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SINCE 1886 - VOL. 134, N0. 4-7
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8-80 3—13
MASON COUNTY, THURSDAY, NOV. 19, 2020
Holiday seasOn begins
City of Shelton employee Danny Phipps hangs a strand of Christ-
mas lights Thursday on West Railroad Avenue in downtown Shelton. V
Journal photo Justin Johnson
_By Gordon Weeks
gordon@masoncounty. com
nglers in these parts say Tom
Nelson has “a deal with the
fish.”
Witnesses say the Shelton man
stares at the water' with his intense
blue eyes and conjures ways to entice
fish to bite. For years, he annually
reeled in 100 steelhead from the
Skokomish River. In 2000, he cap-
tured a 64-1/2-p0und king salmon
in Kenai, Alaska, which is mounted,
mouth agape, on his kitchen wall.
“Anyone who steelhead fishes
knows Tom Nelson,” said his niece
Kristy Buck, a Port of Shelton com—
missioner.
“The guy can catch fish where
there are no fish,” said Shelton resi-
dent Larry Stevens, a longtime fish-
ing and hunting companion.
Nelson is also an expert marksman
who taught troops to shoot during
World War II. Just three years ago,
he killed a moose in British Columbia
as Stevens looked on. He also followed
in the family footsteps by owning and
$1.50
“till,”IllHIIHIII'IIHIHIIlhllIIIIIIIHHHIIHIHHHIHII
*****************CAR_RT
SMALL TOWN PAPERS v
927 W RAILROAD AVE ‘
SHELTON WA, 98584-3847
Inslee orders new
COVID restrictions '
By Justin Johnson,
justin@masoncounty. com
Gov. Jay Inslee on Sunday an-
nounced a host of new restrictions in-
tended to slow the spread of COVID-19
in Washington.
in the same domicile.
Most of the restrictions went into ef-
fect at midnight Tuesday, with the ex-
ception of those directed at restaurants
and bars, which started at midnight
Wednesday. The order is scheduled to
last four weeks.
Key among the orders is the Local “We must take this virus se-
closure of bars, gyms, indoor legiSIatOI‘S riously and' do our part
to stop
dining at restaurants and capac- can for the spread, distancing as much
ity restrictions of 25% on retail Spec'lal as possible and wearing
masks
stores — including grocery stores 59551011 when out in public,” Kevin
—- and personal service business- Page 1"” Shutty, Mason County
commis-
es.
Outdoor dining and social gather-
ings are limited to five people outside
your household, defined as those living
By Kirk Boxleitneri
kbox/eitner@masoncounty. com
The consensus among Shelton res-
taurants is that the governor’s recently
announced COVID restrictions will sig-
nificantly affect their businesses.
“The first shutdown caught us with
our pants down,” said Herb Baze 'of the
Strip Steak House. “We’d stocked up on
meat, vegetables and other food that
mostly went to waste. We had to eat
that loss, both figuratively and literally.
It \Was really hard on us.”
COMMUNITY PROFILE
S4 deal with the fish’
operating Allyn Oyster Co. and the
Toma, C Shellfish Farm.
On Jan. 1, Nelson will turn 100
years old. ‘
So why is he a local fishing legend?
“I’m just a lot better than anyone
else,” he said, a twinkle in his eye.
Nelson was born at Shelton Hospi-
tal at Fifth and Birch streets on Jan.
1, 1921. Both his grandfather and
father worked in the shellfish busi-
ness. For the first five years of his life,
Nelson lived on a float house that was
about 40 feet long in Little Skookum
Bay.
“We worked in one end and lived
on the other,” Nelson said. He’recalled . L L
that he and his younger brother and
sister watched, through holes in the
boat, shiners and perch glide by.
When Nelson was 5, his fam-
ily moved into a converted chicken
house. His formal education began
in the basement of a Baptist church
before he and his classmates moved
midschool year into the new Bordeaux
Elementary School.
see FISH, page A-40
l I l She'tm‘ adOPtS Businesses accepting
2021 bUdget holiday donations
8 5 3 6 o 01 1 1 km
' INSIDE TODAY
sioner, wrote in a Monday email
to the Shelton-Mason County Journal.
see COVID, page A-12
Restaurants aim to surviVe
To meet rent and other financial ob-
ligations, the Strip Steak House shifted
to takeout, and perhaps the one silver
lining Baze has found in the latest re-
strictions is that, because his restau-
rant never shifted back to in-person din-
ing, they were better prepared.
“We pretty much expected it this
time,” Baze said. “Our space is so small,
we-couldn’t staff it with a full crew, to
offer our customers the dine-in experi-
,ge’nce, so we stuck with takeout. It’s just
see IMPACT, page A;
Tom Nelson, a World War II veteran who owned two oyster companies,
turns 100 on Jan. 1. Journal photo by Gordon Weeks
Thanksgiving dinners '
today in Belfair
ease as
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