Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
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Voluntary and court-mandated mental and behavioral health treatments will continue despite coronavirus-related closures at the Wahkiakum County Health and Human Services offices. Treatment will be offered through remote communication options except in situations where personal safety is at risk, according to county health officials. Gov. Jay Inslee’s stay-at-home orders have been extended until May 4 and the county’s health department is planning for the long haul. “Our clients have adapted really well to transitioning to using techn...
Several southwest Washington counties, including Wahkiakum County, implemented a ban on outdoor burning for land clearing, residential and silvicultural purposes. Wahkiakum County Public Works Director Chuck Beyer said Tuesday the ban will expire April 21. Then ban could be lifted sooner if weather conditions permit, he added. The ban came after state and local agencies had to responded to four separate fires on Sunday. One occurred on a logging site up the Elochoman Valley near Duck Creek. It burned 1.5 acres, according to reports. Crews from...
Photo courtesy of Allen Bennett....
The Cathlamet Town Council learned about census, approved a park maintenance bid and contracts for water line work and dock restoration, and discussed spending in the time of corona virus at their three-hour-long Monday meeting. Speaking to council concerns that the town might be under counted, US Census representative Lorraine Ralston described census procedures. People are counted at residential units, she said, with responders asking how many people were in the unit on April 1. That isn’t a deadline, she said; the census is tasked with c...
On Monday Washington State Governor Jay Inslee and state Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal announced that the statewide closure of schools would be extended through the end of the school year. Local leaders responded. While this seemed like an inevitability, it still feels very sad and almost surreal,” Naselle Grays River Valley School District Superintendent Lisa Nelson said. “Our staff are bummed and we feel so badly for the parents and students, especially our seniors who...
Wahkiakum County commissioners aren't ready to recommend a halt on recreational hunting and fishing, the board said on Tuesday. The Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife wants to know, said Chris Bischoff, director of Wahkiakum County Health and Human Services reported to commissioners at their weekly meeting. WDFW is gathering input on the idea from county health officers, he said, adding that he wanted to know the commissioners' feelings before responding. Halts or restrictions of hunting and fishing would be part of the continued...
To The Eagle: I can appreciate Sen. Ron Johnson’s ( R-Wis.) commentary on keeping a little perspective during this pandemic. He said "every premature death is a tragedy, but death is an unavoidable part of life. More than 2.8 million die each year — nearly 7,700 a day. The 2017-18 flu season was exceptionally bad, with 61,000 deaths attributed to it. Can you imagine the panic if those mortality statistics were attributed to a new virus and reported nonstop?" Like now. Incessant media yammering about local, national and global pandemic infection...
To The Eagle: I feel comfortable speaking for all of us here in Wahkiakum County when I say thank you so much to all of our neighbors that are at work keeping the stores, gas stations and other businesses open. A thank you is really not enough but I know we all truly appreciate and respect what our police, firemen and ambulance crews are doing every day. I would like to point out something we seem to forget: How important every working person is and how much respect they deserve for what they do every hour and day of the year. You shouldn't...
To The Eagle: The March 26 Eagle showed the recently passed SB6561 which provides a student ‘loan’ program for illegals. I say free because 44 percent of loans given to legal American citizens go unpaid. What’s the chance those given to illegal aliens will ever get paid? This is at a time when this same legislature has been in violation of Article 9, Section 1 of the WA State Constitution which mandates that the legislature pay for school construction, maintenance, and salaries. The legislature has been fined $100,000 per day since 2015 for b...
This press release and a story in last week’s edition didn’t cross paths soon enough. Wahkiakum County Treasurer Tammy Peterson reports an extension in the property tax payment deadline. --Editor To respond to the economic impacts stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, Wahkiakum County Treasurer Tammy Peterson encourages property owners who are financially able to pay first half or full year property taxes by the due date of April 30th. Your property taxes fund essential services in state and local government, including the Town of Cat...
Wahkiakum on the Move, the local bus service, has seen a sharp decrease in ridership with the covid19 pandemic, but they plan to keep moving for the people who need them, as well as providing additional delivery service for the Lions Club Helping Hands and the Wahkiakum Food Bank. Managers are asking people to use the service for essential rides only. As a response to the health crisis, they have decided to cut some of their routes for the time being. Usually they make four trips to Longview eve...
As of Tuesday night, two Wahkiakum County residents have tested postive for covid-19. The first positive test was taken locally, with the results posting on Friday. The individual is in self-quarantine as of Friday and did not require medical care. The second positive test was taken out of the county, with results posting on Saturday. That individual had mild symptoms and was also in self quarantine. The two cases are not related. According to the Washington Department of Health website, 16...
The Wahkiakum PUD Board of Commissioners met on Tuesday to discuss business, with some taking advantage of Zoom to attend remotely. General Manager Dave Tramblie reported that he had decided to delay bids for tree trimming, a pole testing project, and possibly the Skamokawa Water Expansion project because of the current health emergency. The permits for the Skamokawa Water Expansion project are a few weeks out, he said. They will wait till that time to determine whether it would “be prudent t...
STARTING OFF--As this week began, we actually had a pretty nice day this last Sunday. At least it was decent enough here to get the lawn mowed and do a lot of other outside things, so that certainly helped with our cabin fever and kept us occupied during this time when everyone is being asked to stay home. From the looks of it, we may actually have a pretty dry week, although I always expect that forecast to change without warning! At any rate, very warm temperatures during the week, so let's hope this nice forecast comes true, as it was a tadb...
The arrival of spring typically means drivers in Washington have until March 31 to remove studded tires. However, this year the Washington State Department of Transportation is further extending the deadline to Friday, May 15, due to COVID-19 virus concerns and Gov. Jay Inslee’s Stay Home, Stay Healthy order to help reduce the spread of the virus by limiting social interactions. This extends the previous April 30 deadline. Studded tires are legal in Washington from Nov. 1 to March 31. State law gives WSDOT authority to extend the deadline w...
Due to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, all county buildings are closed to the public and meetings and events usually listed here have been canceled until further notice....
New SR4 Slide update As a citizen of the county I have had the pleasure of traveling and viewing the sights of the county. It is difficult in the rainy season that begins in November and continues through May. This is the period of time that most landslides occur. Many of you, the readers of The Wahkiakum County Eagle, may be surprised to see that the slide on SR4 has slid again a little, and many of you readers have shown a concern as to when this work project on the KM Mountain will be...
Wahkiakum County law enforcement officers and emergency response personnel handled a variety of reports during the past week, including: March 30 — 6:28 p.m. A caller reported that mail had been stolen from an individual in Cathlamet. March 31 — 7:40 a.m. An alarm was activated at a Cathlamet home. The owner was contacted. He said that the alarm had been tripped during a fight between dogs. 7:46 p.m. A welfare check was requested for a couple in Cathlamet. A deputy made contact. They said they were fine. 11:24 p.m. A caller reported that a tre...
Unusual times call for unusual procedures. Normally, the Cathlamet Pharmacy would be pleased to see shoppers wandering amiably in the aisles of their store and perusing their wares, but these days, they are trying to discourage that kind of behavior in order to protect community members with compromised immunity who are there to pick up prescriptions. In order to do that, they are asking customers to have an idea of what they are looking for before they arrive, or even feel free to call ahead...
Coast Community Radio (CCR) is following the State of Oregon recommendations for safety during Covid-19 and Station Manager Graham Nystrom has closed the station to the over 100 volunteer programmers who bring the listeners most of the content on KMUN. They are airing shows from other stations and playing “best of” local public affairs shows. One thing that will sound the same is News Director Joanne Rideout providing vital local news Monday through Friday at 8:29 a.m., and 5:29 p.m., and the Columbia River Ship Report at 8:49 a.m. There is...
Cora Berniece (Holland) Irving, age 93, a long time Cathlamet resident passed on April 02, 2020, at the family home with her husband of 72 years by her side. She was born on September 06, 1926 to John and Elise (Jensen) Holland on the family farm on Puget Island. Her parents were early immigrants to the United States in the early 1900's. Her mother came from Norway to Ellis Island and then to Astoria, OR. Her father came from Norway through Canada and into the United States at Sumas, WA. She...
Ernest B. Teachman, Jr., 66, of Cathlamet, died April 1, 2020 at his home on Puget Island. He was born May 24, 1953 in Nowata, Oklahoma, to Ernest and Betty (Wood) Teachman, Sr. His family moved to Washington and he graduated from high school in Mt. Vernon, in 1971. He then joined the US Navy and spent 17 years as a Seabee before his medical discharge in 1988. He moved his family to Cathlamet and went to work at the Weyerhaeuser Paper Mill in Longview, where he worked for 22 years. Ernie enjoyed hunting, the outdoors, clay pigeon shooting and...
On April 14 from 12:00–12:30 p.m., WSU Master Gardener Alice Slusher will discuss what to do in your vegetable garden to plan and prepare it for planting. Learn when to plant and how to get an early start. A 20 minute presentation followed by questions will help you learn how to care for your houseplant to avoid common diseases and problems. The program can be accessed on-line by Zoom or by calling in by phone. To register for free, contact Gary Fredricks at garyf@wsu.edu or 360-577-3014 Ext. 3 for connection information. The workshop is s...
People will need their vehicles even during a statewide order to stay home, and Moore Auto in Cathlamet has remained open to make sure people can still get to work, or to the store, or maybe even for a quiet drive in the country, if only for a change of scenery. “We’re still staying busy,” Joel Moore said on Tuesday. They are booked out for the next week, but Moore admitted that “door swings,” or visits into the automotive parts store, were down. Technicians have been disinfecting cars as t...
Food security. These two little words can mean so much. As these unprecedented times quietly entangle with daily life in Wahkiakum, I realize that there are great differences amongst our community members. For some, self-isolation has been enjoyable thus far. For others, this is one of the hardest times they have ever faced. With sudden job loss and more meals being eaten at home, questions of “how long” and “what will we do” are not uncommon. If you are one of those people, I am speaking to you from the heart and from my own past experie...
