Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
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To The Eagle: I am new to Wahkiakum County and, like many here, appreciate the natural beauty of the area. In September, when I first arrived last year, the trees, birds in flight and peaceful cows all contributed to a scene which, at first, seemed retirement-worthy. Within a few weeks, though, the sounds of gunfire shattered the peace. I was told that October was hunting season and that it would calm down soon. And yet, even during the holiday season, that gunfire continued. I would support making Puget Island a safe zone for non-hunters...
To The Eagle: As Wahkiakum High School’s head golf coach, it is an honor to announce that our 2023 state champion girls golf team and boys golf team are back in action this month for the start of another Spring season! Each one of our student athletes have been working hard year round to keep their golf skills sharp and are now ready to secure another state title. But there is still work to be done. Every year the Wahkiakum High School golf team asks its community for support to help supply rain gear, practice equipment, and green fees which en...
To The Eagle: The Longview Lodge of Masons, like most fraternal organizations today, is shrinking in numbers. Despite being down to about forty members they continue to finance a bikes for books program that promotes literacy throughout the Longview School District. The program, coordinated by Dan Zorn, Superintendent of the Longview School District, will provide about forty bicycles this year that will be raffled off to students in every grade school in the school system. Raffle tickets can not be purchased, but are earned by the students by...
To the Voters of Naselle-Grays River Valley School District: I am writing to express my gratitude to the voters who supported the recent EducationalPrograms and Operations levy. Your commitment to investing in the education of our children is commendable and speaks volumes about our shared values as a community. Supporting the Educational Programs and Operations levy has a significant and positive impact on our students, our educators, and our support staff. Your ‘yes’ vote ensures that our school has the necessary resources to provide a hig...
To the Eagle: I just felt the need to let you know what a nice job The Eagle staff are doing with the weekly paper. I had quit subscribing for several years due to all the left wing Associated Press articles and the constant bantering from the same folks in the letters to The Eagle section. Ugh! You’ve been covering interesting stories from around the area (and farther) and the “drama” seems to have stopped in the letter department. Job well done! I look forward to reading each week now. Teresa McMahon Puget Island...
To The Eagle: Please forgive my delayed response to the front page article from Feb. 8 entitled "Ridiculous and disappointed." I have no knowledge of how community budgets work or how things are divided regarding county budgets. It does seem to me that funding to build up the infrastructure of a community with mental health services, affordable housing, and medical care—issues that last year's Health and Human Services survey revealed were top three concerns—should be given first priority, before projects that build-up tourism, such as the wat...
Dear Readers, The Eagle continues its journey of growth as we transition from one era to another. With our first focus group coming up this week, and other exciting innovations coming this summer, the publishers and our staff are excited to continue responding to the needs of our community. We are committed to providing timely and relevant news, culture, and information for the residents of Wahkiakum County by covering the matters that are most important to you. We also want The Eagle to be a means for expanding the world of Wahkiakum County...
To The Eagle: This time of year, our weekends are cursed with the early morning cacophony of shotguns, aimed at innocent Canada geese stopping here to rest and recuperate from their arduous journey along the Pacific Migratory Flyway. What a terrible irony. The awful sound of those guns is somewhat more tolerable when they are “distant,” as mandated by law. Hunters that want to take game animals in Washington must abide by the state hunting laws, regulations, and requirements provided by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. Those imp...
Changes—some temporary, some more long-lasting—continue at The Eagle. In the short term, our reporter and news editor, Diana Zimmerman, will be taking a much-deserved vacation. As regular readers know, Diana contributes the bulk of our news writing. Though our staff will be able to cover some of her responsibilities, we not be able to cover it all, and so for our Feb. 15 and Feb. 22 issues, you might notice us experimenting with alternative kinds of content or formatting, or you may see more stories from our partner news orgs, such as the Chi...
To The Eagle: The Grays River Flood Control District (GRFCD, formerly known as the Grays River Habitat Enhancement District) is holding a special election to fill position 2 on their board, currently held by Judith Johnson. I served as the unelected volunteer secretary for about 15 years and understand some of the obstacles and triumphs they can face. NGOs (non governmental organizations such as Columbia Land Trust) are purchasing land in our county, in the name of habitat and conservation. They regularly get most of the grant monies available...
To the Eagle: HB 2027 would require sheriffs, police chiefs, marshals, and reserve officers to maintain officer certification and comply with background investigations before a sheriff can file for candidacy. Now that sounds good, and that is what they are promoting. However, it also would grant the state Criminal Justice Training Commission the authority “to disqualify candidates seeking election as county sheriffs and decertify a sheriff at any time, for any reason.” If the sheriff is not doing the governor’s bidding, that sheriff will be de...
To The Eagle: GFWC-Cathlamet Woman’s Club’s first meeting of the year will take place on Tuesday, Feb. 6, at noon, upstairs at the Hotel Cathlamet. We invite you to come and see what the club is all about. The Cathlamet Woman’s Club was originally organized in 1929 and was federated in 1930 under the Washington State and National Federation of Women’s Clubs. GFWC is one of the world’s oldest and largest women’s service organizations dedicated to community improvement through volunteer services. A few highlights of our club include: supporting...
To The Eagle: Washington State legislators could change the entire landscape of the election process for county sheriffs and the appointments of police chiefs. House Bill 2027 and Senate Bill 5905 would also allow the state to decertify a sheriff or police chief at any given time. H.B. 2027 would require sheriffs, police chiefs, marshals, and reserve officers to maintain officer certification and comply with background investigations before a sheriff can file for candidacy or a city appoints a police chief. It would include criminal history and...
To The Eagle: The Naselle-Grays River Valley School District Board of Directors recently authorized the placement of a three-year Educational Programs Levy on the Feb. 13 ballot. This levy, which is a renewal of the existing tax, asks voters for a collection of $651,000 per year at an approximate rate of $1.27 per $1,000 of assessed valuation to help fund existing school programs and district operations. The current levy expires at the end of 2024. The renewal levy, if approved, would be collected in 2025-2027. This levy rate represents the...
To The Eagle: Thank you, Wahkiakum County! We, the volunteers, officers, support personnel, Chief Randall Hoven, and current sitting fire commissioners – Richard Bigler, chair; James “Bim” McCoy; and Larry Hendrickson – of Fire Protection District 4 would like to extend our very sincere appreciation to all of those Wahkiakum County residents who voted in the recent election that saw our levy increase pass by an impressive margin. It’s not an easy thing to do, asking people to dig deeper into their pockets. Especially now, what with fuel at $...
To The Eagle: The title of an article in the Eagle last week “Analysis finds nearly all hatcheries hurt wild salmon populations” is technically accurate but there are OTHER opinions and OTHER analyses. I am not an expert in this field but I have read many studies about this issue so I know there are a wide spectrum of scientifically based opinions about the effects of hatcheries on wild salmon. To read studies with a far different perspective than the ones cited in last weeks article I suggest you visit the “Hatchery and Wild Coexist” website...
To the Editor: Alcoholics Anonymous and Drug Addicts Anonymous are already available at in-person meetings and on telephone help-lines. Nonetheless, at their Jan. 2, 2024 meeting, the commissioners appropriated $13,000 to fund “Renconation Therapy” at Wahkiakum Health and Human Services. The treatment method has not been peer reviewed and no treatment outcomes have been published. I so informed the commissioners on December 29, 2023. In their evaluation of “Renconation Therapy”, its creators and evaluators at the Nebraska Center for Justice...
To The Eagle: Those of us who are in fact “predominantly Orthodox Christians” took offense at the publication of that most yellow of journalistic emissions regurgitated by you in The Eagle on Dec. 28, 2023, from your AP overlords. That you would pass this article off as news is revolting. That the neo-Nazi regime of Mr. Zelenskyy is engaged in the persecution and slaughter of the priesthood of Russian Orthodoxy is a well-established fact. There is no excuse for this, nor for the support of the US taxpayer in his Nazi force’s attempt to depri...
To The Eagle: One of the things I look forward to after all the hustle and bustle of the holidays is The Wahkiakum County Eagle’s poetry edition the first week of January. When I moved here in 2018, I remember seeing a request for local readers to submit a poem for the Poetry Corner. Rick set aside a page each January to spotlight Wahkiakum poets. Well, that’s when I knew I was living in a truly special place. I sat down and set to work writing a poem. When I saw it in print a couple of weeks later, alongside poems by actual bona fide wri...
To The Eagle: PUD General Manager Dan Kay’s salary is now $15,756 per month. For many, that’s a yearly, not monthly, income. Meanwhile, 10.6% of the population of Wahkiakum County live below the poverty line. In Pacific county the poverty rate is 13.6% with the median household income at $58,889 per year. Pacific County Commissioner Lisa Olsen said “we are natural resource counties,” and therein lies the problem. “Community forests” have been supplanted by a pulp tree monoculture unsuitable for wildlife. Marine harvests of fish and other sea l...
To The Eagle: I'm very glad to see that you will be upgrading the Letters policy, presumably in order to tone down the rhetoric and increase a civil discourse. The abuse of decency and fairness to promote narrow self-interests has been painful to see, particularly the way some folks bullied Rick even while he allowed them to speak. I have a few additional suggestions: One, require or suggest that a letter focus on one main issue; no grievance or kudo lists that are impossible to answer. Two, no inflammatory hyperbole or disrespect allowed (such...
To The Eagle: Welcome 2024! Everyone has their thoughts on how last year went; I hope everyone found some good while hoping for better. Personally, we are doing very well. We have little income, but enough to cover bills and feed us. It seems that, for many, the biggest expense is a roof over their heads, which keeps taking money from groceries. One thing that, in my opinion, keeps costs high, is the huge cost to even start a home or apartment. Permits, hook-ups and inspections are terribly costly. Can we get our local, state and federal...
Letters to the editor are intended to encourage the expression of the residents of Wahkiakum County in a venue they trust. The letters are a place in the paper where anyone can have their say. We publish nearly every letter we receive. We hope that readers will write in to share their views on a wide array of topics impacting them here in Wahkiakum County and Naselle. In 2024, nearly all of us have access to free 24 hour national and international news coverage on our phones, tablets, and computers. The Eagle knows our readers look forward to r...
To The Eagle: Happy New Year! Closing in on 2024, so I want to end the year with some good news, to hopefully grow more next year. Even though we are right at the poverty level of income, I feel we are rich. We have a comfortable home, a decent car, and more than enough to eat, just had the pleasure of time with our four boys and our daughter. Thankfully got all our bills paid before retiring. Our son qualified for a PELL grant to help with his college. Got a $30 a month reduction on the internet. My wife’s insulin is going way down as are o...
To The Eagle: Factual and unbiased reporting has always been the foundation of responsible journalism. When political bias infiltrates the journalistic process, we end up with claims of “fake news” and a general distrust of what is being reported. In her recent column [from Oct. 26], Eagle reporter Karen Bertroch trampled across the boundaries of professional journalism into the territory of political activism. Clearly, in her column she is campaigning in favor of the upcoming levy for the Naselle-Grays River Valley School District. Stumping fo...
