Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
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To The Eagle: Many people find great joy in volunteering for the greater good of the community and find it very rewarding to lend a helping hand where one is needed. Just yesterday as I was checking my mail at the local post office an elderly woman was struggling as she was exiting with a large box in her hands. It was very refreshing to see that another patron politely asked if she needed help and then, proceeded to help her. I frequently see examples like this everyday in our wonderful community and would like to see more of this as I begin...
To The Eagle: I would like to clarify the issue brought up by Ms. Grasseth in her letter to The Eagle (9/16/10). The only qualification you must have to run for Sheriff is to be a registered voter. Washington State law (RCW 36.28.025) states that to hold the office of county Sheriff you must, within 12 months of assuming office, have a certificate of completion of a basic law enforcement training program. This is an approximately 16 week course, put on by the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission. It is funded by the Washington...
To The Eagle: This letter is a follow-up to one published in the September 16, 2010 Eagle "Writer urges property value research." I had a pleasant and informative meeting on September 20, 2010 with Denny Bryant the new Chief Deputy / Appraiser in our county Assessor's office My purpose for this meeting was to learn what property sales data was used to justify the $1,407.00 per frontage foot value used in the 2010 re-evaluation for our property on Welcome Slough. Denny printed from the computer the results of a front foot rate study evidently...
To The Eagle: The Assessor's office can assist each property owner by providing concise statistical data, but we've found we must be specific as we ask for copies of their forms. 1) 510 sales from May 2006 through November 2009--This is not to be confused with the "Welcome to Wahkiakum Property Sales" which includes the 371 sales from January 2007 through July 2010 that is readily available at the Assessor's office by the door. The 510 sales is a three page statistical study the Assessor has compiled to make the Puget Island assessments. 2)...
To The Eagle: As a Puget Island property owner I now have a (once every four years) "Notice of Value" for our property on Welcome Slough (Assessment Year 2010/Tax Year 2011). The notice on the lower left reads: "If you believe that the new value is substantially incorrect compared to your estimate of market value, please call the Assessors Office for information...." That notice sounds simple enough, but what is behind the "new value" for each of our properties? State statutes, regulations and guidelines define the "playing field" for...
To The Eagle: A month from now, I will be running my second Portland Marathon on 10 October 2010 (10/10/10! The date alone was a huge incentive!). I am excited to participate; it’s such a rush to plod through my natal city for hours with thousands of other runners and walkers. However, I think that running a marathon is a pretty selfish endeavor. Training takes many miles and hours, mostly dedicated to oneself. In all those miles and hours, I’ve been thinking of a way to make my run a little less selfish, and maybe a little more fun. “Hi...
To The Eagle: Current Undersheriff Jon Dearmore's qualifications include graduation from Washington's Basic Law Enforcement Academy. Could Troy Norris tell us if he has ever attended this academy and what the outcome was? Current Prosecuting Attorney Dan Bigelow's qualifications include being, in fact, an attorney. Could Dennis Gordon please tell us if he has graduated from law school and if he has passed the Washington State Bar Exam? It is my understanding that the state law does not disqualify unqualified candidates until they actually win....
Depending on your point-of-view, we are faced with another important public official running unopposed for the forthcoming November election in Wahkiakum County. Public records indicate the incumbent District Court Judge has been in public service for 22-years! This would appear to indicate: 1) voter’s commitment and acceptance of the public service-vote of confidence; 2) another example of once-in-office, the person stays in office and or 3; a combination of once-in-office and complete ignorance of a candidate’s actions and capabilities and...
To The Eagle: I woke up to a rainy Tuesday morning and needed an inside activity for a while. I had read and heard that Wahkiakum County now has real property data "on-line." I tried it for a while. A lot of other folks need try it and provide feedback to the county so the system can mature and become a user friendly resource. This data base is available from the "Wahkiakum County Government Website" with a "click" on "Property Search" in the upper right of the screen. Be prepared for some changes from what you are used to reading on your...
To The Eagle: The rainy season has barely begun, and we are already drowning -- in bureaucracy. All floods, real or allegorical, start with trickles. A friend of ours desires to develop waterfront property in Cathlamet and is told by Fish and Wildlife that he can't let workers make footprints in the sand or in any other way dislodge any sediment. No permit forthcoming until he can find workers who can walk on water. Another acquaintance on Puget Island took a 30 percent loss on the sale of his house while the local tax bureaucrats are actually...
To The Eagle: As local boaters we want to thank the many last minute volunteers who last Saturday pulled off a great function at the marina featuring several events and a chili cook off. It makes us feel good when boaters and land yachters (RV’ers) from other areas look favorably on Cathlamet, which in turn makes us more welcome when we visit their marinas. David Goodroe was like the Dutch boy who found a hole in the dike and rallied the town’s people to save the day. Several hundred people had a great time enjoying chili, racing rubber duc...
To The Eagle: In the phrase, the man who cried wolf, changing “man” to “boy” is also known at the “The Shepherd Boy and the Wolf,” a fable attributed to Aesop. It was not until the mid-sixth decade of my life that I cried wolf. Crying wolf is different than asking for and receiving help from family, friends, neighbors, and teachers, and best of all the few great “mentors” we gain in our lives. But my periods of crying wolf were probably perceived by many as constant complaining. I will be forever remorseful if all I did was complain. Since...
To The Eagle: Let me introduce to you three retired fellas, their names are Dick, Joe and Norm. For many years they have been fishing spring chinook and summer steelhead off of Coffee Pot Island in the middle of the Columbia River. What a wonderful pastime to enjoy right off Puget Island. We met them several years ago and have become good fishing buddies. Dick, Joe and Norm built a tree-room cabin to stay in while fishing season was on. They stayed weeks at a time. It took a lot of hard work and money to build. They just completed an outside ro...
To The Eagle: This is a note about Sheriff's Candidate Jon Dearmore. I was stopped by this deputy (for speeding, no less) some four years ago. We met and he made an impression on me. I was stopped again by this deputy (again, for speeding) a year after that! Many years have gone by. No election, no race and nothing to write or complain about, just Jon Dearmore. Needless to say I was not proud or happy about the events but Deputy Dearmore made such a positive impression on me that now four years later, I remember him quite distinctly still. I...
To The Eagle: Yesterday while attending the Grays River Methodist Church listening to our Pastor Richenda Fairhurst giving us the message entitled "What's Right For You?" couldn't have been more correct because just a few minutes later, one of our members announced that the Rosburg Store was going to reopen in September. Ever since the Bolton family moved into our community, they have been active in many ways and now with the purchase of the store, they are filling the void that has existed since the store closed. It has been many years since...
To The Eagle: To the property owners/voters of Wahkiakum County. If you feel your property is taxed at a higher rate than its current true market value, then the November election will be extremely important to you. There are people in Wahkiakum County and the state of Washington who are only interested in the taxes received on your home/property. Other counties and states have recognized that the market value of real estate is considerably less than it was three years ago and have adjusted appraisers to match, but we are faced with opposition...
To The Eagle: I apologize personally and publicly to Tom Doumit, Town Attorney and Ruth Doumit, Town Councilwoman, if I offended or harmed them or impugned their character by my opinion letter published by The Eagle, August 12, 2010 in regard to and in opposition of the almost $900,000 town amphitheater project and its ongoing maintenance costs. While I did not name them, as I said in that letter, "The town attorney and councilwoman are both good people and I consider them to be my friends. I take no joy in writing this letter..." I have not...
To The Eagle: I write in response to George Hanigan's letter published August 12, 2010, under the caption "Town's obligations already too numerous," in which Mr. Hanigan impugns both my personal integrity and my professional competence, and that of Councilwoman Ruth Doumit. I will not allow those aspersions and the erroneous analysis that underlies them to go unchallenged and uncorrected. Mr. Hanigan claims that he has "heard the opinion expressed by several citizens" that Councilwoman Doumit and I, "as adjacent landowners... had a personal...
To The Eagle: Frank and Donnie are appalled? (Letter to The Eagle, August12). Being a World War II veteran and because of my age, disabled, I feel for anyone that is disabled, especially young people returning from the war missing arms and legs. I made it possible to ascend the stairs to the office without falling through rotten steps. I personally replaced them with steel and concrete. I personally assembled all of the steel and wood picnic tables Frank and Donnie probably have used over 15 years ago. I'm responsible for getting a dock ramp...
To The Eagle: I agree with the position of Wally Wright and David Goodroe on the matter of the Town not being able to support the skateboard--oops, excuse me!--the amphitheater facility. Until the town can afford to maintain Strong Park, Erickson Park, J.B. Hansen Swimming Pool, B. Bradley Library, the street improvements and maintenance, the water system, the sewer system, meaningfully contribute to the Wahkiakum Historical Museum, town law enforcement, employ the people it needs to fully operate and pay its employees adequate compensation,...
To The Eagle: On behalf of the Wright and Blankenship families, I would like to thank some very helpful folks in Skamokawa and Cathlamet. First, a thank you to Bob Robinson and Janet Bryan for their great help at Vista Park with the Wright/Blankenship reunion. The success of our get-together was directly related to the new management of the park. All the reservations were handled well, and we all had great support from the park staff. A special thank you to Janet, Bob and their staff for getting everything ready for our "clans." Second, an...
To The Eagle: A big thank you to Jackie Lea and Paula Cothren for the opportunity to have a vendor booth at the Marina during the recent Bald Eagle Celebration. We were directly opposite the enclosed area and we sold garden spinners and wood art. We were very pleased that our products were so well received. One of the nicest things we experienced, while sitting in our booth, was to have conversations with all of the folks who stopped by, especially the out of town RVers and boaters. We were delighted to hear all the positive comments from...
To The Eagle: On August 5, there was a letter to the editor published persuading people to vote for the “obvious” choice for sheriff. It is not my intention to persuade one to vote for who I think should be sheriff, but I would like to take a stand for the one candidate who received criticism in the letter. A comment was made about one of the candidates being arrested. The context of the letter implies that anyone who would vote for this candidate would be foolish, considering the candidate’s past. It is unfortunate that Josh Grasseth, the u...
To The Eagle: After having just finished reading "Pull up a chair with Blair" (The Eagle, 7/29/2010), my response is it's time to pull the chair from Blair, and my reason for expressing the opinion I am is that turn about is fair play. In the month of May portion, the news is good: that we now have a full time doctor on staff in the clinic. Now you read the July section and word is the clinic has now hired a nurse practitioner. Which sounds very good, but the drawback is when the clinic changed hands, we had a full time nurse practitioner and...
To The Eagle: Considering the three candidates running for sheriff, the choice seems relatively easy. Jon Dearmore is the only candidate who is currently employed in law enforcement and has 20 years experience in this field. Jon has numerous law enforcement qualifications beyond the minimum required. His community involvement is shown by his membership on several committees and boards in the county, including Wahkiakum County 4-H, Wahkiakum Community Network, Timberland Regional Support Network, Region 4 Law Enforcement Terrorist Prevention,...
