In your neighborhood

Battle Ground, Meadow Glade and Hockinson

Hockinson: Twelve graduates of a firefighter academy submitted to the International Fire Service Accreditation Congress testing in Hockinson on July 23. The testing includes written and skill assessments. Clark County Fire District 6, Clark County Fire and Rescue, Camas Fire Department and the Washougal Fire Department supplied evaluators.

Battle Ground: A large Rotary club was recently established in Battle Ground. The club was founded with 56 members, 12 from other clubs and 44 new to Rotary. The new club, the Battle Ground Rotary club, will meet every Wednesday at 5 p.m. in Galeotti’s Restaurant, 801 E. Main St., Battle Ground. It is one of eight Rotary clubs in Clark County.

Dollars Corner: Shirley Evans of Battle Ground was on her way home from church on Aug. 1 when she spotted a turkey vulture. “I’ve never seen one in this area before. It was standing on a round hay bale in a field just south of Dollars Corner. I turned around and went back to watch for awhile until it took off to join its mate soaring high above,” she wrote in a note to The Columbian. “Although I have seen them in other sections of the country, I came home to check it out.” Cornell University says turkey vultures can roam into the Pacific Northwest during the summer breeding season.

North Clark County and Woodland

Yacolt: Marty Ricker of the Armed Services Blood Program has been selected to serve on the board of directors for the Association of Donor Recruitment Professionals for 2010-2011. Ricker retired from the Army in 2001 after serving 26 years. Ricker currently serves as a recruiter supervisor for the blood program. Ricker’s mother and stepfather, Jan and Richard “Dick” Davis, live in Yacolt, and his father, Oscar “Rick” Ricker, lives in Brush Prairie. He and his wife, Cassie, have a home in Olympia, but he is currently employed in Washington, D.C.

East Clark County: Camas and Washougal

Camas: The Fort Vancouver Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution chose Hannah Jones, a Camas High School senior, to receive the Good Citizens Award. Jones, the daughter of Steven Jones and Emily Ransdell, was awarded for her four years in leadership positions at Camas High School.

East Clark County: Camas and Washougal

Camas: The Camas-Washougal Women’s Club hosted the annual Camas Days Royal Court Luncheon on July 24 at the Camas Public Library. Members of the 2010 Royal Court, their families and past members of Camas Days royalty were honored at this event. Camas Days was at the end of July.

Washougal: Councilman Paul Greenlee recently completed 60 hours of training from the nonprofit Association of Washington Cities, and received an advanced certificate of municipal leadership. The training course included sessions on budgeting, land-use planning, personnel and leadership. Greenlee was appointed to the Washougal City Council in April 2007, elected to complete the remainder of the term in November 2007, and then was elected to a full four-year term on the council in fall 2009.

Orchards, Sifton and Brush Prairie

Orchards: Principal Vinh Lan Nguyen of Orchards Elementary School and Principal Rex Larson of Gause Elementary School in Washougal were among a delegation of Washington principals who joined educators from across the nation in Washington, D.C., to advocate for pro-principal policies. They met with Washington Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell and Rep. Brian Baird, among others, and urged stronger professional development for principals, higher standards for early childhood programs and high-quality mentor programs.

Glenwood: The Glenwood Community Church may get a new religious neighbor. Congregation Kol Ami, one of two Jewish groups in Clark County, wants to build a synagogue near 11913 N.E. 119th St. — a little east of 72nd Avenue. Planned is a single-story, 17,600-square-foot synagogue on an 8.4-acre parcel; parking, stormwater, utility and other infrastructure improvements are proposed, too. The Glenwood church and the future Curtin Creek Community Park are just north of the site, and an older home remains standing on the corner of 119th and 72nd. Since the land is already zoned for commercial development and the county expects no significant environmental impact, no public hearing is required.

Central Vancouver, Minnehaha and The Heights

Van Mall: When Vickie Lindquist started appliqueing squares for a Holly Hobby quilt at age 14, she knew it would likely take a while to complete — but she never guessed how long it would be. Nearly 75 years later, it is finally finished. Last year, Lindquist’s daughter found the nearly completed quilt in a bag in the attic. Marilyn Bevans, a member of Clark County Quilters and local quilting teacher, helped Lindquist finish the quilt. This quilt and three others Lindquist made will be displayed at her 90th birthday party in October.

Ogden: When a family-run fireworks stand raised almost $15,000 for the national “Homes for Our Troops” project in 2009, people asked if the family would be running the stand again. “How could we not?” said Tracy Phillips, uncle of Sgt. John “Kyle” Dagget, who was gravely injured in Iraq in 2008 and died in a Nova Scotia hospital on his way back to the United States. This year, “a ton of repeat customers” showed up and the family was able to collect $16,000 from sales, Phillips said. The funds will be split between Homes for Our Troops, Wounded Warrior and Fisher House, based on a customer vote.

Rose Village: Matt and Val Hadwin, owners of the Fort Vancouver McDonald’s, wanted to express their gratitude to the Vancouver Police Department, Vancouver Fire Department and residents of Vancouver for their support during the fire at their restaurant. They say the employees have been transferred to other locations in Clark County and the couple plan to rebuild the Fort Vancouver store “in the coming months.”

West Minnehaha: Traci Meyer-Jones was heading south on Highway 99 on July 26 around 7:15 a.m. when she noticed a man waving his arms on the right-hand side of the road. The man had apparently gotten off his motorcycle to slow oncoming vehicles so a doe and fawn could cross the street, Meyer-Jones said. “It was just nice,” she said, “instead of cars trying to honk at each other and beat each other to the next light, they stopped and did this really nice thing for nature and human beings.”

Hudson’s Bay: The Portland VA Medical Center Vancouver Campus secured a total of $563,386 through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The funds were used to repair and install television and radio service to patient rooms in the Community Living Center and Long Term Rehabilitation Center and new boilers.

Bagley Downs: The Vancouver Police Department’s West Precinct was awarded LEED Silver certification. The design and construction teams were recognized for numerous environmental accomplishments in categories including: sustainable site development, energy efficiency, water conservation, responsible material use and a healthy indoor environment.

Van Mall: The North County Cruisers and Alan Webb Auto Group held the second annual “Cruisin’ 4 Charity” car show on July 24 at Alan Webb’s Used Car City. The car show and fundraiser collected $1,423 and more than 200 pounds of food for the Neighbors Helping Neighbors Food Bank of Ridgefield. More than 40 trophies were awarded. Alan’s Choice went to Danny Dutson and his 1970 Plymouth Road Runner. People’s Choice went to George and Paulette Wood and their 1962 Ford Galaxie. Best of Show went to Richard Rhode and his 1946 Chevrolet convertible.

East Vancouver, Cascade Park, Fisher’s Landing and Evergreen

Bennington: Portland-based apparel printer Tricor, in conjunction with its client Vancouver-based Nautilus, donated more than 20,000 items of clothing and other items valued at $45,000 to the Sleep Country Foster Kids program. The items — including T-shirts, towels and water bottles — will be distributed to foster care partners in the area, including Bridge the Gap and Foster Care Family Network.

Mountain View: FASTSIGNS of Vancouver is offering free 2-foot by 4-foot “Welcome Home” banners for families of those serving in the military. Those interested in having a banner made should contact the company one week in advance. The program will run through September or until their budget maxes out. Contact the company at 360-567-3313.

Ridgefield and Fairgrounds

Fairgrounds: Students at the Gardner School collected $1,187 for the National Wildlife Federation during a market fundraiser day. The day is designed to teach students about donating to a charity and managing their own business. Children create products to sell and choose to give half or all their earnings to a charity, which is chosen by a class vote.

West Vancouver and Downtown

Esther Short: The Boys and Girls Club of Southwest Washington visited the Clark Regional Emergency Services Agency on July 26 for a career day. In two hours, they learned about being a city council member, a 911 dispatcher, a deputy fire marshal and an emergency operations center manager.