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Thursday, Aug. 9, 2012
32 -- The Voice of Mason County since 1886 -- Published for Mason County and Norman Hammer of Union -- $1
Journa onoto ov ~atal e Johnson
Mark Core, right, reacts Tuesday night at the Mason County Board of Commissioners
Chambers after learning he took third place in the primary for Mason County Commissioner
District 2 while his wife, Tracie, looks on. Tim Sheldon and Roslynne Reed, who received 30
percent and 28 percent of the vote, respecively, advanced to the general election in that race.
Top 2 candidates move on in primaG election
By NATALIE JOHNSON
natalie@masoncounty.com
Mason County voters had the
chance to cast their votes in the
Washington primary on Tuesday,
but Auditor Karen Herr said voter
turnout was "dismal," at 31.45 per-
cent. ,.,
"We anticipated 60 percent ... I'm
hoping to get 40 (percent) now," she
said. "It's discouraging. The turnout
is extremely low."
Thirteen candidates vied for the
six available spots in the primary
election for the Mason County Board
of Commissioners.
In commission district 1, voters
preferred Denny Hamilton (D), who
received 35 percent of the vote. Ran-
dy Neatherlin, who states no party
preference, came in second with
about 31 percent.
Travis Couture (R) took third
place with 27 percent of the vote.
and Doug Ellingson (I) came in last
with 6 percent.
In commission district 2, incum-
bent Tim Sheldon (D) led the pack
with about 30 percent. Roslynne
Reed (D), came in second with 28
percen~ of the vote.
Mark Core (R) placed third
with 18 percent of the vote, Randy
Churchill (R) got 17 percent and
Frank Benavente (I) got about 6
percent.
In commission district 3. former
county comnaissioner Ross Gallagh-
er (D) came in first with 38 percent.
Terri Jeffreys (I) came in second
with 24 percent.
Darrel Andrews got about 19 per-
cent of the vote and Curtis Bennett
took about 18 percent. Both stated
no party preference.
In the two-way race for State Rep-
resentative position 1 in the 35th
Legislative District, Kathy Haigh
(D) surpassed Dan Griffey (R) with
almost 54 percent of the vote in the
district. Because this is a top-two
prxmary, both candidates will ad-
vance to the general election.
For position 2 in the 35th Legis-
lative District. Drew MacEwen (R)
came out on top with 41 percent of
the vote in the district. Lynda Ring
Erickson (D) came in second with
about 29 percent. Jeff Davis was
third with about 24 percent and
Glenn Gaither took fourth with 6
percent.
Derek Kilmer (D) won the pri-
mary election for the 6th Congres-
sional District with 54.21 percent
of the vote. He will r~un against Bill
Driscoll (R), who took second place
with 18 percent, in the general elec-
tion.
In the new 10th Congressional
District, Denny Heck (D) came out
on top with 41 percent of the vote.
He will run against Dick Muri (R),
who got about 26 percent of the dis-
trict-wide vote. in November.
Last Friday, 29 percent of Mason
County voters had turned in their
ballots.
By the time the Mason County
Auditor's Office released prelimi-
nary results Tuesday, that number
increased to 31.45 percent, meaning
of the 33,925 ballots mailed out by
the auditor's office. 10,671 were re-
turned.
Herr estimated that by Friday,
when she will release updated elec-
tion numbers, the turnout could
reach 40 percent.
The general election will take
place on Nov. 6.
erl
STAFF REPORT
p~'(~'tTga,c;(~?~co?z'l~y.coI'g
The Mason County
Sheriffs Office is look-
ing for Robert E. Michal,
47, in connection
with a January
home mvasion
and robbery in
Lilliwaup.
Michal is
wanted on charg-
es of first-degree
robbery, first-
degree burglary
and unlawful im-
prisonment.
According to
the sheriffs of-
rice. on Jan. 12, Michal
broke into a home and
robbed an elderly couple
in Lilliwaup.
Michal was among a
group of three masked
robbers, a woman and
two men, who forced
Robert E.
Michal
their way into the home
in the night, spending
more than an hour in the
house "assaulting and
terrorizing the couple,"
authorities stated in a re-
lease.
The three rob-
bers took guns,
safes, drugs and
a Kia Sedona Van
belonging to the
couple. Two of
the suspects have
been arrested
and the vehicle
has been recov-
ered. Michal is
still at large.
Mason County
Superior Court
set Michal's bail at
$25O,OOO.
He has used the names
Robert E. McDonald, Mi-
chael Roberts, and Lane
See Suspect on page A-6
Port surpluses timber
Bids place value at more than $670K
By NATALIE JOHNSON
natalie@masoncounty.com
The Port of Shelton
Commission voted Tues-
day to surplus 100 acres
of timber at its property
on Johns Prairie.
The resolution only
covers the trees, not the
land. Earlier this month,
the port approved a pro-
cess to solicit bids from
timber companies, to de-
termine its true market
value.
"The value of timber
... is only as much as
someone wants to pay for
it," Port Executive Direc-
tor John Dobson said.
Last Tuesday, Dobson
revealed the amounts
See Tim per on page A-6
Na
By NATALIE JOHNSON
nata~ie@masoncounty.com
Bob Dick and his family.
have lived on Lake Nahwat-
zel, near Matlock, for more
than 70 years and for gen-
erations have enjoyed the
pristine lake.
Today, Dick and about
100 other residents are con-
cerned about its future.
On June 1. the Green
Diamond Resource Compa-
ny sent the Mason County
Community and Economic
Development Department a
request to redesignate 248.7
acres of lakefront property
zoned Long Term Commer-
cial Forest (LTCF) to Rural
Residential 5 (RR5) in order
to make way for up to 49
new residential lots on the
lake.
"I've really got mixed feel-
ings about the whole thing,"
...... 81111U!!I!!I!!I!I!I!IIII
Journa DnO~O D3 Natahe Johnsor
Long-time Lake Nahwatzel resident Bob Dick
helped form the Friends of Lake Nahwatzel
group to fight a propsed redesignation of 248
acres of Green Diamond property on the lake
from long-term commercial forest to rural
residential. Many lake residents fear the
change would cause extensive residential
development that could harm the lake.
Dick said.
While the request to re-
designate the land mentions
its potential value as a resi-
dential area, Eric Schallon.
manager of land manage-
ment and business devel-
opment at Green Diamond,
said the company has no
immediate plans to sell the
land to a developer.
"What we're proposing is
no~ a subdivision," he said.
"The real estate market is
really depressed. Nobody is
denying at Green Diamond
that this is the first step ...
it's more to keep our options
open."
When Green Diamond re-
quested the land redesigna-
tion, Mason County notified
residents within 300 feet of
the property line.
Dick has seen much of the
lake's residential develop-
ment firsthand. In the mid-
1940s, his father bought
prope~y on Lake Nahwat-
zel and built a summer cab-
in. Growing up, Dick spent
many summers there.
In 1970, his parents built
a house on the property. His
parents left his sister the
house and him the cabin
and several acres of land.
From his home, built on the
original site of his parents'
first cabin on the lake. Dick
is only feet away from the
property line dividing resi-
dential lots from the 248.7
dents of the lake that he
knows of.
"I always, always, always
wanted to live here when I
retired," Dick said. "I will
be here until they cart me
away."
Green Diamond has pro-
posed that in exchange for
the rezone, 248.7 acres it
owns on Kennedy Creek
could be redesignated to
long-term forest.
The application "asserts
that the land on Kennedy
Creek is more suited for
use as forestland for sev-
eral reasons, including a
higher Douglas Fir site in-
dex. a measure of the area's
productivity in growing the
tree. and less submerged
land. At the Lake Nahwat-
ze] property, 7.7 acres of
Green Diamond's land is
submerged, as opposed to
1/5 of an acre at Kennedy
Creek.
Schallon said the land,at
acres Green Diamond has'Lake Nahwatzel, which is
applied to rezone, located along the north and
Dick said there are only northwest shores of the lake
about 15 year-round resi- and continues southeast be-
hind developed portions of
the northeast shore, is more
suited to a residential devel-
opment than the Kennedy
Creek land.
The land near Kennedy
Creek has steep hillsides
that would hinder develop-
ment, but its terrain and
soil conditions are ~vell suit-
ed to a long-term forest sta-
tus, Schallon said.
In Green Diamond's opin-
ion, the current land use
designations don't reflect ac-
tual characteristics of either
property, he said.
All of the lots on the shore
that are not owned by Green
Diamond are already zoned
for rural residential devel-
opment.
Until now, Dick and his
neighbors have had no com-
plaints about living nex~
"door to Green Diamond
property.
"Green Diamond histori-
cally have always been real-
ly good neighbors," he said.
A couple months ago, one
See Nahwatzel on page A-5