Former manager much appreciated

To The Eagle:

I recently heard some sad news; the manager of the Port of Wahkiakum had been terminated. I am writing this letter to express how much of an asset Steve McClain is to your community.

We at Pro-Tech Industries have been camping at Skamokawa Vista for approximately 20 years. Each year we bring 100-200 people to the area. As our group grew, Steve would ask us to support his efforts to improve the park.

We started out by repairing the canopies that had wind damage and buying a new canvas top, as there was another group that had been coming longer than us, and if we wanted the canopy, it needed to get repaired. We asked Steve when he was planning on replacing the play equipment. He said times were tough for the Port’s finances and promptly offered us a magazine to see if there were any play structures we might like to invest in. We ended up buying a $6,000 play structure and donating it to the campground. Not only that, but our crew came up on the weekend on their own time and installed the structure under Steve’s supervision.

Several times Steve also asked for donations to the Redman Hall auction. We have donated several cab-racks for pickups, a toolbox, and cookie sheets.

When the yurt project came along, we were fully invested with Steve at this point. We cleared the sites of brush and trees, dug the excavations, built the support structure, built the decks, and erected the canvas tops on all the yurts. Steve enlisted other volunteers to help us. The project was fun and rewarding for all.

We have also helped on the circle area bathroom plumbing and hot water repair, various parts for the Gators, and front end loaders.

We helped Steve prepare the material list for re-roofing the circle area bathroom, and we were ready to donate the labor for the roof tear-off and reroof in March for him.

I went online to send this letter to the three port commissioners but could not find their e-mail address, so this will serve as my notice to them. Steve brought money into your community. He asked for us to help in many ways over the years and we were glad to help. Not once did we receive a thank-you from the commission for the work and donations we provided to the park.

I hope your constituents are smart enough to determine the ones who work hard for the community and those that do not.

Tevis Laspa

Pro-Tech Ind. Inc.

Vancouver