Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
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Wahkiakum County commissioners acted on a variety of business issues when they met Tuesday. Commissioner Dan Cothren gave an update on efforts to place sand on eroding Cape Horn and Puget Island beaches. Two agreements are tied up in reviews in the Seattle office of the US Army Corps of Engineers, Cothren said. He and Portland Corps officials have voiced frustration with the amount of time the agreements have been under consideration, Cothren said. Cothren and Cape Horn residents entertained a visit from a staff member of Senator Maria...
By Rick Nelson Wahkiakum County commissioners debated holding a public meeting on their new junk control ordinance and acted on other items of business when they met Tuesday. Commissioner Mike Backman told colleagues Dan Cothren and Blair Brady that he feels people are confused about enforcement of the new solid waste/junk control ordinance and that the board and health department officials should hold informational meetings to explain how the ordinance will be enforced. Backman said he had been contacted by a person who had received a notice...
The Cathlamet Town Council addressed issues ranging from the town water system to updating the town ordinance implementing the State Environmental Protection Act (SEPA) ordinance when they met Monday evening. Public Works Director Duncan Cruickshank and consulting engineer Bob Hinton reported progress in the effort to increase the intake capacity for the town water plant. The town needs to increase the intake capacity, or state officials will institute a moratorium on new connections because the plant would not be able to satisfy demand....
Commissioners of Port District 2 acted on varied business when they met Tuesday at their Skamokawa Vista Park office. Commissioners adopted a resolution setting the stage for purchase of a waterfront lot in Skamokawa. The lot, on Pleasant Point Road, has a dock. The dock will be an aid to boaters, said Commissioner Brian O'Connor. Because of siltation, the nearby launching ramp isn't usable at low water, and boaters have sometimes had to wait hours to launch or exit the water. Port Attorney Tim Hanigan said the resolution allows the port to...
Wahkiakum County can expect little change in the revenue it receives from state managed timber sales over the next three years. Staff of the Department of Natural Resources, which manages the harvest of timber from county trust lands, made the report Tuesday to the county board of commissioners. The good news, they said, is that the recent sale on Bradley Mountain went for very competitive, high prices. The county should realize around $915,828 from the sale this year. The bad news, according to Commissioner Blair Brady, is that the county is...
Wahkiakum County's computer and technology programs have outgrown their welcome. Since the county set up a computer system for the courthouse offices years ago, staff in the auditor's office have been responsible for maintaining the system and handling the paperwork associated with it. No more, Auditor Diane Tischer said this week as officials met to discuss how to manage the system. "The auditor's office doesn't want to be responsible anymore," Tischer said. "It's huge--computers, telephone and copiers, someday. We won't be able to get to...
Scooped. That's what we are at The Eagle. Last fall, we decided to do a story about the African-American man who lived at Brookfield at the end of the 19th Century. Jim Crow Point and Jim Crow Creek were named after him; there may even be Jim Crow Hill. The lore is that there was a popular song, "Jump Jim Crow," which caricatured African Americans, and the man, Jim Saules, sang it as a way of mocking the song and Jim Crow. Jim Crow, of course, refers to laws adopted in states of the Confederacy to enforce segregation of African Americans,...
Staff of the Wahkiakum County Department of Health and Human Services had a variety of news for the board of county commissioners on Tuesday. The board approved several contracts relating to the change in the regional organizations that channel state and federal funding into mental health and related services at the local level. State law has required a consolidation of the regional agencies, and the county is now part of the Great Rivers Behavioral Health Organization. County mental health director Chris Holmes said the change would add...
Development of a program to deposit dredge spoils on eroding county beaches continues to move slowly in the offices of the US Army Corps of Engineers. Wahkiakum County officials are working with residents of Puget Island and the Cape Horn areas to set up a 10-year program that will allow dredgers to deposit spoils on the eroding beaches. Each week residents attend meetings of the board of commissioners for updates. On Tuesday, Commissioner Dan Cothren said he had spoken with Karla Ellis, the Corps staff member in charge of the process. He had...
There's a lot of work to do. Wahkiakum County officials and members of the Johnson Park Board of Directors toured the Grays River Valley Center in Rosburg on Tuesday to see the condition and needs of the facility and to get a start on rebuilding the center's board of directors, which now has only three members. The center is housed in the old Rosburg School. The county acquired the grounds and building when the Naselle/Grays River Valley School District declared them surplus to its needs....
The Cathlamet Town Council added two new members last Monday evening. Two spots were unclaimed in last year's elections, and they've remained empty ever since. Filling the positions are Bernadette Goodroe, widow of former Councilmember David Goodroe, who died last fall, and Sue Cameron, director of Wahkiakum County Health and Human Services. Cameron commented that she has been a county commissioner in Tillamook County Oregon, and would recuse herself in votes that might involve county business t...
by Rick Nelson Wahkiakum County commissioners on Tuesday rejected a distance waiver request that would have allowed the establishment of a marijuana store in Rosburg. Kathleen M. Nelson of Kelso had requested the waiver. She owns recreational marijuana businesses in Kelso and Longview. She said she wants to re-open the Rosburg Store. She would operate it as a convenience store, including gas sales, and also have a small section for sale of marijuana. "We have invested $25,000 into a priority one license and have made arrangements to purchase...
Wahkiakum County officials on Tuesday set the amount and time limit for tax assessments for property in the county's flood control zone districts. The prosecuting attorney's office will develop a resolution to establish the rates formally, and the board will action it at a future meeting. Assessor Bill Coons said to raise the targeted $81,000 needed to cover permitting expenses for current beach nourishment work projects, the county will need to assess a rates per acre and per building improvement value. The average assessment will be $717,...
A 4-H club has offered to take the lead in promoting recycling for Wahkiakum County. The Wahkiakum County 4-H Robotics Club appeared before the board of commissioners Tuesday and offered to help with the challenges to the county's recycling program. The club offered to paint bins and install educational signs on them to help people learn what can and cannot be recycled. They would also undertake an educational campaign in schools and a website with information. Commissionrrs were happy to have the offer. "We can come up with some paint and...
Wahkiakum County commissioners will visit the Grays River Valley Center at Johnson Park, Rosburg, next Tuesday. The board doesn't normally meet on a fifth Tuesday, but acknowledging a need to help the facility's board of directors reform, they decided on Tuesday to recess this week's meeting and reconvene next Tuesday in Rosburg to tour the facility. Volunteers from the community operate the facility, but recent resignations have decimated the board of directors. The commission is looking for people to join the board. "We have had some...
Administrators of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife visited Wahkiakum County commissioners and citizens Tuesday and left with an ear full of comments on salmon allocations and elk hoof rot. Director Jim Unsworth and Regional Director Guy Norman spent over two hours discussing the issues with commissioners and Wahkiakum residents. They left with a better understanding of local views on the issues, and they left participants with a better understanding of the department's approach to...
Wahkiakum County commissioners covered lots of ground at their early meeting Tuesday, ranging from approving a settlement with the Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) to reporting on lobbying efforts in the state legislative session. The board approved an agreement to a reduced financial penalty for a citation for improper life preservers on the ferry Oscar B. Public Works Director Chuck Beyer reported an L&I inspector visited the ferry last October and issued a $9,600 penalty because the deckhand wasn't wearing a highly visible personal...
Jp Rowan, the organizer of the Cathlamet Downhill Corral Longboard Festival, has announced that he will not hold the festival this year. The festival has brought hundreds, if not over 1,000, spectators and competitors to Cathlamet each August since 2009 for some exciting events. Here is his announcement as posted on Facebook and some of the following comments: “To my skate family, I have an announcement to make: “After a lot of deliberation I have decided I will not be hosting the PDX Switchbacks Series nor the Cathlamet Downhill Corral Lon...
The Grays River Valley Center at Johnson Park in Rosburg may be headed for closure. Concerned about resignations from the center's board of directors, Wahkiakum County commissioners have scheduled a town hall meeting next Tuesday at the center to talk about the situation and recruit new board members. The president, vice-president and secretary/treasurer have resigned, and that's impairing the board's ability to pay the center's bills and handle the day to day chores needed to keep the center open. "There have been a number of resignations of...
Wahkiakum High School's Key Club is sponsoring a week-long drive to raise funds for Doernbecher Children's Hospital. Key Club is the high school age club associated with Kiwanis Clubs International, a service organization focusing on children. The Key Club is taking part in a fund raising program called Kids Making Miracles. Middle and high schools collect funds which benefit the hospital's services for children. Club members have announced a schedule of events to raise funds; the public is invited to participate in some of them, including:...
In the hurry up and wait process needed to establish dredged sand disposal sites, residents of the Cape Horn neighborhood took a step forward Tuesday when Wahkiakum County commissioners passed a resolution to set them up as flood control zone district. The board's unanimous vote drew applause from the eight or nine area residents in attendance. The maneuver means that the residents will have legal standing for contracting with entities such as private consulting firms and the US Army Corps of Engineers, and the district can be taxed to provide...
Wahkiakum County commissioners on Tuesday authorized funding for initial studies for a potential housing project at Cathlamet. County Mental Health Director Chris Holmes requested authorization to spend up to $10,000 on two studies whose findings could determine whether or not the county buys the site proposed for the development. One study will assess wetlands on the site; the other analyze potential traffic impacts. "We need these studies to be able to move forward with a recommendation to purchase the land," Holmes said Tuesday. The...
The Cathlamet Town Council on Tuesday reviewed progress on a variety of fronts, including upgrading the town water plant. The plant's intake from the Elochoman River has limited capacity, and the state Department of Health has threatened to impose a moratorium on new connections unless the town improves the intake. Public Works Director Duncan Cruickshank reported favorable progress after a meeting with a representative of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to review potential project plans. Water comes into the plant from a...
Commissioners of Port District 2 worked through a light agenda when they held their monthly meeting Tuesday at the office in Skamokawa Vista Park. Manager Janet Bryan reported the US Army Corps of Engineers has informed her that there will be no deposit of dredge spoils at Vista Park this year. The port sells sand to contractors and road builders, and much of the sand previously deposited has been sold. "I'm not sure how much more sand we can sell out of there," she said. In response to a question from Pleasant Point resident Jon Peterson,...
Wahkiakum County commissioners modified a proposed flood control zone district for the Cape Horn area on Tuesday and set the stage for final action next week. Responding to requests from residents at the downstream end of the proposed zone, commissioners agreed to shorten the zone and leave out some properties that have rock and riprap waterfront. At a public hearing last week, some of the owners said they weren't experiencing erosion like their neighbors upstream. Wanting to evaluate the situation on the shoreline, commissioners had tabled...
