Other Headlines
Area schools face cuts
Dozens of teachers at East County schools may not be coming back to teach next year. Faced with deeply slashed state funding for schools, school districts throughout Washington are making tough choices. Though the hope for some federal stimulus money could blunt the pain some now, financial forecasts beyond the next two school years don’t look bright. Working on budgets for the next school year, districts in East Grays Harbor County have been preparing for the “worst case scenario,” especially difficult because some, including Montesano and Elma, have teacher contracts requiring notification of layoffs by May 1 — Friday. By law, teachers must be notified by May 15 if they will be laid off, but until the state legislature finalized its budget, no one knew for sure just how deep the cuts would need to be. There are still a lot of uncertainties.

Banjo players deliver fun
Paul Johnson and Linda Hall perform “Dueling Banjos” during a performance by the Grays Harbor Banjo Band last week at the Montesano Senior Center attended by about 60 area seniors.

Weyco log yard closes
ABERDEEN — The Weyerhaeuser Co. announced Monday, April 27, that it will close its Bay City log export facility affecting some 54 employees. The company will inventory and clear remaining logs from the yard over the next 30 days before closing permanently.

“We are taking this action due to continued weak demand for wood and wood products,” said Rich Wininger, vice president of Weyerhaeuser’s Western Timberlands operations. “We will consolidate log sorting and exporting at our other facilities in the region, located at Longview and Olympia.

Weyerhaeuser has operated the Bay City yard since the early 1970s.
The company will meet with union officials representing employees to discuss transition benefits.

The future of the South Aberdeen yard has been in question for some time. The log ship Global Wisdom left April 17 with the majority of the yard’s logs, foreshadowing the coming closure.

County Commissioners pass junk vehicle ordinance
MONTESANO — County Commissioners unanimously passed a new junk vehicle ordinance Monday, April 27, with a few minor revisions.

A handful of car collectors who attended the commissioners’ meeting said they were unhappy with the new law, which they said creates unfair regulation of private property.

“It’s better than I expected but there are still some unanswered questions,” said Robert Criswell, who said he has several hundred vehicles on his Wynooche Valley property. Because his vehicles aren’t visible from public land or roads, they don’t violate the new law, he said.

Among the biggest concerns was how the county plans to enforce the ordinance or whether it violates private property rights, he and other ordinance opponents said.

County preps for swine flu
The Grays Harbor County Public Health and Social Services Department is watching for any signs of the evolving swine flu outbreak from Mexico. There have not been any reported cases in Washington state, however cases have been reported in California, Texas, Kansas, New York City and Ohio.

More Sports
Elma’s Hurd/Crawford register opening night wins
ELMA — After a winter-long layoff, racers from up and down the west coast got a chance to kick off the rust and hit the track at Grays Harbor Raceway on Saturday, April 25, at the fairgrounds in Elma.

On opening night, the driving team of Aaron Hurd and Brian Crawford out of Elma notched their first win of the season, outdistancing the field in the 15-lap Cruiser class main event.
Also earning feature wins were Hoquiam’s Zack Simpson, Shelton’s Scott Miller, Stanwood’s Jared Peterson and Auburn’s Otto Jorgenson.

Bulldog boys take first, girls second at home meet
MONTESANO — With six event wins, Montesano’s boys emerged as the top squad at a seven-school track meet Thursday, April 23, at Rottle Field
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The Monte boys amassed 180 points, a full 84 ahead of runner-up LaCenter. The Bulldog girls, with five event wins, took second place as a team, with 134.5 points, just behind LaCenter at 159.

Dual event wins went to Monte’s Tyler Kern and Jared Larsen on the boys side and Mackenzie Sanders and Sadie Bennett in the girls portion of the meet.

Bulldog tennis sweeps Columbia
MONTESANO — Not missing a step through both the singles and doubles competitions, Montesano topped White Salmon 5-0 in a 1A girls tennis match-up Thursday, April 23, at the MHS tennis courts.

Hillary Lawrence, Cathleen Esses and Megan Rosenbach each notched singles victories, while the teams of Vanessa Brulotte and Jessica Reams, as well as Michelle Leach and Jessica Reagan, prevailed in doubles competition.

With the win, Montesano improves to 4-0 in league play and 7-1 overall for the season.