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The Friends of the Castle Rock Library will be holding their regular book sale this Friday and Saturday, and residents from all over the area are invited to come and support this vital fundraiser.

Taking place from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, Feb. 21, and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 22, the sale will feature a number of books and movies at reasonable prices, all of which are being sold to support the ongoing activities of the Friends program.

A Celebration of Life will be taking place for Maurice "Jim" Phillipps, of Toledo, who passed away Dec. 10.

The celebration will be taking place at the Cowlitz Prairie Grange Sunday, Feb. 23, at 1 p.m., and members of the public are invited to attend and help remember this long-time friend of the community.

For more information, call Rachel Phillipps at (360) 864-8844.

Students from Winlock and Toledo High Schools who earned scholastic achievements last semester.

A Toledo family ventured a significant feat of snow-struction during recent winter weather when they managed to erect a 14-foot snowman in their back yard.

The Plomondon Independent Film Festival International is expected to take place this weekend in Toledo and filmmakers both local and foreign have submitted entries.

New international films from South Korea and Turkey have joined those Austria, France, Ireland and Japan, while locals such from Spokane, Portland and Bellingham are participating, as well.

The Vader Lions Club will be hosting their annual crab feed fundraiser on March 1 at the Lions Hall and tickets are available until Feb. 21.

Featuring both full-crab and half-crab dinners, as well as lasagna for those not wild about seafood, proceeds from the crab feed will benefit ongoing Lions Club activities. For more information, contact Carol Broom at (360) 295-3801.

A maintenance and operations levy for the Winlock School District is passing with 53% of 992 votes as of Friday, according to the Lewis County Auditor’s Office.

The levy, which replaces a similar levy expiring this year, is will be put toward regular expences and special upgrades and expected to generate $800,000 per year through 2018 while establishing a $2.42 per $1,000 of assessed value property tax.

The snow is behind us, but without the help of our Mayor Paul Helenberg, many businesses could not have opened last week. Business owners and citizens have reported seeing him buzzing about town and personally removing the snow in our large parking areas. Hats off to you, Mayor.

On that positive note, let us welcome a new business at 211 Front Ave. SW next to our attorney, Chris Roubicek. MASSAGE THERAPY is a wonderful Mother - Daughter team of Christina Jackson (Strain) and Tammy Wasson, who both grew up here in Castle Rock and live here now. They will be offering specials for the community to sample all of their treatments and relaxation techniques. They are by appointment, so give them a call. The telephone number is (360) 751-6328 for Christina and (360) 751-4366 for Tammy. Tammy has been a massage therapist for 10 years, and Christina for one year. Watch for their specials in the Town Crier soon.

After the melted snow (it was beautiful while it lasted) and recent rain, I expect we’ll see budding bulbs and buds popping up soon. I say that as I look at the bulbs that I thought I’d get planted this time last year…

Stephen would like to extend the invitation to play Backgammon to anyone in the reading audience. That’s Wednesdays at 2 p.m. in the Café. They can offer hot or cold (non-alcoholic) beverage and a cookie or two, if that makes the trip more inviting.

Lewis County Fire District #2 (Toledo) offers First Aid & CPR class. Contact Diane Wallace, tolfire2@toledotel.com or (360) 864-2366 to register.

And: Toledo Senior Center brings An Evening of Elvis (Danny Vernon, a Top Ten impersonator) 5:30 p.m. at Toledo High School. Advance tickets $15 at Sandy’s Pizza or the Senior Center, $20 at the door. Contact Diana, (360) 864-2112 or Sandy’s Pizza, (360) 864-6200.

Winlock has had its share of bad news lately; we have lost some great people that are too young to be leaving us. I was out of town when I got the news about Ms. Swofford, Mr. Bryan and Mr. Hughes, three young people taken from us too early. I remember playing baseball and our coach was Bob Swofford. His daughter was a few years younger than I was and she was always full of life. Our hearts go out to the Hughes, Bryan and Swofford families.

Toledo should have a clearer idea of what it may cost to build their new sewer plant as contractors are expected to submit their bids on Thursday afternoon.

Bidding time will open and close at 2 p.m. and estimates are expected to come from such companies as Pacific Crest Construction, Tapani Underground, Prospect Construction, SSC Construction and Columbia Pacific, among others. Engineering firm Gray & Osborne has estimated the cost of the new plant at around $9.6 million, but they have stated bids could certainly come in at a lesser figure.

Castle Rock is hoping to undertake an ambitious beautification project in the coming months as they turn their ongoing city improvement efforts toward a large storm water retention pond in the middle of town.

Known locally as Jackson Hole, the grass-filled pond is situated on Jackson St. between Cascade Select Market and the Castle Rock Post Office, and is the final destination for runoff collected through the city’s storm water system.

Three members of local city councils have resigned in recent weeks, largely for reasons undisclosed to the public.

Council Members Janet Charlton and Linda Newton, of Vader, as well as Denise Green, of Winlock, have stepped down from their positions, charging the remaining members of their respective city councils with appointing new individuals to fill the vacancies.

The Winlock City Council has approved recreational marijuana use within the C-1 Zoning Districts.

Passed Feb. 10, the ordinance allows the production, processing and sale of recreational marijuana in C-1, which encompasses the downtown core and the commercial area on Cedar Crest Dr.

Winlock came up short in their first District IV Tournament game since 2008 in a 49-31 loss to Wahkiakum.

The Lady Cardinals fell behind to the tune of 27-7 at halftime and could never dig out of the hole. Freshman Rianna Whitehead led the Cardinals with 12 points while Dustee Alvord contributed nine points during a very successful third quarter for Winlock.

Castle Rock advanced into the quarter-final round of the District IV 1A Tournament on Feb. 11 with a 55-40 win over unknown foe Rainier from the Evergreen League in Montesano.

Brock Johnson and Mason Klingberg both scored 20 points apiece while Ty Johnson added 13 for the Rockets.

The Toledo boys basketball team advanced in the District IV Tournament with a lop-sided win over Montesano on their home floor Feb 11.

While Brent Wood and Grant McEwen broke into double figures in scoring, Toledo Coach Scott Merzoian insists that it is their defense that won this game and many others.

At around 3:20 p.m. Feb. 11, a large section of brick molding atop the second story of a 94-year-old Winlock building collapsed onto Walnut St., sending debris onto the roadway and sidewalk.

No injuries were reported, though the westbound lane of Walnut St. was obstructed as the large, red bricks were cleared from the scene.

A second Toledo man has been killed in a logging accident in recent weeks, this time in the Morton area.

21-year-old Tyler Bryan had been working Feb. 10 on the 1100 block of Hwy. 7, north of Morton, when a log being hauled uphill by a cable swung around and struck the victim, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office. Emergency responders arrived at around noon and, though CPR was performed, Bryan died at the scene. The cause of the incident is reportedly being investigated by the Department of Labor and Industries.

A severe winter storm came through SW Washington last week bringing many challenges to motorists. A number of collisions and delays due to heavy snow were seen on the state routes and interstates in Clark, Cowlitz, Lewis, Skamania, and Klickitat Counties.

The storm brought several inches of snow to the area which began falling Thursday and continued through the weekend. Less than 24 hours into the storm, 198 collisions were reported to the WSP Communications Center. Out of those collisions, one person suffered fatal injuries and nineteen others reported minor to serious injuries.