Notice: Undefined index: HTTP_REFERER in /home/stparch/public_html/headmid_temp_main.php on line 4394
Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
September 29, 2011     Shelton Mason County Journal
PAGE 1     (1 of 20 available)        PREVIOUS     NEXT      Jumbo Image    Save To Scrapbook    Set Notifiers    PDF    JPG
 
PAGE 1     (1 of 20 available)        PREVIOUS     NEXT      Jumbo Image    Save To Scrapbook    Set Notifiers    PDF    JPG
September 29, 2011
 
Newspaper Archive of Shelton Mason County Journal produced by SmallTownPapers, Inc.
Website © 2025. All content copyrighted. Copyright Information
Terms Of Use | Privacy Policy | Request Content Removal | About / FAQ | Get Acrobat Reader




Thursday, September 29, 2011 County interviews top 8 for commission seat Journal photo by Natalie Johnson Candidate Jim Sims commended the county commission for perservering through tough budget years during his interview on Monday. By NATALIE JOHNSON Potential candidates for the open Ma- son County Commission position went through a second round of interviews during a special county commission meeting Monday. County Commissioners Tim Sheldon and Lynda Ring Erickson spent about 15 minutes interviewing eight Candi- dates: Steve Bloomfield, Jim Sims, Curt Bennett, Marlene Taylor, John Price, Randy Churchill, Annette McGee and Terri Jeffreys, all of whom had been narrowed down from 16 potential appli- cants through an interview process last week. The second round of interviews could have taken place in an executive ses- sion, but in a statement last week and during the meeting Monday, Sheldon said he preferred to have the inteviews in public. "I'm not willing to go into executive session," he said. "If everything is done in the public ... there are no concerns about backroom deals." Unlike the last set of interviews, all of the candidates were not asked the same questions. Sheldon and Ring Erickson asked many of them, however, how to increase revenue for the county. "As a lay person, as a citizen of the county, you don't understand how much money is involved or where the money goes unless you read through it line by line," said Steve Bloomfield, a local shellfish grower. 'le way you increase revenue is to put people back to work- we need jobs and we need opporttmities .,, grassroots creation of jobs is a way to fill that need." Bennett, a Mason County Fire Dis- trict 4 Commissioner, said taxes might be the only way to increase revenue. "Recognizing that you guys have pared the budget really slim, I believe there is going to be some further taxa- tion in the future," he said. "I don't think there's any way around it." Taylor, a former Port of Shelton Com- missioner, said more should be cut from the budget. "I think that it's really a tough one be- cause I think maybe some cuts will have to be made," she said. "There isn't a lot of fluff left to cut." Others simply marveled at the coun- ty's ability to deal with the recession. "I'm not envious of your staff direc- tors that had to cut what they hoped would be services to the public," Sims said. "Four years of a zero growth bud- get - that's pretty impressive." Former Mason County Commission- er Annette McGee said the commission should work to increase tourism. See Interview on page A-7 City, Vista battle over II perm,ts 13).. By NATALIE JOHNSON Since July, Vista On- cology, a private oncology clinic with two locations in Olympia, has been trying to secure building permits to remodel office space in Shel- ton, for its upcoming third location. Since then, said Eric Zhang, administrator for Vista Oncology, the clinic has been embroiled in a lengthy and frustrating bat- tle to get those permits. In response to public concern over the permit process, the city gave a pre- sentation during the regular commission meeting Mon- day afternoon to tell its side of the story. "I know you're very pas- sionate about this and some of you are going through the fight of your life," said Kelly Mayo, from the city's department of community development. Mayo said because the clinic is for oncology and will have "85 different chemicals" on premises, the permit needs to come under increased scrutiny. "One of the things we're looking for is a qualification of how many chemicals will be on site," Mayo said. "This would be the top producer of hazardous chemicals in Shelton." According to Mayo, Vista Oncology has yet to supply him with quantities of the chemicals at the clinic and hasn't adequately addressed fire and safety issues. According to the city, the holdups have originated with the oncology clinic. "The ball's in the appli- cant's court," City Admin- istrator Dave O'Leary said. "The total time the ball has been in our court is 21 days." O'Leary said the city has spent a total of 45 days waiting for responses from See Vista on page A-8 IIIIU! !I!!iI!!!U!I! II 8 • 2 Oysters are prepared during the 2010 OysterFest. This year's event begins on Friday, Oct. 1. Journal file onoos Skookum Rotary gears up for OysterFest 30 By NATALIE JOHNSON In just a couple of days bivalve enthusiasts will cluster at the Port of Shelton Fairgrounds for the 30th time, to enjoy music, food and drink vendors and of course, oysters at Skoo- kum Rotary's OysterFest. OysterFest, or more orrectly, the West Coast Oyster Shucking Championship and Washington State Seafood Festival, will cel- ebrate the milestone with a new opening cer- emony this year, said Skookum Rotary Mem- ber and OysterFest Administrative Chairman Jerry Obendorf. "We're having an opening ceremony at 11 a.m [Saturday]," he said. "It'll be brief- it's to recognize some of the long-time supporters." Peter Becker, the man who posed for the iconic 1982 Jane Diaz illustration of the ",Oys- ter Man," will be at the event, Obendorf said. This year the part of OysterFest most ex- citing to Skookum Rotary members isn't an event at all - it's parking. "One of the biggest things we hope to have is a new traffic plan in an effort to relieve pres- sure off of Highway 101," Obendorf said. Every year, OysterFest traffic backs up Highway 101 for miles in both directions at the only entrance to the fairgrounds. Skoo- kum Rotary members have long sought a solu- tion to improve the traffic situation. Last year, busses shuttled people from a parking lot at Shelton High School to the fairgrounds, but it still had to use the Hwy. 101 entrance. This year, rotary members worked with the Port of Shelton and the Mason Transit Au- thority to come up with a way to get people to the fairground without using the entrance on Hwy. 101. This year festival goers will be able to catch a bus at the Shelton Yacht Club, the Shelton Civic Center and the Shelton High School parking lots to get to OysterFest. However the busses will enter Hwy. 101 north of the fairgrounds, then exit off the highway to the Sanderson Field Business Park at Port of Shelton. The disused rtmway behind the Port of See OysterFest on page A-7 A woman grills oysters during last year's OysterFest. Citizens raise air concerns at ORCAA hearing By NATALIE JOHNSON Representatives from the Olym- pic Region Clean Air Agency (OR- CAA) met with members of the public Tuesday evening to discuss a renewal of Simpson Lumber's Air Operating Permit (AOP). The permit, under Title 5 of the Federal Clean Air Act, allows Shelton's lumber mill on Oakland Bay to operate while releasing an enforceable level of pollutants into the air, said ORCAA engineer Mark Goodin. "The whole purpose of this pro- cess is to achieve continuous com- phance, he said/ ....... .. -. ....... ORCAA scheduled the public hearing in response to concerns from the public, but Geodin said this permit has very little in com- mon with the much-disputed per- m its for the abandoned Adage Bio- mass project. "It's a very different permit than . the subject of preous hegs in Shelton - namely Adage," Goodin said. "This is not a new facility, this is a renewal of their five-year operating permit." However, many of the same citi- zens who turned out to protest Ad- age commented against renewing See Air on page A-8