What’s on tap for this week’s weather? Rain. Showers. Precipitation. Check our local weather coverage.
In case you missed them, here are some of the top stories of the weekend:
At about 6 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 27, 2015, four ironworkers and a supervisor at Instafab, a Vancouver company that fabricates and installs steel for projects large and small, walked into the company’s fabrication shop to make an announcement. As two visitors filmed the scene with cellphone cameras, the workers read a handwritten statement and then handed it to shop foreman Will Filbeck. It read:
“We the employees of Instafab hereby demand water on every job, dry snacks on every job, safety and other training, medical paid by Instafab, a retirement plan and area standard wages.”
That wasn’t all. Each had a separate typewritten signed note that declared: “I hereby notify Instafab that I am on strike until further notice.”
One year later, Bruce Perkins, 59, remembers his utter surprise upon learning of the workers’ declaration.
Some Clark County residents are alarmed by the specter of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe’s proposed wastewater treatment plant’s injecting liquid into the ground above the Troutdale Aquifer, but officials connected to the project say the technology is widely used and proven to be safe and effective.
Mike Ollivant has been with Parametrix, an engineering and environmental sciences firm, since the late ’70s, and he said the membrane bioreactor system the Cowlitz is planning to use is widely used around the world and in Washington.
“I can say with confidence, we’ve never had this type of concern,” he said. “I can only speculate of why there is so much — maybe it’s just misinformation.”
The issue even attracted the attention of U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Camas.
When Vancouver resident Jon Britt and his girlfriend, Calista Crenshaw, won a Cowlitz County retail marijuana license in the 2014 state lottery, it seemed like perfect timing.
But the Woodland City Council thought otherwise, and it banned recreational pot stores in city limits. Britt and Crenshaw, who had been required to get the store set up to open before receiving their state license, saw their dreams go up in smoke.
Then the winds shifted in their favor.
Now the couple are preparing to open High-5 Cannabis on March 12 at 6511 N.E. 137th Ave. in Orchards, about 5 miles from any other pot store.
“It’s such an exciting new business,” said Britt, 44, who will oversee a staff of nine. “It’s being on the forefront of something huge.”
Earning the Emergency Response Hero award, Jacob Keesee received a standing ovation at Friday’s American Red Cross Real Heroes Breakfast. The annual event, in its 19th year, honors those who stepped up to help someone in need.
“He kind of was my hero there,” Tracy Fisher said in a video interview played at the breakfast. “… He wasn’t doing what he had been taught to do. But he had to make a decision about what was the right thing to do. That was really difficult for him, and he saved my life.”
Some of Friday’s honorees saved lives by performing CPR, some pulled drowning children from waterways, and a Ridgefield police officer delivered a baby.
Low prices at the fuel pump affect more than retail consumers. As fuel prices plummeted, school districts and government entities have saved substantially on their fuel bills for their fleet of buses and other vehicles. So far, savings realized is almost $1 million total at the city of Vancouver, Clark County and seven local school districts.
“The current fuel market is providing some needed relief to transportation budgets,” said Shannon Barnett, director of transportation for KWRL Transportation Cooperative, which operates a fleet of nearly 100 school buses for the Kalama, Woodland, Ridgefield and La Center school districts. “With the rising costs in other budget line-items such as labor, benefits and transportation consumables, it is really nice to be able to find savings in other areas to offset other budget impacts.”
