January 21, 1971 Shelton Mason County Journal | ![]() |
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,now Gives
eg
JAN DANFORD
i The same snowfall that
~ated the problems of collapsing
ild~ngs, power lines
downed
locked roads brought a lot
happiness to the hearts of the
Hunter household in the
Valley.
More than a year ago, on a
trip to Wisconsin, Jim
an antique sleigh. It
in perfect condition; the
was readied, and Fadena,
~tnter's registered half-Arab
Ire who actually comes within
|6 of being a purebred, was
in preparation for
new role.
First the spirited grey was
in a surcingle with a
bit and long reins; next she
to wearing the harness
which she would soon -
~efully - pull the sleigh. The
;ons were conducted with the
walking behind the horse;
poles or shafts were used, nor
she required to pull a weight.
by Hunters for eight years
consistently ridden by Jayni,
grader, to the winning
many ribbons both in 4-H
and in outside shows,
work was as yet a mystery
Fadena.
Jim and his wife Joan; Jayni;
a high school junior and
who is in the sixth grade -
entire family watched with
eye the fading winter
and viewed with dismay the
of the valley in an
rly springtime with nary a
to enable them to try
~ir new toy.
So came the summer, and
went back to winning
ribbons. Her son, Gha, began
; show ring career under the
.idance of Jayni, winning a
in his first outside show,
well as 4-H honors. Training
begun on Sabrina, daughter
Fadena, a coming three year
t. The sleigh was forgotten; but
temporarily.
When once again November
gave promise of future
the sleigh was polished,
harness oiled, and Fadena's
lg was resumed.
Thursday, January 14 was the
day. Fadena for the
time stepped between the
and with Jim at her head to
her, Joan handling the
.ins, the kids going along as
and two of the family
frolicing in the knee-deep
on the side-lines, she made
,~r debut.
A wonderful time was had by
with the possible exception
She wasn't too sure.
Is
lied By
ling L ne
One casualty - a horse - was
ported from the storm which
heavy snow and wind to
area last week.
Howard Swope, who lives on
Arcadia Road, brought his
horse home Sunday and put
in the barn.
Shortly after midnight
Unday night Swope noticed
power lines sparking in
trees near his place and
it to the Mason County
Office.
Shortly before 3 a.m., the
office received a call
Swope that his horse had
killed by a falling electric
A deputy who investigated
in his report that the electric
line had apparently burned
the trees in which it had
observed sparking earlier and
across an electric fence.
hroThuu helectric current traveled
the fence wire and
in the barn near where
rse was.
The horse was electrocuted.
The official 1970 census
:re for Mason County is
according to word from
epresentative Julia Butler
The Bureau of the Census has
Yet released the figures to
ffficials, she said, but this
occur in a week or so.
The official headcount for the
of Shelton was not available.
Mason County's 1960
was 16,251.
Jailed
Shelton Police Tuesday night
a 17-year old boy on
of possession of a
drug and/or narcotics.
He was arrested at his home
officers.
/ /~ ii:iii¸ :: i
IS
Thu rsday, J anu a ry 21, 1971 Published in Shelton, Wash. Entered as second class matter at the post office at Shelton, 2 Secti ons - 20 Pages
Wash. 98584, under act of Mar. 8, 1879. Published weekly, except two issues O':rln~
85th Year -- Number 3 week of Thanksgiving, at 227W. Cota. $5 per year in Mason County, $6 Bwn®re. 10 Cents Per Copy
The snowy weather which
climaxed in a heavy, wet snowfall
Thursday night caused a
considerable amount of trouble
for Mason County's PUDs and to
a lesser degree the county road
crews.
Both PUD 1 and PUD 3 had
outside line crews assisting in the
task of repairing lines broken
when snow-ladened trees broke
and fell on them.
Between 200 and 250 families
were given an assist in savin& food
in their freezers by Civil Air
Patrol volunteers who came into
the county at the request of the
County Civil Defense office with
portable generators.
The generators were taken
from home to home where they
were connected up to provide
electricity to renew freezers and
pump water.
High winds which whipped
into the area Saturday night
added to the PUD problems by
bringing additional trees down
across power lines.
The county road department
reported that Thursday night,
between 12 and 15 inches of
snow covered much of the county
and plowing operations were
started along with removal of
downed trees.
The snow turning to rain
during the night Thursday night
lessened the snowplowing
problem somewhat as the snow
began to melt.
The falling trees caused as
much or more problem than the
snow, the county road
department reported.
The road crews had roads
pretty well opened up by Friday
night and quit at the regular time.
They worked all day Saturday,
mostly removing trees from the
roads.
The winds Saturday and
Sunday nights did not cause much
problem on the roads, the road
department said.
The snowstorm which started
Thursday night and was followed
by rain became the beginning of
four days of tremendous trouble
for PUD 3. The Thursday
accumulation of snow, on top of
that already on the ground, when
given the added weight by rain
toppled and broke trees
throughout all of Mason County
bringing down power lines, poles,
and services with a suddenness
that at times darkened agout 95
per cent of the County. At the
time the snow turned to rain
there was an accumulation of
about 16 inches of snow on the
ground in places.
PUD 3 had every available
man on the job and borrowed
complete line crews, including
equipment, from other PUD's not
affected by the storm. Four line
trucks from Snohomish County
PUD in Everett, with crewmen
were hired. Two of these line
crews were used in the Belfair
area to assist the existing
personnel.
In the Shelton area two crews
were in service from Everett, one
crew from Lewis County PUD in
Chehalis, one from Cowlitz
County PUD in Longview, along
with two line construction
company crews.
Most all of the linemen were
worked around the clock until
some had been without sleep for
about 40 hours. It wasn't until
late Saturday night that some of
the men had to be released to get
some sleep. It was at this time the
high winds of up to 60 miles per
Local In
Join is
hour as reported by Seattle
weather stations hit. Many of the
power lines just repaired were
brought down again by falling
trees.
"This was one of the worst
storms every experienced by the
PUD," reported Jerry Samples,
manager of PUD No. 3. "We had
up to 12 complete line crews on
the job at times during the
trouble," said Samples.
All service has been restored
now.
PUD No. 3 has a mutual aid
agreement with other Western
Washington PUD's which allows
the arrangements used for
assistance from the other PUD's
during periods of severe damage
such as the PUD has just
experienced.
As it did 5 years ago heavY
wet snow last Thursday evening
caused very extensive damage to
the PUD l electric system
throughout it's entire service area.
The wet .snow accumulating on
the atreaay snow laden trees and
branches caused them to come
crashing to the ground and
through power lines which were
near.
about 75 per cent of PUD 1
customers were without power.
All power was lost to
residents between Hoodsport and
Walker Mountain and about 50
per cent was lost in the Union,
Skokomish Valley, Valley Center
and Potlatch areas.
Repairing the damage caused
by the falling trees was no small
task for the PUD 1 line crews. It
required long hours of trudging
through the snow, hacking
through fallen trees and branches
and then finally picking up and
repairing fallen power lines all
under the most adverse
conditions.
However, through the efforts
of the PUD 1 seven man crew and
with the assistance of eleven
lineman brought in from outside
the area, all electric service was
restored by 11 p.m. Saturday.
Two three man crews were
provided by the City of Tacoma
and one two man and one three
man crew were provided by
POTELCO, Inc., a private
contractor from Tacoma, along
with appropriate aerial equipment
and materials.
The County Civil Defense
At about 3:30 a.m. FridaY, office was asked by PUD 3 to see
when the snow turned to rain, if it were
lan
possible to get
generators to re-charge food
freezers and pump water in areas
where the power had been off for
some time due to storm damage,
Civil Devense Director George
Doak reported.
Calls were made to the State
Civil Defense office and the Civil
Air Patrol Emergency Service, and
by 6 p.m. Friday, the Civil
The Skokomish and Squaxin The Skokomish and squaX d Defense office here was notified
Indian tribes from Mason County along with the MuckleshoOt an by the CAP radio network that
have joined other Puget Sound Saux Suiattle tribes have ashy" eight squadrons, including 50
trioes in intervening in a suit filed for a three-judge panel and t~e persons to operate 11 generators,
by the federal government against right of Indians to regulate ~'~'n Were brought in here.
the State of Washington. exclude non-Indian fisher~y Northwest Amateur Radio
The federal suit, filed by U.S. from their reservations" 1heInc. offered assistance also and
Attorney Stan Pitkin, is intended Indian police and courts have .no sent two members with a large
t o c I e ar d p c o n t in uin g authority over non-Indians WhO generator.
controversy between the State violate laws withintheboundaries County Road Department
Game and Fisheries Departments of Indian lands. ..- Vehicles were used to transport
~/nd .the Indians of Western Other Indian tribes w~uc~t Civil Defense equipment to
_ ashington over Indiantreaty have filed interventions in the _ various parts of the county.
fishing rights, are the Yakima Nation, Id~nes' Doak said between Friday
The various Indiantribes Lummi, Quinaults, QuilleuL_ , afternoon and umidnnight Sunday,
'sh anu 55 volunteers p " about 2,730
Which have filed interventions in Hobs and Swinom] ....
ally linty
the suit say Pitkin's suit has individual Indians Nisqu man hours in taking the
omitted crucial points at issueFrank Jr. and Puyallup Ramonagenerators to various parts of the
with the state. Bennett. (Please turn to page 1 1)
/ii,i i~ ~
~ :: ~i ilil¸¸ :~:~:
MORE THAN A YEAR has the Hunter family waited for sufficient snow to
try out their sleigh. Jim Hunter and his wife Joan train the Arab mare,
Fadena, in the driving arena on their Skokomish Valley ranch.
The Shelton freeway bypass
could be ready for use by the
winter of 1973, Ralph Kerslake,
District Engineer for District 3,
told the Shelton Rotary Club at
its luncheon meeting Thursday
noon.
The present plan is for an
appropriation of about $1.6
million in the 1971-73 biennium
and an additional $1.3 million in
the 1973-75 biennium for the
bypass project, Kerslake said.
The first work in this
biennium will be on purchase of
right of way with efforts to get
right of way for the bridge over
Lost Lake Road and at the Cole
Road intersection first so the
bridge work on these two
locations can be started.
The 1972 construction season
would contemplate grading and
bridging work on the project with
paving scheduled for the 1973
construction season, Kerslake
said.
Kerslake commented the
project will require a big earth
moving job, and, that two good
construction seasons will be
needed to complete the work.
The initial work will be a
two-lane road, with right-of-way
and some other work for a
four-lane road when necessary.
Commenting on the present
traffic problems in the city from
all of the Highway 101 traffic
passing through it, Kerslake
commented that if anything could
be done to relieve the congestion
until the bypass is completed, it
would be done.
He stated that money is also
included in the budget for this
biennium for advance planning on
a freeway connection between
Shelton and the Bremerton area.
Both Highway 3 and highway
along the South Shore of Hood
Canal were not designed for heavy
traffic and cannot be adapted for
it.
The only answer, he said, is a
new road which follows the high
ground.
ROBERT BARSTAD has begun his duties as Ranger of the
Shelton Ranger District of Olympic National Forest here. He
started work here Jan. 11, transfering from Mt. Hood
National Forest. He and his wife and two children are making
their home in Shelton. Barstad succeeds the late Leonard
Flower as district ranger.
Also included in the budget
for this biennium is money for
continuing the blacktop overlay
on Highway 101 from Shelton to
Potlatch and from Highway 10!
to I,.vanoh State Park on the
South Shore of Hood Canal.
Both of these projects will be
advertised for bids March 15,
Kerslake said so that work will
start early this year.
Another project in Mason
County, he said is the resurfacing
of Highway 3 from Allyn to the
junction with Highway 106 at
Belfair.
Power Out
The Mason General Hospital
emergency, electrical generating
equipment got a good test, when
an emergency appendectomy had
to be performed during the power
outage last Thursday night.
The emergency equipment
performed excellently and the
operation was completed
satisfactorily, Laurel Nelson,
administrator of the hospital,
said.
An eight-year-old boy was
brought into the hospital about 9
p.m. with a suspected ruptured
appendix.
Two doctors, a laboratory
technician, two rgical nurses
and a nurse anesthisist were called
out in the snowy weather to take
care of the emergency.
While the lab tests were going
about 10:30 p.m., Nelson said,
the power went off. The
emergency generator kicked in
within about three seconds and
provided power until about 6
p.m. when the PUD got electric
service restored.
The maintenance supervisor
was also called in to keep an eye
on the generator while it was
working and to see to keeping
snow removed from critical areas
:: to get into the hospital.
Nelson said there was also a
patient in the coronory care unit
in the hospital. This unit depends
heavily on electricity for the
various monitoring devices which
are used in keeping a constant
check on the patient's condition.
The emergency generating
equipment was installed when the
hospital was built. It is designed
to provide electricity to critical
areas in the hospital such as the
hallways, exits, laboratory, X-ray
rooms, nursing stations and
operating rooms.
It does not provide light in
patient rooms, Nelson said.