88th Annual Crab Feed Saturday

Crab Feed festivities get started at 5 p.m. with social hour. The always delicious, sweet-tasting crab will be served at 6 p.m. There will also be raffles and the Pacific County Democrat of the Year will be announced.

Many Democrats are keeping their fingers crossed that newly elected Governor Jay Inslee will be on hand to present his thoughts about his 3½ months in office.

“I don’t know if he’ll be here but we’re hoping that he does,” Pacific County Democratic Chairperson Karen Spackman told the Herald. “In past years, people have said they’ll be here and then at the last minute they pull out. It’s not the big election year, so you never know. It will be a good party and it will be fun. We’ll have the silent and regular auction.”

“We tend not to advertise who is coming because we never know who is going to show up,” Spackman said.

Expected for attend from the 19^th Legislative District are Senator Brian Hatfield (D-Raymond), Representative Brian Blake (D-Aberdeen) and Dean Takko (D-Longview).

Senator Craig Pridemore (D-Vancouver) will serve as auctioneer.

Hatfield chairs Agriculture, Water & Rural Economic Development Committee and is also on the Financial Institutions & Insurance and Ways & Means committees.

Blake chairs the Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee and also serves on the Business and Financial Services Committee and the Government Accountability and Oversight committees.

The Washington State Farm Bureau named Blake Legislator of the Year. The Farm Bureau recognized Blake for his legislation to keep local biomass facilities open, which preserved hundreds of jobs; for securing funding for local retaining programs for displaced workers and soldiers returning home; and for getting $425,000 to add more lights to the Chehalis River Bridge making it safer and ending the long battle between the state and the city of Aberdeen over who should pay the bill.

Takko chairs the Local Government Committee and is also on the Public Safety Committee and the Transportation Committee.

As a senator from the 49^th Legislative District, Pridemore chairs the Senate Government Operations, Tribal Relations & Elections Committee. He also serves on the Senate Ways & means Committee and the Senate Health & Long Term Care Committee. Pridemore also chairs the Joint Legislative Audit Review Committee (JLARC), and as the JLARC chair, sits on the citizen Commission for Performance Measurement of Tax Preferences. “He’s terrific as an auctioneer and was very popular the last couple of years,” Spackman said.