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Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020 Shelton-Mason County Page A-37
The renovation of Shelton High School’s Highclimber Stadium, shown
Monday, is nearly complete. Crews this week will add striping to the track
and
high-jump areas. Construction work on the Mini-Dome addition at the school
is also expected to be completed soon. Courtesy photo
Return Of sports closer after guidance updates
(Boxleitner
kbox/e/tne/@masoncounty.com
When the Governor’s Office and
the state Department of Health is-
sued new guidance Oct. 6 for return-
ing to sports and activities, at least
one Mason County school district
was ready.
The Washington Interscholastic
Activities Association (WIAA) has
used the guidance from the Depart-
ment of Health to develop new gen-
guidelines to replace those previously
tied to phasing in Gov. Jay Inslee’s
“Safe Start” plan. I
The Governor’s Office informed
the WIAA that the guidelines must
be followed, and that neither schools
nor community sports programs have
the authority to implement more le—
nient policies.
County benchmarks will be used
to determine which sports or activi-
ties are recommended to take place
based on COVID-19 activity in the
county. Each county’s status can be
found by visiting the Washington
Risk Assessment Dashboard» on-‘
line or by communicating with local
health departments. These bench-
marks mirror those issued by the
Department of Health to aid schools
in their decision-making for models
of in—person vs. remote learning. The
three tiers indicate high, moderate or
low risk, and allow for varying levels
of participation:
1. “High risk” is more than 75 cas-
es per 100,000 for 14 days, or more
than 5% positivity.
Team practices and training can
resume if players are limited to
groups of six in separate parts of the
field or court, and are separated by
a buffer. Brief close contact such as
three-on-three drills is permitted.
Any practice or training activities
that can be done outdoors should be
done so.
Scrimmage, intra-team competi-
tions and league games or competi-
tion are allowed for low-risk sports,
see SPORTS, page A-30
era] and sport-specific return-to-play
ON THE TRAIL
c
Loving beauty, but withholding its location
always makes me feel foolish; while my
last column was being published and
the newspaper still two days from hitting
the stands, a grisly murder occurred in the
Olympic National Forest not far from the
place I would be recommending my tenders
should go that week to get away from the
noise and unpleasantness of society.
“Sorry, road closed. Crime scene.”
It was one of those odd coincidences that
ByMARK
plies were being ironic. Or maybe supplying
a bit of window dressing, as ina story that
begins with “Oh, yeah, you think THAT’S
bad . .g .”
TWILIGHT DIVE
Here’s a few snapshots of summer past.
The first is of me and George Stenberg on a
mountaintop as the sun is sinking. George
alerts me to a chirping sound that appears
On Facebook a day later, after I started WOYTOWICH to be draWing Closer. A
brown bird, 110131?
a discussion on the summer closure of Lake
Cushman, two people sent me the county
sheriffs press release on the murder.
No discussion of the closure, no pro or con. Just
a link to a wanted poster featuring photos of the
prime suspects, a man and woman looking like they
belonged on the title slide of a sleazy Netflix film,
a movie with a one-word title like “Whipsaw” or
“Stranglehold.”
Sure, the tourists were a real plague this past
summer, but are we going to add a murder to the
same conversation? I think those two Facebook re-
er than ajay, is diving and darting in the
twilight above.
I busy myself gathering wood for our fire. The
chirps grow louder, and now I see two birds sway-
ing in the sky above. Suddenly, one dives steeply
and swings by our camp, making an odd, “thwap«
ping” sound as it passes our heads.
It sounds like a rubber band snapping next to
my ear. 7
For the next half hour, the tWo birds peppered us
with dive bomber attacks, each swoop accompanied
by that odd, thwacking sound as they flew near to
the ground, circling us tightly, like fighter planes
harassing infantry.
George took a photo of one and I sent it to a
friend who is pretty reliable on bird identification. 1
It seems we Were getting strafed by a pair of night-
hawks, known for being active in the early evening
and for diving with precision.
HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL
. My next image of this past summer is of a fire
ring on the Hamma Hamma River, a perfect, round
circle of rocks with blackened char in the center.
There were 12 of us cleaning up trash that day, on
one of my TrashMashlLitter Posses.
Nicolette Burtis, youth and community resource
assistant with the National Forest Service, accom-
panied us that day. A very young and fresh hire,
she reminded me of those AmeriCorps interns I
have come across before, sweet and enthusiastic,
and so grateful to be out here in the West, far from
their flatland homes in Iowa, Indiana or Illinois.
a. millage rise