Commissioners work on business

Wahkiakum County commissioners continued plugging away at various projects and issues when they met Tuesday.

Commissioner Dan Cothren reported that US Army Corps of Engineers staff are still working on final details for entry permits and other agreements the county will need to set up dredge spoil disposal areas on Puget Island and Little Cape Horn.

Cothren said he or other county officials will meet soon with Corps staff for a progress update. When the permits are in place, he said, the county will be able to submit its permit application for the overall project.

Puget Island resident Joe Budnick reported he had submitted a petition to the state Board of Geographic Names to change the names of Jim Crow Point, Creek and Hill.

Commissioners and the public have been discussing the issue of changing the names because of the racist connotations associated with the Jim Crow name, and Budnick, who lived in the area as a child, said he requested the names acknowledge early local residents of the area.

Commissioner Blair Brady moved that the board send a letter to the Chinook Nation asking if tribal members had any suggestions for naming the geographical features. Commissioner Mike Backman seconded the motion, and it passed.

Commissioner Backman proposed that the county set up a phone for the public in the courthouse lobby so that people needing an emergency phone would have one. It would be set up so that users would have to call collect to make a long distance call.

However, the other commissioners weren't supportive of the plan.

"I'm not for it; I've been down that road before," Cothren said.

Noting that the nearby sheriff's office assists people needing to make phone calls, Brady agreed with Cothren.

"Pay phones are dinosaurs," he said. "It could turn out other than you [Backman] intended."