Your account does not include highlighter on images.
Searches Highlighted on Image
| March 29, 2007 Shelton Mason County Journal |  |
|
©
Shelton Mason County Journal. All rights reserved. Upgrade to access Premium Tools
PAGE 43 (43 of 46 available) PREVIOUS NEXT Jumbo Image Save To Scrapbook Set Notifiers PDF JPG
March 29, 2007 |
|
|
Website © 2025. All content copyrighted. Copyright Information Terms Of Use | Privacy Policy | Request Content Removal | About / FAQ | Get Acrobat Reader 
|
BELFAIR HERALD
Serving Belfair -- Allyn -- Grapeview Tahuya m Mason Lake -- South Shore -- Victor
Thursday, March 29, 2007 Section of The Shelton-Mason County Journal
Lawsuits still
ongoing over
Tahuya port
By LIZ CASE
The amount of litigation sur-
rounding the former Port of Ta-
huya, which officially ceased to
exist on May 24 of last year, has
sharply surged this spring.
One recent suit filed by the Resi-
dents for Preserving the Quality of
Life on Hood Canal, a group headed
by former port commissioner Brad
Carey, seeks to overturn the port's
dissolution. Another suit was filed
against the Residents by the port,
and a third, filed by Carey, his fa-
ther Harold Carey, and Carol Lav-
ender-Willison, seeks to reverse
the transfer of the port's Menard's
Landing park to the county.
That's a lot of litigation for a
Port whose total assets, at its de-
Spise, were $180,000 in cash plus a
Small remote park used mainly by
locals and occasional boaters.
THE PORT'S dissolution had
first been agreed to in January
2006 by Mason County Superior
Court Judge James Sawyer who
allowed the port a period of 120
days to wind up its business before
it was finally dissolved.
That business included, among
other things, a lawsuit for un-
Specified damages filed against
the port by Carey in regard to his
Unfulfilled requests for disclosure
of public documents.
And this is where things get
Complicated. The statutory pro-
cess for dissolving a solvent port
is different than that for an in-
Solvent one, if Carey had won
that case prior to dissolution and
had also been awarded maximum
damages, the port could have not
only lost its cash reserves, but
could have also been required to
levy a tax against its residents to
satisfy the judgment and possibly
also sell the park at auction for the
Same purpose.
THE PORT was allowed to
transfer the park to the owner-
ship of Mason County by interlocal
agreement and on May 24 Mason
ChOUnty Superior Court Judge Toni
eldon determined that it was in
the best interests of the county's
residents to proceed with dissolu-
tion, even though the lawsuit and
Several other matters remained
Open.
Carey responded by filing a
motion with Superior Court for
partial reconsideration of that de-
cision on the basis that solvency
had not been properly established.
His motion was denied by Judge
Sheldon in September and he then
filed with the Washington State
Court of Appeals for a discretion-
ary review of the denial.
HIS MOTION was granted on
March 5 on the basis that while
the port may have indeed been
solvent in January 2006 the trial
court (Mason County Superior
Court) "committed probable error
in entering its order dissolving
the port without having made an
express finding that the port was
solvent in May 2006."
At the time of this writing, the
appeals court decision is still pend-
ing.
Another matter recently heard
in court was Carey's superior court
action requesting interrogatories
and admissions from the former
port commissioners as part of the
discovery process in assembling
information for his lawsuits.
The lawyers for the former port
filed a motion for a protective or-
der against Carey and the Resi-
dents, on the basis that the port,
as an entity, cannot respond be-
cause it no longer exists and that
the Residents' discovery requests
are "overly broad and unduly bur-
densome."
THE FORMER port had also
filed against the Residents to com-
pel discovery on several of Carey's
video recordings of port meetings
and also on the partial index of
port records Carey had made be-
fore the papers were turned over to
the Washington State archivist.
Those motions were heard in
Superior Court on March 16 by
Judge Sawyer, who upheld both of
the former port's requests.
Carey was quick to respond to
that setback: On March 19 he was
party to a suit filed against the
former port and the county itself
to set aside (reverse) the port's
transfer of Menard's Landing to
the county.
THAT SUIT promises to be
(Please turn to page 4.)
At the school district:
Peterson selected as
new superintendent
The North Mason School Dis-
trict Board of Directors has se-
lected David L. Peterson to be the
district's next superintendent.
Peterson, an assistant super-
intendent at
Oak Harbor
School District
on Whidbey Is-
land, was the
sole remaining
candidate last
week when he
was chosen by
the board at a
Tuesday night
meeting.
Quillayute
Valley School
District Super- David
intendent Frank Peterson
Walter had
withdrawn his name for personal
reasons and Shelley K. Redinger,
an executive director of teach-
ing and learning at the Richland
School District, accepted a super-
intendent position at a district
just outside of Portland, Oregon.
The extensive search for a re-
placement for Tom Kelly was led
by consultant John Bohrnsen and
included several public meetings
and interviews before the field was
On April 14:
narrowed to five finalists and then
three.
PETERSON HAS a master's
degree in special education from
the University of Washington.
Originally from Kelso, he began
his teaching career at Garfield
Elementary School in Olympia.
School board president Glenn
Landram noted that Peterson had
a good visit to the district in which
he was able to meet with students,
faculty and staff before the final
public interview.
Peterson brings an impressive
list of accomplishments with him
into his new job. He notes that
while at Oak Harbor he led the
implementation of new gradua-
tion requirements, brought con-
tinuous quality improvement into
the school improvement process,
redesigned the alternative high
school, improved services to ninth-
and 10th-graders through smaller
learning communities, initiated a
coaching model in mathematics
and redesigned remedial and gift-
ed/talented services in 10 schools.
In other school news, the board
approved a six-period day for
Hawkins Middle School and au-
thorized an additional staff mem-
ber there, necessary for the transi-
tion to six periods.
THE BOARD also passed a
resolution requesting a waiver
from the course and credit re-
quirements that allows North
Mason High School to offer two
terms of study in the 90-minute
block schedule format - each term
being the equivalent of a full year
of coursework per class. The state
requires 150 hours per credit. This
waiver reduces the requirement to
135 hours per credit, allowing the
high school to continue offering
four classes each term for a total
of eight classes during the school
year.
Lastly, travel was approved by
the board for Belfair Elementary
School's Destination Teams to go
to Wenatchee March 30-31 for a
statewide competition and for the
North Mason High School Key
Club to go to the Pacific Northwest
District Key Club Convention in
Portland, Oregon, April 13-15.
The next work-study session
for the school board will be at 6:30
p.m. on Wednesday, April 11, in
the district office.
Spring break is next week, run-
ning April 2-6. School buildings
will all be closed; however, the dis-
trict office will be open as usual.
Voice to host forum
on local health care
By LIZ CASE
Firm plans are under way for
the Community Health Forum be-
ing planned for 10 a.m. on Satur-
day, April 14, at the Hawkins Mid-
dle School Gymnasium. The forum
is being sponsored by the North
Mason Community Voice group.
The forum will feature repre-
sentatives from Harrison Hospital,
Mason General Hospital and the
Mason County Assessor's Office.
The hot topic of discussion is
expected to be the redistricting of
Mason County's Public Hospital
District Number 1, which pres-
ently encompasses all of Mason
County. That matter has been un-
der discussion since early January,
when hospital district commis-
sioners had initially recommended
to county commissioners that the
North Mason area be removed
from the hospital district.
THE PROPOSED move was
based on the fact that the vast
majority of north-end residents al-
ready go north into Kitsap County
to receive their health care and also
because the North Mason Medical
Easter egg hunts, services
will be hopping this year
NORTH MASON youngsters will once again have plenty of opportunities
to gather up Easter eggs this year.
at noon and the first hunt at 1
p.m.
The event will be held on the
lawn at North Bay Mortgage,
located at 23030 NE State Route
3, and will include a bouncy house,
The days until Easter are
hopping right along and The
erald has gotten notice of
three local community events for
$Unday, April 8.
* The local churches' annual
aster Sunrise Community Service
11 be held this year at North
ason Bible Church, located at 82
East Campus Drive just below the
high school.
The sunrise service will be held
t 6:30 a.m. with a continental
reakfast following. During the
gular 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. services,
e church will present a drama,
No Name in the Street," depicting
hat ordinary individuals in
sus' Jerusalem might have
l°Ugh about the events that took
Place during the last Earthly week
at'Jesus, life. The public is warmly
Welcome at all of the events
.ad may call 275-4555 for more
trtformation.
" Beginning at noon, the Hood
anal Masonic Lodge will host its
th annual Easter Dinner. The
Went is open to the community
d the menu will feature entrees
Ofroast turkey and ham, as well as
all the trimmings and dessert.
Th.e lodge asks for donations of
for adults and $4 for children
and under. The lodge is located
t 23341 NE State Route 3. For
ore information about the event
Call 372-2539 during early evening
face painting, clowns, over 100
prizes, age-separated hunts for
kids ages i to 12 and, of course, the
Easter Bunny himself. For more
information about this community
celebration call 277-3282.
hours.
• The biggest North Mason
event in the works is the 20th
annual Community Easter Egg
Hunt. The event is free of charge
with the fun is scheduled to begin
Clinic has been in a deficit-income
situation for several years - due
to residents who routinely seek
health care elsewhere.
It seemed sensible, the district
thought, to stop collecting prop-
erty taxes from homeowners who
did not benefit from them and al-
low the area to be picked up by an-
other health-care entity.
But the community response
to that move convinced the hos-
pital district directors to halt the
process until more discussion had
taken place.
THIS HEALTH care forum
is part of that discussion and its
plans will include alternative dis-
trict boundaries and input from
other health-care entities (most
notably Harrison Hospital). The
forum will be moderated by Mi-
chael Greene, the former chief of
Belfair's Fire District 2, who will
return to Belfair from Reno, Ne-
vada, just for that purpose.
It is also worth noting that the
hospital district has expressed ev-
ery intent, income loss not with-
standing, to keep the North Ma-
son Medical Clinic open and fully
operating.
For more information on the fo-
rum contact the Voice group's Lee
Swoboda by calling him at 275-
9241.
Belfair kids
make use of
imaginations
Parents are always on the look-
out for programs or activities that
will help their children learn to
think more creatively or that will
help the youngsters to discover
and develop their talents. And the
folks at Belfair Elementary School
recently hit on just such an event.
On Saturday, March 10, 50
teams from the Olympic Peninsu-
la participated in the Destination
ImagiNation creative problem-
solving competition at Klahowya
Secondary School.
Each year's challenges range
from very technical, with some
performance involved, to primar-
ily performance with some techni-
(Please turn to page 4.)
BELFAIR HERALD
Serving Belfair -- Allyn -- Grapeview Tahuya m Mason Lake -- South Shore -- Victor
Thursday, March 29, 2007 Section of The Shelton-Mason County Journal
Lawsuits still
ongoing over
Tahuya port
By LIZ CASE
The amount of litigation sur-
rounding the former Port of Ta-
huya, which officially ceased to
exist on May 24 of last year, has
sharply surged this spring.
One recent suit filed by the Resi-
dents for Preserving the Quality of
Life on Hood Canal, a group headed
by former port commissioner Brad
Carey, seeks to overturn the port's
dissolution. Another suit was filed
against the Residents by the port,
and a third, filed by Carey, his fa-
ther Harold Carey, and Carol Lav-
ender-Willison, seeks to reverse
the transfer of the port's Menard's
Landing park to the county.
That's a lot of litigation for a
Port whose total assets, at its de-
Spise, were $180,000 in cash plus a
Small remote park used mainly by
locals and occasional boaters.
THE PORT'S dissolution had
first been agreed to in January
2006 by Mason County Superior
Court Judge James Sawyer who
allowed the port a period of 120
days to wind up its business before
it was finally dissolved.
That business included, among
other things, a lawsuit for un-
Specified damages filed against
the port by Carey in regard to his
Unfulfilled requests for disclosure
of public documents.
And this is where things get
Complicated. The statutory pro-
cess for dissolving a solvent port
is different than that for an in-
Solvent one, if Carey had won
that case prior to dissolution and
had also been awarded maximum
damages, the port could have not
only lost its cash reserves, but
could have also been required to
levy a tax against its residents to
satisfy the judgment and possibly
also sell the park at auction for the
Same purpose.
THE PORT was allowed to
transfer the park to the owner-
ship of Mason County by interlocal
agreement and on May 24 Mason
ChOUnty Superior Court Judge Toni
eldon determined that it was in
the best interests of the county's
residents to proceed with dissolu-
tion, even though the lawsuit and
Several other matters remained
Open.
Carey responded by filing a
motion with Superior Court for
partial reconsideration of that de-
cision on the basis that solvency
had not been properly established.
His motion was denied by Judge
Sheldon in September and he then
filed with the Washington State
Court of Appeals for a discretion-
ary review of the denial.
HIS MOTION was granted on
March 5 on the basis that while
the port may have indeed been
solvent in January 2006 the trial
court (Mason County Superior
Court) "committed probable error
in entering its order dissolving
the port without having made an
express finding that the port was
solvent in May 2006."
At the time of this writing, the
appeals court decision is still pend-
ing.
Another matter recently heard
in court was Carey's superior court
action requesting interrogatories
and admissions from the former
port commissioners as part of the
discovery process in assembling
information for his lawsuits.
The lawyers for the former port
filed a motion for a protective or-
der against Carey and the Resi-
dents, on the basis that the port,
as an entity, cannot respond be-
cause it no longer exists and that
the Residents' discovery requests
are "overly broad and unduly bur-
densome."
THE FORMER port had also
filed against the Residents to com-
pel discovery on several of Carey's
video recordings of port meetings
and also on the partial index of
port records Carey had made be-
fore the papers were turned over to
the Washington State archivist.
Those motions were heard in
Superior Court on March 16 by
Judge Sawyer, who upheld both of
the former port's requests.
Carey was quick to respond to
that setback: On March 19 he was
party to a suit filed against the
former port and the county itself
to set aside (reverse) the port's
transfer of Menard's Landing to
the county.
THAT SUIT promises to be
(Please turn to page 4.)
At the school district:
Peterson selected as
new superintendent
The North Mason School Dis-
trict Board of Directors has se-
lected David L. Peterson to be the
district's next superintendent.
Peterson, an assistant super-
intendent at
Oak Harbor
School District
on Whidbey Is-
land, was the
sole remaining
candidate last
week when he
was chosen by
the board at a
Tuesday night
meeting.
Quillayute
Valley School
District Super- David
intendent Frank Peterson
Walter had
withdrawn his name for personal
reasons and Shelley K. Redinger,
an executive director of teach-
ing and learning at the Richland
School District, accepted a super-
intendent position at a district
just outside of Portland, Oregon.
The extensive search for a re-
placement for Tom Kelly was led
by consultant John Bohrnsen and
included several public meetings
and interviews before the field was
On April 14:
narrowed to five finalists and then
three.
PETERSON HAS a master's
degree in special education from
the University of Washington.
Originally from Kelso, he began
his teaching career at Garfield
Elementary School in Olympia.
School board president Glenn
Landram noted that Peterson had
a good visit to the district in which
he was able to meet with students,
faculty and staff before the final
public interview.
Peterson brings an impressive
list of accomplishments with him
into his new job. He notes that
while at Oak Harbor he led the
implementation of new gradua-
tion requirements, brought con-
tinuous quality improvement into
the school improvement process,
redesigned the alternative high
school, improved services to ninth-
and 10th-graders through smaller
learning communities, initiated a
coaching model in mathematics
and redesigned remedial and gift-
ed/talented services in 10 schools.
In other school news, the board
approved a six-period day for
Hawkins Middle School and au-
thorized an additional staff mem-
ber there, necessary for the transi-
tion to six periods.
THE BOARD also passed a
resolution requesting a waiver
from the course and credit re-
quirements that allows North
Mason High School to offer two
terms of study in the 90-minute
block schedule format - each term
being the equivalent of a full year
of coursework per class. The state
requires 150 hours per credit. This
waiver reduces the requirement to
135 hours per credit, allowing the
high school to continue offering
four classes each term for a total
of eight classes during the school
year.
Lastly, travel was approved by
the board for Belfair Elementary
School's Destination Teams to go
to Wenatchee March 30-31 for a
statewide competition and for the
North Mason High School Key
Club to go to the Pacific Northwest
District Key Club Convention in
Portland, Oregon, April 13-15.
The next work-study session
for the school board will be at 6:30
p.m. on Wednesday, April 11, in
the district office.
Spring break is next week, run-
ning April 2-6. School buildings
will all be closed; however, the dis-
trict office will be open as usual.
Voice to host forum
on local health care
By LIZ CASE
Firm plans are under way for
the Community Health Forum be-
ing planned for 10 a.m. on Satur-
day, April 14, at the Hawkins Mid-
dle School Gymnasium. The forum
is being sponsored by the North
Mason Community Voice group.
The forum will feature repre-
sentatives from Harrison Hospital,
Mason General Hospital and the
Mason County Assessor's Office.
The hot topic of discussion is
expected to be the redistricting of
Mason County's Public Hospital
District Number 1, which pres-
ently encompasses all of Mason
County. That matter has been un-
der discussion since early January,
when hospital district commis-
sioners had initially recommended
to county commissioners that the
North Mason area be removed
from the hospital district.
THE PROPOSED move was
based on the fact that the vast
majority of north-end residents al-
ready go north into Kitsap County
to receive their health care and also
because the North Mason Medical
Easter egg hunts, services
will be hopping this year
NORTH MASON youngsters will once again have plenty of opportunities
to gather up Easter eggs this year.
at noon and the first hunt at 1
p.m.
The event will be held on the
lawn at North Bay Mortgage,
located at 23030 NE State Route
3, and will include a bouncy house,
The days until Easter are
hopping right along and The
erald has gotten notice of
three local community events for
$Unday, April 8.
* The local churches' annual
aster Sunrise Community Service
11 be held this year at North
ason Bible Church, located at 82
East Campus Drive just below the
high school.
The sunrise service will be held
t 6:30 a.m. with a continental
reakfast following. During the
gular 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. services,
e church will present a drama,
No Name in the Street," depicting
hat ordinary individuals in
sus' Jerusalem might have
l°Ugh about the events that took
Place during the last Earthly week
at'Jesus, life. The public is warmly
Welcome at all of the events
.ad may call 275-4555 for more
trtformation.
" Beginning at noon, the Hood
anal Masonic Lodge will host its
th annual Easter Dinner. The
Went is open to the community
d the menu will feature entrees
Ofroast turkey and ham, as well as
all the trimmings and dessert.
Th.e lodge asks for donations of
for adults and $4 for children
and under. The lodge is located
t 23341 NE State Route 3. For
ore information about the event
Call 372-2539 during early evening
face painting, clowns, over 100
prizes, age-separated hunts for
kids ages i to 12 and, of course, the
Easter Bunny himself. For more
information about this community
celebration call 277-3282.
hours.
• The biggest North Mason
event in the works is the 20th
annual Community Easter Egg
Hunt. The event is free of charge
with the fun is scheduled to begin
Clinic has been in a deficit-income
situation for several years - due
to residents who routinely seek
health care elsewhere.
It seemed sensible, the district
thought, to stop collecting prop-
erty taxes from homeowners who
did not benefit from them and al-
low the area to be picked up by an-
other health-care entity.
But the community response
to that move convinced the hos-
pital district directors to halt the
process until more discussion had
taken place.
THIS HEALTH care forum
is part of that discussion and its
plans will include alternative dis-
trict boundaries and input from
other health-care entities (most
notably Harrison Hospital). The
forum will be moderated by Mi-
chael Greene, the former chief of
Belfair's Fire District 2, who will
return to Belfair from Reno, Ne-
vada, just for that purpose.
It is also worth noting that the
hospital district has expressed ev-
ery intent, income loss not with-
standing, to keep the North Ma-
son Medical Clinic open and fully
operating.
For more information on the fo-
rum contact the Voice group's Lee
Swoboda by calling him at 275-
9241.
Belfair kids
make use of
imaginations
Parents are always on the look-
out for programs or activities that
will help their children learn to
think more creatively or that will
help the youngsters to discover
and develop their talents. And the
folks at Belfair Elementary School
recently hit on just such an event.
On Saturday, March 10, 50
teams from the Olympic Peninsu-
la participated in the Destination
ImagiNation creative problem-
solving competition at Klahowya
Secondary School.
Each year's challenges range
from very technical, with some
performance involved, to primar-
ily performance with some techni-
(Please turn to page 4.)