Mason County News

[LIVE VIDEO] Watch the Sunday service from Saint David of Wales Episcopal Church in Shelton, WA. Live video stream begins 10 to 15 minutes before the 10:30 AM July 12, 2020 service starts.

St. David’s is partnering with MasonWebTV Powered by HCC to bring their services to the community during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the Governor’s “Stay Home; Stay Healthy.” order.

Permission to podcast/stream the music in this service obtained from One License with license #A-729717.

To support Saint David of Wales Episcopal Church in Shelton, WA, please consider a financial donation. You can donate online at the church’s website: https://sdow.org/.

You can also donate by mail:
St. David of Wales
324 W. Cedar
P.O. Box 339
Shelton, WA 98584

For more information call the office: (360) 426-8472; or email: info@sdow.org

Copyright protected by Digiprove © 2020 Dedrick Allan

A Washington State Patrol (WSP) trooper was injured after stopping an impaired, wrong-way driver with her patrol car on state Route 3 north of Bremerton Friday, July 10, 2020.

WSP dispatchers received more than 25 reports of a wrong-way, white sedan traveling southbound in the northbound lanes of state Route 3. The first report was received at around 4:46 p.m. stating the vehicle, a 2012 Chrysler 200, was passing milepost 51 near Poulsbo.

Friday, the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) released the latest statewide situation report, which shows COVID-19 transmission is still accelerating across most of the state as of the end of June. 

The report highlights concerning COVID-19 trends in Spokane County, the Puget Sound, north-central counties and southwest counties. The reproductive number—the estimated number of new people each COVID-19 patient will infect—is still above one in both eastern and western Washington, meaning the number of cases is still increasing.

Friday, July 10, 2020, Mason County Public Health reported one additional Mason County resident who tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19). This man in his 40’s increases the number of total positive COVID-19 cases in the County to 60. However, the number of active cases has dropped to six. Public Health officials are continuing contact interviews while the patient is isolating at home.

The following is a summary of road construction and maintenance scheduled on state highways around Mason County and adjacent areas from July 12, 2020 to July 17, 2020.

Highway: US 101 Region: Olympic County:  Mason Location:  Milepost(s)  348.9 – 349.2
Description: One-way alternating traffic for roadway repair. 
Work Schedule: 9 p.m. Wednesday, July 8 to 4:30 a.m. the following day.

US 101 – Coffee Creek – Remove Fish Barrier
Highway: US 101 Region: Olympic County: Mason Location: Milepost(s) 346.8
Description:  Crews are building a new alignment for Coffee Creek as part of a WSDOT fish barrier removal project. 
Work Schedule: See below:

Shelton-Matlock Road 

• Travelers on Shelton-Matlock Road approaching US 101 are using a temporary two-lane bypass road around the work zone. Travelers can expect a reduced speed limit to 25 mph and occasional traffic stops of up to 15 minutes during work hours between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m.
• The bypass road will allow crews to build a new stream channel and install an approximately 96-foot-long box culvert to eventually connect a realigned Coffee Creek under the Shelton-Matlock Road. The channel will link to a replicated natural streambed, which was previously built between Shelton-Matlock Road and the area approaching Goldsborough Creek.
• ?Crews expect to fully reopen the Shelton-Matlock Road by mid-summer. 

Highway: SR 106 Region: Olympic County: Mason Location: Milepost(s) 11.5 to 19
Description: One-way alternating traffic for utility work. 
Work Schedule: 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. each Monday through Thursday through Thursday, July 30.

Highway: SR 119 Region: Olympic County: Mason Location: Milepost(s) 2.4 – 2.5
Description: One-way alternating traffic for utility work. 
Work Schedule: 7:30 a.m. until 4 p.m each weekday through July 17. 

Highway: SR 300 Region: Olympic County: Mason Location: Milepost(s) .01 to 3
Description:  One-way alternating traffic for roadway repair. 
Work Schedule: 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, July 13-15.

Friday, the House Committee on Appropriations voted to approve a $5 million increase in the Puget Sound Geographic Program, which provides critical grant support to state, local, and tribal governments to implement projects to improve water quality, protect shorelines, and enhance fish passage and salmon habitat. The increase, which Representative Derek Kilmer (WA-06) fought to secure as a member of the Appropriations Committee, brings total funding for the program to $38 million for fiscal year 2021. The action rejects a Trump Administration proposal to eliminate the program altogether and represents an increase of more than 15% above the current funding level.

[VIDEO] The Primary Election is August 4th and those in the 10th Congressional District will be deciding the top two candidates from a field of 19 to fill the U.S. Representative seat being vacated by Denny Heck. To help you make an informed decision, the League of Women Voters of Thurston County and the League of Women Voters of Mason County held a virtual candidates forum with those seeking the seat that represents portions of Thurston, Pierce, and Mason counties. The forum, produced by TVW, was held July 8th and are scheduled to air on TVW (Hood Canal Communications’ channel 42) at 9 AM July 16th and 2:30 PM July 18th.

MasonWebTV Powered by HCC has been granted permission to post the videos of the nearly three-hour forum:

Thursday, July 9, 2020, Mason County Public Health reported three more Mason County residents have tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19). The man in his 20’s, the woman in her 50’s and the man in his 60’s bring the number of total positive cases in Mason County to 59. However, the number of active COVID-19 cases dropped to eight.

According to a news release, one of the latest positive cases is a contact of a previous positive case. The other two are contacts of positive cases out of State. Mason County Public Health is continuing contact interviews. The patients are currently isolating at home.

Mason County Public Works will begin the replacement of a culvert on the Shelton Valley Road at MP 2.13 on Monday, July 20, 2020. All traffic will be restricted from entering the work zone. This closure will help expedite the
replacement, minimizing the inconvenience to the traveling public.

During the week of June 28 through July 4, there were 28,393 initial regular unemployment claims (down 11.0% from the prior week) and 736,151 total claims for all unemployment benefit categories (up 5.7% from the prior week) filed by Washingtonians, according to the Employment Security Department (ESD).  

• Initial regular claims applications remain at unprecedented elevated levels and are at 416 percent above last year’s weekly new claims applications.
• Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) initial claims as well as continued/ongoing claims all increased over the previous week.

Mason County, however, saw a slight increase in initial claims for unemployment last week. There were 188 claims June 28, 2020 to July 4, 2020. Down three from the week before. There were 185 claims June 21, 2020 to June 27, 2020.

ESD paid out over $470.9 million for 404,475 individual claims – a decrease of $33.9 million and 5,177 less individual claims compared to the prior week.