Were you away for the weekend? Catch up on some big stories.
It might be too early, but this week will tempt gardeners to try some early-season plantings — some peas or radishes, maybe, or lettuce. Local weather coverage is online here.
At more than two dozen Clark County schools, at least 10 percent of the student population has immunization exemptions.
During the 2013-14 school year, 6.8 percent of Clark County students had immunization exemptions. The vast majority (5.6 percent) had personal exemptions. Less than 1 percent had religious or medical exemptions, according to data from the state Department of Health.
A decade ago, during the 2002-03 school year, the immunization exemption rate was significantly lower, about 3.9 percent, according to state data. The rate climbed for several years before reaching 6.8 percent in the 2009-10 school year.
Dr. Alan Melnick, Clark County Public Health director and health officer, suspects the rising exemption rate is due to the amount of misinformation spreading today, especially on social media. Research has proven that immunizations are safe, he said.
“It’s concerning, because lives are at stake,” Melnick said. “Anybody can spread information to a mass audience these days.”
The exemption rate dipped slightly in Clark County during the 2011-12 school year to 5.9 percent. That coincides with a 2011 change in state law that now requires parents seeking an exemption to provide a signed form from a physician indicating they had discussed immunizations.
Since then, though, the rate has crept back up to 6.8 percent.
At 22 public schools and four private schools, overall exemption rates in the 2013-14 school year were 10 percent or higher.
Traffic fatalities ended 39 lives last year in Clark County.
The county’s traffic deaths in 2014 were twice as high as they were in 2013, and higher than any other year in the last decade. The increase in traffic fatalities also bucks the statewide trend, in which the number of deaths has stayed more or less flat in recent years, said Staci Hoff, director of research at the Washington Traffic Safety Commission.
“There’s nothing out there that says why all of a sudden we took that jump,” said Marion Swendson, manager of Clark County’s Target Zero program, a statewide effort to eliminate all traffic deaths and serious-injury crashes by 2030.
Last year’s fatal crashes happened for a variety of reasons, whether it was speed, a driver mistake, the driver having a medical problem or — the top cause — driving under the influence.
For years motorists under the influence of drugs or alcohol have been the leading cause of local traffic deaths. In 2014, they accounted for at least 14 lives lost. Allegedly, two drivers in those cases were under the influence of pot, some had taken other drugs and most had been drinking.
“Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” and “Drive High, Get a DUI” are slogans that police and traffic safety organizations constantly try to reiterate to the public, though they aren’t able to reach everyone.
Driving under the influence is “like having a loaded gun going down the road. You have no idea when it’s going to go off,” said Vancouver police traffic Sgt. Pat Johns.
Investigating DUIs and fatal crashes is complex and requires a lot of expertise, Johns said, and it’s a daunting task for traffic units that are smaller than they used to be.
Sue Vanlaanen guessed it had been about 30 years since she last touched a piece of clay.
That didn’t stop the Vancouver resident from trying her hand at an unfamiliar medium Saturday, hoping to channel her creativity into a new form. As she worked, a featureless block of clay morphed into a face looking back at her.
“Artistic expression is good for the soul,” Vanlaanen said. “Especially on a rainy Saturday.”
Vanlaanen was part of a small group that got a glimpse into the art of Native American mask-making during a workshop at the Pearson Air Museum. Artists Bill Rutherford and Lillian Pitt shared their own work and discussed the craft before participants ventured to create their own masks. Pitt also molded a new mask during a demonstration as attendees crowded around to watch the renowned Native American artist work.
Often, the process of making a mask leads to unexpected places, Pitt said. The mask reveals itself as much as the artist creates it, she said.
“You think you’re going to go out and do something,” said Pitt, whose ancestors lived in and near the Columbia River Gorge. “And then you go out to do it, and something else happens. … You have to learn to trust your gut.”
Rutherford, of Portland, displayed a collection of masks he created during the past six months in response to a challenge from Pitt to explore his own Native heritage. The project took on a life of its own, he said, and resulted in a strong emotional investment in the work.
As she methodically formed her demonstration mask Saturday, Pitt used her fingers to shape its nose, cheekbones and eyes. She gently used shells, bark and other natural items to create its texture.
When she finished, Pitt thanked the clay for allowing her to turn it into a work of art.
A group plans to rally outside the Clark County Public Service Center on Tuesday morning to protest a proposal to display the words “In God We Trust” in the county’s main public hearing room.
Clark County councilors are scheduled to consider the proposal during their regular Tuesday meeting, which begins at 10 a.m. in the public service center. Opponents say they’ll begin gathering outside the building at 9 a.m.
“We just felt that it was important to push back on that,” said Karen Hengerer, who opposes the idea and has helped organize the gathering. Hengerer said she and others consider the proposal an affront on religious freedom, and “freedom from religion.”
The idea was floated by Councilor Tom Mielke, who has characterized the move as a way to honor a long-standing tradition in the United States. “In God We Trust” has officially been the national motto since 1956.
Clark County would be only the second local jurisdiction in Washington to display the motto in its public chamber, according to In God We Trust-America, Inc., an organization that advocates for putting the phrase in public buildings. The other is Pierce County, where leaders voted to display the motto last year.
Tuesday’s gathering against the proposal is co-sponsored by the Portland chapter of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a group called Vancouver Skeptics and others.
A suicidal man on the East 39th Street overpass in Vancouver led to an hourslong shutdown of Interstate 5 and backed up traffic for miles Friday evening.
Emergency responders were sent to the overpass and the freeway underneath the overpass around 6 p.m. While crisis negotiators with the Vancouver Police Department talked with the man, who was threatening to jump off the overpass, Washington State Patrol troopers blocked traffic on the freeway.
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Tractor-trailers, fire engines and a cherry picker were moved underneath the overpass in case the man jumped.
Southbound traffic was backed up to Hazel Dell and diverted to Main Street, while northbound traffic that backed up into north Portland was diverted to state Highway 500, said Trooper Will Finn.
Freeway access from East 39th Street was temporarily shut down, as well.
Electronic message boards along the freeway warned motorists about the closures, which helped lessen traffic woes as the night went on.
Vancouver police Sgt. Spencer Harris said police were able to talk the man off the edge of the bridge and detained him around 8:45 p.m. He was transported to a local hospital for a mental health evaluation, Harris said. Troopers reopened the freeway shortly before 9 p.m.
