Other Headlines
Lacking confidence
MONTESANO — The teachers’ union cited a lack of fiscal competence and trust as the reasons members voted overwhelmingly to express no confidence in Superintendant Marti Harruff. Harruff said she was shocked by the decision and defended her record. The union voted May 22 by a margin of 85.5 percent in favor of the no-confidence vote to 9.5 percent against, with three abstentions, union co-president Tina Neils said.

Union leaders met for nearly 1.5 hours behind closed doors with the school board the following week to discuss their concerns at a special meeting convened to conduct Harruff’s annual performance review. Board members met for another hour after union representatives left. They met again in executive session the following week to further discuss the evaluation. No action was taken after either meeting.

“The district’s explanations for our fiscal woes do not adequately address the problem,” Niels and union co-president Dan Thomas stated in a letter to The Vidette. “Our inability to meet our financial obligations began before the spike in fuel prices, before the change in business managers, and long before the projected cuts in state funding for the 2009-2010 school year.”

Man dies on Satsop
SATSOP — Everyone who knew and loved Glen Jewett — and those who knew him did love him — is relieved to learn he didn’t drown when he died fishing last Monday, June 8, on the Satsop River.
The 73-year-old was found dead in about 10 feet of water near the confluence of the Satsop and Chehalis rivers, the sergeant said, “probably about several hundred yards” from where his red pickup sat.

He’d gone fishing that morning off some nearby property owned by a friend, Ed Comfort. It was a standing arrangement they’d had for “many years,” Sgt. Steve Shumate of the Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday.

Though heartsick family and friends had feared Jewett had possibly fallen or that his boots had filled with water, weighing him down, an autopsy Tuesday showed he’d actually died of natural causes, Shumate said.

RFA on table again
CENTRAL PARK — Montesano and Fire District No. 2 leaders again are working towards creating a Regional Fire Authority to pool fire and ambulance resources. This time, however, it’s just the two partners instead of a larger consortium.

Last week, representatives of the city and fire district voted to create a regional fire authority planning committee consisting of the three commissioners and councilmen Chris Hutchings, Rich Klinger and Brian Schumacher. Hutchings was named chairman and Commissioner Paul Dean was name vice chairman.

Tough choices in McCleary
McCLEARY — The McCleary School Board discussed, sometimes debated — albeit in a friendly way — some tough budget issues at a special meeting Thursday, May 28, at the McCleary School.

Having considered options for the school’s sports program, including cutting it completely or instituting a “pay-to-play” policy, Andy Mesojednik, Troy Colley, Dean Schwickerath and Lonnie Zeller approved a program for the 2009-2010 school year in which the “junior varsity” coaches for fifth-graders will volunteer their time and varsity coaches for sixth- through eighth-graders will take a 20 percent pay cut. This year junior varsity coaches were paid a total of about $3,869, and varsity coaches earned about $7,500. Benefits for both were about $2,500.

Monte attorney resigns in lieu of disbarment
SEATTLE — Former Montesano attorney Therese Wheaton permanently resigned from the Washington State Bar Association rather than have her license revoked for misconduct. The resignation took effect Tuesday. Wheaton did not admit to wrongdoing but agreed that a clear preponderance of evidence could prove misconduct. She also must seek to resign permanently from the practice of law in any other state in which she is licensed.

More Sports
McCleary’s Daniel notches first win of season at Raceway
ELMA — McCleary’s Brandon Daniel emerged from the Ford Focus Midget field to nab his first feature victory of the season, while Kirkland’s Steve Vague and Graham Cook of Port Hardy, British Columbia each set track records for fastest laps — Vague in the 360 Sprints and Cook in the Modifieds, on Fan Appreciation Night, Saturday, June 6, at the Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma.

Also collecting main event victories were Hoquiam’s Zack Simpson in the Hobby Stocks, Raymond’s Glenn Borden Jr. in the Sprints, Aberdeen’s Greg Dineen in the Modifieds and the driving team of Jim Atkinson of Grayland and Mike Clingen of Westport in the Cruiser class.

East County well represented on all-league squads
Following each of the three high school sporting seasons, coaches from around the league cast ballots to determine the all-league selections in various sports. This spring numerous East County athletes were honored, including a pair of league Most Valuable Players from Montesano — Aubree Pocklington for fastpitch and Frank Carpenter for baseball. The full first teams are listed below for both the 1A and 2A classes.