Nonprofits and businesses will be collecting feminine hygiene projects this month to distribute to low-income and homeless women and girls as part of an effort called Every28Days.

Pads and tampons cannot be purchased with food stamps and may be expensive for those with limited means. Impoverished or homeless women and girls are at increased risk of toxic shock syndrome, pelvic infections and challenges in cleaning clothes during their menstrual cycle, according to a news release from nonprofit homeless service provider Share.

“Women experiencing homelessness often have resources to connect them to a safe place to sleep or a hot meal to eat. But, when it comes to taking care of their feminine hygiene needs, they often have nowhere to turn. The Every28Days effort has changed this for the women and girls of Clark County and helped provide dignity regardless of circumstances,” Diane McWithey, executive director of Share, said in the news release.

Groups interested in hosting a collection bin should contact Heather Walker with Share at hwalker@sharevancouver.org.

While Share is the main host behind Every28Days, several other organizations are involved: Council for the Homeless, YWCA Clark County, Children’s Center, Hough Foundation, Daybreak Youth Services, Columbia River Mental Health Services, North County Food Bank, Open House Ministries, the Parent-Child Assistance Program, Giving Closet, A Caring Closet, The Salvation Army, Lifeline Connections, Janus Youth Programs, the Arc of Southwest Washington and 22 family resource centers around the county.

Clark County Public Health is seeking nominations for its annual Public Health Community Award. The award recognizes both an individual and an organization in Clark County for their contributions to promoting and protecting community health, according to a county press releases.

Nominations are due by 5 p.m. Feb. 28. Visit the Public Health website to submit a nomination online or download a nomination form to submit by mail.

“This award highlights the great contributions to public health by individuals and organizations across our community,” said Adrianne Fairbanks, Public Health Advisory Council chair. “Public Health values its community partners’ efforts to address health issues in Clark County, and this award honors that work.”

Strong nominations include individuals and organizations that work to prevent health problems, forge partnerships and have communitywide impact, according to the press release. A committee of Public Health Advisory Council members and Public Health staff will review nominations and make the selections.

Awards will be presented during the Clark County Board of Health meeting at 8:30 a.m. April 22 in the sixth-floor hearing room of the Public Service Center, 1300 Franklin St., Vancouver.

The Honorable Frank L. and Arlene G. Price Foundation seems grant applications from charities in Clark and Cowlitz counties. The foundation, founded by retired Cowlitz County Superior Court Judge Frank Price and Kelso art teacher Arlene Price, will accept applications through April 15. Grants will be awarded in July.

Last year, the foundation granted $317,357 to charities with a focus on health, education and historical preservation. More information and application forms can be found at pricefoundation.net. Or, interested nonprofits can contact Kay Dalke-Sheadel at 360-448-9358 or dalkeconsulting@gmail.com.

Council for the Homeless issued a severe-weather alert Friday, requesting that homeless shelters expand capacity Sunday and Monday.

The forecast from the National Weather Services calls for frosty conditions in Vancouver and low temperatures at or near freezing.

Those seeking shelter should call the Housing Hotline at 360-695-9677; the hotline is open 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. during the week and 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.

How wet is it going to be this weekend? Check our local weather coverage.

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

One person dead in shooting on Fourth Plain in Vancouver

An 18-year-old man was fatally shot Tuesday afternoon following an altercation with an acquaintance in the parking lot outside a small strip mall in central Vancouver.

The alleged shooter, identified by police as Antoine Steven Archer, 20, was located a short time later after seeking treatment for a gunshot wound to his hand, the Vancouver Police Department announced Tuesday night.

• Police arrest alleged shooter, ID victim
• Day 2: Suspect in fatal Vancouver shooting faces murder allegation

Camas principal apologizes for ‘visceral’ post about Bryant

A Camas principal is under fire after comments she made on her personal Facebook page about the death of basketball star Kobe Bryant.

The former Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard was among nine people, including his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, who died Jan. 26 in a helicopter crash outside Los Angeles. That same day, Camas High School Principal Liza Sejkora wrote, “Not gonna lie, seems to me that karma caught up with a rapist today.”

• Facebook post draws national attention
• Day 2: Camas principal on leave after getting threats over Bryant comments
• Day 3: Camas High School principal resigns after social media backlash

Former Evergreen administrator pleads guilty to sexual misconduct with student

A former associate principal at Evergreen High School pleaded guilty Tuesday following allegations that she had sex with a student at the school.

Sadie R. Pritchard, 42, pleaded guilty in Clark County Superior Court to second-degree sexual misconduct with a minor and communicating with a minor for immoral purposes. She was arrested in June 2018 on suspicion of three counts of first-degree sexual misconduct with a minor.

• Sadie R. Pritchard pleaded guilty to second-degree sexual misconduct with a minor, communicating with a minor for immoral purposes

Defense: Hartley Anderson, 5, fatally injured herself

The family and supporters of 5-year-old Hartley Anderson sat quietly in the courtroom Tuesday afternoon as the trial began for the man accused of beating her to death.

The scene was markedly different from raucous earlier court proceedings. Clark County Superior Court Judge Jennifer Snider had warned those in the gallery that any outbursts could lead to a mistrial.

• Mother’s ex-boyfriend, Ryan M. Burge, on trial for murder in girl’s death

Three businesses considering space at 805 Broadway building in Vancouver

For about 10 years, a two-story brick cube at the foot of the 805 Broadway building in downtown Vancouver has been vacant. But a newly completed renovation has transformed it into an open space with natural light entering from large windows on three of the four walls.

It’s now for rent. No tenant is secured for the 13,460-square-foot space, but three businesses are considering moving into the spot, said Tamara Fuller, vice president of Colliers International, the leasing agent for the building. The interior is still in its bare form, with wooden railings and unfinished walls, and it is ready for a tenant to customize the space.

• Space has been empty for nearly a decade

A crash on the Interstate 205 Bridge killed one person just after 1 a.m. Saturday, according to a press release from the Portland Police Bureau.

A car smashed into the back of a tractor-trailer in the southbound lanes over the Columbia River at Government Island. Paramedics determined that the driver and only occupant of the car had died.

Portland’s Major Crash Team responded and investigated for more than four hours before reopening all southbound lanes of the freeway.

The driver of the tractor-trailer stayed at the scene and cooperated with police, according to police.

The police bureau said the driver who was killed was a man, but he has not been further identified.

A fire destroyed an outbuilding in Ridgefield early Saturday morning, according to Clark County Fire & Rescue.

CCFR crews were dispatched at 4:39 a.m. to the 4900 block of Northwest 312th Circle for the report of a structure fire.

The first arriving engine found an outbuilding, which Chief John Nohr described as a barn, engulfed in flames. 

Firefighters doused the flames from the building’s exterior, Nohr said. It took about 45 minutes until the blaze was under control, he said. 

There were not many items inside the barn, but two vehicles parked outside near it were burned, Nohr said. 

A total of three engines, a ladder truck and three water tenders responded to the fire. Another engine from Clark County Fire District 6 also helped with the response.

The Clark County Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating the cause.

Greg and Renate Jeppeson packed about 200 cases of Girl Scout Cookies into the back of their pickup truck, parked outside of a warehouse bay door in east Vancouver on Saturday morning.

The couple, from Estacada, Ore., were picking up the cases for Eagle Creek, Ore., Girl Scout Troop 45706 during Girl Scout Cookie Depot Days, which draws more than 1,000 girl scouts and volunteers to warehouses in Vancouver and Oregon where the delicious goodies are housed for distribution.

Their 16-year-old daughter is a member of the troop, along with several other teens around the same age. Renate Jeppeson said it’s her eighth year taking part in the popular annual cookie sale, and she has no doubt that they’ll all be bought up.

“We’ll have to get some more. We always do,” Greg Jeppeson said.

From the warehouses, the Girl Scouts of Oregon and Southwest Washington help transport 1.6 million boxes of cookies in a week, from Feb. 6 to Feb. 12. The booth sales of the cookies start Feb. 14.

The warehouse in Vancouver, Lile North American Moving and Storage, held 40,735 cases containing 488,820 cookie boxes. The organization said it expected 205 girl scout troops to pick up the boxes.

Volunteers, girls and their families all played an integral role in bringing the entire operation together.

The Girl Scouts note that while the most memorable thing about cookie-hawking season may be the young saleswomen posted in front of local grocery stores, there are many volunteers working behind the scenes. They serve a variety of important roles — coordinating booth sales, managing inventory and organizing related events.

People in a line of trucks and minivans waited for their turn to get the packages. The day started around 7 a.m. and the pace had not let up by noon. Volunteers were constantly hauling pallets of the cookie packages, stacked six high, toward the bay doors. A procession of Girl Scouts passed the boxes from each other to the cargo areas of waiting cars.

The eight varieties of cookies include classics such as Thin Mints, Samoas and Tagalongs, among others. New this year is Lemon-Ups, a crispy lemon cookie baked with messages inspired by Scouts.

Karen Hill, CEO of Girl Scouts of Oregon and Southwest Washington, said sales of the cookies have increased almost every year. Hill thanked the community for its support in making that increase possible, but she added that technology has also helped maximize purchases.

Girl Scouts can set up “digital cookie websites,” online stores where fans of Do-si-dos can buy hoards of their favorite treat without going out into the real world. Customers can also use the Girl Scout Cookie Finder, a smartphone app that lets them plug in a ZIP code to find the nearest store with a Girl Scout booth.

“We’re trying very hard to be on the ball with tech,” Hill said. “It’s where the girls want to be.”

Having to participate in the sales teaches girls leadership and financial skills, according to the organization. More than half of Girl Scouts alumnae in business say the cookie program was beneficial to skills they possess today — money management, goal setting and public speaking.

Standing inside the Vancouver warehouse holding a clipboard, 17-year-old Rowan Wiley said she moved to Oregon City, Ore., from a small town in the Puget Sound area, so before this year, her troop only had one truck filled with cookies that distributed to her community.

“It’s been a little busier than what I used to do,” Wiley said. “It’s running more smoothly than I expected. I’ve heard stories about how hectic it can be.”

Wiley said that in the best year of sales she had, she sold around 500 boxes. She said other girls she knows have sold around 2,000. She’s used the digital marketplace to sell to far-flung family members, but she enjoys going out and speaking with people, even if they don’t end up buying.

“I like hearing stories from people that used to be Girl Scouts. (Selling at booths) teaches you a lot about communication, how donations work, keeping inventory,” she said.

People who don’t want to buy cookies for themselves can buy boxes that are donated to Meals on Wheels, according to Hill.

All of the net revenue earned from the cookie sales stay with the local Girl Scouts council. The money funds enrichment experiences like camps and traveling and aids in community service projects that 914 girls and 575 adult members in Clark County take part in.

When former Congressman Don Bonker scans the political landscape, he sees a lack of decorum, courage and moral leadership.

It’s been more than 30 years since the Democrat represented Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, from 1975 to 1989. He gave up his House seat to run, unsuccessfully, for the U.S. Senate in 1988, followed by another unsuccessful Senate bid in 1992.

“When I served, it was a time of civility among the congressional leaders,” Bonker, 82, said in a telephone interview from Washington, D.C., where he continues to work for the APCO Worldwide consulting firm. “There was trust and respect. They had their differences, but they realized they had to work together for the best interests of the country.”

He traces political polarization to the 1994 election, when Republicans scored huge wins and gained control of both the House and Senate. Democrat Tom Foley of Spokane was the first House speaker in 132 years to lose a re-election campaign, and Republican Newt Gingrich of Georgia replaced him.

“He (Gingrich) made it clear he was not interested in bipartisanship,” Bonker said. “He just laid the groundwork, and it has gotten much more worse in the last three years.”

Bonker, who recently wrote his political memoir, “A Higher Calling,” splits his time between Washington, D.C., and a home on Bainbridge Island.

In his book, Bonker highlights 10 people he worked with during a political and business career that started when he was elected Clark County auditor in 1966 at age 29. One of those selected for his “profiles of character” was Foley, whom Bonker describes as “my mentor and also role model that inspired me to do more and serve with honor.”

Another is Doug Coe, who presided over the National Prayer Breakfast for 50 years. Coe was widely respected for bringing people together from different political beliefs and religious faiths, Bonker said.

“No one had more influence on my life than Doug Coe,” he wrote. “He had no position, no title, never became a household name, yet Doug was well known and highly regarded by 10 U.S. presidents, congressional leaders, foreign dignitaries, prominent American and international businessmen.”

Bonker attended Thursday’s National Prayer Breakfast and heard President Donald Trump use the nonpartisan religious event to attack political opponents and question their faith, one day after the Senate acquitted him in the nation’s third presidential impeachment trial.

“As everybody knows, my family, our great country and your president have been put through a terrible ordeal by some very dishonest and corrupt people,” Trump said during the prayer breakfast. “They have done everything possible to destroy us and, by so doing, very badly hurt our nation.”

“I don’t like people who use their faith as justification for doing what they know is wrong,” Trump added. “Nor do I like people who say, ‘I pray for you,’ when they know that’s not so.”

Coe, who died in February 2017, represented “the spirit of reconciliation,” Bonker said.

“What we experienced today was not only something different but disheartening,” he said hours after the event. “Doug Coe, he was a very forgiving person, but he would have felt some betrayal in terms of his vision.”

Denver to Vancouver

Bonker was born and grew up in Denver, raised by a single mother after his father walked out on the family. “A Higher Calling” traces portions of his life, starting after his return to Colorado following a four-year stint in the U.S. Coast Guard.

A pivotal change came when Bonker was contacted by his father, a man he barely knew, who offered to help put him through college if he moved to Vancouver. He first attended Clark College, then Lewis and Clark College in Portland.

His future took another turn when he was selected to become a research intern in Washington, D.C., for Sen. Maurine Neuberger, D-Ore., who later encouraged Bonker to pursue his plan to run for Clark County auditor.

Bonker was anything but a shoo-in. David Lasher, the county Democratic chairman and father of future Clark County Treasurer Doug Lasher, told him the Democrats already had a candidate and sternly warned him to back off or “your career will be over before it is started.”

Bonker was ready to heed his advice, until he returned home and saw that his father had spent the day painting “Don Bonker for County Auditor” signs in the backyard.

Faith and politics

Bonker also had a different introduction to The Columbian. Don Campbell, the paper’s publisher at the time and father of current Publisher Scott Campbell, wanted to meet the young candidate. The first question he blurted out was, “Are you a homosexual?”

Bonker, embarrassed by the question, replied that he was not. The incumbent auditor, Republican Bruce Worthington, was gay and was being pressured to give up his office.

“The Republicans kind of pushed him out,” Bonker said in the phone interview. “And because I was single, it was circulated that ‘he must be another’ — they didn’t even use the word gay then.”

Campbell told Bonker that he had heard speculation about his sexual orientation at the Royal Oaks Country Club. He said he would push back on these rumors, but he also advised Bonker to have a woman by his side during campaign appearances.

Five years later, Bonker married Carolyn Ekern, who has been his wife for nearly 49 years. She said yes to his proposal only after Bonker made a personal commitment to God.

“My decision not only affirmed my proposal to Carolyn, but it implanted a faith that became central in my life going forward,” Bonker wrote. “That faith is at the core of all decisions.”

Bonker, who was re-elected county auditor in 1970, challenged Republican Secretary of State Ludlow Kramer in 1972 but lost. He soon had another opportunity to move up the political ladder when Congresswoman Julia Butler Hansen unexpectedly announced her retirement.

Riding a pro-Democratic wave after President Richard Nixon’s resignation in August 1974, defeated Kramer in a rematch. At age 37, he was part of a big incoming class of freshman Democrats.

Political risk

In “A Higher Calling,” Bonker pays tribute to Sen. Mark Hatfield, R-Ore., a man he believes could have been president when he arrived in Congress in 1975. Hatfield, who had spent eight years as Oregon governor before winning a Senate election in 1966, was considered a rising GOP star and a strong candidate to be Nixon’s running mate in 1968.

There was one problem: Hatfield, an avowed pacifist, was vehemently opposed to the Vietnam War.

Bonker, in the phone interview, said Hatfield was approached to see if would reverse his position on Vietnam or at least tone down his opposition.

“Hatfield felt so strongly about this issue that he couldn’t go along,” he said.

Instead, Nixon chose Maryland Gov. Spiro Agnew, who resigned in 1973 after pleading no contest to income tax invasion following an investigation into contractor kickbacks Agnew had pocketed earlier in his political career. Nixon selected House Minority Leader Gerald Ford of Michigan to replace Agnew, and Ford became president nine months later after the Watergate scandal forced Nixon to resign.

Another politician Bonker singles out in his book is former U.S. Sen. and Washington Gov. Dan Evans. Evans’ Republican base was solidly anti-environment, but that didn’t prevent Evans from supporting the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area Act, the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument Act and other landmark efforts, Bonker said.

“To me, that was political leadership,” he said. “Courage and accomplishing the best, at political risk.”

Bonker sees relatively few people today willing to put their political futures on the line as Republicans jettison long-held positions on trade, Russia and moral values to align themselves with Trump.

“Trump has changed everything on the Republican side,” he said. “They have abandoned their own party’s doctrine to follow Trump’s lead.”

Pillars of democracy

Bonker said he is most concerned about “undermining the pillars of our democracy” and listed three “that are starting to crumble”:

• An independent press that holds elected officials accountable.

• Fair elections and respect for the process so losing candidates do not contest the outcome.

• Rule of law and independent judges with integrity.

“Today, President Trump is nominating political operatives who have law degrees because he sees the judicial system not as independent but something he can control,” Bonker said.

Despite a rather gloomy assessment, Bonker sees hope. He praised Republican John Kasich, the former Ohio governor who ran against Trump for his party’s nomination in 2016, and Democrat Carolyn Long, who is making her second try this year to defeat Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Battle Ground, for Bonker’s former congressional seat.

During his time in Congress, Bonker said he could raise most of his campaign money within the 3rd Congressional District. Representatives today face enormous pressure from lobbyists, political operatives and fundraisers who reward those who fall in line and punish those who don’t.

“I am hopeful the book will be an inspiration for younger people who want to go into politics and public service, that they really feel they have a sense of values and principles that will give them the moral leadership,” he said.

Monday

Clark County Urban County Policy Board, Public Service Center, Room 679, 1300 Franklin St., Vancouver.

• 8:30 a.m.: application scoring, public facilities and neighborhood improvement presentations, affordable housing and homelessness presentations, asset and economic development presentations.

Clark County Mental Health Sales Tax Funding Advisory Board, Public Service Center, Room 698, 1300 Franklin St., Vancouver.

• 1 p.m.: evaluation criteria review, 2021 grant funding.

Camas School District Board of Directors, Zellerbach Administration Center, 841 N.E. 22nd Ave.

• 4 p.m., workshop: presentation on equity work.

• 5:30 p.m., regular meeting: agenda includes board approval for facilities upgrades.

Vancouver City Council, City Hall, 415 W. Sixth St.

• 4 p.m., workshop: finalization of programs and services package in A Stronger Vancouver, and preview of levy design.

• 6:30 p.m., regular meeting: Black History Month proclamation and citizen forum; workshop continuation: A Stronger Vancouver.

Battle Ground Public Schools Board of Directors, Lewisville Campus, 406 N.W. Fifth Ave.

• 5 p.m., workshop: policy discussion.

• 6 p.m., regular meeting: approval of the career and technical education plan for 2020.

Woodland School District Board of Directors, Woodland High School, 1500 Dike Access Road.

• 5:30 p.m., study session: agenda includes resolution opposing mandated comprehensive sexual health education.

Hockinson School District Board of Directors, Hockinson District Office, 17912 N.E. 159th St., Brush Prairie.

• 6 p.m., workshop: agenda includes legislative conference, budget committee meetings and instructional technology.

Washougal City Council, City Hall, 1701 C St.

• 5 p.m., workshop: human resources personnel policy update, ordinance revisions implementing change in form of county government.

• 7 p.m., regular meeting: professional services agreements for indigent defense services, surplus Skyridge easement, ordinance on special event permit requirements.

Neighborhood Associations Council of Clark County, Clark County Public Works Operation Center, conference room B1, 4700 N.E. 78th St., Vancouver.

• 7 p.m., regular meeting: discuss and request comments from neighborhood leaders, awards.

Tuesday

Clark Regional Wastewater District Board of Commissioners, district offices, 8000 N.E. 52nd Court, Vancouver:

• 4 p.m., regular meeting; introduce Beth Bicknell, assistant finance specialist, and Melissa Armstrong, control systems administrator; adopt housekeeping updates to district administrative code; authorize March 10 public hearing on Ridgecrest PUD off-site latecomer reimbursement; authorize purchase of a 2017 Takeuchi mini-excavator for $42,818; commissioner, district staff and legal counsel reports.

• 5 p.m., public hearing on Whipple Creek annexation; approve additional contingency amount for Union Road pump station improvement project.

Vancouver Planning Commission, City Hall, 415 W. Sixth St.

• 4 p.m., workshop: Housing Commission formation, minimum parking requirements for affordable and senior housing, and allowance for retail on ground floor in mixed use zones, Cascade North annexation and rezone.

• 6:30 p.m., hearing: standalone rezones at Mercy Housing/Peace Health and Fourth Plain Dentist, final Heights District Plan adoption, officer elections.

Clark County Parks Advisory Board, Clark County Operations Center, Bldg. B1, 4700 N.E. 78th St., Vancouver.

• 4 p.m., regular meeting: Curtin Creek update, ex-officio vacancy, Heritage Farm Advisory Board presentation, annual program update.

Washougal School District Board of Directors, Excelsior Building, 1401 39th St.

• 4:30 p.m., workshop: Washougal High School improvement plan.

• 5:30 p.m., work session: world language proficiency and transitional kindergarten.

• 6:30, regular meeting: agenda includes discussion of the district calendar.

Ridgefield School District Board of Directors, Ridgefield Administrative and Civic Center, 510 Pioneer St.

• 5 p.m., regular meeting: agenda includes revision of policy about homeless students.

Vancouver Public Schools Board of Directors, Robert C. Bates Center for Educational Leadership, 2921 Falk Road.

• 5 p.m., regular meeting: Agenda includes approval of new courses and instructional material for the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 school years.

Evergreen Public Schools Board of Directors, Administrative Service Center, 13501 N.E. 28th St., Vancouver.

• 5:30 p.m. regular meeting: Agenda includes naming of a new elementary school.

Clark County Public Health Advisory Council, 1601 E. Fourth Plain Blvd., Bldg. 17, second floor, Vancouver.

• 5:30 p.m., regular meeting: dinner, election of executive committee members, community priorities project presentation.

C-Tran Board of Directors, C-Tran administrative offices, 10600 N.E. 51st Circle., Vancouver.

• 5:30 p.m., regular meeting: authorize five-year contract with Apollo Video for software, support and spare parts for continued operation of bus surveillance camera systems; appoint Patrick Torres to C-Tran Citizen Advisory Committee; presentation on C-Tran business intelligence update; presentation on Mill Plain bus rapid transit project; communications from board members, CEO and legal counsel.

La Center Planning Commission, City Hall, 214 E. Fourth St.

• 6:30 p.m., regular meeting: planning commission work program, junction plan, accessory dwelling units, Pacific Highway pedestrian connection.

Wednesday

Battle Ground Parks and Community Engagement Advisory Board, Battle Ground Community Center, Woodin Creek Room, 912 E. Main St.

• 5 p.m., regular meeting: 2020 fundraiser event, 2020 meetings schedule, preparation for city council update.

La Center City Council, City Hall, 214 E. Fourth St.

• 6:30 p.m., regular meeting: work session on permitting process assessment, procurement bid approval for purchase of two police cars.

Thursday

Clark County Veterans Advisory Board, Public Service Center, Room 680, 1300 Franklin St.

• 2 p.m., regular meeting: committee reports, December contractor reports and fund report, Veterans Assistance Center updates.

Clark County Land Use Review, Public Service Center, sixth floor, 1300 Franklin St.

• 6 p.m., regular meeting: Owens moratorium waiver, Washington State University-Vancouver master plan.

Ridgefield City Council, Ridgefield Administrative and Civic Center, Columbia Assembly Room, 510 Pioneer St.

• 5:30 p.m., study session: community survey update.

• 6:30 p.m., regular meeting: traffic impact fee update ordinance second reading, Pioneer Frontage development agreement ordinance second reading, approval of Cloverhill phase 3A plat.

As Camas and Washougal begin a new decade, the cities have lost two mayors who helped them grow at the start of a new millennium.

Former Camas Mayor Dean Dossett, who served in the role from 1992 to 2004, died Jan. 18 at age 77. Former Washougal Mayor Jeff Guard, the city’s top political figure from 2002 to 2006, died Tuesday at age 66.

Dossett worked at the paper mill in Camas for 38 years, but he is largely remembered for presiding over the city’s economic diversification. While his predecessor, Nan Henriksen, is credited with initiating the effort to rely more heavily on businesses other than the mill, Dossett continued that effort after she left the post.

“It was Nan’s vision, but Dean embraced that vision and put it into practice,” Camas City Councilor Don Chaney said.

Dossett also founded the United Camas Association of Neighborhoods, a now-defunct organization that granted money for projects to neighborhood associations for several years.

“He was a visionary when it came to that,” Chaney said. “The idea was to try to make harmony among neighborhoods.”

During a ceremony at the end of his mayorship, Dossett said he “had a great 12 years.”

“We’ve more than doubled in size since I’ve been mayor,” Dossett said. “Other cities have been devastated by their growth. We’ve been able to handle growth gracefully.”

Chaney met Dossett about 45 years ago while they were playing basketball, a sport they both enjoyed. While they hadn’t spoken much in the past 10 years, their families had traveled together in the past.

“He was just a kind, gentle man who cared a great deal about our community,” Chaney said.

Guard, a Washougal High School graduate who also served with several other community organizations in the city, hired Washougal’s first city administrator. In 2003, he pointed out that department heads “are all overworked,” necessitating the position.

“This person is kind of the glue to pull it all together,” Guard said. “This is about whether we want to be visionary about the future or just get by.”

Guard, who served several years as a city councilor before becoming mayor, ran again for the council in 2007, losing narrowly to former city Councilor Rodney Morris. Before the election, he discussed a topic that continues to dominate civic conversations today.

“Growth is a given issue, but the biggest issue is how you pay to accommodate growth,” Guard said.

Guard’s brother, Sean Guard, was Washougal’s mayor from 2010 to 2017. He said that the decision to hire an administrator allowed the city to not govern by its “hip pocket.”

“I think his time was really a turning point for the city,” Sean Guard said.

Sean Guard said his brother had a number of injuries in the past few years that restricted his activities. He called the death of his brother, whom he remembers largely for his compassion, a shock to the family.

“He was a very gregarious person, you would say,” Sean Guard said. “He was the guy who, if he saw someone down the street was getting picked on, he’d go pick on the other person.”

Based on his involvement in various areas of the city, Jeff Guard might best be remembered for being, as he said in 2007, a man who had “great passion for (his) community.”

Saturday was one of those typical winter days, showery and cool. The cold front that passed through the county Friday evening around 8 p.m. was a doozy. Strong winds, heavy rain and even some hail. Glad it didn’t last too long.

It did bring in the cooler air we were talking about the other day, however, the upcoming week looks milder than earlier forecast charts. Thank goodness the cold air will stay east of us. We should be fairly dry for the next few days with a chance of rain later in the week. We will see highs around 50 degrees.

A good probability of cold and frosty conditions Monday morning when you head out the door. Any rain we receive this week will be on the lighter side of things. Northern Washington had some impressive flooding last week so Puget Sound is looking forward to the lighter weather fare for sure.

With some clearing overnight Friday and Saturday night, you may have been lucky enough to see the Full Snow Moon. Nice and bright. Last year around this time, we had a few bouts of snow. On February 8, 2014, I was measuring nearly 16 inches of snow at my house in Salmon Creek. Amounts around 12 inches were common near downtown Vancouver and to the east. Strong downslope easterly winds provided the western portions of Clark County a windfall of sorts in the snow department. The foothills had a third of that in that go around.

So, you can see February can bring us snow and ice and subfreezing high temperatures. However, I certainly don’t see any of that on the horizon. We may escape the rest of winter without any much in the way of snowfall. I am almost thinking about removing my winter tires off my car. Of course, that may jinx our mild weather so don’t worry, I’ll wait a couple of weeks just in case.

Can you believe Vancouver is running close to an inch below average of rainfall so far this month? After last month we need a break anyway. Take good care, we’ll chat on Tuesday.

Colleges work to help adults who have postsecondary experience, but no bachelor’s

The year was 1989, and Randal Houle had just graduated from R.A. Long High School in Longview. He enrolled in Lower Columbia College, but about a year later, dropped out.

“I got really depressed and kind of quit,” said Houle, who now lives in Vancouver.

He gave college another try in the mid-1990s, but he had children at that point, a job, and again, he stopped.

Houle is 48 now, and on track to graduate in May with a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Washington State University Vancouver.

“This is what I should have done all along,” Houle said.

Houle isn’t alone in his stop-and-go experience when it comes to higher education. Data released lastin October by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center shows that 36 million Americans obtained some postsecondary education, but have not completed their degrees. Census data suggests that 27.5 percent of Clark County residents aged 25 or older have some college, but no degree, according to the latest American Community Survey five-year estimates, compared with 23.7 percent statewide. Nationwide, 20.6 percent of adults have some college but no degree.

The result can hit those who drop out of college from two sides: The Social Security Administration shows that workers with bachelor’s degrees can make hundreds of thousands of dollars more over their careers, while those who leave college without a degree often do so owing thousands of dollars in student debt.

And while reaching those would-be students can be an uphill battle for college and universities, those in the field say state-level policy changes and local initiatives could ensure more students are able to return to college — and, like Houle, finally earn their diploma.

What the data shows

Washington has the seventh-largest population of noncompleters, with 1,098,345 Washingtonians reporting some college but no degree, according to the clearinghouse. Rachelle Sharpe, the deputy executive director of the Washington Student Achievement Council, sees opportunity in those students.

But she said the bachelor’s degree attainment rate is “nowhere where it needs to be.” As a result, “We’re filling our jobs with folks like me, from another state. We’re leaving so many Washingtonians out of our modern workforce,” Sharpe said.

The issue of students with some college but no degree is one of the program’s top priorities.

The achievement council this month will unveil its College and Career Compass, a tool prospective students can use to explore campuses throughout the state. Colleges can create profiles of the programs and benefits they offer to adult learners, such as emergency grants for housing, evening hours for tutoring and advising offices, or clear information about degree programs.

Students can also share their contact information with colleges that have completed those profiles, allowing enrollment advisers to reach out to offer information and support.

“The stronger our retention and student success and adult-learner focus supports are, the less likely we are to have those students return and run into the same issues and have to leave again without completing their goals,” Sharpe said.

Both Clark College and Washington State University Vancouver are participating in the Compass program. During the 2016-2017 school year at Clark College, of the 11,888 degree-seeking students enrolled, 9,329 completed a degree or certificate, transferred to another college or re-enrolled for the following academic year. That means 2,559, or 22 percent, left Clark College without completing a degree.

The data is more difficult to pinpoint at Washington State University Vancouver, but the Office of Institutional Research suggests that of the 216 new full-time freshmen who started in fall of 2013, 62.5 percent, or 135, graduated within six years. Of the 493 students who transferred from another college to WSU Vancouver that year, 370, or 75.1 percent, graduated in six years.

Navigating options

It can be difficult to determine what exactly prompts college students to drop out, and in turn, what might motivate them to return.

There are some consistent threads: the cost of college, for one. According to U.S. Department of Education data, those who withdraw from Clark College do so with median debt of $5,500. Data is not available for Washington State University Vancouver specifically, but students who drop out of the Washington State University system do so with median debt of $8,750.

“If you don’t earn your credential, you’re not in a position to pay off that debt,” Sharpe said.

State legislators approved the Washington College Grant program during the 2019 legislative session, promising to help cover tuition and fees for students from low- and middle-income families. A student from a family of four with a household income of $50,000 a year, for example, would be eligible for full coverage starting in the 2020-2021 school year. The program covers anyone who does not have a degree, including adult learners.

Sharpe said students may also be struggling to balance obtaining a college degree with working full time or supporting their families.

“If you have 100 adult learners you have 100 different stories,” Sharpe said.

William Belden, vice president of student affairs at Clark College, sits on the College and Career Compass steering committee. Belden noted that programs like the Penguin Pantry, a campus food bank specifically for students, and its health clinic, one of the few at Washington community colleges, are small ways the campus can serve all students’ needs. He also pointed to the college’s guided pathways initiative, a nationally recognized education model that explicitly spells out what classes and programs students need to participate in so they can graduate on time.

“The college needs to be student ready,” he said. “Students don’t need to be college ready.”

‘Ecosystem of a city’

Hadass Sheffer, co-founder and president of nonprofit organization The Graduate! Network, said supporting students is not just about colleges, but the entire “ecosystem of a city.” Are policymakers creating programs that support adult learners? Are colleges making campus resources accessible? Are potential employers helping develop training programs?

“There are all these roadblocks to going back,” Sheffer said.

The Graduate! Network launched in Philadelphia to address the issue of noncompleters, and has since opened offices around the country, including Spokane. Sheffer noted that The Graduate! Network disproportionately serves people of color and low-income students, who traditionally face additional barriers to accessing higher education.

“They’re low-income, have family issues, child care issues,” she said. “We’re talking about race, gender, inequity.”

Workforce Southwest Washington CEO Kevin Perkey pointed to work the organization is doing at Next, a center designed to help young people access post-secondary education. Next helps teenagers and young adults complete their high school degree, apply to college and register for apprenticeships. But it also provides a place where people can grab a meal or take a hot shower in an effort to address the broad challenges people face as they prepare to return to school.

Perkey said he frequently hears from the estimated 1,400 young adults the center serves that they face issues with child care, transportation or caring for a sick or aging parent. Increasingly, they’re also hearing from students facing drug addiction or mental health issues creating barriers to post-secondary education.

“We need to find a way to support solutions,” Perkey said. “We don’t want them to be lost. We don’t want to lose a generation. We want to be able to invest and grow our own here.”

‘Benefits outweigh the costs’

Houle, the WSU Vancouver student, jokes that he’s on the “30-year-plan.”

“Whenever I was in advising for classes I’d say ‘I want to make sure I graduate on time,’ ” he said. “These last few months I’ve started adding, ‘Whatever that means.’ ”

Houle spent decades working in commissioned sales and commercial debt collection. He struggled, however, to earn promotions and raises, seeing advancement go to people with college degrees.

“If you think school is expensive, try doing life without it,” he said.

In the meantime, Houle was writing short stories and novels in his spare time. Writing professionally was a career he’d considered, but before he did that, he wanted to “make a clean break from that treadmill of commissioned sales.” In 2017, he went to Clark College to pencil out what a transfer degree might look like, and then in turn, a bachelor’s degree.

“I had to see the road first before I could see the finish line,” he said.

Ironically, Houle’s college career won’t end with his upcoming graduation.

Houle recently applied to graduate school. He hopes, someday, to become a college professor.

Clark County voter turnout is predictably low heading into the weekend, with 23.8 percent of eligible voters thus far casting ballots.

The Feb. 11 special election covers school district funding measures in the Vancouver, Ridgefield, Washougal and Woodland school districts. Voters will also decide whether to annex Battle Ground into Fire District 3. Of the 146,520 eligible voters, 34,864 thus far have returned their ballots.

Turnout trends low in special elections. Turnout in the February 2019 election was 32.3 percent.

Voters in the east part of the county have new options for dropping off their ballots. The Clark County Elections Office opened two 24-hour drop boxes at Shahala Middle School, at 601 S.E. 192nd Ave., Vancouver, and the Washougal Community Library, at 1661 C St., Suite 2391. The red drop boxes are located across Clark County, and will be open until polls close Tuesday evening. Temporary locations at schools and churches will also be opened on Election Day only. Visit www.clark.wa.gov/elections for more information on where to drop off your ballot.

Ballots are due by 8 p.m. Tuesday, or must be postmarked that day. No stamp is necessary to mail in ballots.

The Columbian will report live on the results as they are released. Visit columbian.com/elections, or search #ClarkElex on Twitter.

Vancouver firefighters pulled two people from a blaze at an apartment complex.

At about 8:25 a.m. Sunday, eight fire trucks rushed to 7531 N.E. 18th St., according to a press release from the Vancouver Fire Department. The first firefighters who arrived rescued two people trapped in a lower unit of the apartment complex. Both were transported to PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center. A pet is still missing.

The Red Cross will help the family, given that the fire rendered the apartment uninhabitable.

Police are asking for the public’s help in finding Judith MacClean, 79.

MacClean has Alzheimer’s and dementia, according to a press release from the Vancouver Police Department. She was last seen at 4:45 p.m. Sunday at Touchmark, 2911 S.E. Village Loop, wearing a red sweater, black sweatpants, aqua blue and black tennis shoes, and black framed glasses with a confetti design on the sides.

An employee of the Chevron at 16406 S.E. 26th St. saw someone who may have matched MacClean’s description walking northbound at about 5 p.m.

Police ask anyone who knows of MacClean’s whereabouts to call 911.

A Clark County Sheriff’s Office deputy was injured early Sunday morning when he put his patrol unit into the path of a wrong-way driver on Interstate 5 near Ridgefield, according to the Washington State Patrol.

Deputy Gregory Agar was driving north on Interstate 5 at 2:43 a.m. in a 2014 Chevrolet Tahoe SUV patrol unit near Milepost 14 when he saw a Mazda 3 sedan driving south in the northbound lanes, according to a WSP press bulletin released Monday.

The bulletin said Agar changed lanes to prevent the Mazda from continuing the wrong way on the freeway. The crash totaled both vehicles.

Agar, 28, was transported to Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center. A hospital spokesperson said Monday morning that Agar was treated and released.

The driver of the Mazda, Miguel A. Jimenez Jimenez, 27, was not injured in the crash, according to the WSP bulletin. He was booked into the Clark County Jail on suspicion of driving under the influence.

A fire destroyed a home undergoing renovations north of Battle Ground early Monday morning.

Clark County Fire & Rescue Chief John Nohr said the homeowners told firefighters at the scene that they were about three-quarters of the way done with remodeling. They’d been living elsewhere while upgrading the house, Nohr said.

CCFR crews were dispatched at 3:43 a.m. to the 10500 block of Northeast 269th Street for the report of a residential structure fire.

A neighbor called 911 and reported the fire, according to the fire chief. 

The first arriving crew found a ranch-style home engulfed in heavy flames. Firefighters knew the house was unoccupied, so they doused the fire from outside and put water on a nearby home to keep the fire from spreading, Nohr said. 

Four engines, a water tender and two battalion chiefs responded to the call. Clark County Fire District 3 also helped extinguish the blaze in about 30 minutes.

Two crews remained at the scene for more than six hours, however. Part of the home collapsed during the response, so firefighters had to help the Clark County Fire Marshal dig through debris to find the fire’s point of origin.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Vancouver police detectives investigating property crimes say they searched the home of a convicted felon and retrieved five firearms.

Officers with the Vancouver Police Department’s Property Crimes Unit, the Safe Streets Task Force and Neighborhood Response Teams, with assistance from the Southwest Regional SWAT Team, served a search warrant at a residence in the 1000 block of Southeast 146th Court on Monday, according to a police department press release.

The investigation was developed by a property crimes detective who discovered that a resident of the home on 146th Court, Fred Ignacio Anthony Munoz Jr., who is a felon barred from having firearms, was in possession of multiple guns, police said.

“The search of the residence resulted in seizure of four pistols, one rifle, various associated ammunition, rifle-building parts and evidence of controlled substance possession,” the police department said.

Five people were inside the home when the warrant was served. Munoz was arrested on suspicion of five counts of unlawful possession of a firearm.

Another man, 38-year-old Matthew J. Cook, was arrested on a state Department of Corrections warrant.

City leaders are working to implement a plan to transform one of central Vancouver’s oldest neighborhoods into a major urban core over the coming decades.

For some of the people who already live there, however, that’s not exactly a selling point.

The area is filled with suburban streets, three schools, five churches, Park Hill Cemetery and the Vanco Golf Range. A bustling metropolis, it is not.

“I know, in talking to a lot of neighbors, you move to this neighborhood in particular because you want to be in a neighborhood with a bunch of houses, and we love the churches,” said Michelle Briede, co-chair of the Evergreen Highlands Neighborhood Association. “A lot of us go there, send our children there.”

She was addressing a full gymnasium of concerned residents at Marshall Elementary School on Feb. 4, in an emergency joint neighborhood association meeting to address the potential changes.

Briede is among the neighborhood leaders who organized an opposition campaign ahead of Tuesday, when the Vancouver Planning Commission is scheduled to vote on the final adoption of the Heights District Plan.

The group scrambled to get the meeting together after an Environmental Impact Statement for the project was released to the public on Jan. 22, Briede said.

Several people spoke to express their frustration with a plan that would regard sleepy community amenities, like green spaces and church grounds, as “underutilized” space.

“I take issue with that term, ‘underused,'” said Cathie Joy Young, one of the residents who attended the neighborhood meeting.

“I lived in Portland since 1985, I moved here the summer of ’18 because it’s unaffordable, it’s completely congested, the traffic is terrible, and people are living on top of each other,” Young said. “So if you want to keep this a livable city, you’ve got to watch what you’re doing, and using that sort of language — think about what that says for livability.”

The Heights District Plan

The Heights District Plan would turn 205 acres into a mixed-use development, modeled as a kind of secondary downtown where people could live and work.

The plot is mostly bordered by MacArthur Boulevard to the south and west, East Mill Plain Boulevard to the north and Andresen Road to the east, though a few parcels of land extend beyond those borders.

At the district’s core is a 63-acre property known as Tower Mall, which the city purchased in 2017 as a strategic investment to guide the direction of the neighborhood.

The development concept for the whole region — called The Grand Loop — would provide a framework for the area’s growth over the next 20 or 30 years. It proposes high-density uses in the site’s center, with a residential neighborhood around Park Hill Cemetery and businesses along MacArthur Boulevard. The plan would preserve 2 acres of park space within the district.

The draft plan was presented to the city council almost exactly a year ago by Rebecca Kennedy, Vancouver’s long-range project manager. She said the dense district could provide an opportunity to build out some desperately needed housing, especially as the city continues to add more people in the next 20 or 30 years.

“The city is growing,” Kennedy said in the February 2019 city council meeting. “People move here every day, and we need to accommodate that growth.”

Since then, members of the community have had a chance to provide feedback on the plan, both with online service and at in-person workshops hosted by the city.

Zoning concerns

The Jan. 22 Environmental Impact Statement included proposed updates to the area’s zoning, with changes that raised some existing residents’ eyebrows.

One proposal would create a new zone designation, called Heights Mixed Use (HX). The overlay, which would be applied to about half the land within the district, would allow buildings up to 80 feet tall, or six stories. Existing neighborhood and community commercial standards cap buildings at 35 feet and 50 feet, respectively.

“The change to mixed-use would likely allow a six-story apartment building to be built across from my house on Devine where single story homes on large lots have dominated the quiet neighborhood since the ’60’s,” one resident, Rick Gales, wrote in an email to The Columbian.

The neighborhoods around the Heights District were originally developed as housing for wartime employees at the Kaiser Shipyard.

“If a six-story apartment is planned across from me, I will certainly move,” Gales wrote.

For many of the residents, rezoning the churches is a particularly prickly proposition. Under the proposed plan, the churches could stay, but any changes or renovations would have to meet the Heights’ new design parameters.

And some, like the Rev. JoAnn Schaadt-Shipley from Vancouver Heights Methodist Church, didn’t know about the plan previously. The church sits on 3.9 acres of lawn and forest, just south of MacArthur Boulevard. It’s one of the properties that juts beyond the street boundaries but remains encompassed by the district.

“The city has identified these five churches as underused,” Briede said. “The church didn’t know until we, as a board, brought it to their attention.”