125 years ago
May 11, 1894
Petitions have been received by Postmaster Brower from Vesta, Brooklyn and Willapa, to be forwarded to the post office department, asking for a change in the mail route from Willapa to Artic so that the route will extend from Willapa via Brooklyn and Vesta to Wynooche. The reason for the change was to save a layover of their mail at Artic, and avoiding the muddy bottom road of North river, which will allow the mail contractor to put on a stage line from Wynooche to Willapa. This change will throw the route over the Luark road from Wynooche to Willapa.
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“Gov.” Pennoyer leads the list with the greatest number of chickens hatched in the natural way — 65, and four broods in a few days; though he don’t count his chickens before they are hatched.
100 years ago
May 9, 1919
In spite of the great amount of time spent in vacations during this influenza epidemic, according to a statement by the deputy county school superintendent, the required work has been nicely covered in most of the schools.
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The youngest captain in the famous 91st division, this is a distinction belonging to Capt. Don Abel, son of Judge George Abel of this city, who arrived home from France last Thursday with the 361st infantry.
75 years ago
May 11, 1944
Five boys from the Montesano track team qualified for the SW Washington district meet to be held in Centralia May 13.
Those qualifying in Saturday’s meet in Hoquiam were: Jess Wincewicz, first places in the 100 and 220 yard dashes; Stanley Bogdonavich, second places in the 100 yard dash and the 440 yard run; Sherman Esses, second place in the high jump; Francis Polsfoot, third place in the shop put; Harold Clevenger, member of Montesano’s second place relay team.
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Ben R. Wroth, owner of the Clover Sweet dairy will handle ice deliveries for Montesano customers starting May 20. Deliveries will be made twice a week, on Tuesdays and Saturdays.
Mr. Wroth is building a large refrigeration storage plant at his Clover Sweet dairy farm, East Road, Montesano.
50 years ago
May 8, 1969
Elizabeth (Liz) Turner, one of Montesano High School’s outstanding students of last year and now a coed at Central Washington State College, was recently selected from a field of 30 contenders for the CWSC Pep Staff.
Cabinet members from SGA and two representatives from each dormitory chose the five women and one man staff.
Each one vying for the honor was required to give an original routine and song and were judged on pep, originality, appearance and coordination.
‘Liz’ also has the lead in the production of the musical “Peter Pan,” a benefit performance for the children of Ellensburg, sponsored by the men and women of the college’s Student Village.
25 years ago
May 12, 1994
The citizens of Montesano were shocked last Sunday as word spread quickly throughout the city of the sudden death of their 45-year-old chief of police.
Chief Bill Brookshire, who was with his wife, Jackie, and friends, had spent the Mother’s Day weekend in the Warrenton-Astoria Oregon area initiating the couple’s new motor home, was preparing for the return trip home Sunday morning when he was suddenly stricken with a fatal hear attack.
Brookshire had been in the U.S. Navy and served two tours of duty in Vietnam. He was a helicopter door gunner, with a record of 1001 air hours, the most of any door gunner in that two year period.
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A ‘Proclamation of an Economic Emergency’ that the county commissioners signed Monday in the wake of the salmon fishery closure affecting the Pacific Ocean out to the 300-mile limit and the closure of the Columbia River, as well as other streams for salmon anglers, the way was paved to petition both state and federal government agencies for grant money that would aid the communities affected by the fishing closures.
Mark Cedargreen, president of the Westport Charter Association, was on hand Monday and told the board, “Last year some 55,000 people went salmon fishing at Westport. Of that number about 35,000 did their fishing from local charter boats.”
10 years ago
May 7, 2009
Ethel Blaine of Montesano has been a fan of the “Live! With Regis and Kelly” show for so long, she can’t even remember how long she’s watched it. She was excited to learn that she was featured Tuesday, May 5, on the show during its themed Mom’s Dream 2009 week. A photo and message from her daughter, Margaret Blaine, was a part of the show’s tribute to moms everywhere.
Margaret first discovered that the show was looking for submissions from its viewers for its Mother’s Day feature week when taking a rare break from her job at Miami Dade College. She says that her mom watches the show daily and fills her in on the highlights of the show during their frequent phone conversations.
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A big fifth inning helped propel Montesano over Class 3A Holy Names 8-4 in a non-league fastpitch match-up Friday, May 1, at Seattle’s Lower Woodland Park.
The Bulldogs scored five times in the top of the fifth inning to set the stage for victory and tacked on two more in the sixth frame, which gave them enough breathing room to withstand a four-run rally in the final two innings by the Cougars.
Aubree Pocklington delivered two RBIs for Montesano, while teammates Erica Rydman, Courtney Lloyd, Michaela Ecklund and Tori Erickson also registered an RBI each.
Monte’s Devyn Baker went all seven innings in the circle, striking out five in the process. With the win, Montesano improves to 13-1 overall for the season.
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The swine flu pandemic fortunately didn’t pan out as feared but allowed a real-life opportunity to try new public emergency response, said Joan Brewster, director of the county Public Health and Social Services Department.
“We are now seeing this as a mild illness,” she said Monday. Concern about the virus caused her department to be busy — fielding queries from the public and communicating with health officials around the state — Brewster said.
For example, Web site traffic more than doubled last week from 5,882 hits the prior week to 14,432, she said. Her department added information about the swine flu and links to other swine flu resources.
Compiled by Karen Barkstrom. She can be reached at kbarkstrom@thedailyworld.com or 360-537-3925.
