Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
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The $3 million ferry ramp replacement project for the Wahkiakum ferry is finally underway. The plan has taken six years and hundreds of sometimes frustrating man hours to set in motion. “This all started before I got here,” said Wahkiakum Public Works Director Pete Ringen. He said just getting the ramp’s design right and the permits to build the structure were what took so long. Ringen said after the commissioners hired him he spoke with them to define and clarify any problems and to make sure the original ferry ramp plan they had approved was...
The Public Power Council (PPC) spoke recently with Wahkiakum PUD commissioners about the changes in the distribution of electricity here in Wahkiakum county and throughout the Northwest. The PPC is the umbrella organization representing 140 electrical utilities that deal with the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) Additionally, the company works with public utility districts to negotiate power contracts. “A part of our goal,” said PPC Executive Director Scott Corwin, “is, because not all PUDs have the same problems, is to try and get custo...
Wahkiakum County Port Districts 1 and 2 now belong to a dredging co-op. Both ports hope this new alliance with other ports along the Columbia River will alleviate some of the problems the county is having with the silting up of the channels on Puget Island, the mouth of Skamokawa Creek and the Elochoman Slough Marina. “I honestly can’t remember who came up with the idea to buy the dredge,” said Port 2 Manager Steve McClain. Besides Wahkiakum’s two port districts, the co-op includes the ports of Willapa Harbor, Ilwaco, Chinook, and Nahcott...
War comes in different forms, some violent, some psychological and quiet. The effect along the Grays River? Property owners are feeling under siege. “We are trying to save our properties,” said Delvin Fredrickson, chairman of the Grays River Habitat Enhancement District (a diking district) “from non governmental organizations (NGOs) like The Columbia Land Trust, Ducks Unlimited, the Lower Columbia Fish Recovery Board, and the Columbia River Estuary River Study Taskforce.” Fredrickson points out that the conservation groups invading the Grays R...
The Wahkiakum school board opened its October 21 meeting and almost immediately asked for input on its proposed maintenance and operations levy set for a vote this February 9, 2010. “I’ve asked Bob McClintock from the school’s maintenance department to provide input on levy items for consideration in 2010,” said school Superintendent Bob Garrett Garrett said he realized not all the items on the wish list could be funded but felt that some of maintenance items must be dealt with right away. “If we don’t address some of these problems no...
Commissioners of Wahkiakum PUD voted Tuesday to hold off raising electrical and water rates this year. There were a few surprised faces when PUD Commissioner Esther Gregg announced that she thought the commission should hold off raising rates for next year. “After talking with Erin (Auditor Wilson) and David (General Manager Tramblie) last week, I feel that, given the state of the economy in the county, we should hold off the authorization of any rate increase for the present,” said Gregg. Gregg said that because people were out of work all...
Commissioners of Port District 2 of Wahkiakum County worked on their budget for 2010 and approved a resolution to place a 1 percent tax increase on voters in the district when they met October 13. The commissioners postponed their usual discussion and a review of the minutes from the port's previous meeting as well as vouchers approval because port auditor Sharon Mast was called out of town on an emergency. Manager Steve McClain reported to Commissioners Brian O’Connor, Carlton Appelo and Kayrene Gilbertsen that Skamokawa Vista Park is e...
A house on Skamokawa Harbor slid into the water sometime Friday night or early Saturday morning. Photo by Stevan Morgain. Skamokawa residents awoke Saturday to discover the house that had sat on cedar pilings over Skamokawa harbor for years had slid into the water sometime Friday evening. The house is a weekend residence for owner Randy Vogt; he was at his regular Portland residence when the incident occurred. There was no warning; the weather was mild and the wind calm. The house seemed to have just given up, sagging slowly forward,...
The Hotel Cathlamet’s assisted living center will close its doors at the end of October. The families of the hotel residents received letters at the end of September notifying them they had to find new homes for their parents and relatives by the end of the month. The closure affected 19 people, most senior citizens, in residence at the hotel. Three of them were scheduled to relocate last Friday morning. “We moved my wife’s mother out last week,” said Maurice Mooers. “The real problem was that I think they were trying to run the hotel lik...
Jeff and Sherrill Bollen fell in love with their old house on East Sunny Sands Road. Built in 1917 the house stood next to the road for over 90 years. The Bollens eventually purchased the house for salvage from the U.S. Corps of Engineers after the Corps decided they wanted the land for a dredge spoils dump site and purchased the house and land from David and Libby Whitney. “It was my husband’s and my dream to have an old house on Puget Island,” said Sherrill,” and we hoped it would be something we could take our time to restore in a place w...
Wahkiakum County commissioners declared a countywide emergency October 8, to deal with the H1N1 (Swine Flu) virus they were told had surfaced in the county a few months ago. The Commissioners written Declaration of Emergency states that, “The Director of health and human services reported that a life-threatening infectious … pandemic is imminent and … there is a substantial likelihood of risk to citizens … of Wahkiakum County … under the emergency powers granted to them by RCW 36.40.180. it is therefore declared a...
The last to rise and the last to decline: That’s how Wahkiakum’s realtors describe the county’s property values. In 2003 the phenomenon now known as the “real estate bubble” was first used to describe the inflated property values in places like King County. Unfortunately for everyone else, the bubble expanded to encompass almost every square inch of land in Washington, and seemingly overnight, home values doubled while homeowners slept. In 2007, the bubble began to pop and the vacuum it created exposed how mortgage brokers, banks, and the g...
The fate of the historic Skamokawa Town Center is still in limbo. The auction to sell the town center and all its assets was scheduled for last Friday at 10 a.m. but the auction took an unexpected twist after its current owner, Richard G. Hofmann or Miraculous Properties, LLC, used a legal maneuver to postpone the sale. Unbeknownst to the parties who had arrived on the front steps of the Wahkiakum Court House to bid on the center, Hoffman had filed for bankruptcy the day before the auction. His filing set in motion a legal situation that must...
The Wahkiakum School District's maintenance and operation levy needs to pass this November--that's the word from school district Superintendent Bob Garrett. Members of the board of directors heard from Garrett and Principals Loren Davis and Theresa Libby. Garrett told all present the girl’s sports program was crowded and 32 girls had turned out for volleyball this year. "You know you can't get 32 girls into a tournament very well," he said. The middle school will be short two coaches, Garrett said, adding that he felt guilty because of the s...
The dredge Oregon sits in the distance as a crew boat races toward it. The dredge is working at the west end of Puget Island restoring about 350 yards of beach. Photo by Stevan Morgain. A familiar sight along the Columbia River is the dredge Oregon grinding its way up and down the river keeping the shipping channel open to commerce. Wahkiakum County Commissioner Lisa Marsyla arranged for The Wahkiakum Eagle and representatives from Cathlamet to tour the dredge. The Port of Portland provided Navigation Manager Jeff Hawkins to go along to...
Over 500 people came - the largest crowd ever assembled in Wahkiakum county - to honor one man. The courtroom filled with people, hundreds more lined the streets unable to hear the words of tribute pronounced by the speakers inside. Thus was the funeral of George Henry “Hank” Hanigan reported in the Columbia River Sun in 1947. “Hey maybe you can write my epitaph” said George Hanigan (Hank’s son) sitting at a table in PJ’s Restaurant recently. “I’ll write it for free,” I said, "but let’s get through the interview first.” It wasn’t just me he...
Wahkiakum PUD's board of commissioners hurried through its agenda September 15 to make time for a presentation by Bonneville Power Administration representatives about the BPA’s new rate structure (see separate article). PUD Manager David Tramblie told commissioners he had a customer that wanted to relocate a house from East Sunny Sands to a piece of property he owns on Ostervold Road. “There are 47 locations we have to deal with along the route the house has to travel that are going to be affected,” Tramblie said, “and were not sure what al...
Port 2 was short one commissioner last Tuesday due to Commissioner Carlton Appelo being on vacation. Commissioners settled vouchers and discussed the Oneida boat launch. Both Commissioners Brian O’Connor and Kayrene Gilbertsen said they were surprised the ramp hadn’t seen more use this summer. Port auditor Sharon Mast gave commissioners copies of the Port’s financial report and said several of the vouchers commissioners were being asked to sign dealt with the Youth Services grant that the park had administered during the summer. “So some of...
Helping Hand food bank coordinator Mary Dasher shows some of the food left to distribute to her clients before the organization moves to temporary housing in the T-Building at the county fairgrounds in Skamokawa. The Helping Hand food bank located beneath the Cathlamet Seventh Day Adventist Church at 3 Fern Hill Road is moving September 27 to the T-Building at the fairgrounds in Skamokawa. “We will be re-opening October 13, and we have lots of helpers,” coordinator Mary Dasher said Tuesday. “In fact we were just discussing where to get a truck...
The Bonneville Power Administration’s billing philosophy is changing. That’s the word from the representative who met with Wahkiakum’s PUD commissioners September 15. The changes will make power more costly to the PUD - like buying milk at the market. Bonneville is forcing Wahkiakum PUD to view itself as more of a for-profit business, selling individual electrical usage as part of a market system. PUD Commissioners Bob Jungers, Esther Gregg and Larry Reese welcomed Bonneville representatives Shannon Green and account specialists Wally Rogha...
The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) announced September 7 it would raise the average cost of power to its more than 140 wholesalers by 7 percent. The rate hikes take effect October 1, and Wahkiakum PUD residential customers will see their bills go up by about 5 percent. The question: Why is Bonneville raising its rates in a recession? “That is the question everyone is asking,” said Wahkiakum PUD Commissioner Bob Jungers. The BPA said the rate increase is to help pay its share of cost to the Columbia Nuclear Generating Station in Ric...
The Sons of Norway celebrated their 75th Anniversary at the Puget Island Norse Hall on Sunday. About 150 people came from as far as Virginia to help usher in a new era of Scandinavian pride. The celebration included music, dance, food, and the installation and dedication of a new art glass window installed above Norse Hall’s front door. “Allyce and Charlie Miller had the art glass window designed and made in Astoria,” said Sons of Norway President Jan Silvestri. “That window space above the door was just being wasted,” Miller said. “It was fill...
Workers pour concrete into a cast that supports the new Winter Slough tide gate in the Julia Butler Hansen Refuge for the White-tail Deer. The US Army Corps of Engineers is replacing three gates in the refuge. Photo by Stevan Morgain. Steamboat Slough Road is still closed and work continues on the Julia Butler Hansen refuge tide-gates this week. The US Army Corps of Engineers have two more weeks of work left on the second of the three tide gates being replaced in the refuge. Last Friday the Corps poured the first of several layers of concrete...
The Columbia Saloon, perhaps the tallest building in downtown Cathlamet, has been closed up so long it almost goes unnoticed …until … that goofy mannequin in the window moves to a different one. To the curious, the mobile mannequin is an intriguing first insight into the nature and character of the couple that bought the building. “We bought the saloon in 2003,” said Dave Gehrman. “We really had no idea what we were going to do with it.” The building was a disaster when he bought it because in 1992 a fire had gutted the front p...
Some guys have all the luck. At least that’s Bruce Oliver’s take on the fact that during the months of June and July of this year he caught four tagged northern pikeminnows near the Cathlamet Marina and Elochoman River. The fish were worth $500 each. “I got $2000 for the four of them,” said Oliver. “That’s a pretty fair chunk of change for a guy just having fun.” Oliver lives in Arizona but spent many years in Longview. That's how he learned of the Cathlamet marina. He currently keeps a little motorhome at the marina and fishes the Columbia. “I...
