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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
September 24, 2020     Shelton Mason County Journal
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September 24, 2020
 
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Page A-4 - Shelton-Mason County Journal — Thursday, Sept. 24, 2020 TIMES Late summer has new color Welcome to the jungle abor Day was the day Lwhen a barrage of rare easterly winds swept through the North— west, abetting the start of and farming wildfires across Washington and Or- egon. Until blue skies re- turned Sept. 19, our world was cast orange, and not you see in Sunkist ads. It was that flat, bland, seedy orange that is our presi- dent’s complexion. The sky at sun- set was orange. The needles and seeds cast off by cedar and pine trees appeared orange, as did our skin, bronzed or unbronzed. In the Northwest, we have spring green, summer blue, winter gray and now we might have to add late—summer orange. If four of the past five summers are any indication, seasonal orange is here to stay, and Shelton will likely be more orangish than other Western Washington locales. Shelton registered someof the worst air quality in Western Wash— ington outside of the Portland-Van- couver area during our wildfire sea- son, according to the state Depart- ment of Ecology’s air quality index. The air monitoring station atop the Public Safety Building at 122 W. Franklin St. recorded several days in the hazardous range, the worst range of the six-colored scale. We spent several days in deep purple. We had smoke on the water. Shelton’s monitoring station, like the nearly 35 other stations scattered about Western Wash- ington, provides measurements of particulate matter, a key culprit to hazy skies. Particulate matter is a mixture of solids ordroplets that includes smoke, soot, dirt and dust, and it comes from sources such as fireplaces, vehicles, industrial fa- cilities and wildfires. The highest particulate pollu- tion level recorded in Shelton was 388 on Sept. 14. That was bad, but not as bad as Madras, Oregon, 120 miles southeast of Portland. Ma- dras hit 593 on Wednesday, Sept. 9. That was 93 points beyond the farthest edge of the air quality in- dex, or as the website airnow.gov pointed out, Madras’ air quality was “beyond the AQI.” Our area remained in un- healthy, very unhealthy or hazard- ous conditions from Friday, Sept. u WNWMMMWMQ iiimmmi USPS 492-800 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Shelton-Mason County Journal, P.O. Box 430. Shelton, WA 98584. Published weekly by the Shelton-Mason County Journal at 227 W. Cota St, Shelton, Washington. Mailing address: PO. Box 430, Shelton, WA'98584 Telephone: 360-426-4412 Website: www.masoncountycom Periodicals postage paid in Shelton, Washington- By KIRK that happy, vibrant orange ERICSON 11, when we hit the haz- ardous zone at 2 a.m., until Sept. 19, when returned to the best zone, the green zone, at 3 am. Shelton’s air quality has captured the attention of people in the air quality business. “We were just talking about that (Shelton’s air quality) as recently as this morning,” Dan Nelson said last Friday. He’s the public information officer for the Olympic Region Clean Air Agency, which monitors air quality in six counties, including Mason and Thurston counties. The working theory is that be- cause Shelton is in a basin and because wildfire smoke settles, our area is a victim of geography. “Trying to forecast how smoke moves is tough because of all the mountains and valleys,” Dan said. “You get these air and land dams that catch the air, and that what’s happening in Shelton.” What happened this year was that the strong easterly winds that started Sept. 7 — Labor Day — and for a day or two after that, pushed smoke from the Oregon wildfires far into the Pacific Ocean. So when winds resumed their more usual pattern of blowing in from the west, it took a long time to push all that old Oregon wildfire smoke back toward shore — and across Washington. In fact, smoke started showing up on the East Coast last week. Can Shelton expect days like these every year? “I wouldn’t go as far as to say that,” Dan said. “It all depends on wind directions and wind speed. (These widespread wildfires) are such a new phenomenon in the 17 years I’ve been here it’s the only time we’ve had these smoke intru- sions. It’s most likely we’re going to see more, but we just don’t have the data yet.” And where would you recom- mend going if you’re looking for a place to become a smoke refugee, but still remain in Washington? “Neah Bay,” Dan said. “Not be- cause it’s the farthest west, but be- cause it’s sticking out in the ocean more.” I Contact Kirk Ericson at kirk@ masoncounty.com The Shelton-Mason County Jour- nal is a member of the Wash- ington Newspaper Publishers Association. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $62 per year ($43 for six months) for Mason County addresses and $75 per year ($55 for six months) outside of Mason County. Owned and published by Shelton-Mason County Journal, Inc. EDITOR’S ello again Mason County. Back in December 2018, I moved to Shelton and joined the staff here at the Shelton-Mason County Jour- nal as the newspaper’s sports reporter. About a year later, that turned into being the paper’s Sports & Outdoors Editor. Two months ago, the Journal’s editor in chief, Adam Rudnick accepted a position with the state and left the newspaper after nine years. After some thought, I asked Publish- er Tom Mullen and General Manager John Lester for a chance to take the reins. Friday, after handling the duties on an interim basis for about seven weeks, I was oflicially named the Joumal’s editor. It’s been just shy of 23 years since I wrote my first newspaper story. It was covering a high school girls basketball game at a frigid middle school gym in a rural farming town in northern Utah. Publisher: Torn Mullen Front office: By JUSTIN JOHNSON I don’t remember the score, but I did get my first “no com- ment” that night after asking a question of the losing team’s coach. The 20 months since ar- riving here in Mason County have seen their share of highs and lows. I’ve met and written about some great people, and, truth be told, meeting and learning about the community is one of the 39perks of working for a paper. It’s also been a tough time as we all deal with the fallout of the novel coro- navirus. Lives have changed, and so has the world. Consider this an invitation to reach out and introduce yourself. Tell me what you want to see in your newspa- per. I can’t wait to hear from you. I Justin Johnson is the Editor of the Shelton-Mason County Journal. He can be reached at justin@masoncounty. com THIS IS TAKING LONGER AND IS HARDER THAN DECONTAMINATING COVID19 Dave Pierik, Office Administrator Advertising: John Lester, General Manager Theresa Murray, Ad Representative Delivery: Jon Garza Newsroom: David Olson Justin Johnson, Editor Niel Challstrom Gordon Weeks, Reporter Kirk Boxleitner, Reporter Isabella Breda, Reporter Lloyd Mullen, Creative Director Kirk Ericson, Columnist/ Proofreader Composing room: Karen Hranac, Customer Service All regular editorial, advertising and legal deadlines are 5 pm. the Monday prior to publication. To submit a letter to the editor, email editor@masoncounty.com. William Adams, Advertising Design and Technical Support AA‘HH‘HH“A_ §m<mCHNF'JH¢-+Ml—tn Am