ABERDEEN POLICE WARN ABOUT LAW ENFORCEMENT IMPERSONATORS

Aberdeen police say a woman was pulled over by a police impersonator Tuesday evening.

The 27 year old woman was turning onto Boone street when a white car that waa behind her activated flashing blue and red lights located in the area of the rear view mirror.

The woman was looking for a safe location to pull over when she saw the people in the car had a flashlight that appeared to be on the passenger side and a spotlight that appeared to be on the driver’s side.

Police say there were no officers in the area where the motorist was.

The Aberdeen Police Department says to call 911 if a person believes they are being pulled over by a vehicle that they do not recognize as a legitimate law enforcement agency.

MANUAL RECOUNT ORDERED FOR OCEAN SHORES COUNCIL RACE

Grays Harbor County Audio Vern Spatz says a recount has been ordered for the the Ocean Shores City Council Position 2 race.

The results from the primary earlier this month has John Schroeder with a one vote lead over Cathie Parker for the second spot in the contest.

Incumbent Bob Crumpacker won the first of the top two votes in this race.

Spatz says the manual recount will likely be scheduled for next Wednesday.

AUGUST PRIMARY ELECTION RESULTS CERTIFIED

The Grays Harbor County Auditor has certified the results from the primary elections held earlier this month.

There was no change in theAberdeen mayoral contest results so Bill Simpson keeps a small margin of votes over Paul Fritts.

Just five votes separated Jerry Mills and Denny Lawrence in the Ward 6 Councilman’s race..

One of the tightest contests in the county was in Ocean Shores where John Schroeder has a one vote lead over Cathie Parker for the second spot in the City Council Position 2 primary.  This result may have to go to a recount.

Incumbent Bob Crumpacker won the first of the top two votes in this race.

“TEAM KXRO” WINS WEEK 1 OF THE GRAYS HARBOR “ACTIVE FOR LIFE” CHALLENGE

Wilma Weber from Grays Harbor County Public Health stopped by KXRO this morning to award the station the official “Leader Bicycle” as the Week 1 “winner” in the “Active For Life” Community Challenge.

Weber says there are 25 teams and 375 participants and if you look at the overall minutes of exercise (88,647) we are a healthy lot to boot!

While here Wilma talked with News Director Rick Johnson about the “Active For Life” challenge – her interview will air on KXRO Thursday morning. 

STATE REPUBLICAN CHAIRMAN PREDICTS SWEEP IN ’12

The state’s Republican Party chairman has predicted his party will win the 2012 governor’s race and will take control of both houses of state government and the attorney general’s office.

Kirby Wilbur spoke at a weekend picnic in Grant County attended by around twenty people including Grays Harbor County Republican Party chairperson Kristine Lowder.

Wilbur says the state of the economy and the 20 percent difference on three big anti-tax initiatives approved last year are some reasons Republicans will take control.

Lowder says she made some good connections at the Grant County event.

PRIMARY ELECTION RESULTS TO BE CERTIFIED TODAY

The Grays Harbor County Auditor is expected to certify the results from the primary elections today.

At last count Bill Simpson was holding on to a small lead over Paul Fritts in the Aberdeen mayoral race and the race for Ward 6 councilman was nearly a dead heat between Jerry Mills and Denny Lawrence.

ELMA MAN SUING GRAYS HARBOR SHERIFF

The owner of an Oakville medical marijuana dispensary is suing the Grays Harbor Sheriff’s Department over allegations that a deputy threatened to put the man in jail if he didn’t consent to sexual acts.

The Daily World reports Marcus Searls of Elma is asking for at least $15 million in damages from the county, or $1 million each for what he described as nonconsensual sex acts.

He is also seeking $1 million from the City of Elma for alleged mistreatment by an Elma officer.

Sheriff Mike Whelan says the deputy has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the internal investigation.

Whelan said the deputy denies any allegations of intimidation or extortion and Searls had not previously filed any complaints with his office or submitted any statements alleging misconduct

OFFICIALS FROM PUD AND COSMO TO MEET TOMORROW

Officials from the Grays Harbor PUD and Cosmo Specialty Fibers will meet tomorrow to discuss the power outage that occurred two weekends ago that forced the pulp mill to shut down operations.

The outage also affected the Sierra Pacific mill in Junction City.

Sierra Pacific was able to come back online right away after power was restored but it took a couple of days for Cosmo to bring their plant up to speed.

The meeting will also include discussions about Cosmo’s contract with the PUD which is set to renew in October.

GH COMMISSIONS PROCLAIM SEPTEMBER “LIFE INSURANCE AWARENESS MONTH”

Yesterday the Grays Harbor County Commissioners officially proclaimed September as “Life Insurance Awareness Month.

In a presentation before the commissioner’s vote.  National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors Twin Harbors president Andrew Hooper spoke about how life insurance can actually help governments.

In other business the Commissioners approved a contract with Aberdeen Health Mart for pharmaceutical repackaging and passed modification agreements with the US Forest Service and the Quinault Indian Nation for weed control.

WH BUSINESS COUNCIL ROUNDTABLE IN SATSOP

Over two dozen East Grays  Harbor business people shared their thoughts and concerns at a White House Business Council roundtable earlier this month at Satsop Business Park.

The event was one of only two such roundtables in the state and featured Calvin W. Goings, the Small Business Association’s regional administrator and Mario Villanueva,USDA Rural Development Washington State director.

Some of the topics discussed were concerns about the cost of healthcare for small business and competition from China and other countries.