Other Headlines
Harbor dealers survive GM bankruptcy
MONTESANO — The bankruptcy and restructuring of General Motors Corp. this month has sent ripples throughout the economy but local dealers haven’t felt the direct shockwaves. Both General Motors dealers on the Harbor — Whitney’s in Montesano and Five Star in Aberdeen — survived the company’s announcement that it would close more than 2,000 of its dealerships.

The approximately 3,600 surviving dealers were told this month they must stop selling non-GM brands in the same showroom by the end of the year. That won’t affect Whitney’s, which sells only GM brands, but Five Star will need to reconfigure its lots to separate Toyotas from Chevrolets.

Monte cuts 4 paraeducators
MONTESANO — As the school year came to an end this week, four paraeducators learned their jobs would end too. The cuts weren’t as deep as initially feared because of federal stimulus money for special education that allowed the district to keep additional staff, Superintendent Marti Harruff said Tuesday. Harruff told school board members at a school board meeting last Thursday that up to 11 classified staff — teachers’ aides, custodians, office staff and others — might need to have their jobs eliminated next fall due to budget cuts.

“These people are really a backbone of our school district,” Harruff said. The school district has about 58 union classified staff and nearly two dozen unrepresented classified staff.

Mayoral malarkey in McCleary
McCLEARY — It was a first for him, said Grays Harbor County Auditor Vern Spatz.

In more ways than one.

The day after Doug Shannon, a McCleary mayoral candidate, faxed a request to the auditor’s office asking to have his name withdrawn from the race, Shannon called and asked to rescind his withdrawal.

Spatz had never experienced that situation before, the auditor said. After receiving the initial withdrawal request, Spatz said, as required by law, he notified the other two candidates — current McCleary city councilman, Ray Boling, and former mayor Donald “Gary” Dent — that there would be no primary election. The primary includes only races with more than two candidates.

Shannon, however, initially told The Vidette he had never contacted the auditor’s office about withdrawing from the race. He later recanted his denial and said he made and revoked a withdrawal. When first asked about his withdrawal and subsequent decision to rescind it, Shannon told The Vidette that Spatz had told him “they were going to, like, lose my paperwork.”

Partial gym ceiling collapse hurts workers
McCLEARY — Though it was upsetting, there was much to be thankful for when a portion of the McCleary School’s gym ceiling crashed to the floor during lunchtime last week, bringing with it two construction workers who’d been in the attic crawlspace taking measurements.

About 45 kindergarteners and first graders some 50 feet away escaped injury about 11:45 a.m. Wednesday, June 10, though a fire alarm conduit detached from the width of the gym and fell on a table near where the students sat munching ham, egg and cheese “breakfast” sandwiches and fruit.

“They actually saw … falling out of the ceiling … ceiling tile, wood framing and two … construction workers,” said McCleary’s Superintendent/Principal Dan Bolender. “And those two construction workers fell to the gym floor.”

More Sports
Local athletes from Elma, Montesano honored at spring banquets
At the annual Spring Sports Awards Banquets at Elma and Montesano High Schools, both held recently, coaches from each sport honored student athletes for a fine season. Elma High School honored Tony LaDue and Rachel Todd with the Carl Huttula Award; Daniel Lillie and Eva Sandger with the Claude and Don Dailey Award; Nick Watson and Allison Borden with the All-Booster Award, while Megan Hinderlie and Brendan Hann won the Ryan Clark Memorial Award. Montesano honored seniors Frank Carpenter, Rachelle Ridout and Aubree Pocklington with the Don Parks Outstanding Athlete Award.