Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
Sorted by date Results 1176 - 1200 of 2569
For weeks, I've been waiting for the edition when we didn't have a letter to the editor regarding the election for county assessor. I've wanted to write an opinion column about the race, but I've wanted to avoid giving the impression that I'm responding to a letter. However, there's been so much interest in the race, the letters keep coming, and I don't think there will be a lull before the ballots come out later this month. And so, here it goes. I met Bill Coons not long after he moved to Wahkiakum County in the early 1990's. At that time, he...
To The Eagle: Nicci Bergseng has done a commendable job as our county auditor, overseeing a multi-million dollar budget for Wahkiakum County. Nicci assists the county commissioners and department heads in balancing the budget and reporting financials to the state auditor. She has been involved in three state audits, overseeing the last two. Nicci has received outstanding marks in every one. Being county auditor requires a skill set that goes beyond being great at accounting and numbers. Nicci has proven to be a great manager as well. Nicci, as...
To The Eagle: Every vote is needed and counts. I have bragged about our county’s voters for years with our high turn outs. I hope to continue doing so. Your party affiliation or how you vote pales to the importance of registering and voting in our elections. Vote on the issues and the people not the hype. Having had a tie election in the past I can assure you every vote is important. Please encourage everyone to participate in voting. Thank you. Commissioner Blair Brady Rosburg...
To The Eagle: I have lived in Wahkiakum County for 50 years. I worked in the assessor’s office for almost 10 years appraising timber and real property. I am now a board member on the Board of Equalization and have been for 10 years. The Board of Equalization is an appeals board for the assessor’s values. Normally the board hears 10-12 appeals most years. The previous assessor had 168 appeals in her last as assessor. She had no experience in property valuation. The board also had to revalue Puget Island land values. Bill Coons has done a goo...
To The Eagle: It’s not surprising that Bill Coons is conducting a negative campaign when it was he who insisted it should be clean. It’s not out of character for him to take another person’s comments out of context to design an attack ad. And it’s to be expected that he would make a campaign promise to hold an appeals workshop but renege on it in the end. Mr. Coons plays politician as he has conducted himself as assessor. However, what does surprise and bother me is the number of people, including Bill Coons himself, who point proudly to his...
To The Eagle: It's time to Tidy the Town again! The Pioneer Center Association will be holding the biannual event Saturday, October 27, and are hoping to have a good turnout of people looking to improve the town's appearance. Meet at the Community Center on Main Street at 9 a.m., with gloves and tools, and plan to have a good time making Cathlamet trash and weed-free once more. If you have questions, please contact Suzanne Holmes (360-430-6184), April Peterson (971-404-6184) or Pat Battaglia (360-703-1185). We are looking forward to seeing...
To The Eagle: After speaking with Matt Kuhl and asking many questions of him, we feel that Matt is fully qualified to fill the position as Wahkiakum County Auditor. His education, accounting degree, experience as well as his ability to listen to and answer questions are also huge assets. He is honest and believes in being transparent and accountable to the citizens of the county. We support Matt Kuhl in his run for Wahkiakum County Auditor. Sincerely, John & NovaLee Knopp Cathlamet...
To The Eagle: Recent letters to the editor have been great reading. I have a concern, though. In Wahkiakum County, rarely do we have great voter turnout! In our current political races, I fervently wish for all who can vote, to vote! Remember when we had to go somewhere to vote? Not anymore. It only takes a short time to fill out the ballot and send it in. No trip anywhere and no gas used. You can leave your robe on by the fire and just make some marks, if you’d like, then mail it in or drop it off at the Courthouse. How easy is that? I even r...
To The Eagle: A few of last week’s letters to the editor about my candidacy deserve a response. Mary Gustafson questioned my integrity due to a structure on my wife’s property. She should get her facts straight. My wife owns the property where I live. The title is in her name along with her late first husband. I have no ownership interest in her property. She has lived here for over 40 years. She is Finnish. She built the mökki on her land. Mary attributes everything about the mökki to me. It’s no secret that Michael Baccellieri launche...
To The Eagle: We are voting for Matt Kuhl because he is truly the wise choice to fill the position of Wahkiakum County Auditor. Matt grew up in Cathlamet and graduated from Wahkiakum High School. Matt served in the military after high school and was deployed twice for active duty in the ongoing Middle East conflict. After military service Matt attended WSU/Vancouver where he received an accounting degree, and is currently working at an accounting firm in Longview. Matt is a homeowner in Cathlamet and is currently volunteering at our local...
To The Eagle: Mark Howie has proven he is the only candidate for the job. When I first met Mark and his wife Debb, they were both so excited about being a part of our community, and to this day he is still volunteering, attending and promoting community development. Mark is a professional, he goes above and beyond the call, and is very concerned and dedicated about mental and physical health issues. He is a positive leader and expects his officers and staff to treat everyone with respect. He is very dedicated to his career and the safety of...
To The Eagle: The word most often used in the assessor’s race between the incumbent, Bill Coons and the challenger, Brian McClain, is experience. There is another word that needs to be added to the discussion – integrity. Follow the storyline: Bill Coons, the incumbent assessor with experience, is in the process of building a “mokki” on the property he resides on located on Welcome Slough which is defined as a Finnish word for cottage which is defined as a simple house, one near a lake or beach. Now we’re rolling in Wahkiakum County to build...
To The Eagle: Last week's writer Mr. Watts doesn't know me and I don’t know him. I would never assume something about him because I have no idea who he is. I pay property taxes on two separate pieces of real estate, along with personal property taxes on a business I own that produces income for Wahkiakum County. Mr. Watts asked me a question, kind of sarcastically: Why I support Mr. McClain and why Wahkiakum voters should cast their vote for Brian? In most cases voters have to choose the lesser of two evils. In this case, they don’t. Mic...
To The Eagle: We do live in interesting times. Our little county is forever trying to find more revenue to the point of being willing to strip our mountains of every tree of a ‘certain' size, ever smaller of course. Replacing the trees bound for everywhere else with a mono culture that precludes normal diversity and involves spraying herbicides to kill everything that won't be marketable in, say, sixty years or so. When was the last time you saw a grouse or heard the hooting of owls? Finally something that may actually bring in the much s...
To The Eagle: Due to our various parcels we own, I have made several trips to the assessor’s office. Every time my visits are always friendly and welcomed. Bill Coons and Marsha, along with their co-workers, have treated me with the utmost respect and I very much appreciate that. Just recently we sold a piece of property and there was debate on who should pay what percentage of the property taxes for the remainder of the year. I immediatly drove over and asked Bill for help. He dropped what he was doing and proceeded to assist me. Within 15 m...
To the Eagle: By now, most of you are aware of the large, negative, political ad that was published in last weeks paper and paid for by Bill Coons, which featured my name and parts of a column that I wrote several years ago. You may also be aware of just how unhappy I am about it. I had written quite a long letter in response, in total outrage about this but you know what? I'm pretty sure everyone has figured out by now that my words were taken out of context and spun to fit the negative agenda of the writer, so writing a long tirade about it...
To The Eagle: The job of county auditor includes five departments, Dept. of Licensing, recordings, accounts payable, elections and HR/payroll. When I hired Nicci Bergseng I knew she would be the perfect fit for the job and when I retired last year I knew she was the one to carry on as county auditor. She has the abilities to multi-task, communicate and work with the county commissioners, elected officials, dept. heads, employees, other agencies and Wahkiakum County citizens. County commissioners finalize the budgets and the auditor oversees...
To The Eagle: I want to take this opportunity to address what I feel is misinformation being directed at Wahkiakum Sheriff's Office candidate Graham Phalen. That misinformation relates to allegations and inferences that Phalen, while employed as a lieutenant in the Professional Standards Unit of the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office was somehow derelict in his duties in the tragic Jeff Grahn incident in Gresham, Ore., in 2010. First, my name is Mark White and I am a retired Police Officer from the Portland Police Bureau. I have a total of over...
To The Eagle: Several items in last week’s Eagle beg response, but we’ll keep it in the realm of general information and elucidation since our editor has adopted the Wehrfritz Commandment limiting specific political criticisms to one shot: For those of you fascinated with the concept of “experience” as it applies to political candidates, the day-to-day nuts ‘n bolts of property valuation are handled by an appraiser who works for the Assessor and one of the most experienced we ever had here was a fella by the name of Funderburg who raised a...
To The Eagle: A number of years ago when former Sheriff, Jon Dearmore, brought Mark Howie in as his under sheriff, it was one of the best things that could have happened for Wahkiakum County. Mark Howie brought with him big city experience and exposure to different crimes that haven’t gotten to this county yet. His managerial expertise learned at Tukwila fits well with Wahkiakum County and the sheriff’s department. He has really become a part of the county, his family has moved here, his grandchildren now go to school here. Mark Howie has bee...
To The Eagle: A few words spring to mind when I’m asked about Sheriff Mark Howie. Before we get into that, let me share with you how I came to my understanding of what is true leadership. I was 25 when I joined the Army. Our country was at war. The frightening circumstances I found myself facing could only be overcome by one thing… leadership. I found myself under some of the most dedicated and experienced combat soldiers in the world. When facing death every day, you’ll find something, someone, anything, to follow. Ultimately though, we all e...
To The Eagle: Everyone knows real property value. They’re all experts. No different than all the Monday-morning quarterbacks who are out there. But the problem is, they don’t. Assessing real property value for banks or for county taxation is tedious and vexing, especially in a county as small as ours where there are few comparables. There’s plenty of nuance. And rules and rations, etc. If you have any doubt about that, talk to any real estate agent in the county. They’ll tell you how difficult it is. An assessor needs to be able to walk in...
Elochoman Valley residents were surprised this weekend by an announcement that the new owners of the Strueby Farm plan to start a farming cooperative and build a Renaissance style village there. Word spread; neighbors began studying the project website, townoftaylor.com, and concerns began to mount. Residents brought those concerns to the county board of commissioners Tuesday--noise, increased traffic, environmental impacts, and potentially unsavory activities reminiscent of Rajneeshpuram, the Oregon town/commune of devotees of the religious...
To The Eagle: I am voting for Bill Coons as county assessor. He worked for five years as a local real estate broker and seven years as assessor. His opponent has no experience with real property values. His opponent has run a campaign promising he’ll be nice, and that Bill hasn’t been “nice.” However, I know that many have had courteous and effective service from the assessor’s office. And more importantly, the position requires experience. It’s a big risk hiring someone with no experience in real property values and hoping he’ll learn what’s...
To The Eagle: My wife, Roberta, and I have been acquainted with Sheriff Mark Howie since the middle of 2011. Since that time, we have been in a position to observe and discuss his positive professional development within the Wahkiakum County Sheriff’s Office. Sheriff Howie was thrust into his current position by a sudden and unexpected tragedy, the death of then Sheriff John Dearmore. Mark kept the department on a steady course while guiding the employees of the department through a very dark and saddening episode that impacted every member of...
