Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
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See videos of the longboarders here Leather ripped apart and rubber-soled shoes screeched across the pavement in downtown Cathlamet Saturday and Sunday when internationally sanctioned longboard racers took over the town and slid, crawled and dodged their way down the town's steep streets. The two-day professional longboard competition began calmly enough on Saturday at the Stockhouse Farm on Puget Island. The sedate, long and lonely distance skaters didn’t really prepare the few spectators that hung out at the finish line for what was in s...
Commissioners of Port District No. 2 slogged through more budget revisions in preparation for adopting its 2009-2010 budget when they met August 18. Vista Park Manager Steve McClain brought the commissioners up to date on park operations and explained park needs. “We have a lot of things that need repair and very little money to work with,” he said. McClain said several of Vista Park’s bathrooms were in need of new roofs and the park’s main restroom in the center of the park needs plumbing work. McClain asked the board to also consider extendi...
Fire, brimstone, heat and smoke: Large hammers, iron men, and a perhaps a few women, are what make mere mortals into blacksmiths. That’s the impression one gets visiting Solstice Forge and talking with owner David Curl of Naselle. Curl stands next to his small 110-year old forge in a shop that might once have been a two-car garage. “Blacksmithing is about history," he said, “and there are no trade secrets.” His leather gloved hand turns a small crank that simultaneously spins a bellows fan that injects air into a bed of hot coals. “It's a...
They say the third time is a charm. Employees and management of the Wahkiakum Fair hope so because they’ve worked hard to save their unique little fair. The fairgrounds experienced severe flooding in 2006 when water reached the six-foot mark on horse arena walls. In 2007 the water was almost as deep. But it was winter 2008 that almost put a period to the fairground’s history after Mother Nature buried the horse arena under three-feet of snow, and then crushed it to the ground. But like a Phoenix rising from the ashes again, and again, and aga...
The Wahkiakum County Sheriff's Department wants fairgoers to try out their “Beer Goggles” this year at the county fair. The goggles simulate driving under the influence and fairgoers will have an unusual challenge when they try on the goggles and then get behind the wheel to drive a go-cart. It's all part of their Fatal Vision program to let people instantly experience driving drunk, while being sober. “I know it sounds funny,” said Undersheriff Jon Dearmore, “but once people put these things on they realize why it’s dangerous to climb behin...
The Columbia Land Trust’s (CLT) success at acquiring land in Wahkiakum County has been a balance of moving in on the tail-end of a disaster, as in the case of the Grays River flooding, or acquiring land that has taxable value but little sales value, as in the case of the 200 acres it recently acquired east of the Elochoman Bridge near the DeBriae Logging equipment yard. The CLT was established in 1990 and today promotes itself as a nonprofit land trust and land conservancy organization. It owns land and holds land in trust for both large and s...
Port District 2 board members reconvened August 5 to continue the Policy and Procedures discussion it began on July 21. At the start, audience member Pat Reese asked the board to clarify its procedures for public comment. Chairman Brian O’Connor told her the audience could ask questions as the meeting progressed. Reese said if that was the case she’d like to ask her questions first. O’Connor agreed. Reese asked the board if they planned to sign any policy statements they might create. The board referred the question to port attorney Jenni...
The partially rebuilt Wahkiakum High school bleachers are almost finished and should be ready for the first Junior Varsity game this fall. “We had insurance so it covered all the damage to the bleachers,” said School Superintendent, Bob Garrett. “We called for bids early in June and accepted a bid submitted by Five Rivers Construction from Longview.” Garrett said the cost to repair the bleachers will run about $106,000 and there will probably be one change order to correct a architectural design flaw that had to do with how the press box tha...
The Wahkiakum PUD board of commissioners worked its way through a list of housecleaning measures this week and finished their regular session and moved to an executive session. PUD Manager David Tramblie told commissioners the district is looking at about a 1 percent to 2 percent increase in the cost of its power from the Bonneville Power Administration, “It would be my recommendation to increase the rates to cover those (BPA) costs, as well as our own inflationary costs,” he said. BPA is passing on its rising costs to local utilities. “I...
The Wahkiakum County Fair is gearing up with new vendors, promenade, and, if all goes as planned, a new arena. Construction on the new $500,000 replacement arena is underway. “They tell me it will be ready by fair day,” Fair Manager Sarah Lawrence said this week. Right now the fair grounds are a mixture of sound and fury. Dust mingles with the emergency warning beeps from heavy equipment. Other construction sounds emanating from near the horse barn, coupled with the high pitched whine of a table saw in the cow barn add to the hectic atm...
The Columbian Estuary Study Taskforce (CREST) has about a week of construction left on a 1500-foot section of habitat restoration on a Grays River tributary that runs through the Gorley farm just off Fossil Creek road. CREST habitat restoration specialist, Amy Ammer said the organization has spent nearly $800,000 on this phase of their project. And crews worked most of the summer, testing, cleaning and shaping the streambed. CREST workers added gravel in and along the upper portion of the tributary. “The heavy equipment will be here probably a...
Commissioners of Wahkiakum County Port District 2 Commissioners showed a mixture of self-restraint and common sense at their July 21 meeting after they reviewed the details of a resolution that would have increased the ports debt load by $100,000. Commission Chair Brian O’Connor set the agenda, and Commissioner Kayrene Gilbertsen announced she hoped the board would approve Resolution No. 2009. The proposed resolution authorized Port Manager Steve McClain to sign for a loan that would raise the port’s existing debt of $284,000 to $384,821. The...
Even if they didn’t sound funny running down the road, the old-fashioned look of Model T Fords would cause rubbernecking. Their clumsy aerodynamics makes them plain cute! “They don’t go too fast either,” said Larry Hart. “In fact in the old days you had to drive a Model T backwards up a hill because they didn’t have fuel pumps and the gas was gravity fed to the engine.” Hart and his wife Sandy were among the 14 passengers and drivers who lined up their Model Ts and drove on to the ferry landing on Puget Island headed for Westport last Wednesda...
The Wahkiakum School district budget shrank considerably this year. The district adopted its 2009-10 budget at the July board of directors meeting. The directors passed a $4,958,432 General Fund budget for the upcoming school year. “This is about $350,000 less than we had to work with last year,” said School Superintendent, Robert Garrett. Garrett said the savings came from a combination of changes in the way the district manages teachers, students and classified staff. Garrett said his district worked hard for the past six months to cre...
You’ve seen their cars on the road. From a distance they look like state troopers cars with antennas sticking out the top or back. They also almost always have licenses plates with their “call signs” on them. They’re officially known as amateur radio operators but they’re better known as “ham operators.” In the stereotype, we think of these guys (they’re mostly all guys) as “geeks” sitting in their radio shacks late at night talking quietly into their microphones. That impression however is a mistake. “It may seem like we’re a bunch of old...
Here are some unsettling facts about Wahkiakum County’s population: The county’s population hovers around 4,000 people and, “A full 10 percent can probably be classified as chemically dependent, or chemical abusers,” said Larry Tedder, lead counselor at Wahkiakum Chemical Dependency Services in Cathlamet. Statistics show the 10 percent figure is representative of the statewide average for drug abuse. In Wahkiakum that chemical abuse is growing in the middle-age population. “I’d say more men than women are abusing drugs in this county,” Te...
Market conditions continue to influence Wahkiakum’s timber industry. Recent news about rise in new home construction would seem to indicate the recession is easing. But professional timber managers and data from the US Census Bureau show that the prediction may be premature. The 2009 Census shows housing starts down 32 percent for the year. ‘This is an indication that not only is the housing industry off, but also explains why Wahkiakum’s timber industry is in a slump. Few are buying logs. Log suppliers are fearful of cutting their trees becaus...
Skamokawa’s got gas. That’s the word from Venoco Gas and Oil. The quality and amount however are so to speak, up in the air. Venoco Gas and Oil Company slipped into Skamokawa valley shortly before spring of this year and started drilling two exploratory wells to look for methane gas. One site is located on Longview Fibre land along Middle Valley Road; the other is on Department of Natural Resource Land on East Valley Road. “A permit was issued to Venoco to drill an exploratory test well on DNR land after the company complied with all the rules...
Nine County Commissioners from Wahkiakum, Clatsop, and Pacific counties met Monday at the Wahkiakum County courthouse to discuss fish policy for the lower Columbia region. The commissioners are finalizing a white paper to describe how they hope the state will approach fish policy in the future for the lower Columbia region. They plan to send the report on to their state representatives for their next legislative sessions. “We want the state fishing commission to see us as a team," said Pacific County Commissioner John Kaino. All the c...
Public transportation riders will be happy to learn that the Wahkiakum transport service Wahkiakum On The Move (WOTM) is expanding its regular service Monday-Friday as of August 1. The extended schedule is due to a $340,000 dollar grant the organization received from both the State and Federal Departments of Health and Human Services transportation programs. “The funding allows us to make more daily runs on a weekly basis,” said Transportation Coordinator Bob Stillings. Along with an increase in its day-to-day bus service, WOTM’s new plan is to...
Biologists from the federal National Rivers and Streams Assessment Program began work on the Elochoman River last week. The four biologists launched their inflatable rafts across the road from the office in the Julia Butler Hansen National Wildlife Refuge for White-tail Deer on Thursday. Their plan was to research the river's habitat, biology, water quality and chemistry. “Its part of the federal government’s five year study to survey Washington’s rivers and streams,” said biologist Dylan Monahan. Monahan said he and fellow biologists would spe...
Drivers will encounter closures and minor delays on nearly 28 miles of SR 4 for the rest of summer. Beginning this week, drivers will encounter daytime single-lane closures of up to 20 minutes on SR 4 between Skamokawa and Coal Creek Road (mile post 27.5 to 55.0). A spokesperson for the construction company working on the highway said the plans, approved by Washington Department of Transportation, call for lane closures of up to 20 minutes. The lane closures will allow contractor crews to install signs and temporary fencing, and to mobilize...
Wahkiakum PUD has received its permit and begun work on the $250,000 water main project along SR 409 on Puget Island. During the past three weeks workers have installed three-tenths of a mile of the new 10” plastic water pipe down the east side of SR 409. The job is expected to last until next summer, with workers cutting back in the fall and winter because of the high ground water levels on Puget Island. “We’re digging about a four-foot deep trench alongside the road,” said Water Department Foreman Jim Jespersen, “and in the winter we won’t be...
Wahkiakum PUD Commissioners were asked to gaze into their crystal balls this past Tuesday to determine what the county’s power needs will be by 2012. PUD Manager David Tramblie told commissioners the county’s 20-year contract with the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) is subject to change because of the way the BPA plans allocate electricity by October 2011. “They will be implementing what they call ‘Tier Rates’ and we need to decide soon on which of the options we want to choose,” said Tramblie. The new BPA rate structure will be a two-ti...
Ashley Eckert, 24, is the new part-time Coordinator at the Chamber of Commerce office and contributing member of the Bald Eagle Days celebration. Eckert grew up in Rainier, Oregon, and graduated from Rainier High School. She now lives in Kelso and commutes to Cathlamet. She worked in the title and escrow end of the real estate market and now works part time for Wahkiakum Title and Escrow in downtown Cathlamet. When the Chamber coordinator job, opened, she said she found it was a natural fit. “I’ve been to this area four or five times,” Ecker...
