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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
May 10, 2012     Shelton Mason County Journal
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May 10, 2012
 
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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