In your neighborhood

West Vancouver and Downtown

Vancouver Lake: More than 50 WSU alumni gathered to clean and lend a hand to Vancouver-Clark Parks and Recreation on Oct. 2 for a Cougs in the Community project. Alumni, family and friends picked up around 22 bags of garbage, several piles of scrap metal, a bucket of concrete, a tire rim, lawn chair, watches and recyclable items such as cans and bottles. The event was sponsored by the WSU Vancouver Alumni Advisory Board.

Esther Short: More than 80 people competed in an emergency preparedness competition hosted by Clark Regional Emergency Services Agency in September. The 82 participants completed 608 tasks in 29 states and five countries, including: the United States, Canada, France, Australia and New Zealand. Finalists are invited to CRESA to hear the “grand prize” announcement Oct. 22. The finalists’ names (in alphabetical order) include Tim Bledsoe, Neil Chambers, Nicholas Church, Scott Clemetson, Sherah Clemetson, Dawn Dawson, Robin Donahue, Carolyn Heniges, Angela Olguin, Janna Nichols, Pascal Schuback and Karen Trumbull. One participant wished to remain anonymous.

Arnada: Vancouver Pizza Co. celebrated 10 years of business on Sept. 30 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony outside the store at 2219 Main St. County Commissioner Steve Stuart and Vancouver Mayor Tim Leavitt were in attendance and “said some pretty wonderful things about our restaurant, our role in the community and the milestone we have reached in these tough times,” shop owner Karen McMillen said in an e-mail.

Arnada: The neighborhood association received a $2,000 grant to build and install a bench at 22nd and D streets, near the neighborhood kiosk. The neighborhood association is committed to providing all labor for the project — both fabricating the bench and placing it in the ground — through its own volunteers.

Arnada: More grant news. The neighborhood association got a grant recently to complete an inventory of local historic homes. Between now and January, a walking survey will be done — so you’ll probably see folks walking around with clipboards, taking notes. All they’ll be doing is looking, filling out forms and moving on — not knocking on doors, not asking for inside access. The information will be entered in a statewide database next year.

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

Fircrest: It was a fight to the death. At one corner of Mill Plain Boulevard and Chkalov Drive, was Green Energy Superhero; on the other, Coal Monster. The two opposing forces gathered on Sept. 28 as part of a coordinated series of events to protest the TransAlta Corp.’s coal-fired power plant in Centralia. The enemies appeared at the intersection with 30 people, many from the local Sierra Club’s Coal Free Southwest Washington chapter. Activists also gathered in Seattle, Lacey and Spokane.

Evergreen: Around 300 students from the Evergreen school district’s string orchestra program met at the respective high and middle schools on Oct. 2 before being bused to Portland to watch a dress rehearsal of a sold-out concert by violinist Hilary Hahn. After the rehearsal they got lunch at Pioneer Place Mall. “It was a great way to start out the year,” said Wy’east Middle School teacher Toby Weston, adding that he hopes the trip will provide his students inspiration to perform throughout the school year.

Central Vancouver, Minnehaha and The Heights

Central Park: Clark College music professor Donald Appert was honored with the ASCAPLUS Award, presented by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. Appert won the award on four previous occasions. He has been the conductor of the Clark College Orchestra for 21 seasons.

Battle Ground, Meadow Glade and Hockinson

Battle Ground: The Battle Ground High School class of 1951 held its 59th anniversary reunion at Lewisville Park in September. About 25 folks were in attendance for the potluck get-together. Class representative Miles Kullberg said there’s a bigger reunion planned for next year, including a boat trip up the Columbia River and a luncheon at the Meadows. The group started having yearly reunions after their 50th. People didn’t want to wait another five years, Kullberg said.

East Clark County: Camas and Washougal

Washougal: The Washougal Columbia Credit Union held a parking lot tailgate party for the Washougal Panthers on Sept. 30. Several dozen folks crowded the parking lot from 5 to 6:30 p.m. to mingle with cheerleaders and football players. The credit union provided chips, soda, subs from the Washougal Quiznos and cookies from Papa’s Ice Cream.

Riveridge: A spaghetti feed for DJ Rickard, a 7-year-old boy with pneumonia and a heart infection, raised $3,000 for the boy’s family on Oct. 2. DJ was born with a congenital heart defect known as Shone’s Syndrome, which resulted with him having six open-heart surgeries. To make things worse, DJ’s father, Daniel, lost a longtime job in December 2009. The funds raised will help his family make mortgage payments so they can stay in their home.

Ridgefield and Fairgrounds

Ridgefield: Members of the Clark County 4-H dog program won all the Grand Champion Showman awards Sept. 26 at the Washington State 4-H Fair in Puyallup. Taking home trophies in the junior, intermediate and senior categories “doesn’t happen very often,” said Jolynn Klaus, mother of one of the winners. Kara Klaus of Ridgefield won in the junior category; Cheyenne Schlecht of La Center won in the senior category and Mallary Ross of Felida took home a blue ribbon in the intermediate category.

Hazel Dell, Felida and Salmon Creek

Northeast Hazel Dell: A household goods drive organized by Umpqua Bank collected more than 40 items for local nonprofit Hope Chest. The items — which were collected in August — will be distributed to the ill, needy and youth of the community in Vancouver.

Orchards, Sifton and Brush Prairie

Heritage: The Heritage High School women’s choir was chosen to perform at the 2011 All Northwest Division Conference of Music Educators, which will be held in February in Bellevue.

Heritage: Branden Erickson donated 100 backpacks full of school supplies to Orchards Elementary School, Covington Middle School and Heritage High school. He collected the backpacks and supplies through a drive he organized for his Eagle Scout project.