March 31, 2011 Shelton Mason County Journal | ![]() |
©
Shelton Mason County Journal. All rights reserved. Upgrade to access Premium Tools
PAGE 1 (1 of 22 available) PREVIOUS NEXT Jumbo Image Save To Scrapbook Set Notifiers PDF JPG
March 31, 2011 |
|
Website © 2025. All content copyrighted. Copyright Information Terms Of Use | Privacy Policy | Request Content Removal | About / FAQ | Get Acrobat Reader ![]() |
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Year 125 -- Week 13 9 Sections -- 62 Pages -- Published in Shelton, Washington -- $1
Courtesy art
Several ceiling
areas at the Pioneer
School district are
caving in like this
one.
Pioneer
supporters
hope bond
will pass
By KEVAN MOORE
Pioneer School
District boosters have
their fingers crossed
that the second time's a
charm.
Voters will get
a4aother chance to weigh
in on a $24.5 million
bond during a special
April 26 election. Ballots
are set to go out April 8.
• The same measure
was narrowly defeated
in November elections,
but supporters are
optimistic that it will
pass this time around
due to increased
campaign efforts and
increased awareness
about poor conditions at
the school.
The cost of the bond
is $1.09 per $1,000 of
vahiat~n which is a75
cent increase over what
taxpayers are already
lmying for the remaining
debt on the primary
School.
Bond supporters
point:out that the
intermediate middle
school bm dings
have rated poor or
unsatisfactory on several
building standards
following various
inspections.
~nis merely added
to the known problems
with the hodgepodge of
five separate structures
that form the school at
the corner of Agate and
Spencer Lake Roads,~
states a district notice.
"The district was already
aware that the building
campus impeded their
ability to provide an
effective learning
environment."
The Pioneer Eagles
PTA has set up an
extensive website with
information about the
bond and district
See Pioneer on page A-7
Community Calendar B-3
Entertainment/Dining B-3
Journal of Record A-5
Obituaries B-7
Opinions, Letters A-4
Sports C-1
Weather A-5
Tides A-5
8 UlIU! !l!!ll!!!!!! 112
t
#
Journal phOto by Dean Slernon
Despite recent rain, spring is officially here with cherry blossoms;
coming out along the streets of downtown Shelton.
Sheriff's office to reduce hours
By KEVAN MOORE
The Mason County
sheriffs administrative
office will be reducing the
hours its open to the public
starting April 11.
The new hours will be
from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Officials said the change
in hours has been brought
about by the unprecedent-
ed increases in demands
placed on the staff as a
result of mandated tasks
such as public disclosure
requests.
"The sheriff's admin-
istrative staff has had
considerable difficulty in
meeting the high volume of
public disclosure requests
and has not been able to
increase staff to meet the
increased demands," said
Chief Deputy Dean Byrd.
According to Washing-
ton State law, each public
records request requires a
response within five days
or penalties can be as-
sessed against the sheriff's
office. Accordingly it is es-
'sential these requests are
"The economic downturn
we all have been
experiencing over the
past couple of years
has severely reduced
revenues to county
government, so the
money is simply not there
to hire additional staff."
processed in a systematic
and timely manner, Byrd
noted.
"The economic down-
turn we all have been ex-
periencing over the past
couple of years has se-
verely reduced revenues to
county government, so the
money is simply not there
to hire additional staff,"
said Mason County Sher-
iff Casey Salisbury. "This
is the best way possible at
this time to comply with
the public disclosure law '
and meet the public's de-
mand for information."
Reducing the hours that
administrative staff is
available to the public will
provide them with the ad-
ditional time they need to
keep up with the high vol-
ume of mandated service
requests, Byrd added.
New chamber director backs out
By NATALIE JOHNSON
The Shelton-Mason County Chamber
of Commerce almost hired a new execu-
tive director last week, but today, are
still without a leader.
Mike Morrisette, who had previously
spent five years as the executive direc-
tor of the Woodinville Chamber of Com-
merce, 15 years as the President and
CO0 of the Auburn Area Chamber, and
five years as the president and CEO of
the Greater Yakima Chamber of Com-
merce, reportedly accepted the position,
then reconsidered.
YHe had accepted the position, but
we've not been able to come to terms,"
chamber president Patti Case said.
The chamber is still on the search for
a new executive director to replace Terri
Jeffries, who announced her resignation
in January.
"We'll regroup and figure out what to
do next,~ Case said.
City releases SEPA
determination on
Solomon boiler
By NATALIE JOHNSON
Adage may be out, but
the. Solomon Renewable
Energy Company is still
in the running to con-
struct a biomass boiler in
Shelten.
After months of re-
view, the city of Shelton
issued a SEPA (the state
environmental policy act)
Mitigated Determina-
tion of Nonsignificance
(MDNS), on March 24 for
the proposed Solomon Re-
newable Engergy Cogen-
eration Plant at Simpson
Lumber in downtown
Shelton.
"The purpose is to
identify impacts and off-
set them through miti-
gation," said Jason Dose,
senior planner at the
city of Shelton. "It helps
any permitting agencies
make an informed deci-
sion."
The document says
that the lead agency in
the project, the city of
Shelten, does not believe
the project poses a risk
to the environment, and
does not plan to conduct
and Environmental Im-
pact Statement (EIS).
"The city of Shelton be-
lieves that the informa-
tion being provided gives
adequate information
for the city of Shelton to
identifiy potential im-
pacts with potential miti-
gation measures, thus,
an EIS is not required ...
The lead agency for this
proposal has determined
that the project does not
have a probable signifi-
cant adverse impact on
See Biomass on page A-7
Fiddle Fest to feature
91-year-old performer
By KEVAN MOORE
The Shelton Old Time
Fiddlers' Fest will run
this Friday and Satur-
day, April 1 and 2, at the
Shelton High School Per-
forming Arts Center.
The two-day event,
which is a beneft for
Save Our County's Kids
(SOCK), will feature
: three separate shows,
showcasing performers
from all over the state
and a spaghetti feed.
Organizers say that
the oldest fiddler at this
year's show will be Floyd
Engstrom, 91. He will
appear on the Friday
evening and Saturday
afternoon shows, at 6:30
p.m. and 1:30 p.m. re-
spectively.
Engstrom hails from
Bremerton. After at-
tending a fiddle show at
Bremerton High School
in 1978, he became inter-
ested in fiddling and has
been a member of the Old
Time Fiddlers ever since.
Engstrom took two
years of violin lessons
as a young boy that cost
$2 apiece. Those lessons
came to an abrupt halt
for Engstrom at the age
of 11 in 1929 when the
stock market crashed. It
would be nearly 50 years
before Engstrom picked
up his violin and began
to play again.
Engstrom has played
at 24 of the 26 Fiddle
Fest shows here in Shel-
ton. Event organizers
said that it is an honor to
include Engstrom among
the festival's perform-
ers and that it is always
amazing to see and hear
how beautifully he still
plays at 91 years of age.
In addition to Eng-
strom, several young
Floyd Engstrom
fiddlers will be making
their Fiddle Fest debut
this year. The Nakhla
and Crichton families
from Shelton and Union
will be playing Friday
evening and Saturday
evening, respectively.
Other styles will include
Swing, Celtic, Bluegrass,
Old Time Dance tunes,
Gospel, Cowboy Poetry
and just plain old foot-
stompin' fiddle tunes.
Attendees will hear
many regulars, such as
Phil and Vivian Wil-
liams from Seattle, who
have been champions of
Old Time Dance music
for more than 50 years
and have done extensive
research into the histori-
cal aspects of the genre.
Jeff Anderson and Lau-
rel Stone will play some
twin fiddle and Rosin
in the Air will provide
a great cross-section of
old time and bluegrass
music. Vern Morgus and
Paul Barber are favor-
ites, and will begin the
Friday evening show
with vocal, piano, guitar
and harmonica selec-
tions.
See Fiddle on page A-7
i!
I