October 6, 2011 Shelton Mason County Journal | ![]() |
©
Shelton Mason County Journal. All rights reserved. Upgrade to access Premium Tools
PAGE 1 (1 of 22 available) PREVIOUS NEXT Jumbo Image Save To Scrapbook Set Notifiers PDF JPG
October 6, 2011 |
|
Website © 2025. All content copyrighted. Copyright Information Terms Of Use | Privacy Policy | Request Content Removal | About / FAQ | Get Acrobat Reader ![]() |
October[ 6, 2011
-- Week 40 -- The Voice of Mason County since 1886 -- Published in Shelton, Washington -- $1
Appointme
until Novet
By NATALIE JO]
After weeks of,
tainty, l~ason Cou
commissioner - St~
After sifting th~
applicants, Maso~
sioners Lynda R:
Tim Sheldon agree
Tuesday to appoin
the vacant Distric
commission.
The district 3 s
when Commission~
unexpectedly in At
"I really apprec
will last
ber 20 r2
tNSON
vaiting and u acer-
nty has its m west
;ve Bloomfielc
ir way throu~'h 16
County Commis-
ng Erickson and
d on their first try
t Bloomfield ~o fill
; 3 position o~ the
|
;at became vacant
r Jerry Lingle[ died
gust. [
.ate it I'm ~um-
bled," Bloomfield said. "Jerry was an field.
outstanding individual. I was just Ring Erickson seconded the mo-
getting to know him." tion.
Bloomfield is a lifelong Mason While Bloomfield said he would
County resident, and has worked as a likely not run for the position in 2012,
clam farm manager and government Sheldon and Ring Erickson said that
affairs advisor for Seattle Shellfish didn't factor i~lto their decision.
since 1988, according to the resume "I think it's up to the individual if
he submitted to the county, they want to run again. It's not a cri-
The process of replacing Lingle was teria I used," Sheldon said.
not easy, the commissioners said. They also said they had no private
"I want to thank everyone who was or executive session meetings on the
brave enough and cares about their appointment of a new commissioner
community enough to apply" 16 is a and did the entire process in the pub-
big number," Sheldon said. lic.
Sheldon narrowed the original 16 Immediately after Commissioners
applicants down to five people he felt Sheldon and Ring Erickson voted to
he could nominate, appoint Bloomfield, Mason County
"I'll start with the person I think Auditor Karen Herr stood up to swear
is most qualified," he said, before he
made a motion to nominate Bloom- See Bloomfield on page A-7
Journal photo by Natalie Johnson
Mason County Auditor Karen Herr, left, swore
in Steve Bloomfield as Mason County
Commissioner for District 3 immediately after
Commissioners Tim Sheldon and Lynda Ring
Erickson voted to appoint him.
Journal pnoto Dy Jesse Mullen
OysterFest volunteer Joyce Taylor serves oysters after the third heat of the speed shucking contest during the
30th annual OySterFest on Saturday. The event drew more than 8,000 people.
OysterFest 30
draws, thousands
By ARLA SHEPHARD $100,000 up front to run
the festival and collects
OysterFest ce.ebrated on~-third of the~et profits
its 30th birthday in style from each food vendor, all
this year, with m(re than of who must represent a
8,000 people in attendance Mason County nonprofit.
and thousands ofp)unds of More than 60 nonprof-
shellfish, its participated this year,
The 30th-annu?l West including service clubs
Coast Oyster S~ucking lik~ the Hood Canal Lions
Championship and Wash- and the Kristmas Town
ington State SeafOod Fes- KiWanis to churches like
tival witnessed a, atten- the-- Shelton Presbyter|-
dance dip from last year, an Church and Belfair's
said event coordinators, Prihce of Peace Catholic
but an increase[in the ChUrch.
amount of food vendors Skookum Rotary pro-
meant more local nonprof- vid~s the food vendors with
its were raising n~oney to ter~ts, which cost about
support the community. $1~,000 at the 2010 Oys-
"This year's OysterFest terFest. This year, the
.... " .... ¢.'~!~:
':'( ~i~
..... , °, .,~,~, :~,:~.',~r~,~!,:~i~,~''~*' 'i~ ::
Journal Dno[o by Aria SheDhard
Gerardo Leon, sponsored by Palix Oysters, concentrates
carefully on shucking an oyster in the timed third-heat of the
oyster shucking competition last Saturday, Oct. 1, at
attendance was 8,028, nonprofit had to purchase
down 3,500 from last year," more tents because there
said Paul Everett a pastwere more vendors.
president of the event's "We had significant OysterFest. Leon went on to place fifth in the finals with a time
sponsor Skookum Rotary number of new food ven- of three minutes and 19 seconds.
who goes by the title of dots, and they seemed to
Grand Old Oyster (GO0). be doing well," Everett know we do, that's the ers competed over both because over 30 years
"It was a combin ~tion of said. "I would say the most only fundraiser we days for the fastest oys. they've heard about
the weather and t:~e econ- popular, by the length of have." ter shucking times and it," Barnard said. "It's
omy. People are sc~red and the line, were the coconut The "fun part" of best oyster shucking a fun group and we're
they have a right tl) be." wrapped shrimp (from theOysterFest that doesn't presentation, like family."
Skookum Rotar3 spends Senior Services of Southmake any money is theThe first-place win- Everett said he
UlI!IJ!I!!IIIJ!!I i!.!] ]] 112 SoUnd)... Eyerything goes two-day shucking corn-ner of the 2011 half-thought Skookum Rota-
to~upport community non-petition, said Skookum shell shucking finalsry made "considerably
pr6fit budgets and in fact, a Rotary's Mike Barnard, was Mario Leon spon- less than last year" due
number of those nonprofits co-chair of the competi- sored by Palix Oyster. to the perceived lower
up there make their whole tion. "People come from
budget at OysterFest. I Thirty-three shuck-all over to participate See OysteWest on page A-7
8
City talks
budget, jail,
wastewater
By NATALIE JOHNSON
The City of Shelton's 2012
budget overview, while still
showing a projected shortfall,
looks more positive than last
year's budget, city officials said.
While the budget includes no
staff changes and flat revenue
growth for the coming year, it
also projects a smaller expected
shortfall than last year's ap-
proximate $600,000 deficit.
"There is constant uncer-
tainty - the recession is going
to continue," City Administra-
tor Dave O'Leary said. 'Tee're
about $300,000 upside down.
It's not that bad, we've been a
lot worse."
The city estimates
$9,900,304 in expenditures and
$9,604,483 in expected rev-
enue, leaving a shortfall of al-
most $296,000.
At this time the budget does
not include any revenue that
could come from a public safety
sales tax, if voters approve it
during the November general
election.
Also, the city does not expect
to receive a grant that funded
crxme prevention, last year.
The street fund also has a
$51,000 shortfall, but city staff
plans to merge the general fund
and street fund in the coming
year.
"It's funded by the general
fund so it makes sense," City
FinanCe Manager Cathy Bei-
erle said.
O'Leary said revenues have
stabilized and city staff is opti-
mistic about Shelton's future.
"Recovery is going to be slow,
it's going to take years to get
out of this," he said. 'Tfe need
to recover Shelton."
The city commission plans to
discuss strategies to aid Shel-
ton's economic recovery during
a retreat on Thursday, Oct. 6.
On Oct. 31 the city has
scheduled another budget pre-
sentation, a public hearing on
Nov. 14, and a final hearing on
Dec. 5.
The Shelton Metropolitan
Park District, however, will
likely have an overage of al-
most $13,000 in 2012. Re-
quested expenditures amount
to $404,996, while projected
revenues amount to $417,900.
In other city news, the com-
mission discussed a presenta~
tion to approve an interlocal
agreement with the City of
Forks for prisoner confinemen~
in its jail.
The agreemen~ is designed
to save the city money on pris-
oner confinement, said Shelby
Conklin, from the city's Judi-
cial Detention and Correction
Department.
The city currently has in-
terlocal agreements with the
See City on page A-7