Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
Sorted by date Results 2226 - 2250 of 2699
There's nothing like property assessments to pique people's interest in local government. The Wahkiakum County Assessor's office recently mailed property owners their revaluation notices. One person from western Wahkiakum County commented his property value went down. However, the value of our property on Puget Island went up. As Island property owners, we weren't alone. Several have told of increases of 8.5 percent, 11.8 percent and 22.5 percent. Meanwhile, local real estate agents have wondered how property values have gone up. One pointed...
Have you had a chance to trek through downtown Rosburg lately? If not, there is much activity at the site of the Rosburg Store, which will open again soon with new owners, Norman and Joyce Bolton of Rosburg. Sporting a new coat of light colored paint on the outside (thanks to Marlee Blain), new merchandise, walls and floors all spruced up, and lots of hard work from the whole Bolton Family, the Rosburg Store will once again be the central meeting place for the community. Norm took time to sit down and give me some details on the reopening of...
Dikes along Seal Slough in western Wahkiakum County are eroding faster than thought and need immediate attention, officials from the Grays River Habitat Enhancement District said Tuesday. According to Delvin Fredrickson, a member of the enhancement district board of commissioners, a large chunk of the private dike at the residence of Poul Toftemark, also a member of the enhancement district board, slid away over the past weekend. Fredrickson and Toftemark asked the Wahkiakum County board of commissioners to declare an emergency and take steps...
Wahkiakum County commissisoners approved a week-long, daytime closure of the Grays River Covered Bridge and acted on other business when they met Tuesday. The bridge may be closed 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday of next week as the county road crew replaces siding on the Covered Bridge. Public Works Director Pete Ringen said the crew will set up man-lift equipment on a gravel bar by the bridge to do the work. A federal bridge grant is paying for the work; the crew has already installed a new roof which was paid by the grant. In other...
Wahkiakum County residents on Tuesday urged the county board of commissioners to adopt an ordinance regulating the application of biosolids on land in the county. Commissioners Blair Brady, Dan Cothren and Lisa Marsyla listed to the public input and could act on the ordinance as early as their meeting next Tuesday morning. Commissioners asked Prosecuting Attorney Dan Bigelow to draft an ordinance after citizens reacted to a Long Beach septic hauler who applied for a permit to deposit septage, the lowest of three grades of treated sewage, on...
It's going to be a busy fall. Our county board of commissioners will act on an ordinance to regulate the application of biosolids--treated human waste--this month. If they adopt it, and I'll bet they will, it could send the county into court with the state Department of Ecology. Officials and citizens are looking for some way to control or restrict the application of biosolids. A Seaview firm wants to spread them on a Grays River farm, and Westend residents are leery of the prospect, fearing the biosolids will adversely impact wildlife and...
News from Naselle: Fall football started out with a win for the Naselle Comets against Ilwaco last Friday with a score of 24-0. Good job Comets. Sports coming up this week: Thursday, the 9th –volleyball at Ilwaco at 5:45 p.m.; Friday, the 10th – football at home against Warrenton at 7 p.m.; Saturday, the 11th – cross country meet at Knappa, all day event; Tuesday, the 14th – cross country at Castle Rock at 4 p.m., volleyball at Raymond at 5:45 p.m. Naselle Grays River Valley School District will hold an open house on...
Well, I hope the farmers have their hay in, as it looks like some wet weather is ahead. The rain is quite welcome for gardens being watered by hand. News from Naselle: Today is the first day of the 2010-11 school year. Let’s support them in their efforts, praise them for doing a good job and let them know we still care even if they need a little coaching in certain subjects. Remember that there is no school on Monday, the 6th, in celebration of Labor Day. I had a very nice note from Lois Bighill regarding her brother, Dan Anderson, of Grays R...
The Second Annual Cathlamet Downhill Corral, a series of internationally sanctioned longboard races, came off with few hitches last Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The races brought nearly 100 competitors to the area, over twice the number that competed last year. Food and lodging business enjoyed a brief surge as competitors and their friends and family members gathered in Cathlamet and at Skamokawa Vista Park. The racers competed for prize money in a variety of events. On Friday, they held a slide contest and a tight slalom race on Broadway...
The Washington Court of Appeals last week denied an appeal of a suit over the ownership of the Johnson Park/Rosburg School property. The decision ended a long-standing lawsuit and gave right of ownership to Wahkiakum County. John and Helen Johnson donated land to the county in 1936 for use as a school or park. The Naselle/Grays River Valley School District built a school on the site and used it until it ceded control of the land to Wahkiakum County several years ago. The county allowed the site to be used by a variety of groups, including the c...
Wahkiakum County's two major business promotion groups are going to explore a merger. Officers of the Wahkiakum Chamber of Commerce presented the suggestion to the board of directors of the Lower Columbia Economic Development Council and the LCEDC board's August meeting. The groups agreed to form a committee to evaluate the proposal. The proposal came from the Chamber of Commerce which focuses its activities on promoting tourism and sponsoring community events. Chamber President Jennifer Hanigan said there were two basic reasons for the...
The Town of Cathlamet has submitted a detailed letter of comment on Wahkiakum County's proposed ordinance to govern application of biosolids in the county. Mayor George Wehrfritz said council members had asked him to write a letter of comment about the proposed ordinance, which will be considered at a public hearing next Tuesday, 7 p.m., in the courthouse. The proposed ordinance recognizes three grades of biosolids--Class A, Class B and Septage. Class A biosolids have the most treatment, and septage, biosolids composed primarily of human waste...
Representatives of groups often at odds over flood plain management in the Grays River Valley on Tuesday agreed on some initial steps to stop erosion of a private dike along Seal Slough. Columbia Land Trust bought the Kandoll Farm near Rosburg several years ago and, partnering with Ducks Unlimited, breached dikes and changed drainage facilities in an effort to restore wetland habitat for salmon and other fish. The area has subsequently experience flooding, and local residents said the projects created or exacerbated the flood damage. Last...
Wahkiakum County officials started preparing for the process of developing budgets of 2010 this week. The county finance committee--Treasurer Paula Holloway, Auditor Diane Tischer, and Commissioners Blair Brady, Dan Cothren and Lisa Marsyla, met Tuesday to examine where the county stands this year and what might be ahead. Holloway, Tischer and housing and permitting director Chuck Beyer used the meeting as an opportunity lobby for funding for personnel to work part or full time in their offices. With the budget cuts of two years ago, the...
Wahkiakum County commissioners and officials from the state Department of Ecology discussed a variety of issues ranging from water rights to biosolids management in a meeting Tuesday. Salley Toteff, Ecology's regional director for southwestern Washington, visited the commissioners to talk about hot local issues. --The department is going to re-design proposals that have generated controversy in planning to manage watershed in the Grays, Elochoman and Cowlitz river basins. --The department is preparing to act on an application to apply a type...
Still strange weather for summer. One day you think summer missed us altogether and the next day or two it is definitely here. I am pleased to be able to let all the readers know that the Rosburg Store will reopen with new owners, though the date is yet to be determined. Norm and Joyce Bolton have purchased the property and will run it as a family business, with their daughter, Leslie and granddaughter, Cassie working in the store. I met with Norm and Joyce on Monday, and they told me that they will run the store much the same as it always has...
Commissioners of Wahkiakum County Port District 2 worked through a light agenda Tuesday. Commission Chair Brian O'Connor reported that the port's well and water supply at Skamokawa Vista Park is scheduled to be operating by the end of the year. The port has been getting water from the West Side Water System and recently settled a back bill for $6,000. Now, Manager Bob Henderson said, the port and the water system will work out a wholesale rate so that they can sell water as necessary, and the purchaser won't be stuck with a higher retail rate,...
The Cathlamet Town Council voted 3-1 Monday to authorize Mayor George Wehrfritz to offer heirs of the late Effie Wright a refund of $10,000 she made to the town for purchase of land for use as a parking lot. Wehrfritz asked for council backing for his suggestion to ask the heirs if they would like a refund or if they would want the money to go into a fund for parking improvements. Council Member Wally Wright, a son of Effie Wright, abstained from voting but opposed Wehrfitz's proposal. In discussions over the proposed layout of Queen Sally...
Washington's voters went to the polls and have almost concluded their first ever top-two primary election on Tuesday. The top two candidates in each race advance to the general election no matter their party affiliation. Wahkiakum voters had a few of those races to settle. County Auditor and chief elections officer Diane Tischer said election workers counted 1,435 ballots on Tuesday; they reconvened Wednesday morning to count approximately 200 more as The Eagle went to press, and those tallies could change some of Tuesday's results. They'll...
Wahkiakum County Commissioners will hold a public hearing September 24 on a proposed ordinance to govern application of biosolids in the county. The ordinance stemmed from a plan to apply biosolids to a Grays River farm, and area residents objected, saying they carried potential health hazards. In the preamble, the ordinance notes that the various biosolids can contain heavy metals and microorganisms which could be spread in floods and normal drainage. The ordinance recognizes three grades of biosolids--Class A, Class B and Septage. Class A bio...
A portion of the 140-year old Warren Cannery caved in Friday evening. The landmark structure of Cathlamet's waterfront was built in 1869. Commercial fishermen still store nets and other gear in it. Milt Doumit, one of the co-owners of the building, said an upper floor on the back side away from the river had crashed down to the main floor, dragging the roof and adjacent walls with it. However, Doumit said, much of the building remains standing, and the owners hope to be able to save those portions. "We've been rebuilding parts of it all the...
The ancestral home of a Puget Island family is part of a national and world heritage area in Norway. The house will be part of an area set aside to remember the area's history and the part which emigration played in it. The house was the home of the Tover (Tåvær in Norwegian) family which emigrated to the United States in the early 20th Century. They and three other families from the same area, the Wika, Nepsund and Wegdahl families, all settled on Puget Island. They came from the area around Vega, an archipelago on the coast of Norway's H...
Wahkiakum County commissioners on Tuesday rejected a citizen petition to pass an ordinance putting all regulations concerning land use controls to a public vote. However, they agreed to form an advisory committee on land use issues after discussing the topic for an hour with a group of some 20 people. Several weeks ago, the citizens presented a petition with over 400 signatures asking for the commissioners to pass the ordinance or to put the measure on an election ballot for a vote. Before acting on the issue, the commissioners referred it to...
Two weeks already, since our home burned. We are settling in to our motorhome, making minor repairs, since it hasn’t been used in 10 years, and looking forward. Better than looking back I’d say. In my stupor last week, I neglected to thank some very important people, our volunteer fire departments. Thank you so much for all your efforts in trying to put out the fire and save our home. You were awesome. And another huge thank you to the Grays River Café for providing food for all the fire and EMS folks as well as our family. News fro...
In a special meeting Monday evening, the Cathlamet town council voted 3-2 to support the proposed plans for development of a town center and Queen Sally Park. Mayor George Wehrfritz called the special meeting for a vote on the plan after council members expressed concerns at the council's July meeting. Wehrfritz and town staff submitted a grant application to fund development of the park last Friday, the deadline for applications for funding in 2011. The project calls for remodeling the lower floor of town hall into a community center and impro...
