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Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
January 4, 2007     Shelton Mason County Journal
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January 4, 2007
 
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DISCUSSING BUSINESS in the library at Hood Canal School are, from left to right, Judy Haesel, Victoria Pavel, Sheryl Kroneman and Sara Endicott. Not pictured is Ed Binder. The Washington State School Directors Association named them School Board of the Year. Board of Year keeps busy at Hood Canal The Board of the Year will have plenty on its plate in 2007, as the ew year is brightened by a new uilding and the moral support of an old friend of Hood Canal School. Superintendent Ron Zier says rough weather slowed down work on the new school but the chanc- are the builders will catch up spring, and Director Victoria vel says an elder by the name of • ancy Vranos has been coming to JUst about every meeting of the di- rectors since she was first elected to the board. Vranos of Union declined an op- portunity to talk about her devo- t!on to Hood Canal School though she did offer the information that She taught there for 27 years, a Period of service that qualifies her for elder status. Given that the .school is located on the Skokom- lsh Reservation and Ms. Pavel is a member of the tribe, elder sta- tus is not exactly a small-potatoes Proposition. There's been a lot of water flow- ing Under and over the Skokom- : ish River Bridge since" 1998, when ; Pavel took office as a director of HOod Canal, and lately the water $5 : aas been tasting mighty sweet• Vraaos has been rooting for the school just about every step of the Way as the students made prog- ress oh their test scores, the direc- S4 i tors hired a superintendent and the People voted to tax themselves tor bOnds to build a new $8.4-mil- -oh SChool. ALL THIS IS old news to peo- ple wh o live in the Hood Canal chool District, but lately the word a.as been spreading fast thanks to WSSDA, the Washington State School Directors Association• Of- ficials attending the statewide conference of this group recog- nized the directors of Hood Canal  COmprising the School Board of e Year. Reports of this accolade were cohfirmed by the directors them- .selves at the November 30 meet- .lag of the board. That same meet- lag also produced its share of busi- ness as usual as they attended to aatters of finance, attendance and 129 S 9€i rn- sences. Unexcused absences are regulated by state law, but Miller pointed out that there's no clear law on excused absences. "We need to get some bite into excused absences," he said. "The kid can miss halfa year and there's no penalty for it." Pavel seems to prefer the carrot to the stick when it comes to the issue of attendance• She reported that the Skokomish Tribal Coun- cil recently approved payment of monetary rewards to Native American students with good at- tendance records. A STAR held aloft by five figures honors the School Board of the Year. construction at "the little school that could•" That was the phrase coined at the meeting by Sheryl Krone- man and refers to the Hood Ca- nal Board being recognized in the small-school category for districts with 1,000 or fewer students. The school has an enrollment of about 320 students. Awards also went to the Lake Washington and Centra- lia school districts• Joining Pavel and Kroneman as recipients of the award and a $500 check for the school from the Washington State School Directors Association Foundation are Ed Binder, Judy Haesel and Sara Endicott. Not all of the business conduct- ed on November 30 was usual. Colleen Bourgault, a fifth-grade teacher, got a pat on the back from Principal Bert Miller, who told the board she had used the Heimlich maneuver to dislodge a chunk of hot dog that had obstructed the breathing passage of" a child dur- ing lunchtime at the school. ON A MORE usual plain were his remarks about the need for a "student attendance protocol" that would address the problem some families have with excused ab- WASHINGTON CORRECTIONS CENTER The Washington Corrections Center has scheduled the following day(s) and times for weapons qualification: Monday through Friday for the Month of January 7:00 am to 4:00 pm ,. DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS WASHINGTON CORRECTIONS CENTER CLIP AND SAVE "Let's kind of get the reward system going for getting kids here on time," she said ........... AND SO IT goes for the School Board of the Year. Presenters noted that the Hood Canal School Board volunteered the district to become a School Improvement Site, which provided funding for an educational audit, a school im- provement facilitator, data collec- tion and analysis, and profession- al development. Also noted was the school's initiation of a tuition- free all-day kindergarten program and its "concerted effort to bring together five distinct and diverse communities, an effort that even- tually won support to replace an aging and deteriorating school." The new building site is just to the east of the current school, now beginning its final year ofser- (Please turn to page 21.) Jail officers get good grades on critical incidents An officer at the Mason County Jail interrupted the suicide at- tempt of an inmate who tried to fashion a hangman's noose from a strip of his bedding last summer. That's according to one of two reports released by officials that give an insight into the operation of the lockup in downtown Shel- ton. A cellmate said Alonzo Je- rome Stephens, 22, of Belfair had been "a little depressed the last three days, but nothing seemed serious," Undersheriff Gary Crane re- leased a "medical emergency in- vestigation narrative" about the incident before he retired in De- cember after 27 years with the Mason County Sheriffs Office. The report was written by Officer Evelyn Bradford and described how an officer found Stephens "at- tempting to commit suicide" at 1:04 a.m. on June 24. Bradford wrote that when she responded, officers and the cell- mate were attempting to revive Stephens, who was "convulsing on the floor, gagging, moving his head side to side, and appeared to be breathing•" Twenty-one min- utes after the initial report he was rushed to Mason General Hos- pital by the paramedics of Medic One with an escort by Sergeant Jerry Lingle of the Shelton Police Department and Officer David Shushak of the jail. STEPHENS HAD been arrest- ed on May 19 in an investigation of felony eluding and assault in the third degree. He was charged with assaulting Deputy Brett Ruther- ford during his investigation of a complaint that Stephens was in felony violation of a no-contact order• After the reported suicide attempt the case against him was put on hold after Judge Toni Shel- don determined that a psychiatric examination was in order, this to determine whether Stephens had a capacity "to understand the na- ture of the proceedings against him" diminished by "mental dis- ease or defect." This report tended to support the conclusions of a second report of a more general nature published a few weeks before the attempted suicide• A performance review of operations at the jail was ordered by Sheriff Steve Whybark and the Mason County Commission and conducted by King Associates, consultants from Olympia with some expertise in law-enforcement studies. John King and Bruce Kuennen examined 31 incident reports like the one written by Bradford and found that one indicator of the quality of the jail operation "is the total absence of successful suicides in the past eight years•" A part of their report called "Managing Critical Incidents"/bund that all of the problems had to do with fights between two or more inmates and none of these involved weapons or other contraband. "The Mason County Sheriff runs a good jail," the consultants wrote. "It is reflected in the profes- sionalism of the staff, the direct and respectful manner that they display with inmates, with each other, and with the public. This professional attitude goes a long way toward operating a safe and secure facility." NONE OF THE 31 incidents examined by the consultants in- volved the assault of an officer by an inmate and none resulted in criminal charges, all being re- solved internally. The consultants looked at reports filed between April 2005 and March 2006 and ibund that October of 2005 was the most problematic month, with six incidents being described as critical. "The reports were organized by month, to gain a perspective of whether assaults are increas- ing with the increase in popula- tion and the increase in crowding in the main jail," the consultants wrote. During the six-month period of April to September of 2005 there were 11 assaults and an inmate population that averaged ] 10 peo- ple per day. During the six-month period of October of 2005 to March of 2006 there were 20 assaults and an inmate population that aver- aged 130 per day. Another aspect of the studycame under the heading of"Health Care Training," and this is an issue that may be revived in the coming year under the administration of Casey Salisbury, the newly elected sher- iff: Before stepping down as sher- iff, Whybark asked the commission (Please turn to page 21.) FULL SERVICE AUTO REPAIR Specializing in brakes, exhaust and custom work FREE ESTIMATES & FLUID CHECKS "Quality and Trust -- That's Hometowne Service" "We Make House Calls" " NEW NEW ROOF I I I I OFF ANY COMPLETE ROOFING SYSTEM* • Present this coupon at time of appointment. Not valid with II any other offers. Expires 1/31/07 • www.theroofdoctor.biz m *Minimum 1500 square feet of roofing space required to qualify for discount # m u m mm mm m am ,m, m, mm mm mm Iml m $0 DOWN, 6 MONTHS SAME AS CMHI O.A.C. Commercial flat roofs Skylights • Year-round re-roofing One-day service (in most cases)  II • 24-hour emergency service • Free estimates \\;// k II • Top-quality roofing products • Professional clean'up ( I Servin WestemWashin ton I 131 W. Kam,lche Lane, Shelton00 I 0 009s9 Q Just off Highway 101 B00B|   ] ] Licensed and Bonded Thursday, January 4 2007 - Shelton Mason County Journal - Page 13 29 Jail officers get good grades on critical incidents DISCUSSING BUSINESS in the library at Hood Canal School are, from left to right, Judy Haesel, Victoria Pavel, Sheryl Kroneman and Sara Endicott. Not pictured is Ed Binder. The Washington State School Directors Association named them School Board of the Year. Board of Year keeps busy at Hood Canal The Board of the Year will have plenty on its plate in 2007, as the ew year is brightened by a new flding and the moral support It aa old friend of Hood Canal chool. Superintendent Ran Zier says rough weather slowed down work on the new school but the chanc- are the builders will catch up spring, and Director Victoria Pavel says an eider by the name of .ancy Vranos has been coming to JUst about every meeting of the di- rectors since she was first elected to the board. Vranos of Union declined an op- portunity to talk about her devo- to Hood Canal School though did offer the information that taught there for 27 years, a riod of service that qualifies her r elder status. Given that the .school is located on the Skokom- lsh Reservation and Ms. Pavel is a aaember of the tribe, eider sta- tus is not exactly a small-potatoes Proposition. . There's been a lot of water flow- l.ng Under and over the Skokom- h River Bridge since 1998, when ravel took office as a director of rood Canal, and lately the water r as been tasting mighty sweet. ranis has been rooting for the school just about every step of the Way as the students made prog- ress on their test scores, the direc- rs hired a superintendent and e People voted to tax themselves or bonds to build a new $8.4-mil- uon school. • ALL THIS IS old news to peo- lceh oWo h i lsitrec t?b :hFa t eH?;dh :a n:l has been spreading fast thanks to WSSDA, the Washington State chool Directors Association. Of- acials attending the statewide corfference of this group recog- rtized the directors of Hood Canal as COmprising the School Board of the Year. Reports of this accolade were coafuned by the directors them- .selves at the November 30 meet- .lag of the board. That same meet- lag also produced its share of busi- ness as usual as they attended to aatters of finance, attendance and A STAR held aloft by five figures honors the School Board of the Year. construction at "the little school that could." That was the phrase coined at the meeting by Sheryl Krone- man and refers to the Hood Ca- nal Board being recognized in the small-school category for districts with 1,000 or fewer students. The school has an enrollment of about 320 students. Awards also went to the Lake Washington and Centra- lia school districts. Joining Pavel and Kroneman as recipients of the award and a $500 check for the school from the Washington State School Directors Association Foundation are Ed Binder, Judy Haesel and Sara Endicott. Not all of the business conduct- ed on November 30 was usual. Colleen Bourgault, a fifth-grade teacher, got a pat on the back from Principal Bert Miller, who told the board she had used the Heimlich maneuver to dislodge a chunk of hot dog that had obstructed the breathing passage of a child dur- ing lunchtime at the school. ON A MORE usual plain were his remarks about the need for a "student attendance protocol" that would address the problem some families have with excused ab- sences. Unexcused absences are regulated by state law, but Miller pointed out that there's no clear law on excused absences. "We need to get some bite into excused absences," he said. "The kid can miss halfa year and there's no penalty for it." Pavel seems to prefer the carrot to the stick when it comes to the issue of attendance. She reported that the Skokomish Tribal Coun- cil recently approved payment of monetary rewards to Native American students with good at- tendance records. "Let's kind of get the reward system going for getting kids here on time," she said ........... SO IT goes for the School Board of the Year. Presenters noted that the Hood Canal School WASHINGTON CORRECTIONS CENTER The Washington Corrections Center has scheduled the following day(s) and times for weapons qualification: Monday through Friday for the Month of January DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS WASHINGTON CORRECTIONS CENTER CLIP AND SAVE Board volunteered the district to become a School Improvement Site, which provided funding for an educational audit, a school im- provement facilitator, data collec- tion and analysis, and profession- al development. Also noted was the school's initiation of a tuition- free all-day kindergarten program and its "concerted effort to bring together five distinct and diverse communities, an effort that even- tually won support to replace an aging and deteriorating school." The new building site is just to the east of the current school, now beginning its final year ofser- (Please turn to page 21.) An officer at the Mason County Jail interrupted the suicide at- tempt of an inmate who tried to fashion a hangman's noose from a strip of his bedding last summer. That's according to one of two reports released by officials that give an insight into the operation of the lockup in downtown Shel- ton. A cellmate said Alonzo Je- rome Stephens, 22, of Belfair had been "a little depressed the last three days, but nothing seemed serious," Undersheriff Gary Crane re- leased a "medical emergency in- vestigation narrative" about the incident before he retired in De- cember after 27 years with the Mason County Sheriffs Office. The report was written by Officer Evelyn Bradford and described how an officer found Stephens "at- tempting to commit suicide" at 1:04 a.rn. on June 24. Bradford wrote that when she responded, officers and the cell- mate were attempting to revive Stephens, who was "convulsing on the floor, gagging, moving his head side to side, and appeared to be breathing." Twenty-one min- utes after the initial report he was rushed to Mason General Hos- pital by the paramedics of Medic One with an escort by Sergeant Jerry Lingle of the Shelton Police Department and Officer David Shushak of the jail. STEPHENS HAD been arrest- ed on May 19 in an investigation of' felony eluding and assault in the third degree. He was charged with assaulting Deputy Brett Ruther- ford during his investigation of a complaint that Stephens was in felony violation of a no-contact order. After the reported suicide attempt the case against him was put on hold after Judge Toni Shel- don determined that a psychiatric examination was in order, this to determine whether Stephens had a capacity "to understand the na- ture of the proceedings against him" diminished by "mental dis- ease or defect." This report tended to support the conclusions of a second report of a more general nature published a few weeks before the attempted suicide. A performance review of operations at the jail was ordered by Sheriff Steve Whybark and the Mason County Commission and conducted by King Associates, consultants from Olympia with some expertise in law-enforcement studies. John King and Bruce Kuennen examined 31 incident reports like the one written by Bradford and found that one indicator of the quality of the jail operation "is the total absence of successful suicides in the past eight years." A part of their report called "Managing Critical Incidents" fbund that all of the problems had to do with fights between two or more inmates and none of these involved weapons or other contraband. "The Mason County Sheriff runs a good jail," the consultants wrote. "It is reflected in the profes- sionalism of the stall', the direct and respectful manner that they display with inmates, with each other, and with the public. This professional attitude goes a long way toward operating a safe and secure facility." NONE OF THE 31 incidents examined by the consultants in- volved the assault of an officer by an inmate and none resulted in criminal charges, all being re- solved internally. The consultants looked at reports filed between April 2005 and March 2006 and tbund that October of 2005 was the most problematic month, with six incidents being described as critical. "The reports were organized by month, to gain a perspective of whether assaults are increas- ing with the increase in popula- tion and the increase in crowding in the main jail," the consultants wrote. I)uring the six-month period of April to September of 2005 there were 11 assaults and an inmate population that averaged 110 peo- ple per day. During the six-month period of October of 2005 to March of 2006 there were 20 assaults and an inmate population that aver- aged 130 per day. Another aspect of the studycame under the heading of"Health Care Training," and this is an issue that may be revived in the coming year under the administration of Casey Salisbury, the newly elected sher- iff'. Before stepping down as sher- iff, Whybark asked the commission (Please turn to page 21.) FULL SERVICE AUTO REPAIR Specializing in brakes, exhaust and custom work FREE ESTIMATES & FLUID CHECKS "Quality and Trust That's Hometowne Service" "We Make House Calls" | H m | | | H | | i | H H i i | H | | | | NEW YEAR... NEW ROOF : tV-00l - ,R ' , : ! : ': i OFF ANY COMPLETE ROOFING SYSTEM* • Present this coupon at time of appointment. Hot valid with II any other offers. Expires l/31/07 www.theroofdoctor.biz II *Minimum 1500 square feet of roofing space required to qualify for discount S m i m m mm m i m mm mm mmm m mmmm mm $0 DOWN, 6 MONTHS SAME AS CASH! O.A.C. • Commercial flat roofs • Year-round re-roofing • 24-hour emergency service • Top-quality roofing products Serving Western Washington since 1959 • Skylights • One-day service (in most cases) • Free estimates ,.\\;// • Professional clean'up - (a,o) 427-8611 1 131 W. Kamilche Lane, Shelton Just off Highway 101 1  ] Licensed and Bonded .OOFm',,SNS BBB Thursday, January 4, 2007 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Page 13