Skamokawa News

ANOTHER WET WEEK. This whole week looks wet and soggy except for one day, and I am pretty sure “spring sprung a leak,” A big one. I wish someone would plug it up. It’s nice to get some rain, but every day seems like a bit much. Though I’ll take the rain over the horrible weather that is happening East and Southeast of us, some areas wound up with a ton of snow, which caused huge accidents and shut down freeways. Of course, the massive number of tornadoes and fires that have just ravaged areas from Oklahoma to Mississippi up to Illinois and everything in between are just horrific. If you have any relatives in those areas. I hope that they are safe. So far, my family members have suffered minimal damage to their homes and are okay. I hope that news holds as the days go by. We send our heartfelt condolences to all those who lost loved ones during this terrible time, and for those who lost everything, we truly feel for them, and they are in our thoughts. While we are always supposed to be prepared for bad weather, I’m not sure anybody was prepared or could be prepared enough for that kind of damage. Hopefully, some folks were watching the weather reports and got out of harm’s way before those storms hit. Here’s hoping things calm down a bit this coming week for everybody.

SPECIAL DAYS. Those celebrating birthdays this coming week from March 20 through 27 are Makenzie Anderson, Vance Miller Jr., John Elfers Sr., Sharyl Iblings, Cathy LaBerge, Katie Turgeon Angie Nettle, Carol Martin, Olivia Johnson, Jenna Gorley, Taya Deal, Keri Havens-Peterson, Shelby Deaton, Tonya Olson, Lana Poe, Jordan Wirkkala, Jamie Brons, Korynn Groff, Jeri Webb Foster, Landin Quintero, Robert Clark, JoAnne Prestegard, Mitzi Blair, Maurice Brown, Emily Tanksley, Libby Davis, Ian Smith, Daniel Rust, David Whitney, Matthew Kyle and classmates: Melvin Brown, Sandy Firkus Quigley and Larry Firkus. Hope all your birthdays are memorable. Celebrating their anniversaries this week are Mr. and Mrs. Tyson Clark, Mr. and Mrs. Brett Deaton, Mr. and Mrs. John Hannah, Aron and Wendy Havens, and Ken & Michelle Nickolaus; may you have many more years together!

GREAT NEWS. Pam Emery, the Friends of Skamokawa’s president, shared some good news: the FOS Wine Tasting and Auction event/Fund Raiser held online in recent years will be an in-person event this year. Yes, indeed, on Oct. 11, you can come on down and participate in all the fun bidding wars for those wonderful, donated items while sipping wine, nibbling on some food, and gabbing with your friends and neighbors! The venue has yet to be decided, but we should find out before too long. These kinds of fundraisers are always so much fun, but once COVID hit, many had to take place online, and well, it’s just not as much fun that way. I’m so happy that this former way of holding such a fun event is back. Now, it won’t be an auction, silent or otherwise, if we don’t have anything to bid on. Please get in touch with the hall at 360-795-3007 and tell them you want to donate something. We’ve got a while until this event happens, but the earlier folks commit to donating, the better the auction will be. Here’s to a wonderful, newly renewed event this fall. Please spread the word, and let’s make this one the best! More info will be released as time progresses.

In the meantime, the historic Hall is now open on weekends from noon to 4 p.m., and they’d love to have you stop by and check out things in the Gift and Book Shop. Sadly, I was under the weather and missed out on this past week’s happenings, but I do hope you had a chance to attend the meeting and the poetry reading and enjoyed seeing others who were there.

CANCER FUNDRAISER. Speaking of fundraisers, this one is very important for one of our local folks, as Candice Jantz has a mom in need of help to pay for her cancer treatment. We hope you will come to the Duck Inn on March 29 for an all-you-can-eat for twenty bucks, spaghetti feed, and a silent auction. Contact Tracey McCallum if you’d like to donate an item for the silent auction at 253-350-1582, and contact the Duck Inn at 360-795-6055 to reserve a spot. Doors open at 4 p.m .; dinner will be at 5 p.m. We are always so thankful for our local businesses, who jump right in to help others out. Logan Britt has been instrumental in doing that for many years for many people and organizations, so we want to thank him for that. Please come out and support this event and help a daughter raise some money for her mom. This could be you some day, so let’s get this lady some help. Let’s do this!

HOOK THE HAWG. Don’t forget, next week, from Thursday, March 27 through Saturday, March 29, all the fishermen will head out and try to catch the big fish at the annual Hook the Hawg event down at the Elochoman Slough Marina. Weigh-in times are from 2 to 5 p.m. each day. You don’t want to miss out on some cash if you get that biggest fish, so I hope you’re all ready to go. The cost is $30 for adults and $15 for youth 17 and under. This event is put on by the Wahkiakum Chamber of Commerce, so if you have any questions, contact them at 360-795-9996 Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

LIKE THE PUZZLE? Say, how did you like the puzzle in last week’s paper? Was it too easy? Too hard? They have puzzles in varying degrees of difficulty, so if you’re a bit too challenged, let them know, and maybe they’ll get an easier one next week! I know one thing: folks liked the added Sports Quiz but wish the answers were not at the bottom of the page. So, hopefully, that can be changed by adding the answers somewhere else in the paper, so it’s a bit more of a challenge for you!

SAD NEWS. Our family received sad news this weekend as cousin Ron Pedersen of Vancouver lost his wife, JoAnne, 87, a couple of weeks ago. JoAnne and Ron were married in 1955, and they had five children: Mike, Julie (Isy) Aguirre, Kelley Campbell, Patty (Kes) Kellum, and Chris (Betsy), along with ten grandchildren. Ron is the son of the late Arthur Pedersen, who died as a young man, and the grandson of the late Jonas Pedersen of Puget Island. JoAnne’s services will be held on March 25 in Vancouver at the Messiah Lutheran Church. Donations in her memory can be made to the SW Humane Society.

SUPPORT LOCAL. If you’re like me, you get all kinds of “please help” mail, and if I had a jillion dollars, I’d be sending each of the worthy causes a nice check. Sadly, I can’t. I want to help those here at home in our community first. I have mentioned several of these before, but I hadn’t mentioned any from our local schools. After reading Andrew Weiler’s letter to the Editor, I thought maybe I’d quickly repeat his request to help support WHS Golf teams. I had two grandsons who enjoyed playing golf and did quite well on the golf team, which certainly wasn’t an option back in my day! So, today, I want to give a shout-out to the golf team and their coaches for doing an amazing job. These kids have really excelled in this sport, and the team is growing to boot, great job. So, if you do have a few bucks to spare and you want to support local, then here’s one more opportunity to do so as this Spring sport is taking off. Please send your check/donation to Wahkiakum High School, P. O. Box 398, Cathlamet, WA 98612, with checks made out to the WHS Golf Team. Of course, if you live in town, you could also drop that off at the front desk. It goes without saying, any help towards any sports team activity would be truly appreciated, so if you’re able, feel free to spread the wealth!

THIS SATURDAY. If you haven’t been over to the west side in a while and you have a bit of time, the folks operating the Johnson Park building are inviting you to stop by to see all the work that has been done to the place this Saturday, March 22 from noon to 6 p.m. If you’d like to become a member and help this group, they are giving a discount to new six-month memberships during their open house. An opportunity to join and save money. These wonderful members and volunteers have dedicated themselves to keeping this place open, repaired, upgraded, and welcoming, and they are truly to be admired. Thank you for all your hard work! This building cannot be seen from the road but turn up the hill across from the old Rosburg Store, and you will find this wonderful spot at 30 Rosburg Road right there in Rosburg. This was the old school, in case you didn’t know. All you book lovers may want to come down and check it out as they are also having a book sale that day, and you can check out their library while you’re here. They also have a computer center available on Tuesdays and Thursdays from noon to 5 p.m. The building also houses the West End Food Pantry on Thursdays from 1 to 5 p.m., so it’s a busy building with many different resources in it. I know of this place mostly from the holiday bazaars they have had down there, and it’s always a great place to shop and buy a treat or two during the busy holiday season. Anyway, if you want to see something you haven’t seen before, all of you east-enders should head over KM and enjoy the other side!

SOMETHING NEW TO ME. Often times, on Facebook, people are asking for help with finding someone to do this or that, or asking if anybody local can do a specific job that requires certain skills, and well, I often think to myself, “nope, not around here.” However, I recently learned about a business some folks might find really handy that has been around for about three years now, which really surprised me, so I thought I’d share their info in case you might need them. James and Desiree Smith own Cathlamet Welding LLC, and they live right out of Elochoman. Their number is 360-795-5035, and they do work by appointment only, so be sure to give them a ring. I was told all the different kinds of welding options they have, but I’ll let you find out all that for yourself as plasma cutters, sandblasters, and milling machines are not anything that I am vaguely familiar with. They’ll let you know what they can and cannot do. Now, not only can your welding needs get met, but if you need some landscaping done around your place and you’re not up to doing it yourself anymore why, you can call 360-795-5005 and talk to those same folks as they also operate Cathlamet Landscape and Pond Rejuvenation LLC. These days, it’s nice to have options and now you have a couple more. From first-hand accounts, I’m told they do great work, are all about being fair in their prices, and are committed to doing honorable work and keeping their customers happy; that’s also a real plus. So, if you need help in either of those regards, know you have another option. We love to support local!

GET READY. Now that St. Patrick’s Day is over and we’re coming to the end of March, we’ll all be shifting gears to the next big holiday: Easter on April 20. You’ve got a month to plan that perfect Easter Egg Hunt and figure out who’s fixing Easter dinner this year. Haha, good luck!