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Vol. 41, Issue 48
USPS 455960 November 27, 2019
Your Independent Community News Since 1890
The Derik Nissell Toy Drive continues into its 4th year By Karen Carter 2019 marks the fourth year of the Derik Nissell Toy Drive. Beginning in November each year, the toy drive gives people a chance to help out local children who all need a brand new toy to unwrap for Christmas. The toy drive was set up to honor South Bend High School Alumni Derik S. Nissell. On February 29, 2016 his premature death shocked the community. He was only in his mid-twenties. While working for the Westport Shipyard, Nissell would donate toys to the shipyard’s toy drive. The Derik Nissell Toy Drive continues with this tradition. “So we’re collecting toys for underprivileged children in North Pacific County in our area,” said Nissell’s mother, Joyce Kidd. “We are hoping people will participate. It is a great cause. We collect a lot of toys.” The toy drive will be collecting toys until Friday, December 13. Drop off locations are: • Pioneer Grocery in South Bend • The Pacific County Auditor’s Office located at the Pacific County Courthouse • The Pacific County General Administration Office located at the Pacific County Courthouse • The Pacific County Annex Building in South Bend • Flowers by Lynne in Raymond In the past, the donated toys were shared with Westport. This year the donated toys will stay in Raymond until 4:00 p.m. at the Raymond Eagles Hall. ticket. You do not have to be present to win one of the and South Bend area. “We don’t have used toys [this year],” said Kidd. “We bikes. The toy drive is asking that there is only one visit The toy giveaway will be in a different location. This will be doing drawings for the bikes.” Once you sign up per family during the giveaway. year, the toys will be held on December 14 from 9:00 a.m. to receive the toys at the giveaway, you will get a raffle
Santa and his elves coming to town Keep your gift purchases safe; Hey moms, dads and grandparents, don't forget to bring the little ones out to see the Annual Raymond Christmas Lighted Parade Saturday, December 7 at 6 pm. And, remind the kids to write a letter to Santa, and make sure they provide their full name and address and they can drop it
into Santa's mailbox that evening. Santa and his elves will try to answer their letters if they have all their return addresses on them. The mailbox will be located at the Raymond Eagles located at 215 3rd Street. Also, they can visit with Santa and his elves in the main hall of the Eagles
following the parade to let him know what they want for Christmas. The Eagles Auxiliary will be serving free hot chocolate with marshmallows to the children before, during, and after the parade. They will begin in front of the Eagles Hall and then move into the main hall during Santa's visit.
Raymond City Council welcomes Heidi Whorlton as new council member By Karen Carter Raymond resident, Heidi Whorlton was voted into council position #2 by the current Raymond City Council. Position #2 was recently vacated by Kayle Hanson with just two years left of his term. After the ballots were counted, Mayor Tony Nordin swore in Whorlton and sat her on the council for the rest of the meeting on Monday, November 18. During the interview process, Whorlton shared her ideas with the council members. What made you decide
to apply for the Raymond City Council Position? “I just feel that it is important to be involved in the community,” Whorlton said. “I thought why not, It’s a way to be involved. A great way to meet people and learn more about our community.” “State politics are great,” she continued. “National politics are great, but that’s not where the changes happen. The changes happen at the local level, so if you want to change something you get involved.” Experience Whorlton works for a
Signing Letters of Intent
Photo by Larry Bale Hallee Layman and Britney Patrick, seniors at Willapa Valley HS, signed National Letters of Intent last Wednesday at Willapa Valley HS. Layman will attend the University of Hawaiii on a track and field scholarship and Patrick will attend Saint Martin's University on a softball scholarship.
charter school company, which has given her the knowledge about what to keep confidential and what needs to be out to the public. She also has budgeting knowledge, which includes knowing what monies can be spent on certain things and what monies can’t. “While I haven’t had any city government experience, I do have experiences that will benefit the government as a whole,” Whorlton said. Visions of the future “I love Raymond,” Whorlton said. “It is a great
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South Bend improves its water quality By Karen Carter “It’s the holiday season,” said Police Chief Eastham. “Lock your cars.” According to the report Eastman gave to the South Bend City Council meeting on Wednesday, November 13, the reports of car prowling go up starting just before Thanksgiving and continue through to Christmas. “Don’t leave anything valuable in them,” he said. “Reports of car prowlers are picking up. We haven’t had anything important stolen yet. Just a little cash and change, but if you have something worth money in your car and you do not lock it, it’s your fault, plain and simple.” Eastham also reported that Officer Dockter passed his testing and will be at the Police Academy starting November 20. Water Plant City Supervisor Houk reported that there was maintenance on the South Bend City Water Plant. “Last week we received 96 filters for our water plant from Warrenton,” he said. “So we swapped out ours. Ours were getting pretty bad. They were beyond their life span.” It took the city crew and others from Warrenton a day and a half to change the filters. The water to the city was diverted for three days during this process. Raymond supplied the water to South Bend for those
three days. “It is going to be a swap for the water, they didn’t charge us” Houk explained. “They [Raymond] have a project going on next year [that will need South Bend to give them water].” Mayor Julie Struck mentioned that the city should send Warrington an official thank you for supplying the filters. “The [water] tests came back great,” said Houk. Money Matters The Property Tax Levy passed for it’s final reading. This was the 1% that the City of South Bend does each year. It is a requirement for the city in order to qualify for grants. During this meeting, there were no comments from the public concerning the 2020 Budget. A copy of the budget is available to the public from the city hall. In the budget packet is a message from Mayor Struck about the events that occurred in 2019. A Message from the Mayor: 2019 has been a great year for the City of South Bend. We celebrated the 150th Anniversary of the city’s founding with a special event held at the Chamber over Labor Day Weekend. There were six tenminute presentations given on the following topics: city history, fishing, logging, the oyster industry, SB school history, See South Bend Page B4
Dr. Holland: They’ve made some well-considered choices and improved things for students and families By GEORGE KUNKE The Washington State Board of Education (WSBE) adopted rules regarding graduation requirements following the passage of legislation. Graduation pathway options have replaced the explicit link between the state assessment and graduation, and the new rules upgrade the High School and Beyond Plan, and clarify and update credit graduation requirements to align with statute and practice. Raymond Superintendent of Schools Dr. Steve Holland answered questions from the Herald about the requirements adopted by (WSBE) in effect in 2020 in all Washington high schools for all students. “The new graduation requirements give some much-needed flexibility to students, while at the same time maintaining standards that ensure students leave high school with the critical skills they need to be successful in their postsecondary plans,” Holland told the Herald. Holland said it is “abso-
lutely” better for students that the graduation pathway options have replaced the explicit link between the state assessment and graduation. “For example, under the old rules, the default requirement was that all students take and pass algebra 2,” Holland pointed out. “Competency in algebra 2 is not relevant for a the large number of students who will go to a trade school, tech school, the military, etc. The pathway options allows students and parents to choose the most relevant courses that will help them progress toward their personal goals. Holland believes new requirements will provide more well-rounded students and offer more choices for all students from an educational and career standpoint. Holland offered his thoughts on what changes were the most significant adopted by WSBE. “In general, the most important change was simply the recognition that all students are individuals and have various ways of show-
Dr. Steve Holland
ing their competency,” Holland said. “Specifically, I appreciate the commonsense changes regarding those changes which allow students to show their college readiness by being successful in college classes. “In other words, the state's goal for graduation has long been 'college and career readiness', yet, the only way to show that a student was ready for college was through a single type of test. I have questioned why success in a college course, while still in high
school, did not show the student had met that goal. For example, if a student is successful in Running Start, AP courses, College in the High School or collegelevel vocational classes, why shouldn't those count as having met the goal? Now they do.” Holland added that he is “satisfied with what we have so far; time will tell us if there is any need for finetuning. They've made some well-considered choices and improved things for students and families.”