Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
Sorted by date Results 2079 - 2103 of 2595
To The Eagle: Looks like we might get a second chance! After the huge disappointment that the Naselle-Grays River Valley school bond didn't pass, I wanted to take this opportunity to plea for the no voters to give it more thought and perhaps choose to be supportive. I'm not sure of the demographics (other than west end Wahkiakum county soundly voting no), but I would imagine locals with kids and grandkids in our schools would generally be positive. They see first hand how an area that gets over 100 inches of rain a year might need more room...
To The Eagle: I’m engaged in an effort to convince our state Legislature to exempt rural school districts from high-cost state prevailing wage requirements. Such an exemption would save our school district $2 million (or more) on an $8 million construction program. On February 13 I testified in Olympia before a Senate committee hearing in favor of proposed bill SB 5508 for that purpose. FYI: Ohio exempts all school construction. First, I’d like to publicly thank Sen. Hatfield for agreeing to sponsor this bill as a result of a cam...
To The Eagle: The volunteers and officers of Grays River Valley Fire and Rescue District #3 would like to thank Wahkiakum West for its generous donation of funds to purchase audiovisual equipment for the new Grays River Fire Hall. As many of you know, the Grays River hall was damaged in flooding six years ago and was deemed unsafe and beyond repair. It has taken several years to acquire the funds and property necessary to build the new hall on high ground in Grays River. That new facility should be completed in the coming weeks. We needed...
To The Eagle: Hello. My name is Sam Okawa (get it?) and I'm an elderly Anatolian shepherd (dog) who moved here about four years ago. I read with interest Kay Chamberlain's piece in last Thursday's Eagle because my home and Ursula (my "person") were mentioned in it. It appears that someone was concerned that the eight rescued cows living here after they were taken, almost dead from starvation, from an abandoned farm, were not being fed and that good Samaritan felt intervention was necessary to "save" them. How that person saved the bovines is a...
To The Eagle: Recently there has been quite a bit of discussion in the area of gun control and assorted other political footballs. One thing I have been observing is that those who are opposed to things like the Bill of Rights and Constitution are fond of using statements about what might happen rather than sticking to facts, statistics and matters of record. I am not going to get into any of that debate here. I will say I support the Bill of Rights and Constitution and do my best to live up to those standards. So what is my point? Glad you...
To: Council Members; from: Mayor George Wehrfritz Subject: State of the Town Report, February 11, 2013 As required by state law, I submit the following State of the Town report for Council review. Main Street, Cathlamet My focus in this annual report is our principal commercial thoroughfare, Main Street. It is where Wahkiakum County has gathered to shop, socialize, dine and celebrate for more than a century. Historical photos reveal that it once was a happening place; today’s imagery stands in contrast to the bygone vibrancy and optimism &...
To The Eagle: Due to the uncertainties in regulations of the sturgeon sport fishery, Wahkiakum Dollars for Scholars is making changes to its annual fundraising event. This year we will be having just one event, the 8th Annual Rods and Reels Rod Run car show. With the single event all proceeds will go to Wahkiakum High School seniors for college scholarships. The format for the car show will be similar to the past, including the salmon BBQ lunch, trout pond for the kids, great raffle tables, dart game, DJ, many door prizes and over 60 trophies...
To The Eagle: The Roman Empire lasted for 503 years, 17 hours and 23 minutes. There is a lot of scholarly debate about the decline and fall but it apparently went on for about the last 400 years. Along the way it got split in two and the western half was hassled a lot by Germanic tribes like the Visigoths and Huns. The eastern part lasted a little longer, but got torn up by the Persians and then scuttled by the Muslims. The whole mess started when they quit being a republic and became an autocracy, ruled by executive order and incompetent...
To The Eagle: There is a solution to the mess this country and the world is in. Is it going to be easy to do? Does it provide instant gratification? No! I will say it again. What if people started to take full responsibility for their lives, their families, their town, their state and so on? We have elected officials who are, let’s just say, not taking care of the folks back home. What can anyone do? Do not wait for the various agencies to hand you a living, food, clothing, a job or anything else. Create your own job; grow a garden, people h...
To The Eagle: I have been trying to follow the current wrangle over the responsibility for dealing with the Steamboat Slough dike failure. It seems to me that the problem has a fairly straightforward solution. It starts with insisting that both the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the Corps of Engineers be forbidden from using bureaucratic wiggle words to avoid their responsibilities, that they be forced to deal in facts, and that they recognize, as my Granny used to say, “Can’t never did nothing.” Over a number of years, the Corps of Engin...
To The Eagle: In a 1942 Grays River Builder newspaper, a short article focused on the latest school district election. It read, "The voters tried out the new method of elections on Saturday when the elections were held in each of the component parts of the consolidated district." "Locally our issues were the election of one director and a 5-mill tax levy. The director elected was William Whitten of Altoona, succeeding Mayme Johnson. The tax levy, however, failed to carry as there was an insufficient number of votes cast to legalize a tax levy....
To The Eagle: As I travel Puget Island to the ferry tonight, I saw more white-tail deer than I’ve ever seen in all my trips to the refuge. So the government thinks it needs to save the deer. They buy a lot of working farms, tear down the houses and barns, build massive fences, and spend $28 million to make it the way they want. Along comes another government agency and dredges the river deeper and destroys the public road and dike protecting their investment. The Corps says it has money to build a new “setback dike,” but no money to fix the o...
To The Eagle: We have miles of beautiful dikes in the Steamboat Slough area with the exception of two hundred yards. The area in question gets heavy wakes from ever- and ever-bigger ships. This area is a long, sweeping turn and if you watch outgoing ships doing fifteen or better knots, you’ll see what’s going on with the area of our dike. This area is one of our remaining assets and has been a showplace for visitors. If the Corps wants to help, they could hire local contractors to repair the area for a pittance. The Corps of Engineers’ plan...
To The Eagle: The population in Wahkiakum County is aging rapidly. From 2010 to 2030 people aged 65 and over will increase from 25.5 percent to more than 42 percent. At the recent Aging Well – Living Well forum at Lower Columbia College, local experts addressed the impact this change is likely to have on our housing, transportation, health and wellness, workforce development, and community engagement. The keynote speaker, Bob Blancato, of Washington, D.C., national coordinator of the Elder Justice Coalition and director of the National...
To The Eagle: "For the government to permit banks to issue money, borrow that money, and pay interest on it is idiotic!" --Bill Hixon. Requiring commercial gillnet fishermen to try to fish in a little puddle is idiotic! It would be something akin to requiring that sport fishermen only be allowed to fish from port district docks, not floats, docks where ships tie up. That, too, would be idiotic! Giving the Army Corps of Engineers a pass on dealing with the increased erosion on the Steamboat Slough dike caused by their projects and actions is...
Following the shooting deaths of first graders in Newton, Connecticut, the nation has started talking about ways to curb such violence. Last week, President Obama announced recommendations of a taskforce, headed by Vice-president Biden, that asked Congress to tighten gun laws. Among other provisions, the recommendations call for a ban on both military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines and a requirment for background checks for all gun sales. The Associated Press reported that, seeking to circumvent at least some...
To The Eagle, With continuing increases of atmospheric oxidation product concentrations and hot winds (oxidation produced tri-atomic molecules and hot winds associated with bureaucratic society), increases in habitat will likely occur without the expense of dike breaching. Rising ocean levels, a king tide, and an occasional good cyclone will contribute to no-cost wetlands. Gary Hanson Cathlamet...
To The Eagle: The word "entitlements" is being turned into a dirty word, mostly by the conservatives. What are entitlements? Something you are entitled to! I have earned my entitlement of Social Security, through lifelong contributions to the trust fund, being managed by our government. Our government has dipped into this trust fund to the tune of owing it $5,000,000,000 (I think that’s the amount of zeros?). For those of us now collecting on our savings, our government has changed the name of our withdrawals. Our Social Security check will n...
To The Eagle: As of December 15, 2012, the Bradley House Inn closed its door for business. We have had 11 years of being an innkeeper and we greatly appreciate all the support from our community. Our dream was to offer something that the town so desperately needed at the time. I remember after buying the Bradley House, we were sitting in the Riverview eating dinner. Six people (a couple and a party of four) were looking for lodging. There was none, so we offered our house for free. After all, we had four empty rooms. Four of those same people...
To The Eagle: The Eagle's last editorial gasp for last year was devoted to dressing down conservatives in Congress for fouling up President Obama's grand plan to tax the rich, which inspires the same response that Ronald Reagan made famous in his 1980 debate with Jimmy Carter: "There you go again...bashing us poor battered and bruised conservatives." Last time it was the "conservative wing" that was not flapping hard enough; this time we're relegated to "conservative fringe," out there with the loonies, anarchists, and the flat earth folks....
On behalf of the members of Fire District #4, we would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to the community for supporting our bond levy request to purchase a newer-used fire engine. The members of this community have always been supportive of our volunteer emergency ser- vices personnel. We cannot thank you enough for your continued support! As a friendly reminder, we would also like to take this opportunity to encourage you to replace the batteries in your smoke alarms. This should be done at least once a year to keep your smoke alarms...
To The Eagle: Back in the old days, when dirt was still hot and dinosaurs roamed the earth and I was a kid, if you did not have the money to buy something you wanted you either went without or you got busy and earned the money needed. Or you traded your time or services or something of value you owned for the item you wanted. That was referred to as "living within your means." Somewhere along the line someone came up with the idea of "lending" money. This was promoted as a way to get what you want now and pay later. "Just make one ‘small easy p...
Lisa Marsyla's last week at work as a Wahkiakum County commissioner was quiet. The board held their final meeting of 2012 on December 26, and it would have been the final meeting for Marsyla as a commissioner, for she didn't seek re-election. However, Marsyla's daughter was ill. Marsyla stayed home to care for the child, and she was able to leave office without a lot of fanfare. That's too bad. She has been a good commissioner and deserves a salute. Marsyla has been a committed official and worked hard on the tasks she tackled. An accountant,...
One has to wonder where our nation is headed when elected leaders ignore practical facts and favor rigid ideological doctrine. I'm speaking, of course, of the conservative fringe of the Republican party in Congress which refuses to consider raising taxes on the nation's wealthiest persons and thereby has hamstrung efforts to address the end of the Bush Tax Cuts, automatic federal budget cuts and other aspects of the so-called fiscal cliff scheduled to arrive in January. It's amazing that a couple dozen members of the majority party in the US...
To The Eagle: Ground breaking for the Empire State Building was in January, 1930 and ribbon-cutting took place in May, 1931, six months early and 30 percent under estimated cost. We used to build dams, bridges, skyscrapers and other immense projects in mere months from drawing board to completion. Now, building anything requires conferences, studies, a gazillion permits, and numerous lawsuits if the construction’s construed to threaten a three-toed toad or spotted spoonbill, or violate any of 347,288 (give or take) obscure and obtuse r...
