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Vol. 42, Issue 1
USPS 455960 January 1, 2020
Your Independent Community News Since 1890
fire before An awesome adventure Devastating Christmas; community reaches out to help
Photo courtesy JoDean Jordan
The Raymond High School Leadership class recently spent the day at High Life Adventures in Warrenton, Oregon. The students ziplined the course in an attempt to step out of their comfort zones and learn the importance of taking risks. The field trip was funded by the Raymond Schools Foundation. From left are Guide Dillon, JoDean Jordan, Deleak Hubbard, Daysa Sypaphay, Kyra Gardner, Callie McVey, Tymber Livingston, Tegen Fleury, Lizeth Badilla, Yasmin Jimenez and Guide Jerry.
By Karen S. Carter Arriving home after a family holiday party, Allen Hodel Sr. discovered that his home on Halfmoon Creek Rd. in Lebam was engulfed in flames. Pacific County Fire District #3 was the first to respond to the fire with Raymond, South Bend and Pe Ell Fire Department acting as back up. “I was one of the first ones there,” said Pacific County Fire District #3 Chief Gary Schwiesow about the fire, which occurred on December 21 around 1:32 a.m. “The whole house was well involved with fire. It started somewhere in the front left-hand corner. We are just not sure what it was [that started the fire].” The cause of the fire is currently under investigation. “We were there for quite a while and suddenly the house collapsed in on itself,” explained Schwiesow. “We had to dig through it to make sure everything was put out. We had to haul water from a long way off to be able to fight it. That didn’t hamper us putting it out. We had plenty of water at the time. We had the other departments haul water to us.” “Nobody was home,” said Schwiesow. “That could have been a blessing.” Allen has shared custody of three of his younger children ages 3, 4, and 7 years old, who would have been home at the time of the fire, but they were out of the home at a family cookie party. The kids stayed overnight at their cousins’ home. Allen and his girlfriend left the party early in the morning. He heard the call to the fire department about a house on Halfmoon Creek See fire Page B1
Foggy driving conditions cause accident Bears spotted in Raymond and South Bend area By Karen S. Carter
By Karen S. Carter On a dark and foggy night around 7:16 p.m. the Pacific County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report of a white van in the ditch on Hwy 101 in the Elkhorn Flats area. Monday, October 9 produced foggy conditions between Raymond and Aberdeen on Hwy 101. “A witness reported to us that the operator of the van seemed to have been pulling off to the side of the road to let other motorists behind them by,” said Chief Criminal Deputy Pat Matlock. “In doing so, they got off on the soft part of the shoulder and into the ditch.” Traffic was redirected around the scene. The tow truck blocked the southbound lane while assisting the van out of the steep sided ditch. Tips for Driving in Foggy Conditions from Deputy Matlock: Leave enough distance between your vehicle and the one in front of you (less visibility means longer breaking times so consider the added separation between you and the other vehicle a good thing). Use your wipers and defroster to your advantage (moisture on your windshield can create a glare which makes it harder for the driver to see). Use your low beam headlights as they are actually better for driving in foggy conditions because fog amplifies the brightness from your high beam headlights. Don’t try to rely on following the taillights of the vehicle in front of you. (the driver in front of you may have a real hard time seeing as well and may lead you off the roadway.
Also, this can actually cause you to narrow your focus of the landscape in front of you which may cause you to miss things). Follow the right side line of the roadway (fog line) to guide you. Sometimes people pull over to wait out the fog or gather their wits if they are having a difficult time. (Pull off as far as safely possible from the roadway or find a parking lot or business. If you are on the side of the roadway turn on your hazards as everyone else driving in the fog is having a hard time seeing as well). Help, I’m in a Ditch Deputy Matlock also has some advice, just in case you find yourself or a friend in a ditch. “If someone finds themselves in a situation where they have driven into a ditch, then I would suggest calling 911 immediately, even if they are not injured,” he said. “This way first responders can get to the scene and assist with visual aids and traffic control for other motorists so they don’t end up in the same situation.” “It is important to visually check and mentally note every so often where you are at on the roadway in case an incident happens so that you can give an accurate and prompt description of your location for first responders, especially if you are not familiar with the area,” he continued. “Remain in the vehicle with hazards lights activated until help arrives, unless circumstances regarding your safety dictate the need to exit the vehicle.” So be aware of foggy conditions this winter and drive safe so you can get to where you are going.
Local libraries Adult Winter Reading Program Bring in the New Year with reading a book or a bunch of books. The Timberland Regional Library is hosting their Adult Winter Reading Program again this year. While the weather is cold and rainy read some books or listen to some audiobooks.
The program runs between January 1 and March 31. For every five books that you read, you will receive a free book from the Friends of the Library book sale and an entry in the grand prize drawing. South Bend’s grand prize is a book related gift basket with food and other items
in the basket put together by Library Manager Jenny Penoyar. Raymond’s grand prize is a Kindle Fire. Pick up book tracking forms at any Pacific County Library branch. Return forms by Saturday, March 14 to be included in the prize drawing.
Since the Fourth of July, booms have been echoing throughout the area. Many reports have been circulating that people were lighting off out-of-season fireworks, but it appears that private citizens have been using the noise makers to scare off black bears. Many reports have been called into the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife about black bear sightings throughout Raymond, South Bend, and Long Beach. When asked about the black bear sightings, WDFW Customer Service Specialist Tim Heath told the Herald, “Oh gosh they are all over the place including Raymond and Central Park.” “It's not anything to be worried about,” he said. “The one thing that people need to be aware of is that it's that time of year when they [black bears] are stocking up on food. They don’t go into a deep hibernation here on the coast but they do hibernate up to a point.” “People should keep their garbage, if it is at all possible, inside a garage or a shed,” Heath continued. “Bird feeders should be taken down. Bears love bird food. Any attractants, like fruit on the trees, or in people’s yards on the ground, need to be picked
Photo courtesy of WDFW Destroyed cooking oil containers were strewn throughout the woods by black bears according to the WDFW Wildlife Program Bi-weekly Report Nov. 1-15, 2019. The bears were taking advantage to feed on the cooking oil.
up and gotten rid of. The bears will go where there is a source of food.” Area Black Bears Go After Easy Calories In the WDFW Wildlife Program Bi-weekly Report dated November 1 to 15, 2019 is a report from Southwest Washington that illustrates just how opportunistic feeders black bears are. Wildlife Conflict Specialist Jacobsen and Sergeant McQuary responded to a complaint a
black bear had “gotten into a neighbor’s cooking oil.” The WDFW officers met with the property owner and discovered that it wasn’t just one bear, but many black bears feeding on the cooking oil. The bears had damaged 163 containers containing a total of 800 gallons of used cooking oil during October. The property owner was using the oil to power his pickup truck. The See bears Page B1
Safety a big factor in combining a grid team By GEORGE KUNKE Raymond HS Athletic Director and Assistant Football Coach Mike Tully offered his time to discuss a few points about the decision of the Raymond and South Bend school boards to combine forces for a football program beginning in 2020. “There are quite a few reasons that combining makes sense,” Tully said. “The biggest being, in my opinion, the safety factor and ability to have kids playing against the appropriate level of competition. Too many times over the Photo by Larry Bale past few years, we've had After a unanimous vote by both school boards, Raymond and South Bend will be combining football kids take the field in varsity forces in 2020. Text by George Kunke.
games before they are really ready. Having the opportunity to play JV games would hopefully help boost turnout with the freshmen. More numbers would also breed more competition for spots, which pushes kids to improve and get better. “It would also provide greater depth in case of injury and allow us to play more kids on just one side of the ball,” Tully continued. “The fact that we can combine and still play at the 2B level is huge. We play in the toughest district in the state, so being more competitive within league and the district would be great as well.”
“We're still in the exploratory stages of this whole thing, so we don't really have any details about how it would work,” Tully said. “Having combined for soccer the past couple years, I think we have a bit of an idea of what has worked and what we might need to do differently this time around. I have a pretty healthy list of things that we would need to discuss to make for the smoothest transition possible.” There are a number of factors that need to be ironed out by the two school districts about all the finances involved, who See team Page B1