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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
January 27, 2011     Shelton Mason County Journal
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January 27, 2011
 
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Thursday, January 27, 2011 Year 125 m Week 4 -- 8 Sections -- 60 Pages -- Published in Shelton, Washington -- $1 Bond, levies on ballot By KEVAN MOORE Voters in two local fire districts and three school districts have the chance to weigh in at the polls next month during spe- cial elections. The all mail-in ballots for each of the elections must be returned by Feb- ruary 8. Schools Perhaps the most sig- nificant questions face voters within the Pioneer School District, which is running both a replace- ment maintenance and operations(M&O) levy and long-term construc- tion bond. The 20-year con- struction bonG which will bring in some $24,500,000, will pay for the addition of class- rooms to the primary school to add space for fourth- and fifth-graders and a new middle school will be constructed for grades 6 -8. Officials said that the new grade configuration and middle school will * increase campus safety while improving instruc- nity use of the schools. The cost of the bond is $1.09 per $1,000 of as- sessed valuation which is a .75 cent increase over what taxpayers are already paying for the remaining debt on the primary school. The rate for the levy will be $2.04 per $1,000 of assessed valuation, It will help pay for text- hooks, technology, teach- ing staff (librarian, music specialist, PE special- ists and nurse), smaller class sizes, food service, special education, extra- curricular activities and our non-high payment. When asked about the risk of running a bond and levy in an economic downturn, School Board President Janis Snoey said, "Right now, Pioneer School District needs to fix some critical prob- lems; we worked hard to find the most rational, cost-effective way to do it." The Shelton School District, meanwhile, is also running an M&O levy that officials said will provide about 14 percent of the district's funding. See Vote on page A-7 Births B-3 Classifieds D-1 Community Calendar B-6 Crossword D-7 Journal of Record A-6 Obituaries B-7 Opinions, Letters A-4 Weather A-2 . IIIl!lJ IJl!lJillJIJ!l!l!lll II 'Amazing boy, our angel Matlock boy drowns near home By KEVAN MOORE a minute, then the mother turned around to discover A 23-month-old Mat- the child missing." lock toddler died after Byrd said that the resi- falling into a creek near dence is located near Dry his home on Friday, Jan. Bed Creek, is running 21. very high and swift as a Investigators from the result of recent rains. The Mason County Sheriffs child's mother tMd inves- Office said that Jacob tigators he had been play- C. Chappell was playing ing in a non-motorized outside of his residence toy vehicle prior to the ac- on the Beeville Road with cident. his mother, Melissa, at The boy's death has about 12:30 p.m. this past proven devastating. Friday. "Jacob was an amazing "His mother's atten- boy, who was filled with tion was briefly diverted so much love," Mrs. Chap- by a cell phone call," said pell said. "He laughed Chief Deputy Dean Byrd. frequently, loved openly "The call lasted less than and played constantly. He Jacob C. Chappell made a positive impact on everyone he met and will be remembered always as our golden boy, our angel." Mrs. Chappell also said that her family has gotten tremendous support since the tragedy. "We as a family want to thank the entire commu- nity of Mason County," she said. "We have had so many people reach out to us with prayer and words of love. I can't tell you how much that has helped." The sheriffs office was notified and a search of the creek was started im- mediately. Sheriffs depu- ties and local fire person- nel were involved in the search that lasted only about 35 minutes. The child's play vehicle was discovered about a quar- ter mile down stream from the boy's house. The child was located in the water a short distance from where searchers found the toy vehicle. Searchers started CPR immediately, but all ef- forts to resuscitate the boy were futile. The Mason County Sheriff's Office in coop- eration with the Mason County Coroner's Office continues the investiga- tion. Investigators say that the incident appears Caught on camera in Shelton? By NATALIE JOHNSON Traffic cameras located at two intersections on Wallace Kneeland have been generating a lot of at- tention lately, Mayor John Tarrant said Monday, Jan. 17, and not all of it has been positive. The problem, he said, is that some people think that cameras located at the traffic lights on the intersection of Wallace Kneeland Blvd. and Shel- ton Springs Rd., and at the intersection of Wallace Kneeland at the Fred Meyer and Wal-Mart park- ing lots, are red light cameras, designed to catch cars speeding through the intersection. Tarrant explained during last week's ci-t:¢ com- mission meeting that the cameras are not designed to catch people running red lights, but instead tell the traffic signal lights when to change colors. City engineer Mike Michael explained that the" cameras are very low resolution, and do not pro- duce any recordings. Instead, they focus on move- ment in front of the light, telling the traffic signals when .to change from red to green. "They are focused on that one area and they register changes in that area," Michael said. "Typi- cally it is a vehicle moving through that field." Michael said that the low-resolution camera functions more like a motion detector than an ac- tual camera. The city installed these motion-detecting cam- eras when they embarked on a repaving project of most of Wallace Kneeland Blvd. during October. Michael said that before the city started using the cameras, they installed "signal loops" in the pavement, which detected vehicles and controlled the traffic lights. "The old style signal loops that people are used Journa pno[o Dy Natalie Johnson A traffic camera watches over Wallace Kneeland Blvd. to seeing.., those actually cut a groove in the pave- ment," Michael said. "It causes the pavement to de- teriorate faster." Considering the repaving project was intended to give the heavily trafficked Wallace Kneeland a long lasting coat of asphalt, Michael s~d that this less invasive method of monitoring traffic was a better way to go. The signal loops and the cameras cost about the same price, Michael said. Michael said that the city will likely replace more signal loops with these low-resolution cam- eras in the future. See Camera on page A-7 Chamber stars collect awards By KEVAN MOORE The Shelton Mason County Chamber of Commerce an- nounced its annual awards dur- ing a "Celebrating Our Brightest Stars" event at the Little Creek Casino this past Friday, Jan. 21. The Citizen of the Year Award went to Vickie Gonzales of Penin- sula Credit Union and the Busi- ness of the Year was awarded to Pantorium Cleaners, owned by Russ and Pat Denney. Susanna Samuelson of Our Community Credit Union was named Chamber Volunteer of the Year and longtime communi- ty volunteer and philanthropist Frank Bishop of Little Skookum Shellfish Growers was given a Lifetime Dedication Award. Outgoing Chamber Executive Director Terri Jeffreys also gave a State of the Chamber Address at the annual banquet. Jeffreys noted that county- wide taxable retail sales have been on the rise for three straight quarters and are up 3.89 percent in the third quarter compared to the same time last year. Jeffreys also said that a number of busi- nesses are reporting that sales have been trending upward since 2007. Jeffreys said that the cham- ber's beautification efforts raised $15,000 for 2010 projects that included flower baskets and Christmas decorations and the Business Expo celebrated it's tenth anniversary in 2010 with See Chamber on page A-8 Dark nights with fewer lights By NATALIE JOHNSON Shelton has gotten a little darker over the past four months. Have you noticed? Shelton Police Chief Terry Dav- enport briefed the city commis- sion Monday on the completion of the first phase of the city's project to turn off selected streetlights throughout the city in an effort to save money. 'TCe've completed the first phase of the streetlight program," he said. "Within that phase one there were 47 streetlights to be turned off over four months." Phase one of the streetlight proj- ect included lights north of Cota Street and south of Wallace Knee- land Blvd. Davenport said that shutting off the 47 streetlights within that area should save the city $7,522.65 an- nually. "Although there is financial gain for the city, the primary goal was to find efficiencies," Davenport said. Although the formal public com- ment period ended during the sum- mer, the city has still been taking feedback on the program. "We have been monitoring them and we've only had one complaint and it was a former postmaster," he said. Davenport said that after the complaint, that the area of Frank- lin Street behind the post office was See Light on page A-7 New this w..ek.e The Journal premiers two new regional publications. Mason County Outdoors is your new guide to regional recreation with all your hunting, news. Tides included. Timber brings along with