Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
Sorted by date Results 826 - 850 of 2280
As Wahkiakum County moves slowly through the process to set up sites for placing dredged sands on eroding shorelines, some Cape Horn residents are starting to think they may have to take matters into their own hands. The county has been working for a year with residents of Puget Island's East Sunny Sands and more recently the Cape Horn area east of Cathlamet to get dredged sand dumped on eroding beaches. The county has hired a consulting engineering firm to handle the environmental studies and...
A series of basic hunter education classes, needed by all beginning hunters, will start July 23 at the Cathlamet Fire Hall. To register, one must go the the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife website and follow the path to register for a traditional class (http://wdfw.wa.gov/hunting/huntered/classes/basic.php). The path takes one to Hunter Education Courses, Traditional Class, Register Now, July 23, View Event, Register. The website contains a list of instructions that must be followed to complete registration. Classes will take place...
In times of severe emergency or disaster, a group of volunteer radio operators may be Wahkiakum County's last line of communication with the outside world. It has happened before. Several days of heavy rain in1996 caused slides that blocked roads and wiped out traditional telephone and radio communication. County emergency services personnel were able to communicate only with cell phones for two or three days. In 2006, slides from another series of storms wiped out roads, radio communication and...
Residents of Wahkiakum County's eroding shorelines continue to press county commissioners to expedite Columbia River dredging that would protect their property. In the public comment period at the beginning of each commission meeting, residents of Puget Island's East Sunny Sands and the Little Cape Horn area ask commissioners for reports on the progress of the county-sponsored program to form dredge spoils disposal sites to protect the eroding property. Almost every week, Commissioner Dan...
Local officials met Tuesday with representatives of the National Park Service to plan the design process for a waterfront park in Cathlamet. The group is working on a plan for converting the town's old sewer lagoons into a park adjacent to the Elochoman Slough Marina. The town has received a grant from the park service for the work. The group spent much of Tuesday going over a draft survey to be presented to the public in July. The group will tally results, and from there, a park service architect will develop a few possible layouts to present...
Port District 2's plans to construct a laundromat at Skamokawa Vista Park have come to a standstill for the moment. They have the architect's drawings, they have the financing, they have access to water, but they don't have a sewer connection. Commissioners had planned to construct the facility at the entrance to Vista Park where the old park office was located. However, the port was notified by the Skamokawa Sewer and Water District that the district has reached the maximum number of...
Cathlamet's town council approved a call for bids for expansion of the water plant intakes and acted on other business at their monthly meeting on Monday. The goal of the water project is to locate an unused line under the Elochoman River which would increase the water plant capacity. The state Department of Health is threatening to restrict the number of new connections to the town and Puget Island water systems unless the town expands water intake capacity. Consulting engineer John Hinton said the project should cost around $5,000 and is fair...
They keep coming: Wahkiakum County courthouse department heads in the past few weeks have made several proposals to reorganize their staffs. County commissioners Dan Cothren and Blair Brady weren't having it Tuesday. First they had a request from the county auditor's office which they approved. Auditor Diane Tischer has been modifying her staff's job descriptions. The board approved a request to boost the new deputy auditor II to step three on the salary schedule, and they approved moving the payroll clerk into non-union status. "I've been...
Wahkiakum County commissioners worked on a variety of personnel issues when they met Tuesday. At the end of the meeting, Commissioners Dan Cothren and Blair Brady--Commissioner Mike Backman is in Alaska--voted to increase the salaries of certain elected officials for the first time in years. The county clerk, auditor, assessor, sheriff and treasurer will receive 15 percent raises effective July 1. Assessor Bill Coons presented the request on behalf of the officials. "An adjustment needs to be done," he said. Based on the length of time since th...
Arrgh! There's nothing like publishing to show your mistakes to the world. We made a whopper last week. While preparing the page honoring the Wahkiakum High School Class of 2016, I typed "2015." I finished the page, read it over "carefully," and printed a copy. Two colleagues proofed the page. This is normal; all copy is reviewed three times before going into print. We made some minor adjustments but we all missed The Big One. So. We all apologize to the WHS Class of 2016 and their friends and families. We've printed the page correctly this...
Wahkiakum County Commissioners handled a variety of business when they met Tuesday, including: --Commissioner Dan Cothren reported he had met with officials from the US Army Corps of Engineers and the upriver ports association to talk about dredging issues. “Things are moving,” Cothren said, adding that the representative of the upriver ports seemed agreeable to the county’s concept that dredged sand will be placed along eroding beaches before it goes to inland disposal. Commissioner Mike Backman suggested the board hold a public meeting to ex...
Wahkiakum County officials on Tuesday agreed to put off a decision on how to restructure the county’s information technology (IT) management until late July. The county auditor’s office has handled IT management since courthouse offices started using computers, but the job has grown so technical and time consuming that even with assistance from a technical consulting company, More Power computing, joining the effort, the office wants to lose the responsibility. At a discussion two weeks ago, commissioners asked the IT committee to evaluate pos...
By Rick Nelson Wahkiakum County officials are searching for a way to deal with the growing demands of information technology. For years, staff in the county auditor's office have maintained the system, but Auditor Diane Tischer has said the system has become too sophisticated and too time consuming for her staff. Members of the Information Technology Committee have been evaluating the situation and on Tuesday recommended the board of commissioners consider hiring an IT professional to manage the system. Commissioner Blair Brady was absent--he...
Washington's voters narrowly favored Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders in the Democrat party presidential primary election Tuesday. Statewide, Clinton received 53.63 percent of the vote, compared to Sanders's 46.73 percent. However, the Democrats use the caucus system to select delegates to the national convention, and Sanders won heavily in the caucuses. Wahkiakum County voters favored Sanders 274-266 votes, or 50.74 percent to 49.26 percent. Pacific County voters favored Clinton 1,364 votes to 1,263, or 41.9 percent to 48 percent. The only...
Filing for positions on the local election ballots wound up Friday with contests for commission seats. Filings include: --Dan Cothren, Independent, filed for re-election to position two on the Board of County Commissioners. Matt Barnhill, Indpendent, and Robert L. Jungers, No Party, also filed for the position. --Dennis Reid filed for re-election to position three on the board of commissioners of Wahkiakum PUD. The position is non-partisan. --Mike Backman, Independent, filed for re-election to position one on the county Board of Commissioners....
Members of the Cathlamet town council breezed through their agenda Monday, covering topics ranging from water plant upgrades to executive sessions and racist names. The town is without a clerk/treasurer, and the council took several steps to deal with the vacancy. Councilmembers voted to contract with Payroll Tax Management, Inc., to handle payroll execution and reporting. The council met in executive session at the end of the meeting, and after coming in to open session, agreed to contract...
Wahkiakum County commissioners continued plugging away at various projects and issues when they met Tuesday. Commissioner Dan Cothren reported that US Army Corps of Engineers staff are still working on final details for entry permits and other agreements the county will need to set up dredge spoil disposal areas on Puget Island and Little Cape Horn. Cothren said he or other county officials will meet soon with Corps staff for a progress update. When the permits are in place, he said, the county will be able to submit its permit application for...
by Rick Nelson Commissioners of Port District 2 on Tuesday agreed to continue working on their plan to construct a laundromat at Skamokawa Vista Park. Commissioners learned last week that the Skamokawa Water and Sewer Disrict doesn't have adequate capacity to add the laundry to the community sewer system. The limitation caused the commission to table a plan to buy property on Skamokawa Creek and locate park model cabins on it. Vista Park, however, has its own sewer system, and commissioners agreed they'd hire an engineer to inspect the...
Filing for positions on the local election ballots got off to a start Monday and Tuesday of this week. Dan Cothren, Independent, filed for re-election to position two on the Board of County Commissioners. Matt Barnhill, Indpendent, also filed for the position. Dennis Reid filed for re-election to position three on the board of commissioners of Wahkiakum PUD. The position is non-partisan. Mike Backman, Independent, filed for re-election to position one on the county Board of Commissioners. Filing for precinct committeeperson positions were...
Wahkiakum County's board of commissioners voted Tuesday to support a petition to change the names of geographic landmarks in the county which incorporate the name Jim Crow. The issue arose a month ago when a Seattle state senator contacted Commissioner Dan Cothren to talk about the public sentiment for changing the name of Jim Crow Creek, Point and Hill. Jim Crow refers to the oppressive laws and codes adopted in the South after the Civil War and which were used to oppress African Americans. When first approached, Commissioners Dan Cothren and...
Editor's note: The original version of this story contained errors regarding names and affiliations. They have been corrected. Three weeks ago, commissioners of Port District 2 were ready to purchase property on Skamokawa Creek for boat moorage and overnight lodgings. Then reality hit. This past week, commissioners of the Skamokawa Water and Sewer District informed port officials that the Skamokawa sewer system can't take any more connections. In fact, the system probably doesn't have enough capacity to handle the port's planned laundromat....
We are pleased to announce our annual photo contest, A Day in The Life of Wahkiakum County and Naselle. We invite Wahkiakum County and Naselle residents to shoot a photo on Saturday, May 7, 2016, in the Wahkiakum County and Naselle areas and enter on or before May 13, 2016, to participate. Three division winners will be selected and earn $50 prizes. Winners and honorable mention photos will be published in The Wahkiakum County Eagle’s special edition, The Focus on Wahkiakum, in early June. Divisions will are: 1. Children age 0-7 on May 1, 2...
The local election season is approaching. Filing for positions on the 2016 election ballots will run May 16-20. Candidates for local positions file in the county auditor's office, 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 1:30 to 4 p.m. Positions on the ballot include: County Commissioner District 1, 4-year term, Mike Backman incumbent. Precincts: East & West Puget Island & South Cathlamet. Filing Fee $359.80. Island resident Greg Prestegard announced to The Eagle on Tuesday that he will be a candidate for the position. County Commissioner District 2, 4-year...
Discussion about changing the names of Wahkiakum County geological features incorporating the name Jim Crow continued this week. The discussion started last month when Senator Pramila Jayapal of Seattle began a statewide review of geographic names that might be considered racist or otherwise offensive. The names of Jim Crow Point, Jim Crow Hill and Jim Crow Creek, eventually caught her eye, and her inquiries about the name reached the board of commissioners and started a public conversation about the names. The term Jim Crow refers to the laws...
Wahkiakum County commissioners cruised through a relatively quiet meeting Tuesday including a request to modify personnel classifications in District Court. Judge Bill Faubion asked the board to move two District Court staff members to new classes in recognition of their long service to the county. The two clerks have been in the office for 26 and 22.5 years, he said. The county's pay scale for longevity ends at 12 years, he said, so the two clerks haven't had a commiserate increase. "We need to recognize the value of long-term employees and...
