Detour seems to be problematic

MIXED BAG--This past week has brought us a mixture of weather, with the least favorite being the smoke that descended upon us on Saturday. It almost seemed hard to believe that the smoke we were getting was from so far away, as it smelled like "fresh" smoke. Needless to say, I was happy that it wasn't close by, but I also realized if we were experiencing headaches, clogged noses and burning eyes clear over here, what were those poor folks going through over there where the fires originated? Thankfully, the winds picked up on Sunday evening and we were pretty clear by Monday morning.

Of course, it also made one feel extra thankful to all those firefighters who have been battling all these fires for so long, and sympathy for those that lost their lives doing it as well; their loss is just tragic. Needless to say, please do not burn anything right now, and watch out for hot exhaust pipes on all your rigs, whether it be a car or truck or other equipment as several fires have been started accidently that way too, so when it comes to heat/fire, one cannot be careful enough right now.

SPECIAL DAYS--Those celebrating their birthdays from Aug. 27-Sept. 2 are Nanea Carroll, Quin Bassi, Kathy Perkins, Linda Ougendal, Carter Helms-Carvalho, Judy Danielsen, Debbie Melton, Joe Turgeon, Meredith Cothren, Tyson Bain, Kathy McNally and Linda Cook.

Those celebrating their anniversaries this week are John and Melissa Thompson, Pete and Patti LaBerge, Beryl and Randi Curtis, Grant and Ashley Turner, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Robinson, Bruce and Nickie Linquist and Lee and Diane Tischer. Enjoy all your special occasions everybody!

RETIREMENT PARTY--On Sept. 1, which is a Tuesday, a retirement party is being planned for Kayrene Gilbertsen, as she retires from her position on the Board of Commissioners, Port #2. All are welcome to come to the Skamokawa Methodist Church from 4 to 6 to enjoy some refreshments and say their goodbyes as Kayrene gets married and moves out of the area. After all her years of being on many committees and volunteering countless hours at various functions, she will be missed.

COMING RIGHT UP--Here in Skamokawa, we have a wonderfully restored historic building called "The Redmen Hall." This iconic landmark has stood tall through thick and thin and even managed to survive being hauled up the hill due to the new highway going in during the 30's, after first being built in 1894 by Allen Riley as Skamokawa's "Central School." The school was closed in 1926 when a new school was built in the area now known as Skamokawa Vista Park. The old school building was sold to the 'Order of Redmen' and used as their lodge and community center until the 50's. Once again, it was sold a few times, made into apartments, left vacant and finally purchased and started to be restored by the Friends of Skamokawa back in 1987. Thanks to a dedicated group of members, this hall got cleaned up, remodeled and restored to its present glory, and then the group added the River Life (RiverLife) Interpretive Center on the second floor in the early 90's and held its dedication on July 2, 1992. Senator Sid Snyder was our 19th district rep. then and he was in charge of ribbon cutting duties, while Mrs. Slade Gorten was there to present the group with the presentation of the the "American Beauty Award" and Heritage Resource Center director, Michael Warner spoke, along with acting FOS Pres. Anne Gruel. It was quite a day in Skamokawa!

Since that time, many things have been done and many fund raisers have been held to continue to make improvements on the hall and to keep this building in shape, and that all takes money. So, once again, a couple of weeks from now on Sept. 12, there will be a fund raiser held, as the FOS annual "Cornucopia of Wines" Wine Tasting and Auction takes place! We hope you will consider helping this cause by attending and possibly donating something for either the silent or live auction as well. There will be a paddle raise event for those who would like to make a cash donation. This event not only provides the much needed revenue to keep the hall in operation, but let me tell you, it's also a whole lot of fun as friends, neighbors and relatives have been known to "duke it out" in some wonderful bidding wars! There will be lots of items to bid on, from wonderful photography by Mike Rees, to baskets full of goodies all in a wine motif, to various food related things and everything else you can think of in between, so we hope to see you at 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 12. Tickets may be purchased in advance at the Bank of the Pacific, the Skamokawa Store and of course, Redmen Hall. If you purchase them in advance, you'll save a few bucks. This year, Annie Heineck will be catering the event and along with some great cheeses, I'm told that there will be some local C&H Smoked Salmon, which we all know is just delicious, so come on down and eat, drink and be merry and help support our historic Redmen Hall!

LIKE TO COOK/BOATS?--If you think you're a pretty good chili cook or maybe a chowder cook, why not enter into the "Chili vs Chowder" contest down at the Elochoman Marina in Cathlamet, which will be held on Sept. 5 and see if you take the top honors? If you'd like to take part in this, you need to contact the Wah. Chamber of Commerce right away at 795-9996 or go online, as the cut-off date for registration is tomorrow, Aug. 28! There are always several things to do down there, along with raffles and music, and with the marina also being the site of the Wooden Boat Show that day, you're going to be able to grab a bite to eat and have a little fun, while you check out all the action at the marina next Saturday.

NEW MEMBER--Tessa Sechler had a busy time at Washington State University last week as the rush to get into your favorite sorority house was on, and while I'm not sure how that whole thing works, it sounded pretty exciting. It got even more so when all of her top picks agreed to accept her in their house, so that was pretty neat! When it was all whittled down and the top three choices were made, Delta Gamma invited her to become a new member of the Beta Omega Chapter at WSU, which was her top choice, so she was very happy! We send her our congratulations and we hope all that sorority sisterhood works out for her. Of course, now that the big move there has been completed, it will soon be time to settle in on those college classes but I'm sure this little spitfire will do just fine in her new school and her new house!

SKAMOKAWA GRANGE WINNERS--The Skamokawa Grange #425 held a couple of summer basket raffles at the fair this year and the winners were: A basket of goodies with a one year life-flight ins. membership was won by Sherry Ostling, so congratulations to her! That was a great prize as we all know that the cost of a medical flight like that is very expensive and not all costs are covered by Medicare or other insurances, so this insurance, which is only $60 per year, per household, is a fantastic deal! The winner of the picnic basket full of all your most important picnic needs, was Susan Brown, with the basket also containing a $25 gift certificate from our Skamokawa Store, compliments of Lance and Shannon Britt. Congratulations to her as well!

Don't forget, the grange meets at their hall at 18 Fairgrounds Road on the first and third Tuesdays of the month which will be Sept. 1 and 15 this coming month.

SAD TIMES--It's just been a gut wrenching time for our area recently, as we have lost some wonderful people who have lived here for a long time, or did live here at one time, and it goes without saying that we send all the family members our sincerest sympathies for their loss. A couple of the guys who passed away were upper classmen when I was in school and the ones who always had a ready smile and were always nice to you, stuck in your mind: Terry Everman and Art Boldt were a couple of those guys. Terry's passing was certainly sudden as he died while he was in Florida as he was about to catch a plane home and was just 69. His services will be held this Saturday, Aug. 29 at 2 p.m. at Wendt Elementary school in Cathlamet. Art Boldt's passing in the middle of this month came as a big shock to us as well, as he was just 67 and had just been seen by a physician we understand. He was another one of those guys who always met you with a ready smile, which in turn made you smile. His services were held last Saturday.

One of our long time lady friends, Nova McNally, left us this past weekend and I am certainly going to miss seeing her as I've known her "forever"! I can still remember being at her house here in Skamokawa (across from the Sk. Fire Dept.) and all of us kids getting to ride on a horse, from which I fell off of when the saddle slid off and dumped about three of us in the grass alongside the road. Those were the days! Later in years, it was always great to chat with her down at the Duck Inn and as the years went by, we shared stories of the past and compared notes on the aches and pains of getting older, which neither of us were enjoying!

Pat Doumit's services were last Sunday and while I didn't know her well, there weren't too many people who didn't know of her or know one of her 11 children, as they have been involved in our area in many capacities over the years from attorneys to teachers and everything in between.

Also, Robert Box of Puget Island passed away on Aug. 13 and we'd had dealings with Robert over the years. While I didn't know Anthony Setera Jr., our kids went to school with and were friends with Mr. Setera's son, Tony, so we are sorry to hear of their loss as well.

DETOUR--The detour that goes around Risk/Foster and Elochoman roads has had some trouble from day one, as right off the bat, somebody put a big dent in the detour sign on the west end of it. Then one sign was a bit misleading and sent some folks in the wrong direction but thankfully, that has been fixed. On one of our trips on the road, a car had pulled over to take a picture and was facing the wrong direction on a blind corner, and only because we were going very slow, were the occupants of the car, not hit head on; scary! Another driver who somehow missed seeing the brightly lit detour sign, or did not slow down enough after seeing it, crashed right through the barriers, and another time, we went by and it was all standing upright but when we returned, it was all down on the ground. I might suggest another warning/detour sign prior to the barrier as it is a 90 degree turn, and then an electronic sign with an arrow on it, along with the barriers on the west end of it, as in the dark, it is just not very well lit. With folks passing on this detour, and others driving way too fast, we are afraid of what's going to happen next on this road. And let's not forget, the little bridge had weight limits on it at one time, but are now lifted. If this bridge goes down, there is no way for anyone to get from Skamokawa to Cathlamet and vice versa, which would be extremely detrimental to everyone here. Not only would this be bad for every day reasons, but in case of an emergency, like a bad accident or fire, it would be a catastrophy. Let's just hope and pray everybody slows down before someone is killed on the detour route, and that the bridge stays up and the culvert work is done ahead of schedule!

HOLIDAY/CAR SHOW--Don't forget, the Labor Day weekend will soon be upon us, as it will be on Monday, Sept. 7, so be sure to get your banking and any other business done on Friday, as most government businesses, like the post office and courthouse, will be closed that Monday. It will be a three day weekend full of traffic as well as they head to the beach, so watch out for the tourists. The following weekend, the "End of the World Rod Run" will take place in Long Beach, and while they used to always go by here, they may just bypass us this year and go on the Oregon side. However, there may be some that still come this way, so just be aware that there could be added traffic that weekend as well.