Other Headlines

Firefighter picked for McCleary council
McCLEARY — The McCleary City Council has a new member.
After a brief executive session toward the end of the council meeting Feb. 10, current councilmen Mike Lant, Bennie Ator, Brent Schiller and Ray Boling voted unanimously for Jeffery Geer to fill the unexpired Position 2 term of Don Hays, who resigned last December.

Geer, 41, is a McCleary firefighter who’s employed as a forester by Grays Harbor County and has also been active with the town’s annual Bear Festival, the East County Relay For Life and youth sports.

To Lant, who said after the meeting that he’d known Geer for years, he’s a “known quantity” who is very involved in his community. But, Lant said, “I don’t want somebody who agrees with everything I say, but I want to know that I’ve got a guy with integrity — and that was him.”

Ator said he didn’t think there would be a problem with having three council members, including Lant and Schiller, who serve with the fire department. He said he’s sure Geer “can vote his own mind.”

Zillyette convicted
MONTESANO — Brenda Zillyette will likely spend about five years behind bars for her role in the drug overdose death of 18-year-old Austin Burrows of Elma. She was convicted last week of controlled substance homicide by Judge Gordon Godfrey in Grays Harbor Superior Court. Sentencing will be March 1.

Deputy Prosecutor Gerald Fuller recommended a 5-year sentence; Zillyette faces a sentencing range of 4.5-5.5 years in prison. Godfrey set bail at $100,000.

Trooper shot twice
LONG BEACH — In the latest in a string of violence against law enforcement officers, a Washington State Patrol trooper was shot early Saturday, Feb. 13. A Seaview man was arrested as the alleged shooter after police released a sketch of the suspect and fielded numerous tips.

Early Monday morning, Martin A. Jones, 45, was detained in Long Beach as a “person of interest.” He was later booked into the Pacific County Jail in South Bend on charges of attempted murder and first-degree assault for the shooting of Trooper Scott Johnson.

More Sports

Monte advances 11 into 1A state tourney
MONTESANO — Along with three regional champions, Montesano is set to send eight more wrestlers to the state tourney after a strong showing at the 1A Region II wrestling tournament at Montesano’s Bo Griffith Memorial Gymnasium on Saturday, Feb. 13.

With the top-five placers moving on, the 11 individual Monte advancers helped give the host Bulldogs 176 team points, which were 66 fewer than Castle Rock at 242, which captured the team title and advanced 14 to state.

Out of four Bulldog finalists, three secured titles including freshman 103-pounder Ryan Wood and seniors 152-pounder Dillon Ford and 171-pounder Ryan Campbell.

Wood collected the first Monte title in the tourney’s first finals matchup; he dominated Kalama’s Casey Heaton before collecting a pin-fall victory.

Three Eagles earn 2A state wrestling berths
BRUSH PRAIRIE — Three Elma wrestlers have secured their spots at the state tourney after finishing in the top four at the 2A Region III Tournament on Saturday at Hockinson High School.
The three Eagles to state helped push Elma into sixth place in the team scoring.

Elma’s Jeremy Sherman, Matt Gamino and Zach Williams each garnered berths with fourth place or better finishes. Sherman was the top Eagle wrestler in attendance, making it to the 145-pound finals, where he fell to Centralia’s Conner Pelsel by pinfall in the third round. Gamino was the next highest placer with a third place finish after dispatching R.A. Long’s Jacob Collins, 6-5, in the third/fourth place meeting at 103 pounds.

Slow fourth quarter dooms Monte girls
MONTESANO — Playing the better basketball for the middle two quarters, Montesano entered the final period of play with a slim lead, however Winlock rose to the occasion in the fourth to come from behind and snatch a 58-49 1A Evergreen League girls basketball victory Friday, Feb. 12, at Bo Griffith Memorial Gymnasium.

The teams established a back-and-forth pace early in the opening quarter. A pair of Brooke Rydman buckets and a three-point play by Kara Trimble helped the Bulldogs take a 7-4 lead midway through the first. A six-point Cardinal run over the next three minutes swung the lead over to Winlock at 14-7, but then a five-point Monte run tightened things up by the end of the period. Erica Rydman sank a free throw B. Rydman a lay-in and Alyssa Hartman a long two to set the score at 14-12 in favor of Winlock heading into the second frame.