A Test

Just testing RSS

New LakeCushman Web Site

I have started a new website that includes a Forum. This will be a good place to all to get more information that can be presented by this Blog. When you go to the site please register as this alows you to post and really make use of the site. The information you give when you register is just a username, email address and password. That information stays there and I am the only one that has access to it. It will not go anywhere else, that I assure you.

I will not be posting to the Blog regarding Lake Cushman in the future, just the Forum.

Here is the site. lakecushman.us When you get to this page, simply click on the "go to Forum" and you will be there!

Port Commissioners - Hoodsport Trails State Park

Another thing that happened at last night Booster Club was our guest speaker. This was Tom Young, Port Commissioner at Hoodsport. One item in particular that he spoke to was the Hoodsport Trails State Park. The Port Commissioners are trying to take control from the State. This comes as no surprise as the state has already dumped the State Park up the road. They (The State) see this as excess inventory on their books, so they are happy to get rid of it.

The Port Commissioners (PC’s) have a vision of what they would like to see done with the property. For those of you not aware, Hoodsport Trails State Park consists of approx. 80 ac. Highway 119 splits the property. There is about 60 ac on the same side as the maintenance office. The other 20 is on the golf course side. That 20 ac is bounded by the houses from Div 8 lot 92 – Div 8 lot 220, the first hole on the golf course and highway 119. On the 20 ac they (PC’s) have called it “golf related activities. Now the kicker here is that in order for this to be taken over by the PC’s they have to keep it open to the public. So, you people in those homes along there will have “the public” much closer than you do now!

I don’t know about you but my idea does not include “golf related activities”. I kind of like it the way it is, “Trees”. The whole idea is a far stretch, as it gets very complicated with us being on leased land, state/federal government involvement so on and so forth. Whose best interest are the PC’s working in theirs or ours?

I am thinking it would be a good idea to put together a “wish list” of our own to present to the PC's. Your thoughts!

Fiire Commissioner - District 18

Last night at the monthly Booster club meeting we heard from the two candidates running for Fire Commissioner District 18. We first heard from Terry Brazil. He was a very impressive speaker. In my four years here in Lake Cushman, I have never had the occasion to meet Terry, so I really can’t say any more about him.

I am in favor of the other speaker, Jim Mitchell. One of my first encounters with Jim was at the Fire Department. He was helping Ken Weaver work on what is now the Community Disaster Center. Jim was doing the wooden windowsills that you see in the building today. From the time he spent at the Community Disaster Center, I’m sure there are many more areas that have his fingerprints on them!

As for Fire Department knowledge, Jim served on the Fire Department for 4 ½ years. Starting as a Fire Fighter, he worked with Bob Benson and ultimately became Fire Captain of the station. He has worked with many of our past Fire Commissioner, Bill Weed and Bill Stevens. So he has a good handle on the station and it’s inner workings.

I also know Jim from the Good Sam RV group. He has served in many different officer positions there including President of the group. You can always hear Jim, as his voice is very commanding. He is not one to hold back. If there is a job to be done, he is there to help out. (leading the way usually, I might add!)

He has been involved in many areas of our community for the last 6 plus years. This includes working at the Food Bank in Hoodsport. From first hand knowledge, I can tell you he also spent many hours working on a local mission project, providing adequate housing to one of our local residents.

Jim brings a lot of common sense to every thing he puts his mind to. I was glad to hear that he was running for Fire Commissioner, as I know he will be doing everything to bring the communities best interest and the best interest of the Fire department together. Jim deals with the task at hand and is not sidetracked by politics (that to some is the only task at hand).

I would like to ask you to cast your vote for Jim Mitchell, Fire District 18 Fire Commissioner, in this upcoming election.

Public Hearing "The Ridge"

Just to let you know that Mason County will be holding a public hearing before the Mason County Hearings Examiner at the Mason County Courthouse Building I, 411 North Fifth Street on TUESDAY, AUGUST 28, 1:00 PM.

If you want to hear what is going to be happening in your backyard, you may want to attend!

Triway/County response to our Letter

I just wanted to let everyone know that we have continued to correspond with the County/Triway regarding “The Ridge” development. A small group of us had sent a letter to the County (Mr. Macsems), Triway and the three Commissioners. This letter can be found by going to the right side of the page (under Member Links - you might have to scroll down)and clicking on Current Projects. Then open the file “Letter MacSems.html”. I just received a bunch of docs from the County and their response is in the same directory titled “Public Comments.html”.

It would seem to me that Triway is leaving an opening for the Fire Department (see item #4) to ask for an impact fee for their services. It would be up to our Fire Department to initiate this. How this is figured is totally their call. There will definitely be a cost to service these additional homes. So Triway builds 98 homes here and then someone else comes along and builds another 48. Pretty soon there are many more calls that require servicing. Our taxes pays for maintenance of vehicles and buildings, it does not pay the upfront cost for capital equipment.

I have not heard anything from the Commissioners regarding their comments on this letter.

Email Security

You know we are all concerned with security now days. I found this article that I wanted to send to everyone just to remind you that there are ways to protect yourself from the ‘evil doers’

If you use a Web based mail program, ie Google, Yahoo or Hotmail. You need to find out if they offer the HTTPS: mode of getting mail. Google does according to this article. This will protect your information all the way from your computer to the Internet. All transfers are encrypted so nothing can be ‘realistically’ stolen.

If you use a program as I do, like Outlook or Outlook Express, just check that the SSL boxes are checked.

If any of this is unclear to you, send me an email and I will try and walk you through it. Here is the article:

Zdnet

Meeting with Triway July 25, 2007

I just wanted to say a few words about our meeting with Triway regarding the development, The Ridge.

I will have more details in a few days, but I think the meeting went well. There were five representatives of Triway that attended our meeting. Also we had over 50 residents that attended; A big thank you to all!

As I said, I will have more details in a few days.