Gee Cee's Truck Stop has been a staple in the area for 35 years. Gail Wallace built Gee Cee's 35 years ago this year. Gee Cee's was recently voted the #1 Truck Stop in Washington State and 5th in the entire country, a well-deserved award. Gail has put his heart and soul into Gee Cee's throughout the years and now they have hired a new restaurant and deli manager, Christy Greenwood after their previous manager retired.

Christy grew up in the Rochester area and has been in the restaurant business all of her adult life. She started as a server at VIP's restaurant (aka Denny's) in Chehalis.

Earlier in February, it was announced that Bird's Eye Medical, Twin Transit, United Way of Lewis County, and Lewis County Public Health & Social Services (LCPHSS) began working together to plan for mobile COVID-19 vaccine clinics for Phase 1B, tier 1 eligible residents. Beginning next week, a telephone hotline to register for these mobile clinics will be available.

Mobile COVID-19 vaccine clinics are designed for residents who are unable to secure an appointment online because they do not have access to or knowledge of how to use the internet appointment system, are homebound, or have other barriers to traveling to mass vaccination sites such as lack of transportation.

The snow arrived in the area starting on Thursday, February 11, and it didn't stop for days. Starting on Thursday, Lewis County saw flurries of snow. It didn't stick enough to cause a lot of damage Thursday, but we kept hearing snow accumulation was on the way. Friday was the day "snowmageddon" began and by Saturday, we were all stuck at home with some homes having a foot of snow or more and no electricity.

Thursday, we saw the snow falling, but the accumulation was not until the evening, we were out and about getting ready for the storm. As we all ran into the grocery stores to stock up, we were all talking about the impending doom that was headed our way. Why is it when a storm is brewing, we feel the need to stock up on everything for days? I have never figured out why we need a month of toilet paper for 5 days of storms. The thing to remember, we are Lewis County residents, we can survive anything. By Thursday evening, we knew we were in for a whopper of a storm. It was then that we were saying, "it won't stop."

To the Editor,

I am writing to share my concerns about the possibility of commercially expanding the Toledo airport. The reasons my family resides in Lewis County consists of the lifestyle quality, rural beauty, quiet, safe, and small-town community atmosphere, all of which are now at great risk. We have a young family and think this is a great place to raise our kids. We did not move here, nor does anybody else choose to live in Toledo, to be next to "SeaTac 2" which is now under serious consideration. After attending the CRAT (Citizens for Responsible Aviation in Toledo) meeting this last Wednesday, it is clear that many others share the same values and feelings as my family.

If you have been following any of the recent developments for this proposition, you may have heard rhetoric there is no chance that it will happen. I would like to remind you that there are in fact many reasons why building a large airport here is enticing such as the low cost of land, fewer residents impacted and the resistance will be less intimidating due to our small community, just to name a few.

There are many stories about Valentine's Day and how it started, unfortunately, it did not start as the romantic holiday it is today. It was the Catholic Church that honored two men that it became known as St. Valentine's Day.

Winlock School District has hired a new athletic director. Nick Bamer took the role in the fall but he is not new to Winlock. With his new role, he has a lot on his plate and Winlock is excited to have him. With sports starting on February 1, he is very busy getting ready for a year of sports in just a few months.

Growing up in South Lewis County, I always knew it was the area where people just want to be left alone. We don't care what anyone does as long as it does not affect us, or so I thought. I was on Facebook on Thursday, where I saw a racial slur written on a cup against someone I personally know. It was the first time since I have been back in this area that I have actually seen something racial and it made my blood boil!

Farmers Markets are now a part of Winlock and Toledo for most of the year. The Winlock Farmers Market is open year-round and the Toledo Farmers Market is set to reopen on February 11.

Winlock's Farmers Market is open on Wednesday and Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at 202 N.E. First Street, next to Sahara Pizza. They offer a range of arts, crafts, crochet, alpaca knitted items, canned goods, fresh eggs, and farm products. It's a shop with a little of everything for everyone.

Bonita Aadland is the manager over the Winlock Farmers Market, she stated, "We offer many items that are from local vendors, it's a great way to showcase local talent. It gives the community a place to buy a birthday gift or even a baby shower gift, we offer a wide variety of vendors and products."

Taylor Ruiz, Junior at Winlock High School, has always had a passion for literature and decided to bring her own vision of being a published author into action.

Taylor is responsible for resurrecting one of the greatest novels and detectives of all time. Ruiz, an avid mystery enthusiast, is the self-published author of Sherlock Holmes and the Spider's Web.

Taylor found her love for writing around the age of six. One of the fondest memories she has was using her imagination to construct a book about dolphins in 1st grade. Her first-grade teacher read her story out loud to the class and this experience made a large and positive impact on her. At that point she had found her calling. "After that moment all I wanted to do was write," said Taylor. Over the next few years, Taylor discovered more short stories from her ancestry and used them as inspiration for her first published book Porter Dowle.

As of January of this year, Spiffy's restaurant has been under the ownership of Rod and Dianna Samuelson for 50 years. They have seen it change from a single-wide walk-up trailer to the full-service restaurant it is today. But, in the midst of the anniversary, Spiffy's has been closed due to an ongoing battle with Governor Jay Inslee to reopen.