Decades ago, when my son was a toddler, his grandfather from Whatcom County visited our home for three weeks at a time. As they sat at the kitchen table for breakfast, my son shouted for me.
“He’s looking at me!” the 2-year-old said.
“Well, honey, Grandpa can look at you.”
“No! He’s looking at me.”
To calm his tantrum, I shifted the cereal box on the table, so it blocked his view of Grandpa and vice versa.
The recollection popped into my mind as I read a Chronicle story recently about a Centralia port commissioner requesting an investigation into the leaders of the Facebook group critical of the port. Let me say in full disclosure that I’m a member of that Facebook group because I want to know what’s happening at the Port of Centralia and, quite honestly, the lack of transparency there is appalling.
Centralia Port Director Kyle Heaton could take lessons from former Chehalis Port Director Randy Mueller on transparency. As a reporter, I’ve covered plenty of public meetings, including port meetings. Public meeting laws allow government officials to meet in executive sessions to discuss real estate transactions and labor issues, but most of the rest of the agency’s business should be conducted in public.
When someone asks a question, public servants should try to answer it. And when a conflict exists, they should work to resolve it.
In September 2018, as an avid fan of the now-late Harold Borovec, I wrote a column about how the Chehalis-Centralia Railroad and Museum owes its existence to dedicated volunteers. My column was in response to a letter from Mueller, Port of Chehalis chief executive officer, who criticized the nonprofit railroad organization for mismanagement after volunteers missed deadlines for filing state paperwork. I suggested government officials would do better to mentor and support nonprofit volunteers than to chastise them.
Shortly after the column ran, I received an email from Mueller asking if we could meet. He wanted to discuss port officials’ concerns. We left the meeting with a better understanding of each other’s viewpoints.
That’s how government should work. And it’s not that difficult.
But from what I’ve read, that’s not the relationship Heaton has with constituents who attend Port of Centralia meetings. I appreciate the dedication of Jan Banevich and others who go to those meetings and report on what’s happening.
Yet, in a letter to Lewis County law enforcement officials, Centralia Port Commissioner Kyle Markstrom accused Banevich, Randy Garland and others in the group of harassment, stalking and intimidating a public servant.
So what does all this have to do with my parenting anecdote?
In March a Lewis County Sheriff’s Office deputy investigated an ongoing conflict between Alicia Fox, described as Heaton’s girlfriend, and her Toledo area neighbors, Shawna and Jeffrey Hubbard. Fox, who has filed a protection order against her neighbors, told the deputy that while walking her dogs on the road, Shawna Hubbard stared at Fox when she left her home in her car. She videotaped the encounter, and according to the protection order, the Hubbards are not even supposed to look at Fox or her son.
Oh, my. Now you can see what triggered my memories of toddlerhood in my home.
At the port meeting, Heaton refused to comment on what he described as a criminal investigation.
What’s more, a Lewis County sheriff’s deputy investigated, and in April, Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer charged Shawna Hubbard with one misdemeanor count of violation of an anti-harassment order. And he’s reviewing the case to see whether to press more charges.
All this for a dirty look.
And yet a young man who fired a gun in the woods south of Packwood on Aug. 19, 2022, and accidentally killed both 49-year-old hiker Aron Christensen and his 4-month-old puppy, Buzzo, faced no charges. Earlier this year, the Christensen family settled a $3 million wrongful death lawsuit it filed against the shooter, Ethan Asbach, and his father, Michael, although terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
Somehow, the wheels of justice in Lewis County at times seem to spin a bit off-kilter.
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Julie McDonald, a personal historian from Toledo, may be reached at memoirs@chapteroflife.com.
