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

COLD ENOUGH?--By the time you read this, we are supposed to have warmed up a little bit; I sure hope so! With puddles staying frozen and the snow that fell turning into hard crunchy ice, and temps in the teens at night here in West Valley, I am more than ready for a warm up! Depending on what weather channel you watch, we can either have rain this week, or possibly more snow, which did show up on Monday, much to some's surprise! My app says more on Thursday but it's early yet, so I hope it changes! With multiple Christmas parties going on this weekend, well, I am really hoping it doesn't snow enough to mess up all the festivities, as that will just make traveling more dangerous, or it could cancel some gatherings or make that last bit of Christmas shopping, dang near impossible, so here's to "nothing" happening at the end of the week to mess up our upcoming holiday plans!

SPECIAL DAYS--Those celebrating birthdays from Dec. 22-28 are Jose Castillo, Garrett McClain, Kyla Gribskov, Fred Hoven Jr., Coral Linquist, Michele Smith, Caylin Fritzie, Ed Rose, Grant Turner, Steve Smith, Dan Bardsley, Kohl Bergseng, Lee Tischer, Nancy McCoy, Josh Cochran, Rhonda Wright, Veronica Hill, Ron Clement and Toby Bell. Belated birthday wishes to Emma Pedersen and Kimmie Wright.Hope you had wonderful birthdays!

Those celebrating anniversaries this coming week are Mr. and Mrs. Danny Eaton, Mr. and Mrs. Orville Lindsey and Mr. and Mrs. Pat Thacker. Enjoy these special occasions everybody!

WANT TO HELP?--Do you have some extra household goods to spare that you'd like to have go to those in need? Well, I was told that we should contact the Community Outreach progam at 795-8630 Extension 4 and let them know what you have or ask them what they need and you too could play Santa to those who could use a little help this time of year!

ANOTHER NEED--Speaking of those who need some things, our Kiwanis Club could sure use your help. Each year, the group takes part in the St. James Holiday Gift Fair, and this year they really had a great response, so that was really good news for them. The bad part of it is that they have about emptied the cupboards and will be needing to restock them with Christmas items to sell for next year. After the holidays is a great time to donate to them, as instead of putting them away, why not donate some of them? Of course, you could always go and hit the sales after Christmas and get some terrific items really cheap and donate them too. Often times people just want to make a change in their decor, so donating those "like new" items to a group that does such great work, would make you feel good and definitely benefit the Kiwanis and the people who buy them and enjoy at their house. So, if you happen to have something, call Linda Barth Ins. at 795-3276 and see when a good time would be for you to drop them with her at LB Ins. building, located at 325 East SR 4, just east of the NAPA store.

NICE GATHERING--Last Saturday evening, it was "Customer Appreciation Day" at the Duck Inn, and Logan Britt donned a festive, albeit "different" holiday sweater, and welcomed all his loyal customers with a tasty feast. While he was thanking us for being frequent customers, we wanted to send a big thank you to Logan for putting this on for us.

For those who may not know, Logan has been dealing with some serious health issues, so to be thinking of others at a time when many would just concentrate on themselves, is really pretty special. Our Christmas wish for him this year, would be a return to perfect health, so please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

Also, a big thanks to those who cooked up all the food, set it all up and those servers who were bustling about and kept the crowd happy and entertained as well. Karaoke for the evening was provided by Glen Crown, so with great food, great company and great staff, the Saturday crowd had a very wonderful evening!

NEW YEARS--Speaking of the Duck Inn, don't forget to make your reservations for their end of the year, New Year's Eve bash, with "The Nash Brothers."

CONGRATS--It was a great evening for Jason Wallin recently, when he went to the PAC tach group Christmas party and was presented with a safety award, which was one of only three given that night. So, good job, Jason. May you continue to have a great safety record on the job!

GRADUATES--A hearty congratulations to Sarah Palmer, daughter of Larri and Sally Palmer, who just recently received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration from California State University in Sacremento, where she is concentrating on marketing, with a minor in Spanish. Sarah is the granddaughter of Donna (Healy) and Glenn Palmer, the great niece of Gene and Karen Healy and a second cousin to me and many of the Pedersen/Everest family that have had a lot of connections to Wahkiakum County over the years.

GREAT NEWS--Congratulations to Peyton Souvenir for her fantastic accomplishment of reaching a thousand points in her basketball career! Wow, how great is that? Her parents, Todd and Kristen, and big brother Shane, are super proud of her, as well they should be. Fantastic job, Peyton!

The Lady Mules will have played Mossyrock at home this past Tuesday, so I'm sure she probably added to that points list! They will be playing at Napa (Lakewood) on Dec. 27 and 28, so good luck Lady Mules and here's to more points for Peyton as well!

BOYS BB--The Wahkiakum Mules boys basketball team will have played their last game before the Christmas break earlier this week, so their next game is not until January 2 in Willapa Valley and then the following day, Jan. 3 at Pe Ell, before coming home to play Morton/White Pass on Jan 5. We were all thrilled to see the boys bring home the KM Trophy earlier this month with a two point win over Naselle. Woo-hoo!

The Mules Boys and Girls Wrestling team has been doing great and will take part in tournaments the first weekend in January. Good job team, and keep up the hard work and determination!

Here's to safe travels and good games/matches for all our sports teams as winter conditions aren't always ideal.

PRAYERS--All you prayer warriors are asked to put Sheriff Mark Howie's brother on your list, as it appears he suffered a seizure in the bathtub, hit the hot water handle on the way down, and wound up with second degree burns on much of his body. He is currently in the burn center and is dealing with substantial pain from his burns. All good thoughts, prayers and get well wishes would be appreciated!

SYMPATHIES--It is with much sadness that I learned the news of the passing of my daughter-in-law's mother, Sally Nollan last Friday evening in Seattle. Sally was the mother of five children: Fred Jr., Mike, Kenny, Susan Schillios and Katie, who is married to my son, Pete Sechler. Sally had many grandchildren, as well as great grandchildren and she enjoyed them all. Family gatherings were always bustling with the whole gang coming together for either the different holidays or birthdays or their big summer campout at the coast. I enjoyed many conversations, cards and emails with Sally over the past 26 plus years that I knew her, and I will miss not having that connection with her any longer. At 87, Sally had lived a full life and said she was ready to leave this earth and I'm sure her husband Fred, welcomed her with open arms. Once again, the family has had a loved one join the angels in the sky, and while they will miss her terribly, they know she is in a far better place. May you rest in peace, Sally.

HUGE CONCERN--Many people have asked me to say something about the various animals in our area that do not appear to be taken care of properly. There are some who may not care about their animals, or they may not have the resources to take care of them properly, or they are just unaware of how much is required in the way of care/food for an animal that is out in the elements, but whatever the reason, there are reports of many animals suffering out there and something needs to be done about it.

The facts of the matter are, If you can't afford to take care of your animals properly, don't have them. If you didn't know that you should be doing things differently, then listen to those who do, and educate yourself on their proper care. If you're getting complaints filed on you, then fix the situation, or let someone else take your animals who will see fit to treat them with decency and with proper nutritious food and housing. Ignorance can be cured with education, but willful neglect on the part of its owner is just flat out abuse, and needs to be dealt with swiftly for the sake of the poor animal that is being mistreated, and its owner needs to pay the piper!

MERRY CHRISTMAS ONE AND ALL!--If you happened to have had my bad luck this last couple of months, you just might have gotten a little behind on some of your usual holiday chores, and for me, card sending was one of them! Needless to say, I am very glad that I took out a Christmas greeting ad in The Wahkiakum Eagle so all my friends, family and business owners in the paper's wide circulation area, got a holiday greeting from us this year! It really is a terrific way to spread your holiday wishes far and wide. Here's hoping you and yours have a safe and happy Christmas weekend; enjoy!