WEST VANCOUVER — Partners in Careers, an organization that assists individuals in becoming economically self-sufficient by providing resources and job placement opportunities, was awarded $10,000 by Davidson & Associates Insurance through the 2019 Safeco Insurance Make More Happen Awards. The funds benefit the nonprofit Roots to Roads program, which provides small-scale farm training and jobs to veterans. The insurance agency originally received $5,000, and Safeco offered Bruce Davidson, an independent agent, a chance to raise another $5,000 by sharing a story about its positive impact on the community on social media. They had to reach at least 250 shares on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn over a week.

Vancouver Heights — Nifty and Thrifty sent out the first checks to local nonprofits recently. The charity resale shop opened in August and has been collecting donations and selling items for various local nonprofits. Each quarter, the store plans on donating money raised from sales to go directly to organizations with applications on file. The store accepts furniture, household goods, clothing, CDs and DVDs. It is located at 6607 E. Mill Plain Blvd., Vancouver. For more information, visit www.vancouverthrift.com.

RIDGEFIELD — Fifth- and sixth-grade students at Sunset Ridge Intermediate School spent much time preparing for the local and statewide Math is Cool competitions. The fifth-grade team took first place, and the sixth-grade team second place at the Clark County competition in February. The top four students qualified for the state competition, held last month, and were tested in mental math, relays, team tests and more. State results haven’t yet been published. Kelly O’Boyle, coach for the sixth-grade team, said they had 24 students on the original team and 30 on the fifth-grade team. “It says something about Ridgefield schools, how many kids want to be a part of our program. That’s what I love about it,” O’Boyle said in a news release. “We don’t say that they have to be in accelerated math. They join because they like math; they like to compete.”

Battle Ground — Student Transportation of America inducted local school bus driver Helen Peterson into its Safety Wall of Fame, the company’s highest and most prestigious honor. Peterson, who has more than 15 years experience, was selected based on her attendance record and dedication to safety and policy. Colleagues said in a release from the organization that she is an example of how to behave at work. She is known for knitting scarves for her students during the coldest months of the year and for having the cleanest bus in the Battle Ground bus yard. There is even an annual award named the Helen Peterson Clean Bus Award that Robert Kilian, the operations manager for Cascade Student Transportation’s Battle Ground location, presents to the driver with the cleanest bus for the year.

Washougal — Students at Gause Elementary School in Washougal participated in the Kid’s Heart Challenge and raised $7,992.29 for the American Heart Association. The five-week challenge asked students to avoid sugary drinks, do at least one good deed and exercise for 60 minutes every day. Mark Bauer, physical education teacher at Gause, said focusing on doing things for others is another way to keep one’s heart healthy. The class that raised the most in donations were allowed to spray Bauer with silly string, an honor that went to Lisa Haskins’ second-grade class. The top grade-level fundraisers were Jack Jones, Ella Weaver, Kamea Roy, Addison Curtis, Rachel Foote and Liam Young. “I used the five weeks to not only stress the important of exercise, but also focused on nutrition,” Bauer said in a release from the district. “During class my students also learned how diet can change the body’s composition and how food is energy for the body and we need to make healthy choices so that our body has the energy it needs to grow, work and play.”

EAST COUNTY — Garden to Table, a project by the Community Garden Club of Camas Washougal, is benefiting students in two programs at Washougal High School: the Washougal Adult Transition Program and Washougal High School Culinary Arts. Garden to Table provides job skills training for the transition program and supplies fresh ingredients to the culinary arts classes. WATP provides skills training to help students ages 18-21 with special needs transition from school to independent living and preparation for employment. Students completed greenhouse repairs, planted seeds, built trestles and set up an irrigation system. Students from both programs will tend the beds and then help harvest the produce. Garden to Table started in 2017 with $500 from the garden club to begin getting old garden beds back in planting condition. They received an additional $1,100 grant last year. “It was wonderful for the students to see value and something of a reward for their hard work,” WATP teacher Jessica Nickels said in a news release.

At the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta, Abasi Umoh sat at the counter of an old-school diner, put on a pair of headphones, and closed their eyes.

The 22-year-old Umoh, who uses they/them pronouns, was transported back in time, to a time when their skin color would have excluded them from the diner — but when sit-in demonstrators did so anyway. The sounds of shouts and violence came through the speakers, yelling at them to leave, to get out of this public space.

Just minutes before, Umoh had watched as their “proud and strong African father” sat through the same simulation, and began to cry.

It was shortly afterward, empowered by those civil rights leaders who came before them, that Umoh decided that it was time. It was time to come out to their father as queer.

We won’t spoil the rest of the story for you. You’ll have to listen for yourself.

Umoh and three other queer and gender nonbinary Clark County residents will take to the stage at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Vancouver to share their stories of triumph and struggles on their journeys of coming out. Doors to Prideful Voices Vancouver open at 2:30 p.m. at the church, located at 4505 E. 18th St. Tickets are available on a sliding scale starting at $10, and proceeds will benefit Triple Point, Queer Youth Resource Center and PFLAG Southwest Washington, Vancouver organizations supporting LGBTQ youth. There will also be a performance by Acchord, an a capella choir group from Portland made up of transgender, nonbinary and gender nonconforming singers.

It’s the first Vancouver event for Portland-based Our Bold Voices, which organizes storytelling events — part TED Talk, part motivational speeches — throughout the metro area.

“There’s this attempt to erase or eradicate or devalue these life experiences, especially politically,” said Paul Iarrobino, artistic director and storytelling coach for Our Bold Voices. “My vision is to celebrate and create space for these stories and share that, so that we don’t forget.”

And this group of young storytellers is certainly celebrating. Their stories are bright, lively and filled with joy and humor.

“It really is sort of uplifting of voices that we don’t usually get to hear,” said Stephen Herndon, family support specialist for Triple Point.

Three of the four storytellers gathered at the Children’s Home Society to practice and put the finishing touches on their stories on a recent weekend. Quinn McCray, a 23-year-old transgender man, talked about living life as an out and proud lesbian as a teenager, only to discover his first taste of “gender euphoria” when he was fitted for a tuxedo for prom. Finally, he felt right in his skin. Joe Marshall, a 27-year-old transgender man from Camas, talked about being in awe of an early mentor of his, another transgender man, for being able to do pull-ups.

For Marshall, it was important to show the “day-to-day humanity” of trans and queer people. Sure, there’s plenty of hardship, he said. But that’s not what this event is about.

“That real stuff is what’s important,” he said.

If You Go

If You Go

A Procession of the Species will return for a third year to the Clark County Recycled Arts Festival this summer. Everyone is invited to attend free workshops to create costumes for the parade.

The Procession of the Species, a celebration of the natural world, will take place on June 30, the final day of the festival in Esther Short Park. Parade participants of all ages dress up as animals, plants and elements; past processions have included jellyfish, birds, the sun, water, an inchworm, a sloth — and even unicorns.

To get participants ready for the event, Clark County Public Health and the Recycled Arts Festival will host a series of free costume workshops. Repurposed materials will be supplied, and people are welcome to bring their own materials, as well. Here’s the workshop schedule:

• 2 to 4 p.m. June 2 at Vintage Books, 6613 E. Mill Plain Blvd., Vancouver.

• 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. June 7 at Vancouver Community Library, 901 C St., Vancouver.

• 3 to 5 p.m. June 13 at Camas Public Library, 625 N.E. Fourth Ave., Camas.

• 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. June 27 at Salmon Creek Regional Park/Klineline Pond, Pondview Picnic Shelter, 1112 N.E. 117th St., Vancouver.

• 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 29 and 9 to 10:30 a.m. June 30 at the Recycled Arts Festival Kids’ Activity Booth, Esther Short Park, 605 Esther St., Vancouver.

Register for costume workshops at the Procession of Species website, recycledartsfestival.com/entertainment/procession-of-the-species. No registration is required for the workshops at the Recycled Arts Festival.

The Recycled Arts Festival is set for 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 29, and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 30 in Esther Short Park. The Procession of the Species will begin at 11 a.m. June 30, with registration beginning at 10:30 a.m.

The parade will be led by The Beat Goes On, an all-adult marching band, and joined by dancers as they wind through Esther Short Park. The parade ends with a costume contest on the festival’s main stage.

Learn more about the Festival at RecycledArtsFestival.com.

It was the fall of 1937. I would be a big 5-year-old boy in a couple of months. Our farm was on a hill about 3 miles from Battle Ground. The farmstead itself occupied a bench near the top.

My three older siblings were in school but I was at home on the farm, along with my toddler sister, Mom and Dad. There was no preschool or kindergarten in those days. If I was not otherwise occupied with my very own important stuff, my job was helping Dad on the farm, which I was very good at, if I do say so myself.

On this particular day, Dad had to go to town because he needed some piece of hardware from the Clark County Dairymen’s Co-op store, and joy of joys, I was going to go with him! At that age this was a very big deal for me because we didn’t have a lot of contact with other folks, and going to town was all new and exciting stuff.

Dad got out the family car, a Ford Model A sedan, and sent me down the hill to open the gate between the farmstead and the fields. I trotted down to the gate, held it open and waited patiently for Dad to drive through, when I would close the gate again.

Dad started driving down, then suddenly remembered something he had forgotten, so he stopped the car, left it idling and disappeared into the barn.

Before long the Model A started to roll — Dad hadn’t set the brake! That car was headed right square for me! I saw this all happening but I thought to myself, “Dad will come out and stop it, Dad will stop it, Dad will stop it,” as it came closer and closer. I repeated this mantra over and over, certain that Dad would save me.

I was still thinking that when the bumper of the car, now going maybe 1 or 2 mph, slammed me right in the gut, pushing me down and knocking the breath out of me. But thank God for high clearance and my small child body, for that car went clean over me with nothing else touching. It rolled out into the field and finally stopped.

Well! I lit out for the house squalling at the top of my now-refilled lungs. Mom and Dad came a-running and soon determined I was no worse for wear. But then, after everything calmed down, they decided that I would not be allowed to make this trip to town with Dad. That ruined my whole day!

Everybody Has a Story welcomes nonfiction contributions, 1,000 words maximum, and relevant photographs. Send to: neighbors@columbian.com or P.O. Box 180, Vancouver WA, 98666. Call “Everybody Has an Editor” Scott Hewitt, 360-735-4525, with questions.

What’s the good word?

Well, this being election season and all, there’s plenty of words being tossed around.

Not all of those words are good — or reasonable, I might add. But, hey, when it’s election season, everything’s a crapshoot and snake eyes are always a likely outcome. Think of those sweet campaign words as a fast-moving train, running downhill … with the brakes pulled out. There’s no stopping the velocity of verbiage this time of the year.

You’ve read all about it. I’m pretty sure stuff like reducing cow gas and bombing North Korea into the Stone Age has been all the rage. But what’s the important missing word in all this nonstop yakking?

For my money it’s “debt.” As in our national debt. As in if we don’t get a handle on this monster of a problem we’ll all be living in the Stone Age, no bombing by anyone required.

You all know what the national debt is? $22,000,000,000,000. I wanted to type all the zeros, but, in other words, that’s $22 trillion. And get this. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the net interest costs on the national debt will total nearly $7 trillion over the next decade.

So if we didn’t have a national debt, that would be $7 trillion in our back pockets. If I had $7 trillion I’d buy a gas grill AND play in the $20-$40 poker game up in La Center.

But I digress.

Bringing down the debt really is serious business. And, honestly, no one is talking about it? Why? Truth is, it’s not sexy enough. Powering the entire country with solar? That’s sexy. Living in a robust economy? That’s sexy. Paying down the national debt? Kinda like putting Jimmy Durante on the cover of GQ.

Well, I shouldn’t say no one is talking about it. Grand Poobah Donald Trump made it part of his 2016 election campaign. The master of moolah said he would eliminate the entire enchilada of debt in eight years.

Oh my!

OK, this can’t be counted as one of his 10,000 lies … yet. Because he still has five years to go. If we’re lucky he won’t get past four years, so I guess we may never know. But, Mr. President, I don’t have to tell you, the numbers aren’t trending for your bold prediction to come true. When you made the claim, the debt was at $19 trillion. Now it’s $22 trillion. No chance, my friend.

Oh yeah, Trump said he would be able to get rid of the debt by renegotiating our deals with other countries and by creating a robust economy. And I’d argue he has done that. But the problem is the debt is growing.

• • •

So do we have any hope?

I asked our congressional delegation for their views.

“I think the debt continues to be one of the most important issues,” U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler told me recently. “Part of the challenge is, it’s not just the things that we owe today, it’s the debt service. It’s basically the interest we owe on the debt and anybody who’s ever taken out a college loan or home loan understands this perfectly.”

Herrera Beutler said fiscal responsibility has been a central value of the Republican Party. But in order to bring down the debt, something has to be done — a restructuring — to programs like Social Security. Not for anyone nearing retirement, but for folks her age, she said. She’s 40.

Still, who is going to lead the charge? Well, the man with the bully pulpit doesn’t seem inclined to fight this battle.

“This president is just not going to go there,” Herrera Beutler said.

Anyone else out there?

“Well, the Democrats aren’t going to do it in the House,” Herrera Beutler said. “And at the time (when) the president was Barack Obama, he wasn’t going to do it. And now it’s a Republican president and he’s not going to do it, so those of us in Congress who continue to worry about our children and grandchildren, we’re in a frustrating position for the time being.”

Sen. Patty Murray also weighed in for me.

“I firmly believe our nation must responsibly manage our deficits and debt and over the years I’ve been proud to work across the aisle on efforts to balance our budget.

“However, Republican-led efforts to wage unfunded wars overseas and pass unsustainable tax cuts … have effectively erased our bipartisan consensus and turned previous budget surpluses into unsustainable deficits in health care, education, infrastructure, the environment, and so much more.

“Reducing the debt in a balanced and responsible manner requires both parties setting politics aside to come to the table and put families first.”

Finally, Sen. Maria Cantwell told me late this week the country needs to get serious about financing expenditures with funds that are currently available rather than borrowed. This is called PAYGO.

“We need to pay down the debt, re-establish PAYGO and make sure capital for new investments remains affordable,” Cantwell said. “Trade wars and debt financing are not the way to strengthen our economy.”

• • •

Is there any way out of this rabbit hole? First, we have to quit playing politics. Then, we have to make the national debt front and center.

Then we have to make difficult choices. I’m guessing huge cuts in defense spending have to happen. If we reduced defense spending by 50 percent (you heard that right) we’d still have the most powerful armed forces in the world. I think Democrats might agree. Next, we have to get a handle on things like Social Security. If you’re still 20 to 30 years out on collecting, it simply isn’t going to be the same deal we have today. And some deal is better than no deal. I think Republicans might agree.

Finally, someone has to champion this issue. No one today seems willing to step up. But there’s always a chance someone might be there tomorrow. Hopefully I won’t have to create a Don’t Do Stupid Stuff Party to get the ball rolling.

Before she could relax and enjoy the amazing 61-year reunion of what everyone still calls “The V Street Gang,” Linda Clark spent weeks tracking down her former neighbors, and the children of those neighbors, to make sure everyone was in the loop.

“I’ve had my detective hat on,” Clark said. “There were seven families I couldn’t find. Then I found them.”

Clark, a DIY genealogist who loves a research challenge, got inspired during a chat with longtime pal Ruby Kelly, who recently lost her husband. Kelly used to host occasional reunions at her home, but when Clark heard Kelly’s status update, she took over the project — and really ran with it.

The Columbian counted 14 people at the reunion, which took place on a recent Thursday over lunch at an out-of-the-way diner called Nayhely’s Place. But counting everybody wasn’t easy amid all the happy hugs and how-are-yous, and the actual ordering of lunch didn’t begin until well past lunchtime. Hearts, not bellies, took priority as old friends walked in the door; food had to wait while stories, laughter and family photographs took over Nayhely’s big table.

“This group is a joy,” said Kelly. “We never had much, but we have more than most people because we have these friendships that have lasted. Friendship is the most important thing.”

The friendships began one June day in 1958, when a bunch of young moms and moms-to-be found themselves hanging out in the kitchen of Beverly Lowry, now Beverly Johansen. Johansen was simultaneously defrosting her fridge, serving her guests (including Ruby Kelly) coffee and suffering labor pains. Billie Shinnick was playing guitar.

That mellow gathering was the beginning of a bond that has proven incredibly durable, deep and special. All but two of those original moms are gone, and everyone has moved near and far, but survivors and descendants keep showing up and keep renewing the connection among the families that used to live around the corner of V and 39th streets in Vancouver.

“Everybody takes care of each other,” said Kelly. When her husband died, she said, “They were all at the service.”

Of course they were, responded Debbie Lowry, the daughter of that perfect hostess who was preparing coffee while preparing to give birth. “Ruby met my mom the day she went into labor with me,” Lowry said. “We have a bond that will never break. It’s a real family.”

And, like any family, it’s got some outrageous tales. Reporters are accustomed to sources wanting certain secrets to stay “off the record,” but rarely do they see ladies of a certain age going red-faced and insisting “Don’t write that down!” about exploits from many decades ago.

All of which seemed awfully tame compared to what goes on today. So I did write it down as Kathy Janssen White recalled how the neighborhood kids used to sneak over to Dairy Queen instead of going directly home after high school football games at Kiggins Bowl — assuming their parents had no way to know when the games were over. But those clever parents only had to notice increased traffic on the street, it turned out. The folks showed up at Dairy Queen “and we were so busted,” Janssen White said. “We got into so much trouble.”

One day when she was much younger than that — 5 years old — Janssen White discovered her warm, loving, busy neighborhood mysteriously empty. Her family wasn’t home. She went knocking on doors and realized everybody else was gone too. “I thought I was in the ‘Twilight Zone,’ ” Janssen White recalled.

Then her father drove up to collect her, and little Kathy learned she’d been forgotten in the general commotion to go on a neighborhood picnic in Hazel Dell. Nobody was keeping track of which kid was in which car; that’s the kind of community it was, she said.

It was also the kind of community where all the littlest neighborhood girls got organized into a birthday party dance troupe by 8-year-old authority figure Vicki Carr, a veteran of dance lessons. Those birthday dance showcases went on for years longer than they should have, Janssen White laughed, but in this accepting crowd, nobody learned to be self-conscious until much later.

Janssen White and Lowry compared notes about their fathers, both of whom worked for the city of Vancouver and both of whom drove orange public works trucks. That gave them roving surveillance stations, as their daughters knew well. Somehow it didn’t prevent them trying to duck down and hide in plain sight on the street, they laughed. “What were we thinking?”

Everybody regularly gathered at the biggest house in the neighborhood, the Shinnicks’, on Friday and Saturday nights to play games and sing songs. And when the whole neighborhood went dark during the historic Columbus Day Storm of 1962, the Shinnicks’ is where everybody gathered to transform a scary emergency into a delightful adventure — which lasted for four days.

That’s the sort of community building you don’t experience much anymore, Kelly said. She lives in Battle Ground now, with neighbors who are also close and friendly, but that appears to be more an exception than a rule these days.

“Everybody is busy. People don’t talk to each other. Everybody’s on their cellphone, everywhere you go,” she said.

Kathy Janssen White said she goes out of her way, every once in a while, to drive down V Street and remember how it used to be. “I have such happy memories of childhood there,” she said.

Carol Shinnick said: “Every mother in the neighborhood was my mother, and every father in the neighborhood was my father.”

Sunshine days? Check our local weather coverage.

In case you missed them, here are some of the top stories of the week:

Two killed in motorcycle crash north of Battle Ground identified

Two people killed in a motorcycle crash north of Battle Ground on Sunday afternoon have been identified.

Michael P. Rowe, 71, and Susan L. Smith, 68, both of Vancouver, were thrown from the motorcycle when Rowe failed to yield the right of way to an oncoming vehicle, according to a release from the Washington State Patrol. Rowe was transported by LifeFlight and later died. Smith died at the scene.

• Drugs or alcohol were not believed to be a factor in the crash

Inmate dies at Clark County Jail

Sheriff’s deputies are investigating after an inmate died at the Clark County Jail Sunday morning.

Deputies and medical staff at the jail were checking on inmates at 11:02 a.m. when they discovered a male inmate unresponsive in the booking detox area, according to a Clark County Sheriff’s Office news release.

A National Park Service report issued this week shows that 1.1 million visitors to Fort Vancouver National Historic Site in 2018 spent $64.9 million in communities near the park.

The spending supported 935 jobs in the area and had a cumulative benefit to the local economy of $93.5 million. Fort Vancouver National Historic Site includes the reconstructed Fort Vancouver, Vancouver Barracks, and Pearson Air Museum, located in Vancouver, as well as the McLoughlin House Unit in Oregon City, Ore.

The peer-reviewed visitor spending analysis was conducted by economists Catherine Cullinane Thomas and Egan Cornachione of the U.S. Geological Survey and Lynne Koontz of the National Park Service. The report shows $20.2 billion of direct spending by more than 318 million park visitors in communities within 60 miles of a national park. This spending supported 329,000 jobs nationally; 268,000 of those jobs are found in these gateway communities. The cumulative benefit to the U.S. economy was $40.1 billion.

Lodging expenses account for the largest share of visitor spending, about $6.8 billion in 2018. Food expenses are the second largest spending category and visitors spent $4 billion in restaurants and bars and another $1.4 billion at grocery and convenience stores.

Visitor spending on lodging supported more than 58,000 jobs and more than 61,000 jobs in restaurants. Visitor spending in the recreation industries supported more than 28,000 jobs and spending in retail supported more than 20,000 jobs.

The report authors also produced an interactive tool that enables users to explore visitor spending, jobs, labor income, value added, and output effects by sector for national, state, and local economies. Users can also view year-by-year trend data. The interactive tool and report are available at the NPS Social Science Program webpage: https://www.nps.gov/subjects/socialscience/vse.htm.

“Fort Vancouver National Historic Site welcomes visitors from across the country and around the world,” Superintendent Tracy Fortmann said in the news release. “We are delighted to share the story of this place and the experiences it provides. We also feature the park as a way to introduce our visitors to this part of the country and all that it offers. National park tourism is a significant driver in the national economy, returning $10 for every $1 invested in the National Park Service, and it’s a big factor in our local economy as well. We appreciate the partnership and support of our neighbors and are glad to be able to give back by helping to sustain local communities.”

Two weeks after Vancouver Public Schools announced the discovery of lead paint and mold at Hough Elementary School, crews are spending the weekend giving the campus a deep-cleaning.

Test results, however, are yet to be released. Vancouver Public Schools is working with civil engineering firm PBS Engineering and Environmental to test and clean the campus at a total cost of $31,000.

District spokeswoman Pat Nuzzo said the firm uses lead action levels set in 2012 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The district is currently working with Clark County Public Health to determine if those are the most current standards.

Either way, the district is taking steps to mitigate children’s exposure to the toxic heavy metal.

Vancouver Public Schools sent a letter to parents on May 17 announcing the discovery of chipping lead-based paint in windowsills, as well as mold on the campus at 1900 Daniels St.

Hough Elementary School was built in 1941 and remodeled in the mid-1990s.

Lead-based paint and its dust are commonly found in buildings and homes constructed before 1978, the year the federal government banned lead-based paint.

Dr. Alan Melnick, Public Health director and Clark County health officer, said elementary-age students are at relatively low risk of exposure to lead because they’re less likely to put toys, paint chips or their hands in their mouths after touching lead contaminated objects.

Chronic lead exposure can damage a child’s developing brain, leading to learning and behavioral disabilities.

Call it a comeback story for DOGPAW, the nonprofit maintaining dog parks in and around Clark County.

Months ago, the organization seemed poised to dissolve following the resignation of president Mark Watson, throwing the future of these sprawling parks into doubt. But new leadership and dedicated volunteers have reinvigorated DOGPAW, which stands for Dog Owners Group for Park Access in Washington. A crowd of about 15 spent their Saturday morning cleaning Ike Memorial Park, pulling thistles, cutting back out-of-control shrubbery and weed-whacking — and yes, picking up dog poop, but you should be doing that yourself when you take your dog to the park.

Eileen Cervantes took over the organization in January after hearing it was at risk of disappearing. Cervantes brings Flynn, her Kooikerhondje, to Ike Memorial Park every morning. They need to get in their 10,000 steps before 9 a.m., she said.

“It is so good for (the dogs’) health and for the health of the humans who are with them,” Cervantes said.

DOGPAW provides most of the maintenance for the parks, an expensive undertaking. Historically, it’s cost the nonprofit, which once contracted out for many of its services, as much as $100,000 every year.

But Cervantes said their goal has been to get back to basics by focusing on recruiting volunteers, holding public meetings and promoting regular cleanups at each of Clark County’s four dog parks. Clark County also stepped in, and is doing maintenance at Dakota, Kane and Lucky Memorial Parks.

She estimates that the organization has cut its expenses by about half.

“We cut all the fat,” said Cervantes.

Larry Johnson is a volunteer who brings his Great Pyrenees, Angie, to the park almost every day. Angie, a fluffy white-cloud beast of a dog, is independent and likes to wander off on her own, leaving Larry to spend a few minutes each morning pulling weeds and doing other cleanup around the park.

“He’s the hardest worker,” Cervantes said.

Saturday’s work was more intense, though. The 70-year-old Portland man traipsed around the park with a shovel to dig up weeds. Johnson started volunteering after news came that the organization was in trouble.

“Our dogs needed a place to go,” said Johnson. “There’s actual citizen support for dog parks.”

It’s the same story for John and Jane Vanvig, who Johnson joined along a thistle-ridden fence line. Their rescue mutt, Gertie, loves the park, so when it was at risk, they decided to step up.

“This is a place we come every morning,” said Jane Vanvig. “We love it. We want to keep it open.”

How to get involved

DOGPAW will host a pulic meeting at 6 p.m. June 18 at the Vancouver Community Library at 901 C St., Vancouver. For more information on how to volunteer, visit www.dogpawoffleashparks.org.

Drivers who need a break while traveling south on Interstate 5 will have more amenities this fall at the Gee Creek Rest Area south of Ridgefield.

The Washington State Department of Transportation’s contractor, Tapani Inc., will begin upgrading the rest area this week.

The rest area will be closed this week, from 6 a.m. Monday to 5 p.m. Friday, so the contractor can cut down some trees in preparation for upcoming improvements.

“These improvements will benefit folks who visit the Gee Creek Rest Area for years to come,” WSDOT Capital Facilities Project Manager Sam Leiren said. “With this $2.2 million project, we’re adding a second RV dump station and additional RV parking, which will help reduce congestion in the rest area.”

Other work includes adding lighting and a sidewalk, and improving pavement.

During construction, additional closures may be needed, along with a temporary shutdown of the existing RV dump station.

The rest area is one of the busiest in the state, with approximately 800,000 annual visitors, a figure calculated by the number of toilet flushes.

Drivers who use 32nd Street to reach state Highway 14 in Washougal should expect delays and plan to use alternate routes in the coming weeks due to construction of two roundabouts.

Thompson Bros. Excavating, a Vancouver contractor working for the Washington State Department of Transportation, will close sections of 32nd Street over two weekends. Crews will remove traffic islands within the intersection with Highway 14 and install casing for a future city waterline and fiber conduit.

The contractor will close 32nd Street south of the highway from 10 p.m. Friday until 5 a.m. the following Monday (June 10). Drivers will not be able to turn left onto Highway 14 from either direction on 32nd Street, with one exception. Freight traffic will be flagged from 32nd Street north of Highway 14 through the intersection onto the highway eastbound.

Beginning at 10 p.m. June 14 until 5 a.m. June 17, construction crews will close 32nd Street north of Highway 14 up to Addy Street. Drivers will not be able to turn left onto the highway from either direction on 32nd Street, except freight traffic that will be flagged from 32nd Street south of Highway 14 through the intersection onto the highway westbound.

WSDOT urges drivers to slow down and use caution while passing through the construction zone, expect delays and use alternate routes.

Drivers also should be aware that crews working for the city of Washougal will close Washougal River Road/15th Street for roadway improvements between E Street and the bridge over the Washougal River, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, starting Monday and lasting until June 21.

Graduates, assemble!

The endgame is here for Clark County graduates, who in a matter of weeks will be collecting their diplomas, flipping their tassels and turning the page on a new issue of their life stories.

This year, The Columbian is featuring five outstanding graduates who have proven themselves to be heroes. With hard work and positive outlooks, they’re fighting supervillains like substance abuse, poverty and, in one case, an actual fire.

Read on to see how these graduates are working to make the world a better place. And don’t miss Monday’s Columbian for high school graduation details in Clark County.

Rylie Anderson

Age: 17

School: Battle Ground High School

Future plans: Anderson will attend Brigham Young University-Idaho, where she plans to study education or special education so she can become a teacher.

Hidden superpower: Can eat a whole watermelon in one sitting. “Like an actual one, not the single-serve ones.”

It doesn’t take much to make a difference in someone’s life. That’s the theory behind the “Just One Thing” initiative, an effort championed by Battle Ground Public Schools to support homeless people in north Clark County.

It’s a call Rylie Anderson has answered with gusto. Anderson is in her high school leadership class, where she’s organized a canned food drive and collected prom dresses and backpacks for students who couldn’t afford them.

“I saw the impact we were able to make in the school,” Anderson said.

The highlight of this school year, however, was a town hall she helped lead. Politicians, business owners, church leaders and school district officials met in April to unveil the initiative and brainstorm ideas on how to end homelessness.

It’s been a whirlwind of new experiences for Anderson, who hadn’t done much activism or public speaking.

“I was really nervous but it was really cool,” she said. “It was cool to hear other ideas.”

Maryke Haynes, who teaches Battle Ground High School’s leadership class, described Anderson as a creative student with a “heart of gold.”

“She takes a lot of initiative,” Haynes said. “If she has an idea, she doesn’t need a lot of direction.”

At the high school level, the mission of “Just One Thing” is to raise awareness of available resources, like the school’s food pantry or the district’s Family and Community Resource Center. Having students like Anderson at the forefront of that effort takes away some of the stigma of asking for help, Haynes said. Teenagers are more likely to listen to their peers and ask them for help, rather than going to an adult.

“We’re opening up that conversation,” Haynes said. “It’s OK if you’re struggling.”

Like any teenager, Anderson spends time on social media. She sees the Facebook posts from Battle Ground residents frustrated at the growing number of homeless people in the community. But for this busy teenager, being angry on the internet isn’t enough.

“If you’re going to complain about this, then do one thing,” Anderson said. “Do one thing and we can end this.”

Fernanda Cerrillos

Age: 18

School: Hudson’s Bay High School

Future plans: Cerrillos is heading to the University of Washington. She hopes to become a social worker or a lawyer. She wants to work in schools.

Hidden superpower: Intuition. “I can tell when people are genuinely good or if they’re hiding something.”

Fernanda Cerrillos would never have dreamed upon starting high school that she someday would be traveling to Washington, D.C., to attend a leadership seminar.

But that was before she joined the ¡Adelante! America Program. The organization is part of the League of United Latin American Citizens, or LULAC. In September, Cerrillos attended the annual Washington Youth Leadership Seminar, organized by LULAC’s nonprofit education arm.

“It changed me as a leader,” Cerrillos said. “Giving back, being a part of this gives me a reason to be a part of my community.”

Cerrillos helped organize a group quinceanera two years ago for families who couldn’t afford one for their daughters. Different school-based LULAC chapters provided dresses and coordinated an event space for about 15 girls. The traditional 15th birthday celebration is a critical part of growing up for Hispanic and Latina girls, but it’s also expensive — a party can cost thousands of dollars.

“It’s super-important in Hispanic culture, but not everybody has the privilege,” Cerrillos said.

Cerrillos also provided child care to families at a Spanish-language orientation at Washington State University Vancouver. It’s work that hits close to home for Cerrillos, who has watched her parents struggle to navigate school events.

“I know when I show up to events where I can speak in Spanish or help guide parents to the right room, that’s super-important,” Cerrillos said.

Ana Betancourt is the program coordinator for ¡Adelante! America. She praised Cerrillos’ commitment to supporting students of color and undocumented families.

“I cannot tell you how much work Fernanda has put into really advocating for students of color to achieve higher education,” she said. “She constantly keeps working, not just for her, but for everyone.”

Cerrillos is also active in the National Honor Society and Key Club, organizing volunteer opportunities for students. She hopes to return to community activism after college, and wants to do work that supports students and families — like LULAC did for her.

“You have to put in the work if you want to belong to a community,” Cerrillos said.

Imani Chapin

Age: 17

School: Union High School

Future plans: Chapin will attend the University of Chicago, where she plans to double major in a social science and a STEM field. Her dream is to work at Pixar Animation Studios. Her favorite Pixar film is the original “Toy Story.”

Hidden superpower: Empathy.

Imani Chapin finds joy in quiet moments, like a recent walk with her younger brother, Mekhi.

Mekhi doesn’t like to leave the house, the 17-year-old Union High School senior explained. He likes structure, and is bothered by the shouts of young children. Mekhi, 15, is on the autism spectrum.

So for him to approach her on a recent afternoon, declaring “Shoes on, shoes on,” means something special is about to happen.

Chapin is the eldest of four children, two of whom are on the autism spectrum. Kaliq, 14, is high functioning, “super sweet and super talkative.” As a child and teenager, Chapin has been an advocate for her brothers, giving her a crash course in empathy and acceptance.

Her mom, Angie Chapin, called her “a calm, guiding light for our family.”

“It’s just been really special and uplifting to me to see her grow in so many ways through advocating,” Angie Chapin said. “Her empathy is through the roof. That’s been the greatest gift for me.”

Chapin is also passionate about storytelling and filmmaking, and has documented her family’s journey using poetry, art and video. She volunteers with local nonprofit Autism Empowerment, and spoke at the World Autism Conference and Expo in Portland two years ago with her youngest sister, 12-year-old Asjia.

“For me, my way of taking care of them is speaking on their behalf,” Chapin said.

Her family is not alone in benefiting from Chapin’s support and encouragement. This school year, she started publishing daily affirmative videos to Union High School’s social media feeds. She’s recorded more than 170, each starting with her trademark greeting, “Hi guys. It’s Imani here,” before reading an inspiring quote and offering commentary.

“It’s a pretty big commitment, but I love doing this,” she said.

They were messages Chapin herself needed to hear some days, especially when things were challenging at home. It gave her a sense of motivation, having a bigger purpose in her high school community.

“It was something I could count on every day,” she said.

And when you’re living with brothers on the autism spectrum, consistency can be helpful. Some days are peaceful, Angie Chapin said. Others are like volcanoes: explosive and chaotic.

When Mekhi came to his sister, announcing he wanted to put his shoes on and go for a walk around the neighborhood, it created a moment to appreciate.

“If we take the time to appreciate the now, then we never need to hope or dread, because we’ll have it all,” Chapin said in a recent video. “We got this, one morning at a time.”

Chloe Connors

Age: 18

School: Washougal High School

Future plans: Attend Clark College for two years, transfer to another college and study to be a music instructor.

Hidden superpower: Infectious smile.

Chloe Connors was too young to know what was going on, but she knew something was different. The youngest of five kids, it felt like her once tight-knit family was drifting apart. One of her older brothers, who previously hung out with her and talked to her, stopped doing both.

What she didn’t know until she was a bit older was that brother, who is about 10 years older, had a drinking problem that turned into a painkiller addiction and then a heroin addiction. She was in elementary school at that time. When she was 11, Connors and a different brother, Carson Connors, who was 13 at the time, started Challenge for Change, to bring resources and awareness to substance abuse issues to the Washougal community.

“Us youth have a very big voice,” Chloe Connors said. “We connect more with each other than an adult lecturing at us.”

She has continued to work on Challenge for Change throughout the last seven years. Her brother did, too, until he enlisted in the Marine Corps and recently reported to boot camp. Connors also worked with Unite! Washougal all four years of high school, and has received the 2018 Washington State Exemplary Substance Abuse Prevention Award for Youth Leadership.

Connors’ troubled brother battled his various addictions for about eight years, and is now clean, married and has children. Her family is close again, and Connors wants to make sure others know what resources are available to them when loved ones are going through similar struggles.

“I want to help mentor kids, support them and let them know they do have a voice,” she said. “Sometimes kids just need that push. I want to be there for them.”

In her time working in drug abuse prevention, Connors said she’s seen school administrators and staffers encourage and support her work. Her mother, Deborah Connors, said it’s important for families to know these things can happen to anyone, and there are resources available.

“In a way, you have to let go of the one who is using to save the rest of the family,” Deborah Connors said. “It was devastating. It was the hardest thing to come to. Chloe and Carson found a way to make sense of it themselves and try to help others move forward and heal. When you’re going through this, you feel like you’re on an island alone until you start reaching out and connecting to others. They shined a light on this issue in our community to let people know they’re not alone.”

Ben Tilkin

Age: 18

School: Hockinson High School

Future plans: Pursue an aviation degree at Central Washington University and become an aerial firefighter.

Hidden superpower: Clairvoyance for knowing when the microwave is about to beep.

You’ll have to forgive Ben Tilkin if he doesn’t want to clean his bedroom for a while.

The soon-to-be Hockinson High School graduate was cleaning out his room in mid-April when he found a box full of papers. He took the box outside to burn on his family’s farm, but unbeknownst to him, there was a can of spray paint at the bottom of the box. The can exploded, catching Tilkin in the blast.

His cellphone was knocked from his hands, but Tilkin managed to run inside and call his parents. He was in shock, but knew he should get in the shower. Tilkin is a fire cadet with Fire District 3. His mother, Kathryn Tilkin, was nearby at an open house for her realty business, and rushed home to find her son in the shower wiping what he thought was paint from his face; in reality, he was wiping away his burned skin.

They called an ambulance, and some of the first responders were people Ben Tilkin works with at the fire station. He immediately went into fire cadet mode, his mom said, answering everything with a “yes, sir.” “How can you be so polite? You’re on fire,” Kathryn Tilkin remembers thinking from inside the ambulance. Ben asked for ice packs on his face, which was so hot the packs were sticking to him. He asked to be medicated, and once he was, he said it was like a warm blanket coming over him.

Tilkin spent three days in intensive care and missed a month of school due to his second-degree burns, but he’s feeling good now. His skin is still a little tender, and the most severely burned parts are colored a bit differently than the rest of his skin, almost like he has a heavy sunburn.

“He got a very expensive chemical peel,” Kathryn Tilkin said.

In mid-May Ben Tilkin returned to his work as a fire cadet, a program which offers hands-on training to students interested in careers as first responders. He was happy to be back, and said his experience hasn’t changed his plans to become an aerial firefighter.

“I know what being burned feels like,” he said. “It sucked. It was the worst pain. But now I’m prepared for that.”

Doctors told him his burns would have been worse if he didn’t act quickly and hop in the cold shower. Tilkin didn’t turn away any visitors, welcoming friends, family and coaches to see him, burned, in his hospital room. He didn’t want to take time to feel sorry for himself. He only wanted to start the recovery process. He said this process has shown him to take life as it comes.

“Early on, we had to convince him he was going to be good,” Kathryn Tilkin said. “He was in the burn unit, and we went on a walk to show him he was OK. There were a lot of people not OK in there. We survived something that could’ve been worse.”

Find a complete list of 2019 Clark County graduation ceremonies and baccalaureates on columbian.com.

Attorney General William Barr significantly redacted former special counsel Robert Mueller’s 448-page report, including information about ongoing grand jury trials.

The redactions were no doubt a source of frustration for millions of Americans eager to learn the full scope of Mueller’s findings after investigating alleged links between Russia and President Trump’s election. And a public statement from Mueller himself earlier this week offered no revelations beyond what was already in the report. So unless Barr has a sudden and drastic change of opinion, there’s no way for the public to know what’s behind those blacked-out sections.

Or is there?

That was the premise of a meetup event hosted this week by Camas-based technology company Manceps, which brought together about two dozen programmers and software engineers for a high-concept challenge: Could an artificial intelligence program be trained to fill in the blanks and “un-redact” the Mueller report?

The answer is no — or at least, not in a way that would lead to a political revelation buried at the end of this story. No matter how good the algorithm, the original report isn’t available to check the results — and while it never hurts to ask, it seems safe to assume that Mueller isn’t going to offer corrections.

But it’s certainly an eye-catching premise. And Manceps CEO Al Kari said his real goal for the exercise was to spark a fresh round of brainstorming about the potential applications of artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Kari founded Manceps in 2017 after previously working at several big tech companies including Microsoft, Dell and software company Red Hat. His new company — whose name is based on the Latin word for customer — works with corporate clients to develop computer programs to automate processes and functions using machine learning.

In a hypothetical example, if a department store chain wanted to use the information from its sales receipts to develop a new system for more efficiently distributing products based on local demand, it would hire a company like Manceps to train an AI program to comb through the data and pick out relevant patterns.

Another big use for AI programs is natural language processing, Kari said, which enables digital assistants such as Alexa and Siri to parse human speech and generate conversational answers. That’s the side of the field that the company wanted to put to work on the Mueller report.

“It’s not about generating text in a ‘Mad Lib’ format,” Kari said, referring to the popular word game. “We now (can train AI to) understand what’s behind the text.”

AI was immediately used after the report’s release, Kari pointed out. The public version was formatted as an image rather than a typed document, making it impossible to select or copy text. News outlets and other groups used AI programs to quickly analyze the images and pick out the text rather than re-typing the whole report by hand.

“Computer vision came to the rescue,” Kari says.

An educated guessing game

But at Wednesday’s demonstration, Kari and Manceps senior NLP architect Hobson Lane tried to take it a step further.

Language processing programs create new sentences by analyzing existing pieces of writing to see how often words appear next to each other, and then using those models to predict the next word in a sentence based on the words that came before.

So would AI be able to guess the redacted words based on the context?

Kari and Lane tested the theory by deploying a version of a Google-developed, open-source AI training program called BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representation from Transformers), which can draw on cloud computing power to quickly crunch its way through the massive amount of data needed to train a language AI.

After running the report through several times, they picked a snippet of text with a redacted portion and told their new program to take its best guess.

The snippet read “… the pertinent activities of Michael Cohen, Richard Gates …” followed by a small block of redacted text.

On its first try, the program filled in the blank with “in the order that the president was aware.”

That’s a valid word construction that sounds like the writing style of the rest of the report, Kari pointed out, but it’s definitely wrong — especially because the sentence context and the size of the redaction block suggest that the redacted portion is a third name.

The program hadn’t been given enough information to understand that context, Kari said, so for the second attempt they tweaked the settings to focus on predicting names. This time, it filled in the blank with “Kislyak” — the last name of Sergey Kislyak, the former Russian ambassador to the United States.

That still doesn’t mean anything, Kari was quick to stress — it’s little more than a random guess based on the frequency with which various names appear elsewhere in the report, and the actual name behind the redacted block might not even appear anywhere in the unredacted parts of the report.

But it’s also based on just a few minutes of analysis with only the report itself as a starting point, he said.

Any AI’s key limitation

From there, the meetup turned into a discussion about the ways an AI could be better tuned to the task, such as feeding it more data — other documents relating to the Mueller probe, or other writing samples from Mueller and his team, or even unrelated legal documents that could familiarize the AI with legal writing styles.

Kari ended the meetup by turning the task over to the assembled group of software engineers, challenging them to take their best shot at building a more complete version of the evening’s analysis.

But when it comes to the actual redacted portions, Kari and Lane stressed, any AI will still run into a key limitation: It won’t be able to correctly guess redacted names, dates or numbers, because those are real-world facts whose values don’t correlate with the other words in the document.

“(The AI) can’t know anything about the world in general,” Lane said.

So it appears that if the redacted portions of the report ever see the light of day, it’ll have to be through more conventional means.

RIDGEFIELD — Darcy and Jim Rourk made a promise about a decade ago, and they’ll finally get to follow through on it this summer.

When Clark County was in the running to bring a minor league baseball team to Vancouver, the Rourks told Clark College President Bob Knight they’d take in a player. That team, which would’ve built a new stadium to also be used by Clark College, never arrived.

A new baseball team will take the field this summer in Ridgefield, and that’s where the Rourks now live. So in the coming days, they’ll open up their home to Joey Martin, a pitcher from Kansas State University.

“We told Bob all those years ago we’d take a player,” Jim Rourk said. “When we heard about the Ridgefield team, we told (City Manager Steve Stuart) we’d take in a player.”

Even better? The Rourks are both Kansas State alumni.

They know Martin will have a busy schedule this summer, but they hope to have some time to show him the natural beauty of the Northwest, especially since he grew up in Texas and now lives in Kansas. Darcy Rourk grew up in Kansas in a large family that loved baseball, and Jim Rourk grew up in Minneapolis going to games with his father to see Mickey Mantle, Warren Spahn and Harmon Killebrew.

For the Rourks, taking in a player is a way to share in the excitement about bringing baseball to Ridgefield.

“We have room, and we love Ridgefield,” Darcy Rourk said. “It’s a nice way to get involved in the community.”

Ten-year lease

The Ridgefield Raptors, the newest member of the West Coast League, a collegiate wood bat baseball league, will host its first home game Tuesday at the new Ridgefield Outdoor Recreation Complex, the six-field, $20 million joint project paid for by the city and located on Ridgefield School District property on Northwest Hillhurst Road.

The Raptors signed a 10-year lease with the city to use the sports complex between June 1 and Aug. 31. The team gave the city a $100,000 capital contribution to aid in construction and will pay a $6,000 annual user fee for the complex, which has brought excitement to the city since the snowy March afternoon Ridgefield High School students first used the complex while starting spring sports practice.

“Our practice had a lot of energy, not only because it was the start of the season, but they were champing at the bit to get on the field,” Ridgefield High School baseball coach Nick Allen said. “It snowed twice that week. It was cold, and we had to adjust practice because of it to keep the boys warm, but we stayed out in it. They bundled up rest of the week. That weather did not slow us down.”

The Spudders christened the new complex with a 3-0 victory against Kalama. The complex has since played host to softball, soccer, Ridgefield Little League and a regional baseball tournament featuring high school teams from around the state.

“There’s no way would we have been able to pull something like that off,” Allen said of the team’s old field, located behind the former site of View Ridge Middle School on Pioneer Street.

Ridgefield in the spotlight

Twice in the last five years, Ridgefield has been named the fastest-growing city in the state. The anticipated additional influx of people this summer has plenty in Ridgefield excited about showing off their changing city, while others remain skeptical about more growth as the city continues to spread out.

While the team is named for Ridgefield, ask anyone involved with bringing the Raptors to the city, and they’ll tell you the team belongs to all of Southwest Washington.

“This whole region’s been crying for baseball for a long time,” said Stuart, who was on the county commission back when the deal for the minor league failed. “It was going to happen somewhere. We’re glad it’s in Ridgefield.”

Raptors General Manager Gus Farah said it was important to connect the team to the city. The Raptors name and mascot was chosen to honor the nearby Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge.

“We feel at home (in Ridgefield),” Farah said. “We’re a long-term partner. We just find (the city and school district) to be extremely good partners. We’re really happy with the decision we made to go Ridgefield.”

Stuart is also quick to mention that while the new complex should bring economic benefits to the city with visitors for Raptors games and tournaments, the biggest benefit will be for the youth of Ridgefield.

“This wasn’t built for others,” he said. “This was built for the fastest-growing city in the state of Washington.”

Growth has caused issues around Ridgefield already. The complex was promised to voters in a $78 million bond passed by Ridgefield School District voters in 2017, a bond that was put up for vote to deal with overcrowding in the district. Ridgefield Superintendent Nathan McCann said the district has roughly 3,200 students, with an anticipated 1,760 new kids coming in by 2023.

“It’s like taking a school district the size of Hockinson or La Center and dropping it in Ridgefield,” he said. “With the growth we’re experiencing, the fields were a need. We did not have sufficient fields for the population we were serving.”

Connecting to downtown

As the city has grown, amenities have spread out. The sports complex is located on Hillhurst, along with two new schools and the expanding Ridgefield High School. Clark County Fire & Rescue is in the process of purchasing land on Hillhurst to move its station from downtown Ridgefield.

Rosauers, the city’s long-awaited grocery store, will open later this year as part of the Discovery Ridge project at 45th Avenue and Pioneer Street. The first phase of the four-phase plan will be anchored by Rosauers, a credit union and fast-food restaurant. Plans for that same roundabout include a mixed-use development with roughly 300 apartments, a new park and commercial offerings, similar to Felida Village.

Still, Ridgefield Main Street President Judy Hinz said the best way to connect to Ridgefield is through the downtown.

“The downtown is very sensitive to anything that appears it’s going to take people away from downtown,” she said. “There was concern about that.”

Hinz said Raptors officials have talked to merchants about how they hope to drive people to downtown businesses. One way is by giving away “Main Street Moola” dollars between innings. Two years ago, Ridgefield Main Street started the program, which hands out $5 bills that can be redeemed with downtown merchants.

“New people will be coming to the area,” said Marykay Lamoureaux, executive director of Ridgefield Main Street. “Once they’re in the area, we have to make them aware of downtown. We’re going to put up some more signs. We’re getting ready for things to sparkle down here. We’re going to get people downtown.”

Lamoureaux also said that like the rest of Ridgefield, the downtown is growing. There are more storefronts and offices, she said, including a new police station and expanded library.

Hinz said it’s an exciting time to be in the city, and the new sports complex and Raptors are a catalyst for that.

“The more we grow, the more focus there is on making sure we don’t lose ourselves in the growth,” she said.

Farah said he wants to show off downtown and all Ridgefield and Southwest Washington have to offer. He wants the players to go home after this summer and tell their teammates what a great place Ridgefield was so they’ll want to come play for the Raptors in the future.

Lamoureaux said it’s that enthusiasm for the city that has merchants and residents excited for the inaugural season.

“I don’t think you can fake that,” she said. “It’s genuine.”

Now that it’s built, how will they come?

Another way to connect to the local community is through public transportation. With the start of the Raptors season, the team has partnered with C-Tran to provide a free shuttle to three games this year: opening day on Tuesday, June 29 and July 19.

The shuttle will stop in three locations:

• 99th Street Transit Center, 9700 N.E. Seventh Ave., Vancouver

• Ridgefield Park and Ride, Pioneer Street and 65th Avenue east of Interstate 5, Ridgefield

• Simons Street and Third Avenue in downtown Ridgefield

Stuart said the city has had discussion on another public option to bring people to Raptor games from downtown Ridgefield: Ryd, a Vancouver-based shuttle service created in 2017 by employees of LSW Architects. Casey Wyckoff, LSW Architects president and CEO of Ryd, said the company is working on developing its app, which should be up and running in July.

“This season, we’d love to introduce the opportunity to connect downtown Ridgefield and the roundabout at 45 to the baseball field,” Wyckoff said. “Like the baseball team, this year in particular is a growth season for Ryd. We’re looking to build up our fleet of vehicles and drivers.”

Ryd — an acronym for Rethink Your Drive — started with one electric commuter shuttle and now has four, and it is in the process of purchasing a fifth. Wyckoff said the company is focusing on its app while looking to expand. He said there have been discussions with Washington State University Vancouver and Gresham, along with Ridgefield. The company is looking at two potential options in Ridgefield, one which is a free ride from designated stops and one subscription basis which would include a greater pick-up area, but still limited to Ridgefield.

Ideas such as bringing people to downtown Ridgefield before they can get to Raptor games has many in the area anticipating a busy summer for the increasingly bustling small city.

“We have a great destination downtown,” Stuart said. “We want to show that off. We’re going to bring in at least 1,000 people a night here 32 times a year. We want people to have a good time and come back.”