Cheers: To a wise investment. The Camas School District is purchasing a building and nearly 58 acres of land at the former site of UL (previously known as Underwriters Laboratories). The $12 million transaction provides the district with flexibility for future growth and a prime location near expected development in the city.
No firm plans have been made for the property, but the district’s previous experiences demonstrate its potential. In 2016, school officials purchased a building and 32 acres of land in a $12.5 million deal with Sharp Laboratories of America. After $2.25 million in renovations, Odyssey Middle School opened in a former Sharp building at a cost much less than that of a school built from scratch. A similar scenario might or might not prove to be the preferable option for the UL site. “We can give it some thought and try to really determine the best use for it,” Superintendent Jeff Snell said.
Jeers: To inappropriate parking choices. Divers this week pulled more than 50 electric scooters — and a few bicycles — from the Willamette River near downtown Portland. Most appear to be from city-sponsored e-scooter and bike programs.
According to OregonLive.com: “Sgt. Brandon White from the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office said he wasn’t sure who put the scooters in the river or why they were put there. ‘We advise those people not to park scooters in the river,’ White said.” That sounds like good advice. We might add that people simply shouldn’t act like jerks.
Cheers: To long-awaited construction. Work has started on the fourth and final tower of Vancouver Center, a two-block development directly east of Esther Short Park. The other three buildings were completed years ago, but the Great Recession played a role in stalling development of the fourth. The final stage is expected to include 118 apartments, a 2,200-square-foot restaurant and ground floor retail.
The project is another step in the decadeslong transformation of downtown. Vancouver Center is on the site once occupied by Lucky Lager brewery, which closed in the mid-1980s and sat vacant for a decade before being purchased by the city. Now the spot is at the heart of a bustling downtown.
Jeers: To an ill-fated leap. Maybe it was because he was intoxicated. Or maybe because he was driving a stolen car. Or maybe because he was being sought on a felony warrant. For some reason, a man in Seattle tried to escape a Washington State Patrol trooper by jumping from one span of the Highway 520 bridge to another.
The result was a 60-foot plunge into Lake Washington during the dark of night. The Seattle Times reports: “The water was cold and police said the man was splashing and yelling for help.” The Seattle Police Department’s Harbor Patrol managed to fish the fugitive out of the water. He was checked out at a hospital and then booked into jail on the outstanding warrant and investigation of the stolen vehicle.
Cheers: To appropriate punishment. By a 2-1 decision, a state appeals court has upheld a $40,000 judgment against a Yakima man who tried to disrupt piano lessons at his neighbor’s house.
Paul Patnode had previously failed in court to get the lessons halted. So he resorted to parking his diesel pickup truck along the sidewalk next to the neighbor’s home and remotely gunning the engine and setting off the vehicle’s alarm when students would come over. One appeals judge wrote: “Mr. Patnode’s behavior was juvenile, childish, oafish, puerile, immature, infantile and lame.” And that was the judge who sided with Patnode in the ruling.
