On Wednesday, November 24, a wonderful couple in Winlock lost their home to fire. Bob and Carol Sutton's home was a total loss.

On November 24, 2021, at 9:15 p.m., firefighters from Lewis County Fire Districts 15-Winlock, 2-Toledo, 20-Vader and 5-Napavine responded to a fire. The fire was reported as a structure fire threatening an additional structure in the 100 block of Allman Rd.

The Drive n Drop Food Drive by the Winlock-Vader Food Bank is having this event instead of the Walk n Knock that was canceled due to the pandemic. Each year the food bank works tirelessly for the community, always helping anyone in need. This year has been no different, even more challenging due to COVID, but they never faltered.

Lewis County Fire District 15 has a new fire chief and he is familiar to some in the area as Vader Ryderwood Fire Chief as well as Winlock now. Richard Underdahl has accepted the position and Winlock is better off with him around.

Underdahl has been interested in being a firefighter for decades, first he became a police officer and now a fire chief.

Thanksgiving is Thursday and many of us learned the story in school. The native Americans in this time helped the pilgrims with their harvest. Many pilgrims died before Thanksgiving, 102 lost their lives to disease and other illnesses. The remaining 52 pilgrims celebrated with the Wampanoag Tribe of Massachusetts.
The first Thanksgiving dinner was to celebrate the fall harvest. Celebrating the fall harvest was an English tradition and the pilgrims had much to celebrate in their new land.

Edward Winslow stated at the time about the feast of the day, "Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together, after we had gathered the fruits of our labors; they four in one day killed as much fowl, as with a little help beside, served the company almost a week, at which time amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and amongst the rest their greatest king Massasoit...

Friday in Vader was not a usual day, there was a house fire which drew a lot of attention. At approximately 11:02 a.m., members of the Cowlitz-Lewis Fire District #20 were dispatched to a reported structure fire at 810 E St. which is in the city limits of Vader. Initial reports from Central Dispatch advised that the residence was fully engulfed in flames. This was a home that had burned before in 2017.

The Winlock Historical Museum had successfully raised enough money to buy some of the items from the Roy Richards Estate. When Roy passed away, there were many items in the Renegade Rooster that many wanted to see displayed in the Winlock Historical Museum.

Congratulations to Winlock High School Football team for their win over Walla Walla - 64-60. They play November 20 in Quilcene - time to be determined.

This Thursday, November 11 is Veterans Day, but it was known as Armistice Day in the past. Armistice Day was a day the allies in World War II signed the Armistice agreement. Armistice is an agreement made by opposing sides in a war to stop fighting for a certain time, also known as a truce.

During World War I on November 11, 1918 at 5:45 a.m., an armistice was signed between the allied forces and Germany. This agreement was to go into effect at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. It was initially called for a 36-day ceasefire which was extended several times until the peace treaty was signed called the "Treaty of Versailles." The Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919.

On Friday, November 5, 2021 at 11:00 a.m., Lowes Distribution Center in Winlock had their Grand Opening. The event started with speeches from the management at Lowes followed by pictures with various groups. After the pictures, there was a small buffet catered by The Rowdy Rooster.

Lowe's recently hired their warehouse staff, they stated they hired 86 employees and they are now full to capacity. The facility has approximately 1.2 million square feet, and will be servicing 30 Lowe's stores with a capacity of 66 by the end of 2022.