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In case you missed them, here are some of the top stories of the weekend:
Sen. Don Benton, R-Vancouver, announced on Saturday he is not seeking re-election.
Benton, a vocal conservative who has served 22 years in the Washington Legislature, said he would step down at the end of his term on Dec. 31.
“Given my love for public service, I make this decision with a heavy heart,” Benton said in a four-page statement. “But it has become clear to me that my current employer has decided that it is no longer desirable for me to serve in the Legislature while doing my job at the county.”
Benton is director of Clark County Environmental Services. Last month, Acting County Manager Mark McCauley sent Benton a letter alerting him to a change of policy: Benton would need to be at work during the county’s regular business hours if he wanted to be paid for county work.
The neon signs in the windows of illicit massage businesses may still be flashing “open,” but state and local officials say they’ve stepped up efforts to turn out the lights.
And in the last two years, state efforts to crack down on the businesses have yielded some positive results.
The state Department of Health has issued about 100 cease-and-desist orders to people practicing massage without a license and collected more than $50,000 in fines. In Clark County, the state health department has taken action and issued fines against 16 people.
And legislation passed last year gives health officials and law enforcement the authority to hold business owners accountable if they allow unlicensed massage practitioners. The legislation was an effort to target owners who may be trafficking women to work in the businesses or who are using the business as a front for prostitution.
But, despite those efforts, the illegal practice of massage continues across the state.
In Clark County, more than a dozen massage businesses advertise under the “adult entertainment” category of Backpage, a classified advertising website. The listings advertise “petite, cute Asian girls” and “new girls” who are “beautiful, hot and (have a) sexy sense of humor.” The advertisements promise customers will “feel like a king” and include photos of women in lingerie.
Mountain View High School student Selena Vera ducked out of a torrential downpour and into a C-Tran bus so early Thursday morning that it was still dark. After showing her bus pass to the driver, she settled onto a seat and set down her bag.
Selena used to have to scramble every morning to find $1.25 in bus fare to get to school. Sometimes her dad remembered to leave bus fare on the kitchen table, but sometimes he forgot.
In November, the 16-year- old received a Youth Opportunity Pass at school, and she uses it to ride a C-Tran bus to school every morning. Now her early mornings are a little less hectic.
Roughly half the students in the Vancouver and Evergreen districts are low-income. It’s tough for their families to have to pay for public transit for their teens. Often these students can’t get to after-school activities or jobs.
“We have to level the playing field,” said Bart Hansen, Vancouver city councilor. “When you couple the bus pass with the access to the community centers, you’re giving kids a place to go and a means to get there.”
Rojo the llama is arguably one of Vancouver’s most famous residents, and no one is more aware of how beloved he is than his handler, Shannon Joy.
Except for maybe Rojo.
“We call him our diva llama,” said Joy, 27. “He knows he’s very cool. He walks around very upright and like he knows how popular he is. He’s very regal.”
Rojo built up his popularity locally working as a therapy llama, visiting schools, hospitals, nursing homes and events. In in recent years, he has appeared on television, in a feature-length documentary and recently raised more than $8,000 on Kickstarter so Joy could publish a children’s book about him.
More than two dozen people stood outside the Clark County Courthouse on Saturday afternoon to protest a new rule allowing transgender people to use restrooms based on their identified gender.
The Human Rights Commission rule will lead to invasion of women’s privacy and put women and children in danger, the Southwest Washington protesters said.
John Lifflander, who organized the protest, kicked it off by reading stories of women who were raped in bathrooms.
Danni Askini, executive director of the Seattle-based Gender Justice League, says there are “very strong laws on the books that already say it’s illegal if people enter a restroom to harass, assault or invade the privacy of other people.”
