Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
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As voters were preparing to return their vote by mail ballots this past week, a candidate for District 19 state representative faced late challenges. After a news story in the Chinook Observer reported Democrat incumbent Brian Blake has paid former staff member and short term legislator J.D. Rosetti $65,000 for campaign printing and advertising services, Republican opponent Joel McEntire accused Blake of cronyism by channeling an unnecessary amount of campaign funds into his friend’s new business. Rosetti began operating a start-up Minuteman P...
The Wahkiakum Mule football team got back on the winning track with a 41-22 win over the Winlock Cardinals last Friday. The win secured a third place finish for the Mules in the Central League's River Division and put them in a crossover playoff today (Thursday) with the Raymond Seagulls, second place finisher in the Coastal Division. At Raymond's suggestion, the 7 p.m. game has been moved to Stewart Field in Aberdeen to avoid the Gulls' muddy field. "They're a good team," Mule Coach Eric Hansen said of the Gulls. "They have two good linemen...
Wahkiakum County Commissioner Dan Cothren and Dr. Boone Mora, a retired public health officer living in Skamokawa, traveled to Toutle last week to meet Dr. Margaret Wild, who has been selected to lead Washington State University’s research into hoof rot disease in elk. The disease causes hooves to grow abnormally and become infected. Eventually, the animal will become too lame to forage and will die. Efforts by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to identify and address the disease have had mixed results, and the state legislature i...
The general election campaigning continues to boil and bubble. Among last Friday's bulk mail was an ad urging District 19 voters to write in Teresa Purcell's name instead of voting for either Republican Jim Walsh or Erin Frasier for district representative. Rose Lundy and The Daily News of Longview did a good job of following up on the mailer. Briefly, it come from either Walsh, Fraiser or Purcell. In fact, Purcell told The Daily News she is campaigning for Fraiser and is not a write-in candidate. Instead, the mailer came from a Republican...
Commissioners of Port District 2 adopted a budget for 2019 when they met October 16 at Skamokawa Vista Park. In adopting the district budget, Commissioners Lori Scott, Brian O’Connor and Lee Tischer declined to raise local property taxes the 1 percent allowed them under state law. Commissioners said anticipated revenue should cover district expenses. “It’s my opinion that we should not increase taxes,” said Scott, board chair. “I agree with that,” O’Connor said, and Tischer concurred. “And maybe there’s a point where we could not collect as mu...
The Kalama Chinook football team ran over the depleted Wahkiakum Mules for a 55-0 River Division victory last Friday night. Injury problems have hurt the Mules; in the past week they lost two starters to leg injuries and had a third taken from Friday's game for a head injury assessment. "We finished the game with two seniors, one junior and the rest underclassmen on the field," said Mule Coach Eric Hansen. "The season has been brutal." In effect, the Mules had a junior varsity team playing the third ranked Class 2B team in the state. Kalama pil...
An intense four days of slide stabilization work is set for this weekend on SR 4 near the Wahkiakum/Cowlitz county line. The work is scheduled Friday through Monday, with the contractor working around the clock to stabilize a slope that failed July 25. To accommodate the work, the highway may be closed 20 minutes at a time. Washington Department of Transportation spokesperson Celeste Dimichina said Monday the work was planned for a weekend because department personnel felt there would be less...
Members of the Cathlamet town council lifted a building moratorium, took steps to update the Critical Area Ordinace and handled other business when they met Monday. Clerk/Treasurer Kerrie McNally explained the reason for the update--state agencies are demanding current, updated Critical Area Ordinances (CAO) as part of the requirements for funding grant awards. Twice this year the town has lost grant funding awards for street and water main projects because the town's CAO is out of date. To satisfy the state departments of Ecology and...
Our vote-by-mail ballots for the general election will soon arrive, and many people will pick up a pen and fill them out right away. I learned a long time ago to wait till just before election day to make my choice. I had endorsed a candidate in the last issue before the election, and she came to our town and made some statements that changed my mind about her. It was too late for the newspaper but not the ballot. We have an overwhelming number of letters to the editor this week; it’s good that citizens are taking the election seriously. N...
The Toledo Indians overwhelmed the Wahkiakum Mules for a 24-6 Central League football victory last Friday. "I'm proud of the way the boys played," Mule Coach Eric Hansen said of his team. "Injuries hampered us. We had eight sophomores and three seniors out there." After a scoreless first quarter, Toledo took a 7-0 lead in the second quarter with an 18-yard touchdown run. The Mules closed the gap in the third quarter with Evan Quigley scoring on an eight-yard pass from Lucas Brown. [Editor's...
Highway construction projects on SR 4 and the Puget Island bridge will impact traffic next week. Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) contractors plan to finish work at the slide at Stella very soon, and a new slide stabilization project will start Monday near County Line Park. Following are WSDOT announcements that, 1., outline the status of the projects and, 2., address questions about the bridge work. --- WSDOT News: SR 409 Puget Island Bridge closures Oct. 15-19; New slope stabilization work begins near County Line Park...
The body of a man found in the Columbia River last month has been identified as Puget Island resident Joe Abeyta. Clatsop County Medical Examiner Dr. JoAnn Giuliani said late Friday afternoon that fingerprints confirmed the identity. Abeyta lived alone in a waterfront residence on the northern side of Little Island. He was often seen walking with his dog across Puget Island bridge into Cathlamet to collect his mail. At the request of Dr. Giuliani, newspapers published a detailed description of his clothing, and Wahkiakum County Prosecuting...
Wahkiakum County officials covered a lot of issues when the board of county commissioners met Tuesday, but most of it revolved around erosion. County officials have been working for two years to set up a 10-year program with the US Army Corps of Engineers to place sand dredged out of the Columbia River shipping channel along eroding shorelines on Puget Island and at Cape Horn on the mainland. In the summer, officials and property owners had been told it was likely that Cape Horn would have beach nourishment in late September or October, but...
For weeks, I've been waiting for the edition when we didn't have a letter to the editor regarding the election for county assessor. I've wanted to write an opinion column about the race, but I've wanted to avoid giving the impression that I'm responding to a letter. However, there's been so much interest in the race, the letters keep coming, and I don't think there will be a lull before the ballots come out later this month. And so, here it goes. I met Bill Coons not long after he moved to Wahkiakum County in the early 1990's. At that time, he...
The Wahkiakum Mules picked up a Central League/River Divison win with a 42-6 win over the host Toutle Lake Ducks last Friday. The Mules had no trouble with the Duck defense; they rushed for 310 yards and gained another 138 in the air as quarterback Lucas Brown completed eight of 11 passes. Brown passed to Quentin Nelson at 7:03 of the first quarter for a 20-yard touchdown play. In the second quarter, Chance Cothren scored on a 35-yard run; Brown scored on a one-yard quarterback sneak and Nelson scored again on a 24-yard pass play. Toutle Lake...
International affairs have caught up with Wahkiakum County's recycling program. The county, subsidized by state funding, operates the program that collects cans, paper, cardboard and plastics. The material is sold to Cowlitz Waste Control with proceeds helping cover county expenses. Waste Control, in turn, sold the plastics to another firm, which exported the material to China. In November, 2017, Chinese buyers cancelled their contracts, saying the plastics were too contaminated with useless...
[Editor: This story has been updated to include more detail.} The body of a man found in the Columbia River last month has been identified as Puget Island resident Joe Abeyta. Clatsop County Dr. JoAnn Giuliani said late Friday afternoon that fingerprints confirmed the identity. Abeyta lived alone in a waterfront residence on the northern side of Little Island. He was often seen walking with his dog across Puget Island bridge into Cathlamet to collect his mail. At the request of Dr. Giuliani, newspapers published a detailed description of his...
The Wahkiakum County Planning Commission last Thursday accepted a proposed update of the county's shoreline management program from the county commission's Real Property Rights Advisory Committee. Planners had recommended approval of a document in May, 2017, prepared in cooperation with consultants, but county commissioners felt it was too complicated and heard citizen concerns that the proposed plan was more stringent than required under state law. They sent the plan to the property rights committee and asked them to edit it and submit it to...
` Proponents of a Renaissance theme cooperative farm in the Elochoman Valley presented their plans to concerned neighbors Tuesday before the county board of commissioners. JD Honoré and his wife, Shira, purchased a farm from Margaret and Dale Strueby, taking possession just before the end of September. A website and Facebook page presented their concepts for a Tudor style village, Taylor Town. Word of the plans quickly spread on social media, and citizens expressing concerns ranging from traffic and noise to environmental pollution and cult...
The eroding beach at Cape Horn apparently won't receive dredged sand this year for beach nourishment. Wahkiakum County officials have been working for two years to obtain permits for dredge spoils deposits at Cape Horn and three spots on Puget Island, and they thought it would be likely the Cape Horn site would get sand this year. However, county commissioners reported Tuesday that US Army Corps officials informed them this week that the permitting still has to go through a permitting process. The National Marine Fisheries Service has yet to...
Photo by Diana Zimmerman The Wahkiakum Mules ran over the Mossyrock Vikings for a 58-21 football homecoming victory last Friday. In the first quarter, Chance Cothren scored on an 87-yard run and seven-yard pass from Lucas Brown who kicked two conversions. The Vikings hit a field goal for a 14-3 score. In the second quarter, James Anderson and Brown scored on runs of 17 and five yards, respectively, and Brown and Cothren connected on a 20-yard touchdown pass play. Mossyrock scored on a 62-yard...
Wahkiakum County commissioners heard concerns from Elochoman Valley residents Tuesday that a commune might start in their neighborhood and adversely impact their quality of life. Residents of the Monroe Acres development and other Elochoman Valley residents expressed concern that a planned development that was announced over the weekend will adversely impact their lives. According to the website townoftaylor.com, the future Town of Taylor will be a co-op community of businesses with the theme of living in the 1500's. The town will be open year...
Regional search and rescue units located two people who became lost in Wahkiakum area forests. On Tuesday, responders located a Naselle man, Pete Rigert, age 52, who had become lost Monday while hiking in the woods above his house near the Pacific County line. According to the Wahkiakum County Sheriff's Office, he had last been seen about 12:30 p.m. He was reported missing at 5:30 p.m. Search and Rescue (SAR) volunteers and sheriff's office personnel responded and searched through the night. A US Coast Guard helicopter crew joined the search...
Elochoman Valley residents were surprised this weekend by an announcement that the new owners of the Strueby Farm plan to start a farming cooperative and build a Renaissance style village there. Word spread; neighbors began studying the project website, townoftaylor.com, and concerns began to mount. Residents brought those concerns to the county board of commissioners Tuesday--noise, increased traffic, environmental impacts, and potentially unsavory activities reminiscent of Rajneeshpuram, the Oregon town/commune of devotees of the religious...
Commissioners of Port District 2 went over their preliminary budget when they met Sept. 18 at Skamokawa Vista Park. The proposed budget totaled $1.058 million, down from $1.13 million budget for 2018 and $1.14 budgeted for 2017. The port expects to collect $244,100 from fees collected from campers at Skamokawa Vista and County Parks. The port expects $30,000 in revenue from selling dredged sand at Vista Park, and it expects to pay the state Department of Natural Resources a $20,000 royalty for the sand. Operating revenue, which comes from park...
