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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
January 11, 2007     Shelton Mason County Journal
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January 11, 2007
 
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SHELTON- MASON COUNTY Jq:)URNAL Thursday, January 11, 2007 121st Year -- Number 2 4 Sections -- 40 Pages Published in Shelton, Washington 75 cents Hospital district ready for split By REBECCA WELLS Boundary lines might be headed south. Bright and early Tuesday morning, January 9, the commissioners of' Mason County Public Hospital District 1 voted unanimously to withdraw part of the county's north end from its territory. This would remove the communities in Belfair proper, Tahuya and Dewatto from the hospital district. Their vote followed on the heels of a public hearing they conducted the night before. As soon as they finished taking public comment and voting to approve the pro- posal during their regular meet- ing, the hospital commissioners submitted their new resolution to the Mason County Commission, which was also meeting Tuesday morning. This issue has been brewing since the summer, said Commis- sioner Scott Hilburn of the hos- pital board. He joined the panel in July and has been involved in discussions on the matter since shortly after that, he said. "SOME FOLKS may have thought it was a quick, snap deci- sion and it's not that way at all. It's very well researched on our part," Hilburn said. The board has also been con- sidering how general usage of area hospitals, travel times and demographics affect future plans, (Please turn to page 11.) ii ke ! hoi  m Shelton, a young fellow shoveling now. Trevor Petty, age 10, got to work ednesday morning in front of Olympic Insurance Agency on Mountain View. A real snow job .Here's a sight you don't see very often The snow followed a flurry of power fail- ures and wind gusts that were an echo of the windstorm that caused a massive outage last month. There's more about this on page 3. [)eputy prosecutor says Southside Case deserves exceptional sentence gust 29, 2006. Gustafson is accused of making unauthorized cash withdrawals to- taling $20,596.50 from an account at Bank of America. She served as treasurer for the nonprofit volun- teer organization from January 1, 2005 to October 10, 2006. Christina S. Andersen, booster club president, reportedly discov- ered the withdrawals when the new treasurer, Nicole A. Cougher, called her about a cash withdraw- al. Andersen said there are no pro- visions for any officer to make cash withdrawals from the account. Deputy Prosecutor Reinhold Schuetz told The Journal he filed the 16-count information under guidelines for exceptional sen- By MARy DUNCAN • P he former treasurer of South- mc School Booster Club has been ch 'ged with 16 counts of theft o auegedly stealing more than 00a from the nonprofit volun- Ieer group during her tenure in of- t tcq.. Michelle Lee Gustafson, 33, of 5371 SE Arcadia Road, Shelton, was arraigned on Monday, Janu- 8, in Mason County Superior urt. She entered not-guilty pleas to four comets of theft in the first degree and 12 counts of second-de- gree theft. The criminal complaint charges her with making monthly cash withdrawals from the boost- er club account beginning May 6, 2005 and continuing through Au- tences because the alleged thefts involved a significant amount of money taken over a prolonged pe- riod of time and represent a breach of trust. He said if Gustafson is convicted of the four first-degree theft charges the standard sen- tencing range would be from 43 to 57 months in prison. However, the prosecutor's office can seek an exceptional sentence of from 57 to 120 months, Schuetz said, since each of the 16 counts has been filed under the exceptional sentencing guidelines. Gustafson's future court dates include an omnibus hearing on February 26, a pretrial hearing on March 12 and trial during the jury term beginning March 27. Local waters' pollution hit Two of the biggest employers in the local shellfish industry went public Tuesday with their concerns about the possibility that sewage and septage might contaminate their shellfish beds. Taylor Shellfish and the Squaxin Island Tribe brought two pollution problems to the atten- tion of the Mason County Board of Health. One has to do with a sewage pumping station that failed during the windstorm of December 14-15, leaving human waste to flow through a storm drain and into North Bay. Official reports of this took five days to (Please turn to page 8.) Bypass price tag through the roof By KEVAN MOORE More than 300 people poured into Belfair's Mary E. Theler Com- munity Center on Tuesday to hear the latest details about the state's Belfair Bypass project. What they all quickly realized is that the project is going to be a very expensive one. Officials from the Washington State Department of Transporta- tion say that with only two lanes, the roughly five-mile stretch of road above and around Belfair could cost anywhere from $65 million to $100 million. With construction of a four-lane bypass, which officials said isn't likely, at least initially, the project's price tag moves to any- where from $90 million to $136 mil- lion. The state is hoping to acquire enough land to allow for additional lanes at a later date. IN ADDITION, the state out- lined the projected costs for two connection roads from downtown Belfair to the proposed bypass. A Romance Hill connection would cost roughly $9 million and a con- nection to State Route 300 would cost roughly $34 million. Officials pointed out that neither of these connections are ideal, due to the topography involved, and that both would probably end up being county projects utilizing county funds. Michele Britton, the project's engineer, explained to the crowds some of the reasons for the in- creased costs of the project since the state, and not the county, is now in charge. The total right-of- way increases from 136 feet to 220 feet, critical areas ordinances are more stringent, wetland buffers are larger, a higher design speed is needed and the radius of curves has to increase, all playing factors in adding to costs. Britton also explained that, with the exception of about three catego- ries, portions of an environmental assessment done by Mason Count)" in 2001 will need to be amended or replaced entirely. Some sections of the assessment, such as floodplain evaluations, will have to be started from scratch. BRITTON AND her team dis- cussed tbur alternative intersec- tions at each end of the bypass• These involved the possible use of roundabouts, T-style intersections and various reconfigurations of the existing State Route 3 and State Route 302, or Victor Cutoff Road. Officials also said land would likely be set aside at the north end of the bypass near Lake Flora Road for an eventual "diamond intersection," one which would utilize some type of overpass and ramping. The state's goal in all of this is to make the new bypass the primary north-south route for drivers and to alleviate as much Belfair congestion as possible. School board seats Marty Crow winning election to the Mason County Commission. Crow will finish out Gallagher's term, which run s through November of this year. Births .................................... 9 Classifieds ........................... 30 Community Calendar ....... 20 Crossword ........................... 36 Entertainment, Dining ..... 29 lealth Journal ................. 18 Journal of Record ............. 26 Obituaries ........................... 10 OPinions, Letters ................. 4 SPorts ................................... 21 Tides ..................................... 19 Weather ................................ 27 IIIIIIIIlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll i111!1!11!1!1!111!1!!1!1!111[100 The City of Shelton is in the market for a new city attorney as Annaliese Harksen is stepping down from her $76,000-a-year job effective February 2, city commis- sioners were told this week. Harksen began working for the city as special projects manager in June 2002. She was named city at- torney effective January 1, 2004. City Administrator Dave O'Leary, who announced Hark- sen's resignation at the city com- mission's meeting Monday, gave no reason. Neither did Harksen, who told the commission it had been a real honor serving them. Mayor John Tarrant said he re- gretted her resignation, adding he knows there are times when peo- ple have to move on. He told her she has been very helpful and very professional. O'Leary said'the next step is to begin the process of selecting a re- placement. He told the commission he'll return within two weeks with more details about that process. City attorney quitting rn the ]lTS]dP, Effective next month: and a man who died when a tree fell on his vehicle off Shelton-Mat- lock Road. "The tree fell on his truck, right dead center of the cab," said Dep- uty Duain Dugan of the Mason County Sheriffs Office. (Please turn tO page 11.) i a ,Officers of the Washington ta,te Patrol and the Mason Coun S ty heriffs Office investigated 19 +lt: (,o tnty last year t aOtor-vehicle fatalities in Mason hat s one more than was re- lak 'P ' corded in 2005 and sets a new all-time record for Mason County. IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIlIUlIU UlIIIIIIIIIIIIIUlIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIUl Fifteen died in road and highway crashes investigated by the WSP and four more in three incidents investigated by deputies: an elder- ly couple who crashed into a tree off their driveway; a youth who was killed while motoring in the wilderness on his off-road vehicle; appointed to the Shelton School Board to replace Ross Gallagher. Crow is a graduate of Shelton High School and works as direc- tor of operations in the Engineer- ing and Water Department for Peninsula• Light Company. He has worked for several medium and large corporations with re- sponsibilities ranging from fiscal duties to engineering and opera- tions. He earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from Saint Martin's University in 1989. His volunteer work includes involvement with Kristmastown Kiwanis, Shelton Drag Strip As- sociation, OysterFest and Fan- tasy Forest. He has also served on the Oakland Bay Junior High School Washington, D.C., Travel- ers Committee and the Oakland Bay Junior High Vice Principal Selection Committee. Crow and his wife, Michele, have also been involved in their children's schools during the past several years. Gallagher resigned from the school boal last month after Record road fatahtles in '06 new member Crow i: Marty Crow this week was SHELTON- MASON COUNTY Jq:)URNAL Thursday, January 11, 2007 121st Year -- Number 2 4 Sections -- 40 Pages Published in Shelton, Washington 75 cents Hospital district ready for split By REBECCA WELLS Boundary lines might be headed south. Bright and early Tuesday morning, January 9, the commissioners of' Mason County Public Hospital District 1 voted unanimously to withdraw part of the county's north end from its territory. This would remove the communities in Belfair proper, Tahuya and Dewatto from the hospital district. Their vote followed on the heels of a public hearing they conducted the night before. As soon as they finished taking public comment and voting to approve the pro- posal during their regular meet- ing, the hospital commissioners submitted their new resolution to the Mason County Commission, which was also meeting Tuesday morning. This issue has been brewing since the summer, said Commis- sioner Scott Hilburn of the hos- pital board. He joined the panel in July and has been involved in discussions on the matter since shortly after that, he said. "SOME FOLKS may have thought it was a quick, snap deci- sion and it's not that way at all. It's very well researched on our part," Hilburn said. The board has also been con- sidering how general usage of area hospitals, travel times and demographics affect future plans, (Please turn to page 11.) ii ke ! hoi  m Shelton, a young fellow shoveling now. Trevor Petty, age 10, got to work ednesday morning in front of Olympic Insurance Agency on Mountain View. A real snow job .Here's a sight you don't see very often The snow followed a flurry of power fail- ures and wind gusts that were an echo of the windstorm that caused a massive outage last month. There's more about this on page 3. [)eputy prosecutor says Southside Case deserves exceptional sentence gust 29, 2006. Gustafson is accused of making unauthorized cash withdrawals to- taling $20,596.50 from an account at Bank of America. She served as treasurer for the nonprofit volun- teer organization from January 1, 2005 to October 10, 2006. Christina S. Andersen, booster club president, reportedly discov- ered the withdrawals when the new treasurer, Nicole A. Cougher, called her about a cash withdraw- al. Andersen said there are no pro- visions for any officer to make cash withdrawals from the account. Deputy Prosecutor Reinhold Schuetz told The Journal he filed the 16-count information under guidelines for exceptional sen- By MARy DUNCAN • P he former treasurer of South- mc School Booster Club has been ch 'ged with 16 counts of theft o auegedly stealing more than 00a from the nonprofit volun- I eer group during her tenure in of- t tcq.. Michelle Lee Gustafson, 33, of 5371 SE Arcadia Road, Shelton, was arraigned on Monday, Janu- 8, in Mason County Superior urt. She entered not-guilty pleas to four comets of theft in the first degree and 12 counts of second-de- gree theft. The criminal complaint charges her with making monthly cash withdrawals from the boost- er club account beginning May 6, 2005 and continuing through Au- tences because the alleged thefts involved a significant amount of money taken over a prolonged pe- riod of time and represent a breach of trust. He said if Gustafson is convicted of the four first-degree theft charges the standard sen- tencing range would be from 43 to 57 months in prison. However, the prosecutor's office can seek an exceptional sentence of from 57 to 120 months, Schuetz said, since each of the 16 counts has been filed under the exceptional sentencing guidelines. Gustafson's future court dates include an omnibus hearing on February 26, a pretrial hearing on March 12 and trial during the jury term beginning March 27. Local waters' pollution hit Two of the biggest employers in the local shellfish industry went public Tuesday with their concerns about the possibility that sewage and septage might contaminate their shellfish beds. Taylor Shellfish and the Squaxin Island Tribe brought two pollution problems to the atten- tion of the Mason County Board of Health. One has to do with a sewage pumping station that failed during the windstorm of December 14-15, leaving human waste to flow through a storm drain and into North Bay. Official reports of this took five days to (Please turn to page 8.) Bypass price tag through the roof By KEVAN MOORE More than 300 people poured into Belfair's Mary E. Theler Com- munity Center on Tuesday to hear the latest details about the state's Belfair Bypass project. What they all quickly realized is that the project is going to be a very expensive one. Officials from the Washington State Department of Transporta- tion say that with only two lanes, the roughly five-mile stretch of road above and around Belfair could cost anywhere from $65 million to $100 million. With construction of a four-lane bypass, which officials said isn't likely, at least initially, the project's price tag moves to any- where from $90 million to $136 mil- lion. The state is hoping to acquire enough land to allow for additional lanes at a later date. IN ADDITION, the state out- lined the projected costs for two connection roads from downtown Belfair to the proposed bypass. A Romance Hill connection would cost roughly $9 million and a con- nection to State Route 300 would cost roughly $34 million. Officials pointed out that neither of these connections are ideal, due to the topography involved, and that both would probably end up being county projects utilizing county funds. Michele Britton, the project's engineer, explained to the crowds some of the reasons for the in- creased costs of the project since the state, and not the county, is now in charge. The total right-of- way increases from 136 feet to 220 feet, critical areas ordinances are more stringent, wetland buffers are larger, a higher design speed is needed and the radius of curves has to increase, all playing factors in adding to costs. Britton also explained that, with the exception of about three catego- ries, portions of an environmental assessment done by Mason Count)" in 2001 will need to be amended or replaced entirely. Some sections of the assessment, such as floodplain evaluations, will have to be started from scratch. BRITTON AND her team dis- cussed tbur alternative intersec- tions at each end of the bypass• These involved the possible use of roundabouts, T-style intersections and various reconfigurations of the existing State Route 3 and State Route 302, or Victor Cutoff Road. Officials also said land would likely be set aside at the north end of the bypass near Lake Flora Road for an eventual "diamond intersection," one which would utilize some type of overpass and ramping. The state's goal in all of this is to make the new bypass the primary north-south route for drivers and to alleviate as much Belfair congestion as possible. School board seats Marty Crow winning election to the Mason County Commission. Crow will finish out Gallagher's term, which run s through November of this year. Births .................................... 9 Classifieds ........................... 30 Community Calendar ....... 20 Crossword ........................... 36 Entertainment, Dining ..... 29 lealth Journal ................. 18 Journal of Record ............. 26 Obituaries ........................... 10 OPinions, Letters ................. 4 SPorts ................................... 21 Tides ..................................... 19 Weather ................................ 27 IIIIIIIIlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll i111!1!11!1!1!111!1!!1!1!111[100 The City of Shelton is in the market for a new city attorney as Annaliese Harksen is stepping down from her $76,000-a-year job effective February 2, city commis- sioners were told this week. Harksen began working for the city as special projects manager in June 2002. She was named city at- torney effective January 1, 2004. City Administrator Dave O'Leary, who announced Hark- sen's resignation at the city com- mission's meeting Monday, gave no reason. Neither did Harksen, who told the commission it had been a real honor serving them. Mayor John Tarrant said he re- gretted her resignation, adding he knows there are times when peo- ple have to move on. He told her she has been very helpful and very professional. O'Leary said'the next step is to begin the process of selecting a re- placement. He told the commission he'll return within two weeks with more details about that process. City attorney quitting rn the ]lTS]dP, Effective next month: and a man who died when a tree fell on his vehicle off Shelton-Mat- lock Road. "The tree fell on his truck, right dead center of the cab," said Dep- uty Duain Dugan of the Mason County Sheriffs Office. (Please turn tO page 11.) i a ,Officers of the Washington ta,te Patrol and the Mason Coun S ty heriffs Office investigated 19 +lt: (,o tnty last year t aOtor-vehicle fatalities in Mason hat s one more than was re- lak 'P ' corded in 2005 and sets a new all-time record for Mason County. IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIlIUlIU UlIIIIIIIIIIIIIUlIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIUl Fifteen died in road and highway crashes investigated by the WSP and four more in three incidents investigated by deputies: an elder- ly couple who crashed into a tree off their driveway; a youth who was killed while motoring in the wilderness on his off-road vehicle; appointed to the Shelton School Board to replace Ross Gallagher. Crow is a graduate of Shelton High School and works as direc- tor of operations in the Engineer- ing and Water Department for Peninsula• Light Company. He has worked for several medium and large corporations with re- sponsibilities ranging from fiscal duties to engineering and opera- tions. He earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from Saint Martin's University in 1989. His volunteer work includes involvement with Kristmastown Kiwanis, Shelton Drag Strip As- sociation, OysterFest and Fan- tasy Forest. He has also served on the Oakland Bay Junior High School Washington, D.C., Travel- ers Committee and the Oakland Bay Junior High Vice Principal Selection Committee. Crow and his wife, Michele, have also been involved in their children's schools during the past several years. Gallagher resigned from the school boal last month after Record road fatahtles in '06 new member Crow i: Marty Crow this week was