Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
Sorted by date Results 2007 - 2031 of 2591
To The Eagle: As a former emergency manager, I know the importance of having clear information about the kinds of disasters that can happen and the needs of the community being served. When working with Wahkiakum County to prepare for a public health emergency, I know that we did not have up-to-date information about the needs of all our neighborhoods and all of our community members. That is why I am writing to encourage everyone to complete the Community Disaster and Emergency Preparedness Survey. The Emergency Management Program in the count...
I'm doing a lot of catching up these days, and one of the things I'm catching up with is the change in our lineup. If you check out the masthead of The Eagle (that listing of our papers employees and jobs you'll find at the top of Page 2), you'll see a name is missing, a name has been added, and a job title has changed. Our business manager for the last 3-4 years, Jamie Nelson, is gone. He packed up his bags and headed south to the Divinity School of the Pacific, an Episcopal seminary in Berkeley, Calif., to earn a degree in theology. This has...
To The Eagle: Some people call us outsiders. Mark and I came to Wahkiakum eight years ago when we bought a small cottage. My mother in law lives here and we made this our second home. Whenever we drove into Cathlamet, I knew we would live the rest of our days here. We came from a city with high crime, gangs, drugs, and prostitution. After a weekend ended, and we had to go back to Seatac, we hated leaving. The only thing calling us back was Mark's job and family--our two daughters, grandsons, my mom, dad, and aunt. When Jon Dearmore called Mark...
To The Eagle: “Longmire” is a television series on the A&E channel which focuses on a Wyoming sheriff whose jurisdiction is the fictional county of Absaroka. Recently, one of the ongoing stories has revolved around the campaign race for the position of county sheriff. The two contestants for the position are Longmire, the sheriff, and Branch Connally, a deputy on the force. Like “Longmire,” the current contestants for the position of Wahkiakum county sheriff are Mark Howie, the sheriff, and Mike Balch, a deputy on the force. Like “Longmi...
To The Eagle: I had the opportunity to get to work with Detective Mike Balch for 11 years. During that time I got to know Mike personally as well as professionally. As a person, Mike is truly devoted to his family. Mike’s love and devotion to Darlene, Christopher and Jonathan was unquestioned and unequalled. Mike was also devoted to his church family as well. While I did not attend the same church, I knew Mike was either playing music, teaching Sunday school, or serving on a board. Professionally, Mike was one of my training officers. I l...
Colorado resident Robert McKendry III, the announcer for the Cathlamet Downhill Corral, has repeated himself the past two years: The event has made Cathlamet a destination in the skateboard world, he has told the crowd. Indeed, there were people from Hawaii, Texas, Florida, other states, England, Germany, Canada and Australia at the festival, not just your local Oregonians and Washingtonians. The competitors brought families, and they filled the town's streets and businesses for several days. Even though there are cash prizes for the events,...
In this country for the last century we've kinda been in the catbird seat to watch various forms of communism and socialism fail. Luckily our founding fathers were sold on a republican form of government with a free market capitalism. That's the system that built the nation we live in -- the wealthiest and most successful on the planet by a long shot -- until recently. Recently, we have drifted off into crony capitalism, which pretends to be the real deal, but actually is the government(s) picking winners and losers with an obnoxious...
While talking with a proponent of the junk vehicle ordinance that is being looked at for Wahkiakum County I was informed that logging, farming, fishing and recycling, to name a few types of businesses in the area, were all things of the past and that the only thing that can sustain this county financially is tourism. So we better get busy and make this county look pretty for the droves of tourists who will be coming to replace the income we have been feeding our families with for the past umpty years. It was interesting to me that this viewpoin...
I am completely confused regarding the actions being taken at the Hansen Wildlife Refuge. Supposedly there is a concern that the present road/dike will be breached by the Columbia River and there are no funds to fix it? Yet millions will be spent to build a new dike and road that does not go along the Columbia River. In addition they have removed many deer that lived in the refuge and in so doing killed about 25 percent of the ones they tried to move and now I learn that many of the moved deer have died as well bringing the total lost to over...
To The Eagle: At Community Health Plan of Washington, we designed our Exchange products to provide high-quality, low cost options that meet the needs of our members. These plans offered unrestricted access to the entire First Choice Health Network, a robust commercial network of exceptional health care providers, and one of the most mature provider networks in Washington state. Our plans allowed members to control their out-of-pocket costs by offering comprehensive primary care and preventive health services with $0 copays and no coinsurance,...
To The Eagle: Gun control? I would have to assume that you're printing of the shootings state wide that you are starting to push an anti-gun platform. You realize you are not in New York, you are in the center of sportsman country where most people own firearms and the majority of families have someone who hunts. In all fairness to your readers, if you are going to publish deaths by firearms, then print all violent deaths by car, knife, ball bat or any other means. I've been a shooter, hunter and sportsman for over 60 years and have had all...
Elsewhere on this page is a letter to the editor from a Rosburg man, Jim Perry, who is upset by the recent reports in The Eagle of gun crime across the state. Mr. Perry objects to "gun control." He assumes I have an anti-gun agenda. My agenda is to learn more about the whole issue. In the past year, gun related crimes have rocked the nation and spurred debate on the national and state levels about what can be done to prevent such crimes in the future. I'm not sure anyone has the right idea of how to prevent the crimes. In this case, I thought...
To The Eagle: I’d like to offer a bit of a rebuttal and clarification to last week’s front page article regarding the Vendor’s Market at Vista Park, which was held on July 27. A few years ago, Port District 2 held a vendors market as part of the 30th anniversary of Skamokawa Vista Park, and all the guests at the park really enjoyed having something else there to see and do. However, the Port opted out of having it again, but with the people eager to have it return, the Skamokawa Grange said they’d take it over. As we seem to lean heavily...
To The Eagle: What little I read on the proposed affordable housing mentions nothing on the cost of services required and the taxes that will be paid. When the Eagle Pointe apartments were built, the Longview Housing Authority agreed to pay the local property taxes on the development. After spending a million dollars building the apartments, they are supporting local schools, fire and police based on an assessed value of $57,000. Not much support. I am concerned at least part of the proposed development will be exempt from taxes. Having to pay...
To The Eagle: Alert readers have been wondering about last week’s photo of the Birnie Slough River Rats and their prizewinning entry in the Eagle Day Parade. Who are these people and where did they come from? This group came together years ago when longtime residents of Puget Island, Melissa and Jerry Chase, began inviting friends from the Greater Portland Area up for the Bald Eagle Day Festivities. Generally 20 to 30 friends show up. Some stay with Melissa and Jerry in their lovely 1938 houseboat on Birnie Slough, others check into the h...
To The Eagle: Just getting back from the recycling bins by the high school with feelings of sadness and disgust. Because of all the garbage in the plastics bins, I will take my two bags to Longview and put only the plastics in the bins, saving the bags for later use or put them in my garbage at home. There was garbage outside the bins and the smell of garbage from the bins. In Longview there are signs that people misusing the recycling area could be fined. Is that true here? If not, it should be. Please use the area as it is meant to be used....
To The Eagle: The creation of a self-help, low-income housing project on three acres of unimproved land adjacent to the existing Glengate development in Cathlamet sounds like a great idea! But are residents prepared to spend more than $58,000 in public funds per acre on a project whose details are nebulous? The project is to contain a mix of 16-20 units of new owner-occupied homes and apartment rentals. According to Wahkiakum County Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Lower Columbia Community Action Program (CAP), the project 1. Allows...
To The Eagle: Recently I am hearing that an “overwhelming majority” of people are offended by what they consider junk vehicles. This concerns me since it is an attempt to try to pass an ordinance which dictates what a person can and cannot do on their own property. A lot of what some people think is junk is, in fact, equipment used in farming, logging, fishing or some other form of business. Or it may just be someone’s collection of old vintage vehicles. If someone else’s toys or equipment offends you, put up a fence on your property so you...
To The Eagle, I would like to offer a few comments regarding the recent Oregon state legislature action to ban gillnets on the Columbia River late in its legislative session. It is noteworthy that the Oregon legislature is not acting on the "public will" per se, as just last fall the anti-gillnet group Coastal Conservation Alliance-sponsored Oregon state initiative was rejected by a vast majority of Oregon voters. Further, Oregon's latest legislative action is likely not legal under a Washington State Supreme Court case, State v. Tom Svenson,...
To The Eagle: Our community faces a critical choice: Winter River, Sunrise or Old Growth? These exterior color schemes have been created by consultants at Home Depot for our remodeled Library/Community Center. To help us select the proper palette all you have to do is vote. Beginning at Bald Eagle Days, we will display the alternatives and ask all comers to cast ballots, free of charge, for their favorite. This “people’s choice” process will continue until early September, when we will count the votes and paint the building accordingly. Help...
We mourn the death of Cathlamet resident George Hanigan. A fourth generation Wahkiakum County resident, George holds a place in the county's history. I was a kid back in 1966 when my father came home and told us about the new attorney who had grown up in Cathlamet, gone to college in Spokane and moved back to Cathlamet, to a house just down the street from us. My father had made a new friend, a friendship that lasted to his death. George soon won election as prosecuting attorney and began playing a guiding role in county government. In the...
To The Eagle: Skamokawa Fire Department (Wahkiakum Fire Protection District 2) is pleased to announce the completion of our district's Roadside Reflective Signage Project. All told, we installed 233 red/white reflective signs to facilitate address location in our district. Especially on dark stormy nights and under foggy conditions, we have had difficulty finding the homes of emergency callers. With money granted to the district from Wahkiakum County, we acquired and installed the signs. Now we are pleased to be able to more quickly locate a...
To The Eagle: In keeping with my open door policy to the public and staff, I want to encourage people to call me or stop by and talk with me whenever they have a praise or a complaint about the sheriff’s office. Along with the sheriff’s core values of “service with integrity and respect,” I want to add that we constantly strive to be fair in all we do. If you see or experience a deputy or sheriff's office employee exhibit extraordinary service or professionalism on the job please let me know. Praise goes a long way in the public service...
I pause this week of Independence Day to remember the sacrifices that have been made and that continue to be made for the benefit of our country. This week especially we mourn the loss of 19 firefighters in Arizona. They're not the only ones who've given their lives for our country. We've lost soldiers in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, good people who dared greatly and put their lives on the line for the interests of our country. This is a tradition that goes back to the days of the revolution. Of course, there are wounded survivors of our...
To The Eagle: Some recent experiences got me looking again at what is really going on today in the world and right here at home. The current governing bodies are operating on a tax and spend basis. Who gets taxed? Those who are still working and providing a service or selling material products to others and getting paid in some form. There is nothing wrong with working and getting paid or selling a product produced. The problem is there are agencies who have given themselves the right and power to demand a person or business support them no...
