July 2, 2009 Shelton Mason County Journal | ![]() |
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Thursday, July 2, 2009
: MisSing girl
ues in, the disappear-
_ ance Of a 10=year=old
The ninth annual
Mason County Histori-
Cal Car Show turned
downtown Shelton
- into a time capsule
Sunday as hundreds of
vintage automobiles,
muscle cars and Others
were on display: B-1
-Race fan
..... i At 5.b:m. last Satur-
: daVt Sun started tO
tnfineon
Budget 2 o 10 begins
By GREG SKINNER
With this year's budget
shortfall still largely unre-
solved, the county began a
five-month process to pre-
pare the 2010 budget.
Leaders agreed Monday
to a few key changes to the
process, such as providing
departments exact expecta-
tions for preparation, mov-
ing up the deadline, more
public involvement and a
published, detailed budget
for the public.
Next week the Board of
Mason County Commis-
sioners is due to reveal its
operations budget goals and
expectations to the audi-
tor's office and other depart-
ments.
"Tell them up front,"
said Mason County Audi-
tor Karen Herr. "It usually
comes out after the fact and
in piecemeal."
Direction could include a
request to prepare budgets
based on 2009 figures mi-
nus a percent yet to be de-
termined overall reduction.
The challenges ahead
include the reality that the
county will start 2010 more
than $2 million in the hole
as a result of a loan early in
2009 when the county bank
balance approached disas-
trous lows that questioned
the ability to make payroll.
See Leaderss on page A-7
Journal photo by Greg Skinner
Chief accountant Theresia Ehrich ex-
plains the budget preparation issues the
auditor's office faces to the Board of Ma-
son County Commissioners during Mon-
day's budget briefing.
.-"Raceway was buzzing:
with anestimated 800
workers: After driv-
THE CHASE IS ON
tO
Series race,
.... Warrants
;' Warrants, were is-
appear:for
Shawn
Ann
John R. Miller, $10;000.
Journal photo by Greg Skinner
A sea lion chases a baitball of sea run cutthroat trout fingerlings in Pickering Passage
as sea gulls pounce on the same. Wildlife and otIi great natural Scenes can be found
throughout Mason County.
'7
always thought sparklers were safe for kMs.
I didn't think if it touched your skin it would burn you."
Class,f,eds D3 Family warns of holiday's risks
Community Calendar B-2
Crossword D-8
Entertainment/Dining A-8
C-8
Journal of Record C-6
Obituaries A-2
Opinions, Letters A-4
Sports C-1
Tides C-5
Weather A-6
Special Sections:
Local Women
Inserts: Del's Farm Supply
Tyler Dunnington
has the right tools.
See page C-1.
II!!Lllf!lr!!l!!!!!l!lllll00
By JEFF GREEN
A Shelton-area family is sounding
an alarm about the dangers of even
supposedly safe and sane fireworks.
Little Colton Cullens was just 2
years old when it happened. It was
on the night of the Fourth of July
last year and Colton was playing
outside with other children in his
family.
"My husband was lighting
sparklers for the kids," said Colton's
mom, Bobbi Fisk. It was around 10
or 10:30 p.m. and the family was just
getting started lighting fireworks.
Her niece bumped Colton's elbow
and he threw the sparkler over
his shoulder as he bent down and
it went inside his jacket, she said.
The red-hot sparkler burned Colton
behind his right ear and on his
shoulder.
The boy's father, Travis Fisk, was
right next to Colton at the time, but
had turned to grab more sparklers.
Bobbi Fisk was just a few feet away
The Fisks rushed Colton to the
emergency room at Mason General
Hospital. "I couldn't even look at it,
I was so afraid," Bobbi said of her
son's burns.
Colton was treated at the Shelton
hospital, then transferred by
ambulance to Harborview Medical
Center in Seattle, arriving there
around 3 a.m. on July 5.
The youngster spent three days
at Harborview and Bobbi learned
how to clean and treat his wounds.
Held by his father and mother, Travis and Bobbi Fisk, Colton
Cullens doesn't enjoy fireworks after what happened last year.
For the next 10 days she took care
of that chore, but Colton had to be
sedated because of the pain.
Thirteen days after the Fourth of
July incident, Colton underwent a
skin-graft procedure at Harborview.
He spent the night at the Seattle
hospital to make sure he had no fe-
ver after the operation, then came
home. But he developed a high fever
that night and the Fisks took him
to MGH, where he was treated and
released.
"He wasn't scared of what
happened to him," Bobbi said. "He
was scared of what happened to
everybody else (at Harborview).
It was horrible. People were
screaming. One man thought his
firework hadn't lit and a mortar
blew off half of his face." There
were buckets of blood being cleaned
off the emergency-room floor, she
remembers. A teenaged boy went
into shock after being burned by
See Sparklers on page A-7
Sheldon
says call
never
occurred
Ring Erickson's phone
records not available
By GREG SKINNER
County Commissioner Tim
Sheldon said a phone call link-
ing him to alleged comments that
could be seen as discriminatory
never happened.
Last week Lynda Ring Er-
ickson said Sheldon called her
county-issued cell phone Wednes-
day, June 10, to express a desire
to have a younger person in the
place of a long-time employee.
This week Sheldon provided
copies of two pages detailing re-
cords for the two phone numbers
he uses to conduct state and coun-
ty business - Sheldon is also a
state senator for the 35 th Legisla-
tive District, which includes Ma-
son County and parts of Kitsap
and Thurston counties.
Sheldon's records cover the
day in question and one day on
either side. Call details for June
10 show only one call with Ring
Erickson's number assigned to
it. The call lasted one minute or
less and came during a 15-minute
break between roundtable discus-
sions and a directors meeting at a
Washington State Association of
Counties meeting in Kennewick.
Sheldon said Ring Erickson
said she had dialed the wrong
"fi'fiEefid liutig fi:
No other calls listing Ring Er-
ickson's number are shown in the
detail portion of the bill.
Ring Erickson's comments to
the media came as questions were
asked about the sudden termina-
tion by official motion of Budget
Director Ione Siegler during last
Tuesday's weekly commission
meeting in which her job was
eliminated in a 3-0 vote. At the
same time allegations surfaced
that Sheldon had engaged in age
discrimination during a discus-
sion with Siegler.
Ring Erickson said Sheldon
called to discuss the personnel is-
sue and said he was "interested in
somebody younger that had more
energy and new ideas."
Because the allegations involve
the county's top boss, an outside
agency is investigating.
A public-records request for
Ring Erickson's cell phone re-
cords, including the date in ques-
tion, netted only a bill summary
with no call details. Ring Erick-
son said she doesn't see the bill
and doesn't know why the call de-
tails were not included.
The county has offered no of-
ficial or legal reason why the re-
quested records are incomplete
and unavailable within the five-
day limit of the law.
Paige in the auditor's office
provided sample copies of Ring
Erickson and Commissioner Ross
Gallagher's cell phone records.
Gallagher's records include the
call details.
Another sample month of Ring
Erickson's bill shows that two
pages, the ones with call details,
were removed at some point be-
fore arriving for audit.
The auditor's office has for
months been requesting the detail
portion of Ring Erickson's phone
bill. The bill first goes through the
commissioner's office before arriv-
ing at the auditor's, Paige said.
Last week Ring Erickson said
she would testify in court to the
trutl of her comments to the me-
dia.
Sheldon said Ring Erickson's
lack of records says it all. He
said his phone number will not
be found on records for June 10 -
when they surface.
Ring Erickson Wednesday said
that Sheldon did call and that
when her cell phone records sur-
face the call will be on them.
See None on page A-7