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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
September 3, 2020     Shelton Mason County Journal
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September 3, 2020
 
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Construction crews recently dug up a portion of the Shelton High School parking lot in front of the Mini-Dome to repair ongoing problems with flooding during heavy rains. Journal photo by Gordon Weeks Phone and Internet Discounts Available to CenturyLink Customers The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission designated CenturyLink as an Eligible Telecommunications Carrier within its service area for universal service purposes. CenturyLink’s basic local service rates for residential voice lines are $25.50 per month and business services are $37.00 per month. Specific rates will be provided upon request. CenturyLink participates in a government benefit program (Lifeline) to make residential telephone or broadband service more affordable to eligible low-income individuals and families. Eligible customers are those that meet eligibility standards as defined by the FCC and state commissions. Residents who live on federally recognized Tribal Lands may qualify for additional Tribal benefits if they participate in certain additionalvfederal eligibility programs. The Lifeline discount is available for only one telephone or broadband service per household, which can be on either wireline or wireless service.'Broadband speeds must be 20 Mbps download and Mbps upload or faster to qualify. A household is defined for the purposes of the Lifeline program as any individual or group of individuals-who live together at the same address and share income and expenses. Lifeline service is not transferable, and only eligible consumers may enroll in the program. Consumers who willfully make false statements in order to obtain Lifeline telephone or broadband service can be punished by fine or imprisonment, and can be barred from the program. If‘you live in a Ce'nturyLink service area, please call »1-800—244—,_11»lljor visit centurylink,.‘vg, . com/lifeline with questions or to grandest, an ‘ application for the Lifelinefprogram'. ‘ . >4»: Centuryliinki MCRA closed through New Year Kirk Boxleitner kbox/eitner@masoncounty. com The Mason County Recreation Area (MCRA) Park at 2100 E. Johns Prairie Road in Shelton will be out of commission until the start of the new year to replace its in-ground irrigation system. The temporary closure began Aug. 25 and is set to run until Jan. 1, to prevent any risk of haz- ards due to the open“trenches, large equipment and electrical work on the park’s seven ball dia- mond outfields, which will also need to be reseeded before play can resume. No events have been scheduled at the park for those roughly four- plus months of construction. Ross McDowell, manager of Mason 001111th Parks Depart- ment, Division of Emergency Management and Information Services, spoke to the Shelton- Mason County Journal about the MCRA Park project, noting the original irrigation system was installed during the early 19705, and pointing out this isn’t the park’s first shutdown of the year. “In 2020, we’ve been plagued with COVID-19,” McDowell said. “We had the park open for Phase for about two weeks, until we couldn’t control the number of attendees showing up to use the fields. Once we went to Phase 3, we opened the fields for teams that provided the ‘Return to Play’ plans that were required by the governor’s guidance.” ‘ During that time, teams were allowed to have up to 50 people on each field,:as longas they had an approved-plan and allthe per- V 'sonal protective equipment and , services'requiredby‘the guidance. , “We asked anyone using the field' to make reservations, free of charge, to make sure we know who was using them in case of an outbreak of COVID-19 among the stay .j as staff at snip titres mainten s is ssstésts‘s“ ties and parks “ .. . anse TE Ross McDowell Manager of Mason County’s Parks Department players and coaches,” McDowell said. That lasted roughly a month, until the governor’s guidance was revised to restrict gatherings to 10 people or fewer in ‘Phase 3 counties such as Mason County. “The normal baseball and soft- ball seasons start in March and end by Aug. 1,” McDowell said, “which is why we scheduled the new irrigation system starting in mid-August for preliminary work, and at the end of August for the actual groundbreaking portion of the project.” From August through the end ' of the year, MCRA Park occasion— ally has a tournament or two, ac- cording to McDowell. “Most of the time, it’s fam- ily members coming out to play on the fields and enjoy the park features,” McDowell said. “The spring and summer baseball and softball seasons see the park booked Mondays through Fridays, after school hours until dark, with practices and games. The week- ends are usually booked up for special league games and tourna- ments during'that same period.” ' V 'Althoughregular maintenance is, performed- year-round at MCRA and the County’s other parks, McDowell clarified this particu-~ lar project is large enough that the county has called in contract workers to perform the installa- tion. “Our staff of only three main- tenance personnel provide ser- vices to all 23 sites and parks in the county,” McDowell said. “They' stay extremely busy with landscaping activities, the repair and building of structures in the parks, trail grooming, general maintenance, emergency tree- cutting and downed tree remov- als, and emergency repairs from vandalism.” Parks staff also perform all the maintenance on their land- scaping equipment — including mowers, groomers, tractors and gators —— as well as on several of the county-owned boat launches and docks. . ‘ “Every Monday except holi- days, the parks staff provide garbage pickup from all parks in the county,” McDowell said, “and during our peak season of April through August, we usually have paid summer help to provide more staffing for weekends, and for ex- tra garbage services on Mondays.” Looking past the MCRA proj- ect, McDowell said he hopes to tap more state Recreation and ‘Con- servation Office and Real Estate Excise Tax 2 funding to develop more of North _. Mason County in 2021. I ' ‘ ' ‘ ’ For more information, call the Mason County Parks & Trails Of- fice at 360-427-9670, ext. 535.