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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
December 29, 2011     Shelton Mason County Journal
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December 29, 2011
 
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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