Marine industry a huge boon to Harbor economy

Under the surface of the marine waters off the coast and inside Grays Harbor is a wealth of seafood that sustains a way of life and fuels much of the local economy.

The bounty is varied. Dungeness crab, ground fish such as whiting, rockfish, sablefish, cod, flounder and sole, albacore tuna, sardines, pink shrimp, spot shrimp, Pacific halibut, salmon, anchovy, hagfish (a slimy creature that resembles an eel) razor clams and oysters all bring home the bacon from the sea.

When the tall ship Lady Washington was in port recently, the hidden-in-plain-sight seafood resource was the subject of a program accompanying a cruise between Westport and Aberdeen, with seafood industry insiders reporting on the importance of their industry.

“The (non-tribal) fishing industry on Grays Harbor accounts for about 30 percent of the total economy,” said Al Carter, a former county commissioner who now works for Ocean Companies in Westport. Add tribal fishing and support businesses and “it reaches almost 50 percent,” Carter said. The figures include commercial and recreational fishing, charter boats, crabbers, shellfish, clamming and beyond, he said.

In terms of the catch in Washington state, “the coastal area is by far the largest contributor to commercial fish harvesting … accounting for 85 percent of the total pounds landed,” said Dan Ayres, Coastal Shellfish Manager for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Grays Harbor County “lands more fish and shellfish than any other county,” he added, accounting for an average of more than 50 percent of the catch landed on shore, and 30 percent of the value of landings in all state fisheries.

A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration study from 2012 notes that the business of seafood — commercial and recreational — generated $8 billion in sales value statewide and accounts for 67,000 jobs in seafood-related activities.

The value of non-tribal commercial fish landings generated an average of $109 million per season in ex-vessel value, the price received by commercial fishers for fish landed at the dock, Ayres said. “Shellfish fisheries generated the greatest share of that ex-vessel value at nearly 65 percent,” he added.

“Tribal fishers use the same unloading facilities, sell to the same markets, buy from the same gear stores, haul out at the same shipyards, bank at the same banks. Over 50 percent of the value of all coastal fisheries flows through Grays Harbor. This is a big deal for our local economy,” said commercial crabber Larry Thevik.

” … whether commercial or subsistence, the value of these fisheries goes beyond monetary. These fisheries are a part of the spiritual and cultural heritage of the Quinault people and exercising their treaty right to fish, clams and crab is essential to the Quinaults’ way of life.” Joe Schumacker, marine scientist for the Quinault Indian Nation said in an interview.

Schumacker used the occasion of the cruise to state the tribe’s objection against the proposals to develop Grays Harbor as an oil shipping port. The tribe is using legal action to try to stop it. “The greatest fear we have are what oil tank farms will do and what crude by rail will do. We are willing to lay down on the track if we have to. … Think long term, not short term profits,” he said.

“Fishing is thousands of years old—there is an ancient weir on the south bank there,” Schumacker said from the deck of the Lady Washington. A weir is a wooden or stone structure used to catch fish.

Grays Harbor as a nursery

Grays Harbor is a nursery for many species of marine life.

Brady Engvall of Brady’s Oysters, also an outspoken critic of oil infrastructure here, spoke of the need for fresh clean water so oyster larvae can grow. The harbor is also well-known as a nursery for juvenile Dungeness crab.

The estuary is key to outmigrating salmon and steelhead as the smolt transition from fresh to saltwater fish, Schumacker said. “The estuaries are extraordinarily important to their nourishment and growth,” he said.

Crab

Crab is the most valuable single species in terms of revenue, and 90 percent of Thevik’s yearly revenue comes from Dungeness. He is vice president of the state Dungeness Crab Fishing Association and serves on state and regional crab commissions.

There are 223 licensed non-tribal crab vessels and another 30 to 35 vessels in the tribal fleet, Thevik said.

“In the case of crab, you can add another $10 million in value each year” as the tribal contribution to the $34 million annual ex-vessel value of the non-tribal catch, he said. Schumacker said the $10 million average includes contributions from the Quinault, the Quileute and the Makah.

“Ex-vessel values just from tribal and non-tribal crab landings averages $44 million (in) economic impact,” Thevik said. The benefit to the coastal communities is estimated to be three times that number. So the average annual economic benefit to coastal communities from crab fishing is estimated to be $132 million a year, he said.

Westport is the largest fishing community on the state’s coast and among the top 10 largest fish landing ports in the country, fifth or seventh, depending on who you ask, said Carter. Money earned in Westport is circulated through the economy three to five times, maybe as many as seven times, Carter reports.

Tribal and non-tribal boats directly employ more than 600 fishers, Thevik estimates.

Ground Fish, Salmon and Tuna

The annual average ex-vessel revenue for ground fish caught at sea is very close to $24.5 million and ground fish brought to shore provides $11.7 million, according to a pie chart done by the state Department of Fish &Wildlife. The average is figured from the harvest in the years 2009-13.

“Groundfish landed shoreside are fish (rockfish, sablefish, whiting, various flatfish…) that are landed to shore-based processers, where groundfish at-sea are those fish (almost all whiting) that are delivered to at-sea processing ships, Ayres replied in email.

Albacore tuna usually show up off the coast in mid-July and the average commercial catch is $21.4 million, according to the chart.

Together, crab and the above-mentioned fish make up close to three quarters of the revenue taken in on average in non-tribal fishing. Pacific Halibut, which has a very short season, is reported to be close to $4 million on average, salmon is $3.2 million.

Charter fishing is managed in the category of recreational fishing, although it clearly has a commercial component. Although charter fishing is down from its heyday in the 1960s and 1970s, charter boat excursions still attract people from all over the country, the Westport Charterboat Association says.

Oysters &clams

Aboard the Lady Washington, Engvall who also heads the Willapa-Grays Harbor Oyster Growers Association, said the two estuaries account for 160 jobs and $22 million in revenue per year. The bulk of that income comes from Willapa Bay.

Razor clams are also big economic factor, contributing an estimated $22 to $40 million to the coastal economy, the crab association said as part of its presentation on what shellfish revenue means on the Harbor. Though razor clams are a staple for the Quinault, 90 percent of the harvest is sent to their commercial plant, Schumacker said.

” … On the two beaches nearest Grays Harbor that we co-manage with (the) state, Copalis and Mocrocks, Quinault has harvested an average of approximately 1.7 million clams per season over the last five seasons.” Schumacker said in email.

“Our commercial harvesters are paid by the pound on the beach and prices vary but the value of the commercial harvest to them can be conservatively estimated at $600,000 per year. This does not include the further market value of those clams once processed and sold by Quinault Pride Seafoods,” he added.

“The value of the subsistence harvest of clams, or subsistence harvest of any of our other Quinault treaty fisheries for that matter, cannot be estimated. It puts food on the table for all Quinault tribal members and is part of their heritage and culture,” Schumacker said.

Shrimp &cold storage on the rise

Commercial fisherman Mark Donovick punctuated the bus ride to Westport, where the Lady Washington cruise originated, with shout outs about the benefits of the industry. “Largest cold storage operations on the West Coast,” he said. ” … processes 30 million pounds of crab in freezing capacity,” he added.

“There are five new shrimp peelers and plans to add five more to the four existing ones. That’s 14 shrimp peelers” in Westport, Donovick called out. Big money in shrimp, big money in catch and freeze at sea: some $100 million in boats on this Harbor, he proclaimed.

Carter, who works for the parent company of four Ocean Companies, said Ocean Cold LLC is “90,000 square feet, (the) largest cold storage facility on the coast, north of San Francisco.”

In addition, Ocean Companies own a fish processing company for sardines, hake and whiting, crab and shrimp. The production facility uses the heads, guts and tails for oil and fish meal. “We waste nothing,” Carter said.

Shrimp is a growing business, Carter reported. “There are 24 shrimp boats fishing out of Westport. That is up from about eight last year.” The current season for pink shrimp, which began April 1, is on track to be “one of the best in years,” Ayres said.

On the other hand, the sardine quota is down, from 54,000 metric tons last season to 17,000 tons this season, Carter said.

People of the sea

At peak times, from June to November, Ocean Companies can employ up to 1,000 people, and have 375 full time equivalent employees, Carter said.

“One thing you should remember is that every fishing boat has from three to six crew members on them as well,” he said.

Molly Bold is married to a fifth generation fisherman and is president of WeFISH, a group formed early this year to help support the industry and families.

They are not involved in fish management or policy but aim to support the people in the industry, she said. They want to change the face of the “old salt” to more accurately reflect the faces of the small business owners, she said.

So far, WeFISH has 25 families who are working to protect and advance the legacy of fishing.

They now take care of the Fishermen’s Memorial on Neddie Rose Drive in Westport. The 50-year-old monument now sports new paint, flowers, planters and a new bench. They organized the recent blessing of the fleet and sponsored author of “Fish in Our Blood,” Michele Longo Eder, as a guest speaker at Westport Winery. Bold, who is about to give birth to a third child, says she wants the industry to be around for the sixth generation if they choose to pursue the family business. Their website is wefishwa.com.

Erin Hart, 360-537-3932, ehart@thedailyworld.com. Twitter: @DW_Erin

“Chicago” opens on the Bishop stage tonight

Set in the legendary city during the roaring “jazz hot” 20’s, “Chicago” tells the story of two rival vaudevillian murderesses locked up in Cook County jail.

Devilish and delightful, Chicago is an indisputable Broadway landmark. With one great showstopper after the next, the now-classic score keeps the story moving at gunshot pace.

The Bishop production of “Chicago” opens on Thursday, July 24, and runs through Sunday, July 27. Thursday, Friday and Saturday shows begin at 7:30 p.m., while the closing performance on Sunday begins at 2 p.m.

The Bishop Center cast includes Libby Carrico as Velma, Julyane Fleury as Roxie, Adam Cooper as Billy, Michael Fagerstedt playing Amos, Keola Holt as Mama Matron and Cathryn Davis as Mary Sunshine. The ensemble includes Michael Amendola, Spencer Brooks, Sarah Dier, Justin Hamerly, Stephanie Hornback, Ambi Howell, Rebecca Meacham, Tiffany Oestreich and Jerrod Phelps.

Tickets are $18 for adults, $15 for seniors and $10 for students, and are available at http://ift.tt/1z8hQS6 and at the box office by calling (360) 538-4066.

Aberdeen stays alive in state 10-11 Little League tourney

CHEHALIS — Aberden regained its batting eye just in time to ensure its survival in the State 10-11 Little League Baseball Tournament.

Doing all its scoring in the fourth and fifth innings, Aberdeen stayed alive in the double-elimination tourney by topping Pacific of Edmonds-Lynnwood, 6-3, Wednesday night on Stan Hedwall Park.

Riverview of Spokane knocked Aberdeen into the losers bracket Tuesday, 15-5, in a contest shortened to four innings by the 10-run mercy rule.

Kobie Fall pitched a four-hitter and Anthony Alexander hit a three-run homer Wednesday as Aberdeen advanced to the tourney’s Final Four.

The District III champions will face Cascade of Vancouver-Camas in another loser-out contest at 5 p.m. today. Unbeaten Riverview and Mercer Island will collide in the winners bracket final at approximately 7:15.

The tournament runs through at least Saturday, with an if-necessary second game planned for Sunday.

Aberdeen 6, Pacific 3

Alexander’s three-run homer in the fifth proved the difference. But the pivotal inning might have been the fourth, in which the Harborites scored three times after the frame appeared to be over.

Trailing 1-0 on Dominick Farley’s solo homer in the third, Aberdeen was held hitless by Pacific starter Cole Duncan through 3 2/3 innings. Eli Brown and Alexander, however, had drawn walks to put runners on first and second with two outs in the fourth.

Reserve Kayden Seibert’s grounder skipped past the third baseman into left field. Attempting to score from second, pinch-runner Jeremy Roberts was trapped in a rundown between third and home. Breaking for the plate, he collided with catcher Parker Cumberland, who was standing in the baseline without the ball, and was eventually tagged.

Roberts was initially called out and the Pacific players ran off the field. But the umpires huddled and ruled that Cumberland was guilty of obstruction, allowing the run to score.

Consecutive infield hits by Dakota Davis and Patrick Hunt produced another run. Connar Sherman followed with a single up the middle that drove in Seibert to make it 3-1.

Alexander’s drive cleared the fence in right-center an inning later, scoring Carter Olsen and Jayden Watson ahead of him.

After playing exceptional defense for five innings, Aberdeen committed all three of its errors in the sixth as the rain that had soaked the Harbor for much of the day finally struck Chehalis. Sandwiched around Cole Nelson’s infield hit and Luke Hunnewell’s sacrifice fly, that enabled Pacific to score twice before Fall recorded the final out on a grounder to third.

Demonstrating excellent control, Fall shut down a Pacific club that had entered the contest averaging 16 runs per game for the tournament. The Aberdeen right-hander walked only one while striking out four.

In addition to his hitting heroics, Alexander contributed the game’s defensive gem. He made a sprawling backhand stop of Nathan Prinz’s hot shot wide of first base and barely outran Prinz to the bag in the fourth inning.

Riverview 15, Aberdeen 5

After Fall’s second home run of the game gave Aberdeen a 5-4 lead, Riverview used timely hitting, fielding errors and a few wild pitches to score 11 unanswered runs for the mercy-rule win in the winners bracket semifinals on Tuesday.

For the first two innings, this contest had the makings of a slugfest.

After Riverview got a two-out, RBI double from Ethan Moriniti in the top of the first, Aberdeen struck with back-to-back solo home runs — Fall and Olsen — to power a three-run frame.

Riverview took a 4-3 lead in the second off Aberdeen starter Brown on a combination of wild pitches, an RBI single by Conner Andreas and a sacrifice fly by Cole Seaman.

Fall gave Aberdeen the lead back in the bottom of the second with a smashing two-run home run to right field at 5-4. Riverview reliever Andrew Heesh settled in after the blast to get Aberdeen out in order to limit the damage.

Fall led Aberdeen at the plate with two home runs and three RBI. Four of Aberdeen’s seven hits in the game were for extra bases.

Fall’s hit was the end of Aberdeen’s scoring punch. Heesh gave up just a lead-off double to Watson in the third inning and nothing else until a one-out walk in the fourth inning.

Riverview took full advantage of Aberdeen’s cold bats. Two fielding errors, along with several wild pitches by Brown, contributed to a five-run third inning and a 9-5 lead.

In the fourth, Brown went the full limit of his pitch count and gave way to relievers Fall and Connar Sherman to finish the contest.

Riverview loaded the bases in the fourth with two outs. The Spokane group got an RBI walk and a bases-loaded clearing double to pace a six-run surge and set up the 10-run mercy rule.

Heesh and Chad Carlson finished the bottom of the fourth inning on the mound with Aberdeen threatening to extend the game. Carlson got a strikeout to end the game with two Aberdeen runners in scoring position.

Andreas and Moritini each drove in four runs for Riverview.

Riverview 135 6 — 15 9 1 Aberdeen 320 0 — 5 7 5

Monson, Heesh (2), Carlson (4) and Moritini; Brown, Fall (4), Sherman (4) and Olsen.

Aberdeen 000 330 — 6 5 3 Pacific 001 002 — 3 4 1

Fall and Brown, Olsen (5); Duncan, Nelson (5) and Cumberland.

PUD, Prosecutor candidates face North Beach issues

Candidates for Grays Harbor PUD commissioner and for Grays Harbor Country Prosecutor visited the North Beach last week to make a pitch to voters before primary election ballots went out in the mail July 16.

Appearing in a July 15 forum sponsored by the North Beach Community Improvement Association, the candidates addressed several North Beach-related issues and fielded questions from about 20 local residents.

The primary election is Aug. 5, with the general election Nov. 4.

PUD Candidates

Incumbent Russ Skolrood, a Hoquiam High School teacher, noted the position is non-partisan and that he “is not a politician. What you see is what you get.”

When he was first elected to the six-year term in 2008, Skolrood said his biggest goal was to “stop buying what we wanted and getting down to what we really needed for the PUD. I’m very proud of that. I think we have come a long ways and we’re on the right track. We have revamped a lot.”

Skolrood has been president of the three-member commission for the past three years, and has presided over a major change in management, with Bob Ward replacing Rick Lovely as general manager.

“I want to try to finish up what I started,” Skolrood said.

John Straka, lifelong Harbor resident now retired from owning a trucking company and being a social worker, said he has been an avid observer of PUD operations for several years.

“I decided this time I was going to get involved. My goal is to get rates down,” Straka said.

“What I don’t like and what I don’t want to see anymore is when people come in and talk about how they have to go down to one room in their home and use a space heater and electric blanket to keep warm,” he said.

Frank Moses, a retired PUD worker and former commissioner, noted that Grays Harbor PUD’s minimum charge is higher than many surrounding counties.

“Just our minimum charge, which is the basic charge you have on your power bill, is $39. In Raymond, it’s $13. So we are three times higher than they are,” Moses said.

He noted that when Lovely departed as general manager, the current PUD commissioners “awarded him a $1,400 trip to Florida. Why? I don’t know.”

Moses also brought up the amount of money lost in taking the so-called Spradlin case through appeals after a Superior Court judge sided with contractor Tim Spradlin over disputed payments stemming from emergency work during the 2007-08 winter storm disaster.

“I think we lost $7 million on that,” Moses said. He also listed failed projects such as $1 million spent on a wind project proposed at Radar Ridge near Naselle and on a generator at the now closed and dismantled Grays Harbor Paper.

Regarding rates, Skolrood said it was “unrealistic” to say that rates would become lower.

“The price of power keeps going up. The Bonneville Power Administration has raised our rates 23 percent,” he said.

Raising rates, Skolrood added, “is not an easy thing for me. I work in a high school, and I have kids come up to me and their power is being shut off and that is not easy. You have people who call you on the phone and tell you they have to make a choice between power and food. I used to sleep a lot better six years ago.”

He noted that he has to pay those rates, too, just like his family, friends and neighbors.

Straka lauded PUD workers in general and noted he had attended a program known as PUD Academy, which provided a behind-the-scenes look at how the public utility operates.

On issues related to the North Beach, Straka said the wind along with trees close to power lines cause most of the problems, and he suggested it might be cost-effective in the long run to look at how to put more lines underground.

“But given the dollars that are out and the rates that we can afford to pay any more, with the lack of jobs around here I think we are stuck trying to manage the tree problems in the lines,” Straka said.

Moses said when he was commissioner, the plan was to connect a third main electrical feed to the North Beach, one going to Quinault, one to Ocean Shores, with the third from Grass Creek to Powell Road.

“The intent was to have three ways to switch” when the power went out in any one area, according to Moses.

“We looked at growth, and growth was here on the North Beach, with Seabrook and with Ocean Shores, and that’s kind of where we wanted to put our money,” Moses said.

The Powell Road substation, Skolrood said, “won’t be online for a while because we have had to make a lot of cuts over the last six years. A lot of those plans get shelved.”

He said that six years ago, the PUD had $140 million, which has now been cut to $130 million, with capital improvement spending reduced from $15 million to $7 million. Power sales (part of a BPA program to sell excess power) in return have dropped from $63 million in revenue to $19 million.

“That’s a huge cut in your income. Even though it sounds great to have another third line redundancy, you can’t do that in the era that we have just come out of. It’s not responsible,” Skolrood said.

County Prosecutor

Katie Svoboda noted she became an attorney after growing up in Hoquiam and spending the first years of her career in local banking, working for a time in the Ocean Shores branch of Timberland Bank.

“Community service has always been important,” Svoboda said as to why she chose to become a prosecutor, serving as senior deputy prosecutor with the Grays Harbor Prosecutor’s Office.

“There are definitely things the office needs, and the office needs me and my experience and first-hand knowledge of what we need to do,” she said.

Mike Spencer, who previously served as Grays Harbor Prosecuting Attorney and as Superior Court Judge, also pointed to his experience as to why he should be elected after being in private practice for the past 22 years.

“I do have a lot of civil experience. Civil experience is important,” Spencer said.

“That should not be forgotten in this election,” he added. “I have experience representing large corporations, Safeco, Weyerhaeuser, Anchor Bank, Mason Trucking.”

In his term as prosecutor, Spencer said, he tried 110 criminal jury trials or more and lost only four times.

“Criminally, I am a very good prosecuting attorney,” Spencer said.

Asked how they would handle the notable increase in property crimes in the North Beach and other outlying areas of the county, both promised to get tougher.

Spencer said he was involved in initially forming the county’s Drug Task Force.

“I think there is a lot of rampant drug use around here,” he said. “It has to be addressed uniformly and it has to be addressed by the leader of the law enforcement community in this community, and that’s the county prosecutor.”

Svoboda acknowledged that county budget issues and staffing departures have played a role.

“We have not had the staffing or the attorneys that we have needed,” she said of attrition in the office.

“We’re not doing a good job right now of maximizing the technology we already have,” Svoboda said.

The Sheriff’s Department, she noted, is currently trying to bring back the concept of neighborhood or block watches, and that some of the information includes tips from the prosecutor about what you should do when your house gets broken into, and how to document the loss of goods.

“The drug issue is out of control,” Svoboda said. She rotated a new deputy prosecutor into the drug spot, who came to the office from Thurston county.

“The better we use our time, the more time we can address those things,” she said of drug and property-related crimes.

Harleys headed to the beach for the weekend

Get your motors running or head out on the highway.

It’s the Sun and Surf Run and Hog Wild Weekend, the North Beach’s annual celebration of all things that roar and rumble on two or sometimes three wheels.

The annual motorcycle Mecca to the beach gets under way Friday at the Ocean Shores Convention Center for the 26th year of the charity-raising Sun and Surf event.

Rich Wiggers, who spearheads planning for Sun and Surf months in advance, noted the event first started as a party on the beach for motorcycle riders, largely from the Puget Sound area.

“Twenty-six years ago, it was a big party for bikers. They actually had money left over after the party, so they decided to make a donation,” Wiggers said.

Sun and Surf now raises thousands of dollars to benefit Boyer Children’s Clinic in Seattle, as well as Children’s Hospital, Ocean Shores Food Bank, North Beach PAWS, Guide Dogs Of America, and more than a half-dozen local charities.

As director of the Sun and Surf event, Wiggers himself has been involved for the past 17 years, and notes that unlike the Hog Wild event at the casino, Sun and Surf is non-profit.

“I think it causes a lot of confusion,” he said of the two events running simultaneously. “People somehow think Hog Wild and Sun and Surf are the same thing. Sorry. One is a charity and the other is a for-profit company.”

Hog Wild is brought to the Quinault Beach Resort and Casino by Roadshows Inc., which, according to its online site, is an entertainment booking agency and event management company based in Reno, Nev. A VIP registration for Hog Wild is $60, but the outdoor concerts are free.

Wiggers emphasized that Sun and Surf tries to be a “family affair,” and he encourages locals who wish to participate to buy a wristband for $25, which provides entry to all the events, entertainment and also goes directly to support the charities. If you have your own motorcycle, a wristband allows you to participate in the Memorial Ride from Hoquiam to Ocean Shores on Saturday, a Poker Run, the bike games and bike shows. The live auction, which includes a number of bike-related items, also is a good way to support the charities, Wiggers said. “It’s our main money-maker right now, and the way we can raise funds that we can distribute,” he said.

New this year is a live comedy act on Saturday, when Las Vegas impressionist and comedian Larry G. Jones performs before the charity auction, followed by longtime Sun and Surf band, Sons of Palmer.

One of the most popular returning acts is the Hollywood B Stunt Team and the T90 Drill Team, which performs outside the Convention Center. The Ocean Shores Firefighters Association also is providing breakfast all three mornings of the event as a way of raising funds. Wiggers said many of the participants see the events as a mini-vacation, and he encourages even those attending Hog Wild to join with Sun and Surf to raise money for charity.

“They party a little bit. It’s a change of scenery at the beach, and they just relax and don’t have to worry about things for a couple of days,” he said of the atmosphere. “But it’s a lot of work to put this thing together, and it’s a lot of work to maintain it and keep it on an even keel. Everybody likes a free show, but at least get the wristband or a t-shirt. It’s something we have brought to town for so long.”

Hog Wild also begins on Friday and includes a Friday night “Spirit Ride” and Poker Run, as well as live music, vendors, ride-in show and bike games.

Online:

Sun and Surf: For full schedule, visit online: http://ift.tt/1uj9c4a

Hog Wild: For schedule, visit: http://ift.tt/1uj99Fy

Man arrested after trying to drive motorhome through barrier

A 43-year-old Oakville man was arrested Sunday night after allegedly trying to drive his motor home through a barrier in an Elma neighborhood, then fleeing the scene, stripping off his clothes and claiming his motor home had been stolen, the Elma Police Department said. Neighbors were able to identify the man as the driver.

Elma officers responded to a report of reckless driving at about 8:20 p.m. Sunday on South 12th Street, where the driver of a motor home reportedly tried to accelerate through a barrier at the dead end onto Highway 12. The motor home got stuck in the attempt.

A Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office deputy happened by on Highway 12 just as the call was dispatched and saw a man wearing a baseball cap, a dark sweatshirt and shorts running from the scene across the highway, toward the Elma ponds, according to a release from the Elma Police.

Several officers and deputies responded.

“Moments later, officers were advised the owner of the motor home had just called 911 from the ponds and was reporting his motor home stolen and claimed to be chasing the person who stole it,” the release stated.

“A short time later, officers were notified a witness had called 911 and reported a male subject walking around in his underwear and socks,” the release continued. “The witness reported the male came out of the bushes in the area of the Vance Creek Park and advised the subject was yelling and screaming.”

Police Chief Jeff Troumbley said the man was apparently under the influence of some sort of substance.

“He was acting bizarrely,” Troumbley said.

Officers found the man, who turned out to be the registered owner of the motor home.

He was arrested for “obstructing a public servant and false reporting after officers gathered evidence that there was never a second subject who had stolen the motor home and ran from the scene. This would have been a difficult case to prove if witnesses in the area were not able to provide us with crucial information,” the release concluded.

Hoquiam dominates regional softball tourneys, book tickets to World Series

ROSEBURG, Ore. — Following dominating regional performances, two Hoquiam Babe Ruth softball teams are World Series-bound.

Hoquiam completed unbeaten runs to the the Pacific Northwest regional titles last weekend at Roseburg. The Hoquiam 16-U all-stars trounced host Umpqua Valley, 11-1, in the only title game necessary Saturday. Hoquiam topped West End of Forks, 11-4, in the 12-U championship contest Sunday.

The 16-U team advances to the Babe Ruth World Series beginning July 30 at Pittsfield, Mass. The 12-U all-stars begin World Series play the following week (Aug. 7-13) at Alachua, Fla.

Fundraising activities are currently under way to defray the national expenses for both teams, with the 16-U team facing a particularly tight deadline. Further information on the 16-U fundraising efforts may be obtained by contacting Julie Swor at (360) 580-2414 or 532-3339. Monetary donations for both teams can be sent to Hoquiam Babe Ruth Softball, PO Box 21, Hoquiam, 98550.

12-U

Hoquiam used a balanced attack to down West End in the title contest.

Kylee Bagwell went 3-for-3, including a double. Maya Jump added two hits, including a triple, while Maddie German had a double among her two hits. Jade and Jordan Cox and Abbi Spradlin also had two hits apiece.

Payton Parshall doubled and drove in three runs, while ReyLynn Dunn also doubled for Hoquiam.

Parshall, who received the tournament’s Most Valuable Player award, was limited to three innings of pitching duty in the championship game. She both started and closed out the contest, with Randie Stewart handling the pitching chores in the middle innings.

German homered among her two hits and drove in two runs as Hoquiam opened bracket play Saturday with a 12-2 win over The Dalles, Ore. Bagwell added two hits to support the pitching of Spradlin.

Hoquiam survived its toughest test of the tournament by edging Umpqua Valley, 8-5, in the winners bracket final. Bagwell and Jump each had three hits in that game. Parshall went the distance in the circle to pick up the win.

“Every one of these girls contributed to every one of those wins,” Hoquiam manager Scott German said. “I’m very proud of the girls. Florida was their goal and they reached it.”

16-U

Tournament MVP English Hyde pitched a one-hitter as Hoquiam shut down Umpqua Valley in the title contest.

Jillian Swor, an offensive standout throughout the tournament, homered and singled for the Hoquiamites. Ashley Paladin’s RBI double, her second hit of the contest, ended the game via the 10-run mercy rule.

“We really came out and hit the ball the whole tournament,” Hoquiam manager Bob Hyde said. “We also played good defense, we made hardly any errors.”

Need a Hawks ticket? It’s going to cost you

RENTON — The many Seahawks fans without tickets who want to attend regular-season games in 2014 will have to try their luck on the secondary market.

The Seahawks had announced on Monday they had sold all available 63,000 season tickets for 2014, achieving a franchise-record 99 percent renewal rate.

The reselling of tickets at prices different from face value is legal in Washington, and there are several secondary ticket outlets, including one sanctioned by the NFL — ticketexchangebytickemtaster.com.

There’s just one problem, according to James Kimmel, the co-founder and vice president of operations for Seattle-based Epic Seats — fans who have tickets don’t want to part with them.

“It’s hard for us to get access to tickets because so many people want to use them,” Kimmel said.

Kimmel says that is sending prices of the tickets available on the secondary through the roof, adding that the Seahawks are “the most highly sought after ticket” of any NFL team on the secondary market.

“I’ve never seen this market so enthralled with a team as they are this Seahawks team,” said Kimmel, who has been in the secondary ticket market in Seattle for 11 years. “It’s really pretty amazing to watch.”

Kimmel said at this time a year ago, tickets for several Seahawks games could be bought for $65 to $70.

But Monday, Kimmel said, the cheapest ticket for any Seahawks game was $120 for late-season contests against the St. Louis Rams and Phoenix Cardinals. A ticket for the Nov. 2 game against the Oakland Raiders is just a little bit more, he said, as is the Nov. 9 contest against the New York Giants.

But tickets for each of the other four home games — Green Bay, Denver, Dallas and San Francisco — are nearing or above the $200 range for the lowest price, Kimmel said.

Topping the list is the Sept. 4 opener against Green Bay, for which Kimmel said the lowest-priced ticket available Monday is about $275.

That price tops the highest-priced “get in the door” ticket for any regular-season game a year ago against the 49ers — about $230.

The NFC title game against the 49ers in January was believed to be the highest-priced home ticket in Seattle sports history, at about $450 the night before and roughly $600 on the day of the game, Kimmel said.

On Monday, the tickets that were left were put on sale, available online and at the CenturyLink Field box office.

The team said it also sold a limited number of tickets to fans on its Blue Pride season-ticket waiting list, which numbers 12,000.

The Seahawks reported that a few fans began camping out early Sunday morning for the 1,000 upper-level tickets for each game that were available at the box office.

By early afternoon Monday, all remaining tickets were gone, assuring that the team’s streak of 95 consecutive sellouts, including playoff games, won’t end this season.

The team has also sold each of the roughly 2,800 tickets available for 12 open training-camp practices at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center, the team’s training facility in Renton.

The Green Bay game figures to top the contest last year against San Francisco as the most-sought-after regular-season ticket in Seahawks history.

“Obviously the opener is a big deal locally,” Kimmel said. “It’s one of those once-in-a-lifetime events when they are unveiling the Super Bowl banner, and everybody wants to relive the Super Bowl moment.”

And while a few tickets remain available at face value through the team for exhibition games, Kimmel says even those are hot on the secondary market. Typically, Kimmel says, those can be had for less than face value. But not this year.

“Preseason games are showing signs of selling for right around face value,” he said. “That’s unheard of.”

Ware case dismissed

A DUI case against Seahawks running back Spencer Ware, stemming from an arrest on Jan.12, has been dismissed. Dan Donohoe, spokesman for the King County prosecutor’s office, said Monday that the case was dismissed Friday after a judge ruled that the officer lacked reasonable suspicion of DUI at the time he initiated the traffic stop. The judge suppressed all of the evidence gathered thereafter, including the BAC test, and dismissed the case.

Ware was arrested early in the morning the day after the Seahawks beat New Orleans in the NFC Divisional playoffs. Training camp opens Friday, and Ware will compete for a spot on the roster as a fullback who can also play some tailback.

Local, regional drivers navigate the field at annual Mudslinger quarter midget races

ELMA — Devan West, Colby Thornhill and Lindsay Barney each won two divisions in the I-5 Quarter Midget Club’s annual Mudslinger Race last weekend at the Grays Harbor County Fairgrounds.

West won the Light 160 and Light World Formula classifications, while Thornhill took the Junior Animal and Junior Honda divisions and Barney prevailed in the Junior Half and Heavy World Formula classes.

A total of 64 drivers, ages 5 through 16 years old, competed in the event. They represented clubs in Washington, Oregon and British Columbia.

The club’s region race is planned for the Fairgrounds on Saturday and Sunday, with racing starting at 9 a.m.

Mudslinger results:

Junior Novice: 1. Destry Miller. 2. Brock Genz. 3. Parker Fry. Senior Novice: Brody Noonan. 2. Jesse Doll. 3. Zachary McKinlay. Junior Animal: 1. Colby Thornhill. 2. Lane Taylor. 3. Gavyn Yager. Senior Animal: 1. Jim Ferguson. 2. Ben Silliker. 3. Braden Maltais. Junior Honda: 1. Colby Thornhill. 2. Lane Taylor. 3. Bryson Smith. Senior Honda: 1. Ben Silliker. 2. Brady Millican. 3. Miles Millican.

Heavy Honda: 1. Latrell Pruett. 2. Casey Smith. 3. Brendon White. Light 160: 1. Devan West. 2. Colby Thornhill. 3. Ben Silliker. Heavy 160: 1. Casey Smith. 2. Bradley Linne. 3. Latrell Pruitt. Junior Half: 1. Lindsay Barney. 2. Alyssia Pyler. Light World Formula: 1. Devan West. 2. Ben Silliker. 3. Jim Ferguson. Heavy World Formula: 1. Lindsay Barney. 2. Casey Smith. 3. Corbin Wickstrom.

McIlroy holds on to win British Open

HOYLAKE, England — It was supposed to be a coronation march. Instead it became a long walk, although not spoiled, to the delight of Rory McIlroy.

Starting the final round of the British Open on Sunday with a lead of six strokes, McIlroy’s margin was trimmed to two by the 72nd hole. Still, that was good enough to have him announced as “The Champion Golfer of the Year.”

McIlroy had his worst round of the tournament, a 1-under par 71, but still came in with a total of 17-under 271 on the links at Royal Liverpool. Sergio Garcia, with a 66, and Rickie Fowler (67) tied for second at 15-under 273.

Jim Furyk, 44, finished fourth at 275 after a 65. Last year’s winner, Phil Mickelson, was at 5-under 283, and Tiger Woods, playing his first major of 2014, finished at 6-over 294, 69th of the 72 golfers who played all four rounds.

“I’m happy I gave myself enough of a cushion,” McIlroy said, “because there were a lot of guys coming at me, especially Sergio and Rickie.”

The win, added to McIlroy’s 2011 U.S. Open victory at Congressional and 2012 PGA Championship triumph at Kiawah Island, makes him one of only three golfers (Woods and Jack Nicklaus) to win three majors by age 25.

“I’m immensely proud of myself,” McIlroy said. “To sit here at 25 years of age and win my third major championship and be three-quarters of the way to a career Grand Slam, yeah, I never dreamed of being at this point in my career so quickly.”

First prize was $1.66 million but for someone who a year and a half ago signed a $200-million contract with Nike, the payoff is almost incidental.

“Especially being someone from around here,” McIlroy said, meaning Britain (he’s from Holywood, Northern Ireland), “the Open was the one you really wanted growing up … It feels absolutely incredible.”

Garcia, a Spaniard who is now winless in 64 majors, made a great run. “I wanted to at least make him feel (pressure) a little bit,” he said of McIlroy, “and see how he would respond. And he obviously responded very well.”

Fowler, 25, a Californian who attended Oklahoma State, shot four rounds in the 60s (69-69-68-67). “You know,” he said, “it’s kind of similar to being one of the only guys in the U.S. Open under par and not win. Rory just kind of distanced himself from the field (Saturday).”

Ten years ago, McIlroy’s father, Gerry, and three friends bet 400 pounds that Rory, then only 15, would win the British Open before he turned 26 — at 500-1 odds. The payoff will be 200,000 pounds (about $340,000 American) to be split four ways.

“The other three he did that with,” Rory McIlroy said, “are going to be very happy. He never reminded me. I knew that he’d done it.”

What McIlroy, the son, has done is respond to predictions he would become a golfing great. Now he needs a Masters to become the sixth golfer to win each of the four majors.

“I’ve always been comfortable from tee to green at Augusta,” said McIlroy, who led the tournament in 2011 but then fell apart after hitting a terrible drive on the 10th hole.

He has his wild moments. A year ago, he missed the cut in the British Open. “That was a low point,” McIlroy said. “I said to myself, I’ll try to make sure that never happens again. I practiced extra. It’s been huge what a difference a year makes.”

———

(c)2014 Newsday

Visit Newsday at www.newsday.com

Distributed by MCT Information Services

HPD collecting donations for its “chief for a day”

The Hoquiam Police Department is collecting donations for 12-year-old Dylan Ellefson, of Montesano, who was chosen to be Chief for a Day for the Hoquiam Police Department this summer.

Ellefson is being treated for leukemia for the second time, after being cancer-free for seven years. Department officials hope to raise $1,000 to purchase items Ellefson can use during treatment, such as a laptop to do homework while he is in the hospital.

The event celebrates the lives of children diagnosed with life-threatening or chronic medical conditions.

“Dylan and his family will visit the police academy to forget about his illness — even if just for one day while he is chief,” Hoquiam Chief Jeff Myers said.

“The Hoquiam Police Department is partnering with other agencies and local businesses to provide gifts and support to Dylan and his family which will be presented on the day of the celebration,” Myers said. “Please help us make this day extra special.”

Donations can be sent to the Hoquiam Police Department at 215 10th St. in Hoquiam. Or, contact Myers at 360-532-0892 ext. 105, jmyers@cityofhoquiam.com, or Officer Phil High, ext. 289, phigh@cityofhoquiam.com to learn about ways to help.

For more information on the program, visit http://ift.tt/1mxAie2.

Conveyor belt fire at Sierra Pacific

An early morning blaze Sunday at Sierra Pacific Industries in Junction City was apparently caused by a “bearing overheating where (a conveyor belt) drops down to the other belts,” said Assistant Fire Chief for Grays Harbor Fire District 10 Mike Pauley Monday.

No one was injured and a damage estimate was not yet available.

The fire broke out at 1:30 a.m. and affected a 350-foot section of the conveyor belt along the back side of the mill, the statement from Aberdeen Fire Department said.

Firefighters from District 10, Aberdeen and Hoquiam helped subdue the fire within three hours. They were able to prevent the fire from spreading to the mill, statement said.

“We appreciate the help from Aberdeen and Hoquiam as well,” said Pauley.

Scammer impersonating police

A scammer is impersonating a Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office lieutenant, trying to get people to pay nonexistent warrants, Grays Harbor County Undersheriff Dave Pimentel said. The scammer appears to be targeting older women.

The calls come in from 360-214-1541, 360-214-1525, and the caller identifies himself as Lt. Johnson with the Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office.

“They’re trying to entice elderly people to come pay for fictitious warrants that are out for their arrest, and it’s entirely a scam,” Pimentel said. “It has nothing to do with the Grays Harbor Sheriff’s Office, nor do we have a Lt. Johnson even working at the Sheriff’s Office. It’s basically just a scam to prey on the elderly.”

Do not give any information to the caller, and contact the Sheriff’s Office at 360-249-3711 for more information.

Grays Harbor Community Foundation reaches $50 million milestone

“It’s an exciting time for us,” is how Executive Director Jim Daly described the news that as of July 15, the Grays Harbor Community Foundation has exceeded a threshold of $50 million in assets, solidifying its ranking as the sixth largest community foundation of 29 in the state.

The milestone was reached with the help of $1.5 million gift from the Estate of Ann R. Weatherwax. Weatherwax was 73 when she died in 2010. She was the daughter of Ben K. and Marian Weatherwax, a prominent Aberdeen family.

This year marks the foundation’s 20th anniversary. It serves the community through grants and scholarships programs, assisting hundreds of local nonprofit agencies and more than 1,000 students attain their educational dreams.

“We are pleased to be able to continue our work in Grays Harbor in perpetuity,” said Daly. “The exceptional growth of the Community Foundation would not be possible without strong investment returns and the continued support of our donors.

A year and a half ago, when the assets totalled close to $37 million, Daly challenged the board set a goal of $50 million by the 20th anniversary. Asking them to raise funds “was not my intention,” he said Friday. “We don’t do fundraising.” He encouraged them to mention the work of the foundation more often and to encourage people to think of the foundation when making philanthropic decisions.

That effort and a 19.6 percent return on their investments last year, Daly predicted they would reach the milestone by the end of the year. It was reached almost six months earlier.

In 2014, 332 students will receive $553,000 in scholarships for students of any age pursuing college or vocational/technical education after high school. They also expect to award at least $1.5 million in grants to nonprofit organizations in Grays Harbor through various grants.

The foundation is also at work on phases four and five of a five-part program to help alleviate inter-generational poverty on the Harbor with help from a small grant from the Gates Foundation. Implementation will begin later this year, Daly said.

Among groups supported by the foundation are: Hope From Horses, a riding program for physically and mentally challenged youth; operational support for the Children’s Advocacy Center, the Domestic Violence Center and Beyond Survival; playground equipment replacement at four parks; Meals-on-Wheels, for a new delivery vehicle; two school Science Technology Engineering and Math programs, two Robotics Club and a “Technology in the Classroom” initiative.

Every year, the foundation sends every sixth grade student on Grays Harbor County to the Pacific Northwest Ballet’s production of “The Nutcracker” in Seattle through the Gladys Phillips Cultural Tours fund, which originated with the E.K. and Lillian Bishop Foundation.

The foundation’s administrative cost to total assets figure is 0.88 percent and is one of the lowest among 1,700 foundations nationwide, Daly said. The foundation is run with three full time and one half time employees, he said.

The foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization with a mission “to improve the quality of life in the communities throughout Grays Harbor County.”

Tax-deductible donations can be made to: Grays Harbor Community Foundation, P.O. Box 615, Hoquiam, WA 98550. Check out the the foundation website: www.gh-cf.org, call (360) 532-1600 or e-mail info@gh-cf.org.

It’s getting wild downtown

Four deer trotted down Broadway Street in downtown Aberdeen Tuesday afternoon, stopping traffic as they crossed busy Wishkah Street. They may have been looking for the Elks Building, visible behind them.

Lavender farm has healing effect for family

Lavender is in full bloom right now, with an impressive display at the “Lavender Valley” farm in Hoquiam on Ocean Beach Road. The farm, run by Dale Dineen, has 1,000 lavender plants which are picked and sold by the bunch, packaged into pillows, made into soap or as dried buds. Dineen began cultivating her land for lavender in memory of her son Aaron, who was taken from the family in an industrial accident five years ago. Dineen said the farm has served as an outlet for healing and remembrance.

East County garden tour showcases quirky country charmers

Many East Grays Harbor gardens capture elements of practicality, whimsy and quirkiness — think neatly-tended vegetables, miniature fairy sculptures and seats made from bathtubs — along with an easy-going country charm. And this Saturday, a select few are on display.

Visitors will have a chance to tour seven private gardens during the 17th annual garden tour, hosted by the local Washington State University Extension Master Gardeners. The tour is an all-day event, taking place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tickets are already on sale for $12 at several Grays Harbor locations.

natural retreat

Chipmunks, red squirrels, wild rabbits, robins and bumblebees alike are all welcome in Robin Valentine’s relaxed, no-fuss garden. She even allows the occasional weasel to pass through the property.

She avoids finicky plants that don’t fare well in drizzly Grays Harbor County, instead sticking to perennials that bounce back each spring and provide a bright, colorful contrast to the dark woods surrounding the family home.

“You’ll notice a lot of chartreuse plants around here,” Valentine said. “That’s because we have so much dark green, so the brighter colors really pop.”

Her current favorites, Japanese seagrass and lamium, are both hardy and grow in the perfect greenish-yellow hue.

Valentine’s garden, located west of Elma, is relatively new. While the family has lived on the 11-acre property for decades, she only picked up the hobby about seven years ago with the help of her sister.

“I’ve always liked the idea of gardening, but I didn’t know how to do it right,” Valentine said. “For me, it was taking a plant and sticking it wherever. But my sister came to visit and she really got me going. We tackled a lot of things together, removing plants that I didn’t think I could take out. That’s when I really got the hang of it.”

Since then, she has enjoyed taking “blank spots” in her yard and converting them into places to enjoy bird watching, entertain her seven granddaughters or simply showcase her favorite plants. The hardest part is knowing where to stop, making sure that her garden doesn’t keep growing and growing.

“I need to create edges, I need to create boundaries,” Valentine said. “That’s the hardest part for me.”

As a result, the property is divided into several areas, each striking a different tone but linked together by common plants and colors.

The beds surrounding her lawn, for example, are filled with plants that fare well with more sunlight and attract birds and insects. Her “mushroom trees” — tall tree stumps topped with ivy — were designed as a nesting place for small animals.

“We have a bird book and a pair of binoculars that the granddaughters use,” Valentine said. “They’ve gotten good at identifying all the birds that come through.”

The Valentines stop feeding the birds in mid-summer so the chicks can learn to forage before winter. Even the family’s pets — a rescued cat named Tessie, a Boston terrier named Isabel and a Turkish kangal named Turk — respect the visiting animals, she said.

A rock-surrounded fire pit and seating area is one of Valentine’s newest garden features, showcasing more Japanese seagrass, petunias added for color and a delicate Japanese maples. Guests access the area — which Valentine affectionately calls the “rock pit” — by walking under a wooden arbor

“We only put that in two years ago, and it will be better once the plants are full-grown,” Valentine said.

She and her husband, Steve Valentine, will spend the next few days weeding flowerbeds, watering plants and mowing lawns in preparation for the tour.

“When you know someone’s going to be walking through, you notice every little weed,” Robin Valentine said. “There’s always more work to do.”

For more information about the tour, contact Terri Small at 206-795-178.

Amelia Dickson: 360-537-3936 or adickson@thedailyworld.com and @DW_Amelia on Twitter.

Alice Coachman, first black woman to win Olympic gold, dies at 91

Alice Coachman, who began her pathbreaking athletic career running on the dirt roads of Georgia and became the first black woman to win an Olympic gold medal when she leapt 5 feet, 6 1/8 inches in the high-jump event at the 1948 London Games, died July 14 at a hospital in Albany, Georgia.

She was 91, according to her daughter, Evelyn Davis-Jones, who confirmed her death and said the cause was cardiac arrest.

Coachman was one of 10 children and grew up in the segregated South, where she was barred from training at public athletic facilities because of her race. She recalled running barefoot and jumping over fences and bars fashioned from rags and sticks to hone the talent that was evident from an early age.

“That girl is going to jump over the moon,” an acquaintance once told her mother.

“She’s going to break her neck, that’s what she’s going to do,” her mother replied.

Beginning in 1939, Coachman amassed 10 consecutive national titles in the high jump. (She also won the 50-meter outdoor title every year from 1943 to 1947 and held a total of 25 national titles, according to the USA Track and Field Hall of Fame.)

In 1948, the year after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in major league baseball, the London Games offered Coachman her first — and, ultimately, her only — opportunity to compete in the Olympics. Previous Olympics had been canceled because of World War II, and by the time Coachman disembarked in London, she felt her abilities had peaked.

In the high jump, she bested Dorothy Tyler of Britain (who won silver) and Micheline Ostermeyer of France (who took the bronze). King George VI awarded Coachman her medal.

On her return, she was received by President Harry Truman and former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, according to news accounts, and jazz pianist and bandleader Count Basie held a reception for her. In Georgia, she was feted in a motorcade. A ceremony in her home town, however, was segregated.

“We had segregation, but it wasn’t any problem for me because I had won the thing,” Coachman told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 1995. “That was up to them, whether they accepted it or not.”

Alice Marie Coachman was born Nov. 9, 1922, in Albany, said her daughter. (Some sources provide her year of birth as 1923.)

In her youth, Coachman picked cotton and fruit to help her parents, a plasterer and a homemaker, support their family. Between her work and schooling, she played sports. Her father, she said, would have preferred that she “sit on the porch and act like a lady,” she told NBC. “And I couldn’t do that,” she added.

“I would slip off and go to the playground,” she said in a profile on the Web site of the United States Olympic Committee. “I got whippings, but I kept going and still getting whippings. I got to the point where I was getting three in a day, one in the morning for my math, one in the afternoon for fighting and one in the afternoon for slipping off. I guess when they found out that I was determined to play ball, they just let me go.”

When she was prohibited from training at the designated facilities, Coachman told CNN, she simply “went on and started running and training on the dirt road.” After being recruited to the Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) in Alabama, she received proper shoes.

Asked what they felt like, she quipped, “It hurt.”

She credited her teammates there, among others, with inspiring her determination to compete at increasingly advanced levels.

After receiving a degree at Tuskegee, she received a bachelor’s degree in home economics from Albany State College in 1949. In the 1950s, Coca-Cola hired her as a product spokeswoman. She worked as a teacher and started a foundation to support young athletes and veterans of the Olympics.

Her first marriage, to Dr. N.F. Davis, ended in divorce. Her second husband, Frank Davis, predeceased her. (For much of her life, Coachman used the name Alice Coachman Davis.)

Survivors include two children from her first marriage, Richmond Davis of northern Ohio and Evelyn Davis-Jones of Albany; a sister; a granddaughter; and two great-grandchildren.

Coachman was credited with helping inspire the careers of Olympians including Wilma Rudolph, Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Florence Griffith Joyner.

“I knew I was from the South,” Coachman once told The New York Times, “and … you had to do the best you could. I made a difference among the blacks, being one of the leaders. If I had gone to the Games and failed, there wouldn’t be anyone to follow in my footsteps. It encouraged the rest of the women to work harder and fight harder.”

Felix doesn’t get All-Star victory, but American League defeats National League, 5-3

MINNEAPOLIS — Felix Hernandez was in line to get the win on Tuesday night, but his teammates couldn’t secure it for him and he had to settle for a no-decision.

Sound familiar?

To be fair, this time the circumstances were slightly different. This was the All-Star Game — a game that has slightly less meaning than a showdown with Oakland. Hernandez didn’t deliver seven or eight innings of baseball goodness only to see it slip away late because of bullpen issues or a lack of run support.

This time it was the best pitchers in the American League, who couldn’t hold the lead. This time it was the best hitters in the American League, hitters he terrorizes in the regular season, that couldn’t add the requisite insurance runs. So it was another no decision. But the ending was still happy for Hernandez.

The American League prevailed in the end, picking up a 5-3 victory at a packed Target Field.

“It was amazing,” Hernandez said. “One of the best experiences of my life. It was a special night for me and my family.”

So if the Mariners make it to the World Series, something that seems far less implausible than it did at the beginning of the season, he’ll be able to start Game 1 at Safeco Field with the home-field advantage.

“That works, doesn’t it?” said teammate Kyle Seager.

Under the scoring rules of the All-Star Game, Hernandez was in line to get the win after throwing a scoreless top of the first inning and his teammates giving him a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the inning.

Hernandez gave up an infield single to the ultra speedy Andrew McCutchen to start the game. McCutchen hit a bullet to shortstop where Derek Jeter was able to make a brilliant diving stop, but his throw was late.

Hernandez locked in, striking out Yasiel Puig and Troy Tulowitzki on nasty changeups and then getting Paul Goldschmidt to ground out to third to end his outing.

“I was a little nervous but felt good and settled in,” he said.

His teammates gave him three runs in the first inning. After a two-minute standing ovation, Derek Jeter lined the first pitch he saw from NL starter Adam Wainwright into right field for a double. The pitch from Wainwright was a belt-high, 90-mph cookie of a fastball that split the plate in half. Jeter didn’t miss it.

Wainwright admitted he eased up for Jeter.

“I was gonna give him a couple pipe shots. He deserved it,” Wainwright told reporters. “I didn’t know he was gonna hit a double or I might have changed my mind.”

NL manager Mike Matheny tried to defray that notion.

“I know that has been completely blown out of proportion and taken out of context,” Matheny said. “Anybody that knows anything about this guy knows that he’s one of the greatest competitors that played this game in a long time.”

Jeter scored on Mike Trout’s triple off the wall in right field and Miguel Cabrera followed with a line drive two-run homer over the wall in left field.

Jon Lester, a native of Puyallup and a graduate of Bellarmine Prep in Tacoma, replaced Hernandez after his one inning. He gave up two runs on RBI doubles to Chase Utley and Jonathan Lucroy. But it still kept Hernandez in line for the win. It became a no-decision in the fourth inning when Lucroy doubled off lefty Chris Sale to score the lightning-fast Dee Gordon all the way from first base.

Like in the regular season, Hernandez shrugged off not getting the win since his team won in the end.

“Sure, it would have been good,” he said. “But there’s some pretty good players on the other side, too. It was a fun night and I was happy how things went for me and the guys.”

The American League broke the 3-3 tie in the bottom of the fifth. Trout doubled home Derek Norris and Jose Altuve scored Alexei Ramirez with a deep sacrifice fly to left field.

The AL kept the 5-3 lead with seven pitchers, including Mariner Fernando Rodney, combining to work the final four innings without allowing a run.

But the night still belonged to Jeter. It was apparent in the days leading up to the game. Countless words were written about the narrative of his last All-Star Game in a storied career. When he singled to right field with his signature inside-out swing on a 94-mph fastball from Alfredo Simon in the third inning, it seemed to cement his status as the game’s MVP. However, Trout’s two extra-base hits and two RBI earned him the honor instead.

“I told you guys before, I’m not retiring at the end of the season because I don’t think I can play,” Jeter said. “It’s just the time is right.”

As promised, Farrell removed Jeter at the beginning of the fourth inning, replacing him with Ramirez. This allowed Jeter to jog off the field as the crowd of 41,048 stood and applauded. The ovation, which included the players on the field and in both dugouts, lasted well over five minutes, long enough for Jeter to hug all of his American League teammates and give an appreciated curtain call.

One of those applauding was his longtime teammate Robinson Cano, who got to start next to Jeter as they had done so many times in New York.

“It was fun,” he said. “That’s all I wanted to do was enjoy my time with him.”

Fire and Hospital District scenarios discussed

Various scenarios were discussed at a mostly cordial briefing Tuesday night on how proposals to create or expand public hospital districts may or may not affect future revenues of Fire District 2, which covers Central Park, Montesano, Brady and parts of the Wishkah and Satsop River Valleys.

That’s because Fire District 2 could end up in one of two public hospital districts or none, depending on what voters decide. And levy revenues could be affected, or not, depending on how it goes.

Most questioners among the 40 people in attendance concentrated on Grays Harbor Community Hospital’s capital debt and a possible levy that may or may not happen if Fire District 2 is absorbed into a proposed Hospital District 2 or annexed into Hospital District 1.

Representatives from Hospital District 2’s Grays Harbor Community Hospital and Hospital District 1’s Summit Pacific Medical Center were on hand to answer questions.

Scenario 1: Fire District 2 will be absorbed entirely into the proposed new Hospital District 2 if voters approve it in the primary election Aug. 5. Voters will then send a slate of candidates for seven commissioner slots, who will be elected in November. Then, and only then, will the elected board decide whether a levy is needed to help fill coffers or to act as collateral for some $37 million in capital debt.

“We don’t even know if we will need it,” said Grays Harbor Community Hospital’s CEO Tom Jensen of a levy increase, reminding the audience that decision is up to the elected commissioners if the district is approved. “It’s not up to me.”

The situation was created after Grays Harbor Community Hospital asked the Legislature to pay 125 percent in state and federal Medicaid money to help it cover costs for people unable to pay. On its way to passage, the bill was amended to require that a public hospital district be created.

The hospital would receive an additional $3 million a year from state and federal funds, Jensen said, which would cover an estimated $2.6 million in annual red ink. It would move from being a non-profit to a public-owned hospital governed by the new commissioners.

If the levy is authorized by the new commissioners, it could raise up to $1 million in additional revenue, Jensen estimated.

“None of this would have happened if the state would have authorized additional money,” said Aberdeen Police Chief Bob Torgerson, who is also a candidate for an at-large commissioner position. He did not speak at the meeting but came there to listen, he said later. He would not say how he would vote on a possible levy, but said it would likely be less than 50 cents per $1,000 in assessed value, due to legal limits.

Grays Harbor Community Hospital is the only Level 3 trauma center in the county. If the measure is defeated, the current board may decide to drop service gradually down to Level 4 or 5, meaning serious emergencies, surgeries and middle of the night cases would be sent to Olympia or Centralia, Jensen said.

Doctors and other personnel then might leave the Harbor, public relations representative David Quigg said. Many retired or left because they did not want to serve indigent patients or those on Medicaid, he noted later.

The proposed Hospital District 2 runs from Montesano and Brady to the east, all the way to North Beach, north to the county line, and south to the county line.

Scenario 2: Much of Fire District 2 could be annexed by Hospital District 1, if the voters defeat Hospital District 2. Hospital District 1, which encompasses Summit Pacific Medical Center in Elma, will likely ask voters in November to allow them to annex more western territory, including Montesano and Brady. The border would stretch north to the county line and south below Melbourne.

If voters approve that annexation, then property owners, including those in Fire District 2, would pay the existing Hospital District 1 levy of 50 cents per $1,000 in assessed value. A sliver of the fire district would remain outside of the hospital district but property owners will still have to pay the hospital levy, Fire District 2 Chief Leonard Johnson said.

That levy amount currently brings in $470,000 per year which covers about 11 days of the center’s operations, said Summit’s CEO Renee Jensen, who is married to Tom Jensen.

Previous plans made for expansion were brought forward by the board of five commissioners, Jensen said. The measure received favorable public comment and is up for a final vote next week.

Summit’s Chief Financial Officer Will Callicoat and Jensen said plans include expansion of primary care services into the new annexed area.

Scenario 3: With a $5.90 cap on local services, there are only so many slices of pie to go around and every government services wants as much as needed to deliver essential services.

Each government entity is “hungry” for a slice of the pie.

Johnson used a white board and handouts to talk about how much of a slice the fire districts get and how hospital districts may or may not affect whether he has to raise the levy slightly, or ask either hospital district for so-called buyback money to make up the difference.

Johnson called the meeting to prepare ground, in case he needs to explain the need to raise levy a few years down the line.

Lawyers for the fire district have been working with both districts to make sure the fire district is reimbursed if extra levy money is needed through the “buyback” procedure, the explanation of which was so dense it provoked laughter among the audience.

Johnson later said it has taken him years to understand the levy process.

Consequences: The board of fire commissioners called for a cordial meeting and largely got what they wanted, though a few questions and observations were pointed.

How could the community hospital have gone into such debt? asked one man.

Jensen likened those payments to paying off a mortgage and said many hospital districts have chose this method of financing capital improvements because the interest rates are better. The bonds funded recent improvements to the hospital.

One woman, who is a retiring from Virginia Mason, worried about possible loss of services provided by Grays Harbor Community. Someone else wondered whether Jensen had tried to sell the hospital.

Yes, he said, but they couldn’t get the price and today, “it is not as attractive.”

“There is no way” the hospital can continue to provide Level 3 services if the additional state and federal funding is not found Jensen noted. The hospital would likely have to cut services at the birthing center and around the clock surgeries. Many more patients would have to travel to Olympia for trauma and serious emergency care. The hospital has 100 of 140 beds in operation.

Summit’s medical center has 15 beds and does not deliver acute care, Renee Jensen said. The hospital and medical center “complement” each other,” she said.

A woman shouted out, “are you rooting for (Hospital District 2) to fail?” Jensen shook her head, no.

“Home is … interesting,” the other Jensen joked.

Denny’s to reopen in mid-August

Food and drink will be available again around the clock on Grays Harbor when Denny’s Restaurant on Heron Street reopens in mid-August.

“We will have a soft opening on August 17, most likely in the evening,” Prashant Sharan, the area manager for the new owner of the local franchise, Ajay Keshap, in an email.

The restaurant has been closed for several years and last operated as an America’s Diner. Keshap purchased the Denny’s after a proposed purchase by another Denny’s franchisee fell through.

The complete remodel and reopening was delayed for a brief time while contractors removed asbestos found on the site.

Construction recently resumed. Keshap owns 20 Denny’s restaurants statewide. The restaurant will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“We look forward to have a blast with Denny’s fans out there,” Sharan said.

Denny’s to reopen in mid-August

Food and drink will be available again around the clock on Grays Harbor when Denny’s Restaurant on Heron Street reopens in mid-August.

“We will have a soft opening on August 17, most likely in the evening,” Prashant Sharan, the area manager for the new owner of the local franchise, Ajay Keshap, in an email.

The restaurant has been closed for several years and last operated as an America’s Diner. Keshap purchased the Denny’s after a proposed purchase by another Denny’s franchisee fell through.

The complete remodel and reopening was delayed for a brief time while contractors removed asbestos found on the site.

Construction recently resumed. Keshap owns 20 Denny’s restaurants statewide. The restaurant will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“We look forward to have a blast with Denny’s fans out there,” Sharan said.

Denny’s to reopen in mid-August

Food and drink will be available again around the clock on Grays Harbor when Denny’s Restaurant on Heron Street reopens in mid-August.

“We will have a soft opening on August 17, most likely in the evening,” Prashant Sharan, the area manager for the new owner of the local franchise, Ajay Keshap, in an email.

The restaurant has been closed for several years and last operated as an America’s Diner. Keshap purchased the Denny’s after a proposed purchase by another Denny’s franchisee fell through.

The complete remodel and reopening was delayed for a brief time while contractors removed asbestos found on the site.

Construction recently resumed. Keshap owns 20 Denny’s restaurants statewide. The restaurant will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“We look forward to have a blast with Denny’s fans out there,” Sharan said.

Denny’s to reopen in mid-August

Food and drink will be available again around the clock on Grays Harbor when Denny’s Restaurant on Heron Street reopens in mid-August.

“We will have a soft opening on August 17, most likely in the evening,” Prashant Sharan, the area manager for the new owner of the local franchise, Ajay Keshap, in an email.

The restaurant has been closed for several years and last operated as an America’s Diner. Keshap purchased the Denny’s after a proposed purchase by another Denny’s franchisee fell through.

The complete remodel and reopening was delayed for a brief time while contractors removed asbestos found on the site.

Construction recently resumed. Keshap owns 20 Denny’s restaurants statewide. The restaurant will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“We look forward to have a blast with Denny’s fans out there,” Sharan said.

Antique tractors and farm engines at Elma

Daryl Benien, of Yelm, tinkers to get his International Harvester engine running at the start of the Antique Farm Engine and Tractor Pull on Saturday in Elma. If you have an interest in antique tractors and engines, you can keep up with the Antique Farm Engine and Tractor Association by emailing mytractorclub@aol.com.

Level 2 sex offender in Hoquiam

A Level 2 sex offender has registered an address in the 3000 block of Simpson Avenue in Hoquiam, the Hoquiam Police Department reported. He previously lived at another address within the city.

Jerold B. Monahan, 56, was convicted of first-degree rape of a child in Grand Rapids, Mich. in 1989.

Law enforcement agencies are authorized under state law to inform the public when a convicted sex offender or kidnapping offender is released from custody or changes addresses. The offenders also are required to register their residence with the Sheriff’s office in the county where they will be residing.

The police report noted there are more than 19,000 sex or kidnapping offenders currently living in Washington state. Approximately 400 of these are registered to Grays Harbor County addresses. About 38 are registered to addresses within the city limits of Hoquiam.

Hoquiam’s Parshall sweeps at Grays Harbor Raceway

Big prize money and some large fields made for an exciting weekend of racing at Grays Harbor Speedway.

After a mid-season champion was decided in all five classes last weekend, Friday and Saturday belonged to the street stocks and the Summer Thunder Sprint Series.

Hoquiam’s Jack Parshall took advantage of the summer weather to continue the success he has had early in the season and record his fourth and fifth feature wins of the season in the street stocks over the weekend.

Enumclaw’s Henry Van Dam would weave his way through the field to take the checkered flag in the 360 sprints on Friday, but it would be Logan Forler of Lake Havasu City, Arizona, who would take home the $5,000 payday on Saturday.

360 SPRINTS

Friday’s 25-lap 360 sprint feature began with mid-season champion Evan Margeson of Tacoma taking the green flag, but it wouldn’t take long before Van Dam made his way from fourth place into the lead around lap 8. A caution would come out on lap 11 as Margeson made contact with Jayme Barnes of Everett to take both of the drivers out of the top five.

Stanwood’s Jared Peterson would be hot on Van Dam’s tail on the restart, but Van Dam was able to hold off Peterson and stay in front of him through a handful of other cautions until the yellow flag came out on lap 23 to set up a final showdown. Van Dam once again proved too much for Peterson with an almost flawless restart to pull away from the field for the win.

A field of 22 drivers raced for the chance to take $5,000 home on Saturday with a win in the 360 sprint feature. Marysville’s Colton Heath and Logan Forler of Lake Havasu City, Arizona led the packed field to the start of the 30-lap feature, but the yellow flag dropped even before the field had completed one lap.

After the caution, it was Forler who worked the high side of the track to get in front of Heath whose car began smoking on lap 2. Heath pulled off midway through the race and fail to finish, but Forler only had to worry about lap traffic for much of the rest of the race.

“I started up front, which made it much easier,” Forler said. “You just got to make sure you stay on the top and get through lap traffic real quick because I knew (Travis) Rilat was right there coming for me. You can’t let lap traffic hold you up, you just got to do whatever it takes to get through them. Keep your head on and keep your nose clean.”

Rilat took over second place on lap 7 and a caution on lap 11 set up a duel between Rilat and Trey Starks of Puyallup.

Starks shot under Rilat going into one turn and Rilat slid back under Starks to regain second place coming out of the next turn. The two drivers traded spots on the race track on almost every turn for the next three laps before a caution put Rilat in second with his sights on Forler.

Rilat stayed close to Forler, but Forler’s No. 2 led the rest of the way to take the checkered.

“The car was really good up on top. It was kind of driving itself up there and that made my job a lot easier,” Forler said. “I was hoping we weren’t going to get a lot more cautions because that was the only chance Rilat had to get me, plus I didn’t know how much longer we were going to have on fuel. The car was great, the track was great and the competition was good.”

STREET STOCKS

It was Parshall who would take home the top money both nights in the street stocks.

The Hoquiam driver maneuvered his No. 9 from a few rows back into the top spot on Friday. After three different drivers led in the first nine laps, Don Briggs Jr., of Wishkah and Parshall would be side by side in lap 10. Briggs slid up the track in turn one and Parshall was there to take advantage of the opening and pull even before taking the lead in turn four.

Parshall pulled away from the field after the final caution on lap 14 to secure the victory.

On Saturday, there was only one lead change. Brenton Schnitzer of Shelton raced by Eddie Blood of Olympia, who also started on the first row, to take the lead on the first lap over, but Parshall had all the right moves.

Parshall shot past Brian Izzi of Hoquiam on lap 3 and pulled even with Blood for second. Parshall and Blood raced side by side for almost two laps before Blood took second on a caution on lap 5. On the restart, Parshall stayed even with Blood until lap 6 when he shot past Blood in turn 3 of and slipped under Schnitzer in turn four to take the lead.

A caution on the next lap shortened the distance between the field once again, but Parshall was in the lead for good. Despite six yellow flags and one red flag on a four-car crash, Parshall pulled away from the field on every caution and took home the biggest payday of his 27-year racing career.

“I’ve never won $1,000 in one race,” Parshall said. “I’ve been in a lot of them and I usually get second so it feels really good. My goal all night was to hit the traction patch on the bottom coming out of the corners because most of the cars were going in and they were pushing around and missing it so I would come in a little bit wider and slow down and cross up and then hit that traction patch to try and get past them and it worked really good tonight.”

The win was the fifth for Parshall this season. The Hoquiam resident has won the last four street stock features at Grays Harbor Raceway and it is quickly becoming the best season yet for the 42-year-old driver.

“It is a pretty magical year,” said Parshall, who has been racing since he was 15. “I’ve raced a lot of years and I can’t remember one that has been so successful so quickly.”

She asked 25 countries to ‘make me beautiful’

Esther Honig, a 24-year-old Kansas City, Missouri-based journalist, recently hired people in more than 25 countries to Photoshop an image of herself with naked shoulders, hair tied back, and no visible makeup. The images have gone viral this week, starting an interesting conversation about whether there is a universal standard for beauty in a globalized world.

Honig used Fiverr to hire freelancers with varying Photoshop skills, receiving 40 doctored images from 25 countries for her “Before and After” project. “With a cost ranging from five to thirty dollars, and the hope that each designer will pull from their personal and cultural constructs of beauty to enhance my unaltered image, all I request is that they ‘make me beautiful,’ ” Honig writes on her website. Although you can see the obvious cultural influences in some photos, she received widely differing interpretations from Photoshoppers within the same countries.

The images ranged from heightened natural to unabashed artifice, demonstrating that there is no way to reliably quantify a nation’s perception of beauty and no accounting for taste. Altering light levels gave her varying skin tones, and changes in background often altered the mood.

Honig wrote in an email that there were approximately 30 percent more men who took the assignment.

“The females were just as likely as males to radically alter the image, but in all actuality my pool of examples was hardly large enough to generate any solid conclusions,” she told me. “I will say that in the instances that makeup was applied, the female Photoshoppers did a far nicer job compared to the males.”

Which country’s makeover gave Honig the most pause?

“The image I received from the U.S. with the blond hair made me shriek when I first opened it,” she told InStyle. “It has been manipulated so radically that I felt like I was looking in the mirror and not recognizing my own face.”

Another U.S. submission gave her extra hair, an eye color not found in nature, and plenty of makeup to create a generic blowup-doll look.

Honig told Elle: “We have to remember that this is a reflection of our culture, but also a reflection of the individual Photoshopper. In the U.S., maybe the Photoshopper felt he was given creative freedom, so he was inclined to really go at it and see what he could create. I don’t think it necessarily says that in the U.S. we’re more inclined to alter images or more obsessed with this concept of unattainable beauty.”

She added that since the photos have gone viral this week, she’s been receiving unsolicited submissions from strangers around the world and is thinking about putting together a second series showcasing those images.

To see all the “Before and After” images, check out Honig’s website: http://ift.tt/1ymN9Im

Hohenadel’s writing on design has appeared in publications including the New York Times, Fast Company, Vogue, Elle Decor, Lonny and Apartment Therapy.

Two released, one in satisfactory condition in head-on collision with log truck

Cody M. Johnson, 18, was reported by Harborview Medical Center to be in satisfactory condition on Monday following injuries he incurred when the car he was driving crashed head-on into a log truck north of Hoquiam Friday afternoon.

Johnson was heading north on Highway 101 about 9 1/2 miles north of Hoquiam when he crossed the center line and struck the southbound log truck. Johnson’s car was also struck by a car that was driving behind the log truck.

Those two drivers, Nathan B. Raffelson of Montesano, and log truck driver Glen J. Dennis of Hoquiam, were treated at Grays Harbor Community Hospital and released.

Ocean Crest opens three years after fire

MOCLIPS — As soon as the plate of bacon was served, all the fond memories came rushing back for longtime Ocean Crest customer Stephanie Allestad, better known as “the Chocolate Lady” of Pacific Beach.

“I have been counting the days for this. It’s been a long journey,” said Allestad as the Ocean Crest Resort in Moclips reopened its rebuilt ocean view restaurant on Friday, starting with breakfast at 9 a.m.

The restaurant, which was demolished in a fire three years ago, passed inspections on Wednesday and reopened on the very same footprint as the old facility with a new network of supports, modern kitchen facilities and utilities, along with a new deck, bar and interior design.

The first dinners were served Friday evening, with reservations accepted starting Friday morning, said Sara Owen of the family that runs the resort. The dinner crowd included the Roloff family that has created the Seabrook development up the road and Rob Paylor, the chef and owner of Mill 109 restaurant.

“We weren’t saying anything until we passed both of our last inspections and had our permits,” Owen said of the surprise grand reopening. The multimillion-dollar project includes cedar woodwork, with the wood milled from trees off the Ocean Crest property, Elton Bennett artwork and an interior design intended to blend in with the view of the beach and surrounding forest.

The menu includes many of the old favorites from the fine-dining facility that served patrons for generations, along with many new ones brought by new cook Koty MacDonald, formerly of the Shilo Inn. It also has a central showcase for the highly awarded Ocean Crest wine collection, ranked among the top wine lists in the Northwest from 2004-2011.

The Curtright family has owned and operated Ocean Crest for more than five decades and several generations, and the rebuilt facility also includes some of the artifacts saved from the fire, such as a yellow cedar Indian canoe paddle and native talking stick.

The resort received approval from Grays Harbor County in 2013 to build on the same footprint, but the base is far different, sitting on 32 steel pilings and girders with new piping everywhere for the plumbing and heating system. The new design by Alan Gozart and Harbor Architects of Aberdeen upholds much of the character of the old cedar building, which once served as the home of “Grandma” Barbara Topete, the resort’s founder, who lived and raised her family there when she bought it in 1953.

Jess Owen is her grandson, and as the head chef and assistant general manager at Ocean Crest, he was beaming with delight Friday while supervising all the details, right down to the uniform needs of the staff.

“We wanted to be open two years ago,” he said. “This is what we do.”

“This is the chaos we know: Food, service hospitality,” added his wife Sara. “Construction, permits, banks, insurance, I don’t know that stuff and I don’t ever want to do that again.”

The restaurant will have a full staff of 18 people, about half of them having worked there before the 2011 fire. It will be open for breakfast from 8-11 a.m., lunch from 11 a.m.-3 p.m., a “light bites” menus from 3-5 p.m., and dinner from 5-9.

Allestad said she first heard about the reopening when it was posted Wednesday on Facebook. On Friday, she was one of the first breakfast customers, with Jeff Muhlhauser, a firefighter from the Quinault Nation.

“When the words came out on Facebook, I was practically levitating,” she said. “It was such an excitement, and it’s such a family atmosphere here, it’s like having a family back together again.”

Ocean Crest is located at 4651 State Route 109, (360) 276-4465.

Meet Willapa Valley’s 2nd Lt. Nicole Miller, graduate of West Point

SOUTH BEND—When 2nd Lt. Nicole Miller talks, two rings glint in the sunshine of the Elixir Cafe where her pale pink-tipped fingers hug a huge cup of black coffee. She is in civilian dress: sandals, jeans and a summer shirt. Her long brown hair with gold glints is worn loose, her light green eyes with darker specks are direct.

On her right hand is a class ring, a ruby surrounded with three small diamonds. When Miller was a cadet at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, the class crest pointed toward her heart, now the crest on the simple and elegant ring points outward as the initials of the academy face toward her.

“Forever One Team” was the motto for the class of 2014, and the 2010 Willapa Valley high school graduate takes it to heart. She is close to many in her squad of three women and seven men. The men in her squad “who are like my brothers” helped her hug out the death of her grandfather Henry Miller of Raymond, who also served in the U.S. Army.

The three women will be bridesmaids at her wedding to fellow graduate, 2nd Lt. Devin Lang of Georgia, who gave her the diamond surrounded by a ring of smaller diamonds she wears on her left hand.

Miller, who graduated from West Point on May 28, has been busy. She took a cross country trip (complete with ’70s music) with her father, retired Raymond Fire Chief Kevin Miller. She got in a visit with her mother Tammy Jones. (Her parents divorced when she was 6). She was a bridesmaid at her sister Tiffany Rollins’ “beautiful simple wedding in a vineyard” near Yakima and got to see her brother, Pacific Lutheran University graduate, Nathan.

Her life in the U.S. Army is so new, as she transitions from cadet to commissioned officer, it takes her a second or two to realize cadets and those at a lower rank are saluting her first.

The journey began when she aimed to enroll in the Reserved Officers’ Training Corps, or ROTC, to help pay for college. Her father’s public service inspired her, as did her mother’s sense of adventure. Her mother is the author of a book titled “Alaska Bound, One Man’s Dream, One Woman’s Nightmare.”

She knew she wanted to explore, to see the world and gain a wider world view.

Friendly push

She credits Karla Webber, whose son Andrew graduated from West Point in 2005, who “pushed me” to apply. Her father, who she lived with in high school, suggested she throw the javelin. The late Jim Henrie, who had been a track and field coach, taught her how. “I adored him,” she said. She won the state 2B title in the javelin as a senior and ended up being recruited for the team at West Point.

When the acceptance letter arrived four years ago it was time “quit talking and start doing,” she said.

What helped her was an attitude that she didn’t know what to expect and had a lot to learn. Women still comprise less than 20 percent of the classes at West Point. Close to 300 in her class of 1,400 cadets dropped out or were kicked out before junior year when they must commit.

She made it by realizing “it’s a man’s world, you have to fit in and stand out,” all while staying grounded and humble, she said.

It helped that, unusually, her squad was allowed to stay together throughout its four years. “I’m glad we weren’t changed.” she said. Of most of her colleagues and leaders, she says: “These people would do anything for you. And I would do anything for them.”

Work was tough. “Your day was so managed,” she said. She ticks off her day: formation, clean up, shine shoes, classes, three hours of track practice, hours of homework, inspections and social hour, during which she frequently called her mom and dad.

She learned to pause and reflect. Once a week, she liked to just sit, “to take a little ground.”

Dealing with sexism

Freeing the academy and the military from sexism “is still a process,” Miller says. She found a few mentors in former women graduates and encourages those who will follow her to pursue the oldest military academy in the country if it is their dream.

Sexism can be more subtle now than it was when women were first accepted in 1976, she said.

She did have a few experiences with male cadets who made off color or sexist remarks. Before the academy, she didn’t really hear sexist comments such as “‘don’t be such a girl.’” Those comments “stick out to me now. They have different meanings.” She “deals with it accordingly,” putting people in their place, telling them “don’t talk to girls like that.”

She commends Lt. Gen. Robert Caslen, Jr. the new superintendent of the academy, who called for prevention of future incidents and development of character as paths to pursue following a series of scandals regarding sexual assault and harassment.

“It has become, as it should be, more of an intervention education,” she said. “No one necessarily sees themselves as someone who will be assaulted or as someone who will do the assaulting. So if we speak to the majority of the population in a tone that isn’t accusatory on either side, we will reach more people and hopefully increase awareness.” The army is definitely heading in the right direction on the issue, she added in email.

Women should serve in infantry and in combat, if held to the same physical standards, given that bodies are made differently which should be honored, she said.

Women can bring another perspective in countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq where women don’t speak directly to men. “Women can communicate with them and it would be beneficial while doing the same jobs,” she said.

When confronted with cadets or others who are less qualified, she recalls the mandate of leadership that it is “our job to help them be better … we will help you get where you need to go.’”

She also remembers to be humble, having “no right to arrogance.”

She loves dress uniforms, and prefers the skirt “unless I can’t find my heels.”

At graduation, her class listened intently to President Barack Obama’s speech. Hearing it straight from the Commander in Chief takes on new meaning when you might be sent abroad, she said. “I got to shake his hand. The speech was cool, it was a foreign policy speech and we got to hear it from his mouth.”

She knows her family is concerned she may be sent overseas, but it’s her responsibility. “What’s going to happen is going to happen … (I’ll) just keep my nose to the grindstone and do the job to the best of my ability.”

The youngest of three siblings, Miller says, “I enjoy time with people I don’t get to see.” Webber and friends in the Willapa Valley planned to throw her a party on her 23rd birthday the 5th of July. She is still in touch with Capt. Andrew Webber, whose wife just had a baby in Germany where they are stationed.

From here, Miller and Lang will travel back across country to Ft. Lee, Va., where she will train for four months to be a logistics officer in charge of moving everything from troops to missiles to food and equipment. “I like to organize things,” said Miller who majored in “human geography or human anthropology with a geological focus.”

She met Lang at the academy through mutual friends and told her roommate, “I could marry him” in the first week. They spent two weeks talking and became engaged a year after they started dating.

She will then join Lang who will already be stationed at Ft. Sill, Okla. Each will serve at least five years on active duty and another three in the reserves. They plan to marry in Amboy at her father and stepmother’s new home next July.

Erin Hart, 360-537-3932, ehart@thedailyworld.com. Twitter: @DW_Erin