You’re never too young to learn about giving back to your community.

Take it from 2-year-old Brady McCutcheon, who spent the morning of Martin Luther King Jr. Day toddling around the Water Resources Education Center while volunteers worked to remove invasive species and pick up trash.

Brady didn’t pull many blackberry bushes (for he is very small, and they are very thorny). But for Brady, his 6-year-old sister Avery and his mother, Tila, just the spirit of community service is worth fostering.

“It should really be a day to provide services,” said Tila McCutcheon, who now lives in Portland but used to intern at the water resources center. She attends the center’s annual service event every January, she added.

The McCutcheon family was among the 40-odd volunteers who showed up Monday morning to participate in one of several MLK Day events around the area. Half of the group scoured the banks of the Columbia River, participating in a beach cleanup that saw the removal of trash from the natural area. The rest remained around the building, hacking away at invasive blackberry bushes, ivy vines and vinca plants.

“It’s been a lot of work,” said Alix Orihuela, an 18-year-old senior at Union High School who took a break from pulling blackberry bushes to survey the progress he and some schoolmates had already made. They’d knocked back the brush line by a few yards.

“I wanted to help give back to the community, and also start to build my resume for college,” Orihuela said. He’s part of a school club that requires community service; hopefully something that will get him noticed at Stanford University and the University of Washington, where he’s waiting to hear on his college applications, he said.

The thesis for MLK Day differs from that of other holidays. Instead of taking the day off from school or work to relax and reflect, citizens are encouraged to embody King’s legacy and partake in some form of community service.

King devoted his life to promoting social justice, fostering community and eradicating racist power structures in America. In 1994, after a decade of celebrating MLK Day as a national holiday, Congress designated the third Monday of January as a national day of service.

Service events have cropped up all over the country as citizens work to answer King’s call to action, made in a 1957 speech in Montgomery, Ala.: “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, “What are you doing for others?”

In addition to the water resources cleanup project, the city organized a “spruce up” event at Homestead Park in east Vancouver. Volunteers planted 50 native spirea shrubs and about 20 trees on Monday.

Coordinating with the Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership, city staff also helped put together an effort to reforest the Burnt Bridge Creek greenway with native trees and shrubs. The volunteer crew spent the morning on the banks of Burnt Bridge Creek, planting native plants for about two and a half hours.

Additional service projects were held by various companies, nonprofits and other organizations. Some employees of Kaiser Permanente, a regional health care provider, spent the day at the Clark County Food Bank sorting potatoes, according to a media release. The effort involved more than 100 employees from Oregon and Washington — and about 20 tons of potatoes.

“It’s a day on, not a day off,” said Hailey Heath, volunteer coordinator for the city of Vancouver. “(It’s) the right thing to do, on a day that signifies and honors Martin Luther King Jr.”

When Rachel Dye heard she only had a 13 percent chance of living for another five years, those numbers seemed low to her.

Dye was diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer in 2018, but after undergoing cancer treatment that included surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, she has no evidence of disease left. The 28-year-old Woodland mother of three said some of the first doctors she consulted after her diagnosis weren’t helpful. They acted like her diagnosis was a death sentence.

“The statistics — a 13 percent chance — that wasn’t good enough,” Dye said.

So Dye and her husband, Jamison Dye, 29, searched for oncologists and naturopathic doctors that better fit their attitude. Dye wanted a holistic approach to cancer treatment. She didn’t just want to know about chemotherapy or radiation. She wanted to know about what to eat and how to treat her mind and body during the cancer fight.

That’s why she and her husband are trying to create The Cancer Box, a monthly subscription box that is curated with items that range from snacks, desserts, side-effect aids, vitamins and supplements, notebooks, healthy eating guides and more, according to their website.

“We thought we could save some of the stress and emotional trauma” for people making cancer decisions, Dye said.

Vancouver naturopathic physician Kate Wiggin, and Dr. Nick Chen of the Seattle Integrative Cancer Center, consulted with the Dyes on the Cancer Box, and also helped guide Dye through her cancer treatment. This week the Dyes started crowdfunding their idea on Indiegogo, which allows people to raise funds for a charity or business startup. Jamison Dye said the boxes are available to pre-order on Indiegogo now and will ship in April.

They said a subscription to The Cancer Box will cost about $90 a month. They have an option for people to sponsor boxes for cancer patients who can’t afford the service.

The Dyes don’t consider their box a magic pill to ease cancer treatment, and encourage people to do their research before contributing to the Indiegogo, or buying a box in the future.

“People should not take our word for it,” Jamison Dye said. “You should be skeptical and question the things we are saying.”

But given Dye’s story, from a slim chance to live to no evidence of disease, they believe their holistic approach was helpful, and could do the same for others. Rachel Dye is currently raising her three children at home, working toward becoming a certified nutrition coach — an area she became interested in after her cancer diagnosis. She said that no matter what route you take during cancer treatment, you have to be positive and hopeful, and believe in yourself.

“You have to be convinced in your own mind that what you are doing is helpful,” she said.

After 11 days of highs only in the 40s, that 52 degrees on Sunday felt like early spring, didn’t it? I bet a few of you took a stroll through the yard glancing at the spring bulbs popping up through the damp soil and buds swelling on the rhododendrons and other spring-blooming shrubs.

We haven’t had that much of a cold winter so far and nothing on the horizon to be concerned about, either. Just some off-and-on rain and showers the remainder of the week and highs at or above average for mid- to late January. Meanwhile, we wait for another tease of the white stuff in the air. The remainder of January looks fairly mellow and if any cold air is to reach us it would have to be in the first half of February. For snow lovers time is running out.

Our normal high temperature is now 48 degrees and about 50 by the end of the month. The average low is 36 degrees and I see no lows the next week or so that even dip into the 30s. The average mean temperature so far this month is still nearly 3 degrees above average. The lull in the rainfall has placed us back below average again.

While looking at the average low temperatures Monday for Vancouver, I noticed a record low of 6 degrees set way back in 1916. That was for Jan. 19. So, it can get chilly here. Perhaps February will bring us a cold spell like last year.

One correction from Sunday’s column with last month’s rainfall, Roland Dersken in Vancouver, B.C., measured 9.68 inches. Twice what we recorded here in Vancouver.

A stretch of Beach Drive will close to traffic starting Wednesday to allow BNSF Railway to repair a railroad track.

The closure will affect Beach Drive between Shorewood Drive and Wintler Community Park. The roadway is scheduled to reopen early Saturday.

Wintler Park will be unaccessible by vehicle during the closure, but visitors will still be able to access it by foot or bicycle using the Waterfront Renaissance Trail.

Questions about the railroad track repair project or about the road closure can be directed to the city of Vancouver’s Operations Superintendent Bill Bjerke at Bill.Bjerke@cityofvancouver.us or to Cristina Acosta of RoadSafe Traffic Systems at mcacosta@roadsafetraffic.com.

A Washougal-area gravel mine that has drawn criticism from nearby residents, Clark County and the Columbia River Gorge Commission will apply for new permits.

Clark County already has held a pre-application conference and expects to receive requests for a conditional use permit and site plan review for mining and rock crushing, along with a Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area permit application, in the next one to two weeks, said Richard Daviau, the county’s Gorge planner.

All three requests will be reviewed concurrently, Daviau said. It may take a month or two for county officials to check the applications for completeness and address any omissions with the applicant, he said.

Once the applications are complete, that will trigger a 92-day timeline for a decision by one of the county’s two hearings examiners, Joe Turner or Daniel Kearns, a process that will include a public hearing, he said.

The mine, at 6303 S.E. 356th Ave., is east of Washougal city limits and inside the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area.

Clark County, the Gorge Commission and nearby residents say the mine lacks a valid operating permit.

Attorneys for the mine’s owner, Judith Zimmerly, and its operator, Nutter Corp., disagree and have filed lawsuits challenging the Gorge Commission’s authority over the matter and its October 2019 written decision against the mine.

“We’re proceeding on all fronts at this point,” said Steve Horenstein, a Vancouver attorney representing Nutter.

Horenstein said the mine’s owner and operator are seeking new permits from the county as they continue to press their legal contention that they already have a valid permit.

“I know it’s unusual, but the reason is without the rock, we can’t build the roads,” he said.

Neighbor opposition

The mine has drawn heated opposition from residents who say they have endured up to 200 trucks a day traveling at unsafe speeds, along with loud noise and large amounts of dust.

Rachel Grice, one of about a dozen residents who live near the mine and are defendants in the ongoing legal battle, said it’s “baffling” why it has taken the mine’s owner and operator so long to apply for permits.

Grice said she and other residents will participate in the upcoming process. Clark County should remember how Nutter has flouted county code when reviewing the pending applications, she said.

Another resident, Sean Streeter, criticized the county and Gorge Commission for not taking stronger enforcement against the mine.

Streeter said he hasn’t talked with any county employees for some time because it doesn’t do any good.

“It is just an exercise in frustration, more than anything,” he said.

Both Streeter and Grice said they are hopeful the county might reject the requested permits, but neither was particularly optimistic that will happen.

Stay denied

Last week, Clark County Superior Court Judge John Fairgrieve denied a request from Zimmerly and Nutter to stay, or halt, enforcement against the mine during legal appeals.

Friends of the Columbia River Gorge, an advocacy group, says the Zimmerly mine represents “the largest ongoing land use violation” in the 33-year history of the scenic area, which protects the picturesque canyon where the Columbia River slices through the Cascade Range.

Burt Edwards, communications director for Friends of the Columbia River Gorge, said Fairgrieve’s decision clears the way for enforcement of the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area’s rules and Clark County’s mining code.

“Friends of the Columbia Gorge is calling for the executive director of the Columbia River Gorge Commission and Clark County’s new Code Administration Department to immediately enforce the law and prohibit the ongoing violations on this property,” Edwards wrote in an email.

Mitch Nickolds, Clark County code administration director, said the county will respond to complaints.

“With denial of the stay, we do not anticipate any unpermitted mining activity will occur on the premises until such time as the proper permit has been issued,” Nickolds wrote in an email. “However, as is our practice, Clark County will respond to, investigate and verify complaints of unpermitted mining activity and take appropriate enforcement action to gain compliance in the event violations of relevant codes and decisions are verified.”

Streeter said mining activity was occurring Monday afternoon.

“I can see the mine from my office,” he said. “They are trucking away materials they illegally mined.”

Streeter, when asked if hauling might not be considered mining activity, replied: “Our legal interpretation is that it’s indeed a violation because that is hauling material from the mine. They don’t have a permit to mine.”

One of the major effects of a global political economy that has changed rapidly in recent decades is political division, which will likely continue as the presidential election approaches.

That’s according to Cornell Clayton, director of the Thomas S. Foley Institute for Public Policy at Washington State University, who didn’t make many promises during a panel discussion Thursday at the annual 2020 Economic Forecast Breakfast at the Hilton Vancouver Washington. But Clayton confidently said that unless the challenges presented by the new economic reality — wealth inequality, employment instability and cultural identity issues — are sufficiently addressed, sharp political divisions in U.S. politics will continue.

“We are living in an unpredictable, chaotic political world,” Clayton said.

Since the end of the Cold War, the emergence of global trade organizations coupled with technological advancements has created global prosperity and investment. But Clayton said that it has also fostered inequality.

“What inequality does is it creates political instability and political anxiety, and we’ve seen that in our society and other societies around the world,” Clayton said.

One reason for the inequality: technology allows businesses to produce more with less labor.

“Now, that’s a good thing. That’s the very definition of wealth,” Clayton said. “The problem is it disrupts the way millions and millions of the workers in America and around the world earn their livelihoods. It’s upset their entire expectations about employment.”

The disruption has led to a distrust in institutions such as governments, media, schools and the economy, Clayton said. “We’ve had a crisis of confidence in our basic institutions.”

Wariness of political parties has sapped the parties’ ability to control which candidates they nominate, Clayton said. “That’s why someone like Donald Trump was able to capture the nomination even though he was vehemently opposed by the Republican Party establishment in 2016. That’s why Bernie Sanders, who wasn’t even a Democrat before he ran in 2016, almost won the Democratic nomination and may yet win it in 2020.”

As a result, members of Congress have been less likely to form bipartisan voting coalitions.

“We have large majorities of Americans who agree on the policy solutions, but our parties cannot enact those policies because they are cross-divided and cross-cleaved,” Clayton said.

In 2016, candidates ran largely on issues that would appeal to their bases of support, or “red meat” issues, and attacked their opponents with negative messaging, Clayton said. With a similar global economic situation in this election cycle, Clayton expects candidates to employ that strategy again, perhaps to a more serious degree.

“All of that is coming back to us again,” Clayton said.

Two teenage boys were struck and killed early Tuesday morning by a pickup in east Vancouver, according to police.

The crash occurred shortly before 6:30 a.m. near the intersection of Northeast 23rd Circle and 112th Avenue, east of Interstate 205.

The victims were a 14-year-old boy and a 17-year-old boy. Both died at the scene. Their identities were not released Tuesday, pending notification of next of kin, according to a Vancouver Police Department news release.

They were struck by a full-sized Chevrolet pickup after stepping off the curb and into the road. Both boys were wearing dark-colored clothing, police said.

Northeast 112th Avenue is a five-lane arterial with partial sidewalks; there are no sidewalks on the east side of the road in that area. There are streetlights but no traffic signal or crosswalk at that intersection.

Police department spokeswoman Kim Kapp said the driver, who has not been identified, remained on scene. Impairment on the part of the driver is not believed to be a factor.

“Early indications are that the driver did not see the pedestrians and was unable to stop in time before hitting them,” according to a police news release.

Chris White said the pickup driver is a 19-year-old man who works in the same department as him at SEH America. The manufacturing company is about a mile north of the crash scene.

White said he and his wife, Genevieve, were driving to work when they saw a pickup stopped in the road ahead of them. They recognized it as belonging to their co-worker. They thought he was having vehicle trouble and stopped to help.

The pickup driver was in a panic and speaking rapidly, White said. Then White noticed damage to the man’s truck and saw two people had been hit.

“He was just devastated and in shock. I can’t imagine what he was going through,” White said.

White called 911. Other cars stopped, and people performed CPR on the pedestrians, but there was no sign of life, Genevieve White said.

The couple heard the pickup driver say he was unaware anyone was in the road; he described only seeing shadows.

“I don’t think he even had time to step on the brakes. It was so, so sudden,” Chris White said.

The couple said there is a school bus stop in the area, but it was too early for children to be out waiting.

“He’s just a great kid. He’s so full of laughter, which I didn’t see in him, and I don’t know if I will for a long time after this,” Chris White said. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to him and the families.”

The crash is being investigated by the Vancouver Police Department Traffic Unit. A section of Northeast 112th Avenue was closed to traffic for several hours as part of the investigation.

The stretch of Northeast 112th Avenue that saw the death of two young pedestrians early Tuesday morning is no stranger to serious car crashes.

In August 2014, two motorcyclists were critically injured while headed south on the road. Less than a week later, a woman drove her SUV into a Clark Public Utilities substation at Northeast 28th Street and died. Less than three months after that, a family was struck by a Ford Mustang near Northeast 39th Street while trick-or-treating on Halloween. One of the victims, a 7-year-old girl, died from her injuries. The emergency crew that responded to the crash scene nearly became victims themselves — a car crashed through the barricade that had cordoned off the site of the crash, narrowly missing officers from the Vancouver Police Department Traffic Unit.

In December 2015, a crash near the state Highway 500 interchange left a driver seriously injured. In March 2016, an off-duty Vancouver firefighter was walking on Northeast 112th Avenue when he was struck and killed by a northbound vehicle. In January 2018, two people were hospitalized in another collision near the Highway 500 interchange. A month later, a hit-and-run in a crosswalk left a pedestrian with a broken arm near Northeast 49th Street.

Northeast 112th Avenue, from East Mill Plain Boulevard to Northeast 28th Street, has been highlighted as a priority in Vancouver’s 2020-2025 Transportation Improvement Program, which points to a need for “corridor improvements to bring NE 112th Ave up to urban arterial standards, and address safety and accessibility issues for all modes of travel.”

The project is as yet unfunded, with no planned timeline.

Loretta Callahan, spokeswoman for Vancouver’s public works department, wrote in an email to The Columbian that the city has worked with adjacent property owners along the Northeast 112th Avenue corridor to install and upgrade sidewalks over the past several years.

“That work is ongoing,” Callahan wrote, adding that the city additionally secured a Safe Routes to School partnership with the school districts, and they work together on grant applications. Safe Routes to School is a program through the U.S. Department of Transportation that promotes walking and biking to school through infrastructure improvements.

“Further, the city actively seeks state and federal grants to improve/maintain pedestrian and bicycle safety throughout Vancouver,” Callahan wrote. “One sidewalk infill project that is expected to go out to bid in February is along the east side of Northeast 112th Avenue, between Northeast Chkalov Drive and Northeast Ninth Street. That is currently planned for construction starting late this spring.”

A bench trial started Tuesday in Clark County Superior Court for one of three men accused in a fatal Brush Prairie shooting that the prosecution says resulted from a drug deal gone wrong.

Judge John Fairgrieve will decide whether Jonathan “Jon Jon” Oson, 38, is guilty of first-degree murder and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. Oson opted not to be tried by a jury about two weeks ago.

Oson and two co-defendants, Raul Flores, 46, and Justin Schell, 45, were charged in connection with the June 9, 2018, slaying of Ariel Romano, 29.

Deputy Prosecutor Kristine Foerster said during her opening statement that Oson was the driving force behind the robbery that turned deadly.

“Addiction and greed drove Jonathan Oson to try and rob Ariel Romano. Anger drove Mr. Oson and his accomplice to kill” the victim, Foerster told the judge.

Defense attorney David Kurtz chose not to give an opening statement.

Washington State Patrol troopers had responded about 1:40 a.m. to what was believed to be a fatal hit-and-run crash on state Highway 503 near Northeast 119th Street. They found Romano dead inside his car, which had struck a large tree near Prairie High School.

Investigators initially thought Romano died in the crash while street racing. However, the Clark County Medical Examiner’s Office found that Romano died of a shotgun wound to the left side of his head and ruled his death a homicide.

According to court documents, Romano was known to sell drugs and, based on phone records, had made plans to meet with Schell to sell to him. The men arranged to meet about 1:30 a.m. at a WinCo Foods on Northeast 119th Street.

Instead, Schell set up Romano to be robbed by Oson and Flores, court records say. Foerster said Oson forced Schell — a man he’d met through a work release program in another criminal case — at gunpoint to find him “someone, anyone to rob” on the night before the shooting.

Schell looked through his cellphone and picked Romano, whom he knew from an outpatient drug treatment program. Their relationship centered on drugs, Foerster said.

Once Oson had his target, he recruited Flores as the driver, the prosecutor said. The two men had only known each other for a few weeks. Flores had been working on Oson’s car, and they had used drugs together, Foerster said.

Phone records and surveillance footage from around the Vancouver area show the men planning their ambush before arriving at WinCo, Foerster said.

It’s unknown what exactly happened in the store’s parking lot. Video surveillance from WinCo showed a fight in the parking lot between Romano, Flores and Oson, court records say. Romano fled in his Toyota Corolla and was pursued by a Lincoln LS sedan, driven by Flores, with Oson as the passenger, according to an affidavit of probable cause.

The vehicles were southbound on Highway 503 when the Lincoln pulled up along the driver’s side of Romano’s car, and Oson shot him. Romano lost control of his vehicle, left the road and crashed. The Lincoln sped away, the affidavit said.

Once troopers were aware that a homicide had occurred, an investigator tied the three defendants to the killing using phone records. Oson had been using multiple phones, but Facebook messages showed all of the numbers he was using, Foerster said. Additionally, cellphone tower location data puts Oson near the scene minutes after the slaying, she said.

The prosecution noted Oson also told a cell mate while at the Clark County Jail that “they got me on assault, but they’re going to get me on murder.” Oson allegedly told the same man where the murder weapon, a chrome shotgun, was located, and law enforcement used that information to find the gun, Foerster said.

An analysis of the shotgun found Oson’s DNA on the trigger and pump, according to the prosecution.

“It’s important to look at the big picture. Each piece of evidence doesn’t provide a clear picture, but when put together, the picture is absolutely clear. … It is clear that Mr. Oson is responsible for the death,” Foerster said.

Oson’s trial continues today.

Flores pleaded guilty in October to second-degree conspiracy to commit murder. His sentencing is set for Feb. 11. Schell is set to go to trial April 20.

Avast, ye mateys, we’ll tell you a tale

of middle school students encouraged to fail.

It’s the best way to learn, says their teacher Joe,

to build boats that survive the sea’s ebb and flow.

•••

ASTORIA, Ore. — The news of the Tohoku earthquake and subsequent tsunami off the coast of Japan gripped the world in 2011. The reverberations of that quake were felt for years in the Pacific Northwest, where debris from the 9.0 earthquake washed up years later along the coast.

That debris served as the inspiration for the Columbia River Maritime Museum’s miniboat program, which challenges elementary and middle school students to build five-foot sailboats, sent out to the Pacific Ocean in hopes they make it to Japan.

About 100 students in Joe Boken’s seventh-grade science class at Wy’east Middle School joined this year’s cohort. Students at the Evergreen Public Schools campus divided into teams. One class built a miniboat, named S/V Kizuna Gou, which was launched off the coast of Japan on Thanksgiving day. Another group constructed a drifter, a small floating device that collects data on ocean currents as it goes.

And on Tuesday, students traveled to the museum in Astoria to see off the S/V Liberty, which begins her maiden voyage across the Pacific later this week.

It’s not guaranteed that the little ships will make it across the ocean — and to date, none have. That’s also not strictly the point. But the vast majority of work is done by students, with classes brainstorming ideas for their boats and trouble-shooting problems.

“I’m doing my best when I’m not doing anything,” Boken said.

Tommy Willson, a 12-year-old seventh grader, helped waterproof the boat’s equipment several weeks ago. Tommy said he appreciated the class’ hands-on approach.

“My brain focused better,” Tommy said, trying not to get sticky putty on his clothes. “It helps me not get distracted.”

Cora Douglass, meanwhile, was pounding rivets into a sail decorated with Baby Yoda.

“We get to experience it more ourselves,” the 13-year-old said.

Nate Sandel, the museum’s director of education, has overseen the program for three years. In that time, more than 1,200 students have been involved in the launch of 24 miniboats, which have traveled more than 57,000 nautical miles.

These little boats are also collecting thousands of data points as they meander across the Pacific, tracking wind, currents and wave height. Students will be able to follow the boats’ journeys live via GPS tracker.

“We’re really opening their eyes to the greater world,” Sandel said.

The museum saw off Liberty and boats from other area schools at a symposium Tuesday, complete with toasts to a safe journey and a christening ceremony, shattering bottles of sparkling apple cider over the ship.

Jocelyn Diaz, 12, took one good whack, shattering the bottle to gasps and cheers from the crowd. She’d been anxious all morning, Jocelyn said. She’d heard it was bad luck not to successfully break the champagne — um, cider — bottle on the first try.

“I think it’s going to make it,” she said.

Boken, who has been teaching in Washington for nearly a decade, said he attended school at a time when rote memorization was the style du jour. As he started to develop his own practice, he rejected that, seeing students learn best when they were getting their hands dirty.

“When I put something in front of them to touch, they’re suddenly interested,” he said.

Sometimes that means students make mistakes. And that’s fine, said Boken. He encourages that: When he says “fail,” his students are supposed to cheer. It helps them develop critical thinking skills, and consider the impact of their choices on their greater world.

“I’m in awe,” Boken said. “It’s not just empowering, it’s telling them to demonstrate their ability to create.”

Following Tuesday’s ceremony, the Wy’east students handed their boat to the Columbia River Bar Pilots, who normally guide shipping boats in and out of the river. This week, their charge will be Liberty and the S/V Goonies, constructed by students at Warrenton Grade School in Warrenton, Ore.

The bad news is rough waters prevented the bar pilots from heading out to the coast on Tuesday. The good news is, they tried them out in the river; both boats survived the initial test.

“Any special instructions for the bar pilots?” Sandel asked a group of students before heading out with Liberty.

“Take good care of the boat.”

•••

The students waved “goodbye” from the dock,

as a quarter past noon appeared on the clock.

The bar pilots put her down for some tests,

while reporters watched wearing bright orange life vests.

And later this week, if weather is fair,

Liberty will head to Japan or elsewhere.

The journey’s a win, so long as kids learn

to fail, as Joe says. Now our song must adjourn.

A man reportedly driving erratically in Northeast Hazel Dell died Tuesday afternoon after his Saturn Ion sedan collided with an ambulance.

The dead man was identified as Michael E. Ryan, 41, of Vancouver.

Deputies were dispatched at 1:48 p.m. to the 3600 block of Northeast 78th Street for a report of a two-vehicle crash. Medics and firefighters responded to the call at the same time, according to emergency dispatch logs.

An AMR ambulance occupied by two paramedics was traveling east  on 78th Street when it was struck by westbound Ryan’s sedan, according to a news release from the sheriff’s office. The ambulance was not on a call and there was no patient in the ambulance, according to the Clark County Sheriff’s Office, which is in charge of the investigation.

First responders freed the Ryan from the wreckage, which took an extended amount of time. Medics performed life-saving measures on the driver, but the driver was later pronounced dead at a hospital, according to the sheriff’s office. 

The paramedics suffered injuries that are not believed to be life threatening. They were taken by ambulance to a hospital for evaluation, according to AMR.

Deputies asked people to avoid the area while the crash was investigated. The eastbound lanes of 78th Street were closed at 25th Avenue; westbound traffic on 78th Street was blocked at Northeast St. Johns Boulevard, the sheriff’s office said. The road fully reopened by about 6 p.m.

The crash is being investigated by the Clark County Sheriff’s Traffic Unit.

The Vancouver-headquartered M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust closed out the decade with a bang: It invested $66.3 million in organizations across the Northwest in 2019, the most it’s ever funded in a given year.

The long-standing trust serves nonprofits in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Vancouver, B.C., in the areas of arts and culture, scientific research, health, education and human services — the last being the most-funded sector.

Also, last year the trust passed $1 billion in cumulative charitable giving since its inception in 1975. It was founded by the estate of Melvin Jack Murdock, a philanthropist, investor and co-founder of Tektronix. Fall marked the trust’s largest individual quarter of grant-making.

There isn’t really any particular reason for the distinction, except that nonprofits brought forward a lot of great projects and programs in 2019 that the trust is in the position to fund, said Colby Reade, spokesman for the trust. The number of applications each year tends to be fairly consistent, he added, and includes a mix of familiar faces and groups who have never solicited funding from the trust before.

The most recent round of $18.7 million in grants included about $8.6 million for Washington and $1,394,000 for groups associated with Clark County.

• Columbia Land Trust was awarded $450,000 to acquire forestland around Wildboy Creek, so it can protect the forest and restore the watershed.

• The Tacoma-based NW Furniture bank received $348,000 to add staff to its Vancouver location, which opened last year.

• All God’s Children International, a Vancouver-based orphan care agency, received $268,000 to hire new staff to expand international intervention training.

• Ridgefield’s Cedar Tree Classical Christian School got $250,000 to expand its K-12 campus.

• Shared Hope International, a Vancouver-based nonprofit aimed at ending sex trafficking, was awarded $78,000 for an internship program.

“We are grateful to have the opportunity to partner with these organizations that serve the diverse needs of communities across the Pacific Northwest in innovative ways,” Steve Moore, the trust’s executive director said in a news release. “As we prepare to mark our 45th year of service to Pacific Northwest communities, we are excited to continue to identify programs and projects that help ensure every individual and family in our region has the opportunity to flourish and thrive.”

What’s in store for 2020 at Murdock? Funding more projects guided by groups intimately familiar with their communities’ issues and how best to address them.

SEATTLE — You might not know this, but in Washington, schools don’t have to teach sex education.

State law only requires school districts to teach students about HIV and AIDS prevention every year, starting no later than the fifth grade. But after a failed attempt last year, lawmakers are again trying to make comprehensive sexual health education a mandate for all Washington public schools.

Supporters argue that the lack of a consistent, statewide set of standards for sex education means students may fill in the gaps themselves — and expose themselves to risk.

A survey of nearly 9,000 eighth-graders in 2018 found about two-thirds of them had been taught about abstinence and other ways to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Still, “we’ve seen an incredibly disturbing trend with a climb in (adolescent) STD rates in our state,” according to Laurie Dils, who oversees sex education for the state’s Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.

On Thursday, she presented the recommendations of a state work group that wants the Legislature to require all public schools to provide some form of sex education to every student — from kindergarten to 12th grade — by the 2022-23 academic year.

The proposal certainly has its opponents, including politicians and parents who wonder why elementary kids need to know about reproduction and gender identity. A legislative hearing last week highlighted some questions and concerns.

What do Washington schools currently teach about sexual health?

If local school boards choose to go beyond HIV and AIDS prevention, they must use materials that align with the state’s Healthy Youth Act — meaning the instruction needs be medically and scientifically accurate, age-appropriate and inclusive of all students.

The state does not set a specific curriculum or required content. But it does define “sexual health education” as an individual’s developing body, mind and social interactions. The definition also covers skills to build healthy and meaningful relationships, choosing healthy behaviors and understanding the influence that family, peers and the media have on sex.

In 2018, the state superintendent’s office surveyed all 295 school districts about sex education. Of the 285 that responded, 93 percent provided some instruction in at least one grade band: 65 percent in kindergarten through fifth grade, 86 percent in grades 6-8 and 75 percent in grades 9-12.

Students shared what they were taught in school on the Healthy Youth Survey: In 10th grade — as 26 percent of students reported ever having sex — nearly three-quarters had lessons on preventing pregnancy and STDs, either through abstinence or other methods. In their senior year, about 4 in 10 students were taught about abstinence or other prevention methods, and 47 percent said they ever had sex.

Why does the state superintendent’s office want all schools to teach sex education?

Because, the superintendent’s office says, evidence shows that teens face significant sexual health risks and sexual violence.

Data from the Washington State Department of Health show that, since 2014, the number of adolescents in Washington with STDs has been on the rise, with the largest increases among males. While gonorrhea rates climbed 71 percent in just four years, syphilis rates more than doubled among 15- to 19-year-olds.

And more students in the eighth and 12th grades have reported unwanted sexual contact and dating violence, according to the Healthy Youth Survey.

Andrea Alejandra, a student at Washington State University Vancouver, told lawmakers Thursday about her experience with sexual abuse and growing up in a religious household.

“I didn’t know what boundaries were. I didn’t know how to say, ‘No,’ ” she said.

“I wish I had something like this to tell me, ‘This is your body and you have the right to protect it,’ ” Alejandra added. “I wish someone had told me at an earlier age.”

What does “comprehensive” sex education even mean?

The state superintendent’s office lists 20 different topics that it uses to define “comprehensive” sexual health education, including:

• The benefits of abstaining from sex.

• How well condoms work — or don’t — and how to obtain and use them.

• The importance of limiting the number of sexual partners.

• Sexual orientation and gender roles, identity and expression.

• The relationship between alcohol and other drug use and risky sexual behavior.

House Bill 2184 would require every public school to provide comprehensive sexual health education to each student by the 2022-23 school year. But starting in 2020-21, school districts already providing comprehensive sexual health education must include information about affirmative consent and bystander training.

Senate Bill 5395, which died during last year’s legislative session but was reintroduced this week, would hasten the requirement for statewide sex education to September 2021.

Both bills also would require schools to teach students about affirmative consent — meaning, all parties need to consciously, intentionally and voluntarily agree to engage in sexual activity.

Does the proposed legislation impede local control or the right of parents to opt their children out of sex education?

Under either bill, school districts could still choose or create their own sexual health curriculum, provided it aligns with state standards. Parents and guardians also would retain their right to opt their children out of such classes.

State Sen. Brad Hawkins, the ranking Republican on the Senate’s education committee, voted against SB 5395 last year. A former school board member in Eastmont, he said the Legislature should defer to locally elected officials and not mandate comprehensive sex education across all 295 school districts.

“That would be a significant erosion of local control,” said Hawkins, R-East Wenatchee. “People closest to an issue are usually in the best position to make a decision for their communities, and our school districts are not arms of the state.”

Who’s for and against this proposal?

Most of the controversy centers on what would be taught in kindergarten through third grade.

In an online survey that drew more than 10,000 responses — a majority of which came from parents — the state superintendent’s office found 58 percent of respondents believe comprehensive sexual health education should not be required across grades K-12. The other 42 percent said it should be.

Last year, the Senate divided along party lines to advance SB 5395 to the House, where the legislation died.

But in the Senate’s education committee, many organizations — and some young people — testified in support of the bill: the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the state teachers union, Planned Parenthood and students from Olympia High School and Western Washington University.

On Thursday, the House education committee reserved little time for public comment on HB 2184. Many parents and students testified in support of the proposed legislation.

Others worried about exposing elementary students to sexual content.

Riel Lord drove from Camas to testify against HB 2184, arguing that one currently approved curriculum instructs students to search online for information about their body without warning them about the dangers of pornography.

“They want to teach second-graders that cats and dogs reproduce. Why do second-graders need to know that?” said Rep. Vicki Kraft, R-Vancouver. “The more this becomes a conversation that we introduce this at younger grades … these decisions lead to more sex among teenagers.”

The Clark County Medical Examiner’s Office has identified the two teenage boys who were struck and killed by a pickup early Tuesday morning in east Vancouver.

Taylor T. Crepeau, 14, and Andrew A. Friedt, 17, both of Vancouver, died from multiple blunt force injuries, according to the medical examiner, who listed their manners of death as accidental.

Taylor was an eighth-grader at Wy’east Middle School, according to Evergreen Public Schools.

Friedt was previously a student at Mountain View High School but had not been enrolled with the school district for about a year, district spokeswoman Gail Spolar said in an email Wednesday.

In a letter to parents, Wy’east Middle School Interim Principal Kate DeWein said news of the boys’ deaths has spread at the school, and trained counselors are on hand to help grieving students and staff.

The school is also supporting Taylor’s family and will pass along information they wish to share, DeWein said.

“We know the days ahead will provide us challenges, and we will continue to work and support our students and staff during this difficult time,” DeWein said.

The crash occurred shortly before 6:30 a.m. near the intersection of Northeast 23rd Circle and 112th Avenue, east of Interstate 205.

The boys died at the scene. They were struck by a full-size Chevrolet pickup after stepping off the curb and into the road. Both were wearing dark-colored clothing, according to the Vancouver Police Department.

Police said the driver, who has not been identified, remained on scene. Impairment on the part of the driver is not believed to be a factor. Police said the driver did not see the teens and was unable to stop before striking them.

Northeast 112th Avenue is a five-lane arterial with partial sidewalks; there are no sidewalks on the east side of the road in that area. There are streetlights but no traffic signal or marked crosswalk at that intersection.

The avenue has a deadly history, and it has been highlighted as a priority in Vancouver’s 2020-2025 Transportation Improvement Program. The project is unfunded, however.

A 61-year-old Vancouver woman was sentenced Wednesday to 14 years in prison on federal drug charges for trafficking methamphetamine and heroin.

Darlene Michelle Sturdevant must serve the sentence, as well as five years of supervised release, for conspiring to possess drugs with intent to distribute them in the Portland-Vancouver metro area, possession with intent to distribute heroin and committing an offense while on release, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office District of Oregon.

Sturdevant was a passenger in a vehicle driven by Rene Elene Griffen Nunn, 60, also of Vancouver, when they were stopped by the Clackamas County Interagency Task Force and Drug Enforcement Administration agents in February 2018, court records say. Investigators believed Sturdevant and Nunn were driving from Vancouver to Portland to distribute drugs.

Officers searched the vehicle and found about $156,000, a digital scale and about 87 grams of heroin in Nunn’s purse, prosecutors said.

Investigators then searched a Vancouver residence shared by Sturdevant, Nunn and others and seized an additional 367 grams of heroin and a kilogram of methamphetamine, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Sturdevant was charged with drug trafficking and released pending trial. After pleading guilty in October 2018, the DEA learned that Sturdevant was again selling drugs.

On Jan. 29, 2019, agents executed a search warrant at her new residence in Portland. They seized 558 grams of heroin, digital sales, a drug ledger and $27,250, prosecutors said.

As part of her sentence, a judge ordered Sturdevant to forfeit $183,199 seized by law enforcement.

Nunn pleaded guilty in October to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute heroin. She is scheduled to be sentenced on March 4.

The Washington Senate approved a bill Wednesday requiring every public school to provide comprehensive sex education.

Senate Bill 5395 was approved 28-21 in a largely party-line vote in the Democrat-controlled Senate. The only crossover was Sen. Tim Sheldon, D-Potlatch, who caucuses and typically votes with Republicans.

Legislators representing parts of Clark County stuck to party lines, with Sen. Annette Cleveland, D-Vancouver, supporting the bill and Sens. Ann Rivers, R-La Center, and Lynda Wilson, R-Vancouver, opposing it.

None of the three county senators spoke during the short but intense debate prior to Wednesday’s roll call.

Democrats backed the legislation as a way to encourage healthy, consensual relationships, deter sexual violence and guard against sexual predators. The legislation, they said, includes an opt-out clause so parents can have their child excused from sex education.

“Comprehensive sexual education is about safety, first and foremost,” said Sen. Claire Wilson, D-Auburn.

“It does not direct teachers to instruct students on how to have sex or how to promote sexual activity,” Wilson said. “The curriculum is age-appropriate, and it is adopted by local school boards.”

Republicans countered that the bill weakens the authority of parents and school boards and imposes edicts from the state’s Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Sen. Brad Hawkins, R-East Wenatchee, said many Republicans are not opposed to responsible sex education.

“We do have significant concerns about the state mandating sex education across all 295 of our school districts,” he said. “We feel that is a significant erosion of local control and that those closest to an issue like this are usually in the best position to make decisions.”

The House is considering a similar sex education bill, House Bill 2184, sponsored by Rep. Monica Stonier, D-Vancouver, and Rep. Sharon Tomiko Santos, D-Seattle, chair of the House Education Committee.

Sex education has been a hotly contested issue in Battle Ground Public Schools.

The district had spent more than a year drafting curriculum and tweaking policy around what to teach students before reversing itself, first eliminating a requirement that sex education be taught, except for fifth-grade lessons on puberty and human development. Then, in response to teachers who said they were having to strip lessons out of their curriculum, the board added an exemption for elective classes.

Last week, the district approved an elective version of its high school health class that will include a sexual health education curriculum developed by the district as well as lessons on gender identity and sexual orientation, birth control methods (including abstinence), sexually transmitted diseases and consent.

WOODLAND — Residents of the Lewis River RV Park have received a second extension to their power service, courtesy of another last-minute deal between the park’s owner and the Cowlitz County Public Utility District.

The service cutoff date, previously scheduled for today, has been pushed back to Jan. 30, but the week has brought little other clarity about the long-term future of the park, which is home to approximately 60 families.

An underlying dispute between the park’s current land owner, Jerry Reeves, and its former owner, John Berman, remains unresolved.

Neither party appeared willing to budge on Wednesday afternoon, and each person directly blamed the other in separate interviews. In the meantime, the park’s residents have been left in the lurch, with no clear direction about how long the lights will remain on.

“They should be battling in court, and we (should be) left out of it,” said Valerie Gardner, one of the park’s residents. “It’s left us with, ‘Well, looks like we’d better get generators.’ ”

Cowlitz County officials have gotten involved, as well. Axel Swanson, the county’s chief of staff, said the county has a public interest in working to make sure the park’s power, sewer, water and garbage services remain active during the next few weeks.

The situation arose last week when utility staff notified residents that the RV park was facing a Jan. 16 power cutoff because it had recently changed owners and the new owner, Reeves, had refused to set up an account with the utility district.

Reeves contended that the park’s previous owner and manager, Berman, was the one who had shut off power. Berman replied that he was obligated to terminate service when he ceased to be the park’s owner, and it would be up to Reeves to restart it.

The change in ownership stems from an ongoing legal dispute that began several years ago, and it isn’t the first time the park has changed owners. In fact, in the past three years, the park has twice bounced from Reeves to Berman, then back to Reeves.

According to Cowlitz County District Court records, Reeves’ ex-wife, Gayle Reeves, received a $7 million judgement against him in 2010, stemming from their divorce. Gayle Reeves passed away in 2017, but before she died, she assigned the judgement to the Gail A. Reeves Trust and named Berman, an attorney based in Tigard, Ore., as the assigned trustee.

Representing the trust in court, Berman filed for a writ of execution in 2017 to have the Lewis River RV Park’s underlying land sold at auction. The trust came in as the top bidder, essentially bidding $600,000 of the money Jerry Reeves still owed to the trust to buy the property.

The sale included a one-year period in which Reeves could buy the property back for the same price, which he did in 2018. Berman then filed a second writ of execution in late 2018, repeating the process and this time buying the property for $1.3 million of the money Reeves owed to the trust.

Berman took over the park’s operations in March of 2019 through a management company called Lewis River RV Park LLC, but Reeves again paid the necessary money and recovered the park property in December, setting up the Jan. 14 handover of the property back to Reeves.

Berman filed another writ of execution this week, and when asked on Wednesday if he planned to repeat the process again, he replied that he did, and he said he would keep doing it until the trust had collected all of the money Reeves owed from the original $7 million judgement.

For the moment, however, the park belongs to Reeves, and Berman said that makes it Reeves’ responsibility to maintain the utilities.

Reeves told The Columbian that even though he owns the park land, Berman should still be responsible for reconnecting the power because Berman’s LLC held all the contracts with tenants.

Berman disagreed, and he doesn’t appear to be alone in that assessment. Representatives of the legal aid program Washington Justice Project traveled to the park on Tuesday afternoon to give a presentation about tenant rights for the residents.

The key point, according to Lisa Waldvogel, an attorney with the Justice Project, is that under RCW 59.20 — Washington’s Manufactured/Mobile Home Landlord-Tenant Act — RV park tenants are entitled to advance notice before a park is shut down, and the park’s owner is obligated to supply utilities as long as the park is active. That obligation is inherited from prior park owners, she said.

“We are prepared to enforce the rights of the residents in court,” she said.

Cowlitz County and utility staff said there are currently no more meetings scheduled before the new Jan. 30 cutoff date, but all the parties said they would continue working to try to find a long-term solution for the park.

Wednesday was a damp and gloomy day around the Northwest, and not much better here in Vancouver. Rainfall was on the light side, but heavier rain was moving inland. We will also see some breezy conditions with southerly winds 25-35 mph.

With the south winds, highs will be in the mid-50s despite all the clouds and rain. Looking ahead for the next week or so, I see more rain and showers heading our way and quite mild conditions with more days with temperatures into the 50s. We are in a mild, wet period. The ski areas will have some rain off and on as the freezing level jumps around.

At least our hours of daylight are getting longer each day, although the clouds mask that somewhat. The folks up in Utqiagvik, Alaska (formerly Barrow), are having a joyful day as today the sun rose again, the first time since Nov. 18. It was slightly under an hour of sunlight, but hey, spring is on its way.

North of Clark County there was a flood watch out for today through Friday for rapid rises on the rivers in Western Washington due to high freezing levels and 3 to 6 inches of rain in the Cascades and Olympics melting plenty of snow.

Wednesday, Kelso was the warmest with a 50-degree high temperature followed closely by 48 degrees in Vancouver.

No hard freezes on the way anytime soon.

Before too long we will be hearing the groundhog’s prediction for the rest of the winter. I’m sure it will be a good one for us. So, early spring in the offing? Or a sudden quick freeze like in February 1989? Only time will tell. Time flies.

No one likes to finish dead last, so let’s give a big thank you to Hawaii and Rhode Island.

Those are the only two states ranked worse to drive in than Washington, according to a WalletHub report released Tuesday.

To develop its 2020 rankings, the personal finance website examined 31 different factors, including gas prices, rush hour congestion, commute times, parking, auto maintenance costs, insurance premiums, traffic fatalities, vehicle thefts and road quality.

The study also considered more esoteric measures, such as car washes per capita and number of precipitation days. Believe it or not, Washington didn’t even finish in the bottom five for that rainy metric.

Washington, however, was ranked 48th for gas prices, 44th for uninsured drivers and road quality, 43rd for car thefts, 41st for commute times, and 40th for auto maintenance costs.

The report wasn’t all doom and gloom. Washington ranked near the top among the 50 states in a half-dozen measures, including:

• First for alternative fuel stations per capita and overall driving laws.

• Second for adults who always (or almost always) wear seat belts.

• Third for bridge quality.

• Fifth for reported wind and hail storms.

• Sixth for traffic fatalities.

There is still no way to put a smiley face on Washington’s No. 48 overall ranking.

In case the state’s rather dismal rating is enough to make you want to pick up and move, you might start looking for employment and housing in Iowa. The Hawkeye State was judged as the best to drive in, followed by Tennessee, North Carolina, Texas and Nebraska.

If you aren’t quite ready to reserve a U-Haul, then you can blame Washington’s poor showing on Seattle. In September, WalletHub ranked Seattle 94th out of the nation’s 100 largest cities for the best (or worst) for driving.

An internal audit released this week found numerous flaws in how Clark County maintains contracts.

The county’s contract maintenance process “is limited by a lack of vision, communication, coordination and training,” according to a report released Tuesday by the Clark County Auditor’s Office. The audit found that a decentralized structure, in which departments use different tools and systems, leads to inconsistent data and reporting.

“This is an issue the county needs to address,” Clark County Auditor Greg Kimsey said in a news release. “We hope that by identifying core issues and suggesting potential solutions, we will help the county establish a capable and resilient contract maintenance process.”

The audit referred to several contracting issues, including late and incorrect invoicing and inaccurate payments. Most recently, in September, the state Auditor’s Office released a report that said the county violated federal procurement requirements by awarding a contract to a company involved in the ongoing cleanup of Camp Bonneville.

The Clark County Audit Oversight Committee requested the audit in 2018 as part of its biannual plan.

“We were alerted that, probably, there were some changes that could be made,” said Clark County Council Chair Eileen Quiring, who also serves on the oversight committee. “I think there has been a concern on the council to see how these contracts are run.”

County councilors say that they have heard of many issues with contracts signed prior to Clark County Manager Shawn Henessee’s arrival in July 2018.

“Clearly, there’s work to be done in getting all of the processes in order, and I believe that’s what the county manager has been working to do in his year-and-a-half on the job,” Councilor Temple Lentz said.

County departments, with many employees who haven’t been trained on the subject, are responsible for managing their own contracts after they’re awarded — in lieu of a centralized contract function. Instead, departments have implemented filing and software systems that differ from each other, creating duplication between departments, the audit found.

The audit is based on a sample of hundreds of contracts in 2017 and 2018 with a minimum value of $10,000. Results revealed 34 file errors and data inconsistency that was well short of the expected accuracy rate.

“I think I was a little bit surprised, and we have work to do,” Quiring said. “But I think there should be a more coordinated effort.”

The audit recommended that the county develop a long-range strategy, define the structure of a contract oversight program, create a countywide index of all contracts and files, and offer contact management skills training.

“Overall, the county is in agreement that there are opportunities for improvement to the contract management function,” Deputy County Manager Kathleen Otto wrote in a response to the audit.

County officials say the changes will take time due to the number of contracts that are managed each year and the complicated web of systems that manage them. The county plans to have an employee develop, implement and manage a central management program on a full-time basis, a process that is scheduled to begin early this year.

“We have work to do, and it won’t happen overnight,” Quiring said.