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| April 12, 2012 Shelton Mason County Journal |  |
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Thursda~ April 12, 2012
.... Week 15 -- The Voice of Mason County since 1886 -- Publia'l d for Mason County and Jody Gripp of Union -- $1
Officials say adjustment
smaller than other PUDs
By NATALIE JOHNSON
ru~t(l ~ie@m, aso~coun~y.eofft,
The Mason County PUD 3 Commission
approved an electric rate increase during
their regular meeting on Tuesday.
The commission built a 3 percent in-
crease for power consumption, and a 10-
cent per day increase in the daily customer
charge into its 2012 budget and voted to of-
ficially make the change on Tuesday, said
PUD 3 Administrator Wyla Wood.
"It's actually a pretty small rate in-
crease," she said.
Wood said many other PUDs in Wash-
ington are implementing much larger rate
increases.
The PUD commismon has chosen to
implement small rate increases over time
to deal with a 10 percent power rate hike
from the Bonneville Power Admilaistration
(BPA). which took effect in October, 2011.
BPA supplies the PUD with most of its
IT'S
ACTUALLY A
PRETTY SMALL
RATE
INCREASE,"
power.
The PUD is also dealing with increased
wholesale power costs because of require-
ments under 1-937, an initiative that re-
quires public utilities to purchase 15 per-
cent of their power from renewable sources,
excluding hydropower, by 2020.
With the rate increase, PUD 3 custom-
ers will pay less per 1,000 killowatt hours
(kWh) than ~ customers in Franklin, Sno-
homish, Grays Harbor and Clallam PUDs
and Mason County PUD 1, among others.
The PUD 3 commission held a public hear-
ing to discuss the proposed rate increases at
its last public meeting on March 27.
The PUD 3 commission took the vote to in-
crease rams at its first commission meeting
at the new PUD complex on Johns Prairie.
"It was great to have the main part of the
move behind us," Wood said.
Few people commented on the proposed
rate increase before it was approved, Wood
said.
"There wasn't a single member of the
public or anyone else there (on Tuesday),"
she said. "Most of the discussions had taken
place previously -- there was nothing new
to bring up."
• • • • • • • • • • • • o, • • o o o o o o o o o o 6 o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN ON YOUR BILL?
3% POWER CONSUMPTION INCREASE ® 10% PER DAY INCREASE
Mason County among I
healthycounti in Washington
By NATALIE JOHNSON
natalie@masoncounty.com
Mason County as once again
among the least healthy counties in
Washington. according to a study
by the University of Wisconsin
Population Health Institute and
the Robert Wood Johnson Founda-
tion of Princeton. New Jersey.
Each year. the institute surveys
counties in all 50 states to deter-
mine health trends.
"This helps us know how to help
target resources when we know we
don't have enough resources to do
everything," said Vicki Kirkpat-
rick. director of public health and
human services for Mason County.
"The rankings show us that where
we live matters to our health."
Mason County ranked 35 out of
39 counties in the state in "Health
Outcomes," or mortality and mor-.
bidity rates, above Grays Harbor.
Okanogan. Wahkiakum and Ferry
counties.
Mason County has made some
improvement -- in 2011 the county
was also ranked 35th in "Health
Outcomes" but in 2010 was ranked
37th.
Kirkpatrick said the county
showed positive results in several ar-
eas, including access to healthy foods,
recreation areas and air quality.
"From a comparative perspec-
tive it's pretty good but that doesn't
mean there isn't room for improve-
ment," Kirkpatrick said.
Under mortality in the 2012
rankings, Mason County ranked
34th overall, with an estimate of
8,422 "years of potential life lost
before age 75 per 100,000 popula-
tion," compared with a statewide
average of 5,915 years and a na-
tional average of 5,564.
The study also shows that 17
percent of Mason County residents
report their health as poor or fair
compared to a state average of 13
percent and a national average of
10 percent.
"Our quality of life from a health
perspective is pretty low," Kirkpat-
rick said. "We know we have room
for improvement."
Mason County ranked 37th un-
der the "Health Behaviors" section
of the study.
According to the study, 25 per-
cent of adults in the county smoke
compared to 14 percent nationally
and 17 percent statewide.
"We are very high in adult smok-
ing and have been for some years,"
Kirkpatrick said. "We have a rela-
tively high unemployment rate -
if you think of smoking as a coping
mechanism it isn't as surprising."
Because of budget cuts at the
state level, Mason County has no
funding for tobacco use prevention
programs, she said.
Thirty-one percent of county res-
idents qualify as obese, compared
to 27 percent statewide and 21 per-
cent report no leisure-time physi-
cal activity, compared to 19 percent
statewide.
The percentage of residents re-
porting excessive drinking in Ma-
son County mirrored the Wash-
ington state average, at 16 percent
and 17 percent respectively, but
was double the national average,
at 8 percent.
Mason County's motor vehicle
death rate is more than twice the
See Health on page A-6
_ourtesy phOtO
K-9 Kona and Deputy Scan Dodge work
together on the S.O. Drug Search K-9 team.
The program is funded through a public/
private partnership. The department is in-
creasingly looking for new ways to pay for
the services it provides.
Ii
ice
eyes pr,v
sources
STAFF REPORT
The Mason County
Sheriffs Office has lost the
equivalent of nine full-time
officers since 2008.
Passing last week's
$218,000 supplemental
budget request helped, but
the Sheriffs Department is
increasingly looking to pub-
lic-private partnerships to
keep officers on the street
and crime rates low.
"I've been in law enforce-
ment since 1973 and since
that time law enforcement
in Mason County has been
underfunded and it just
gets worse and worse,"
Chief Deputy Dean Byrd
said.
Byrd said he believes
public safety is a civilized
society's highest prior-
ity but he worries that the
county's leaders don't.
"I don't think it is right
now. We have by far the
highest crime rate ... we
understand funding is dif-
ficult at best and we're just
trying to do our part cre-
ating public private part-
nership. It's my view that
government is in place
for three reasons -- pub-
lic safety, infrastructure
and public health. I would
think public safety is prior-
ity one. The county com-
missioners have a tough
job and I wouldn't want
their job but if all of the
elected officials and all of
the departments in the
county would sit down
and establish priorities of
government -- if that was
done -- public safety would
be elevated in priority,"
Byrd said.
Byrd noted that the eco-
nomic collapse of 2008 hit
Mason County especially
hard. The housing mar-
ket collapsed and sales tax
receipts dwindled -- two
areas to which the county
looks toward for funding
its services. As the reces-
sion churned on, federal
grants began drying up.
'~We got a $600.000 fed-
eral grant and that's not
being renewed. That's not
small change," said Byrd.
adding that this year's S.O.
budget is close to $8 million.
Building from old pro-
grams like the one with
Green Diamond resources.
the Sheriffs Department
reported increases m rev-
enue and a decrease in,
crime.
See Funds on page A--2
Children, families gather as Easter hops into Mason County
By NATALIE JOHNSON
natal~e~n~asonoounty.oom
The Easter Bunny visited
Union a day early this year
as part of the 28th Annual
Union Easter-Egg Hunt.
On Saturday, hundreds
of local children and their
families gathered in the
81111U!UI!!II!!!I!I!II112
Union Community Park to
take part in the yearly Eas-
ter-egg hunt ran by Karen
Visser and Sandy Fassio.
"It's all donation," Visser
said. "Our community is so
generous."
Last year 250 people at-
tended the event. Visser
estimated that this year
about the same number of
people came.
Children hunted for eggs
filled with candy and quar-
ters in three age groups --
babies to 3 years old, 4 to 7
years old and 8 to 12 years
old. Each group had 1,300
eggs, Visser said.
Teenagers and young
children alike also partici-
pated in an egg ~oss, she
said. Hidden along with
regular plastic eggs were
the first, second and third
prize eggs, which were re-
deemable for larger prizes.
A grand prize egg con-
tained $28, to commemo-
rate the Easter-egg hunt's
anniversary.
Fassio wore the Easter-
Bunny suit this year and
dren before and after the
egg hunt.
This year, Visser said
they hada goal of raising
enough money to buy a new
bunny suit.
"She's been wearing that
one for 28 years," Visser
said.
The egg hunt has gone
on so long now some of the
first participants are bring-
ing their own children, she
said.
"It's fun to see the next
generation and the next
handed out candy to chil- generati0n,,Visser said ....
Brielle
Mirka hunts
for eggs in
the 0-3 years
age group at
Saturday's
28th
Annual
Union
Easter-Egg
Hunt.
, Journal photo by Natalie
Johnson