Other Headlines

Pet owners worried
Police are advising Montesano residents to keep their pets in at night and to supervise children at play because something — cougar, coyote, raccoon or possum? — has been killing cats and leaving their remains in a grassy field near Montesano High School.

Eight and possibly 10 cats are known to be dead or missing from homes near the field off North River Street and other nearby homes off North Sylvia. Uncounted, the neighbors say, is the number of feral (wild or homeless) cats that used to hang around because a kindly neighbor had been in the habit of leaving food out for them.

The state Department of Fish & Wildlife investigated and reportedly concluded it’s the work of hungry raccoons. Michele Culver, the regional director based in the office on Devonshire Road near Montesano, said that’s what she was told, but that’s all the information she had and that more information on how that was determined was best if it came from the investigating officers.

Montesano Police Chief Ray Sowers said his department has been fielding numerous calls and is passing on the word that the experts don’t believe it’s a cougar. “I can tell you what Fish & Wildlife told us, that it’s not a cougar, based on the remains he saw of the cats on the property,” Sowers said.

Administrator recommended again for City of Monte
The question of whether the City of Montesano should hire an administrator to oversee day-to-day operations has come up again following clerk/controller Linda Wolverton’s decision to accept a higher paying job as controller for the Quinault Indian Nation.

Wolverton’s last day was Tuesday and she said her decision to leave Montesano after such a short time was driven in large part by the offer from the Quinaults and the fact that her work would be much closer to her Copalis Beach home. Wolverton, a CPA, was hired last year. She came from the Spokane area where she had served as the county treasurer. She and her husband owned property on Grays Harbor and had long been planning to the coast if the right opportunity came along.

In an e-mail to council members, she said it is her strong recommendation that the city reconsider the city administrator issue. “I believe the council should seriously consider a city administrator who is here full-time and can hold managers accountable, allocate resources across departments and make decisions based on the good of the whole city rather than individual departments,” Wolverton wrote to Councilman Albert Collins in response to a question he had asked about work loads.

Other Sports

Simpson rebounds from disqualification with feature race win
ELMA – One week after being stripped of his July 5, feature victory and points accrued from the win, for using an illegal carburetor, Hoquiam’s Zack Simpson cruised into victory lane again on July 12, during the Mid-Season Championships at Grays Harbor Raceway. Joining Simpson as feature winners were three Shelton drivers, including; 360 Sprint champ, Jay Cole, Modified winner and defending track champion, Scott Miller and Modified victor Dan West Jr. Rounding out the feature winners were; Olympia’s Brian Izzi in the Hornet class and the driving team of Elma’s J.D. Boling and Olympia’s Ted Warner in the Cruiser class.

Aberdeen Parks & Rec. Slow-Pitch
Second Division
Dirty White Boys 23
Backholm Insurance 22
Jeff Robinson had three hits, including a homerun and a double; Mike Lano had three hits, while Brad Fry and Jeremy Herrick had two hits each for the Dirty White Boys. Chase Napier had four hits, while Jimmy Hargrove and Justin Damasiewicz had three hits each, including a double each for Backholm.