Amerein Seeks District 3 Commissioner Post

DAYTON-When the 2018 election is over, there will be several new faces in key positions in Columbia County government, and Chuck Amerein hopes to be one of them.

Amerein is running to represent District 3 on the Board of County Commissioners, to replace Merle Jackson, who is retiring at the end of the year.

Amerein said he has been attending the BOCC meetings for the past several months in order to develop an understanding of the issues, and he has been shadowing Commissioner Jackson, to understand that particular role, as quickly as possible.

"There are two big issues facing the county, one of which is the problem of outside influences trying to change the rural nature of the community," he said. The other problem is how to keep youth engaged and connected to the community.

If elected, Amerein will continue to work with the Columbia County Friends of the Fairgrounds, to preserve the historic nature of the fairgrounds.

He said he will also work to help preserve activities for youth, such as keeping the city pool open, and helping with new fee requirements imposed by WSU for participation in 4-H programs.

Amerein said he thinks that 4-H should focus more on real-life skills like animal husbandry, agronomy, and camping.

"In Nampa, (Idaho), 4-H has become cake decorating and guinea pigs," he said. "They've taken the rural traditional skills away. It's important we keep that going, or we will end up like Huntsville, Washtucna and Dodge Junction. We will shrivel up and die away."

"Our way of life here is something that needs to be preserved," he said.

Amerein said he is an avid reader, with four or five books going at any time. He is currently reading Edward Gibbons' "The History of the Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire," and he said he sees parallels to our own culture.

"People in the provinces of Gaul got soft. They lost their drive to maintain the society," he said. "Part of the problem was high taxation and prevention from having arms."

When Amerein is not working as a carpenter, which he calls his "default position," he devotes a major portion of his time to veterans' activities in his role as the Commander of American Legion, Post 42, in Dayton.

"I think that's important," he said. "I will carry that with me as commissioner."

"I'm ready to make sure the county continues to be on good solid bedrock, and stays vital and alive, Amerein added.

He said he joined the Army the day after he graduated from Friday Harbor High School in 1989, served in an Army Ranger Battalion in Panama, and also with the Army Special Forces, before serving in Iraq as a security contractor during the "war on terror."

He said he and his family moved from the Methow Valley to Columbia County in 2001, seeking a more rural way of life.

Amerein said he owned and operated Hammerdown gym, in Dayton, and a CrossFit gym, in Walla Walla for about five years. He currently works part-time as a carpenter, and his wife, Patti Jo, operates Ten Pilates Studio in Walla Walla. He has three stepsons, Jarred Cooper, Matthew Cooper, and Joey Cooper.