Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
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The Wahkiakum School Board reviewed a policy prepared by athletic staff regarding dual sport participation, learned of an incident of drug abuse at school, and conducted routine business at its meeting Monday. The board learned that five high school students had been involved in inhaling or huffing “canned air.” Products used to clean computer keyboards contain two ingredients, tetrafluoroethane and difluoroethane, which can be fatal when mixed and inhaled. High school Principal Dan Casler said it took quite a bit of investigative work to lea...
On Thursday, January 12, the Washington House Health and Human Services Appropriations Committee held a hearing to examine Gov. Chris Gregoire’s proposal to cut 4,000 families off of the Working Connections Child Care program for a savings of $50 million. The hearing focused on the Governor’s proposed reductions to TANF as well as the Working Connections Child Care program. The state’s Working Connections Child Care program provides a small subsidy to working families to help pay for child care. Currently, there are almost 30,000 famil...
(Editor's note: Our original headline had the incorrect date for a PUD meeting planned in Rosburg to consider a time for meetings in the Westend. The correct date is Feb. 21) The Wahkiakum County Public Utility District board met Tuesday to conduct routine business. General Manager Dave Tramblie received a letter from the union which opens contract negotiation. An initial meeting may be held in mid-February, he said. The board made plans to hold their next regular meeting at the Rosburg Hall on Feb. 21 at 6 p.m. and to decide after that what...
Wahkiakum Public Utility District commissioners are keeping an eye on Washington House bill 1711, which authorizes PUDs and rural port districts to provide retail telecommunications services to customers within or adjacent to their district. The bill also allows PUDs and rural port districts to provide wholesale telecommunications services in areas adjacent to their district, and authorizes cities and towns to provide telecommunications services to their residents. Giving PUDs or ports the ability to provide retail services, including...
Emergency supplies to protect property from flooding are available at fire stations through the county, Wahkiakum’s Department of Emergency Management Coordinator Beau Renfro said. Renfro has both sand and sand bags available, but residents must bring their own shovels. “Those have disappeared too quickly in the past,” Renfro said. “The use of sand bags is a centuries old tried and true method of flood fighting,” according to the US Corps of Engineers Northwestern Division brochure available at the sites. The brochure contains strategie...
At present, 208 Wahkiakum County residents have taken advantage of an Emergency Community Notification System offered through the Wahkiakum’s Sheriff’s Office, Department of Emergency Management, that sends emergency phone calls to their cell phones. “We want to encourage everybody to sign up, so we can get a hold of everyone in the event of an emergency,” said Beau Renfro, coordinator of Wahkiakum County’s Department of Emergency Management. Wahkiakum County residents can be part of the county’s emergency community warning system that sends...
During a short meeting Tuesday, Wahkiakum Public Utility District commissioners reviewed the district’s plan to maintain and replace its infrastructure. Gene Healy accepted his new role as president and began by thanking Commissioner Dennis Reid for his term. Manager Dave Tramblie reviewed a System Improvements Summary that the engineering firm Brown and Kysar had prepared, which outlined a systematic plan in four year blocks from 2009 through 2023. “The utility basically rebuilds its system every 30 to 50 years,” he said. According to the p...
People who use the beginning of the year to consider lifestyle improvements may benefit from local support. While county residents are not statistically different from state residents on many health measures, there is room for improvement according to a Washington Department of Health (DOH) survey for 2011. One in nine adults in the county has asthma, and one in 12 adults has had a heart attack, coronary heart disease, angina, or stroke. One out of seven adults reported they currently smoked cigarettes. “Secondhand smoke, especially in cars, i...
The Wahkiakum Community Network (WCN) wanted to see a safe, fun place for teens to spend time when they funded Cathlamet Public Library’s $2,000 proposal to create a Teen Library Night. The library hired Patrick Carrico, a local artist and educator who enjoys his work with students at the Wahkiakum School District, to develop the program, which has been underway for several weeks. The best thing about attending for Ariana Brock is “being yourself around other teenagers without being judged.” or for Dillon Bartholomew finding “a place to be w...
Flight of the Bumble Bee: the Columbia River Packers Association & a Century in the Pursuit of Fish, by Irene Martin and Roger Tetlow, is a tribute to the fishing communities of the Columbia and the company that employed thousands of workers and fishers in California, Oregon, Washington and Alaska. Tetlow, born in Astoria, was a journalist and author of Barbey, The Story of a Pioneer Columbia River Salmon Packer. Tetlow had begun the research and drafted some chapters on the history of the CRPA when he died in 1999. Matt Winter, publisher of...
Cathlamet’s Tsuga Gallery, Janet Cimino’s gift and vision to the community, has re-opened following a remodeling that created more display space and a classroom area with a kitchen. The Tsuga Art Association runs the gallery and includes about 25 artists in various media, who have been meeting and electing officers, developing an organizational structure and procedures to admit new members since this summer. Full members staff the gallery in shifts to lower their dues and commissions. The gallery at 70 Main Street is displaying visual art, jewe...
Wahkiakum Public Utility District commissioners will pass the gavel in their usual rotation in 2012. Commissioners agreed that Gene Healy will be president, Bob Jungers, vice-president, and Dennis Reid, secretary. The PUD did routine business and heard a breakdown of their health care costs from their health-insurance manager, Public Utility Risk Management Services administrator Richard Rodruck. Reid requested that the recently adopted code of conduct be distributed each January. “I’m used to signing a new one at the first of each yea...
The Wahkiakum School Board asked district coaches to propose how student athletes could participate in two sports concurrently. The board continued the discussion it started in November with parents Lamar and Wendy Blix whose sons, in junior high and high school may want to play both baseball and track. The board met Monday, electing Lee Tischer as chairperson and Tina Schubert vice-chair. Superintendent Bob Garrett swore Tony Boyce into another term, since he was unopposed in the last election. School board member Tina Schubert will also be...
While she waits for the outcome of two lawsuits filed to stop the implementation of Initiative 1183, which eliminates state-run liquor stores, Cathlamet Liquor Store owner Janelle Seaberg is considering what to do if the law takes effect on June 1. “The clock is ticking,” Seaberg said. “There are a lot of questions that aren’t answered.” Initiative 1183 closes state-run liquor stores June 1, 2012. It allows smaller contractor-run stores like Seaberg’s to obtain a liquor license and remain in business. This week, a lawsuit filed in Cowlitz Cou...
The Wahkiakum School Board met the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and considered allowing student athletes to participate in two sports concurrently. Board members Tony Boyce and Tina Schubert were absent; vice-chairperson Mike Quigley conducted the board’s monthly meeting. Superintendent Bob Garrett said that local resident Lamar Blix asked the district to allow students to participate in two sports and that the board could allow the practice if desired. Garrett said this question has come up at least once in past years. Director Michelle Budd s...
According to the 2010 census the ethnic breakdown for Wahkiakum County’s population of 3,978 is 94 percent White. Black persons were .03 percent of the total, American Indian and Alaska Native 1.3 percent, Asian persons 0.6 percent, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islanders 0.2 percent. Of the 3,824 Wahkiakum County residents counted in the 2000 census, 93.5 percent were White. Blacks were 0.03 percent of the total, Native Americans 1.6, Asians 0.5, and Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islanders 0.1 percent. People reporting two or more r...
The Veteran’s Day celebration at Wahkiakum High School has taken on a familiar form in recent years, with student leaders lighting a candle for each branch of service and reading essays or poems they write in Mrs. Tina Landroche’s classes. For veterans and students alike, the highlight appeared to be the opportunity for students to personally thank veterans for their service. As Haylee Budd’s poem “Veteran’s Day Poem,” said, “Whether they wanted to or not,/The boys of our country had to become men./They strapped on their boots, helmets, and...
Port District No. 1 commissioners raised management employee salaries 2.5 per cent at their meeting November 10. The manager’s annual salary will be $47,279 and the assistant manager’s $29,456. Both positions are full time and receive health benefits. Port manager Jackie Lea recommended lowering the winter lodging rates to draw customers staying more than one night. Lea suggested lower rates of $70 for the small cabin and $90 for a large cabin with a three-night minimum. After discussion commissioners agreed to lower the rates but sug...
Veterans from World War II, Korea and Vietnam attended ceremonies at Wahkiakum High School on Wednesday, and Julius Wendt Elementary School on Thursday morning, last week. Elementary school staff wiped tears during the assembly, and they weren’t the only ones weeping. Veteran Bob Roche, who attended with his wife Esther, said “I was sitting in the back in tears.” Roche is involved with the local Veterans of Foreign Wars, and was a past VFW District Commander. “What always gets me is their enthusiasm and their sincerity,” Roche said. At the el...
During a brief meeting Tuesday, Wahkiakum Public Utility District Commissioners Dennis Reid and Gene Healy discussed reducing or waiving connection fees for the Western Wahkiakum Water Systems (WWWS) or the Puget Island Puget Island Water System (PIWS) in order to increase revenues. Commissioner Bob Jungers was not present. General Manager Dave Tramblie proposed waiving the fees for a year during 2012. Reid said that during rate hearings on the Westend, people suggested adding customers to the system to increase revenue. Tramblie said there...
The Donkey Ball game scheduled for this Saturday is being played to offset the cost of coaches’ stipends for the school district. Two years ago, with basic education suffering budget cuts, the Wahkiakum School District board decided to look at expenses for extra curricular activities, Wahkiakum Superintendent Bob Garrett said. “We reduced all coaches stipends by 20 percent two years ago,” he said. Garrett, who was the athletic director at the time, agreed to do those duties without additional pay. Last year, coaches asked for the 20 perce...
The Wahkiakum County Marine Resources Committee (MRC) is working through its second funding cycle and discussing more projects that could improve the local Columbia River fishery long-term. The committee includes Port District 2 commissioner Kayrene Gilbertsen, Naselle teacher Jim Moten, Port District 1 assistant manager Abe York, Town of Cathlamet Mayor George Wehrfritz, fishers and community members Kent Martin, Mike Clark, David Wahlstrom and Carol Ervest among others. The committee met October 24 to consider implementation of current...
Wahkiakum residents who have received LIHEAP or Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program funds in the past, or who think they may be eligible, must call to make an appointment on November 16. People who qualify receive funding for electricity, firewood or heating oil. The federal program, administered by Lower Columbia Community Action Program (CAP) has reduced by half, Jackie Jones, Wahkiakum Community Outreach Coordinator said. Longview residents were asked to go to the CAP office on Nov. 15 to stand in line for appointments “first come firs...
The Wahkiakum Public Utility District commissioners increased rates for its water and electricity customers at its regular meeting Tuesday. The board also agreed to travel to the west side of the county for the second meeting of the second month of each quarter, beginning February 21, 2012. The district will collect an additional seven percent with increases to charges in its electric system. Puget Island Water System customers will see an increase of three percent and Western Wahkiakum Water Systems (WWWS) customers an increase of five percent...
The 2010 census provides no big surprises for Wahkiakum county residents. The county grew four percent, from 3824 in 2000 to 3978. Averages can be misleading, but they offer food for thought. Wahkiakum County lines up with Washington state on many indices: --The population is about 50 percent women. --The number of people in households in the county and the state are 2 ½. --In 2009, the number of people in poverty in Wahkiakum was 13 percent, slightly over the state average of 12 percent. --Ninety-two percent of people over 25 in...
