Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
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Another incredible Pig Roast/Pot luck and Campout at Poul and Zenaida Toftemark’s. If you didn’t make it, you really missed out. The food was delicious, the music, the games, the karaoke on Friday and Saturday nights, swimming, etc., made for a wonderful family weekend for lots of folks. Thank you to the Toftemarks and all their volunteer helpers. See you next year. News from Naselle: The Naselle-Grays River Valley Schools will begin the new school year on Tuesday, September 5. Teachers will be on campus for workdays on August 29, 30 and 31....
Commissioners from Consolidated Diking District No. 1 visited the Wahkiakum County Board of Commissioners Tuesday to discuss their vegetation management program. Two weeks ago, Puget Island residents told the county board someone had sprayed herbicide along dike roads, killing brush and blackberries, and often, they added, the applicators had sprayed high into trees and well into private property. County Public Works Director Chuck Beyer on that day identified the diking district as the applicat...
Effective September 1, Wahkiakum County will have a new district court judge. William Faubion, a 38-year veteran of the bench, is retiring at the end of August, and Tuesday, Wahkiakum County commissioners voted 2-1 to appoint Skamokawa attorney Heidi Heywood to complete the remainder of his term. The position will be up for election in 2018 ballots. Commissioners Blair Brady, Mike Backman and Dan Cothren had received names of two candidates to fill the position, Heywood and Cathlamet attorney Tim Hanigan. Commissioners met in a short executive...
Setting up a long-term beach nourishment program for four Wahkiakum County flood control zone district (FCZD) beaches took a small step forward Tuesday. Commissioners voted to sign a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the US Army Corps of Engineers for processing a 408 Section review of the potential impacts of the proposed sand deposits on the Columbia River shipping channel and the channel for the ferry Oscar B. County Public Works Director Chuck Beyer said he and the county's consulting engineers handling the application had discussed the...
News from Naselle: Students in the Naselle schools will return to classes on September 5. The following schedule is for registration of high school students: Seniors will register at 6 p.m. on August 7 and Juniors will register at 7 p.m. on that date. Sophomores will register at 6 p.m. on August 8 and Freshmen will register at 7 p.m. on that date. Parents or gardians must attend the registration with your student. If you need to make alternate arrangements with Mr. Laine. please contact him at (360) 480-9634, (360) 484-7121 ext. 301 or e-mail j...
District Court Judge William Faubion is retiring in August after serving 38 years as the only District Court judge in Wahkiakum County. Next Tuesday, the Wahkiakum County Board of Commissioners will appoint a temporary replacement for him. The appointee will serve the remainder of Faubion's term through 2018. The position will be on the ballot next year for a complete four-year term. The District Court office forwarded to the commission the names of two possible candidates to fill the office, local attorneys Heidi Heywood and Tim Hanigan. Both...
A group of Puget Island residents visited the Wahkiakum County Board of Commissioners July 18 to ask if it was a county crew that was spraying blackberries and brush alongside Island roads. The spraying occurred about six weeks ago, and now dry and brown vines and leaves border the dike roads. Commissioners in turn asked county Public Works Director Chuck Beyer what he knew about the spraying. "That wasn't us," he said. "It was the diking district." Indeed Consolidated Diking District No. 1 had contracted with a Cowlitz County firm to spray...
Wahkiakum County commissioners have asked the Washington State Ferries system to take over operation of the Puget Island-Westport ferry. An undated letter approved at the board's July 18 meeting states the county "is in a financial crisis and can no longer afford to operate the ferry." The letter, signed by board Chair Blair Brady, acknowledges that the state has subsidized ferry operations since 1982, but since then, revenues have declined, and operating costs have increased. Further, county revenue growth is restricted by a 1 percent cap on...
News from Naselle: It won’t be long now before our kids will return to their classrooms in the Naselle-Grays River Valley high school, and begin another school year. School will start on September 5. In the meantime, every high school student must participate in a designated registration session for their grade level. Please check the following schedule: Seniors will register at 6 p.m. on Monday, August 7 and Juniors will register at 7 p.m. on that date. Sophomores will register at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, August 8 and Freshmen will register at 7 p...
Town of Cathlamet officials may well wonder when work on their new waste water treatment plant will be completed. On Monday, they voted to declare the project contract completed and release the contractor retainage bond. However, the plant's drying beds are overflowing, forcing the town to contract with the City of Aberdeen to process incompletely processed biosolids. Basically, the long wet winter prevented the drying beds from working as intended, Jon Hinton of the consulting engineering firm Gray and Osborne explained to the council....
The Cathlamet Fire Department wants to buy a new fire truck, but when presented with a financing plan, members of the town council put on the brakes at their monthly meeting on Monday. Fire Chief Vernon Barton has proposed buying a demonstration model at a price of $412,015. With a $100,000 down payment from existing funds, the town would need to finance $344,564.18. The vendor, True North Emergency Equipment of Hillsboro, Ore., has proposed a lease-to-purchase financing plan with options to pay off in either seven, eight, nine or 10 years. Ann...
News from Naselle: The Naselle-Grays River Valley School District is looking for two host families for their two new College Board Mandarin teachers. These teachers will arrive on July 29. For more information please contact Quinn Donlon, Principal or Kendall Ford, Mandarin Mentor Teacher. The school is also looking for an Open Gym Supervisor Substitute for the gym and weight room, evenings 7-9 p.m. Westend news: Coming up soon, one of the most fun weekends of the year. Poul and Zenaida Toftemark’s Pig Roast/Potluck and Campout. This year it wi...
Why has it taken so long to set up beach nourishment projects at Cape Horn and on Puget Island? Mike Ott, the Columbia district project manager for the US Army Corps of Engineers, attempted to answer those and other questions Tuesday at the meeting of the county board of commissioners. Residents of Cape Horn and East Sunny Sands/Pancake Point areas have been pressing county commissioners for three years to set projects to replenish their eroding beaches. Commissioners have established flood...
The passage of a state capital budget may lie in the legislature overriding Governor Jay Inslee's veto of a tax break in the overall state budget, Senator Dean Takko (D-Dist. 19) said Tuesday. The vetoed section of the new budget would have given large manufacturers the same business and occupation (B&O) tax break that the Boeing Company receives. Inslee said the break was bad legislation that won't have any economic benefit. The legislature's third special session ends July 20, and Takko said both houses may address the veto before then. "A...
It’s definitely summer. The hay fields are full of activity, and I am missing the rain. My house has been filled with family for nearly two months, and it looks like that will change by the time this paper is published. Back to quiet times again, and believe me, I will miss that. Please remember the West End Food Pantry when you are out doing your own grocery shopping. Pick up an extra can or two of soup, canned meats, canned fruit or veggies, add a few items to your cart to help out the pantry with "kid friendly" ready-to-eat or e...
Wahkiakum County commissioners on Wednesday conditionally approved an application for a shoreline management substantial development permit to allow the Port of Longview and other upriver ports to begin disposing dredged sand inside Puget Island dikes. The permit appeared on the board's agenda just in May, but commissioners sent it back to the county planning commission, at that board's request, to seek further information. As a final part of the US Army Corps of Engineers' channel deepening project, upriver ports, represented by the Port of...
I hope everyone had a safe and wonderful 4th of July. Speaking for myself the whole weekend was incredible, filled with family laughs, love and fun. These times are so precious and even though the whole family wasn’t present, it was so special with those who were able to make it. As an added bonus, my nephew and niece will be here for another week before returning to the desert heat of southern California. News from Naselle: Summer is finally here, so there aren’t many school events to write about. If you or your group has an event coming up...
Critics of Wahkiakum County's proposed update of the Wahkiakum County shoreline management program (SMP) had their chance Tuesday to voice objections to the county board of commissioners. In a public hearing for comment on the proposed program, citizens said the loosely written document was too open to interpretation; that the requirements of wetland buffers would most likely prevent any new use of the land, and that is essentially a taking of private property. Some speakers urged the board to...
I hope everyone made it through that heat wave Mother Nature threw at us last weekend. It was not what I like. With the dry weather predicted for the next few days, please think carefully and plan for safety if you are having fireworks for the 4th. News from Naselle: It appears that one young man who attends Naselle-Grays River Valley High School is being rewarded for his prowess in several sports by being chosen as Male Athlete of the Year by the Daily News. He is Donny Edwards, of Rosburg, a junior and he is an all-league football and...
Members of the Cathlamet Town Council approved proposed updates to the town's shoreline management program (SMP) and acted on other business at their monthly meeting Monday. The town and Wahkiakum County have been working for four years in a joint project to update their SMP. County commissioners will hold a public hearing on the SMP next Tuesday, but they've said they have many concerns and will just gather public comments and act later this year. Council members, however, were happy with the update. "It's pretty good," said Council Member...
The Wahkiakum County ferry Oscar B. will cease service 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. next Tuesday for some mechanical work. Public Works Director Chuck Beyer said a technician will update an alarm system and move coolant tanks from engine walls to a bulkhead in order to reduce noise. "We've been trying to schedule this technician for about a year," he said. Beyer added he feels some of the work will come under warranty. The ferry will make its last run at 8 a.m. before shutting down for the work, he added....
Wahkiakum County commissioners covered business ranging from dredging progress to the county fair's bull riding program when they met Tuesday. In response to a question from the audience, Commissioner Dan Cothren reported that county officials haven't yet been able to schedule a meeting with the US Army Corps of Engineers to discuss the scope of a required Section 408 Review. Officials learned two weeks ago the Corps wanted extensive review of how spoils deposits on three of the county's four flood control zone districts (FCZD) will impact the...
The Port District 2 board of commissioners breezed through their monthly meeting on June 20. Manager Janet Bryan reported that Skamokawa Vista Park will host a kite festival on September 23. A Seattle group will host the festival. Bryan also reported the architect designing a new building to house a laundromat and office hasn't yet completed the plans. Bryan said she'll take them to the county public works office as soon as she receives them so the district can call for bids this year....
Made a quick trip to California over the weekend to get my granddaughters home for Father’s Day. We left here at 4 a.m. on Friday morning and it was raining, arriving in Stockton at about 4:30 p.m. to excruciating heat. More heat the next day, and I left at 4 a.m. on Sunday morning to escape the 110 degrees slated for that day. Made it home in less than 11 hours to our beautiful weather. News from Naselle: Looking for a fun family event? The annual Friends of the Naselle Library community picnic will be held this year on Tuesday at the l...
County elections officials last week held a special filing period for positions on the 2017 election ballots which drew no candidates in the regular May filing period, and candidates came forward for some of the positions. All positions are non-partisan. No one filed for Port District 2, Commissioner 1 Incumbent Lori Scott had previously announced she wouldn't seek re-election for another six-year term, The filing fee is $13.68. The position represents the Deep River and Rosburg/Altoona precincts. Positions that drew candidates include: --Fire...
