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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
July 2, 2009     Shelton Mason County Journal
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July 2, 2009
 
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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