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PEOPLE WITH A CROSS to bear listen to Father Joe Kramis on the
occasion of a church service on his 50th anniversary as a priest.
Kramis not looking down
fronL heights he's scaled
By SEAN HANLON
Father Joseph Kramis is 77 and mostly retired
now, Raying mass on Saturday evenings and living
with Joan Walker at their bucolic retreat nestled
in a stand of cedar trees on the shores of Hammer-
sley Inlet.
Joan is the mother of five and the grandmother
of nine, and her offspring are a great comfort to
Joe because as a Roman Catholic priest he is the
father of the many and the parent of none on ac-
count of his being bound by a vow of celibacy.
Kramis observed the 50th anniversary of that
A PAIR OF parishioners chat with Fa-
ther Joe Kramis on the occasion of his
50th year as a Catholic priest.
vow on Saturday at a Mass of Thanksgiving at the
Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Lacey. His ser-
mon recalled a day 50 years ago when he and two
other newly ordained priests climbed Mount Rain-
ier, which the Indians call Tahoma, meaning the
mountain that is God. He doesn't climb mountains
anymore, but he still has his eyes on the skies.
"I think of Christ as the leader on the rope of life
that has pulled me and all of us to God," he told
those gathered for the mass. "And since all of us
are the body of Christ today, we all do our part to
help one another to the glory of God. If it were not
for you, I would not have learned so many lessons
in life's journey."
He started his climb to the heavens in Idaho,
where he was born, and continued it in Montana,
where he was raised, moving to Washington to
bedn his studies ibr the priesthood at Saint Ed-
ward's Seminary in Kenmore. Following his or-
dination into the priesthood, he was assigned to
Saint Anthony Church in Renton, and in 1960,
after the passage of about five years there, Arch-
bishop Thomas Connolly sent Kramis to Catholic
University in Washington, D.C., there to study
canon law.
IT WAS WHILE Kramis was studying canon
law that Pope John XXIII convened Vatican Coun-
cil II, a gathering of cardinals, bishops and priests
who were making changes in the code just as Kra-
mis was learning it. "It was an exciting time be-
cause a lot of the things I believe in they were put-
ting into place," Kramis said.
Over the years that have gone since then, he
has collected a number of books about canon law
and points with special affection to two of them: an
edition of The Documents of Vatican H signed with
the notations "I was there!" and "with every bless-
ing" by Archbishop Connolly, who presented it to
Kr2amis after coming home to Seattle from Vatican
IrandCode, Community and Ministry, a commen-
tary on canon law which contains an article titled,
"The Ages of Man," written by Father Bertram F.
Griffin, a classmate of Kramis' in the seminary.
(Please turn to page 9.)
Port commission roundup:
Airport area feeling
some growth pains
By JEFF GREEN as a sub-area plan for Sand
When it comes to the Shelton
Urban Growth Area Sub-area
Plan and Sanderson Field, Shel-
ton port commissioners are wary
at best.
Following a briefing by Patti
Miller-Crowley, the port's plan-
ning and development manager,
about Shelton's progress on the
sub-area plan, port commission-
ers Marlene Taylor and Rick
Byrd Tuesday morning let it be
known they prefer the port's own
comprehensive plan for regulat-
ing Sanderson Field, which is
located within the urban growth
area.
There are separate designa-
tions for airports in other places,
Taylor said, adding, "I think that
is the way to go."
Miller-Crowley noted the
port's comprehensive plan al-
lows for maximum flexibility for
future development. "We have
our plan and it's not necessarily
the city's plan," Taylor said.
BYRD SAID he was in no
hurry to approve the sub-area
plan and said it's the way for the
port to go. "This port is not going
to be pressured into anything by
the city," he declared.
He said the port must protect
the businesses at the airport,
which lease their property from
the port. The city wants taxes
and utility taxes from the firms,
he added. "We have companies
here that would not locate in the
city because of taxes," Byrd said,
referring to companies on port
property near the airport.
"The mission of the city and
its purpose for being is different
from the port," Taylor noted.
"We have a comprehensive
plan but it's not a regulatory doc-
ument," Miller-Crowley told the
commissioners. Currently the
port staff is working to update
the port's comprehensive plan
and the airport master plan. The
airport master plan could serve
Field.
PORT OF SKAGIT ha!
sub-area plan for its air
Miller-Crowley told The J¢
nal. Currently, the lands n
the Shelton Urban Growth
P
are regulated by Mason Co
and would stay that waY'
til they are annexed by the $
sometime in the future. .., |
"We're trying to proteol " |
interests and be a team P,- |
at the same time,' said Bob |
inson, the port's managi
rector. ,,
In other port businesSL.
commissioners heard lmw
Crowley give staff recog._,,
to departing project assi
Dayna Seminara. Her laSt.
with the port will be June 1'}"
is engaged and moving to
fornia.
Seminara is always
a great team player and
a hard person to replace,
Crowley said.
FULL
AUTO
Specializing in
brakes, exhaust
and custom work
FREE
& FLUID
"Quality and
That's Hometowne
Service"
/
GET A TASTE FOR THE
Lifetime Warranty
on all exlx i.less k'eel
Comlxts&all.
10 Year Warranty
on all burners except side burner
& cooking ccls.
FREE COVER
OR
FREETANK
Jobless rate dips here in April
Unemployment in Mason Coun-
ty was at 5.6 percent in April,
down nearly a full point from the
6.5 percent rate posted in March
of this year.
State labor market analysts es-
timate that the county has added
approximately 600 jobs since April
of last year, making for total em-
ployment last month of about
23,290. Approximately 1,370 local
job seekers were unemployed in
April of this year. Job figures are
estimates rounded to the nearest
zero.
Mason County was tied with
Skamania for 14th place on the
statewide unemployment chart,
with 13 of" Washington's 39 coun-
ties having higher rates and 24
having lower rates. The highest
rate statewide was 9.2 percent in
Ferry County on the Canadian
border in the northeast corner of
the state and the lowest rate was
3.3 percent in San Juan County.
The statewide rate was 4.4 per-
cent in April, the lowest it has been
since comparable record-keeping
began in 1976. That's according to
officials in the Washington State
Employment Security Depart-
ment.
"This is a great time for people
of all ages to find jobs, even our
teens and new college graduates,"
said Employment Security Com-
missioner Karen Lee.
Neighboring counties had the
following unemployment rates:
Grays Harbor, 7.0; Jefferson, 4.6;
and Kitsap and Thurston, 4.2.
Variety is the spice of life,
so come to us for the area's most
diverse assortment of plants and
Mason
Largest
We have over
$1,000.000 in
Premium Quality
Come browse our over 6 acres of
perennials, shrubs & trees
Hanging Baskets
Come see Plagie's new gift
OPEN DALLY
8:30 a.m.-6:00
Page 8 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, May 17, 2007
S&S Produce Stan
I ALWAYS TOP QOALITY PRODUCE I
Farm Fresh Fruit & Produc00
NOW FEA TURIN Sweet, Juicy California
Open 10-6 Daily Except Wednesday
253-405-2832
Located at Oakland Bay Garden Center. 5962 Hwy. 3,
PEOPLE WITH A CROSS to bear listen to Father Joe Kramis on the
occasion of a church service on his 50th anniversary as a priest.
Kramis not looking down
fronL heights he's scaled
By SEAN HANLON
Father Joseph Kramis is 77 and mostly retired
now, Raying mass on Saturday evenings and living
with Joan Walker at their bucolic retreat nestled
in a stand of cedar trees on the shores of Hammer-
sley Inlet.
Joan is the mother of five and the grandmother
of nine, and her offspring are a great comfort to
Joe because as a Roman Catholic priest he is the
father of the many and the parent of none on ac-
count of his being bound by a vow of celibacy.
Kramis observed the 50th anniversary of that
A PAIR OF parishioners chat with Fa-
ther Joe Kramis on the occasion of his
50th year as a Catholic priest.
vow on Saturday at a Mass of Thanksgiving at the
Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Lacey. His ser-
mon recalled a day 50 years ago when he and two
other newly ordained priests climbed Mount Rain-
ier, which the Indians call Tahoma, meaning the
mountain that is God. He doesn't climb mountains
anymore, but he still has his eyes on the skies.
"I think of Christ as the leader on the rope of life
that has pulled me and all of us to God," he told
those gathered for the mass. "And since all of us
are the body of Christ today, we all do our part to
help one another to the glory of God. If it were not
for you, I would not have learned so many lessons
in life's journey."
He started his climb to the heavens in Idaho,
where he was born, and continued it in Montana,
where he was raised, moving to Washington to
bedn his studies ibr the priesthood at Saint Ed-
ward's Seminary in Kenmore. Following his or-
dination into the priesthood, he was assigned to
Saint Anthony Church in Renton, and in 1960,
after the passage of about five years there, Arch-
bishop Thomas Connolly sent Kramis to Catholic
University in Washington, D.C., there to study
canon law.
IT WAS WHILE Kramis was studying canon
law that Pope John XXIII convened Vatican Coun-
cil II, a gathering of cardinals, bishops and priests
who were making changes in the code just as Kra-
mis was learning it. "It was an exciting time be-
cause a lot of the things I believe in they were put-
ting into place," Kramis said.
Over the years that have gone since then, he
has collected a number of books about canon law
and points with special affection to two of them: an
edition of The Documents of Vatican H signed with
the notations "I was there!" and "with every bless-
ing" by Archbishop Connolly, who presented it to
Kr2amis after coming home to Seattle from Vatican
IrandCode, Community and Ministry, a commen-
tary on canon law which contains an article titled,
"The Ages of Man," written by Father Bertram F.
Griffin, a classmate of Kramis' in the seminary.
(Please turn to page 9.)
Port commission roundup:
Airport area feeling
some growth pains
By JEFF GREEN as a sub-area plan for Sand
When it comes to the Shelton
Urban Growth Area Sub-area
Plan and Sanderson Field, Shel-
ton port commissioners are wary
at best.
Following a briefing by Patti
Miller-Crowley, the port's plan-
ning and development manager,
about Shelton's progress on the
sub-area plan, port commission-
ers Marlene Taylor and Rick
Byrd Tuesday morning let it be
known they prefer the port's own
comprehensive plan for regulat-
ing Sanderson Field, which is
located within the urban growth
area.
There are separate designa-
tions for airports in other places,
Taylor said, adding, "I think that
is the way to go."
Miller-Crowley noted the
port's comprehensive plan al-
lows for maximum flexibility for
future development. "We have
our plan and it's not necessarily
the city's plan," Taylor said.
BYRD SAID he was in no
hurry to approve the sub-area
plan and said it's the way for the
port to go. "This port is not going
to be pressured into anything by
the city," he declared.
He said the port must protect
the businesses at the airport,
which lease their property from
the port. The city wants taxes
and utility taxes from the firms,
he added. "We have companies
here that would not locate in the
city because of taxes," Byrd said,
referring to companies on port
property near the airport.
"The mission of the city and
its purpose for being is different
from the port," Taylor noted.
"We have a comprehensive
plan but it's not a regulatory doc-
ument," Miller-Crowley told the
commissioners. Currently the
port staff is working to update
the port's comprehensive plan
and the airport master plan. The
airport master plan could serve
Field.
PORT OF SKAGIT ha!
sub-area plan for its air
Miller-Crowley told The J¢
nal. Currently, the lands n
the Shelton Urban Growth
P
are regulated by Mason Co
and would stay that waY'
til they are annexed by the $
sometime in the future. .., |
"We're trying to proteol " |
interests and be a team P,- |
at the same time,' said Bob |
inson, the port's managi
rector. ,,
In other port businesSL.
commissioners heard lmw
Crowley give staff recog._,,
to departing project assi
Dayna Seminara. Her laSt.
with the port will be June 1'}"
is engaged and moving to
fornia.
Seminara is always
a great team player and
a hard person to replace,
Crowley said.
FULL
AUTO
Specializing in
brakes, exhaust
and custom work
FREE
& FLUID
"Quality and
That's Hometowne
Service"
/
GET A TASTE FOR THE
Lifetime Warranty
on all exlx i.less k'eel
Comlxts&all.
10 Year Warranty
on all burners except side burner
& cooking ccls.
FREE COVER
OR
FREETANK
Jobless rate dips here in April
Unemployment in Mason Coun-
ty was at 5.6 percent in April,
down nearly a full point from the
6.5 percent rate posted in March
of this year.
State labor market analysts es-
timate that the county has added
approximately 600 jobs since April
of last year, making for total em-
ployment last month of about
23,290. Approximately 1,370 local
job seekers were unemployed in
April of this year. Job figures are
estimates rounded to the nearest
zero.
Mason County was tied with
Skamania for 14th place on the
statewide unemployment chart,
with 13 of" Washington's 39 coun-
ties having higher rates and 24
having lower rates. The highest
rate statewide was 9.2 percent in
Ferry County on the Canadian
border in the northeast corner of
the state and the lowest rate was
3.3 percent in San Juan County.
The statewide rate was 4.4 per-
cent in April, the lowest it has been
since comparable record-keeping
began in 1976. That's according to
officials in the Washington State
Employment Security Depart-
ment.
"This is a great time for people
of all ages to find jobs, even our
teens and new college graduates,"
said Employment Security Com-
missioner Karen Lee.
Neighboring counties had the
following unemployment rates:
Grays Harbor, 7.0; Jefferson, 4.6;
and Kitsap and Thurston, 4.2.
Variety is the spice of life,
so come to us for the area's most
diverse assortment of plants and
Mason
Largest
We have over
$1,000.000 in
Premium Quality
Come browse our over 6 acres of
perennials, shrubs & trees
Hanging Baskets
Come see Plagie's new gift
OPEN DALLY
8:30 a.m.-6:00
Page 8 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, May 17, 2007
S&S Produce Stan
I ALWAYS TOP QOALITY PRODUCE I
Farm Fresh Fruit & Produc00
NOW FEA TURIN Sweet, Juicy California
Open 10-6 Daily Except Wednesday
253-405-2832
Located at Oakland Bay Garden Center. 5962 Hwy. 3,