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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
September 27, 2012     Shelton Mason County Journal
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September 27, 2012
 
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[OC urg caug snoozln in By NATALIE JOHNSON Mason County Sheriffs depu- ties have arrested a man they have dubbed the "Goldilocks Burglar," after he was caught sleeping in the third car he broke into early Thurs- day morning. Jay D. James, 32, of Shelton in Lake Cushman was arrested and charged with burglary and vehi- cle prowl after the sheriffs office says he broke into three cars and a house. Deputies first became aware of When the second man opened and pounding at a house in the 200 out of the area because the driver the incidents when a man living in the door to his truck, he saw James block of Kokanee Ridge Drive. matched the prowler's physical de- the 100 block of North Cutthroat sleeping in the back seat and poked They arrived to find more evi- scription. Place near Lake Cushman found James with his cane to wake him dence from the earlier crimes, link- The two victims of the car prowls that his car had been broken into. up. ing James to the break-in at the identified James as the burglar, Chief Deputy Dean Byrd of the Byrd dubbed James "The Gold- home. and he was arrested and taken into Mason County Sheriffs Office said ilocks Burglar," since he broke into "They (found) more stuffthat ac- custody at !0:20 a.m. Thursday. the man followed a "trail of evi- two cars before falling asleep in the tually comes from the crime scene Byrd said it is unclear if drugs dence" -- literally a trail of items third, with vehicles numbered two and were involved. stolen from his car that James After waking up, James fled the three," Byrd. "Things were physi- "(James) has a long and distin- dropped -- to his neighbor's car. area. Both men provided deputies cally dropped at the scenes that guished history with us," he said. The neighbor found that his car with a description of the suspect, would connect one scene with an- James was charged with three had also been broken into, then As deputies were investigating other scene." counts of second-degree vehicle proceeded to check to see if his sec- the vehicle prowls, they received More deputies arrived in the prowl and one count of residential ond vehicle, a quad cab truck, had a call from dispatchers alerting area to investigate the incidents, burglary. He made bail and was re- also been broken into. them to a report of breaking, glass One deputy stopped a car driving leased last week. mulls swap with Simpson By NATALIE JOHNSON r~#a l~mas'oncounty,com The Port of Shelton is considering a pro- posed land swap with Simpson that port staff members said could give the organization a chance to expand its Oakland Bay Marina while also restoring shoreline habitat. "This is a project that we've been thinking of at least six years," said port Engineering Manager Brandon Palmer. Currently, the port owns about 16 acres of land, including tidelands, at Eagle Point on the edge of Hamersley Inlet. The Port of Shel- ton Board of Commissioners discussed a pro- posal on Sept. 18 to swap that land for about 10 acres of Simpson-owned land along State Route 3, which includes the lumber mill's log dump. Only a small portion of the land at Eagle Point is developable, and the tide flats can- not be harvested for shellfish because of their proximity to the sewer outfall from the City of Shelton's Wastewater Treatment Plant. '~Why the port acquired this property in the first place I have no idea," Palmer said. "It's the best habitat in all of Oakland Bay probably." Palmer said Simpson has expressed an in- terest in conserving the land at Eagle Point. He said the swap would give the port the op- portunity to conserve the former log dump while expanding port-owned land at the marina. Young salmon swim down Shelton and Goldsborough creeks and eventually into Oakland Bay through Simpson. land. Once they get to the bay, they end up at the log dump, which doesn't provide good habitat for the endangered fish. The shoreline of those 10 acres of Simpson- Owned land is also an "artificial shoreline that is heavily armored," Palmer said. The bulkheads that maintain the shoreline on the Simpson land, as well as those holding up the parking lot for the adjacent port-owned Oakland Bay Marina are both in poor repair. "At some point we're going to lose this land, it's going to go into the bay," Palmer said. Rather than spend the money to redo the port's bulkhead and the one on the Simp- son land, Palmer suggested using grants for habitat restoration to rebuild a more natural shoreline. "You're talking about restoring this shore- line to what it was 120 years ago," port Com- missioner Tom Wallitner said. However, the ambitious project is compli- cated by contamination of the land behind those two bulkheads by chemicals associated with boat fuel. On Aug. 30, port and Simpson staff met with representatives from permitting agen- cies such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser- vice, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Environmental Pro- tection Agency and the Washington Depart- ment of Ecology to discuss the feasibility of such a project. "The conversation has started - it's not go- ing to be tomorrow," port Commission Chair Dick Taylor said. Port Commissioner Jay Hupp expressed some reservations about the proposed land swap. "This seems like a pretty good deal for (Simpson)," he said. "It looks to me like the entire cost of this is loaded on the port." In the next two weeks, Palmer said staff plans to begin a Phase 1 Environmental As- sessment of the Simpson land. This assessment will give the port an idea of w~ere contamina- tion exists on the property, a~dhow bad it is enrollm es :ure in Shelton schools enrolling students for program STAFF REPORT New this year is an online program pr@n~asoncounty.com Odyssey Ware for students in grades three through eight. Students in grades three through eight take science and his- The Shelton School District's Home tory online, and grades six through eight Partnership Program for homeschooled can also take math. All students can use students in kindergarten through the Success Maker during class,for reading eighth grade is accepting applications for and math. enrollment. After the interview and enrollment Home Partnership is a program where process, parents, the student and the students are enrolled full time in the teacher write an individual learning plan, Shelton School District, attending atleast get books and register for online pro- five hours a week in a classroom on the grams. Students in grades four through Bordeaux Elementary campus. Parents eight usually come on Mondays and Tues- provide supplemental schooling at home, days, in kindergarten through the fourth with supportfrom the school district, grade on Wednesdays and Thursdays. The Home Partnership was launched Parents work with their children on the 11 years ago as a K-12 program, and after other three days by monitoring their as- four years was divided into K-8 and 9-12 signments, checking their planners and programs. The program is helpful to stu- helping them. dents with health or anxiety difficulties For information, call Cheri Estep at who need a smaller learning environment. 426-6488. WE HAVE PINTS AND AIRPIANE BOTTLES ALONG WITH LARGER SIZES I By NATALIE JOHNSON natalie ~;rnasoncountv,com While the Shelton High School Navy Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (NJROTC) now has met its minimum en- rollment with 106 students, the program may still be cut at the end of the school year. In October 2011, the SHS NJROTC was put on probation by the U.S. Navy because it was not meeting enrollment requirements. At the time, the program only had 77 students, not quite meeting the minimum enrollment of 100. Helen Thomson, public affairs officer with the NJROTC Booster Club, said lead- ership in the NJROTC at Shelton thought they had until this October to boost turnout. However, in July, the NJROTC learned that it would be disestablished after the end of the 2012-2013 school year. "They've just decided if you can't get your enrollment up, we're going to close you," Thomson said. The Navy has disestablished several NJROTC groups in the country with low enrollment in an effort to trim its budget. One year after being put on probation, the NJROTC has surpassed its minimum enrollment number with 106 students. "I'm real happy. It's been a lot of work on the school's part and the booster's," Said Lt. Commander Tom Thien, senior naval sci- ences instructor at SHS. Although the group has now met its minimum enrollment numbers, there is no guarantee that the Navy will reverse its de- cision. "We're still being closed as of June 30, 2013," Thomson said. This summer at the Mason Area Fair, the NJROTC booster club began collecting signatures on a petition expressing support for the program, and asking for help from Congressional representatives. So far, the group has Collected more than 2,400 signatures on the petition. The club has also sent several letters asking the Navy to reconsider its decision, Thomson said, but had little success. Only Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus can reverse the decision to disestablish the program, she said. NJROTC booster club members have met with staff from U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell's office this summer. Thomson said staff members in Cantwell's Washington, D.C. office plan to send a letter to Mabus asking him to reconsider the decision. "I'm just hoping they don't get the same form letter," Thomson. The NJROTC program is pinning its hopes for a reversal of the Navy'S decision on a sim- ilar case in Georgia. This year, an NJROTC unit in Georgia convinced the Navy to re- verse its decision to disestablish the group by working with their local congressman. The booster club has worked hard since last October to increase enrollment. They have worked with the school district to in- crease incentives to join the program, like making it qualify as a physical education credit. "It's unique - it's a citizenship and lead- ership program," Thomson said. The multidisciplinary program offers students a curriculum not available in other classes, combining math, science, physical fitness and even astronomy portions, Thom- son said. "It's all very good training for a young person growing up," said Shelloy Johnson, a booster club member whose two sons were both commanding officers in the NJROTC while at SHS. Her sons Shay and Shad transferred from Hood Canal School when entering high school at SHS, and NJROTC made that transition much easier, Johnson said. "The confidence (Shad) gained from the program was tremendous," she said. Now both of her sons are excelling in col- lege, she said, partly because of their time in NJROTC. "For them it's been a very positive experi- ence," Johnson said. Thien said he has scheduled field trips and other excursions to keep students en- thusiastic about the program, despite the fact that it still might end after this year. "I'm just trying to make it as fun as pos- sible," he said. The booster club encourages members of the community to continue writing letters in support of the program. Letters can be sent to the booster club at njrotcbooster- club@gmail.com. Trusted, Comfortable & Aff0rdable Dental Care Prevent Uncomfortable & Costly Dental Problems ! From top: Mkhelle Downing, Richard Downing, Hunter Downing, Forest Downing. • Convenient Payment Plans Available "~ ,. :::':>~ TM • CareCredit'. Cha.,eHeaT/~d~,a¢~ce Patient Pnyment Plans FINANCING OPTIONS Richard " DDS 1626 N Shelton g g (360) 426-4712 • www.SheltonDental.com Shelton-Mason County Journal-Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012 - Page A-3