January 9, 1969 Shelton Mason County Journal | ![]() |
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A 40-foot Christmas tree, which began its journey in Mason County, arrived at the NASA space center near Houston, Tex., in a railroad box car.
The tree was purchased by Boeing and presented to the NASA facility. Here, the tree is removed from the box car in preparation for installation.
v.1,
From Here
°er ,., NASA
83 Year ...... No. 2 Published in "Christma,town, U.S.A.", Shelton, Washington 10 Cents Copy d
T-ursday, ?mtered as second cla.s rnatter at the post office at Shelton, Wshingtou 98584
under act of March 8. 1879. Published at 227 Wet Cots. 18 Pages -- 2 Sections
Road Restrictions Are Lifted
• To Allow School Buses To Run
:t
• Students in all Mason County
schools were back in their class-
r(rms Wednesday morning for
the first time since the beginning
of Christmas vacation Dec. 20.
Sch(×)ls were scheduled to re-
sume Jan. 2, but, icy roads and
snow kept most schools closed
Jan. 2 and 3.
The roads had cleared by Mon-
day morning, but, c:)unty road
weight restrictions kept school
buses off the roads Monday an(t
Tuesday.
Shelton, thd (:;thai, N.'th M.-
son, ad Southside sch(xfls oper-
ated with limited bus translrta-
tion. Pioneer, Mary M. Knight
Seattle Symphony
To Appear Here
• Studen',s from the fifth
through the 12th grades in the
Shelton, Pioneer, Southside and
Kamilche schools will have an
opPortunity to hear the Seattle
Symphony orchestra today.
The orchestra will play in the
High School gymnasium, with
the first performance at 10:30 a.m"
for grades five through eight anti
the second at 11:20 a.m. for
grades nine through 12.
The Seattle Symphony appear-
ance here is financed by a Fed-
eral Grant Under the Title HI
performing arts program.
Under this program, the or-
chestra Will appear in each
:otmty in the state during the
cnool year.
an(I Gral)eview were closed for
the lwt) clays.
The county engineer's office
said Tuesday afternoon road re-
slrictions had been lifted enough
to permi! the school buses to
run anti for emergency vehiclcs,
although the general restrictions
would reman in effect for the
remainder of the week.
Shelton Scbc)! Sui)erintendent
luis Grinnell said the operation
of the schools with limited bus
service xorked ()tit well, and
normal for the time of year'.
Basses operated on the State
Highways, which did not have
as heavy of restrictions, but did
not operate on county roads.
Students either caught the bus
at lhe Highway, or their parents
provided transptn'tati(m for them.
Grinnell said normally, 50 per
cent of the district's students
walk to school. He said the dis-
trict had exrellent cooi)erati(m
from parents in providing trans-
portation for those who usually
ride the buses which travel on
county roads.
This was the first time in at
least 10 years that county road
restrictions had kept the school
I)uses off the county roads, Gri-
nell said.
The county engineer's office
stated that the restrictions this
year were more severe than ill
the past because of lessons lear-
nod in past years from roads (la-
maged by heavy vehicles when
they thawed out.
During the cold snap in Dec-
ember, the engineers exphdned,
freezing occured under the black-
KYLE THEODORE MORGAN, shown here with his mother,
Was the first baby born in Mason County in 1969. He is
the son of Mr. and Mrs. James Morgan, 1518 Summit Dr.,
Shelton, and joins a sister, Gerry Lynn, 11, nd brothers,
Kevin, 8, and Kelley, 2. The first mTivl at Mason General
HOSpital Put in his appearance at 1:45 a.m. January 3' and
Weighed in t five pounds, seven ounces.
/
top on the roads, and, as freezing
started in one spot, water from
the surrounding soil was attract-
ed to that spot, causing a poc-
ket of water to form.
When the ground thawed, the
pocket of water leaves a soft spot
under the road surface which
would break under heavy traffic.
Until the pockets of water drain
out sufficiently, there is danger of
damage to the roads from heavy
vehicles.
The restrictions permit vehicles
":;tlch ;S fu('[ de[ivt,ry tracks and
grocery and milk trucks to oper-
ate with reduced loads but that
most heavy traffic, such as load-
ed logging trucks, is kept off the
roads.
The road conditions are be-
ing evaluated, and restrictions
will l)e relaxed as soon as t)os-
.ible, the engineers said.
The light snow Tuesday after-
noon, followed by freezing dur-
ing the night, caused roads to be
slick and dangerous, but, by Wed-
nesday morning most of the road
were fairly clear.
$uutIM1911111M
Grisdale Wettest Spot
In Nation During 1968
Simpson Timber Company's Camp Grisdale was the
wettest spot in the continental United States in 1.968.
That was the unofficial verdict from the U. S. Weather
Bureau in Seattle this week when they received word of
the 190.2 inches of precipitation record reported from Gris-
dale.
Warren Turner, camp clerk, who records rainfall at
Grisdale, reported the 190 inch rainfall record after a De-
cember total of 32.5 inches. That December total made
Grisdale the wettest spot in the country, surpassing Quin-
ault, Wash. which logged a 1968 record of 175.55 inches of
rain. The 1968 total at Camp Grisdale is the most rain
aver recorded at its weather station since measurements
have been made there starting in 1947. The 1967 total
rainfall was 165.0 inches.
Camp Grisdale is located in the foothills of the Olym-
pic Mountains south of the Olympic National Park. It is
situated along the Wynoochee River near the river's famous
Ox Bow which has long been the record holder for rainfall
in the continental United States.
JI..,--A,----J :7-:17i:ii--J-.-_Jll::::ZZ:ZJJ: I ]. !!!_WILIL...ll
• The 40-foot Christmas tree,
purchased from Glenn Crrea
here by the Boeing Co. and
presented to the National Aeron-
autics and Space Administration
Manned Spacecraft Center near
Houston, Tex., arrived in good
shape and was erected outside
the space headquarters and de-
corated for the Christmas season.
The Journal received the photos
of the tree being unloaded and
set up this week •along with a
letter from Harold Carr, a former
Shelton resident, now with the
Boeing Public Relations Depart-
ment assigned to the company's
space division in Houston.
Also enclosed was a copy of a
letter to the NASA center from
Stuart and Helen McGee, former
Shelton residents now living tn
Diboil, Tax.
The MeGees had also enclosed
a clipping from The Journal with
pictures of the tree being cut on
Correa's property.
Their letter was answered by
Paul Haney, a NASA public af-
fairs officer.
In his letter, Carr commented
that the Christmas tree made a
big hit at the space center when
it arrived and was erected.
He also said that some local
people here might have heard
the tree mentioned on some of
the live TV coverage from the
space center during the Appolo
mission.
1968 Wef Year
For Shelfon
• The past year was wetter than
normal, according to a report
from The Rayonier, Inc., the
volnteer weather observer for
Shelton.
The total rainfall for the year
was 78.81 inches, which is 14.5
inches above the 35-year average
of 64.31 inches.
There were some cold spells,
but, nothing record breaking.
December, 1968 was one of the
colder Decembers in the last five
years with the week of Christmas
being the coldest in the last five
years, according to the weather
observer.
Jail Breaks Top 1968 News
• Mason County's first Jail
break in 10 years, and then two
within a week, was the top news
story in the county last year.
The first escape came when
two prisoners, Donald L. Ma-
comber, 41, Castle Rock, an(i
John H. Johnson, 20, overpower-
ed jailor Ed Hall. Their freedom
lasted only about 24 hours before
they were caught at a residence
in Hoquiam and returned here.
A few days after they had been
returned to their cells, Albert Wil-
liam DeWitt, a 2't-year-old Brem-
erton man, who was being held
on charges of second degree kid-
napping and carnal knowledge,
apparently picked the lock to his
cell ,and using a cable from a
civil defence radio, got to the
ground and away from the court
house.
A four-day man hunt, which
centered back and forth across
Hammersley Inlet in the Agate
and Arcadia areas, followed the
escape. DeWitt was caught by
Sheriff's deputies under a bridge
in the Aliyn area.
He subsequently pleaded guil-
ty to some of the charges and
was sentenced to maximum terms
of 50 years in prison, and com-
mitted to Western State Hospital
for psychiatric examination.
As the year entted, DeWttt was
loose again after picking locks
tO get out of the hospital, and
which his mother and a minister
later jumping from the car In
were taking him back.
3ohnson, after his escape, plead-
ed guilty to charges which re-
sulted from it, and was sentenced
to the custody of the Department
of Institutions.
Macomber pleaded not guilty
to the charges against him, and
as the year ended was awaiting
trial at the jury term which is
scheduled to start in February.
The Shelton School District was
only partially successful in keeP-
ing the building program it start-
ed last year moving. Voters at
the Nov. 5 general election ap-
proved a special levy for the con-
struction of four new classrooms
at Mr. View elementary school,
but, defeated another special levy
for the development of a 40-acre
site off Shelton Springs Road
and the construction of new ath-
letic facilities there.
Voters defeated the special le-
vy package in the primary elec-
tion in which the two projects
were lumped into one package.
The disWict had purchased the
40-acre site from Simpson Tim-
ber Co. during the summer with
money from a special levy ap-
proved the previous year. As the
year ended, a 10-room addition
to Bordeaux School was almost
complete. This, too, had been
financed by the special levy a-
proved the previous year.
The long-awaited Harstine Is-
land Bridge was under construo-
tion as the year ended after the
county commision had awarded
a contract for its construction in
May.
The November election saw
long-time State Rep. Charles Sa-
vage regain the 24th Legislative
District seat he lost two year
before. Voters elected the first
Republican to serve as county
commissioner in many years
when William O. HUnter, a
Skokomish Valley dairy and tree
farmer, defeated Harry Elmlund,
retired State Patrol official, in
his bid for re-election.
Mason General Hospital, a
project which began several years
ago with the formation of the
county hospital district, was com-
pleted during the year and the
new hospital went into operation
in September.
A citizen's committee, tagged
POP (Plan Of Progress) to study
problems in the city of Shelton
and recommendations for taking
care of them, got Underway dur-
ing the year. As the 'ear ended,
the grouI) had reports from Its
various committees and wa con-
tinuing its efforts.
Five young men, all in their
late teens or early 20s, were ar-
rested during the year fox pos-
(C_xmtinued on age 2)
Up She Goes
The Decorations Go On
A Thing of Beauty