The effects of state and national government budgeting crunches are beginning to appear on the West End.

Clallam Transit has announced talks on cutting bus service during four holidays when service is now provided. A public hearing is possible in Forks in May.

Libraries across the West End are being shuttered from Monday, March 29 through Saturday, April 3, North Olympic Library System Library Director Paula Barnes announced earlier this week, to help the library system stay within budget.

Library employees will be considered on furlough during the week, and receive no pay.

In addition, the NOLS Web site will be shut down, return boxes locked, community meeting rooms closed, and buildings will go unlit.

Barnes estimates a savings of about $35,000 for the week without a library. She is scheduled to speak on Wednesday, March 24 before the Forks Chamber of Commerce on a proposed county-wide boost to the library system levy and other plans for the libraries in Forks, Clallam Bay, Port Angeles and Sequim.

A second library closure is being scheduled for late summer, Barnes said in a press release.

Barnes is forecasting an NOLS budget deficit of about $163,000 for 2010.
Reports in the national news have the U.S. Postal Service considering cutting out Saturday mail delivery due to a multi-billion dollar budget shortfall. A significant decline in the volume of mail being delivered due to the increase of Internet-based electronic bill paying and e-mail correspondence is also being reported.

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Quillayute Valley Park & Recreation District elections announced

The Board of Clallam County Commissioners is seeking candidates for the board of the Quillayute Valley Park and Recreation District.

Two vacancies are open on the board, which oversees the Forks Community Center and the Forks pool building. 

The county has authority to appoint qualified persons to fill the positions, if the positions hadn’t been appointed within 90 days, until the next regularly scheduled election.

Those named to the board will serve until the November 2011 election is certified.

Anyone interested in serving on the board should contact the Clallam County Commissioners’ Office at (360) 417-2233; visit their office in the Clallam County Courthouse, 223 East Fourth Street, Port Angeles; or obtain the application online at www.clallam.net. 

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Calawah Watershed is focus of funding

The U. S. Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Region recently designated the Calawah watershed as a “focused watershed.” As a result, this emphasis area will receive priority funding for restoration projects. Olympic National Forest must now develop an action plan that outlines long term restoration goals in cooperation with citizens who have an interest in the watershed.
 
Employees from the Pacific Ranger District are hosting an open house to discuss development of the plan on Tuesday, March 16, from 5 to 7 p.m., at the Department of Natural Resources conference room at 435 Tillicum Lane in Forks.  All interested community members are invited to attend. The group is to operate autonomously, once established.
 
For more information contact Forks-based District Ranger Dean Millett at 374-1222.

About 250 Twilight fans signed in at the Forks Chamber of Commerce’s Visitor Center on Presidents Day, Monday, Feb. 15.

Spring-like weather across the Olympic Peninsula is helping to attract fans to Forks, LaPush and other West End spots that make up the bulk of the locations in  the mega-selling Twilight Saga book and film series.

Forks Chamber of Commerce Director Marcia Bingham said she and her staff are gearing up for the Saturday, March 20 DVD release of Summit Entertainment’s “New Moon,” the second film in the Twilight series.

The DVD is likely to go on sale at one minute past midnight, with anxious fans lined up outside of stores in Forks and malls across the United States.
Special events are being planned by Twilight merchants in Forks and Port Angeles.

The two-disc New Moon DVD is already number-two best-seller for all movie and TV show DVDs listed on Amazon.com. A Blu-Ray version of the film is also being released.

Fans consider Twilight DVDs and books bought in Forks to hold special value. Local merchants provide stickers and stamps to fans show they can prove back home that they were actually in Forks.

Hecklesville Media’s “Twilight In Forks – Saga of the Real Town” documentary directed by Jason Brown is also being released on DVD by Summit on March 20.

A promotional blurb for the film states: “Since the Twilight movies weren’t filmed in the real Forks, this is your opportunity to see the town that Stephenie Meyer based her epic teen romance books on.

The Hecklesville crew filmed in Forks mostly in the summer of 2009, and attended the Twilight literary seminar staged at Forks High School in late June.
Local residents are featured in the documentary film, and include Forks High School teacher John Hunter, Charlene Cross of Leppell’s Flowers and Gifts, Dr. Kenneth Romney, Forks High School Vice-Principal Kevin Rupprecht and other local residents. A voice over page recorded at Forks Outfitters asks “Bella Swan please come to the sporting goods department,” and may feature the voice of Kevin Hinchen, who runs the sporting goods department at the store, or Dan Trickey, manager of the bakery and deli department.
The documentary DVD is also ranking high in the Amazon.com pre-sale charts. A trailer for “Twilight in Forks” with scenes filmed locally can be viewed at www.twilightinforks.com.

The Forks High School FCCLA is showing two free movies in the high school commons on Saturday night, Feb. 20 starting at 5 p.m. Food and soft drinks will be sold during the event as a fundraiser for the FCCLA.

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By Chris Cook - Forks Forum Editor

Mayor Bryon Monohon told the Forks City Council that recruiting for a new Forks Police Chief will begin in the near future.

Monohon addressed the issue at the end of a lengthy council meeting held Monday evening, Feb. 8 in the Council Chambers.

Former Forks Police Chief Mike Powell was fired by Monohon last month, shortly after the new mayor took office. Monohon cited poor handling of a police department promotion as justification for the firing.

Powell was cleared last year of charges brought against him by former Forks police officers. Former Mayor Nedra Reed later faced a recall effort following her support of Powell against the charges.

Monohon said he recently met with Forks Police Department officers for over two hours. In the works is an update of police uniforms, he said. Officers have also been ordered to spend an hour patrolling on foot in downtown Forks, in part to acquaint the public with them.

The mayor said he is also asking officers to place more emphasis on follow up calls to crime victims.

The Forks officers are also helping out with creation of public service announcements aimed at informing the public on public safety, and again to help the officers connect better with the local community.

Council initiatives
Monohon and the council discussed community initiative proposals he requested the council members to bring to the Feb. 8 meeting.

After discussion on several proposals the mayor and council agreed on emergency management planning, city beautification and holding open houses for the public at various city facilities.

Monohon and Councilman John Hillcar will be working together on emergency management. The mayor said he plans to focus on neighborhood watch type groups who would help each other should an earthquake isolate Forks or if another type of natural disaster struck.

The council may be meeting on a Saturday to facilitate the public during one open house session.

Tours of the airports run by the city and other city facilities of interest to the public may also be held.

Posted Feb. 11, 2010

Forks is the setting for a new graphic novel version of the mega-selling book "Twilight." A 10-page excerpt from the book is being published Friday, Jan. 22 in the weekly issue of Entertainment Weekly.

"I can’t say that I am done with Twilight forever. I’m not working on anything new Twilight-related now, and probably not for a while. But there’s still a possibility that I’ll go back and close some of the open doors."

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The Quillayute Valley School District Class of 2010 scholarship auction is scheduled to run the weekend of Saturday, March 20 and Sunday, March 21.
The event is held at the Bank of America’s community room in Forks.
Students are now soliciting for donations for the two-day auction.

The auction starts on Saturday, March 20 at 9 a.m. and ends at 9 p.m. On Sunday, March 22 the hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Donations are being accepted through the days of the auction.

Guest auctioneers include students, volunteers and community leaders.
The auction raised $61,677 in 2009. The auction dates back to the 1960s.
All funds raised go towards scholarships for qualified applicants. Student recipients may apply twice for a scholarship, with a chance of funding for their third and fourth year possible on a case-by-case basis.

Donations of items to sell can be dropped off at the Forks Chamber of Commerce’s Visitor Center, with senior class members and at the Bank of America.

Fundraising food sales by Class of 2010 parents are also featured. Funds raised go towards the Senior Safe Night party set for graduation night in June.
The event is broadcast live on Forks radio stations KBDB and KLLM.

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2009 Twilight count nears 70,000

By Chris Cook - Forks Forum Editor

The visitor arrival count is up almost 500 percent year-to-year at the Forks Chamber of Commerce’s Visitor Center.

Chamber director Marcia Bingham said Tuesday that by today the total number of visitors signing the guest book at the center could top 70,000 for 2009.

“We’re going to beat this year,” Bingham predicted, looking ahead at 2010. She said visitor arrivals began picking up the day after Christmas, with about 200-250 Twilight fans arriving most days since.

Visitor Center manager Mike Gurling said moving the City of Forks welcome sign has added another popular attraction to the visitor center- Forks Timber Museum complex located just south of Forks. The Forks Revitalization Committee with the help of the City of Forks recently moved the sign from an isolated, marshy field further south along Highway 101. The group used community development funds provided by First Federal.

Santa Monica, Ca.-based television producer Zig Gauthier invites potential Twilight in Forks reality television series participants to a casting call held at the Twilight Lounge in Forks on Tuesday, Dec. 22. Young Forks men Sergei Holmquist, Cory Maldonado and David Cook stand behind Gauthier awaiting their chance at the casting call.


Dazzled by Twilight owner Annette Root poses with Zig Gauthier in the Twilight Lounge on Tuesday, Dec. 22 during casting for a potential reality television series based on local residents life in Twilight's hometown. Root is remodeling the former Vagabond restaurant-bar on N. Forks Ave. and plans to reopen the restaurant in the first quarter of 2010.


Forks High School students (from left) Heather Nelson and Taylor Pearson are joined by Spartan graduate Lauren Henry at the Forks casting call. The trio is pictured filling out a questionnaire that will be used to determine who might be selected for the reality television show.

Updated Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2009
By Chris Cook - Editor Forks Forum

Los Angeles-based television producer Zig Gauthier held a casting call at the Twilight Lounge (former Vagabond restaurant/bar) in Forks on Tuesday, Dec. 22, and was scheduled for a second round on Wednesday, Dec. 23.

Gauthier is proposing to film a reality show in Forks that would star local residents. The concept for the show would be presented to television networks who would decide whether to commit to backing the project.

On Tuesday the casting call started at noon and was to end by 4 p.m. On Wednesday, prospective participants were to be interviewed from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Gauthier said in a call from Santa Monica that he is working with Annette Root, owner of Dazzled by Twilight, on the logistics of the casting call. He said Root has been very helpful in arranging for the Forks interviews.

A typical casting call consists of filling out information about yourself including contact numbers and then standing in front of a back drop to have a digital photo taken. The producer then goes over the photos and information and may, or may not, call back those they are interested in appearing in the show.

In a press release the Los Angeles producer said he will be considering both individuals and groups when casting.

The press release asks:
“Do you have a dynamic, outgoing personality?”
“Are you TV friendly?’
“Do you permanently live in Forks?”

On the Web: www.redvarden.com

The SHOWTIME crew visited Forks High School to have students tell what it is like to be a "real" Spartan student, as compared to Bella Swan, Edward Cullen and other fictional Forks High students dreamed up by author Stephenie Meyer. Pictured in the Forks High School library on Friday afternoon, Dec. 11 are students (left to right)  Roberto Rodriguez, Taylor Pearson, Devin Chastain, Tanner Brower, and Taylor Morris.

The City of Forks Welcomes You sign located south of town was moved to a new location on Wednesday, Dec. 9. City and state road workers placed new poles in place and relocated the sign, working Tuesday and Wednesday. The sign, as well as similar sign located near the Calawah bridge along Highway 101 on the north side of town are popular backdrops for snapshots taken by visting Twilight fans. Bill Sperry told Forks Chamber of Commerce members on Wednesday that lights are being installed to highlight the signs at night. He said the Forks Revitalization Committee and the City of Forks are working together on the project.

The south side sign was formerly located in a marshy area which lacked safe parking for fans to pull over. The new location of the sign is located adjacent to the Forks Timber Museum and near the Forks Chamber of Commerce's Visitor Center. Both locations provide paved, off-road parking for visitors.

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