What will will the weather throw at us this week? Find out with our local weather coverage.
Here are some of the stories that grabbed readers’ attention this week.
After a disastrous night mission, Army helicopter pilot Jim Voorhees walked into the base operations center. A clerk stared at him and stammered:
“You’re dead!”
Voorhees wasn’t dead, but two of his friends were. And their commanding officer spent more than 40 years trying to forget that night.
Forgetting doesn’t come easily for some people when every day brings another 50th anniversary of some aspect of the Vietnam War. The “50 years ago today” rolling chronicle of military action, social upheaval and political maneuvering is not always the only reminder:
- The Marine Corps tattoo on Dave Pruett’s arm — created decades after he left Vietnam — practically glows.
- The CIA’s Secret Operations calendar for 2017 shows where Ann Holland’s husband was last seen 49 years ago.
- Marion Mullin, a retired nurse, hears echoes of artillery shells in Fourth of July fireworks.
Read more about local veterans’ memories of the Vietnam War.
Hold your horses, Clark County, at least for a little while longer.
Golden Corral, the North Carolina-based chain of buffet restaurants, has overshot its expected opening and now plans to open in mid-December. Franchise owner Ramsey Zawideh called the earlier October deadline “optimistic.”
“My contractor was telling me mid-November, and he was being more realistic. Now we’re both being realistic,” he said.
Some pretty typical construction-related hiccups led to the delays, Zawideh said. For example, some equipment arrived later than expected, as well as components for such important utilities as heating and air conditioning, he said.
“It has been a cascade” of factors, he said. “It hasn’t been one thing in particular.”
Learn more about the progress of getting the buffet open.
For fans of Mexican food, Fourth Plain Boulevard is a treasure trove.
The corridor between Interstates 5 and 205 has long been a beacon for wave after wave of immigrant communities and in its current reincarnation is packed with Mexican markets, bakeries and other businesses catering to immigrants from Mexico and Central America.
Finding the best taqueria when there are eight of them practically next to each other can be overwhelming, so where to start? I canvassed the Fourth Plain corridor to find every taqueria and taco truck that I could. Then I did a Google map search to make sure I didn’t miss anything.
Find the best places for tacos on Fourth Plain.
No state capital budget could mean the delay of projects at area schools, and in one case, budget cuts.
Washington State University Vancouver and Clark College hope to receive about $7.5 million combined for campus projects in this year’s proposed biennial capital budget, which was held up after state legislators failed to pass the spending plan over a disagreement with how to respond to a state Supreme Court ruling on rural wells.
In limbo at Clark College are $5.2 million in pre-design and design dollars for the first building at its campus at Boschma Farms in Ridgefield.
“We’re six months behind on planning for the north county facility,” college spokesman Chato Hazelbaker said.
Read more about how the lack of capital budget is affecting schools.
Pssst. I’ve got a secret.
Jax Purwins is diving into something completely new this fall.
I mean literally diving.
“Most people don’t even know I’m diving,” Purwins said. “And even when I tell them, they don’t believe me.”
That’s because the Camas High School senior, whose real name is Jacqueline, has been connected to gymnastics for a long, long time.
“I’ve been doing gymnastics for like 12, 13 years,” said Purwins, who is a two-time Columbian All-Region gymnast who placed third on the uneven bars and fourth in the all-around at the Class 4A state meet last February.
Learn more about Camas diving and follow all of the preps playoff action.
