Letters to the Editor

We earnestly solicit your input on any issue of relevance to the Rainier community. We have but two simple rules:

1) Please limit your letters to not more than 400 words.

2) Please exercise good judgment in terms of topics and language. We reserve the right to edit material or language inappropriate for this Web site and this community.

So, with those two caveats, let's hear from you soon!

Click HERE to send a Letter to the Editor

Asbestos may prevent restoration of old Navy ship

Thursday, June 19th, 2008

Washtenaw County, Michigan - An effort to restore an old Navy ship is being delayed due to money shortages. The high cost of restoration includes money for asbestos abatement, as the substance was heavily used in Navy vessels during much of the twentieth century.

The ship in question is the USS Washtenaw County, which served in the Vietnam War. The ship is currently docked on the Columbia River downstream from Rainier, Oregon. Due to environmental concerns, such as the presence of asbestos on the ship, it can’t be towed to sea and sunk, and due to money shortages, restoration can’t be completed.

The USS Washtenaw County is the only Navy ship which bears that name. The vessel is an LST, a flat-bottomed ship designed to effectively navigate rivers, and land on beaches when troops or equipment need unloading. She earned more than twenty distinctions for her Vietnam War service, including earned 13 battle stars, two Presidential Unit Citations, two Navy Unit Commendations, and four Meritorious Unit Commendations.

Walt James of Portland, Oregon is a member of the company which owns the ship. He says the chances of restoration being completed are slim, to the projected cost of the project, which could be as high as one million dollars. Currently the restoration fund totals just $14,000.

Since the USS Washtenaw County was decommissioned in 1973, she has been bought and resold a number of times. It was finally purchased by the Amphibious Forces Memorial Museum in Vancouver, Wash., in 2005, a partnership comprising Walt James and two associates. They had planned to restore the ship, but the unexpectedly high cost, together with the problems caused by theft and damage to the ship, has prevented the project from moving ahead.

Much of the current trouble is due to the theft of valuable metal from the ship with around $100,000, and damage to the ship’s engine room caused by the thieves. In addition, there is asbestos and other toxins present on the ship, which contributes to the high cost restoration.

Walt James has already put $20,000 of his own money into the fund, and says the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality is now pressuring him to move the ship from its current location on the Columbia River.

However, the Coast Guard is telling him exactly the opposite: that the presence of asbestos, PCBs, and oil on the ship means it can’t be moved. The EPA has also told him that the ship can’t be sunk at sea due to the presence of those toxins.

USS Washtenaw County (LST-1166, later MSS-2), 1953-1975.
Originally named LST-1166.

USS LST-1166, a 2590-ton LST-1156 class tank landing ship built at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, was commissioned in late October 1953. She served in the western Atlantic and Caribbean areas for her first two years and, at the beginning of July 1955, was renamed Washtenaw County. The LST spent the first five months of 1956 in the Mediterranean Sea as a unit of the Sixth Fleet. In mid-January 1958 she passed through the Panama Canal to join the Pacific Fleet. In mid-year she started across the ocean on an emergency deployment to the Far East, but this was cancelled when she reached Hawaii. Washtenaw County's first regular Western Pacific cruise began in April 1959 and was completed in September.

Washtenaw County again went to the Far East in June 1960 and remained there for the rest of her career. Homeported at Yokosuka, Japan, she spent the next thirteen years participating in Seventh Fleet amphibious training and logistics activities in the waters of Japan, Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines and Southeast Asia. Beginning in mid-1964 she was frequently closely involved in Vietnam War operations. These included amphibious landings, personnel and cargo transportation, combat support operations in the Mekong River area and along the South Vietnamese coast, and at times even the use of her three-inch guns to bombard enemy targets ashore. The last of Washtenaw County's wartime assignments ended in mid-1972.

Later in that year she began conversion to a special minesweeper and in February 1973 was decommissioned. Placed in service at that time with the designation MSS-2, though retaining her name, in April and June she was employed in the waters near Haiphong, North Vietnam, ensuring that mines laid the previous year had been successfully neutralized. Washtenaw County was inactivated at Yokosuka, Japan, in August 1973. Stricken from the Naval Vessel Register late in that month, she was sold at the end of January 1975.

Gigantic nursery thrives near Rainier

By Janine Manny

 For The Daily News

June 2, 2008        

RAINIER ― The sign, located a few miles west of Rainier on Highway 30 reads, "Neighborhood Nursery" and has an arrow pointing north on Heath Road.

But if you're expecting something like a "Mom and Pop" produce stand, forget it. Neighborhood Nursery, owned by Ken and Kathy Mendrin, boasts 11 gigantic greenhouses spread over five acres and is bursting with everything from annuals to vegetable plants to specialty containers.

"It's a lot of work, but we like it," Kathy Mendrin said. "Plus we have a couple months off each year."

Prices start at 99 cents, and many plants are $1.50 to $2.99.

The nursery is open April 1·through early July from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.

Local gardeners can stock up on hanging baskets or flats of flowers, bedding plants, ground cover, all kinds of herbs, tomato, cucumber, squash, strawberry, watermelon or cantaloupe plants, plus a variety of peppers. The business provides plants to stores from Clatskanie to Woodland and also has a table at Rainier's Marina Market on Saturdays.

Kathy Mendrin's specialty is creating containers with whatever variety of flowers people want.

"I can put any kind of container together; she said. “I’m good with colors."

The business opens again for autumn and winter business from Sept. 1 until things start to freeze. Autumn plants include kale, ground cover and pansies. Gardening advice is thrown in at no extra charge.

"Ken is very knowledgeable about putting flowers together, he's been in the landscaping and growing business since he was 16," Kathy Mendrin said. "He was well taught and knows the business inside and out."

Ken Mendrin, 57, said he was born into a farming family, but had to go to work elsewhere when he was a teenager.

"My father was a farmer, and he was such a nice man, he gave his farm back to the bank ― all 875 acres of it," Ken Mendrin joked.

The Mendrins have owned Neighborhood Nursery for more than four years. The couple is planning to sell the greenhouses and the adjacent custom-built home soon and move to Australia.

"We don't want to leave, but we need to," Kathy Mendrin said. "We always promised we would take care of my in-laws when they needed us. We asked them to move here, because we like it so much, but they want to stay there."

The Mendrins hope to find new owners who will enjoy the property and running a nursery as much as they have.

"It's a nice industry to be in," Kathy Mendrin said.

Neighborhood Nursery is located at 26441 Wonderly Road. For more information, call (503) 556-2351.

If you go from the Longview area, cross the Lewis and Clark Bridge and go up Highway 30 toward Clatskanie about three miles until you see the sign.

(Photo by Janine Manny/for The Daily News)

Ken Mendrin helps his wife, Kathy, water flowers in one of 11 greenhouses of their Neighborhood Nursery business.

In Recall Election Results... All Six Rainier School Board Members Retained by Majority of Voters

The Clatskanie Chief

May 29, 2008

by Ruth E. Howard

An attempt to recall six of the seven Rainier School District board members failed Tuesday, May 27, as the majority of voters cast their ballots in favor of retaining them.

Up for recall were school board chair Dale Archibald, vice chair Bill Scholten, as well as directors Penny Blahm, Rod Harding, Scott Schuff and Chad Womack.

With all the ballots counted, expect those that came in late Tuesday, the early unofficial results were as follows: Archibald, no 942, yes 844; Scholten, no 1005, yes 775; Blahm, no 982, yes 799; Harding, no 934, yes 850; Schuff, no 985, yes 793, and Womack, no 1006, yes 778.

Harding, who had the closest vote, escaped recall by a 52 to 48 percent margin. Scholten, who had the widest margin, also was retained by the voters, by a 56 to 44 percent margin.

"Russ Crawford called us out and made his points, but I guess the community could read between the lines," Archibald commented to the Chief Tuesday evening.

"I'm just happy to retain my position on the board and we are going to do our best to educate the kids in our district.

"Thanks to the voters for keeping us there...our community can heal now."

The seventh board member, Alison Dale-Moore, was not eligible for recall, since she was just appointed to the board last December.

After nearly a year of upheaval in the Rainier District, including the decision to place both Superintendent Michael Carter and former Rainier Junior/Senior High School Principal Jeff Gilbert on plans of assistance and numerous hours spent in investigation and executive session, as well as complaints being filed against Carter, Gilbert, and Carter's wife, Laurie Kash, with the state Teacher Standards and Practices Commission (TSPC), on Jan. 24 Rainier resident Russ Crawford filed recall petitions with the Columbia County Elections Department on the six members.

In his statement, which was the same for all six petitions, Crawford claimed the board "failed to supervise the actions and responsibilities of the current superintendent which has resulted in mistrust and turmoil in the community.

"These actions are jeopardizing the Rainier school district and the future of a quality education and school experience for the students that attend Rainier schools."

After enough valid signatures, 431 for each board member, were collected prior to the April 23rd deadline, the directors were given the choice to resign or submit a justification statement to be printed on the recall ballot.

"Our goal is to do what is best for the students in our district and by law and policy, we must listen to all parties involved in district issues. As elected officials, we represent all taxpayers and citizens in our district," the six stated in their statement.

"The purpose of this ballot is to affirm or recall six of the current board members. Considering our devotion to the community and the students of our district, we encourage you to vote against the recall for all six members. We are here for the teachers and students. Our kids are #1!"

Carter submitted to his plan of assistance last summer, which was overseen by the board, and which he completed successfully March 1.

Gilbert, however, chose to resign rather than submit to a plan of assistance.

Complaints against Carter, Gilbert and Kash were dismissed by the TSPC in early February.