Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
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Wednesday afternoon update from Tamara Greenwell, WSDOT Regional Communications Manager: "All of the soggy debris is behaving well under all the rain. It is surprisingly more stable than we thought it might be. Crews are planning to get safety barrier in place on Thursday. It is still too soon to say when we can reopen the highway, but we are hoping for some time next week. "The trees and rootwads from the slide are being taken to the Lower Columbia Fish Enhancement Group for use in their...
The contractor working for the Washington State Department of Transportation has opened a lane for traffic past the landslide that has close SR 4 KM Mountain for 16 days. Here is WSDOT's later afternoon news release announcing the opening: A single lane of State Route 4, west of Cathlamet, is now open after a landslide closed the highway Jan. 23. Traffic will alternate through the area via the eastbound lane. The westbound lane will remain closed while contractor crews working for the Washington State Department of Transportation continue work...
Superintendent Brent Freeman addressed about 30 people at a meeting about the bond to remodel Wahkiakum High School last Wednesday. There were two courses of action when they began this process last April, Freeman started. One was to build a new school. To do so would would mean they had to demolish the old, which include floors containing asbestos. It would be a huge cost altogether, estimated at $65-70 million. "In the end, we had enough of this building that we felt we didn't need to go...
By Rick Nelson With news about the new coronavirus 2019-nCOV that originated in China turning into a worldwide pandemic, Wahkiakum County health officers addressed the issue at the Tuesday meeting of the Wahkiakum County Board of Commissioners. The virus started in animals and transferred itself to humans in Wuhan, China. It has since spread around the globe, infecting people with a pneumonia like illness. The risk to people in the lower Columbia region is low, said Wahkiakum County Health Officer Dr. Steven Krager. Health organizations and...
To The Eagle: I had the privilege to walk through the front doors of Wahkiakum High School in 1966 and leave through those same doors as a graduate 50 years ago this coming June. The school has undergone very little change since those days. The Mule Cafe (lunchroom) was a side entry and the CTE building did not exist. The main building, aside from a few bandaids, has had no remodeling or major upgrades in nearly 60 years. Well beyond its expected life. My sons both graduated from Wa-Ki-Hi, I worked as a substitute teacher for 15 years and the...
To The Eagle: Well, I have reviewed the bond facts. I am going to vote for the renovations. My one question is: Why is nothing mentioned about taking care of the flat roof on the high school? That was a mistake back when they built the school and we are still struggling with it. Stop using a band-aid fix. Do it right. Our kids need a good education. Carol McClain Skamokawa...
To The Eagle: Wahkiakum School District is one of the great institutions in Wahkiakum County. Over the years it has dealt with most of Wahkiakum County’s greatest asset - its people. In the 50’s and 60’s the current buildings were constructed, the exceptions being the middle school and some additions on both sites. My Dad and other like-minded individuals on the school board planned for and supported the bond issue for constructing the “new” high school. Issues of cost and needs and values were pretty much the same then as now. When the struc...
To The Eagle: First let me say that I am in favor of providing the best education possible in the best facility possible in our community. I think school facility maintenance and repair is an ongoing responsibility of school administration, not a once in a generation undertaking. My issue with what has been proposed for our school is the overall cost. I once served on a school board in a small Washington community and we needed to build a new school for K through 12 grades. That school was 33,000 square feet, the year was 1990 and the cost to...
To The Eagle: Well this past week has revealed that both common sense and taste have fallen into desuetude. I seem to recall a time when trials had real witnesses and entertainment involved more than scantily dressed women pelvic thrusting themselves around a stage for the entertainment of 100 million TV viewers and tens of thousands in attendance at our recent Super Bowl. Becoming an old man has made it seem likely that our days of wine and roses are only of historical note and available only in films from yesteryear. It also seems that half...
To The Eagle: About 15 years ago, I met a fellow who was a retired school superintendent from Montana, visiting a mutual friend. During our conversation I asked him how tough it was to be a school superintendent. He said it was really pretty simple. He explained there is a huge database of information on schools nationwide. The data indicates that a school budget should be 80 percent for personnel and 20 percent for facilities or plant, as he described it. And, he said, if you deviate from this ratio very much for very long, it will lead to...
To The Eagle: I agree that our high school needs improvement and I’m all for giving the best for our students but I’m voting no on the school bond. The amount they’re proposing to improve is way too much. For that same amount it’s best to demolish the school and build a new one. This way it will be built right with up-to-date codes and technologies. After all, this is a small town and we are dealing with the total students, freshmen through seniors, probably less than 300 as compared to other schools that have the capacity of 300 or more st...
To The Eagle: An article in last week’s Eagle announced that Cowlitz County is the first 911 center in the state of Washington to have Text to 911. However, an important word was missing. It should have said that it was the first 911 center in the State of Washington to have “integrated” Text to 911 service, which means 911 texts are delivered through their 911 phone system. Wahkiakum County has had Text to 911 since July 2016 but uses a web browser-based system. Fourteen other 911 centers in the state of Washington use the same method as Wa...
To The Eagle: I support our children and our schools but not this time; this property tax burden increase is way too expensive. Local homeowners’ taxes will go up 30 to 50 percent if this passes, let me repeat that, 30 to 50 percent. That is just too much all at once for our limited number of property owners. The best advice I can give the school board is that if the buildings are in such bad shape why would you want to invest 28 million dollars plus into them? I understand new Pre-Fab Building techniques lower the cost of new buildings d...
To The Eagle: A message from Naselle School Board Chair: Chuck Hendrickson [Naselle school board chair] - Jan 25 7:09 PM “I’m school board chair at Naselle and have been following the discussion regarding your [Cathlamet] proposed renovation with great interest as we are also considering a renovation of one of our buildings. We have been advised by ESD112 [SW WA Education Svc District] to approximate construction costs at about $400 per square foot. I have been in contact with the superintendent of South Bend’s school district. They are buildin...
To The Eagle: The jackass party has done it [the Iowa fiasco] again. Blame the Russians, anyone? It proves that it has no claim or right to govern our nation. Go away sore losers, poseurs, fools. Take the pussy hats off and think for once. You bad-mouth your fellow citizens and its traditions. You deserve all the derision that your infantile behavior begets. One more; 34 million dollar price tag for a new high school? A fantasy. Who is going to be able to afford this nonsensical and onerous burden? 1700, 1800 property tax payers in this tiny...
To The Eagle: Do the math. If approved, your total property tax bill will swell from $7.92 per $1000 of assessed value to $11.29, a 42% increase. The percentage of your total tax bill paid to the school district jumps from 19% to 43%. Considering there are currently nine other taxing districts at a combined average of 9% it’s obvious something’s out of balance. In its first year alone the school bond would garner approximately $1.44 MILLION in revenue, a staggering amount increasing annually if the county’s appraised value continues its 11% g...
Wahkiakum County PUD Board of Commissioners met on Tuesday morning to listen to reports, and to discuss the Western Wahkiakum Water System and the General Manager’s compensation. The PUD has had to make some adjustments due to the slide on KM. One employee, who lives on the Westend, has been given a PUD truck for the duration, and is spending his days working over there. Logging companies have made it possible for the PUD to travel back and forth, and while General Manager Tramblie was grateful...
The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission will hold a workshop on hatchery reform, as well as consider land acquisitions and forest restoration projects in connection with its meeting Feb. 6-8. The commission’s work will kick off on Thursday at 8 a.m. with a workshop on the key findings of a recently completed report about hatchery reform. That report, “A review of hatchery reform science in Washington State,” can be found online at https://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/02121. The report examines scientific information on actions available to ha...
By Cameron Sheppard, WNPA News Service OLYMPIA (Jan. 30)--People will be asked to use a lot less gasoline and to convert to alternative clean fuels in the next 15 years if a proposal before the Legislature becomes law. After lengthy debate Jan. 30, Engrossed Second Substitute House Bill 1110 passed 54-44 in the House despite bipartisan opposition. Five Democratic lawmakers voted no. If it becomes law, the measure would direct the Department of Ecology to adopt a clean fuels program with the goal of limiting greenhouse gas emissions per unit of...
Wahkiakum County commissioners had a short but busy meeting Tuesday, covering lots of ground. Some of the topics addressed were: County staff are trying to arrange a meeting with the US Army Corps of Engineers dredging program staff to discuss projects on Puget Island and Grays Bay. Commissioner Dan Cothren said Corps staff haven't responded to the request for the meeting to discuss beach nourishment on Puget Island and a proposal to unplug the mouths of Grays and Deep river to reduce flooding in the Westend. Cothren added that Island beach no...
By Leona Vaughn, WNPA News Service OLYMPIA (Jan. 29)--A measure designed to protect the health, safety, and overall well-being of domestic workers in Washington state has been sponsored by Democratic senators at the request of Gov. Jay Inslee and Attorney General Bob Ferguson. If passed, SB 6247 would guarantee that domestic workers be paid at least minimum wage, which is $13.50 per hour according to the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries. Workers must also receive meal and rest breaks, and overtime pay, if applicable. The...
By Leona Vaughn, WNPA News Service OLYMPIA (Jan. 31)--The death penalty would no longer be a sentencing option in Washington state if lawmakers enact a bill passed by the Senate on Jan. 31. Senate Bill 5339 has bipartisan support to eliminate the death penalty — a punishment the Supreme Court ruled as unconstituional in 2018. Gov. Jay Inslee also put a moratorium on it in 2014. Instead of a death sentence, “all persons convicted of aggravated first degree murder must be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of release or par...
MILD TO FRIGID--As this week began, which was Super Bowl Sunday, the morning sunshine was a real treat, even if it was quite nippy out. Some places got down to freezing while others were just close. Considering we were told we might have snow or rain in the morning, it was definitely a nice treat to see the sun for a bit! However, on Monday morning, many folks in the higher regions, like Beaver Creek, woke up to some "white stuff" and slick conditions so school wound up being postponed for a couple of hours. I was pretty surprised that we...
THURSDAY Cathlamet Fire Department, 7 p.m. Senior Citizen Luncheon, Hope Center, 3rd & Maple, Cathlamet, Noon. Senior Citizen Luncheon, Rosburg Hall, Noon. CathlameTones, Hotel Cathlamet, 6 p.m. Skamokawa Fire Department, 7 p.m. Grays River Fire Department, work night, 7:30 p.m. Puget Island Fire Department, drill night, 7 p.m. District No. 4 Fire Department, 7 p.m. Wahkiakum Fire District 2 Commissioners, Skamokawa Fire Hall, 7 p.m. Food Addicts Meeting, Hope Center, 3rd & Maple, Cathlamet, 6-7 p.m. Westside Play & Learn Group, Valley Bible...
SR 4 to Open As of Sunday afternoon SR 4 was still closed, yet a single lane had been prepared for traffic with the automatic signal light at each side of the slide area. A worker on site informed me that the road may be open this week, but not to quote him. Celeste Dimichina from the WSDOT southwest office in Vancouver informed me on Monday morning that as far as she knew the highway would still be closed indefinitely. By the time readers get this story the road could be open, but with more rain expected, only God really knows. Dimichina sent...
