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SHELTON-
MASON COUNTY
JqC) URNAL
Thursday, March 29, 2007 121st Year -- Number 13 5 Sections -- 48 Pages Published in Shelton, Washington 75 cents
'00:l00Schoo l
d Bay
seeki
dom
er ar(
K.%Ve want
' V "
.' e, P!
F Shell
Tues
Ouring
mere
brug dogs sought for junior high
' JEFF GREEN
administrators at Oak-
Bay Junior High in Shelton
seeking permission to allow
searches of the school's
area by drug-sniffing dogs.
to be a little more pro-
Principal Sheryal Balding
Shelton School Board mem-
Tuesday night.
the current school year
have been problems at the
what Balding termed a slight in-
crease in the variety and quantity
of drugs found there.
There has been a great deal
more amount of marijuana, she
said, adding up to eight grams of
pot were found on one student.
"We are very concerned about
that," she added.
"WE NEED some help," said
Assistant Principal John Bryz-
Gornia. The message administra-
tors want to put out to students
and parents is the junior high is
a drug-free zone, he said, adding
it would help if authorities could
do some kind of deterrent search
effort to help keep kids safe.
"It's not that we want to lock
kids up," Bryz-Gornia said.
Board member Peter Boome
asked how searches would be a de-
terrent.
Balding said drug dogs would
enter the school while students
were in class and the dogs would
sniff lockers for drugs. If stu-
dents knew the lockers would be
aior high, including two bomb
i alse fire alarms and
Donkeys bring out the best in us
I iHey, Morn, check me outI" A young fan emotes during the halftime press of flesh at
|,ISaturday's barnyard extravaganza in the Minidome. For more on Shelton's donkey
ball fund-raiser, turn to page 29.
searched, even if at random, they
would bring less drugs to school,
she added.
BOOME ASKED how searches
would make students feel safer at
school. The majority of kids don't
want drugs at school, Bryz-Gornia
said. "We're out to make sure the
environment is safe. We're not try-
ing to treat them like criminals,"
he noted.
Julianna Miljour, chairwoman
of the school board, said she sup-
ports searches, using the right re-
sources. The majority of kids are
not using drugs, Miljour added.
Board member Marty Crow
equated drug searches to radar
traps on freeways, adding both
are a necessity. Boome said he
supports searches, but added he
does not want to see authority
abused.
Board member Holly Sharpe
said she was torn because she
doesn't like the "Gestapo" im-
age of dogs being brought in "to
(Please turn to page 8.)
Yvonne Claussen
dies in car crash
A 47-year-old Shelton wom-
an died early Tuesday morning
when her vehicle hit a tree on
State Route 3 two miles north of
Shelton.
Yvonne P. Claussen was driv-
ing southbound on the road that
follows Oakland Bay in a 1991
Subaru at 2:26 a.m. on March 27
when she failed to negotiate a left-
hand curve, crossed the north-
bound lane, left the roadway and
hit a tree with the right side of
the vehicle, according to Trooper
Gary Barnes of the Washington
State Patrol.
According to the state patrol
memo, speed was the contributing
factor in the crash, which closed
the northbound lane of State
Route 3 for three hours. Mason
County Coroner Wes StockweU
said Mrs. Claussen was nearing
home when the crash occurred. It
was her husband who discovered
the accident, the investigating
trooper indicated.
Yvonne Claussen was a long-
time waitress at the Ming Tree
Cafe and mother of several stand-
out Shelton High School ath-
letes.
Miles declares
run for mayor
Former radio disc jockey Jack
Miles wants to be mayor of Shel-
ton.
Miles (whose real name is Jack
Miles Strickland Jr., but he pre-
fers to go by his radio stage name)
currently is a Port of Shelton com-
missioner and recently applied for
a seat on the Shelton City Com-
mission that opened when incum-
bent Dick Taylor resigned.
That city commission seat, how-
ever, went to Mike Byrne, who was
picked for the position by Mayor
John Tarrant and Commissioner
Dawn Pannell.
Miles, 35, on Tuesday an-
nounced he plans to run for mayor
in the coming fall election. Accord-
ing to a press release issued by
Miles, he said individuals through-
out Shelton asked him to consider
running ibr mayor.
MILES SAID he put aside his
plan to run for mayor when Tay-
lor's position on the commission
became available. After not being
selected, he said he is resuming
his mayoral campaign.
The biggest issue now in Shel-
ton "is fixing the roads we drive
on every day," he noted, Currently
there are some 60 miles of paved
roads within the city limits and
Miles said only about 10 miles of
those roads are at minimal accept-
able standards.
"And in my professional opin-
ion, this is unsatisfactory," he
said. "The city must develop a
(Please turn to page 11.)
J00helton district hires Aultman
i$o be assistant superintendent LongtimeSeltonresidentMikegYrnc gets city post
,ii, JohnAultman, theexecutivedi-Aultmanwasahigh-schoolteach- "It's a district on the grow, repa yl Byrnl :kFTh:aoY=:hPiSedt: O
['i: °T2::t2aforkt:k:l::seC::n :arpns:h:olLydtnctsn, d N:nrthKie':t °l:natrheonthV:'sh:l::nlddh:ri::h°d City Commission.
four years as vocational director said when he visited the district's Byrne served two consecutive
|i!s, Tuesday evening was hired
i li. come Shelton School District's
| lStant superintendent.
A 1986 graduate of Washington
ii:te University, where he ma-
[;d in agricultural education,
[traan as a youngster attended
[ Canal School for a year and
[,Ealf. His family formerly owned
l:,yurdy Canyon Drive-in.
i: LIe finished growing up in Yelm.
E .r graduating from WSU,
|' lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll
[000n the inside
with the Aberdeen School Dis-
trict before taking the job heading
the New Market Skills Center in
2000.
central office Tuesday, he noted
the atmosphere was friendly and
open.
(Please turn to page 8.)
Derek Ranney named
S
a Wa hmgton Sch,alar
Shelton High School student
Derek Ranney was honored at
Tuesday evening's Shelton School
Board meeting.
Ranney, a senior with a perfect
4.0 grade-point average, was rec-
ognized for being selected by the
Washington Higher Education
Board as a Washington Scholar
for 2007.
"This is a huge achievement,"
Superintendent Joan Zook told
the school board as she presented
a certificate to Ranney.
He was nominated by SHS
Principal Wanda Berndtson, and
said he filled out a form, sent it in
and was picked. Being named a
Washington Scholar means Ran-
ney will have full tuition paid to
any college in the state.
Ranney told The Journal he
is planning to attend Washing-
ton State University or Whitman
College and study engineering or
mathematics.
Derek Ranney
terms on the city commission dur-
ing the Seventies and was selected
last week by Mayor John Tarrant
and Commissioner Dawn Pannell
from a field of six applicants.
Byrne, 69, was raised in Shel-
ten and worked here most of his
life, the exception being seven
years when he lived in Olympia
and taught science in the North
Thurston School District.
He worked for Mason County
a total of 18 years, retiring from
Mason County as director of gen-
eral services. His years with the
county gave him a great deal of
public exposure and contacts with
various state agencies. He also has
experience wrestling with annual
budgets.
Byrne served as the city's com-
missioner of public works from
1971 to 1975 with Mayor Frank
Travis, and from 1976 to 1979 with
Mayor Jim Lowery. He was sworn
in as commissioner on Monday
afternoon by Shelton Municipal
Court Judge Amber Finlay during
the city commission's workshop
meeting. He spent a good part of
the day being briefed by City Ad-
ministrator Dave O'Leary and de-
partment heads.
"To dedicate oneself to public
service is a deadly serious under-
taking," local resident Ed Santo-
domingo told the commission.
"There are many reasons not to
Mike Byrne
do it. The hours are long; the pay
is minuscule. Negative criticism
comes in truckloads, appreciation
in a thimble."
Santodomingo said whatever
Bynre's reasons are "they must be
noble. Our hat's off to you, Mike
Byrne. And to your vision of a bet-
ter Shelton, I invite the many oth-
ers to pledge heartfelt support."
Taylor stepped down from the
commission to become the new
executive director of the Shelton-
Mason County Chamber of Com-
merce.
ooeeeeleeeoo*loelee*eeeeeaeeo"w*°° 3
.... 36
r Calendar ....... 19
l ........................... 43
Dining ..... 34
Journal ................. 18
of Record ............. 30
10, 11
Letters ................. 4
................................... 21
.... 28
Illlllllllllllllllllll
,llll!i!llJl!!ll!mlJtl!l!lllll00
SHELTON-
MASON COUNTY
JqC) URNAL
Thursday, March 29, 2007 121st Year -- Number 13 5 Sections -- 48 Pages Published in Shelton, Washington 75 cents
'00:l00Schoo l
d Bay
seeki
dom
er ar(
K.%Ve want
' V "
.' e, P!
F Shell
Tues
Ouring
mere
brug dogs sought for junior high
' JEFF GREEN
administrators at Oak-
Bay Junior High in Shelton
seeking permission to allow
searches of the school's
area by drug-sniffing dogs.
to be a little more pro-
Principal Sheryal Balding
Shelton School Board mem-
Tuesday night.
the current school year
have been problems at the
what Balding termed a slight in-
crease in the variety and quantity
of drugs found there.
There has been a great deal
more amount of marijuana, she
said, adding up to eight grams of
pot were found on one student.
"We are very concerned about
that," she added.
"WE NEED some help," said
Assistant Principal John Bryz-
Gornia. The message administra-
tors want to put out to students
and parents is the junior high is
a drug-free zone, he said, adding
it would help if authorities could
do some kind of deterrent search
effort to help keep kids safe.
"It's not that we want to lock
kids up," Bryz-Gornia said.
Board member Peter Boome
asked how searches would be a de-
terrent.
Balding said drug dogs would
enter the school while students
were in class and the dogs would
sniff lockers for drugs. If stu-
dents knew the lockers would be
aior high, including two bomb
i alse fire alarms and
Donkeys bring out the best in us
I iHey, Morn, check me outI" A young fan emotes during the halftime press of flesh at
|,ISaturday's barnyard extravaganza in the Minidome. For more on Shelton's donkey
ball fund-raiser, turn to page 29.
searched, even if at random, they
would bring less drugs to school,
she added.
BOOME ASKED how searches
would make students feel safer at
school. The majority of kids don't
want drugs at school, Bryz-Gornia
said. "We're out to make sure the
environment is safe. We're not try-
ing to treat them like criminals,"
he noted.
Julianna Miljour, chairwoman
of the school board, said she sup-
ports searches, using the right re-
sources. The majority of kids are
not using drugs, Miljour added.
Board member Marty Crow
equated drug searches to radar
traps on freeways, adding both
are a necessity. Boome said he
supports searches, but added he
does not want to see authority
abused.
Board member Holly Sharpe
said she was torn because she
doesn't like the "Gestapo" im-
age of dogs being brought in "to
(Please turn to page 8.)
Yvonne Claussen
dies in car crash
A 47-year-old Shelton wom-
an died early Tuesday morning
when her vehicle hit a tree on
State Route 3 two miles north of
Shelton.
Yvonne P. Claussen was driv-
ing southbound on the road that
follows Oakland Bay in a 1991
Subaru at 2:26 a.m. on March 27
when she failed to negotiate a left-
hand curve, crossed the north-
bound lane, left the roadway and
hit a tree with the right side of
the vehicle, according to Trooper
Gary Barnes of the Washington
State Patrol.
According to the state patrol
memo, speed was the contributing
factor in the crash, which closed
the northbound lane of State
Route 3 for three hours. Mason
County Coroner Wes StockweU
said Mrs. Claussen was nearing
home when the crash occurred. It
was her husband who discovered
the accident, the investigating
trooper indicated.
Yvonne Claussen was a long-
time waitress at the Ming Tree
Cafe and mother of several stand-
out Shelton High School ath-
letes.
Miles declares
run for mayor
Former radio disc jockey Jack
Miles wants to be mayor of Shel-
ton.
Miles (whose real name is Jack
Miles Strickland Jr., but he pre-
fers to go by his radio stage name)
currently is a Port of Shelton com-
missioner and recently applied for
a seat on the Shelton City Com-
mission that opened when incum-
bent Dick Taylor resigned.
That city commission seat, how-
ever, went to Mike Byrne, who was
picked for the position by Mayor
John Tarrant and Commissioner
Dawn Pannell.
Miles, 35, on Tuesday an-
nounced he plans to run for mayor
in the coming fall election. Accord-
ing to a press release issued by
Miles, he said individuals through-
out Shelton asked him to consider
running ibr mayor.
MILES SAID he put aside his
plan to run for mayor when Tay-
lor's position on the commission
became available. After not being
selected, he said he is resuming
his mayoral campaign.
The biggest issue now in Shel-
ton "is fixing the roads we drive
on every day," he noted, Currently
there are some 60 miles of paved
roads within the city limits and
Miles said only about 10 miles of
those roads are at minimal accept-
able standards.
"And in my professional opin-
ion, this is unsatisfactory," he
said. "The city must develop a
(Please turn to page 11.)
J00helton district hires Aultman
i$o be assistant superintendent LongtimeSeltonresidentMikegYrnc gets city post
,ii, JohnAultman, theexecutivedi-Aultmanwasahigh-schoolteach- "It's a district on the grow, repa yl Byrnl :kFTh:aoY=:hPiSedt: O
['i: °T2::t2aforkt:k:l::seC::n :arpns:h:olLydtnctsn, d N:nrthKie':t °l:natrheonthV:'sh:l::nlddh:ri::h°d City Commission.
four years as vocational director said when he visited the district's Byrne served two consecutive
|i!s, Tuesday evening was hired
i li. come Shelton School District's
| lStant superintendent.
A 1986 graduate of Washington
ii:te University, where he ma-
[;d in agricultural education,
[traan as a youngster attended
[ Canal School for a year and
[,Ealf. His family formerly owned
l:,yurdy Canyon Drive-in.
i: LIe finished growing up in Yelm.
E .r graduating from WSU,
|' lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll
[000n the inside
with the Aberdeen School Dis-
trict before taking the job heading
the New Market Skills Center in
2000.
central office Tuesday, he noted
the atmosphere was friendly and
open.
(Please turn to page 8.)
Derek Ranney named
S
a Wa hmgton Sch,alar
Shelton High School student
Derek Ranney was honored at
Tuesday evening's Shelton School
Board meeting.
Ranney, a senior with a perfect
4.0 grade-point average, was rec-
ognized for being selected by the
Washington Higher Education
Board as a Washington Scholar
for 2007.
"This is a huge achievement,"
Superintendent Joan Zook told
the school board as she presented
a certificate to Ranney.
He was nominated by SHS
Principal Wanda Berndtson, and
said he filled out a form, sent it in
and was picked. Being named a
Washington Scholar means Ran-
ney will have full tuition paid to
any college in the state.
Ranney told The Journal he
is planning to attend Washing-
ton State University or Whitman
College and study engineering or
mathematics.
Derek Ranney
terms on the city commission dur-
ing the Seventies and was selected
last week by Mayor John Tarrant
and Commissioner Dawn Pannell
from a field of six applicants.
Byrne, 69, was raised in Shel-
ten and worked here most of his
life, the exception being seven
years when he lived in Olympia
and taught science in the North
Thurston School District.
He worked for Mason County
a total of 18 years, retiring from
Mason County as director of gen-
eral services. His years with the
county gave him a great deal of
public exposure and contacts with
various state agencies. He also has
experience wrestling with annual
budgets.
Byrne served as the city's com-
missioner of public works from
1971 to 1975 with Mayor Frank
Travis, and from 1976 to 1979 with
Mayor Jim Lowery. He was sworn
in as commissioner on Monday
afternoon by Shelton Municipal
Court Judge Amber Finlay during
the city commission's workshop
meeting. He spent a good part of
the day being briefed by City Ad-
ministrator Dave O'Leary and de-
partment heads.
"To dedicate oneself to public
service is a deadly serious under-
taking," local resident Ed Santo-
domingo told the commission.
"There are many reasons not to
Mike Byrne
do it. The hours are long; the pay
is minuscule. Negative criticism
comes in truckloads, appreciation
in a thimble."
Santodomingo said whatever
Bynre's reasons are "they must be
noble. Our hat's off to you, Mike
Byrne. And to your vision of a bet-
ter Shelton, I invite the many oth-
ers to pledge heartfelt support."
Taylor stepped down from the
commission to become the new
executive director of the Shelton-
Mason County Chamber of Com-
merce.
ooeeeeleeeoo*loelee*eeeeeaeeo"w*°° 3
.... 36
r Calendar ....... 19
l ........................... 43
Dining ..... 34
Journal ................. 18
of Record ............. 30
10, 11
Letters ................. 4
................................... 21
.... 28
Illlllllllllllllllllll
,llll!i!llJl!!ll!mlJtl!l!lllll00