Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
Sorted by date Results 526 - 550 of 9139
Westend residents turned out last Tuesday for the second workshop in a planned series of four to talk about how flooding is impacting the property and lives of people living in the Grays River, Rosburg, and Deep River communities and to brainstorm ways to tackle the issue. Jackson Blalock of the Pacific Conservation District led the workshop with the assistance of representatives from his conservation district, the Washington Sea Grant organization, and the Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership....
Over the years, flooding has become an increasing problem for people in the Westend of Wahkiakum County. It was hard to imagine when I drove up to Nick and Dee Nikkila's home in Deep River on a beautiful late summer day last week, but Nick had evidence. Not long after sitting down to talk to the pair about what they were seeing on their property, Nick pulled up a video he made and posted on Youtube. You can see high water covering Wirkkala Road, the long drive to the Nikkila house, and how Nick...
There have been questions about what local emergency planning, including evacuation and communication, is in place for Cathlamet in the event of a large fire or other disaster, and Cathlamet Fire Chief Vernon Barton, PUD General Manager Dan Kay, and Undersheriff Gary Howell were at the Cathlamet Town Council meeting last Monday to give some answers. “It’s still fire season,” Mayor David Olson said. “We want to get the conversation started.” Olson wanted to know: How are emergency alerts gi...
Lorraine Heilman, an oceanographer with NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, talked to an audience in Cathlamet recently about a project she led to survey the current in the Columbia River. As part of the National Current Observation Program, she and her colleagues go all over the country to update the tidal current tables, using "ever more interesting and new and fancy pieces of equipment," she said. They used Cathlamet as a staging area in the last year. "The marina is...
County commissioners approved a number of practical measures Tuesday, and heard a comment about missing sand. Kevin Prestegard said he was “looking for sand” because he had lost approximately a quarter acre of beach at his south side Puget Island property. The missing sand, Mr Prestigard blamed on the dredging of the ship channel. All the commissioners agreed that they had no information about plans to replenish the beach because the Army Corps of Engineers would not respond to requests for information in a timely manner. They suggested tha...
The Wahkiakum County Port 2 Board of Commissioners talked about potential funding, events, and purchased a boat at their September meeting last week. Port 2 Manager Sam Shogren proposed that the port purchase an 18 foot wooden work skiff, based on a historical boat design by the Danielsen family of Puget Island. Wide and stable, with a flat bottom, the boat was restored in 2020 by Welcome Slough Boatworks and by members of the local Traditional Small Craft Association, of which Port...
The Wahkiakum County Port 1 Board of Commissioners met last Wednesday for a quick update on activity at the marina. Mayor David Olson was in attendance. He invited Port Manager Todd Souvenir to a workshop on the design of the waterfront park at the town council meeting on October 16. “The decisions made there will affect the overall design, and it’s right adjacent to you, and we want to know what your druthers are, in terms of how things are placed, and how we can work together to make sure tha...
Every household in the United States can now receive four free covid-19 rapid tests by mail by calling 1-800-232-0233, or by visiting covidtests.gov online. The tests should be good through the end of the year. Some of the tests may appear to have passed their expiration date, but the dates were extended by the US. Food and Drug Administration....
THURSDAY Cathlamet Fire Department, 7 p.m. Senior Citizen Luncheon, Hope Center, Noon. Senior Citizen Luncheon, Rosburg Hall, Noon. Skamokawa Fire Department, 7 p.m. Grays River Fire Department, commissioners, 7:30 p.m. Puget Island Fire Department, fire/Ambulance, 7 p.m. District No. 4 Fire Department, 7 p.m. Food Addicts Meeting, Hope Center, 3rd & Maple, Cathlamet, 6-7 p.m. Westside Play & Learn Group, Valley Bible Church, 9:30-11 a.m. Eastside play and learn group, St James Family Center 5:30-7p.m. West End Food Pantry, Johnson Park, 1- 5...
The Wahkiakum School District Board of Directors started their meeting with a presentation from Apollo Solutions, which looks for ways to reduce energy consumptions in buildings, and has been helping Wahkiakum in the background find ways to address their aging facilities. Scott Lewis gave a recap and provided a timeline for what comes next with the $5 million grant the district was recently awarded. He said a $35,000 had been approved for an engineer to determine project costs, and that...
"Certain places kind of haunt you," Carl Wirkkala told me on the phone the other day. He remembers grinding cascara bark and catching crawdads with poles cut by his grandmother, who lived in an old house along Knappton Road in Naselle. When he was young, he would tell his dad and his uncle "weird stories about police." The two men would take little Carl on trips looking for scrap iron among the dark, dilapidated houses of Frankfort, a ghost town that was set to be the new Astoria. "It never...
The Society for Creative Anachronism met on Saturday. An international organization with 130,000 members worldwide, the group meets regularly at the fairgrounds. Above, Lady Elovel of Avalon, also known as Cathy, instructs a local in medieval archery, as a participant in red demonstrates their skill. Photo by Ian Brandon....
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) is hosting a series of online public meetings this fall to discuss development of the 2023-24 coastal steelhead fishing season. Fishers and anyone interested in steelhead management and conservation along the Washington coast can attend the first of these public meetings beginning at 6 p.m. on Oct. 25. The primary goal of the first town hall meeting will be to solicit fishery proposals from the public for the upcoming season. Fishery managers with WDFW will also present information on the...
The River City Strippers have gathered at St. Catherine Catholic Church in Cathlamet every Friday for years to piece together quilts and the stories of their lives, sharing fabric, sewing tips, quilting ideas, gossip and, yes, one admitted: to talk about their husbands. The hours they've spent in communion is not only a benefit to them but to the community. The quilters have been quietly handing out their creations to people in the community who are hurting. Perhaps to someone who recently lost...
Commissioners from across the state were expected to arrive in Cathlamet on Thursday morning as part of a plan from the Washington State Association of Counties’ Legislative Steering Committee to give them a first hand view of the variety of concerns facing rural counties. Wahkiakum County Commissioner Lee Tischer was initially nervous about being the first county on the list for visits, but the feeling turned to disappointment as one commissioner after another canceled their trip to s...
Wahkiakum County PUD staff had a lot of good news to share with the Board of Commissioners at their meeting on Tuesday. General Manager Dan Kay said that the Washington State Public Works Board had just awarded the Wahkiakum PUD funds, half grant and half loan, to support two local projects. One will extend the water line in Skamokawa and the other will extend a water line on North Hull Creek Road. The PUD is still looking for funding for a Puget Island secondary water source project, but they...
No decision has been made as to what will be done with the now-defunct Naselle Youth Camp, and it will be at least late next year before any formal decision is made. A committee working to decide what will happen continues to meet and ponder ideas, with a gathering planned soon in Naselle. The camp closed on Sept. 25, 2022, and has remained dormant other than a handful of workers maintaining and guarding the facility. Once a proud economic backbone of Naselle, the campus is now quiet and...
Covid is again surging across the United States, Wahkiakum Health and Human ServicesDirector Chris Bischoff said on Friday. “There is a new dominant strain, but it is not of more concern health-wise than other strains,” he said. The Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control have approved updated boosters from Moderna and Pfizer for covid-19 and anyone who has not had a covid-19 booster in the last two months is encouraged to get this one. The booster will be available at...
Submitted by Jennifer Milliren, Communications Specialist for Wahkiakum Health and Human Services Wahkiakum County's first-ever Tire Amnesty Day rolled in thousands of tires over the weekend. On Saturday, Wahkiakum County Health and Human Services, in partnership with Washington State Department of Ecology, hosted the free tire disposal event at the fairgrounds in Skamokawa. Residents were invited to bring as many tires as they could load, some even making several trips throughout the morning. "...
By Grace Deng for the Washington State Standard A powerful veterinary tranquilizer infiltrating the United States' illicit drug market is only present in a small fraction of Washington's fentanyl supply, according to a new report. The study, released last week by drug testing laboratory Millennium Health, looks at the presence of xylazine, also known as "tranq," in about 160,000 urine drug tests across the United States. The samples were collected between April and July, during the 100 days...
THURSDAY Cathlamet Fire Department, 7 p.m. Senior Citizen Luncheon, Hope Center, Noon. Senior Citizen Luncheon, Rosburg Hall, Noon. Skamokawa Fire Department, 7 p.m. Grays River Fire Department, commissioners, 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 Church, 9:30-11 a.m. West End Food Pantry, Johnson Park, 1- 5...
Carol Blix has checked out her last book as a librarian after a 40 year career, mostly serving right here in this community. Long before she became the librarian at the Cathlamet Library, Blix was inspiring young readers at Wahkiakum School District, working half days at the grade school and the high school. When budget issues arose, Blix was hustled into the classroom to teach a variety of subjects, from art, to middle school science, eighth grade careers, or American Literature at the high...
Cheri Rendler's story at the Cathlamet Library is a kind of epilogue to the career she's already had. A retirement job, she calls it. "I did not always want to be a librarian," Rendler said. "I wanted to be a schoolteacher, or a veterinarian, or the great American novelist." She grew up in the Bay Area in California. She attended the University of Washington and received a degree in English Literature, along with a certificate in fiction writing. "But as we know," she told me, "fiction writing...
By Diana Zimmerman Last Thursday, as part of United Way's Day of Caring, some Wahkiakum students spent time outdoors cleaning up the campus, trimming hedges, edging sidewalks, and more. Some current members and at least one former member of the Wahkiakum School District Board of Directors were there as well, volunteering a few of their hours in a similar manner. Out by the track, Stephanie Vossen and her crew from The Spar, a Cathlamet restaurant, were cleaning and painting bleachers and the...
A rainbow shark swims through the sky on a perfect day for a kite festival. Photo: Ian Brandon....
