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Editor’s Note: The following is Part II of two about the Crisis Support Network.

By VIVIAN EDERSHEIM

SOUTH BEND – “Crisis Support Network literally saved my life.”

Once the Top Notch, now the Pitchwood! You may have noticed a few changes happening at this local establishment. The tavern that everyone knew is now the new and improved Pitchwood Alehouse, a name carefully crafted to suit the area. 

“When a fir tree is cut down, the pitch rises to the top and kind of preserves it. We knew we wanted a name that was relevant to the area but also spoke to those traveling through,” owner Kaley Hanson said of the unique name.

Editor’s Note: A small group of citizens have accused the Public Utility District No. 2 of Pacific County (PUD) with improprieties. Following is a recent interview with Pat Myers about his claim of a cover-up conspiracy with the top levels of management at the PUD involving the misuse of a man-lift. Here is what Myers had to say:

"In the first meeting that I attended, in March, I showed the commissioners and the general manager a photo of the wreck and asked if any of them were aware of it. They all denied knowledge of it. Then I asked them a series of pointed questions that I thought would prompt the commissioner to start their own investigation of this issue.

"At the second meeting that I attended in April, the general manager addressed the questions that I had asked of the commissioners in the previous meeting. He told a story about how the wreck came about and that he paid an insurance premium of $1,147.64 for the damage to the wrecked man-lift. He reported that the PUD had rented the equipment for a job in Oysterville. Also, in his accounting of when and how the man-lift was rented, he said that it was picked up at s PUD employee’s house and that the man-lift was wrecked while still on the employee’s property as it was being trailered to PUD’s yard. At this point there would have been no time recorded on the man-lift’s hour gauge, as the PUD had not yet used it.

"At the third meeting several weeks ago, I stood up and gave the commissioners a copy of the rental invoice between PUD and United Rentals for the man-lift and Herald editor George Kunke had dug up a couple years earlier. Then I asked the commissioners if they condoned the use of PUD equipment by employees for personal use. Commissioners Mike Swanson and Diana Thompson immediately responded with a definitive no. It took my pushing the question again to get a response from commissioner Ron Hatfield, who then offered a defiant and reluctant no. I explained to them that the invoice showed that PUD had actually rented the man-lift seven days earlier than what the general manager had reported at the second meeting. As well, on the day that the man-lift was wrecked, there had already been 25.9 hours put on the hour gauge of the man-lift. This would suggest that the man-lift had been used in those seven days. The invoice showed that the insurance option that the rental company offered to PUD had been declined by PUD. That means that if any damage came to the equipment PUD would be responsible financially for the damage. And the most damning information on the invoice was the rental charge of $1,147.64. This number was reported by the general manager in April’s meeting as being an insurance premium payment when, in-fact, it was the rental charge.

"I then gave the commissioners my theory on what had happened. I told them that I believed that the man-lift was never intended to be used in Oysterville. After all, why would the