125 years ago
April 15, 1892
An unreliable correspondent of the Seattle Telegraph sends that paper the following item from Montesano:
Ex-Mayor C.E. Jameson left Montesano under very mysterious circumstances on Monday. It is rumored that he bade his family good-bye forever, and it is generally believed that he will never return to this city. The cause of this strange act on his part is not public property at present.
The above squib is untrue, and was written with the evident purpose of injuring Mr. Jameson. The author is a well-known gossip of this city, who has frequently set afloat rumors that were as false as this. A correspondent who can find nothing to write about without prying into one’s private affairs and publishing “rumors” that are of a nature to cast reflections upon one’s reputation is in sore straits.
Mr. Jameson did not leave under “mysterious” circumstances; it being well-known by his friends that he would seek a new location, as he had a perfect right to do. Whether Mr. Jameson returns to this city is no one’s business. Should he conclude to do so, he would be welcomed by a host of friends—of whom he had more by far than the one who has written disparagingly of him.
Mr. Jameson left under no cloud; all his indebtedness being provided for; his family in good circumstances, and nearly every resident of the city regretting that he determined to leave.
100 years ago
April 13, 1917
Suppose the city of Montesano should wake up some morning and find itself without a solitary store.
What would the citizens of Montesano think?
What would they say?
We should be confronted with stupendous problems like those our forefathers had to meet?
If a package of coffee or oatmeal was required, an order would have to be sent away for it. A week or ten days would elapse before the arrival of the coffee or oatmeal.
In the meantime, the morning cup of coffee or the morning dish of oatmeal would not be had.
If a dress were being made for one of the children for the Sunday School picnic and some trimmings required, instead of being able to secure them at once, the dress would have to go without them or be laid aside until the trimmings came, and not be ready for the picnic.
Imagine Montesano without a store! But each day of each year just such a situation is edging nearer.
Folks who live in our town are proud of their city; they have a just reason to be; and if anyone wants to commence a heated argument, let him try to knock Montesano to any citizen.
Our spirit is right; but our practices don’t back up our spirit.
The majority of us have been doing our best a number of times each year to erase Montesano from the map.
How?
By sending our good money to mail order houses for goods which can be bought right at home.
Let us give local merchants the same generous deal we give the mail order man and we’ll find that they cannot only match the price when the parcel post, freight or express charge to Montesano is added, but he will be able to beat—in the majority of instances—the best mail order price when quality is studied.
75 years ago
April 16, 1942
Students in Montesano schools who refuse to salute the American flag will be suspended.
This was the decision of the Montesano school board, in a meeting held Monday night when parents of children who have refused to salute the flag were given a hearing.
The parents were Mr. and Mrs. Francis Peasley, who told the board they are members of the religious group known as the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the tenets of which prevent them from saluting the flag. They asserted, however, that they are patriotic and that their motives were based on religious grounds.
The board took the position that the state law requires the salute of the flag every week and instructed E.H. Quigley, school superintendent, to suspend those who do not comply. Two of the Peasley children have so refused, Quigley previously had reported to the board.
50 years ago
April 13, 1967
For the first time in more than five years, Montesanans rallied Tuesday to the Red Cross bloodmobile cause and came within shouting distance of the community’s 75-pint goal.
Mrs. Bertha Mero, blood drawing chairman for the Eastern Grays Harbor Chapter of the American Red Cross, reported happily that 67 donors gave units during the three-hour bloodmobile visit at Montesano Shopping Center. Eleven deferrals prevented an over-the-top performance.
According to Mrs. Mero, this week’s unexpectedly fine showing was sparked by 43 persons who contributed “replacement” units for ailing individuals. Members of William Rosier Post No. 2455 , VFW, gave 36 such pints in behalf of Laurie Ann Barber, one-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Stan barber of Stevenson, who is suffering from Leukemia. The Barbers formerly lived in Monte.
Emil (Butch) Polki reached the four-gallon mark by donating a pint of blood Tuesday, while Mrs. Charles Caldwell, Dough Davis, R. D. Frymire and Bob Whansnell earned their gallon pins.
Of the 67 persons who gave this time, 43 were men and 24 were women, Mrs. Mero said. This included 17 individuals contributing for the first time and six prisoners from the County Jail.
25 years ago
April 9, 1992
For the past 21 years weather data has been kept in Montesano and last month was the driest March recorded since before 1971 as a total of 1.42 inches of rain fell on the county seat during the 31-day month. There were 11 days last month when a measurable amount of rain was recorded with the heaviest rainfall occurring in a 24-hour period was .48 inches on March 4. To date this year, a total of 21.58 inches of rain has been recorded, as opposed to the 29.25 inches during the first three months of last year.
The average high temperature reading last month was 60 degrees, 10 degrees warmer than March of 1991. The highest reading last month was March 21 when the thermometer reached 68 degrees. The average low reading last month was 42 degrees, eight degrees warmer than one year ago.
10 years ago
April 12, 2007
“I don’t want to do that ever,” said a first grader, one of some 135 people of all ages at the April 4 community met forum at Montesano High School.
It was exactly the kind of message Midge Martin of Elma and others from Families Against Methamphetamine are trying to communicate to anyone—and everyone who might someday be faced with the choice to experiment with that dangerously addictive and destructive drug.
The Elma resident and her family and friends formed Families Against Meth after struggling to help a family member with addiction problems and organized the forum as a way of getting the word out that meth use is a huge problem — but that help and hope are available.
“I think it was a real encouraging turnout,” Martin said. In fact, other members of Families Against Meth who greeted people at the doors later told Martin that many “came up and thanked them and (said) that they were glad that something was being done,” she said.
Martin was also thankful for the forum’s speakers—Grays Harbor County Drug Task Force members Undersheriff Rick Scott and Sgt. Keith Fouts, Larry Kahl, program director the last several years of HarborCrest Behavioral Health, Grays Harbor Community Hospital’s chemical dependency unit, and Ruth Leonard from Region 6 of the state Division of Alcohol & Drug Use.
“They were very encouraging and said that they would easily do that any other time,” Martin said the next morning, adding that the state Attorney General’s office also “e-mailed me a very encouraging letter this morning about reading it in the paper and being so glad that a grassroots effort was taking hold down here.”
