Notice: Undefined index: HTTP_REFERER in /home/stparch/public_html/headmid_temp_main.php on line 4394
Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
January 12, 2012     Shelton Mason County Journal
PAGE 3     (3 of 20 available)        PREVIOUS     NEXT      Jumbo Image    Save To Scrapbook    Set Notifiers    PDF    JPG
 
PAGE 3     (3 of 20 available)        PREVIOUS     NEXT      Jumbo Image    Save To Scrapbook    Set Notifiers    PDF    JPG
January 12, 2012
 
Newspaper Archive of Shelton Mason County Journal produced by SmallTownPapers, Inc.
Website © 2025. All content copyrighted. Copyright Information
Terms Of Use | Privacy Policy | Request Content Removal | About / FAQ | Get Acrobat Reader




Congressional districts split county By NATALIE JOHNSON After the Washington State Redistricting Commis- sion approved new congres- sional voting districts that excise the City of Shelton out of the 6th Congressional District, Shelton and Mason County are finding ways to deal with the situation. "We're very sad to lose will for us," Shelton as part of Norm's This arm of 10th District (Dicks') district - he loves jutting into Mason County representing Shelton," said has also disrupted several Sara Crumb, deputy district voting precincts in the coun, director for Congressmanty, said Mason County Elec, Norm Dicks. tions Superintendent Am- The new boundary be- ber Cervantes. tween the 6th and 10th Mason County officials Congressional districts in also expressed concern Mason County travels up about the new district lines. U.S. Highway 101 until "It presents our county it connects with Shelton's with an interesting chal- city limits west of Olympic lenge," Mason County Com- Highway North. The line missioner Lynda Ring Er- then follows the city limits ickson said on Tuesday. "We exactly until reaching Oak- have only one city.., our one land Bay. city is going to be in a differ- The line follows Ham- entdistrict." mersley Inlet down belowRing Erickson expressed Hope, Squaxin and Harst-concern that splitting Ma, ine Islands and then crosses son County between two into Thurston County. Arca- districts would negatively din and Kamilche Point will influence the county's abil- also be in 10th District. ity to attract attention from The new congressional federal lawmakers. district lines put the City "We're going to have a of Shelton and its urbanchallenge ahead of us," she growth area (UGA) in differ- said. ent districts. According to state law, "We're concerned," Shel-congressional and legisla- ton City Administrator rive district lines can't cut Dave O'Leary said. "W~ through votingprecincts. have a very strong relationt "Those have to be new ship with Norm Dicks andprecincts," Cervantes said. Norm Dicks' staff." ; Mason County asked the Formerly part of a fairly redistricting commission rural district, Shelton ig to consider following the now included with large cit; Shelton city limits for the ies in Pierce and Thurston entire city, so the new plan Counties. i wouldn't cut through the "I think it's going to work precincts, she said. out better for them than it The auditor's office re- O'Leary said. numbered all of the pre- cincts in the new proposed county map, and added two new precincts, the 3rd Pre- cinct, near the Shelton city limits and 7th Precinct, on Kamilche point. Open Mon-Thur 6am-12am. Fri-Sat 6am-2am. Sun 6am-llpm Drive-thru open Sun-Thur 7am-9pm. Fri-Sat 7am-lOpm f Z- 360-426-5254 Located at the intersection of Highway 101 and 108, just ASk00kum minutes away from Olympia and Shelton T0bacc0 hct0 • Wa Oon ta*e Legislature has until Feb. ( Cigarette Prices Starting at • KTP # -Intersection of Hwy 101 & 108 8, 2012 to approve the re- districting committee's rec- it ~ A T~ i12~ | ° KTP #2 - 6233 Steamboat Island Road / /0 q OO o meoaa*ioo e an*e I' ) said. The legislature can L~8- per carton & t- perpack, • KTP Express- 3850 Old Olympic Hwy only make changes amount- fAeeart.~ 1, Book) ( ~arieties of Blue Bunny ingall,map.tO 2 percent of the. over- "'~"pl .... ~"~l l & umpqua Ice Cream | We plan on this being epsl whatsaid, we're left with," she, ~l l u~e~ ~ ~1 ing briefing, the county com- Humidor l (" NEWt mission agreed to vote on the changes to the precincts SELECTION ] Reg. $S.99 [ ] Breakfast Menu ] siondUringmeetingthe regularon Tuesday,C°mmis" of Fine Cigars / $499 / Come Check Out l Jan. 17. .~Humidor Accessories "Z Our Selection J plansTheon consideringC°mmissi°n namesalS° f[J~Check Us Out on FACEBOOK -- Prices subject to change without notice - Made Fresh at Skookum Creek Tobacco Factory: Shelton for each of the 39 precincts / ~~a~ish ._~e~l::~=:~,:: ,~:ts ~2~e~ for the county during that meeting. I l Extra Small 10 oz .......... '539 Mediu~ 16 oz ................ s7s9 | [ | Extra Small 16 oz .......... '8s9 Large 1 ~ oz .................... ~499 [ Small I0 oz ................... *529 Large 1 5 oz .................... $7s9 [ [ Small 16 oz ................... '829 Stew M ;at 16 oz ............ *529 [ [k Medium 10 oz ................ $5°9 Oysters 1 dozenbag ............. $719 J Port struggles to sign fairgrounds lease By NATALIE JOHNSON The Port of Shelton Commission voted during its meeting on Jan. 3 to send a letter to Mason County asking for a Memorandum of Understanding, or MOU, on how county permitting processes affect the port. According to port Executive Director John Dobson, those processes have delayed a lease agreement for the port's fairgrounds with Northwest Event Organizers by six weeks already. Although Port of Shelton Commissioner Jay Hupp at first spoke out against reading Part of the problem, Dobson said, is the buildings on the fairgrounds are in rough shape. "It is what it is... you're not going to spend $1.8milliontobringthosebnildingsuptocode", he said. While the buildings are not in great shape, they only need to be safe for the next two years. After 2013, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has ruled that the port must revert the land to airport use be- cause it is so close to an active runway. Dobson said the next two years are a trial run. If the fair proves to be successful, the the letter during the public meeting, Dob- port may consider using land behind its in, son read the letter ..... active runway for a more permanent county L This lett~r'~i~.t0 encourage discussibns: fairgr0unds'.' ...... between Mason County and the Port of Now, Dobson is' t@ng to conwnce the Shelton with the intent of producing an county that the buildings are safe for events MOU concerning facilities permitting and in the next two years. inspection processes. The objective of which "I'm trying to get the county out here would be to improve the regulatory atmo- sooner or later to do a walk through," he sphere under which businesses operate and said. grow at the port," the draft letter reads. A 2009 study showed that several of the While the port is subject to the author- buildings at the site suffered from deficien- ity of Mason County, the port has its own cies in their ability to deal with heavy wind policies and procedures with regards to or snow, which Dobson said the port has new tenants and building on port property taken steps to correct. which Dobson believes are very similar to Also, the port has had to make several county practices, thousands of dollars of modifications to elec- Dobson said that completing both the trical systems in the buildings over the last port's and the county's procedures for a new year. tenant effectively do the same work twice. "We're just trying to get through the next "Businesses seek locations where they're couple of years," Dobson said. "We're trying wanted," Dobson said. "what we want to do to get a clear understanding." is find ways to simplify the process without Dobson said in the summer of 2011 when compromising the process." the port was close to a similar contract with Dobson said that the port is working to Northwest Event Organizers, the county finalize a lease for the Port of Shelton fair- didn't mention anything about a change in grounds with John and Rachel Hansen of tenant application. Northwest Event Organizers, but are hav- "None of this was an issue last year," he ing trouble with Mason County's change of said. tenant application. Barbara Adkins, Mason County's direc- "We were supposed to have a contract tor of planning and community develop- by Dec. 6," Rachel Hansen said. "We were ment said she forwarded the letter request- hoping to have the property before the new ing the MOU: to the Mason County prosecu- year." tor's office. PUD 3 move to Johns Prairie coming soon By NATALIE JOHNSON which should happen soon, "We're getting a lot of Brown said. feedback from people," she As Mason County PUD Buildings B and E shouldsaid. 3's move-in date for its new be complete in late January, The landscaping, done Johns Prairie site is loom- Brown said. Both warehouse by the Mason Conservation ing large on the horizon, the buildings are waiting for ad- District, is also moving along PUD 3 commission got one of ditional equipment. Build- on schedule, Brown said. its last updates on the prog- ing B also needs an exterior "It looks amazing," she ress of construction, anti-graffiti treatment to its said. "It all of a sudden pulls Nicole Brown of OAC Ser- masonry, but that can't be everything together." vices, which helps manage applied until the weather Two ponds in front of the construction for the PUD, gets warmer and drier, complex have been c0mplet- said the new facility should Building A, which con- ed, and a bridge over one be ready for occupancy by tains the new offices for the of those ponds is also done, March. PUD, is the last building Brown said. Since PUD 3 began con- scheduled for completion. Fencing around the com- struction on the $34.5 mil- After flooring is installed, plex has also been installed, lion project in late 2010, the the building is projected to: Brown said. utility has eagerly awaited be completed in February. Rushforth made, it its move to the much larger The general contractor, : through the majority of the and more up to date loca- Rushforth, Inc. plans to have project without a time-loss tion on the Port of Shelton's furniture delivered in mid- incident, Brown said. How- Johns PrairieIndustrialFebruary, with a tentative ever, about two and a half Park. move-indate in March. months ago there were a All of the buildings on the PUD 3 Commission Chair couple of minor incidents at site are done or nearly done, Linda Gott said members of the site, she said. Brown said. the public have also shown i "They were minor, nobody Buidlings C and D are interest in the new build-was hurt in a major way," done except for clean-up, ings. she said. Come see why e eryone is smiling/ Katherine J. Ketcher, DMD Stephen K. Edwards, DMD Call for your 1360) 426-8401 360.GO.BRUSH (462-: www.SheltonDentalCenten¢ 1829 Jefferson Stree Shelton WA, 98584 ay! Now offering Botox & Juvederm Filler ,874) Shelton-Mason County Jou real-Thursday, Nov. 18, 2012 - Page A-3