In your neighborhood, Jan. 13

North Clark County and Woodland

La Center: Barbara Barnhart, president of the La Center Garden Club, was one of the winners in a photo contest sponsored by the Homes and Gardens of the Northwest supplement of The Oregonian. Her photo was of a hand-picked tomato sitting on a pair of lime-green garden gloves. Her entry was one of 887 received and each of the six winners received $100. J. Pennie Peterson and Patrick Gesy were runners-up in the contest and Scott Hadley’s photograph was included a “parting shots” section.

Ridgefield and Fairgrounds

Ridgefield: The city has purchased 17 acres of land for what will eventually become a community park. The land is on the east side of South 45th Avenue, just south of 15th Street. It’s a rolling parcel that backs up against some forested open space and a stream corridor. The site is now used to grow crops for cattle feed. The city used park impact fees (collected from new residential development) to buy the land from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation for $575,000. There’s no timeline for designing or developing the park yet — it’s set aside for the future.

Battle Ground, Meadow Glade and Hockinson

Battle Ground: Ted Wirch was presented with the first Lifetime Achievement Award by the Clark County Beekeepers Association during its December meeting at CASEE. Wirch began keeping bees more than 20 years ago, and he has been a member of the Clark County Beekeepers Association since 1990. He served as president of the club for four years and was Bee Superintendent for the Clark County Fair for many years. Wirch is a retired airline pilot and until recently was also an active hot air balloonist. Among his accomplishments noted in the letter he received with the award are serving as a mentor to new beekeepers, working with CASEE to institute and develop an apiary class for high school students and making the “Bee Barn” one of the best exhibits at the Clark County Fair.

Hazel Dell, Felida and Salmon Creek

Hazel Dell: Mugs Coffee, a little dollop of Bohemian groovitude on not-so-groovy Highway 99, celebrated its first anniversary Dec. 19. The coffeehouse hosted an all-day party that drew all the regulars and a few newbies, as well as a local therapy llama who provided additional good vibes. Kids got free hot cocoa and grown-ups got a 10 percent discount on everything else. There were games, too. “Was just a really fun day, and we were more than happy to show our appreciation to our loyal guests,” manager Joe Raines said. Mugs is located at 9230 N.E. Highway 99.

Salmon Creek: The Board of Clark County Commissioners has approved a parking ban on some residential streets around the campus of Washington State University Vancouver. Neighbors lobbied for the ban for years, saying daytime student parking clogged their streets, making it hard for public services (garbage collection, mail delivery) to get around and sometimes even blocking residents’ driveways. They also claimed students chose street parking to avoid paying parking fees on campus. So, as of about a month from now, all on-street parking will be banned on many streets west of campus (except 29th Avenue) from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday. For a detailed description of the streets affected, go to http://www.co.clark.wa.us and follow the “more news” link. Violators can be ticketed $38.

West Hazel Dell: It’s good enough for Michelle Obama. A Five Guys Burgers & Fries restaurant has opened at 310 N.E. 78th St. The restaurant started in Arlington, Va., in 1986 and has been voted No. 1 hamburger by readers of Washington Magazine for the past nine years. The first lady has been known to sneak out with staff to enjoy Five Guys’ burgers.

Orchards, Sifton & Brush Prairie

Sifton: Pioneer Elementary School fourth-grade teacher Janet Dondelinger has made it to the small screen with an archaeological education kit she developed along with fellow teacher Tyler Morgan of Camas High School and Jessica Hale, a project archaeologist at Applied Archaeological Research Inc. in Portland. Her classroom’s use of the kit, which uses real artifacts recovered when the downtown Hilton Vancouver Washington was built, has been featured lately on YES-TV — that’s “Your Evergreen Schools” — Comcast Cable channel 28. It will also be available on the Evergreen school district’s Web page.

West Vancouver & Downtown Esther Short: Members of Leadership Clark County took part in an annual session on government Dec. 11 where class members participated in a “speed dating” activity with local elected officials at the Clark County Public Services Building. Each member of the class of 36 met one-on-one with elected state senators, representatives, commissioners, city councilors and others for a brief chat. Leadership Clark County’s mission is to develop effective leaders to serve Clark County. With approximately 465 graduates serving in more than 100 community organizations, its curriculum is designed to help existing and emerging leaders enhance their leadership skills, knowledge of and connections within the community, and encourage their community service contributions. Applications for next year’s LCC class become available in early 2010. For more information, visit http://leadershipclarkcounty.com.

Central Vancouver, Minnehaha & The Heights

Ogden: For the 17th year in a row, the Vancouver Police Officers Guild sponsored “Shop with a Cop” to get presents to needy kids. The police teamed up with the Target store at Vancouver Plaza to take children recommended by the state Department of Social and Health Services on a shopping spree. It was the 17th consecutive year for the Vancouver police “Shop with a Cop” event.

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

Bennington: The 10 members of Brownie Troop 41005 are working hard to make life better for others. Back in October, the group of third-graders from Illahee Elementary School held a fundraising dinner at the home of their leader, Karen York. They planned and hosted the dinner party for 40 people and sang songs between courses in order to raise $250 for the Feeding America program. And after hearing about the fire at Marysville Elementary School in Portland in November, the girls are holding a used-book drive this month so the kids will have something to read. There is a drop-off barrel at Illahee so the public can drop off donations during school hours.

Bennington: Brenden Potts, 11, a student at Illahee Elementary School, had his wish granted by the Make-A-wish Foundation back in November when he spent a weekend as an honorary coach for the Oregon Ducks football team. Potts, who has a series of birth characteristics known VATER syndrome, was given the choice of being the Ducks’ coach or visiting the set of “The Ellen Show.” The die-hard fan chose the Ducks and had the chance to meet the players and run around on the field in Eugene, Ore.

East Clark County: Camas & Washougal

Camas: Lacamas Community Credit Union held its holiday dinner basket giveaway to benefit members in need. The credit union sought nominations of member families in need and distributed 23 baskets of nonperishable foods, such as stuffing mix, gravy and cranberry sauce, for a festive holiday dinner. The dinner baskets also included gift cards for fresh grocery items and a gas card. The credit union started its holiday dinner basket program last year, as part of its Community Partnership fund, which benefits local charities. Throughout the year, LCCU raises money for its Community Partnerships through sale of Entertainment Books, skip payment programs and other efforts.

Camas: Vic and Nita Frye recently returned home from a cruise around South America where they visited Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Peru, Chile, Uruguay and Brazil. During a one-day stop in Stanley, Falkland Islands they took some time out to have their picture taken with a copy of The Columbian in front of the local post office. “Vic is a retired Postal Service employee and we always seem to seek out the local post offices,” Nita wrote in an e-mail.