Other Headlines

Board briefing; two at Monte schools on paid leave
Two Montesano School District employees have been placed on paid leave and the School Board was scheduled to be briefed about an ongoing investigation at a special meeting late Wednesday afternoon. School district officials refused to say who had been placed on leave, nor would they discuss the investigation other than to say an outside expert on technology issues was in the district on Monday after a situation at the junior/senior high school was brought to the superintendent’s attention late last week.

Elma ambulance fee set for public hearing
The Elma City Council will have a public hearing on the new ambulance availability fee at 7 p.m. Monday, April 7, at City Hall. Those with comments, suggestions or questions regarding the new charge are all invited. Ratepayers will begin seeing the new charge on their May 1 utility bills, which will show an overall increase of more than 22 percent since the January billing for those with basic water and sewer service, which increased 2.5 percent this month.

Elma’s Hari will run
When it comes to selecting a successor to Grays Harbor County Commissioner Bob Beerbower, who is not seeking a fourth term, voters will have lots of choices in the Aug. 19 primary election. Former Elma mayor, Earl Hari, a Democrat, announced Tuesday that he was making it a four-way race. Hari is challenging his fellow Democrats, Terry Willis, a Brady farmer; former Montesano School Board member Chuck Klinger and Montesano businessman Phil Papac, who owns the Crow’s Nest Drive-in.

Hari, 57, would like the job, he says, because “I’ve always been involved with the community, and I always like to do my best to do whatever I can to make things better.” If elected, Hari says he’ll be “looking at our county’s infrastructure, not only our buildings, but our roads, bridges and parks. I think we need to start looking ahead,” he says. For example, “if there is a bridge that needs to be replaced or upgraded, let’s get a head start on it and start looking for the finances.” Hari also says he’s interested in “finding jobs for the Harbor” and would like to figure out “how we can make better use of our harbor. We have a harbor that’s functional, but not many ships are coming in.” He intends to work at drawing container shipping companies, Hari says.

“I believe Grays Harbor has a lot of real estate … we should be pushing in Aberdeen, Hoquiam, Cosmopolis, Westport and Ocean Shores,” he says in a statement announcing his candidacy. The area has the Chehalis River a “nice jetty” at the mouth “for easier crossing;” there are up-to-date utilities, bio-diesel, railroad service and a four-lane highway out of the Harbor — “so where are the ships,” he asks. “We need to get hungry and aggressive and go after the Asian and Russian shipping markets.”

Other Sports

Montesano powerlifters sweep at White River Invitational
BUCKLEY – Reigning state champions Montesano swept both the boys and girls team titles at the White River Invitational Powerlifting meet on Saturday, March 8, at Buckley. The Bulldog boys amassed 80 points to finish a full 50 ahead of host White River in second place. The Monte girls also topped White River for the title, 51-30. Eight Montesano boys won tourney titles; including Kyle Henderson at 114-pounds (480-pound lift total), Aaron Sittler at 123-pounds (725), Chris Riso at 132-pounds (970), John Schaffert at 148-pounds (1,015), Zach Fry at 181-pounds (950), Ben Rice at 198-pounds (1,480), Jarrod Floch at 220-pounds (1,125) and Jason Patterson at unlimited (1,085). Montesano girls to win titles included; Aunja Norland at 105-pounds (290), Shelby Scott at 114-pounds (360), Cyndi Monroe at 148-pounds (685) and Katie Oestreich at 165-pounds (415).