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Thursday, December 29, 2011
--- Week 52 ~ The Voice of Mason County since 1886 -- PubliShed in Shelton, Washington -- $1
By ARLA SHEPHARD lieutenant for SPD. "It appears to be son said. "We have no leads at this
about 25 boxes and they made outpoint. The post office does not have
Some Mason County residents re- with an undisclosed amount of money, video inside the facility."
ceived an unpleasant Christmas sur- whatever was in the mail." The only mail recipients who should
prise last weekend when somebodyThis type of incident happened be affected are the 25 people whose
broke into and stole from approxi- nearly two years ago, in February boxes were broken into, said Anthony
mately 25 mailboxes at the Shelton 2010, at the same location, Watson Petito, postmaster of the Shelton Post
Post Office on Christmas Eve. said. Office.
At about 3:45 a.m. on Saturday, "That also occurred at about 4 "We've closed the lobby at night
Dec. 24, a call was placed to the Shel- a.m.," he said. "It's for sure somebody time until the Federal Inspection Ser-
ton Police Department (SPD) alerting who is making every effort to get into vices gets back to us about the inves-
them to the vandalism, mailboxes." tigation," said Petite, referring to the
"A [PO] box holder who was check- When an incident like this occurs, federal agency responsible for inves-
ing their mail at that time made the the Shelton Police Department works tigating break-ins into federal build-
call ... somebody discovered that concurrently with the U.S. Postal Ser- ings.
someone had entered the lobby area vice to investigate the incident. The post office lobby will be closed
and smashed out the windows of "We will be in contact with them, if from 6 p.m. until 5 a.m. until further
P.O. Boxes," said Los Watson, acting there's any follow-up to be done," Wat- notice.
Journal photo by Aria Shephard
Approximately 25 P.O. Boxes were broken into
at the Shelton Post Office on Christmas Eve.
Shelton
may be out
of 6th CD
in 2012
By NATALIE JOHNSON
Just in time for its Jan.
1, 2012 deadline, the Wash-
ington State Redistricting
Commission started releas-
ing final maps for state con-
gressional and legislative
districts this week.
According to the newest
version of the congressio-
nal districts map, released
Wednesday morning, Shel-
ton will no longer be in
Washington's Sixth Con-
gressional District.
The commission has been
working since last summer
to redraw voting lines in the
state to reflect 2010 census
numbers.
On Tuesday afternoon,
the commission, comprised
of non-voting Chair Lura
Powell, Ph.D, Senate Re-
publican appointee Slade
Gorton, Senate Democratic
appointee Tim Ceis, House
Democratic appointee Dean
Foster and House Repub-
lican appointee Tom Huff,
announced that they would
release a final map showing
new congressional districts
on Wednesday during an 11
a.m. meeting in Olympia,
said commission communi-
cations director Genevieve
O'Sullivan.
At 11 a.m. on Wednesday,
commission members Gor-
ton and Ceis did reveal the
congressional plan, show-
ing that the sixth district,
represented by Norm Dicks,
will remain much the same,
including most of the rural
areas of Mason County, but
the Cit:¢ of Shelton will now
be in the new 10th congres-
sional district along with
much of Thurston County,
including Olympia and
parts of Pierce County.
All of Kitsap County will
be in the sixth district under
the proposed plan.
Representatives of Norm
Dicks could not be reached
for comment.
"What we've reached is a
fair and equitable balance,"
Ceis said during Wednes-
day's meeting,
Democrat Denny Hock
has already announced his
candidacy for the 10th dis-
trict congressman position.
It was unclear at that
time when a final legislative
plan would be made avail-
able.
Huff and Foster teamed
up to organize the legis-
lative voting districts in
Southwest Washington in
November and revealed a
See District on page A-7
sllllU!!l!!ll!Ui!l!lJIIli2
Oh, starry night
Journal photo by Kevan Moore
A downtown street light illuminates a decorative Christmas star on Cota Street
amidst an all-out downpour Tuesday night. Old Glory and a POW-MIA flag can also
be seen flying over the 40 et 8 veterans club across the street.
Shelton says goodbye to 2 commissioners
By NATALIE JOHNSON and Spoke at the send-off, accomplishments achieved during
"If you want to leave a positive the tenures of the two departing
The City of Shelton said good- legacy I think these folks embody commissioners.
bye to two of its commissioners that," he said."/ou always want to When Byrne was first a com-
Tuesday,.after the last meeting of do the right thing and that's what missioner in the 70s, he helped
the year, and the last meeting ever I learned from them. They did that purchase the land for the Wal-
for commissioners Mike Byrne and every single time." lace Kneeland interchange, where
Mayor John Tarrant. Of course, this may not be the Walmart, Fred Meyer, and numer-
Commissioner Dawn Pannell end for either former commission- ous other large businesses sit to-
said Shelton is "a better place" be- er. day.
cause Tarrant and Byrne served Byrne was originally elected as As a commissioner, he also
on the city commission. During a a commissioner in 1972, then left helped install Shelton's first traf-
reception to give the two commis- and was elected again to the posi- tic light and instituted automated
sioners a send off, Pannell gave tion of Commissioner of Finance garbage pickup in the city. Byrne's
them "Star Awards." for the city four years ago, after first years as commissioner also
"John and Mike are stars," she being appointed to fill the vacant included the purchase of land and
said. position after Dick Taylor left the construction of Shelton's original
Shelton City Administrator commission.
Dave O'Leary gave a presentation O'Leary listed just some of the See Commissioners on page A-7
Soldier
with local
ties killed
overseas
By KEVAN MOORE
A young soldier with
Shelton ties has been killed
in Afghanistan.
According to the U.S. De-
partment of Defense, Spc.
Mikayla A. Bragg, 21, of
Longview, died Dec. 21 in
Khowst province, Afghani-
stan. She was assigned to
the 201st Brigade Support
Battalion, 3rd Brigade Com-
bat Team, 1st Infantry Divi-
sion, Fort Knox, Kentucky,
and was serving in sup-
port of Operation Enduring
Freedom.
Bragg's mother, Shey-
anne Baker, lives in Shel-
ton.
According to the Army
Times, Bragg was shot and
killed in a guard tower.
Family members said that
Bragg had been scheduled
to leave Afghanistan on
January 6. Bragg joined the
Army after graduating from
Mark Morris High School in
2008. She was deployed in
August as truck driver.
.ason
Transit
.S
@
By NATALIE JOHNSON
The Mason County
Transportation Authority
(MTA) plans to expand its
service into the Lake Cush-
man area by next spring,
thanks to a Federal Transit
Administration Grant.
The MTA was awarded
the $73,400 grant, applied
for in partnership with the
Skokomish Tribe, in Decem-
ber.
"It gives us a great oppor-
tunity to tap into the Cush-
man area," said MTA opera-
tions manager Mike Oliver.
"The more partnerships we
can have the better."
The grant will help fund
route extensions into the
Skokomish Reservation,
Potlatch and Lake Cush-
man.
While keeping current
routes in place, MTA plans
to create a modified Route 8,
See MTA on page A-7