Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
Sorted by date Results 1101 - 1125 of 2699
Commissioners of Port District 2 discussed plans for a boat ramp and had a resignation when they met Tuesday. Commissioner Kayrene Gilbertsen announced her resignation effective August 31. She plans to marry soon and move to Clark County. Gilbertsen's term of office ends this year, and she isn't seeking re-election. Puget Island residents John Nelson and Lee Tischer filed for the office, and the winner of the election will take office as soon as the general election results are certified in November. Commissioners said they would advertise for...
The ferry Oscar B. will be out of service next week as Legacy Conracting, Inc., finishes improvements to the Puget Island ramp. The ferry will go out of service Monday; the closure could last into Friday. The new nosing assembly will fit the new ferry and distribute weight better than the present ramp, which was designed to fit the old ferry, the Wahkiakum. County commissioners have approved Legacy's request to use the ferry as a work area for the project. "This would allow us to make sure the new nosing and the ferry have a good match and that...
Only a little more than a week before the kids have to hit the books with the start of the new school year. The teachers are already doing some pre classroom work before the desks are filled with eager students and practice for football and volleyball has begun. With such a nice warm and dry summer there may be some apprehension for staying indoors for classes. Such is life and I hope everyone has a safe and successful school year. We live in such a close knit community, and have an award winning system and team teaching our kids so I’m w...
Detour on State Route 4 north of Cathlamet begins Monday, August 17. Here's the latest (Friday morning) word from the Washington State Department of Transportation. Culvert replacement work will result in highway traffic being detoured onto Elochoman Valley, Foster and Risk roads. Here's the department's statement: "Drivers and bicyclists who use State Route 4 west of Cathlamet should plan for an eight-week detour this summer. "Contractor crews working for the Washington State Department of Transportation will temporarily close both directions...
Wahkiakum County officials and the US Army Corps of Engineers moved closer Tuesday to starting a project to place Columbia River Dredge spoils on Puget Island's East Sunny Sands eroding beach. Corps representative Karla Ellis, chief of the waterway maintenance division, reported the Corps solicitors had completed the memorandum of agreement for the county and Corps, and once it was signed, the parties could proceed with placing sand on the shoreline. Ellis said it will be the county's responsibility to obtain the environmental permits. She...
Wahkiakum County commissioners acted on issues ranging from road repairs to personnel evaluations at their meeting Tuesday. Commissioners approved two engineering agreements for replacing a failing culvert at Clear Creek on the Elochoman Valley Road. The agreements are for services with consultants, Sargent Engineers, with funds coming from different sources for the two parts of the project. One part is the design of a bridge to replace the culvert. The second is to design the new road alignment to connect with the bridge. With Commissioner...
About a quarter of an inch of rain fell here in Grays River over the weekend, hardly enough to wet the ground but it sure felt nice. It doesn’t look too hopeful for more coming anytime soon. I see that most farmers are already feeding hay to their animals. Naselle news Only a couple weeks left before the new school year begins. Football practice and volleyball practice will begin on the 19th and the 24th respectively, prior to classes starting on August 31st. Teacher work days are scheduled for the 25th through the 27th. Here’s to another fun...
Senator Maria Cantwell will hold a roundtable discussion with the Wahkiakum County Board of Commissioners at 5 p.m. Wednesday afternoon. The meeting will be in the River Street Meeting Room instead of the commissioners' meeting room in the courthouse. SPECIAL MEETING BOARD OF WAHKIAKUM COUNTY COMMISSIONERS NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that a Special Meeting of the Wahkiakum County Board of Commissioners will be held commencing at 5:00 p.m., Wednesday, August 12, 2015. Said Special Meeting shall take place at the River Street Meeting Room, located at...
Two new surveys will guide services for local adults. The Southwest Washington Area Agency on Aging surveyed 900 people across the region to identify priorities for its 2016-2019 operating plan. Wahkiakum County Health and Human Services conducted its own survey over the past year and collected responses from 46 persons, and those responses mirrored the aging agency's results. The agency's survey came back with four main themes, representative Mike Reardan said Tuesday in reporting to the Wahkiakum County board of commissioners. Those themes we...
Starting next week, travelers on SR will detour down county roads while the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) replaces culverts near the Elochoman River bridge. The department has been planning to replace two large culverts for over a year. On Tuesday, the department announced a contractor will close the highway to motor vehicles and bicycles between Risk Road and Elochoman Valley Road from Monday, Aug. 10 to Friday, Oct. 2. Traffic will use the Elochoman Valley, Foster and Risk roads as a detour route. The announcement came...
Wahkiakum County commissioners handled a variety of business at their meeting Tuesday, including: --Commissioners met with Cathlamet Mayor Dale Jacobson and Building and Planning Director Chuck Beyer to discuss issues in the update of the shoreline management program. Because of updates to state regulations, the town and county Critical Area Ordinances are out of date, Beyer said. The consultant working on the update, the Columbia River Estuary Study Taskforce (CREST) had anticipated being able to do the work without also updating that...
News from Naselle: Not much left of summer vacation as school starts again on August 31. Time to start stocking up on school supplies. Football and volleyball practices begin, and the teachers begin their new year earlier than the students. We have had a beautiful summer this year. Good news from Laura (Mochas & More) Ray, in Naselle. She will be back to her normal hours this week after her surgery six weeks ago. Stop in and enjoy a great coffee drink and some of her extra special treats as well. Check out some of the interesting wood work...
Commissioner Mike Backman has withdrawn his proposal to fund various community programs with county levy funds. Backman announced at Tuesday's meeting of the board of commissioners that he wanted to wait till 2016 to send the proposal to the voters. That will allow more time for proponents to explain the proposal to the public, and it will also allow officials to make sure legal details were correct. Otherwise, the board would have had to approve the ballot language next week in order to make the election ballot this November. "We'll give it a...
Wahkiakum County commissioners and US Fish and Wildlife Service managers are working to clear up a misunderstanding of angler access to closed portions of Steamboat Slough Road. Fish and Wildlife completed this year the construction of a new dike setback from the original dike. The shoreline was eroding under the original dike, and a geotechnical engineer warned the area could suddenly slide into the river, thereby breaching the dike and flooding the Julia Butler Hansen National Wildlife Refute. The US Army Corps of Engineers designed the...
By a 2-1 vote, Wahkiakum County commissioners approved measures to restore the position of commercial appraiser in the county assessor's office. Assessor Bill Coons has been seeking the move for several months, and commissioners had so far rejected the request, saying they would consider it for the 2016 budget. The department's deputy appraiser resigned last spring and moved away from the county.Coons, a certified residential appraiser, has hired Michael Daley, a former Department of Revenue appraiser who is certified as a commercial...
Even though we can use a little moisture on the ground, the rain predicted for last weekend was not much relief, except it did seem to cool the temperatures down a bit. The area wide burn ban is still in effect so please be aware of the rules and don’t burn. This is the big weekend in Rosburg for the annual Pig Roast/Potluck and Campout in Echo Meadows located at 4491 SR 4 West (the home of our host and hostess, Poul and Zenaida Toftemark). Everyone is welcome. Please bring a dish or two to share as there is usually a large crowd, your own c...
Members of the Cathlamet Town Council sparred over vacation of a street and worked on other issues during the monthly meeting on Monday. Councilmembers have been ready to act on a request from Port District 1 to vacate a portion of Beal Street which runs through port district property at the Elochoman Slough Marina. Port spokespersons have said they would like ownership of the land to accommodate economic development activity. On Monday, former mayor and now planning commission member Richard Swart urged the council to wait till the planning...
Wahkiakum County commissioners are split over a proposal to increase the county's tax levy to help fund five community endeavors. After debating the issue Tuesday, they agreed to research several issues and discuss it again soon. Commissioner Mike Backman is championing the effort, called a levy lift, to help the organizations who are struggling to find sufficient revenues for their programs. Backman's proposal would increase the levy by 35 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value. Beneficiaries would include: --Cathlamet library and...
Commissioners of Port District 2 on Tuesday reviewed plans for new services at Skamokawa Vista Park. Commissioner Kayrene Gilbertsen reviewed potential projects the port will help coordinate with funding from the Wahkiakum Marine Resource Committee. As part of a region wide appropriation, the committee has received approximately $300,000 for projects that enhance or expand the commercial fishing industry. The port district will administer the funds, and some projects may be on port property. One priority for commercial fishers is a facility...
Reacting to an article which appeared last week in a daily newspaper, Wahkiakum County officials this week said dredgers won't soon be dumping spoils inside the dike on East Sunny Sand Road. The article quoted Port of Kalama officials who said sand will be deposited on the Philip Vik farm as part of the Columbia River Channel Deepening Project. The project would involve modifications to the county road and water lines so a pipe line could be erected to transport the sand to the farmland disposal site. However, the association of upriver ports...
News from Naselle: It looks like Laura is feeling a little better and Mochas & More is open again for your favorite coffees and snacks. Stop in and give her a thumbs up after what sounds like a pretty painful procedure. Glad you are up and running again, Laura. I don’t know about you but I like to shop local. There is a new business in town and if you drive into Naselle you can’t miss this one. It’s called NW Sawyers and the team doing the sawing and constructing some really unique items on site are Rob, Ron and Rolland Day. Check them out a...
One of the final actions of the 2015 Washington state legislative session has left Wahkiakum County commissioners fuming. Commissioners expected Wahkiakum to share an appropriation of $3 millon with Pacific and Skamania counties. The funds were appropriated to compensate the three counties who have trust timber land tied up for environmental habitat conservation areas. But hours before the budget was approved on Friday, commissioners learned that all the funds would go to Skamania County. After...
My apologies to the readers for not getting a column in for the last couple of weeks and my thanks to all those who called to inquire if everything was ok. We are fine, but sometimes we have to step back a bit and get our priorities in order. Health and family has to come first, and hopefully everything else will fall into place. News from Naselle Mochas & More coffee and goodie shop, located at the corner of SR 4 and 401 in Naselle, has been closed for a few weeks, but now that Laura is on the mend it looks like she will be in full swing once...
On Tuesday, the Columbia River Compact approved two 12-hour openings for commercial fishers on the Columbia River. The first ran from last night to today (Wednesday and Thursday). The second will start at 7 p.m. July 14 and close at 7 a.m. July 15. An eight-hour non-Indian commercial fishing period occurred on June 17. Catch included 2,101 Chinook and 243 sockeye. Total catch currently represents 70 percent of the 2,996 adult Chinook allocated. A balance of 895 fish remains available for...
Wahkiakum County commissioners on Tuesday cancelled the eight-ton weight limit for the ferry Oscar B. Construction of a new loading ramp has been completed at the Westport ramp, so Wahkiakum County Public Works Director Pete Ringen recommended the commissioners remove the eight-ton limit, which was established to accommodate the temporary dock which the ferry used while the new ramp was constructed. After discussion, the board voted to remove the eight-ton limit but limit loads to the maximum allowed for the old ferry, the Wahkiakum, while the...
