Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
Sorted by date Results 2182 - 2206 of 2582
To The Eagle: High school students having to pay to play, which in some cases pay to participate, is not fair to all students. Students who want to play a sport have to come up with $60. If you want to play three sports that year, you would have to pay $180 and are still not always guaranteed the chance to actually play. How is it fair to make students that will be unable to play still pay the same amount as the students who get to? Not only is just being able to participate an issue, but what about the students that are unable to pay that much...
To The Eagle: I attended an interesting meeting Tuesday, May 22 where various food bank people supported by Cathlamet officials, described their desire to build a 2,000 square foot Food Bank in Erickson Park, perhaps between the tennis courts and the parking lot. Most of the meeting dealt with the need for a food bank in the community on which there was little dissent. There did arise some disagreement over whether Erickson Park was a proper site for a food bank. Some disagreement arose over whether parks were primarily green spaces with...
To The Eagle: Every Memorial Day we expect to find our cemetery freshly mowed and trimmed, clean and tidy for us to decorate the graves of loved ones. It has been so for a long time and I can remember without disappointment. My mom remembered much different Memorial Days. After morning farm chores, they loaded scythes, rakes, shovels etc., kids, lunch and flowers into a neighbor’s fish boat and set off for town. (There was no bridge to Puget Island before 1939.) They walked up from the town float and along the dirt road to the cemetery. Once t...
Two weeks ago I had the privilege of attending the regional assembly of Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The bishop, Robert Hofstad, pulled off something extraordinary: Gov. Chris Gregoire accepted his invitation to be the keynote speaker. Instead of delivering a straight speech, she and the bishop sat in easy chairs on the stage and discussed the theme of the assembly, "Sunday's Faith in Monday's Action." It became a very frank and insightful discussion of how one maintains and...
To The Eagle: I am writing to express my appreciation and admiration of the kids who have been sending their letters to The Eagle. I am impressed with the quality of writing and also the care that the students are showing for their school and this town. The school pride is refreshing. I live on Glen Gate and so I see a lot of kids coming and going during the week even during the day, high school kids walk through because they take so many online classes. Based on this, I haven't really had any confidence in our local school. The kids say that...
To The Eagle: Rural property owners of Wahkiakum, beware the wolf is trying to sneak in our back door. Are we back to the Shorebank of Chicago and the National Park Service? Are backers of that now trying to place the votes they need to put our entire county under the park service by trying to put individuals on our county commission who will back their proposal. If they succeed in this, we, the rural property owners, are in trouble. The park service attempts to change our building code, etc. by waving money at small counties to place zoning...
To The Eagle: I am getting sick and tired of all these teenagers who think people actually want to read their opinions. Their frivolous opinions fill valuable print space more suitable for stories about city counselmen bickering. Children should aspire to be more like adults. They should be more petty, hateful, and obsessed with the size of their neighbors pick-up trucks. Adulthood is a solemn serious task, a daily regimen of mental hygiene duties. The last thing I need as an adult is the starry eyed idealistic musing of teenagers and their...
To The Eagle: I wish to express my gratitude to our area legislators Rep. Dean Takko, Rep. Brian Blake, and Sen. Brian Hatfield who attended the community meeting regarding the dire need of dredging on our Wahkiakum County tributaries and related fisheries enhancement needs May 2, 2012 at the Skamokawa Grange Hall. They were very attentive to our needs in this area. Rep. Takko stated he thought they could find funding for a dredge, but also he and Rep. Blake suggested the Wahkiakum Port Districts contact the Ports of Ilwaco and Chinook for a...
To The Eagle: The people who call themselves Mule fans do not go to the games, meets, and matches equally they favor one sport over another. The boys basketball team gets bigger crowds than girls basketball even though the games happen right after each other. The cross country and volleyball teams do not get the same big crowd as football. Also the wrestling and track teams do not get crowds the same as football or boys basketball even though track and wrestling are our school's most successful sports in which we have state participants every...
To The Eagle: Many students who attend Wahkiakum High School are getting phones, iPods, money and clothes stolen from them almost every day. These items can equal up to hundreds of dollars in our students personal property. These are things that not only our parents, but we as students, work hard to buy. We should be able to bring things that we earn and work for to school without worrying about them being stolen. Two examples of this happening are: early on in the school year a student had over $100 stolen out of her wallet; just this week...
To The Eagle: As some of you may know, this week is Teacher Appreciation Week. I only learned this a week ago and it has given me a lot to think about. One question that has been running through my mind for the past few days: Why do we only take one week a year to appreciate teachers? A teacher's job is just as important this week as it was 10 weeks ago. As a student it is easy to see a teacher as someone who is just there to make my life more difficult by forcing me to write essays and calculate complicated equations and I don't take many...
To The Eagle: My parents have always told my siblings and me that high school is one of the best times of your life. They say we should cherish it and have fun. One of the main things that have made me enjoy high school the most is sports. Since I have been in high school, I have been participating in volleyball, basketball, and softball. It is very well known that this town is very into sports and supporting athletics, but since I am part of a girls' sport, it seems like the boys' sports get more support. I am also a huge fan of the boys and...
To The Eagle: It's silly to think that at the age of 17 years old, I can't go purchase a beverage at my school without it getting taken away from me or getting punished for it. Believe me, I'd rather spend my dollar somewhere that would take it, but I have to be at school to do my studies. I have more reasons that they should allow me to buy a beverage than reasons they have not to. It's no secret that sleep deprivation is a major problem in the USA, especially with teens in high school. And I know for myself, I have such a big life outside...
To The Eagle: The Gear Up Grant used by Wahkiakum School District has provided many opportunities to prepare for college. However, the problem with this is that the money is only used for one class. Only one class out of the seven middle/high school classes has an opportunity to visit colleges, get their SATs paid for, or go on educational field trips. To me, this is very unfair. It is great for that one class, but what about the rest of the school? Everyone deserves to have the same opportunities to prepare for college. This year's seventh...
To The Eagle: Favoritism at Wahkiakum school district is ridiculous. I am talking about grades and athletics. At mid-terms, the teachers are supposed to check the grades for failing students, yet some of these students are still able to play. Several students played through the football season with failing grades. This same incident occurred during the basketball season. A student was failing at the end of the quarter and still got to play in the playoffs during the basketball season. Why are we not following our own policy? Now, I have played...
To The Eagle: The Pay To Participate (PTP) plan has helped to keep sports going in our small community, even though it has decreased the amount of students who come out for sports. The fans in our town look forward to coming to Wahkiakum sports and the sad truth of it all is that without the PTP there would not be as many sports available. Due to budget constraints of the school districts, we have had to tighten the extracurricular expenditures and certain sports were on their way to the chopping block. Due in part to the PTP, low turn-out...
To The Eagle: A couple of weeks ago, the high school had its voting to see who would be this year’s “school clowns” for the yearbook. One of the students had the idea to go into the restroom and strike a funny pose. An innocent idea, but after they entered the restroom a male staff member came in after and sent them to the office. Mind you, there were four female students and one male student. The male student told our principal he didn’t know they could get in trouble for doing that, and he just thought it fit the title they had been selected...
To The Eagle: My name is Shelby Robinson and I am 13 years old. I currently attend John C. Thomas Middle School in Cathlamet. A few short months ago I was offered a very unique and wonderful opportunity to travel with the People to People Ambassador program which was founded by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956. His vision for this program was to promote peace among different cultures, race and religions through individual ordinary citizens. Through this experience, I will: • Discover and enjoy traveling with new friends and gain...
To The Eagle: Columbia River Kayaking hosted another successful Wilderness First Responder course in Skamokawa last week, with 11 new WFRs certified at the end of the course. Special thanks are due to Jessica Fletcher, Kay Chamberlain, Duncan Cruickshank, Becky Ledtke, the Skamokawa Grange, the fairgrounds, Vista Park and the Skamokawa and Cathlamet fire departments for helping us to host this class. Thanks! Mark Whitaker Col. River Kayaking Skamokawa...
A proposal for the Town of Cathlamet to cut its sewer connection fee to $100 makes sense to me. The reasoning, say town officials, is lower fees will draw more connections and customers to the system, and that by having more customers of the sewer system, the financial load of operating the system and constructing a new wastewater treatment plant would be lower. The council is considering another proposal that would raise rates from $45 per month for town residents to $80 per month in June, 2014. Rates for out-of-town customers would increase f...
To The Eagle: The town of Cathlamet and its library committee have concluded that a good temporary location for the library during town hall remodeling would be up in the Shell station plaza on SR4. A couple of weeks ago, the mayor presented the county commissioners an elegant idea: if the county would be willing to waive its hookup fees to the legendary "Sewer to Nowhere" that lies a-molderin' in the ground by Boege Road, then the mall would be able to hook up to it, preempting any potential sewer problems caused by the library's tenancy. But...
To The Eagle: The Wahkiakum County Real Property Rights Advisory Board was created for the benefit of Wahkiakum County residents. Its function is to review and comment on plans and policies developed by the county authority which can affect the real property rights of county residents and then, after evaluation of these, advise the county commissioners how the plans or policies may relate or impact the property rights of the citizen. This committee, consisting of nine Wahkiakum County residents, can only be effective if the residents of the...
To The Eagle: A short note to say thanks to the DeBriaes for their generosity over the years and of lately to Wahkiakum County and Cathlamet in general. When the community is in need, they step in to give aid. The fire department that you see today would not be, without the aid of the DeBriaes and the host of volunteers, both medical and fire who are called night and day to give us aid. Again we thank you for all your giving. Olaf Thomason, Sr. Puget Island...
To The Eagle: St. James Family Center is proud to be one of the recipients of the United Way of Cowlitz and Wahkiakum Counties' funding allocations for 2012. SJFC received $42,000 from United Way this year. St. James Family Center provides a variety of programs that focus on children and families in our community. United Way support assists SJFC to be able to continue to make a positive impact in the lives of families who use our services. In addition to funding, United Way organizes opportunities for volunteers to work with agencies in a...
To The Eagle: About an hour ago I lost the satellite signal for television. When I called I was told to wait until we had no weather and they could send out a technician to look at the system. I told the representative that it rained about nine months of the year and we have about two months to go. I asked her what she recommended ? She said, sorry but there was nothing she could do....She was going to hang up! I am waiting for her supervisor – five minutes later, still waiting. Still on hold, I think Lawrence Welk is playing a polka........
