The Wahkiakum County Eagle - Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891

By now, residents of western Wahkiakum County should have received a newsletter from Grays River Grange requesting donations to help with the cleanup efforts of the property next to our hall. The cleanup of that piece of property will benefit the entire area. Community members can take pride in the area they live in rather than turning their heads and looking the other way. Grays River Grange would like to thank Wahkiakum West for their generosity in printing the flyers and their continued support of the Grange.

There have been questions from community members asking why not burn the buildings rather than tearing them down and hauling off the rubbish? Grange Master Krist Novoselic met with Grays River Fire Chief Jon Gudmundsen regarding burning the buildings. To start with, the roofs of those buildings would need to be taken off and disposed of as the asphalt shingles cannot be burned. The buildings are not considered to be structurally sound enough for that to happen. Those buildings are also full, and I do mean full, of junk that would need to be taken out before they could be burned. There is also the issue of the buildings being close to the highway and the amount of smoke that would result because of the burn. Law enforcement would need to be there to monitor traffic if the smoke became an issue and closing a state highway is a big deal!

So to make a long story short, our only option is to have the building torn apart and rent dumpsters to haul off the remains and unfortunately that costs money. We need to raise $5000 to cover expenses. A Granger has come forward with a challenge grant of $1,500 until the end of August. Any size contribution towards the cleanup will be matched dollar for dollar to meet the $1,500. This means a $10 gift turns into $20 - and hopefully with enough help $3,000 towards the cleanup!

When Craig Sorenson heard our Grange now owns the property, he called right away and volunteered to help. Here’s the plan - Craig owns heavy equipment that will make quick work out of removing the houses. An excavator will munch everything and place it in containers. There’s no need to sort through stuff, we will line up the containers and experienced machine operators will do the job in a safe and efficient way. And the best part is that Craig is donating all this time and equipment!

Grays River Grange would like to thank Karen Bertroch, with Faith Leadership Consulting, for the generous donation for the ad in The Eagle. Once again, community support means everything.

Need to contact the Grange, call 465-2268 and leave a message or email grange@wwest.net. Don’t forget to visit the Grange website word search: Grays River Grange #124. Also, you can send any contribution for the cleanup to Grays River Grange #124 PO Box 124, Grays River WA 98621.

The Grange meets the second and fourth Tuesday of each month at 7:30 p.m. Localvore dinners are back and begin at 7 p.m. Email the grange at grange@wwest.net or visit http://graysriver.grange.wahkiakum.info/.