The forecast calls for sunshine to begin Thanksgiving week, but rain will probably dampen the holiday and even Black Friday. Check our local weather coverage for more details.
In case you missed them, here are some of the top stories from the weekend:
Five years before her arrest, Evergreen Public Schools officials knew that an associate principal had been interacting with students in ways that “undoubtedly could be perceived as ‘grooming’ behavior.”
In 2013, Sadie Pritchard admitted to former human resources director Bruce Nashif that she was talking to students on her private cellphone, and giving them money and gift cards.
Today, Pritchard is awaiting trial on three counts of sexual misconduct with a minor. A police investigation concluded she had engaged in sex acts multiple times with a student at Evergreen High School, where she was an associate principal.
Pritchard is one of three recent Evergreen educators who exhibited warning signs of inappropriate relationships with students for months or even years before they were investigated. Since 2015, the district has responded to five allegations of sexual misconduct by educators involving students, more than any other school district in the county.
A Columbian review of disciplinary records from the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, local law enforcement, and the Evergreen and Battle Ground school districts show school administrators in both districts repeatedly failed to protect students from predatory educators. Instead, they pursued a pattern of tolerating suspicious behavior, overlooking warning signs and, in one case, flouting state law.
Read the full story: Missed red flags kept predators in Clark County schools
Have no fear, flu season still isn’t really here.
In the latest Public Health Clark County Weekly Influenza Update for week 45, there was only one positive flu test reported. The tests are gathered from Clark County testing locations operated by Legacy Health, PeaceHealth and Kaiser Permanente.
So far, Clark County has only had seven positive tests this season, said Madison Riethman, an epidemiologist with Clark County Public Health. Clark County is still below the 10 percent positivity rate that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and many other agencies use to define an active flu season.
In the latest update, Clark County had a 0.74 percent positivity rate. The state of Washington had a 0.7 rate, and the CDC tracked the U.S. rate at 0.90. Riethman said flu activity has been very minimal this year, but explained that flu season’s onset can be hard to predict and very random. She referenced a humorous saying that “if you’ve seen one flu season, you’ve seen one flu season.”
At this time last year, the positivity rate was around 3 percent, but at this time two years ago the positivity rate was around 27 percent, and Clark County had entered active flu season before Thanksgiving.
Read the full story: Clark County flu activity minimal, but it may not stay that way
YACOLT — Gary and Marie Ogier recalled how their problems started when they saw a pile of dirt on top of Yacolt Mountain getting bigger. The couple, recent empty nesters, had moved about five years ago to a remote location north of Battle Ground about 2 miles away from Yacolt Mountain, the site of a large quarry.
Then came the noise. They said the rattle of mining equipment and trucks woke them up at 6 a.m. Sometimes they said there are loud blasts from the mine that they likened to an earthquake.
“I’ll tell you when it blasts, it shakes the entire foundation,” said Gary Ogier.
“This is bedrock,” added Marie Ogier.
The couple also complained of gritty dust blowing onto their house and rust-colored water coming out of their tap that they said tested high for minerals. They said they suspect both come from the mine.
Now the couple is worried their problems will get worse if the Clark County Council approves a proposed zoning change that could expand the footprint of the mine, which is operated by Kelso-based J.L. Storedahl & Sons. The Ogiers and other residents worry that if it’s approved, it’ll lead to more mining on the mountain along with an increase in noise, dust, truck traffic and environmental impact.
Read the full story: Yacolt quarry rattles neighbors
State Rep. Paul Harris, R-Vancouver, said that he’ll try again during the next legislative session to make Washington the seventh state in the country to raise the smoking age to 21.
“It will improve the quality of life for these kids later in life,” he said. “It truly will.”
Last session, Harris came close to successfully sponsoring legislation outlawing the sale of tobacco and vapor products to individuals under 21. His bill passed out of the House on the last day of a jam-packed session but ran out of time in the Senate.
Harris, a cancer survivor, said that he’s reached out to state Rep. Eileen Cody, D-Seattle, who chairs the House Health Care and Wellness Committee, about the bill.
