Cheers: To a revitalized city center. The next step in the makeover of downtown Vancouver apparently will arrive at the corner of Main Street and Evergreen Boulevard. Developers are planning to overhaul a building that originally served as a J.C. Penney department store and then as office space. The site on the southeast corner of the intersection has been vacant the past four years as the city around it has thrived, but that is about to change.
Plans are to remake and modernize the three-story structure with retail space on the ground floor and office space above, adding to a burgeoning downtown. With The Waterfront Vancouver coming to life, plans in the works for Block 10 near Esther Short Park, and numerous restaurants and bars finding a home, the city center is continuing a remarkable transformation.
Jeers: To dwindling salmon runs. Low numbers of salmon have led to the closure of popular fishing grounds, hampering the region’s economy. As Columbian reporter Terry Otto wrote: “For the fishing guides, hotels, gear manufacturers, and other businesses that depend on salmon fishing dollars, these closures have been hard to take. Many communities depend on this money, and when it isn’t there the effects ripple through the local economies.”
Ideally, the closures will help preserve salmon runs for future years. But the issue has received attention for decades with mixed success, placing doubt on the sustainability of one of the region’s signature industries.
Cheers: To a good mystery. A story by Columbian reporter Calley Hair raises an intriguing question: Who owns an abandoned yacht that has been propped on cinder blocks at Columbia Business Center for at least 15 years? Staff at Killian Pacific, which owns the business park, say they know, but the owner does not wish to be revealed.
Understandable, but that leaves Columbian readers with a lingering mystery. Apparently, a yacht does not create a paper trail until it hits the water, and efforts to unearth public records that might answer the question only led in circles. In the end, The Columbian was right back where it started — with an unidentified yacht sitting near the Columbia River and serving as a local curiosity.
Jeers: To state Rep. Matt Shea. The Spokane Valley Republican has acknowledged distributing a four-page manifesto titled “Biblical Basis for War.” The screed describes the Christian God as a “warrior” and details strategies for a “Holy Army.” Among the 14 sections is one that includes a prescription for those who flout “Biblical law”: “If they do not yield — kill all males.”
Shea is entitled to his beliefs, but the violence advocated in the document makes him unfit to represent Washington’s 4th Legislative District. We hope voters in Spokane County agree and reject Shea in next week’s election; if he is re-elected, Republicans in the Legislature should firmly renounce such extremism in the Capitol.
Cheers: To a thoughtful Samaritan. A phone call from a Sultan woman to 911 likely saved the life of a German who was hiking the Pacific Crest Trail through the Cascades. The women had met on the trail the previous week; after they split up, Nancy Abel harbored concerns about her companion’s lack of preparation for adverse weather conditions. After snow and cold temperatures hit the area, she alerted authorities.
Following tracks in the snow, a helicopter rescue unit eventually found hiker Katharina Groene. Her tarp shelter had blown away, she was soaked and her food supply was running low, but Groene was in decent physical condition. “I was screaming for help in the morning because I just had to get the fear out of me,” Groene said. “I’m super blessed I got out.”
