Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
Sorted by date Results 2357 - 2381 of 2591
To The Eagle: The Daily News Saturday April 9, 2011 front page question: SR 4 Slide--Why No Highway Bypass? Answer: No one in state legislature is impacted by SR 4. Note there is an obvious bypass between Bunker Hill Road and Sherman Road that will require one quarter mile of road and a small bridge. Peter J. Fleury Cathlamet...
Two recent emergencies have highlighted the decline in Wahkiakum County's emergency management system. In a "hotwash" review of responses to the March tsunami and last week's closure of SR 4 because of a landslide, officials talked about the challenges of finding information about the incidents and the challenges of communicating that information with each other and with the public. They identified several problems: Only certain officials can update the county's website and Facebook page, and they can do it only form certain computers....
To The Eagle: I have had several calls regarding the issue of Evergreen Septic putting septic sludge on the Zerr property on the Grays River. Apparently Evergreen trucks are hauling in rock to form a staging area as they prepare to spread the sludge. It is my understanding from Commissioner Blair Brady, an ordinance is being prepared as we go to press. Hopefully it will be supported by the other two commissioners. There needs to be a sense of urgency on this subject. With the extreme wet weather we have had and the precarious condition of some...
To The Eagle: It's time to play hardball with our politicians. Those clowns we've sent back to D.C. (clowns-- as in "Send in the clowns, send in the clowns, don't bother, they're here!") are discussing doing away with every conceivable thing to supposedly attack the national debt; every conceivable thing except the thing that caused the debt, that is. Did Social Security cause the debt? No! Did welfare programs cause the debt? No! Did Medicare cause the debt? No! Did our armed forces cause the debt? No! What did cause it? Congress has...
To The Eagle: It is beyond me why some people believe the Columbia River exists solely to make them rich. A year ago determined Washington and Oregon residents defeated the reckless and unnecessary liquefied natural gas terminal and high-pressure pipeline proposed for Bradwood, Oregon. Despite that, fossil fuel speculators still propose an LNG terminal in Warrenton, Ore. Imagine three massive tanks filled with flammable natural gas - - built on sand, on fill, on top of undiscovered bedrock, in a tsunami and earthquake zone, below sea level....
To The Eagle: April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month in Washington state. Locally and around the state, individuals, youth, communities, schools and agencies will be taking action to increase awareness about sexual assault and to end sexual violence. The issue is pressing. One out of every four girls and one out of every six boys will be sexually abused before the age of 18. A recent survey conducted by the Washington State Office of Crime Victims Advocacy found that one third of all women in Washington state have experienced some form of sexu...
To The Eagle: Doesn't it seem ironic that the US government insisted that General Motors declare bankruptcy because their balance sheet was $25 billion in the red? The government's some $14 trillion in the red is the equivalent of every state in the union having just a tad more than 11 General Motors sized bankruptcies. Let's not be alarmed though; I recently noticed a syndicated columnist who insisted that the federal government is not in bad shape at all financially and nowhere near bankruptcy. Apparently, as long as there is a taxpayer...
To The Eagle: It is well known that many homes and properties in Wahkiakum and other counties in the state are very much over-assessed. Many homes as much as 30 percent over market value. Even if they would sell pasture that cannot be developed for reasons such as flooding, water table access, ability etc., and cannot be used for home sites, are assessed sometimes as much as 200 percent of market value. The market is continuing to fall from 1 to 1.5 percent per month and the home and property owners are being billed for values from four to six...
Community groups are getting together next Monday, 6 p.m., at Wendt Elementary School, Cathlamet, for a program on the prevention of youth suicide. Local elected officials are supporting the program. Below is the proclamation approved by both the Wahkiakum County Board of Commissioners and the Town of Cathlamet Council. It has a lot to say. I hope the community will support this program. Youth Suicide Prevention Day March 28, 2011 Promote Education and Awareness for Youth Suicide Prevention WHEREAS, suicide is one of the most disruptive and...
To The Eagle: Responding to the ancient but oft unheeded principle that the best way to spark the economy and job growth is to cut taxation, regulation, and spending (short version: shrink government), the tea partiers, conservatives, and other happy warriors that we sent to that other Washington last November are off to a great start. They have preserved the Bush income tax cuts, tackled the budget mess, joined the fray to behead the Obamacare monster and are struggling to control the antics of that weird cult of global warmers and green jobbe...
To The Eagle: In the first two months of this year, the state of Washington has had three exemplary employees die on the job while serving and protecting the public. Our hearts go out to their families and the loved ones that have been left behind. Every day state employees perform potentially dangerous jobs in uncertain and changing conditions. It might be a law enforcement officer working to preserve public safety, an inspector working to ensure roads and bridges are safe, a firefighter putting out a forest blaze, or a social worker working...
To The Eagle: I am extremely disappointed with the actions taken by the Wahkiakum Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) today (Tuesday). It is unfair to the taxpayers of Wahkiakum County. I ran for assessor in order to improve the services delivered by the assessor’s office to the citizens and taxpayers of Wahkiakum County. I had hoped to have the opportunity to utilize the resources in my budget to address the many severe problems left to me in my office. It seems quite reasonable to use the funds in Professional Fees to obtain the help needed...
To The Eagle: Duck hunters who favor Alternative 1 of the Comprehensive Conservation Plan for Willapa National Refuge have sent letters to several local newspapers. They argue that walk-in hunting access should take precedence over breaching dikes to restore salt water marshes. One "fact" in these letters is that a similar dike-breaching project at Nisqually Wildlife Refuge has resulted in death of waterfowl, so that only seven percent remain. This would be shocking if true--but it is not supported by refuge staff when recently contacted. Bird...
A friend called me at 12:38 a.m. last Friday. "Rick," he said, "do you know about the tsunami? There's been an 8.9 earthquake in Japan." I thanked him for the call and turned on the TV to startling videos from people who experienced the quake in Japan and from people who photographed the effects of the tsunami that hit the coast of Japan. The early video of those surges showed a black mass sweeping away anything in its way. Naturally, I wondered what that meant for me and other Puget Island residents and residents of other low lying areas...
To The Eagle: The Eagle for February 24, 2011 front page story "Board offers plan to equalize" and the February 25, 2011 Daily News article "Puget Island taxes too high" both address a system that is broken and in need of reform. Checks and balances that are supposed to protect the tax payer are inadequate and those that do exist have been compromised by actions of persons in the County Assessor's office going back for several years. I remember the public statement by a former Assessor, that went something like "I will not fire the appraiser...
To The Eagle: I note with some trepidation that county commissioners Brady and Cothren have decided to become the "Poop Police" for Wahkiakum County, messing with the biosolid laws of the state of Washington. Brady claims that different universities have reached different conclusions about the safety of biosolids, but is unwilling to accept the consensus of science and industry, as the state has done. Cothren is willing to call the state's bluff, even though it could result in litigation costing Wahkiakum County (and by definition, that's you...
To The Eagle: To the drivers that take the shortcut from Glengate to Jacobson Road--Slow down! On Monday afternoon, February 28, one of you killed a much loved family pet. Next time, it could be a child. The few seconds you saved were not worth the pain you caused Spook's family. Mary Watkins Cathlamet...
To The Eagle: It is with a sad and heavy heart that I write this letter. My husband came home with the news today that the "guardian of the mountain" had passed recently. I'm sure most other drivers were at least aware of him because of his sheer size and beauty! I know that we, for one, noticed him and looked for him anytime we headed over KM Mountain. He would lay there in the yard, sometimes closer towards the road where the ground sloped up, so as to have a resting place for his massive head, all the while lazily watching traffic go by. We...
The Wahkiakum School District is developing a policy that would guide staff in reporting students who may be under the influence of drugs and alcohol and have them tested for the presence of the controlled substances. The goal, district officials say, is to make sure students get the help they need for substance abuse. Of course, subjecting students to urine tests for drugs is controversial, to say the least. The district tried to implement a random drug testing program for athletes in the 1990s but lost a suit to parents and the American Civil...
To The Eagle: In January of this year, the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence (WSCADV) released new research on domestic violence homicides in Washington State. Sixty eight women, men and children were murdered by an abuser in the last two years. "These homicides tell us where we are falling short," said Nan Stoops, executive director of WSCADV. "They make it clear that we cannot rely on any one system or agency alone to end domestic violence. We all have a role to play." The study puts forth 11 key goals for change....
To The Eagle: During the last week of March 2010, I purchased a mattress from a store in Kelso for the sum of about $500. This mattress was purchased with the thought that it would be beneficial to my wife as she suffers from an arthritic spine. For a few months all went well. In early autumn my wife started to complain about the mattress being uncomfortable. Finally in December, we inspected the mattress. There was an almost two inch sag in the mattress. We then contacted the store about this problem. We were told that we had to have...
To The Eagle: I want to thank Mr. Kimmel for his letter (The Eagle December 16, 2010) entitled “Vendetta” and addressed to me. My thanks and that of many people in Wahkiakum County go to Mr. Kimmel for reminding all of us that the management of Cathlamet’s Fire Department and Emergency Medical Service (EMS) needs to be addressed. The managers of our FD and EMS still have not answered my questions (The Eagle December 9, 2010) or inquiries of the mayor or city council, thus avoiding transparency. A small but relevant oversight by the FD/EM...
To The Eagle: Will Rogers pointed out that it isn't so much what you don't know that will hurt you but rather the things you're absolutely sure of that just ain't so. That's being aptly demonstrated in California, where the voters ignored the financial disaster alarm bells that alerted the rest of the country last November, voted in the four Ls (leftists, liberals, loonies and labor) with Governor Moonbeam at the helm. He's pledged to build 20,000 watts of green power, connect all the major cities with high speed rail, and hire thousands of...
To The Eagle: Continuing public support of the Wahkiakum County Historical Society has brought the society and the county museum back from the brink. Our special thanks go to several who made extraordinarily generous cash donations to the society and requested anonymity, and to all of you who purchased raffle tickets for the Historical Society's romantic Valentine's Day dinner. Your continued support is enabling the society to look forward to a secure future. Judy Brawn President Wahkiakum County Historical Society....
To The Eagle: February is the month where we see hearts, flowers, candy, and talk of true love, new love and hopes of love. February is also nationally recognized as Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month. The Charlotte House works with the students of Wahkiakum School District in teaching them about healthy relationships, their rights in relationships, possible warning signs of an unhealthy relationship and where to go for help if they're not sure what to do when a relationship feels wrong. Parents and caregivers of teens play...
