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Vol. 42, Issue 4
USPS 455960 January 22, 2020
Your Independent Community News Since 1890
Willapa Harbor Wrestling Invitational Saturday
By GEORGE KUNKE, geoakunke@gmail.com Willapa Harbor is hosting its home wrestling tournament this Saturday at Seagull gym. The event will be conducted in honor of former Raymond HS wrestling coach Doug “Mak” Makaiwi. Makaiwi, who was inducted into the Washington State Football Coaches Association (WSFCA) Hall of Fame, passed away in 2016 at the age of 68. “Mak was a big part of wrestling in Raymond, as well as South Bend and Willapa Valley,” Willapa Harbor TriDistrict Head Wrestling Head Coach Preston Crow told the Herald. said. “My first memory of wrestling was going into the wrestling room and seeing Mak lifting an adult man up like a toy and yelling encouragement to us in Hawaiian. My thoughts were of what I would need to do to do what he was doing with such ease. Mak's ability to teach, coach and be caring was a main factor in my wanting to continue to wrestle and ultimately coach and become a teacher. “He was a constant influence of my development from a 5-year-old in experienced wrestler to a national freestyle champion to a college wrestler and now to a high school wrestling coach,” Crow continued. “He shaped the lives of many people on and off the mat and field. Mentioning wrestling on the harbor, Mak's name is always brought up and a heart-warming story is sure to follow of how caring and warm Mak was or about his wicker hat or Hawaiian rice. The Harbor Hulks teams' logo was clearly a picture of Mak's alternate persona.” Teams expected to compete Saturday (10 am) include Montesano, Hoquiam, Ilwaco, North Beach, Wahkiakum, Photo by Larry bale Adna, Shelton, Shorewood, Kennedy Catholic, Mount South Bend HS senior Chase Flynn hopes to take first place, as he did last year, at the Willapa Harbor Wrestling Invitational See wrestling Page A2
Saturday.
Combine all about what’s best for student-athletes
By GEORGE KUNKE, geoakunke@gmail.com SOUTH BEND – The South Bend and Raymond school districts, sports staff and most of the general public are on board for the combined football team with the two schools. Superintendents Dr. Stephen Holland of Raymond and Dr. Jon Tienhaara of South Bend discussed some of the philosophical and practical aspects of the decision to adopt a combined football program starting this fall. The decision by the two schools will become official by the WIAA in the near future. Raymond and South Bend will split the costs 50/50 and will continue to compete at the Class 2B level. “In the last two years our schools have undertaken programs in a cooperative manner, mainly being high school soccer and our joint CTE program,” Dr. Tienhaara told the Herald. “I see no reason why a football combine between our two schools would be any different in that regard. I have always enjoyed collaborating with our friends in Raymond, and I think putting our resources together has proven to be good for students.” “My main goal is having a program that offers a good experience for the students,” Dr. Holland told the Herald. “Sports, at (its) best, provide an opportunity to learn life lessons about teamwork, competition, goal achievement, etc. We anticipate this combine will allow our students to have a better experience in terms of having a more complete program that allows them to play at their level and develop their skills appropriately. “Our soccer combine has been going for a couple of seasons and has been successful in its goal of involving more students in extracurricular sports,” Holland added. “We have every confidence that this combine will be a success as well. We realize there will be some logistical challenges, but nothing insurmountable.” For Tienhaara, what's best for the students is first and foremost. “The decisions we make should always be in the best interest of students, and should promote the best opportunity for students,” Tienhaara said. “Personally, I feel that combining our two football programs creates opportunity where little opportunity existed before. Most of our younger kids don't even know what a JV program looks like, as they have had to fill positions on the varsity squad to keep the program alive. With a combined program, we should have the numbers to implement a full JV team with a seperate JV schedule against other JV teams. I am hoping this will encourage other younger students to turn out, where they might not have otherwise. There are so many positives and good life lessons learned in football, the more students that can participate the better. Again, it's about quality, safety,
RSD asks for replacement levy in Special Elections
Photo Courtesy Lt. Luke Stigall Led by the South Bend Fire Department, fire fighters extinguished a fire on a garage and saved a house on Morrison Road.
$80,000 in damages to garage in fire By GEORGE KUNKE SOUTH BEND – Three local fire departments saved a house and extinguished a fire on a garage last Sunday (Jan. 12) at the end of Morrison Road in rural South Bend off the old South Bend Bay Center Road. The South Bend Fire Department with assistance from the Raymond Fire Dept. and Fire Dept. District 3 from Menlo responded to the structure blaze at approximately 9:30 am. “We saved the house, which was 10 feet away from the garage,” South Bend Fire Chief Alan Ashley told the Herald. “We had a four-minute response time. Our guys are good. We get up and get going. It was a water relay situation for us. It was good practice for us.” The garage went up in flames quickly. By the time the fire departments arrived, it was too late to save. “We got it knocked down,” Ashley said. “The damage to the garage was probably $80,000,”
See fire Page A4
See combine Page A3
By Karen S. Carter During this year's special elections, the Raymond school District is asking for a replacement levy for educational programs and operations. Ballots for the election will be mailed out January 24. The election deadline for ballot turn in is February 11. "Well it is a replacement levy," said Raymond School District Superintendent Dr. Steve Holland. "And by that I mean we are not trying to expand programs. We want to keep doing what we have been doing." The last time Raymond schools asked for a levy, the voters approved a $4.18 per $1,000. Due to the changes in funding for the schools, RSD is requesting the voters approve a $2.37/$1,000 or a $632,000 levy. The money from this levy is used for extra curricular activities, maintenance, and other similar items. Some of the levy money will go towards subsidizing the kitchen. It helps feed the students. “A good chunk of the funding for lunches comes from the state or federal government, but we always spend more than we receive,” said Holland. “It is just the way it is. It [school meals]) is not fully funded. It [the levy money] does go to fill that gap.”
Levy Matching “One thing that is interesting is because we do not have a lot of big businesses in Raymond, we are sometimes referred to as property poor,” explained Holland. “We don’t have a boeing or Amazon in our backyard so the state has what they call Levy Equalization. You only get levy equalization, which is to help make up for those property poor districts, is if you pass a levy. So what we are asking for is around $632,000 and then the state will kick in another half-a-million if that passes. If it doesn’t pass, you don't get anything.” This recently passed tax reform was passed to help fund Washington schools. It is intended to relieve some of the burden placed on property owners in areas with less property value. “Levy equalization can fully fund K-12 education in this state, while giving homeowners in this area a break on their property taxes,” said Rep. Jim Walsh. “It will make Washington's overall tax structure flatter and fairer. Less regressive.” Voting And Taxes Currently voters in the RSD’s tax base are paying $2.50/$1,000 due to the state fixing the McCleary See Levy Page A4
Raymond City Council meeting Leak uncovered in the RPD, restaurant lease agreement roughed out By Karen S. Carter “The police department still leaks,” said Raymond Police Chief Chuck Spoor during the first Raymond City Council meeting of 2020. “We discovered this last week [The week of torrential rainfall]. It is basically all along the east wall. I don’t know how bad it is getting structurally up above there. We are going to have Dr. Roof show up again when they get a chance. We've tried a myriad of ways to fix it, but none of it seems to be working.” Also during the meeting on January 6, Council Members Ian Farrell, Colby Rogers, and Pam
Nogueira were swornin for the new year. Ian Farrell was nominated and appointed as Mayor Pro Tem. Michelle Layman represented the Willapa Harbor Chamber of Commerce and gave a brief of the promotions that the chamber uses to bring in tourists to the area. “I just want to thank you again for providing us with lodging taxes that keeps the downtown visitor’s center open,” she said. “We use the little visitor’s center in town. We keep a video going 24/7, and it is managed by volunteers 3 to 5 days a week.” She explained that the hours the center is open depends on the availability of the
volunteers. “There is also WI-FI for travelers,” Layman stated. “When they come in, our goal is to get them to stay and spend their money here.” She went on to say that the volunteers and brochures were available to answer questions about the services in the area. “We've had visitors last year from Austria, Germany, Spain, France, Canada, Israel, and many states…” Layman talked about the chamber co-hosting the Willapa Festival in 2019, “We counted people in the streets this year and we had almost 1,600 for the parade. It is hard to keep track of how many people we have during an
open air event.” She also mentioned that the Lighted Parade had an increase in audience members. In 2018 there were 1,100 people and 1,200 in 2019. Another topic that inspired some discussion was the presentation of the Restaurant Lease Agreement. This new agreement was presented to the council to act as a guideline for when someone was interested in leasing out the community center. Written in the agreement were specific rental dollar amounts along with a rate increase for after the center was leased for six months. Discussion among the council members brought
up the point that the six months increase may not make the agreement viable when dealing with a slow tourist season during the winter. Someone suggested that a winter vs. summer rate might work better. There was talk about what still needed to be purchased like a commercial refrigerator and deep fat fryer to make the space restaurant friendly. “We will be restaurant ready when we are finished,” said Mayor Tony Nordin. The lease agreement was passed by the council on the condition that the specific dollar amounts be removed so there is more negotiation room for when the real agree-
ment is drawn up. The amounts are to be left blank so they can be filled in later. Mayor Nordin mentioned that a restaurant owner was seriously looking at the community center space to set up in. The meeting finished with a request from the Director of Public Works Eric Weiberg, “With all this weather and rain we [Raymond Public Works] are looking for any storm drains that aren’t working. If people see anything, we would like to know so we can get a jump on it.” To report a non-working drain call 360-942-4107 Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.