Other Headlines
Mayor’s budget cuts parks & rec program
Citing tough economic times and a deferred maintenance list that gets longer every year, Montesano Mayor Ron Schillinger’s proposed budget for 2009 eliminates the parks coordinator’s job and does away with a slew of parks & rec programs.

It’s a $6.7 million spending plan that calls for various rate increases — including sewer and ambulance fee hikes — to help make ends meet, and there’s a spending freeze in place. So far, Mike Bruner’s job is the only casualty.

The mayor’s budget was presented to council members on Tuesday night and copies are available at City Hall. Council members had been notified by e-mail last week that Bruner’s job was not funded and it was clearly the elephant in the room for two hours. The mayor did not mention it in his budget message to the council. It didn’t come out at all until former mayor Doug Iverson and Parks Board member Alice Hutchinson appealed to the council during the public comment period at the end of the meeting.

Regional Fire defunct after pullout
Grays Harbor Fire District 2, headquartered in Central Park with stations also in Brady and the Wynooche Valley, has withdrawn from the proposed Regional Fire Authority Planning Committee, Nick Swinhart, the committee’s chairman, announced Tuesday.

When the group formed in July, “our goal was to explore the potential benefits of a multi-agency public safety partnership,” Swinhart said in a prepared statement. “We recognized from the beginning that there would be many potential ‘cons.’ “Obviously, Fire District 2 has decided the down side to their involvement in such a fire authority outweighed the potential benefits,” Swinhart’s statement continued.

Dale Hensley, chairman of District 2’s three-member commission, said Tuesday that because there were indeed down sides to their potential participation and few if any benefits, he and the district’s other commissioners, Nick Dunjic and Paul Dean, voted unanimously at a special meeting Monday to withdraw.

County planning and building review to begin
The Grays Harbor County Commissioners approved a contract 2-1 on Monday with the International Code Council to conduct a review of the Planning & Building Department, which has come under criticism this election year.

The contract is for about $16,000 plus $100 per hour for technical consulting work. It is capped by a previous resolution at $20,000.

Critics — including Commissioner Bob Beerbower of Elma — say the county’s Planning & Building Department enforces the building code too stringently, resulting in costly delays on some projects. The lightning rod example this election year has been the BMT project up at the Satsop Development Park. The tank building company is relocating from the Olympia area into the turbine building at the former nuke sight, but a $5 million grant the Grays Harbor Public Development Authority won to help make the renovations ran out before all the code requirements were met. Two weeks ago, the commissioners approved another $250,000 from its economic development fund to help complete the fire and life safety requirements. Other portions of the project, such as a paint room and barge moorage improvements, have been postponed.

Beerbower sits on the PDA board and it’s his belief that the county “could have been more flexible.”

More Sports

Aberdeen holds off Elma’s fourth-quarter charge
ELMA – Following a late Aberdeen touchdown and failed extra point, Elma only needed to score a touchdown and convert the extra point within eight minutes to win the game. This looked to be no mean feat for the Eagles, who had moved the ball well thus far in the evening. That was the bad news for the Bobcats. The good news for the visitors, was that they did not have to stop the Eagles – they did that themselves – as Elma fumbled away their final three possessions – all in Aberdeen territory – and dropped a, 13-7, 2A Evergreen football contest on Senior Night, Friday, Oct. 24, at Davis Field.

Monte nabs state berth
ONALASKA — Behind a solid rushing attack, Montesano clinched the 1A Evergreen football title and the League’s No. 1 berth into the state tournament with a, 34-6, victory over the Loggers on Friday, Oct. 24, at Onalaska. All totaled, the Bulldogs amassed 305 yards on the ground. Monte’s Taylor Church rushed for a pair of touchdowns and 186 rushing yards, while Church’s backfield teammate Ryan Campbell found the end zone three times in the win.

Bullpup Junior Basketball set
Area boys and girls in the second through eighth grades will have to opportunity to receive five weeks of drills and instruction by the Montesano High School coaches, Chad Allan and Julie Mattson. After five weeks of training teams will be formed and a mini-league will get underway. Clinic days will be on Nov. 15, 22, Dec. 6, 13 and 20, at the Montesano High School Gymnasium. Second, third and fourth graders will work from 10:15 a.m. to noon, while fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth graders will participate from 12:15-2:15 p.m. There will be no clinic during the weekend of Nov. 29 and Dec. 27, to accommodate for holidays. The cost to participate is $55, which includes the clinic, mini-league and a free T-shirt (T-shirt available only if registered by Nov. 7). Interested parties may sign up at Montesano’s City Hall in the Parks Dept. or mail a completed form to the department, at 112 N. Main St. Mini-league coaches are still needed, if you would like to volunteer, contact Parks Supervisor Mike Bruner at 249-3021 ext. 112.

Little Bullpup Pee-wee basketball
Area boys and girls in kindergarten and first grade will have the chance to work with boys and girls Montesano High School coaches and players over five weeks of instruction at an upcoming clinic at the Montesano Junior High School Gymnasium. Clinic times are from 9-10 a.m., on Nov. 15, 22, Dec. 6, 13 and 20. The cost to participate is $35, which includes a free T-shirt if registered by Nov. 7. Interested parties may sign up at Montesano’s City Hall in the Parks Dept. or mail a completed form to the department, at 112 N. Main St.