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Olympic Fabrication
to shut doors soon
By NATALIE JOHNSON
This month, the econom-
ic depression has claimed
another casualty in Mason
County.
Olympic Fabrication Inc.,
located on Port of Shel-
ton property on Sanderson
Field, notified its suppliers,
customers and 26 employees
this week that the company
plans to shut its doors by the
end of March.
"Olympic has struggled
since the third quarter of
2009," said Don Putvin,
Olympic Fabrication's gen-
eral manager.
Olympic Fabrication,
owned by the Sealaska
Corporation, manufactures
parts for the aerospace and
nuclear industries in both
the commercial and defense
sectors.
A letter dated February
28, 2011, signed by Putvin
and Jason Fujioka, director
of sales and marketing for
Sealaska, states that Seal-
aska will work with employ-
ees and customers during
the shutdown.
"The shutdown process
will be handled in an orga-
nized manner and supplier,
customer and employee ob-
ligations will be fulfilled to
the greatest extent possi-
ble," the letter states.
Until 1993, Putvin said,
Certified Aerospace, a com-
pany that manufactured
parts for Boeing, among
other companies, owned the
space that Olympic Fabrica-
tors now occupies and more.
"At one time at Certified
Aerospace there were 450
(employees)," he said.
In 1988, Olympic Tool
and Engineering opened in
Mason County. When Certi-
fied Aerospace went out of
business in 1993, Olympic
Tool took over some of their
business and space, Putvin
said.
In December 2006, Olym-
pic Tool became Olympic
Fabrication, and stream-
lined their operations even
more.
"Our high in the last year
and a half was 70 (employ-
ees) and now its 26 and soon
to be less," Putvin said.
Putvin said that the slow
decline of Olympic Fabrica-
tion was due mostly to the
poor economy and the loss of
manufacturing jobs to com-
petitors overseas. He said
that Olympic Fabrication's
sales had declined to every
customer but the govern-
ment.
"Boeing has a lot of their
stuff built overseas - that
was not the case when there
were 450 people working
here," he said.
Putvin said that, in his
opinion, the decline in local
living wage manufacturing
jobs was no small loss to the
community.
"In my opinion, manufac-
turing jobs drive the econo-
my," he said. "I've watched,
as not only our local econo-
my but a great deal of our
national economy shifts to-
wards service jobs - I don't
think those are value added
efforts. Manufacturing is
value added. We produce a
tangible product that will
support service sector jobs."
There is an auction sched-
uled at the end of March to
liquidate Olympic Fabrica-
tion's assets, including their
machining equipment, Put-
vin said.
However, the letter states
that Sealaska is working
with potential buyers for
their Olympic Fabrication
assets.
Port of Shelton represen-
tatives declined to comment
at this time.
Sex offender gets 81 months in prison
By IEEVAN MOORE convicted of failing to regis- release directing him to reg-
A Shelton man was sen-
tenced this week in Mason
County Superior Court to 81
months in prison for failing
to register as a sex offender
and escape from community
• custody.
• : Local law enforcemnt of-
ficials say that Troy Allen
Gamber, 33, is the first per-
son in the State of Washing-
ton to be convicted under
Washington's newly en-
hanced sex offender regis-
tration law which took effect
on July 10, 2010.
Pursuant to the new law,
a person is guilty of a class
B felony when that person
fails to register as a sex or
kidnap offender and has
been convicted at least twice
before failing to register.
The new law is punishable
by up to 10 years in prison
and a $20,000 fine.
Since Gamber had been
ter on at least two prior oc-
casions, he was eligible to be
charged under the new law.
Gamber was found guilty
by a Mason County jury on
February 10 on both new
counts of failure to register
and escape from custody
charges following less than
one hour of deliberation at
the conclusion of the one-
day trial.
Deputy Prosecutor Ja-
son Richards tried the case
and told jurors that Gamber
"wanted to have his cake
and eat it too" by claiming
that he wasn't aware that
he had to register but tried
to anyway only to get turned
away from the Mason Coun-
ty Sheriffs Office.
"The truth is, Mr. Gam-
ber just didn't care," Rich-
ards told jurors.
A Department of Correc-
tions official testified that
Gamber signed an order of
ister within three days of re-
lease from prison. But offi-
cials, ilcluding two sheriffs
office clerks, testified that
Gamber never checked in.
One clerk testified that
she didn't know who Gam-
ber was and had never seen
him at the .heriffs office,
while the other said that
she was expecting him to
check in at the time of his
November 2010 release but
never saw him.
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Journal photo by Natalie Johnson
A boxer waits to be adopted at the city's animal shelter. The city is still
trying to find money in their 2011 budget to keep the shelter open.
City hopes to save animal
shelter through 2011
By Natalie Johnson
Despite fears that the Shelton Animal
Shelter would shut its doors at the begin-
ning of this year, the shelter now has a
ray of hope.
The city of Shelton commission and city
staff discussed a plan to save the animal
shelter through 2011 during its retreat
meeting on Friday.
During the budget process in late 2010,
the city struggled to find a way to balance
the budget and keep the animal shelter,
but eventually only settled on a contract
with current animal shelter staff member
Teri Ward only through the end of March.
After that, the city planned to train code
enforcement officer Erik Birk to also work
as the city's animal control officer, and
the shelter would be closed •except to dan-
gerous dogs.
The plan, city staff said, was not with-
out its drawbacks.
"What we would lose is a good portion of
our code enforcement," said Steve Goins,
community and economic development
director. "That's in theory, I'm guessing
how much time dealing with animal con-
trol would take."
City of Shelton police chief Terry Dav-
enport said that with the help of volun-
teers from the community, Ward could
work half time, saving the city money,
while still keeping the shelter's doors
open.
"What we're proposing is that we run
the shelter Monday through Friday from
10 a.m. - 2 p.m." Davenport said.
Davenport said that the functions of
the shelter would be very basic, includ-
ing only the general care of a few stray
dogs, with no animal control functions,
and would include no budget for eutha-
nasia.
Davenport said that the shelter would
house dangerous dogs as well as those
dropped at the shelter by law enforce-
ment, or dumped by their owners.
"Occasionally people bring dogs in the
middle of the night and tie them to the
fence," he said.
City staff said that the total cost to
the city's 2011 budget for keeping Birk
in code enforcement full time and Ward
at the animal shelter half time would be
$18,000.
Staff members proposed using 2010
budget carryover funds to cover that
$18,ooo.
Commissioner Mike Byrne commented
on the city's budget policies, which sug-
gest that carryover money be deposited
into the city's reserves.
"We set a very high bar with our finan-
cial policies," he said. 'Tou have to be flex-
ible enough to save some of the priorities."
The city will continue to discuss the op-
tion, and took no formal action during the
retreat.
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Shelton-Mason County Journal -Thursday, March 3,2011 - Page A-3