I was born in February of 1947 in Missoula, Montana. Before that, my roots in the Flathead Valley and Tobacco Valley go back to the 1800s. Stahl Peak and the Stahl Creek Drainage are named after my Uncle Art Stahl.

 

As a child, my family spent pretty much equal time in Montana and Alaska with a short time in California.

 

I graduated high school in Terry, Montana.

 

I logged for a time out of Darby, MT,  until I joined the American Merchant Marine in 1966. I made one trip to Japan and three to Viet Nam until attending college in Missoula and Butte.

 

I left college to go to work at Boulder River School and Hospital, where I got my Montana Nursing Home and Hospital Administrators license. When I left Boulder, I worked as Administrator at two different facilities in the state.

 

I left the Montana and ended up in San Francisco as a corporate accountant for a small company that had offices from the Bay area to Vancouver, B.C. They moved me to Portland and made me Regional Controller responsible for three cost centers.

 

When I resigned that position, I returned to college at Oregon Institute of Technology, where I received an Associates degree in Accounting Technology and a Bachelors of Science in Industrial Management (Operations). During my time at OIT, I became a single parent with sole custody of my son and daughter.

 

I remained working "on the beach" until my kids were old enough for me to return to sea. Over the years, I took advantage of every learning opportunity that came my way and worked my way up to Chief Engineer endorsed for Steam, Gas Turbine or Motor propulsion plants of any horsepower, any ship and any waters.

 

I retired in 2017 from a position with Crowley Maritime in Valdez, where I worked with the tugs and barges under contract to provide oil spill response in Alaska.

 

After my time with Crowley, I returned to Montana and moved to Eureka, a choice I have never regretted.

 

I have attempted to live my life guided by the concepts of honesty, integrity and compassion. When elected your County Commissioner, I intend to continue to be guided by these precepts.

 

In speaking with and listening to people around Lincoln County, I hear three recurring areas of concern: affordable housing, job skills for 21st-century skill sets, and job development for skills both in the tourist industry as well as skilled trades and jobs in areas outside the service industry. In reviewing the County Commission meeting minutes for the last five years as well as listening to current discussions, I can find no reference to these critical issues. Additionally, after five years on the Eureka Town Council, I have seen several areas in which the Town and County could collaborate at no/little monetary cost. That collaboration has been missing across the board. We should not view each other as adversaries but rather partners working towards the same goal.

 

When the incumbent has attended our Council meetings, it has always been to, in essence, demand concessions to bail the County out of a problem arising from lack of administrative acumen.

 

My concept is to work with all of our communities on a collaborative basis to move our County and communities forward.

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Talk to me! 

Email: cheng4372@gmail.com

Phone: 406-607-7572