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Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
May 20, 1999     Shelton Mason County Journal
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move, Mayor says he a won't run again 00_00ver00reen (Continued from page 1 ) months, ce that will be available inside on the decision. They had earlier "In other words, I am not going the civic center, he said. The bond from page 1.) excited to begin working students, staff, parents entire Evergreen commu- build on the solid program under the leadership of River," he said, pledging aSSure that Evergreen pro- an environment that is inviting and safe as well as program that will vergreen students to ex- continue their educa- ligher levels." arner has served as the SMS ncipal for the past 10 to that, he was prin- of a K-12 school at Rosalia, of Spokane, for two years a stint as a counselor- at Mary M. Knight High He has been an educator Steve Warner "The only preconceived notions that I have about Evergreen is that it's a nice school with good kids and staff," he said. "Every- thing I've heard about it is posi- tive, that it's a nice place to be." EARNED A bachelor's de- math at Ball State Uni- Muncie, Indiana and a degree at Purdue Uni- month, he received in education from University. commission roundup: 's variance reversed promised to inform one another whenever one of them had reached a decision about running for reelection or not. Tarrant, who is also up for reelection next fall, said only that he still has a couple of months to announce his plans. "This really is a full-time job," Hilburn said, quoting former Mayor Joyce Jaros against whom he successfully campaigned near- ly four years ago. "It really is," he said Monday. "It's time for grandpa to spend some time with his grandchil- dren," he added. Hilburn has five sons and five grandchildren. He told The Journal that he spends at least two and a half days a week on city business, in- cluding making appearances at events, such as the ribbon-cutting ceremony last week at the SOCK (Save Our County's Kids) Youth Center at the Shelton Armory. HILBURN SAID his fellow employees at his auto dealership, his customers and family have all stated they would like him to be available a little more often. He said he has enjoyed his po- litical career and feels that with the assistance of Thornbrue and Tarrant and city staff members, and with the confidence of the community, Shelton is moving in the right direction. He also promised to continue to fulfill the terms of the oath of his office during the next seven to be a lame duck public official," he said, adding he was announc- ing his decision Monday so that the community has ample time to consider who they'd like to lead Shelton into the next century. Hilburn, in an interview with The Journal, said the Railroad Avenue Improvement Project, which spruced up downtown Shel- ton's main street with new side- walks, street trees, old-fashioned- style street lights and more, is the centerpiece of the current ad- ministration. ANOTHER OF the other major accomplishments during the past three-plus years, he said, was "the bringing together of the property owners to create an LID (Local Improvement District), where they participated financial- ly in the end product, again, as a partnership between the property owners, the community and city government, to end up with a beautiful project on Railroad Avenue." The North 13th Street Im- provement Project, he said, ended with "a gorgeous connection route, again, a partnership be- tween the property owners and the users of that area up there." And there were the Kneeland Park improvements and the Shel- ton Civic Center project as well. People have stopped him on the sidewalks downtown to ask about using the large community issue passed last year on the first try, which is a miracle these days, he said. The building will be a great resource that will be here for years and years to come for the community, he said, adding he's grateful the community saw the wisdom in that project and followed the commission's leader- ship and voted for it. DOWNTOWN Shelton has made a great comeback, Hilburn said. "I was talking to one of the property owners the other day and they were very much pleased with the escalation of the values of their investment, their building and their land down there, as op- posed to three or four years ago," he said by way of example. "They had it appraised and re-appraised - and it came back substantially more. That is a great tribute to the downtown rebirth." He thinks the city commission stopped downtown's economic slide and now things are going back the other way. "When you look at our commu- nity, we've got the new, the glitzy strip mall up on the (Mountain View) hill and we've got the charm and the bakeries and the coffee shops and the professional buildings on Railroad Avenue - what a great blend, what a nice mixture," Hilburn said. BUT HE DOES look back with regret at the failure of a SHELTON MAYOR Scott Hilburn is proud of the Rail- road Avenue Improvement Project among others. bond issue that would have paid for a numher of improvements to crumbling streets throughout the city. "I understand why that didn't pass," he said. "We tried it twice. We came very close. But I am dis- appointed that we couldn't ad- dress that problem. It's a problem that is not unique to Shelton." tte saw on TV Monday that Seattle was "wailing" that it wasn't get- ting enough money to fix its streets and potholes. "We've got another seven months to address it. I plan to go ahead and look at it one more time," he said. "I don't know what my two fellow commissioners are going to do yet with that, but I think we owe it to the public to step back and look at it and see it" we can't find some solution to that concern that the public has." There may be some alternatives to another balh)t issue that the commission needs to study, he added. a public hearing on Peal of a decision by the earings examiner, Shelton aers Monday eve- d to a variance re- County PUD 3 for Lion to an existing build- Street. examiner earlier a request by the PUD for a to zoning requirements ll for a 10-foot setback Le street. The PUD plans of some 2,000 square engineering and opera- located behind the building at Third and ilding, constructed be- of city zoning requirements, is built the sidewalk. The utility lose several existing Spaces and infringe on a Lrk behind it were it to be 10 feet to meet the requirement, architect 0Ster said. s examiner ruled as no hardship on the site lUst be relieved by a var- requirement. But city following a brief e session, voted una- to overturn that ruling a variance. CITY business, 'd from Project Inspector that work at the Shel- ton Civic Center on Cota Street remains on schedule. The comple- tion date is targeted for August 15 or 16, he said. The brickwork is substantially complete and workers have started construction of the front entrance. The eleva- tor is on site, but landscaping around the center is on hold until other work, such as underground- ing electrical wires, is done. Commissioners on Monday ap- proved an easement between Fourth and Sixth streets to allow the city to relocate existing over- head electrical wires under- ground in front of the civic center. • Agreed to pay the Communi- ty Action Council $5,000 to help defray the cost of providing free lunches for youngsters at summer recreation program sites this year. * APPROVED AN agreement to provide emergency dispatching services to the Skokomish Indian Tribe. In exchange, the tribe agreed to pay the city $9,700 for the dispatching services for one year. • Learned the Washington State Chapter of the American Public Works Association on Mon- day named Development Services Manager Gary Rhoades as its 1999 Leader of Public Works. "It's nice to see outside officials recog- nize Gary's leadership and abili- ties," Mayor Scott Hilburn said. to register dergartners in the Shelton School are encouraged to reg- kindergarten students fling the elementary children will attend Those unsure which children will attend the school district of- 1687. )ags containing items to students for kinder- been assembled and children registering at district's three ele- Schools. The bags con- ons, pencils, scissors, paper, books, kinder- pamphlets, at[on and various other learning aids. The bags were put together with the help of the Readiness to Learn program, Shelton Kiwanis Club and school district personnel Ancy Hellickson, Barb Skillman, Joy Farquhar, Joyce River and Leah Clarke. Assisting were Shelton High School Key Club members Bekki Szlocek, Danielle O'Leary, Ina Choi, Jay Baldridge, Naomi De- LaSancha and Susanne Feucht; and CHOICE High School stu- dents Melissa Holmgren, Matt Nablett, Dustin Krueger and Nathan Renecker. Bags were do- nated by the Shelton Safeway, Red Apple and Fred Meyer stores. :'ast Pine lton C.C. Cole & Sons, Inc. D.B.A. Evergreen Fuel Co. Full Line Petroleum Jobber • Tanks • Lubricants • Furnaces & Equipment Serving Mason County 426-441 I since 1935 426-2261 PUD resolution indicates an interest in telecommunications Gary was quick to explain. But there are utilities in the state as- sociation that hope to do both, and the local utility supports leg- islation that would allow the util- ities to do so. The utilities had looked for- ward this year to the passage of House Bill 1750, which would have clarified state law on the subject and authorized public utility districts to provide all tele- communication facilities and ser- vices requested of them. But that bill, McGary said, died in commit- tee this year. "IT'S ALREADY going to be dropped in for next year," he said. "That's what this resolution is for." In the resolution adopted May PUD 3 commissioners Bruce Jorgenson, John Whalen and Linda Gott took action last week to support the possibility of public utilities offering telecommunica- tion services. It's not that the local utility plans to get into the business of offering Internet access or install- ing fiberoptics in the near future, PUD Assistant Manager Pat Mc- Utility's figures affirm it: spring's weather was cold That's backed up by figures pro- vided by Power Supply Manager Wyla Wood, who keeps track of what are called degree days as part of tracking the demand for power. Wood says April's variance from the norm was 120 percent. The formula for determining degree days uses as its mean a 65-degree figure. Below that fig- ure, Wood and Assistant Manager Pat McGary explained, people tend to turn on the heat. On a de- gree day that works out to a mean above 65, they're likely to use air conditioning. To arrive at the degree-day figure, they add the daily high and low temper- atures and divide by two, sub- tracting the total from the 65-de- gree mean. So a day like May 9, which saw a high of 54 and a low of 31, would be calculated as 54 + 31 = 85 + 2 = 42.5. Rounding up to 43, 65 - 43 = 22. The heating degree figure of 22 is added to the month's accumulation. By con- trast, the record-breaking warm day on April 16 would be calculat- ed as 82 + 43 = 125 +2 = 62.5. Rounding down to 62, that day adds a degree-day rating of only 3 to the figures for April. OF THE FIRST 12 days of May, Wood said, every day rated from 12 to 24 degree days and varied from three to 14 degrees from the normal degree-day read- ings for May. It goes without say- ing that all those deviations were on the cool side. For the month to date, that's 187 percent of the normal May degree-day readings. It's been a cold spring. The folks at Mason County PUD 3 not only hold to the major- ity opinion, but offer facts to back it up. Engineering Manager Steve Valley says requests for new hookups in the first four months of the year ran about nine a week, 20 percent lower than normal. They're picking up to the usual level or even a little higher now that the rain has let up a bit, he said, noting that now they're at 11 or 12 a week, but the wet win- ter weather slowed new construc- tion significantly. THAT WOULD mean a low- er-than-budgeted income level for the utility, but the weather has provided some compensation in terms of increased power de- mands for existing customers. FS36 FS75 10.11 Ibs 8.8 Ibs 11.2 Ibs.... s _ l.. B00mz trimmer deslned to  ht trimmer A poweul be easy to staltd t can meet most brushcuttr that comfortablese, h ,owner's demands will tack most /f'd : chore.sround STIHL) With the purchase of an FS36 or an FS75 you me/use. will be able to purchase a Polycut 5-head -- THAN 114.18 VA&Ui 018¢a6 Ibs 0000JPO2S 10.3 ,bs 029SUPER w/18" Bar & Chain w/20" Bar & Chain w/14" Bar & Chain '188"" '188"" was ,3r', IAV0 '20  Designed for firewood cutting and around the home tasks. Side access chain tensioner is standard. IIIII I 'Jl#'" WAS *SS9% lAVE '30  Featuring a lifetime ignition warranty, the Stihl ® Farm Boss delivers an impressive power-t weight ratio for those bigger jobs. III Get a carrying case, extra loop of chain, and a Stihl cap with purchase of chain saw! ONLY 'f 21 ,s UP TO $5Z20 VALUE $30.00 value 0CA TM (Quick Chain Adjuster) Included. Lightweight and powerful, this new saw is a homeowner's dream. IIIII m 'some day' 11, the commissioners urge the state legislature to adopt Senate Bill 6105 "making it clear that PUDs may develop and provide a full range of telecommunication facilities and services for any purpose." In the resolution, the commis- sioners note that high-speed, high-capacity telecommunication is vital to contemporary industry, education and health care in small-town areas which may not have adequate or competitive telecommunication and that when utilities have such technologies to meet their own needs, it seems appropriate for them to be shared for other purposes. "As a nonprofit, community- governed entity," they noted in the document, utilities "may be able to provide telecommunica- tion facilities and services, or ex- panded choices, in areas where others are unable or unwilling to provide such services." PUD 3, McGary said, "has no immediate plans" to get into the fiberoptics or Internet business, but is supportive of utilities in areas with limited technology ser- ving as providers of their techolo- gy. "We are monitoring and as- sessing what's going on," he said. Pend Orielle and Douglas counties are currently sharing telecommunications services, he added, and Pacific County PUD 2 is an Internet provider. "They've had an attorney general's opinion that they may have gone too far," McGary said, "and that's one rea- son for the bill." To date, Mason County has not become involved in using fiberop- tics, McGary said. "We use tele- phone lines to our substations right now," he said. "But we'll be looking at the technology as we face increasing data needs at our substations." It was 60 years ago when Mason County PUD#Ysinaugural .ASO. COUNTY PUO,3 distribution line was fully completed-bringing electricity for the first time to rural parts of our county. Since 1939- many people have worked hard at PUD #3 to provide service beyond expectation. it's been a busy, eventful 60 years. And we thank you for the opportunity to help make things brighter and warmer for you and your family at home, work, and school. In honor of our 60 years of service, you are invited to attend a Public Reception on Friday, June 18, from I I a.m. - 2p.m. at our main PUD #3 office, 307 W. Cota Street, Shelton. m Celebrating 60 .I00ILE,00 years of public STIH00" power service. 1603 OLYMPIC Ht'. N.' 426-087$ w. co00o, 00,o,,oo Thursday, May 20, 1999 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Page 11 move, Mayor says he a won't run again 00_00ver00reen (Continued from page 1 ) months, ce that will be available inside on the decision. They had earlier "In other words, I am not going the civic center, he said. The bond from page 1.) excited to begin working students, staff, parents entire Evergreen commu- build on the solid program under the leadership of River," he said, pledging aSSure that Evergreen pro- an environment that is inviting and safe as well as program that will vergreen students to ex- continue their educa- ligher levels." arner has served as the SMS ncipal for the past 10 to that, he was prin- of a K-12 school at Rosalia, of Spokane, for two years a stint as a counselor- at Mary M. Knight High He has been an educator Steve Warner "The only preconceived notions that I have about Evergreen is that it's a nice school with good kids and staff," he said. "Every- thing I've heard about it is posi- tive, that it's a nice place to be." EARNED A bachelor's de- math at Ball State Uni- Muncie, Indiana and a degree at Purdue Uni- month, he received in education from University. commission roundup: 's variance reversed promised to inform one another whenever one of them had reached a decision about running for reelection or not. Tarrant, who is also up for reelection next fall, said only that he still has a couple of months to announce his plans. "This really is a full-time job," Hilburn said, quoting former Mayor Joyce Jaros against whom he successfully campaigned near- ly four years ago. "It really is," he said Monday. "It's time for grandpa to spend some time with his grandchil- dren," he added. Hilburn has five sons and five grandchildren. He told The Journal that he spends at least two and a half days a week on city business, in- cluding making appearances at events, such as the ribbon-cutting ceremony last week at the SOCK (Save Our County's Kids) Youth Center at the Shelton Armory. HILBURN SAID his fellow employees at his auto dealership, his customers and family have all stated they would like him to be available a little more often. He said he has enjoyed his po- litical career and feels that with the assistance of Thornbrue and Tarrant and city staff members, and with the confidence of the community, Shelton is moving in the right direction. He also promised to continue to fulfill the terms of the oath of his office during the next seven to be a lame duck public official," he said, adding he was announc- ing his decision Monday so that the community has ample time to consider who they'd like to lead Shelton into the next century. Hilburn, in an interview with The Journal, said the Railroad Avenue Improvement Project, which spruced up downtown Shel- ton's main street with new side- walks, street trees, old-fashioned- style street lights and more, is the centerpiece of the current ad- ministration. ANOTHER OF the other major accomplishments during the past three-plus years, he said, was "the bringing together of the property owners to create an LID (Local Improvement District), where they participated financial- ly in the end product, again, as a partnership between the property owners, the community and city government, to end up with a beautiful project on Railroad Avenue." The North 13th Street Im- provement Project, he said, ended with "a gorgeous connection route, again, a partnership be- tween the property owners and the users of that area up there." And there were the Kneeland Park improvements and the Shel- ton Civic Center project as well. People have stopped him on the sidewalks downtown to ask about using the large community issue passed last year on the first try, which is a miracle these days, he said. The building will be a great resource that will be here for years and years to come for the community, he said, adding he's grateful the community saw the wisdom in that project and followed the commission's leader- ship and voted for it. DOWNTOWN Shelton has made a great comeback, Hilburn said. "I was talking to one of the property owners the other day and they were very much pleased with the escalation of the values of their investment, their building and their land down there, as op- posed to three or four years ago," he said by way of example. "They had it appraised and re-appraised - and it came back substantially more. That is a great tribute to the downtown rebirth." He thinks the city commission stopped downtown's economic slide and now things are going back the other way. "When you look at our commu- nity, we've got the new, the glitzy strip mall up on the (Mountain View) hill and we've got the charm and the bakeries and the coffee shops and the professional buildings on Railroad Avenue - what a great blend, what a nice mixture," Hilburn said. BUT HE DOES look back with regret at the failure of a SHELTON MAYOR Scott Hilburn is proud of the Rail- road Avenue Improvement Project among others. bond issue that would have paid for a numher of improvements to crumbling streets throughout the city. "I understand why that didn't pass," he said. "We tried it twice. We came very close. But I am dis- appointed that we couldn't ad- dress that problem. It's a problem that is not unique to Shelton." tte saw on TV Monday that Seattle was "wailing" that it wasn't get- ting enough money to fix its streets and potholes. "We've got another seven months to address it. I plan to go ahead and look at it one more time," he said. "I don't know what my two fellow commissioners are going to do yet with that, but I think we owe it to the public to step back and look at it and see it" we can't find some solution to that concern that the public has." There may be some alternatives to another balh)t issue that the commission needs to study, he added. a public hearing on Peal of a decision by the earings examiner, Shelton aers Monday eve- d to a variance re- County PUD 3 for Lion to an existing build- Street. examiner earlier a request by the PUD for a to zoning requirements ll for a 10-foot setback Le street. The PUD plans of some 2,000 square engineering and opera- located behind the building at Third and ilding, constructed be- of city zoning requirements, is built the sidewalk. The utility lose several existing Spaces and infringe on a Lrk behind it were it to be 10 feet to meet the requirement, architect 0Ster said. s examiner ruled as no hardship on the site lUst be relieved by a var- requirement. But city following a brief e session, voted una- to overturn that ruling a variance. CITY business, 'd from Project Inspector that work at the Shel- ton Civic Center on Cota Street remains on schedule. The comple- tion date is targeted for August 15 or 16, he said. The brickwork is substantially complete and workers have started construction of the front entrance. The eleva- tor is on site, but landscaping around the center is on hold until other work, such as underground- ing electrical wires, is done. Commissioners on Monday ap- proved an easement between Fourth and Sixth streets to allow the city to relocate existing over- head electrical wires under- ground in front of the civic center. • Agreed to pay the Communi- ty Action Council $5,000 to help defray the cost of providing free lunches for youngsters at summer recreation program sites this year. * APPROVED AN agreement to provide emergency dispatching services to the Skokomish Indian Tribe. In exchange, the tribe agreed to pay the city $9,700 for the dispatching services for one year. • Learned the Washington State Chapter of the American Public Works Association on Mon- day named Development Services Manager Gary Rhoades as its 1999 Leader of Public Works. "It's nice to see outside officials recog- nize Gary's leadership and abili- ties," Mayor Scott Hilburn said. to register dergartners in the Shelton School are encouraged to reg- kindergarten students fling the elementary children will attend Those unsure which children will attend the school district of- 1687. )ags containing items to students for kinder- been assembled and children registering at district's three ele- Schools. The bags con- ons, pencils, scissors, paper, books, kinder- pamphlets, at[on and various other learning aids. The bags were put together with the help of the Readiness to Learn program, Shelton Kiwanis Club and school district personnel Ancy Hellickson, Barb Skillman, Joy Farquhar, Joyce River and Leah Clarke. Assisting were Shelton High School Key Club members Bekki Szlocek, Danielle O'Leary, Ina Choi, Jay Baldridge, Naomi De- LaSancha and Susanne Feucht; and CHOICE High School stu- dents Melissa Holmgren, Matt Nablett, Dustin Krueger and Nathan Renecker. Bags were do- nated by the Shelton Safeway, Red Apple and Fred Meyer stores. :'ast Pine lton C.C. Cole & Sons, Inc. D.B.A. Evergreen Fuel Co. Full Line Petroleum Jobber • Tanks • Lubricants • Furnaces & Equipment Serving Mason County 426-441 I since 1935 426-2261 PUD resolution indicates an interest in telecommunications Gary was quick to explain. But there are utilities in the state as- sociation that hope to do both, and the local utility supports leg- islation that would allow the util- ities to do so. The utilities had looked for- ward this year to the passage of House Bill 1750, which would have clarified state law on the subject and authorized public utility districts to provide all tele- communication facilities and ser- vices requested of them. But that bill, McGary said, died in commit- tee this year. "IT'S ALREADY going to be dropped in for next year," he said. "That's what this resolution is for." In the resolution adopted May PUD 3 commissioners Bruce Jorgenson, John Whalen and Linda Gott took action last week to support the possibility of public utilities offering telecommunica- tion services. It's not that the local utility plans to get into the business of offering Internet access or install- ing fiberoptics in the near future, PUD Assistant Manager Pat Mc- Utility's figures affirm it: spring's weather was cold That's backed up by figures pro- vided by Power Supply Manager Wyla Wood, who keeps track of what are called degree days as part of tracking the demand for power. Wood says April's variance from the norm was 120 percent. The formula for determining degree days uses as its mean a 65-degree figure. Below that fig- ure, Wood and Assistant Manager Pat McGary explained, people tend to turn on the heat. On a de- gree day that works out to a mean above 65, they're likely to use air conditioning. To arrive at the degree-day figure, they add the daily high and low temper- atures and divide by two, sub- tracting the total from the 65-de- gree mean. So a day like May 9, which saw a high of 54 and a low of 31, would be calculated as 54 + 31 = 85 + 2 = 42.5. Rounding up to 43, 65 - 43 = 22. The heating degree figure of 22 is added to the month's accumulation. By con- trast, the record-breaking warm day on April 16 would be calculat- ed as 82 + 43 = 125 +2 = 62.5. Rounding down to 62, that day adds a degree-day rating of only 3 to the figures for April. OF THE FIRST 12 days of May, Wood said, every day rated from 12 to 24 degree days and varied from three to 14 degrees from the normal degree-day read- ings for May. It goes without say- ing that all those deviations were on the cool side. For the month to date, that's 187 percent of the normal May degree-day readings. It's been a cold spring. The folks at Mason County PUD 3 not only hold to the major- ity opinion, but offer facts to back it up. Engineering Manager Steve Valley says requests for new hookups in the first four months of the year ran about nine a week, 20 percent lower than normal. They're picking up to the usual level or even a little higher now that the rain has let up a bit, he said, noting that now they're at 11 or 12 a week, but the wet win- ter weather slowed new construc- tion significantly. THAT WOULD mean a low- er-than-budgeted income level for the utility, but the weather has provided some compensation in terms of increased power de- mands for existing customers. FS36 FS75 10.11 Ibs 8.8 Ibs 11.2 Ibs.... s _ l.. B00mz trimmer deslned to  ht trimmer A poweul be easy to staltd t can meet most brushcuttr that comfortablese, h ,owner's demands will tack most /f'd : chore.sround STIHL) With the purchase of an FS36 or an FS75 you me/use. will be able to purchase a Polycut 5-head -- THAN 114.18 VA&Ui 018¢a6 Ibs 0000JPO2S 10.3 ,bs 029SUPER w/18" Bar & Chain w/20" Bar & Chain w/14" Bar & Chain '188"" '188"" was ,3r', IAV0 '20  Designed for firewood cutting and around the home tasks. Side access chain tensioner is standard. IIIII I 'Jl#'" WAS *SS9% lAVE '30  Featuring a lifetime ignition warranty, the Stihl ® Farm Boss delivers an impressive power-t weight ratio for those bigger jobs. III Get a carrying case, extra loop of chain, and a Stihl cap with purchase of chain saw! ONLY 'f 21 ,s UP TO $5Z20 VALUE $30.00 value 0CA TM (Quick Chain Adjuster) Included. Lightweight and powerful, this new saw is a homeowner's dream. IIIII m 'some day' 11, the commissioners urge the state legislature to adopt Senate Bill 6105 "making it clear that PUDs may develop and provide a full range of telecommunication facilities and services for any purpose." In the resolution, the commis- sioners note that high-speed, high-capacity telecommunication is vital to contemporary industry, education and health care in small-town areas which may not have adequate or competitive telecommunication and that when utilities have such technologies to meet their own needs, it seems appropriate for them to be shared for other purposes. "As a nonprofit, community- governed entity," they noted in the document, utilities "may be able to provide telecommunica- tion facilities and services, or ex- panded choices, in areas where others are unable or unwilling to provide such services." PUD 3, McGary said, "has no immediate plans" to get into the fiberoptics or Internet business, but is supportive of utilities in areas with limited technology ser- ving as providers of their techolo- gy. "We are monitoring and as- sessing what's going on," he said. Pend Orielle and Douglas counties are currently sharing telecommunications services, he added, and Pacific County PUD 2 is an Internet provider. "They've had an attorney general's opinion that they may have gone too far," McGary said, "and that's one rea- son for the bill." To date, Mason County has not become involved in using fiberop- tics, McGary said. "We use tele- phone lines to our substations right now," he said. "But we'll be looking at the technology as we face increasing data needs at our substations." It was 60 years ago when Mason County PUD#Ysinaugural .ASO. COUNTY PUO,3 distribution line was fully completed-bringing electricity for the first time to rural parts of our county. Since 1939- many people have worked hard at PUD #3 to provide service beyond expectation. it's been a busy, eventful 60 years. And we thank you for the opportunity to help make things brighter and warmer for you and your family at home, work, and school. In honor of our 60 years of service, you are invited to attend a Public Reception on Friday, June 18, from I I a.m. - 2p.m. at our main PUD #3 office, 307 W. Cota Street, Shelton. m Celebrating 60 .I00ILE,00 years of public STIH00" power service. 1603 OLYMPIC Ht'. N.' 426-087$ w. co00o, 00,o,,oo Thursday, May 20, 1999 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Page 11