Your vote for Lewis County District 3 Commissioner on Aug. 2 has never been more crucial for the future of East Lewis County. The interests of East Lewis County and our rural community way of life need to be strongly represented.
Harry Bhagwandin has lived in the heart of East Lewis County for 40 years. He and Annie have lived the Lewis County dream and raised their family here. After living in Morton for six years, they found and purchased their 65-acre property outside of Onalaska, where they live today. Over the course of his life, Harry has worked as a conservation program manager and environmental planner for the Washington Department of Natural Resources and a wildland firefighter, teacher and, in retirement now, as a professional grant writer and project manager. Harry is a member of Lewis County Farm Forestry, Lewis County Farm Bureau, Washington Stewardship Forestry, Northern Nut Growers Association and the Chestnut Growers of America. Harry has served on the Lewis County Lodging Tax Advisory Commission and the Citizens Budget Committee. He has attended hundreds of county meetings and follows the Lewis County Planning Commission closely. Harry is involved in the sub-area planning process to get ahead of the unmanaged growth we are currently experiencing in our rural communities.
Throughout Harry’s life, he has been civically engaged, contributing to the betterment of the wider community in many ways. Harry has strong interests in forestry, fish recovery, adventure tourism, community development and strengthening our local rural economy. He is the founding president of the Onalaska Alliance, and with community volunteers and the help of the county, turned the old Carlisle mill pond into a terrific park which is now the centerpiece of a renewed Onalaska.
As president of the nonprofit organization, he helped start the Onalaska Apple Harvest festival, now in its 14th year. Harry was also a founding member of the annual Ride the Willapa event and started Tour de Farms to support local farmers. He helped the Onalaska Future Farmers of America students start a fish rearing enhancement project, still run by high school students and annually contributing coho and steelhead smolts into the Chehalis River system.
We need a strong voice on the Lewis County Board of Commissioners who understands our rural way of life. Harry Bhagwandin has been our good neighbor for 40 years, understands our issues and concerns and is the most qualified of the candidates to represent us on the Lewis County Board of Commissioners. He listens to you, studies the issues, is not afraid to make a decision and understands how to get things done. It is important to vote in the primary on Aug. 2 so we can have our East End needs fully represented.
Bill Serrahn
Packwood
