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| March 24, 2011 Shelton Mason County Journal |  |
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SM~LL TOW~ [,~PERS
217 W COTA ST ~L,,/k-"
WA 98584--~63
II,I.h,
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Year 125 -- Week 12 -- 8 Sections -- 46 Pages -- Published in Shelton, Washington -- $1
Steve Goins, who
Front Street, one
oversees Shelton's public works department,
of the roughest stretches of road in the city.
Journal photo by Kevan Moore
gets an up-close look at potholes and patches along
Shelton looks for solution to .tor, saidheplanstocreate dressroadsthatarestillin Soessentially, thecityis
a long-term plan to deal decent shape but are start- in a Catch 22. It needs to
ly with street repair, but the ing to show signs of wear," repair the worst roads in
poor maintained streets reality of the situation is he said. "If you can remedy town, but to do so would let
very complicated, that before it gets too bad, higher quality roads dote-
"In the last two years the it doesn't cost a lot."riorate further.
By NATALIE JOHNSON terial roadways, and even city has chip-sealed a num- While Goins said it wasOf course none of this
The streets of Shel- then require match fund- ber of the streets in the An- cheaper to fix the roads just would be an issue if the city
ton, like many streets in ing, a tall order for cities gleside neighborhood ... we beginning to deteriorate could secure funding for
Western Washington, arefeeling the pinch of a poor did this small block of Cots than to embark on many street projects more reli-
economy, two years ago I think that big projects, he admitted ably.
cracked, patchy, and pot- Through the last few was 2008," he said. that this tends to neglect "Past commissions and
holed, victims of cold, wet
years, the city of Shelton Goins said that like problem roads until they administrations have at-
winters and heavy traff~c.
The wet, icy winters has struggled to find a way many cities, Shelton has are beyond repair, tempted to pass a street
to fund basic road repair gotten further and fur-"Once you let a road get levy to fund a more corn-
wouldn't be~m much of a
problemifcitiu didn't have in the city, and streets like ther behind on its prob- to a point that portions of prehensive maintenance
Cedar, King, Franklin and lem streets in the past few King street and K Street program and I think
so much trouble finding
funding to fix city streets. Lake Blvd., have only got- years, are ... once they get to that that's been tried twice and
ten worse. Steve Goins, the "What becomes more ef-point, it's almost no less ex- failed," Goins said. "There
Grants for street repair are city's community and eco- fective from a dollars and pensive to put it offbecause
often only available for at- nomic development direc- cents standpoint is to ad- you're rebuilding the road." See Street on page A-7
that.
Classifieds D-1
Community Calendar B-3
Crossword D-4
Entertainment/Dining B-3
Journal of Record A-6
Obituaries B-7
Opinions, Letters A-4
Sports C-1
33des A-5
Weather A-8
Jl!i]WollJ]] ll
Port of Shelton employee in
Tokyo during 9.0 rthquake
By NATALIE JOHNSON
Most people found out
about last week's devastat-
ing 9.0 magnitude earth-
quake in northern Japan
from their favorite media
outlet- a TV or radio sta-
tion, the internet, or maybe
even a newspaper.
A1 Frey didn't need any
of those things. He experi-
enced the earthquake, and
its many aftershocks, first-
hand at Tokyo's Narita Air-
port.
"It was the biggest thing
I've ever seen in my whole
life - it was pretty tremen-
dous," he said.
Frey, maintenance and
environmental manager
for the Port of Shelton, was
travelling back to Washing-
ton from a vacation in Thai-
land, and was about to get
on a connecting flight from
Narita to SeaTac when the
quake hit.
"I don't remember if my
watch was set on Thailand
time or Tokyo time, we were
kind of hustled through, we
wanted to make sure we
didn't miss our plane,~ he
said. "We just sat right up
against the glass under the
windows and we watched
the crew load the food,
watched them load the fuel
... and within about 30 sec-
onds it started."
The terminal was filled
with passengers from the
northwest getting ready to
go home, and many of them
realized exactly what was
Courtesy photo
AI Frey was coming home from a vacation
in Thailand when he got caught in Tokyo's
Narita Airport during Japan's 9.0 magnitude
earthquake.
happening, Frey said .... this big giant screen that
"It kind of started outshowed all the flights and
like the ones here, as a re- it was swinging probably
ally small tremor," he said. three to four feet back and
After a few seconds theforth,~ he said. "I started
quake ~arted getting stron- making plans, like what are
ger and stronger, Frey said, we going to do, where are
and soon people in his ter- we going to go, what is our
minal and the surrounding avenue of escape."
ones were starting to panic. Before he even had time
"There was a group of to complete that thought,
women there that were Frey said the second quake,
from Vietnam and the the strongest, started, and
screams went up - they it wasn't long until another,
were all elderly women," he and then another came.
said. "The kids, there were "This one didn't come on
little children there, they slow, it just started instant-
all screamed because I don't ly to a big shake," he said.
think a lot of them knew As the day started to
what an earthquake was." wane, concerned airport
Before long, Frey said employees moved Frey's
that he and his fellow trav- group outdoors onto the
elers started trying to find tarmac to avoid injuries
a safe place to ride out the in the shaking building.
worst of the storm. As the sun started going
"The first thing I said was down, Frey said northwest
get away from the windows See Quake on page A-7
• •
By KEVAN MOORE
Shelton's longtime assistant fire chief and fire
marshal is set to retire July 1.
Dave Salzer was hired as the county's first fire
marshal in 1992 and served in that position for ten
years.
"That was kind of an interesting time because
there had been no active fire marshal presence in
the county before that," Salzer noted. "Initially, I
was looked at as a kind of outsider. The first couple
of years were a little rocky be~attse I was an un-
known person enforcing rules and regulations that
hadn't been enforced before."
Salzer said that former county commissioner Bill
Hunter gave him some good advice when he was
first hired that has stayed with him to this day.
"He said, ~Use your authority with discretion.' I
thought that was really good advice," Salser said.
In 2002, Salzer became assistant chief and fire
marshal for the Shelton Fire Department and has
retained those duties with Fire District 5 at the
Shelton station after the city and the district signed
an interlocal agreement in 2008.
Salzer's firefighting career began in 1976 when
he worked as a volunteer in Bellevue. He then
joined the Redmond Fire Department as a volun-
teer in 1979 and was then hired there in 1982.
In 1985, Salzer took a temporary fire inspector
job for the Redmond Fire Department's Fire Mar-
shal's Office. He became a permanent inspector/
investigator one year later and was responsible for
a hazardous materials program and conducted fire
code inspections and plan reviews.
• In other Fire District 5 news, the department
held it's annual awards banquet March 19 at Lake
Limerick Country Club.
Distinguished Service Awards went to Lt. Debra
Gau, with 26 years of service; Lt. Terry Strom, with
35 years of service; and Chief Richard Knight, with
56 years of service. In addition, Terry Strom an-
nounced his retirement after many years of volun-
teering with the fire district.
The Recruit Firefighter of the Year award went
to Jacob Swartz and Bob Williams was named Fire-
See Chief on page A-7