Last week's storms caused a few issues throughout the Pacific Northwest, but one of the most unique problems was suffered by South Bend Schools. Superintendent Jon Tienhaara ended up closing the schools on Tuesday, January 7 due to excessive storm water in the South Bend sewer systems.

MENLO - Willapa Valley HS senior Hallee Layman is living a dream. Layman recently signed a National Letter of Intent to attend the University of Hawai'i at Manoá on a track and field scholarship.

South Bend students delivered 2,046 pounds of food and $4,067 in cash to the Legacy Community Outreach Food Bank. The donation was the result of a school-wide food drive before Christmas break.

In response to a request for aid by the Shoalwater Bay Tribe, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Seattle District has declared a state of emergency for Shoalwater on December 17, 2019. The tribe requested help stabilizing the Federally authorized flood risk reduction berm near Tokeland. The Corps began work on the berm on December 19.

The Corps worked on the berm during low tide shoring up 1,800 linear feet along the Shoalwater Bay Barrier Dune.

"The team of emergency responders worked in two shifts 24 hours a day to place rock along the berm in order to reduce the risk to the Tokeland community," said Anthony Doersam with Seattle District U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Emergency Management Branch.

"The flood team and tribe has made significant progress repairing critical areas," said Seattle District Emergency Management Branch Chief Doug Weber.

RAYMOND McDONALD'S - The joint was hoppin' with plenty of Seagull Spirit at the McTakeover inside the Raymond McDonald's last Monday night (Dec. 9).

Raymond HS senior Jennifer Sanchez, and her student staff, were in the house for her RHS Senior Project, which involved generating money for the local food bank. Sanchez and her team of students supported the McDonald's working staff and also set up a work space to sell Raymond Seagull t-shirts and raffle tickets for a couple of nice basket gifts - all to help support the North Pacific County Food Bank (NPCFB) - located at 1899 Park Avenue in Raymond.

A tentative agreement between the Willapa Valley School District and the teachers allowed the teachers to start teaching class on Tuesday, December 17.

Last week the strike looked like it would go on until Christmas Break. The district reopened classes for the seniors last Thursday and Friday in a plan to have fewer days for the graduating class to make up. The classes were taught by the district administrators, who still have teaching accreditation.

Starting Tuesday, December 3, Willapa Valley schools were closed due to the Valley teachers ongoing strike. After months of negotiations, the Willapa Valley School District and the Willapa Valley Education Association are still disagreeing. A state mediator has been called in.

A special board meeting was called on December 3, Tuesday evening to discuss the difficulties of the negotiations. "The Board Chairman and the Superintendent had a powerpoint presentation with information relating to the issue," said Rex Hutchins who attended the meeting. "Then anyone that wanted to speak for a longer period, signed in and were given 3 minutes, then the floor was open to any comments/questions not to exceed 1 minute."

Raymond HS sophomore Kyra Gardner provided another highlight reel in only the second game of the season while drilling the nets for 30 points during a 60-25 pasting of rival Willapa Valley Thursday night at Tenoski Gym in Menlo. Gardner also snatched 11 rebounds, made 9 steals and handed off 4 assists for the 2-0 Lady Seagulls.

The first weekend in December kicks off the holiday celebration in the Raymond area. Dress warmly and plan to run around on Saturday, December 7.

Start your day off with Breakfast with Santa at the American Legion at 9:30 a.m. Bring the kids down for a hot breakfast. Meet Santa and have your photo taken with him. Breakfast is hosted by Willapa Bay Helping Hands.

SOUTH BEND - After the last ballot count in the November 5, 2019 General Election on November 26, a final total of 7,666 ballots were counted of 15,511 registered voters in Pacific County. The voter turnout was 49.42 percent. There were hardly any close races and many candidates ran unopposed.

In one close race, Donald Richter defeated Michael Turner by 222 votes in the Pacific-Wahkiakum Superior Court Judge Position 1 race. Richter gathered 51.33% of the vote compared to 48.12% for Turner. Richter received 3,541 votes and Turner took in 3,319 votes.

Toni Williams crushed Michael Lignoski 1,805 to 984 for Hospital Dist. 2 Comm. Pos. 1. Williams amassed 64.03% of the votes cast and Lignoski received 34.91%.