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In case you missed them, here are some of the top stories of the weekend:
Most people spent Fourth of July celebrating America in all its star-spangled red, white and blue glory.
That afternoon, Steven Crews was smoking in his tent on the Vancouver waterfront. He’d been there about a week and planned to meet family for the holiday. When police approached, he threw something into the bushes; they thought it was a drug pipe, though nothing was located. The 47-year-old was arrested and later pleaded guilty to unlawful camping and tampering with physical evidence. As Fort Vancouver’s annual fireworks display dazzled thousands of onlookers, Crews was in jail, unable to make bail.
“It’s not fair. I’m not camping, I’m homeless,” said Crews, who had been living out of his Ford Focus for eight months. He said he lost his apartment after rent went up. “All we want is a little bit more leniency, a little bit more change. We’re all trying to get off the streets.”
Crews has not paid the $100 fine for unlawful camping.
He’s one of 96 people who were cited during the first year of the revised unlawful camping ordinance; the law makes it illegal to camp in a public place between 6:30 a.m. and 9:30 p.m. It used to be that camping was illegal in Vancouver at all times.
Read the full story: One year later, camping ordinance yields little change for area’s homeless
AMBOY — Thom Rogers can tell you exactly how many homeless veterans live in the Amboy area.
“Twenty-nine,” he said.
Rogers is a cook at the Countree Kitchen & Timbers Saloon in rural Amboy. He’s also a veteran. He paused from grilling chicken sandwiches and Tater Tots recently to explain why he voted for Donald Trump for president.
“What are we doing to help the veterans? Nothing. Except what the community steps up to do,” he said.
He believes Trump will focus more on helping the people who live within the nation’s borders.
In the week since the election, it’s become even more evident the country is divided. In Clark County, like much of the nation, the split falls along a stark urban-rural divide. If you look at a map of the region’s voter precincts, along the waterfront and downtown Vancouver is solid blue. It’s covered by a large halo of red that reaches into the outer edges of the county.
Take Amboy: There aren’t many voters, 449 in all. But 72.4 percent of them cast their votes for Trump.
Closer to the waterfront and downtown Vancouver, 63.5 percent of the 1,159 voters of Precinct 120 cast a vote for Hillary Clinton.
Read the full story: Snapshot of the divide: Like America, Clark County split
Thanksgiving is, for many, a day of indulgence. But for those with diabetes, overindulging could lead to a carbohydrate overload and high blood-sugar levels.
With that in mind, the food services and diabetes nutrition staff at Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center hosted a free cooking and tasting event, aimed at showing people how to cut the carbs from their Thanksgiving meal.
“The average Thanksgiving meal is over 300 grams of carbs,” said Robin Hammon, a registered dietitian and diabetes educator at Legacy Salmon Creek. “What we’ve shown, you can get your carbs down to under 90 grams — and that’s with wine and dessert.”
Hammon and dietitian Danielle Swearingen demonstrated for about 30 people how simple substitutions could make holiday favorites more diabetic friendly.
“Even if you take just some of the ideas here, you’ll have a payoff,” Hammon told the group.
Appetizers of chips, crackers and fruit, Hammon said, can quickly eat up a person’s carb budget. So she offered a tasty spin on another snack staple: veggies and ranch dip.
Read the full story: How to have a diabetic-friendly Thanksgiving meal
U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Camas, hasn’t denounced President-elect Donald Trump’s controversial appointment of Steve Bannon but said she is committed to creating an inclusive nation.
“I won’t be afraid to stand up and actively oppose any proposal that would exclude, discriminate against or harm some Americans to the benefit of others,” the congresswoman wrote in a letter on Friday.
Bannon, a Breitbart News executive whom many have labeled a white supremacist, was named chief strategist and senior counselor to the president-elect. Democrats have called on Trump to rescind his job offer.
Vancouver resident Jacob Marsh was concerned about Bannon’s background and reached out to Herrera Beutler.
“I hoped that as a representative of a diverse community, Congresswoman Herrera Beutler would speak out against this divisive message from the incoming administration. However, I was disappointed that she is choosing to side with the establishment instead of sticking to her values and the values of SW Washington,” Marsh wrote in an email.
Herrera Beutler noted in her letter that each president has the duty to appoint any individual he pleases.
Read the full story: Herrera Beutler on Trump team: Wait and see
