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Thursday, June 30, 2011
Year 125 -- Week 26 -- 9 Sections --- 72 Pages --- Published in Shelton, Wasbln on -- $1
By KEVAN MOORE
A Belfair woman accused of
stealing nearly $200,000 from the
Alderbrook Resort and Spa made a
brief appearance in Mason County
Superior Court this week.
Belfair resident Candace Lynn
Ralston, 40, of the 800 block of
Trails End Drive was arrested
earlier this month and ordered
held in the Mason County Jail
on $250,000 bail after prosecu-
tors successfully argued that she
posed a flight risk.
Ralston subsequently surren-
dered her passport and her attor-
ney, Clifford Cordes, successfully
argued Tuesday to have her bail
reduced to $125,000.
Ralston faces charges of three
counts of first-degree theft and one
count of forgery.
Prosecutors have also filed pa-
porwork seeking an exceptional
sentence on all counts, arguing
that the crimes constitute major
economic offenses.
Ralston, who worked at the re-
sort as an accounting assistant
and accounting manager, alleged-
ly stole $190,000 between Novem-
ber 2009 and April 2011.
"Most of these thefts were from.
the cash deposit system at Alder-
brook Resort and Spa and were
covered by Ralston with her cre-
ation of a 'gift cards payable' ac-
counting line that digitally bal-
anced the books,~ wrote Mason
County Sheriffs Office Detective
Luther Pittman in a probable
cause statement.
"Ralston's electronic footprint
is on each of these thefts through
her login," Detective Pittman
added. "Each manipulation of
the gift cards payable accounting
line has her electronic signature
on it. No one else has access to
Ralston's account or login pass-
word."
Ralston is also accused of trans-
ferring four Chocks into her per-
sonal account and forging the
signature of the resort's human
da "
resources manager on a $9,996
check to pay for a time share in
Mexico.
Ralston was originally arrested
at the resort on April 21, hut no
charges were filed at the time. This ~
month's theft and forgery charges
stem from an Alderbrook audit
conducted by Collin Wallace and
Conor Law of Moss Adams LLP
that provided spreadsheets and
other financial information to in-
vestigators documenting Ralston's
alleged crimes.
By NATALIE JOHNSON
Last month city of Shel-
ton staff announced that
faulty equipment installed
at the city's Satellite Wa-
ter Reclamation plant had
caused an estimated $1 mil-
lion in damages.
Initially the city expected
to be able to pay for at least
the first $250,000 of repairs
through money retained
from the contractor for such
a purpose, and then charge
the contractor, Pease and
Sons Constructibn for the
rest. This week, city staff
announced that this retain-
OtrdFilctof Or1
~mt,
age money was actually not ~
available to them.
On Monday, the city com-
mission approved drawing
$269,000 out of existing
sewer utilityreserves to pay
for the screens.
put the contractor
on notice - we believe they
are liable,~ city Community
and Economic Development
Director Steve Goins said.
"While that process drags
on, we have other repairs
that need attention to keep
our plant operable and per-
forming within our permits."
The Satellite Water Rec-
lamation Plant processes
wastewater into Class A re-
claimed water. Its only cus-
tomer so far is the Depart-
ment of Corrections.
In April 2010, the city
started noticing prob-
lems with the rotary drum
screens at the plant's head-
works, which filter out large
particulate matter. The
screens failed, and that
particulate matter, includ-
ing hard plastic particles,
was released into the rest of
plant, damaging fine mem-
brane plates throughout the
plant.
The city commission had
already approved using the
$250,000 retainage funds to
purchase replacement mem-
brane plates from manufac-
turer Ovivo.
"Those funds aren't avail-
able to us, they're still in
that fund, but we can't uti-
lize them for this purpose,~
Goins said.
Goins explained that in
order to withdraw the re-
tainage funds from the ac-
count, both parties, mean-
ing the city and the contrac-
tor, must agree to the with-
drawal. At this point, Pease
and Sons has not agreed to
withdraw the funds. While
the city enters into media-
tion with its contractor, the
membrane plates still need
to be replaced to keep the
plant up and running, he
said.
To pay for the shipment
of plates, which need to be
ordered as soon as possible
to ensure that Ovivo has
enough stock on hand to fill
the. order, Goins asked the
commission to approve a
budget modification to take
$269;000 out of the city's
sewer utility reserves.
That money should cover
1,500 membrane plates and
work done by Ovivo.
Goins said that he sewer
reserves contain approxi-
mately $I million dollars
designated for sewer main-
tenanco.
While the reclamation
plant will need another
$750,000 of work and new
membrane plates accord-
ing to the original estimate,
Goins said that this expen-
diture should keep the plant
up and running until the
city can complete the me-
diation process with its con-
tractor.
=We certainly need to
make these repairs if we
can do so, and it is our belief
that we will continue to op-
erate within our permit for
an extended period of time,
he said. "This would allow
us some time to not jeopar-
dize plant operations.~
Goins said he expects the
city to recover the $269,000
exponditure.
Journal photo by Natalie Johnson
Sharon Johnston walked at Shelton's Relay for Life for her sister, Marlene, who died from
breast cancer 10 years ago.
Survivors show their sup
rt
By NATALIE JOHNSON
Ten years ago Sharon
Johnston lost her sister
Marlene to breast cancer.
One year later, she said
her own diagnosis was
quite a blow.
Now, Johnston is a nine-
year cancer survivor, and
walks in every Shelton Re-
lay for Life for her sister.
"I think I started be-
cause of her. It inspired me
to get people to get their
colonoscopies and mammo-
grams," she said.
Johnston and her fei- Relay for Life is a yearlong
low cancer survivors and
preventative care activists
came out in droves for this
years' Relay for Life. As of
Sunday afternoon, relay-
ers had raised more than
$75,000 for the American
Cancer Society (ACS).
Forty-eight teams regis-
tered for this year's relay,
said Shelton relay member
Vickie Gonzales.
"An average team is
10-15 people. Some teams
have 30 people," she said.
Gonzales said that since
event, they would continue
to fundraise until August.
"At this point we're
at $75,000 - our goal is
$114,000," Relay co-chair
Dave Hauge said.
• Relay for Life is primar-
ily a fundraiser for the ACS
and a way to create aware-
ness about cancer, but sur-
vivors like Johnston and
Relay chair Toni Hauge,
say that to them the event
is also about camaraderie
- about celebrating success
with other survivors, and
remembering loved ones
long lost to cancer.
"To me relay is about
showing everybody that
we can work together for
something," Toni Hauge
said. It's about camara-
derie and suPporting each
other through everything
we experience. Our com-
munity is so good and so
supportive.~
Toni Hauge, her hus-
band said, may just have
been the longest cancer
See Survive on page A-7
County delays vote on
mental health tax
"Journal photo by Natalie Johnson
Vieki Kirkpatriek, director of the Mason "
County Public Health Department, asks
the county commission to continue a
• public hearing on Tuesday
By NATALIE JOHNSON
The Mason County Board
of Commissioners agreed
Tuesday to continue a pub-
lic hearing on a proposed
one-tenth of one percent
sales tax increase .until Sep-
tember.
The sales tax increase
would fund mental health
and substance abuse servic-
es in the county.
"I'm asking the county
commissioners to once again
continue the public hearing
to September 20, 2011 to
allow for that community
process to take place and to
allow adequate time for our
citizens and county to have
input," Mason County Di-
rector of Public Health Vicki
Kirkpatrick said.
Since March, when the
commission voted to create
the Mason County Men-
+tal Health and Substance
See Tax on page A-7