park office. And on their monthly meeting Tuesday, they voted to purchase and install three teepees at Vista Park. Commissioners also voted to be one of the initial customers of a new business that will provide wireless internet service in the immediate Skamokawa area. A new resident of Skamokawa, Steve Carson works in internet technology and operates his own business, Computer Link N...
Two Wahkiakum County commissioners have lately been doing lots of lobbying in Olympia and Washington D.C. Commissioner Dan Cothren has been a leader of a group of officials from Skamania and Pacific counties and the Department of Natural Resources that has been working to develop legislation that would exchange county trust timberland encumbered from harvest for endangered species habitat with other trust land so that the three counties will have their full timber harvest potential restored. On Monday, Cothren was invited to participate in a...
By Rick Nelson The progress is, oh, so slow. One is speaking, of course, of Wahkiakum County's effort to set up a program to nourish eroding beaches on Puget Island and Cape Horn. In response to queries from Island residents, Commissioner Dan Cothren on Tuesday reported a bit of progress on one of two fronts. First, the county's consulting engineers met last week with the US Army Corps of Engineers to go over latest demands on the Section 408 permit, which analyzes a proposed project's impacts on neighboring property. Corps officials continue...
Preservation work on the State Route 409 Puget Island Bridge is just around the corner, with work to relocate the osprey nest starting this Friday, and an open house planned for later this month. Big C Industries, a Longview based subcontractor, will install a beam topped by a platform on the concrete portion of the bridge to become a new location for the nest that has capped the bridge for years. The general contractor, Royal Bridge, has said the work needs to be done by March 15. Painters will...
A resolution to require supplemental insurance coverage for certain events at the Wahkiakum County Fairgrounds drew concern Tuesday. The resolution would change the county code to require a $2 million proof of insurance for events such as bull riding, demolition derby, stunt driving, boxing or fighting, or competitive racing of animals or vehicles. Members of the Wahkiakum Fair Foundation and other persons supporting fair activities expressed concern the policy would curtail many animal related activities. Commissioners agreed to delay action...
Students at Wahkiakum High School are being trained to be health mentors throughout the community. The training is the result of a state funded program, said Chris Bischoff, director of the county health department, at the Tuesday meeting of the board of county commissioners. "We've found the high school is the best place to start," he said. Eight students are receiving training to answer simple questions and offer basic advice to people with health questions. "These students have lots and lots of potential," commented Public Health Nurse...
News from Naselle: To the Naselle Comet basketball teams: Thank you for providing this community with a great season! Sports calendar for the coming week: Saturday, high school baseball at Wahkiakum at 12 noon; Tuesday, fast pitch at Montesano JV at 4 p.m.; Wednesday, high school baseball at Ocosta at 4 p.m., fast pitch in Naselle with Raymond at 4 p.m. Go Comets! The SmileMobile will be in Naselle on March 19-23, providing dental service to our community. It is operated by Arcora Foundation in partnership with Seattle Children’s Hospital, a...
Members of the Wahkiakum School District board of directors on Monday approved a new reading curriculum, heard a report on developments in Career Technology Education (CTE) and acted on other business. Middle school teacher Tina Merz said that students, staff and board members had compared and evaluated two new programs. All overwhelmingly favored a program called Amplify. "Students wanted to come to class and work in it," she said. "It is very rigorous, and it is very easy to use for students...
The Wahkiakum Lady Mules claimed fourth place in the Washington girls Class 2B state tournament with a 50-49 win over the Ilwaco Lady Fishermen on Saturday morning. It was the third time the two teams had faced each other this season, with Ilwaco winning the first two games. Ilwaco finished sixth in the state tournament. The Mules opened the tournament with a 53-27 loss Thursday to Central League rival Napavine, who plays St. Georges's for third and fifth places on Saturday. On Friday, the...
Wahkiakum County commissioners covered issues ranging from sand to elk when they met on Tuesday. Puget Island resident Liz Beutler asked for a clarification on the status of easement for dredge spoils deposits on East Sunny Sands, one of the beaches where erosion is threatening structures. In a meeting last week with Congresswoman Jaime Herrera-Beutler, commissioners learned that a key holdout wasn't as ready to join the program as they had thought, and that could delay beach nourishment, she said. Public Works Director Chuck Beyer said he is...
News from Naselle: Hearts are heavy in our community as the Rob Dalton family lost a precious wife and mother, Elizabeth Dalton. She passed away on Friday, February 16 while vacationing with her husband in Hawaii. A GoFundMe page has been set up for future expenses of the family, “Together4Daltons.” The Daltons are and have been an exceptional example of community involvement, family values, mentoring and teaching. Elizabeth and Rob have four children, and Rob currently teaches at the Naselle School. My most sincere condolences to this fam...
Congresswoman Jamie Herrera-Beutler, R-District 3, visited the eroding East Sunny Sand shoreline Tuesday to see what she could do to aid efforts to set up dredge spoils deposits this year. County officials have been working for two years to establish a 10-year beach nourishment program; they're now working to complete a Section 408 impact review and convince a landowner to sign a right-of-entry easement which would complete the easements needed for the Sunny Sands disposal site. Herrera-Beutler...
