Orchards, Sifton and Brush Prairie
Sunnyside: Kyle Shepherd of Covington Middle School won the Washington State Daniel J. Evans Award for Social Studies for a fifth-grade classroom-based assessment he completed last year at Sunset Elementary School.
Brush Prairie: Prairie High School senior Peter Senchyna was named a National Merit Scholarship semifinalist. Senchyna is one of 15 semifinalists in Clark County from six high schools. Senchyna hopes to attend the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena and major in astrophysics.
Glenwood: Congregation Kol Ami has won conditional approval from Clark County to build the area’s first synagogue. The property, at 11913 N.E. 119th St., is just south of the Glenwood Community Church, and the church’s current driveway would be relocated a bit to the west. Planned on an 8.4-acre parcel are a single-story, 17,600-square-foot synagogue; parking, stormwater, utility, street frontage and other infrastructure improvements. Because the land is already zoned for commercial development and the county expects no significant environmental impact, no public hearing is required. Kol Ami is proposing to add 20 trees along the eastern boundary. The county noted that Kol Ami must tweak its plan to avoid sending stormwater into a riparian zone.
Ridgefield and Fairgrounds
Ridgefield: Ridgefield Art Association President Dan Baker presented $500 scholarships to Jenna Walter and Austin Hermann, both recent graduates of Ridgefield High School, on Sept. 14. Walter will continue her studies at Clark College. Hermann will attend the Art Institute of Portland.
West Vancouver and Downtown
Esther Short: Vancouver’s Downtown Association and juvenile justice program are keeping a lot of garbage off downtown streets. Association representatives Celinda Rupert and Patricia Coulthard told the Vancouver City Council on Sept. 20 that the bins collect an average of 8 pounds of cigarette butts monthly. They say that’s 85,000 butts a year.
Battle Ground, Meadow Glade and Hockinson
Battle Ground: A car wash raised $550 for the Clark County Special Olympics on Sept. 26. Athletes, coaches and families helped wash cars at the Les Schwab in Battle Ground to help raise money for softball equipment.
East Clark County: Camas and Washougal
Camas: Parker Ketring, an Eagle Scout candidate, partnered with Teresa Fernandez of Vancouver-Clark Parks and Recreation to bring more than 50 volunteers to Lacamas Lake Park on Sept. 18. Members of Ketring’s church, LDS Boy Scout Troop 429 and the surrounding Camas and Washougal community helped preserve the lily fields at the park by removing Scotch broom, an invasive, non-native plant. They also spread camas seed and tasted the camas root.
Washougal: The first “River’s Edge Community Cleanup” drew 54 community members and Scouts on Sept. 25. The group came together to clean the Washington side of the Bonneville Dam. The event was planed by Washougal River Scouts, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and SOLV.
Camas: Melanie Clark, a teacher at Camas High School, was one of 40 teachers nationwide chosen to participate in a food science workshop developed by the Food and Drug Administration, the National Science Teachers Association and the Graduate School in Washington, D.C. The one-week workshop took Clark to Washington, D.C. over the summer. She learned about the development and spread of food-borne illness, the science of food handling and the vulnerability of at-risk populations.
Central Vancouver, Minnehaha and The Heights
Vancouver Heights: Neighbors at a Vancouver Heights Neighborhood Association meeting on Sept. 23 voted 14-1 to switch meetings from monthly to quarterly. The neighborhood will now meet four times a year and can arrange a special meeting based on an issue or event, according to minutes from the meeting.
Central Park: Around 250 people — including a large group from the Vancouver North Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — headed out to the historic Old City Cemetery on Sept. 11. The group spruced up the place by pulling weeds, removing some grass and scrubbing headstones to make them legible.
Bagley Downs: Rebecca Lineham sure can Rock the Vote. Lineham, 25, has registered 100 new voters at the Dodge City Bar and Grill since she started hosting a series of nonpartisan voter registration evenings on Sept. 16. She hopes to register 1,000 new voters between ages 18 to 29 by the time her Thursday events end on Oct. 22.
Bagley Downs: More than 200 people showed up for the mid-autumn Festival of the Vietnamese Community of Clark County on Sept. 18. The stage was decorated with fresh bamboo and balloons. There was a talent show, raffle and music from local Vietnamese singers. Egg rolls, sticky rice, stir-fried vegetable noodles and barbecue chicken thighs were served for dinner.
Van Mall: The Vancouver and Portland chapter of Project Linus hosted the Northwest Regional Conference of Project Linus from Sept. 17-19 at the Heathman Lodge. The organization is built of volunteers who make, collect and distribute new, handmade blankets to children in crisis. The local chapter has donated more than 25,000 blankets since it first formed in 2001.
Evergreen Highlands: Vancouver Heights United Methodist Church members and people from the surrounding community transformed 7,000 square feet of grass into a community garden this summer. They tilled soil in May and created 14 in-ground beds and three wheelchair-accessible, raised beds. In July they added 10 more raised beds. After a successful growing season, the church is hoping to expand the garden next year. It might even get a rain collection system, corn maze, pumpkin patch and labyrinth, said church representative Wanda Wilson.
Columbia Way: More than 250 volunteers came out to pick up litter and remove invasive plants at Marine Park on Sept. 25 for the Vancouver Watersheds Council’s Columbia Cleanup. They cleaned 4.5 miles of shoreline along the Columbia River between Interstate 5 and Wintler Park. They removed 180 bags of garbage, seven tires, 50 feet of steel cable, nine pieces of rebar and 15 bags of invasive plants.
Hudson’s Bay: Here’s a tale about the power of neighborhood watchfulness — and a stupid crook story as well — straight from the latest Hudson’s Bay Neighborhood Association newsletter: “When neighbors noticed an unknown person going door to door and giving different stories as to what he was selling at each house, people started calling their neighbors to be on the lookout. There was also a red Suburban SUV following him about two blocks away. As this happened on Labor Day weekend, many people were away from home. Neighbors began calling each other all over the neighborhood, and kept the would-be burglars under surveillance. When it became clear they were being watched, they quickly left the area.” Morals of the story: Know your neighbors and their phone numbers, keep an eye on the neighborhood and spread the word!
North Clark County and Woodland
La Center: The La Center Museum Society held an annual fundraiser at the Colf Farm on Sept. 25. Walter Hansen Jr. was the auctioneer and the Lewis River Jazz Band performed. Several items were donated for the live and silent auctions.
