May 10, 2012 Shelton Mason County Journal | ![]() |
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Thursday, May 10, 2012
Week19 -- The Voice of Mason County sinCe 1886" Published for Mason County and Wini Ferguson of Everett -- $1
Taking to the dirt
Courtesy of Joe Puhn
A rider nears the State Highway 102 crossing on Saturday during the Beginner's
Enduro, a 32.5-mile trail ride that started and finished at the Sanderson Field Events
Center and Fairgrounds. For a complete story on the event, see page A-7.
= No need
for weed
ordinance
Commissioners
deny zoning,
extend
moratorium
By NATALIE JOHNSON
Yaal.(...,m.asoYt(.'ouT/,Ly.coT
The Washington State
Legislature legalized collec-
tive medical cannabis gar-
dens by passing Engrossed
Second Substitute Senate
Bill (ESSB) 5073 nearly a
year ago.
However, the Mason
County Board of Commis-
sioners voted unanimously
Tuesday to extend a mora-
torium on these collective
gardens for a second time.
The moratorium will now
last until Nov. 8.
Commissioner Steve
Bloomfield said he sympa-
thizes with people who have
a genuine need for medical
marijuana, but spoke out
against creating county zon-
ing ordinances around an
activity that is still illegal
under federal law.
"If you need it, you need
it. The federal government
should get off their non-ac-
tion and do something about
it," he said. "Until that hap-
pens I can't support it."
Bloomfield specific'ally
spoke out against medical
marijuana dispensaries op-
erating in Mason County.
"We should be licens-
ing and selling munchies
at these places and maybe
we'd get rich," he said. "This
is a personal thing for me."
Before voting to extend
the moratorium, the com-
mission listened to a request
to amend county zoning to
include language to regu-
late collective gardens in the
county, which was proposed
by the Mason County Plan-
ning Advisory Commission.
The county's current
moratorium on collective
gardens was set to expire on
See Gardens on page A-6
Q * *ltll
Skokomish Head Start program covers the basics
Early education group
pushes reading this spring
By NATALIE JOHNSON
natal.ie@na,s, oncou.n.y.com
This spring the Skokomish
Head Start program joined with
Union City Masonic Lodge #27 on
the Bikes For Books program to
encourage young readers.
"It is a big focus right now," said
Dorna Oliver, Director of Skokom-
ish Early Childhood Education.
There's a big push for kindergar-
ten readiness. What we want to
do is make our children lifelong
readers."
Union City lodge co-Chairman
Chuck Smith said the statewide
Bikes for Books program gives
hundreds of bikes to students
statewide as a reward for reading.
"The whole object of the pro-
gram is to encourage kids to read'
more," he said. "Basically what
we do is contact the school and
the headstart program and offer
to supply two bicycles or trycicles
and two helmets to be used to
help encourage their students to
read."
After hearing from the Masonic
lodge, Oliver said the head start
began organizing the program.
Two students, a boy and a girl,
who read the most books with
their families, will win a bicycle
or tricycle and a helmet.
"We met with our head start
policy council and taked about
how to set this up to encourage all
our little ones to read or be read
to," Oliver said.
All 40 students at Skokomish
Head Start got a packet as part
of the program which included a
list of "100 books that any child
See Skokomish on page A-6
. IIII!! !1!!11!!!1!!11 I!
2
Hood Canal
By NATALIE JOHNSON
natalie@rna,oncou nt v.con t
The Hood Canal School Dis-
trict Board of Directors an-
nounced last Thursday that it
had selected Shawn Batstone as
the new superintendent/princi-
pal at the district.
Batstone currently serves
as the director of teaching and
learning in the Yelm School Dis-
trict.
"His goals and his vision align
really well with what we want to
do," school board president Deb
Petersen said.
Batstone tentatively accepted
names new superintendent
Shawn
Batstone
the position last ing to fill the position since
week. At the March 29 when Superintendent/
school board Principal Tom Churchill an-
meeting on nounced that he would be leav-
Tuesday, Bat- ing the district at the end of the
stone was ex- school year.
pected to sign a Churchill plans to start as
three-year con- superintendent of the Meridian
tract with the School District, in Bellingham, in
district. July.
"He has fam- The school board hired the
ily roots in our Northwest Leadership Associa-
area. He spent
his summers on
Hood Canal since he was a little
kid," Petersen said. "I think that
he's going to be really well re-
ceived by the community."
tion, a consulting firm, to deal
with the application process.
The consultant identified
14 candidates who completed
the application process, then
The school board began look- See Hood Canal on page A-6
Report: Shelton
fourth highest
crime rate in
Washington
By KEVIN SPRADLIN
kevin@m.asoncounty,com
Shelton Mayor Gary
Cronce figured that as the
recession grew worse, crime
would increase.
That doesn't appear to
be the case. In a report
released this week by the
See Crime on page A-7