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| April 16, 2020 Shelton Mason County Journal |  |
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By Adam Rudnick .
adam@masoncounty. com
Mason County has plenty
of success stories and prom-
ising practices, according to
the Governor’s Committee on
Disability Issues and Employ-
ment, but barriers remain.
A subcommittee 'tasked
with community outreach for
Gov. Jay Inslee’s committee
summarized its findings from
its two February meetings in
Shelton. On April 9, subcom-
mittee Chair Damiana Harper
released a 27-page outreach
summary of the meetings,
which took place Feb. 27 and
28 at Mason PUD'3’s Johns
Prairie Operations Center.
The meetings centered on
three major discussion topics
—— restoring hours for Dial-A—
Ride service and addressing
I-976; establishing a central-
ized resource and service net-
work; and addressing home-
lessness and the unique bar-
riers for local residents with
disabilities.
“Our meetings were infor-
mative, productive and a lot of
fun,” Harper said in an email.
“We were impressed with the
enthusiasm and positive spirit
of the participants.”
The full report can be found
at https://bit.ly/2ydRer.
The Governor’s Committee
on Disability Issues and Em-
ployment aims to “promote
equality, opportunity, inde-
pendence and full participa-
tion‘ in life for people with
NORTH BRIEFS
Port of Grapeview to
meeting via Zoom
disabilities. The committee
advises the governor, legis-
lature and state agencies on
policies that affect people with
disabilities and more. It has
a 27-member board of con—
tributors from throughout the
state.
Shelton resident Kevin
Frankeberger, a recently ap—
pointed member of the Gov—
ernor’s Committee on Disabil-
ity Issues and Employment,
wrote in an email that he was
[impressed with his volunteer
colleagues producing the docu-
ment. He wrote that he hoped
it would be disseminated far
and wide.
“Most importantly though,
the report cites the many chal-
lenges we have (for) services
needed in our county and ac-
tion steps to get to/increase
the support we have around
us,” he wrote. “Too many resi—
dents are always isolated,
like we are all today. We have
homeless, we have those (who
are) hungry. We as a county
can and will do better, as the
summary reports.”
[The summary listed six “10-
cal success stories and promis—
ing practices”:
I Mason PUD 3 offers fully ac-
cessible meeting facilities that
are free for nonprofits.
I A local parentand son are
taking initial steps to start
People First, a self—advocacy
center for individuals with in-
tellectual disabilities in Shel-
ton.
I Gateway Property Manage-
Thursday, April 16, 2020 — Shelton-Mason County Journal Page A—25
COmmittee on disabilities releases MasonCounty summary.
ment and Mell Property Man-
agement were recognized for
their willingness to work with
people with disabilities to find
housing. .
I County Auditor Paddy Mc-
Guire and Mason County com—
missioners and leaders are
working to establish a local
Accessible Community Advi-
sory Committee, which could
lead to funding opportunities
for programs and activities for
individuals with disabilities.
I Moving Mason Forward Re—
source Coalition facilitates the
community’s work to address
health priorities and promote
“sustainable, lasting change.”
I Mason Transit Authority’s
Volunteer Driver Program
provides transportation ser-
vice for residents age 60 and
older who are unable to drive
or use public transportation to
get to medical appointments
and run errands.
The governor’s commit-
tee’s Community Outreach
Subcommittee hosted the two
Shelton meetings — the first
of which was a town hall meet—
ing that aimed to start a dis—
cussion about issues residents
with disabilities face, specifi—
cally transportation, afford-
able housing, employment,
education and more. The sum—
mary includes resources for
those topics, and comments
from meeting attendees.
Some attendees brought up
local problems for residents
with disabilities. Frankeberg-
er, who lives in the Lake Lim-
In an email to residents, the port asks people who
want to join Tuesday’s meeting at 7 p.m. to keep
their video off and audio muted. To receive a link to
the meeting, call 426-610-6552 or email portofgrape-
erick area, expressed concern
about Mason Transit Author-
ity’s Dial—A—Ride program. He
said the agency recently decid-
ed to stop the program’s ser-
vice after 6 p.m., which limits
his and his wife’s ability to go
out, eat dinner and socialize.
Frankeberger, who is blind,
suggested MTA re-establish
its citizen advisory board,
which he was on for 13 years.
Mike Ringgenberg, opera-
tions manager for MTA, said
the agency adjusted those
hours because requests for
service after 6 p.m. were mini-
mal. He said MTA plans to
reevaluate the program again
in June to see if adjustments
are needed. The meeting took
place before Inslee’s order to
“Stay Home, Stay Healthy”
that limited all nonessential
services.
Ringgenberg said if official-
ly approved, Initiative 976,
which would lower the state’s
vehicle registration fees,
would affect about one-third of
MTA’s funding and potentially
reduce rides. He said he’s con-
cerned it will affect riders who
rely on the service to get to
medical appointments.
During the subcommittee’s
leadership breakfast on Feb.
28, attendees Were asked to
think about how to increase
ridership and service hours
for Dial-A—Ride. Some sugges—
> tions included developing an
agreement with other services
such as transportation busi-
ness The Patty Wagon; hold
town hall meetings in rural
communities; educate com—
munity members about how
transportation funding works;
and promote ridership in se-
nior newsletters.
MTA said it would collect
data through March and cre-
ate a survey, which the agency
said it planned to have com-
pleted by April 30. It also had
other outreach plans.
The subcommittee also
asked how the community
would design and implement
a centralized resource and
service network. Some ideas
included identifying what’s
available and combining re-
sources and marketing those
available resources.
Finally, attendees were
asked what steps could be
taken to identify and mitigate
barriers faced by people with
disabilities who are also expe-
riencing homelessness.
Suggestions included de-
veloping a rapid response net—
work; offer a mobile food bank
for people living in the woods;
tell their stories, and meet
and talk to them; and increase
collaboration of resources for
agencies in the community.
“Community leaders made
commitments and I’m so
hopeful those will be carried
through to fruition,” Franke-
berger wrote in an email.
“Shelton/Mason County de-
serves nothing less.”
For more information about
the governor’s committee, go
to esd.wa.gov/gcde.
during the final minutes of the, meeting, according
to the email. Public comment will be limited to
two minutes; the port asks that comments related
to items on the agenda be emailed to admin@
View@gmail.com, or join the meeting by searching for portofgrapevievsfcom
by 6 p.m. Tuesday.
meeting ID 557430696 with the password 082534.
The port will still leave time for public comment
r The Port of Grapeview’s Board of Commissioners
plans to meet next week using videoconference soft-
ware Zoom. I Compiled by Adam Rudnick
HABSTINE ISLAND NEWS
“During pandemic, life continues to be slow on the island
" udy and I have hunkered
J down in our new home
and only venture out
when we have to. Walking
‘ is now one of our new pas-
times. Harstine Island offers
numerous off-the-main—road
walking places. We are‘able to
walk a quiet dirt road that me-
anders through the firs, cedars By MIKE
CALLAGHAN
and alders with an occasional
big leaf maple tossed in.
The other evening a slight
wind caught the firs and they sang
out their wistful melody. We stopped
to listen and a few chickadees and the
caw of crow chimed in along with the
subtle beat of bare limbs rhythmic
tapping. Rez, our dog, wasn’t so en-
thralled and with his encouragement
we continued the walk.
The Harstine Island Women’s Club
and Judy and Charles Chase Memori-
al Endowment are still offering schol-
arships for island residents entering
or continuing post high school educa-
tion. Deadline for applications has
been extended. That extension date
deadline has not been set yet because
the committee is waiting to see how
and when the school graduation times
will be changed.
Applicants still must have gradu-
ated from an accredited
high school prior to August
or have earned a GED. All
the requirements listed on
the information sheet must
be completed. Scholarships
amount and number will be
determined at the time the
recipients are chosen. Addi—
tional information and appli—
cations maybe obtained by
contacting the Harstine Is—
land Women’s Club Scholar-
ship Committee: HIWC scholarships@ .
gmail.com or HIWC Scholarships,
Harstine Community Hall, PO. Box
1635, Shelton, WA 98584.
The Pioneer Food Bank is still
gathering food. It is waiting for the
county to give a date and guidelines
for distribution. The following is again
the information I had in the paper a
while ago.
The projected needs in the up-
coming weeks to months caused by
COVID—19 willpotentially be more
than can be addressed, when consider—
ing the loss of jobs and the resulting
needs of the Pioneer community. If
you can do so, please consider donat-
ing to Pioneer Food Bank so we can
help our volunteers keep addressing
the upcoming needs of our community.
Donations can be mailed to: Pioneer
Food Bank, 500 North Island Drive,
Shelton WA 98584.
Another way you may help is to tell
your family, friends and other club
affiliations about the needs of Pioneer
Food Bank and provide our address to
them. At the same time, we ask you
to consider the needs of our Pioneer
community. We want to encourage all
of you to take care of yourselves and
your immediate neighbors as well. As
people get sick or are sheltered be—
cause of high risk, offer to grocery .
shop or do pharmacy runs for them. Of
course, keep your distance. Place your
delivery on the porch and leave! Work
to stay in touch by email, FaceTime,
texting and share some bright spots
and humor. Focus on future plans. To-
gether we are going to get through
this. On behalf of the Pioneer Food
Bank Board of Directors, thank you.
I think I will put in a personal plug
here if you are looking for a book
to read and you have a Kindle you
might try “Tequila Coffee,” an action
adventure book set in California and
Mexico. There’s drug trafficking, a few
murders and maybe a little sex. Or if
you like romantic comedy, you can try
“Junk and Disorderly.” It’s about five
single people in their 60s who go to
garage sales and find treasures worth
lots of money, they find a little ad-
venture and maybe a little sex. Both
books are pretty inexpensive and I
believe if you Amazon Prime, they are
free. Give one of them a read. and let
me know What you think.
Preparing for my weekly column, I
have been looking at the history of our
island in “The Island Remembers” and
as you have seen, information from
'Michael Fredson’s book, “Shelton’s
Boom The Classic Years: 1910-1933.”
I found it interesting that in neither
book did I see a reference to the 1918
Spanish influenza that swept our.
county. The city of Seattle was hit
by it and there are pictures of people
wearing masks. And in Seattle there
were business closures and warnings
about social distancing. So, it was in
our state. I’m guessing that because
of our remoteness, it never made it to
our‘community. In a sense, I still see
that playing out today as we are all in
our homes and most of those. homes
have lots of space in-between. I, for
one, am happy to be isolated here on
the island. Judy and I hope you all
stay safe and we will» get through this.
I Mike Callaghan can be reached at
sobadog@msn.com.