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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
October 18, 2012     Shelton Mason County Journal
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October 18, 2012
 
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217 W CgT(~ ST oHFLTd~4=, ~l.~ .&-'~4°'~,~ ...... Thursday, Oct. 18, 2012 ! Voice of Mason County since 1886 -- Published for Mason County and Donald Jones of Grapeview -- $1 years Defense attorney files appeal By NATALIE JOHNSON aatatie@masoncoun~y.corn Travis Carl Baze was sentenced Monday in Ma- son County Superior Court to almost 28 years in prison for the murder of Shawn Joseph Morrow, 23, last spring. Baze, 28. was convicted on Sept. 5 of first-degree assault, first-degree robbery and first-de- gree murder. "This makes absolutely no sense to me," he said. Baze said he didn't under- stand why he was convicted of more crimes, and was sentenced to more time, than Stephan R.C. Travis Churchill, who was also convicted Baze in the murder. The jury convicted Baze based on evidence and testimony that he helped Churchill. 29, lure Morrow to a public fishing area near the Bayshore Golf Club on March 26. where Churchill hit Morrow on the head three times with a baseball bat. Baze drove Churchill to and from the scene of the crime and watched the beating from his car. Morrow died of his injuries three days later. Churchill pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and first-degree robbery on Sept. 11. He was sen- tenced to 21.75 years in prison for the crime. At Baze's sentencing hearing on Monday, Cathy Oppelt, Morrow's mother, spoke briefly, reciting a letter she sent to Baze while he was in the Mason County Jail. Baze's attorney, Charles Lane, objected to Op- pelt's request to address his client in the hearing. Mason County Superior Judge Amber Finlay al- lowed Oppelt to address some of her remarks to Baze. "It's very, very difficult to sit here and listen to these proceedings go on and on about Mr. Baze's rights when my son's rights were removed." she said to Finlay. Oppelt went on to encourage Baze to take re- sponsibility for his actions and find personal faith. "You. Mr. Baze, had the power to save Shawn. You could have stepped in after the first blow, after the second ... but you didn't," she said. "It is my hope that you choose to live what's left of the rest of your life in the light." Morrow's father, Jeff Morrow, also spoke at the hearing. "This was an absolute horror," he said. "I choose See Sentenced on page A-7 "I don't know if it is something you can repair without .... • • - . ,, ~':~ .~!~(.) ........ a lot of money, but I certainly have memories of it. 'iii:l ! -Pauline Barrom, .... ,S Journal photo D~ Gordon weeks Shelton resident Pauline Barrom, 89, moved into the Hotel Cameron at age 18 to help her aunt Bertha Cameron, who owned the business. She hasn't set foot inside the now-derelict building since 1945, when she lived there with her husband. Former Hotel Cameron now derelict building awaiting possible demolition By GORDON WEEKS gordon(q'ma,~o~co~tn~y.cop~ Shelton resident Pauline Barrom, 89: eyed the weeds, broken glass and garbage strewn outside the abandoned brick building at 303 S. Second St. and shook her head. "It's pretty sad, isn't it, in our little town?" she said. Anyone else driving by the struc- ture today sees boarded up or broken windows, graffiti on faded brick and feral cats scurrying about. The former three-story building -- now reduced to two -- has been declared derelict by the City of Shelton, which is consid- ering spending between $15,000 and $20,000 to demolish it as part of a new abatement program. But Barrom remembers it as the 30-room Hotel Cameron, which was opened by her uncle and aunt George and Bertha Cameron in 1927. Guests gathered in a room next to the lobby to play the piano and the wind-up pho- nograph and converse. Rooms went for $1.50 a night - unless you wanted a room with your own private bathroom, which would set you back three bucks. Barrom moved into the hotel at age Courtesy pnoto A photograph from 1927 shows George Cameron and his new Hotel Cameron at the corner of Grove and Second streets in downtown Shelton. A clipping in the Shelton-Mason County Journal praised the hotel at its opening as "a credit to the city from every standpoint," but the derelict, abandoned building now is being eyed by the city for demolition. 18, and then lived there with her hus- of it," she said. band until her aunt sold the building. Barrom has a collection of news- She hasn't set foot inside since 1945. paper stories about the Hotel Camer- "I don't know if it is something you on. A front page story from Sept. 13, can repair without spending a lot of money, but I certainly have memories See Building on page A-7 Pioneer School District seeks $25 million bond By NATALIE JOHNSON natalie@masoncoun~y.com The Pioneer School Dis- trict Board of Directors passed a resolution in a spe- cial meeting Tuesday night to ask district voters to ap- prove a bond sale for a maxi- mum of $25,016,520 to build a new middle school and add on to the Pioneer Primary School. 81111!!!1!!11!!!1!1!11112 The bonds would be paid offwith a $1.24 per $1,000 of assessed value levy on hom- eowners in the district. Voters in the district will be asked to approve the sale during a special election on Feb. 12, 2013. The new middle school would be 60,000 square feet, have a larger parking lot than the current school does, and have a rebuilt track and football field. The project also includes an expansion to the primary school so it can accommodate See Bond on page A-7 Cityconsiders closing park for restoration By GORDON WEEKS gordon@masonc.ounty,con~ Glen and Jackie Lautt's reward for sharing a fence with the City of Shelton's riverside Sixth Street neighborhood park is a constant nightmare of open drug use, drunk- enness, fistfights, public urination, theft and a consistent stream of loud profanities. Young gang members "come down in groups of 20 or 30, and be- tween the language and the liquor, there is no park goer who wants to go there," Glen said. The fence that separates the cou- ple's house from the one-acre patch See Park on page A-8 Journal photo by Gordon Weeks Glen and Jackie Lautt share a fence with the City of Shelton's Sixth Street neighborhood park, and say they are besieged round-the-clock by young patrons drinking, taking drugs, fighting, urinating and stealing and damaging their property.