Vancouver, WA — Hundreds gathered peacefully Saturday at Esther Short Park to honor the life of Aaron “Jay” Danielson, the man who was murdered last Saturday in downtown Portland following a Donald Trump re-election rally and caravan.

Organizers of Saturday’s two events — a 4 pm memorial service, and an 8 pm candlelight vigil — said attendance far exceeded the planned 600 for the event. The candlelight vigil had approximately 250 supporters. T-shirts and stickers calling for justice for Danielson were handed out while people grilled hot dogs and hamburgers and friends waved flags.

Danielson, 39, who died just six days shy of his 40th birthday, was a supporting member of the controversial Patriot Prayer group. The group’s leader, Joey Gibson, addressed mourners at both events.

Gibson encouraged people to remove hate. He spoke of Danielson’s love for life, and vowed to keep his memory alive.

“They got everything going up against us, but it doesn’t matter, guys. It doesn’t matter if you fight for what you believe in. If you fight for what you believe in, God will have your back,” Gibson said.

Mourners at the candlelight vigil had the opportunity to speak of their memories of Danielson, and were joined by a local Christian singing group.

“If anybody wants to say anything, we are going to keep this an open forum,” said Gibson. He then opened the vigil with a prayer asking God for peace. 

“We are so tired of all the lies, hatred and division, we are asking you to humble us as a nation, humble us an individuals, we apologize for the way we’ve acted as a nation. We apologize for the way we have treated one another. Give us the strength to forgive, and give us the strength to stand up as a voice in this nation … and guide us in the right direction.”

Several people spent the next 45 minutes sharing their experiences with Danielson.

Danielson
Candlelight vigil at Esther Short Park.

“Jay could light up the day like today at noon with the sun straight above us, bright as hell, he could light that room up, just with his smile,” said one friend.

“I honor him because there was never a dull moment just being around him,” said another friend. “He was very intelligent. A smart man. A patriot. A God-fearing man. What I remember the most is he didn’t have to try to fit in. He would go wherever he wanted to go. I told him he was accepted and the he was my friend. A lot of people turn from others because they are not the same as us. I just want to say that he will be missed …”

The man believed to have killed Danielson was himself killed by law enforcement Thursday when he pulled a gun during an arrest attempt, according the U.S. Marshals Service. 

The alleged shooter, Michael Forest Reinoehl, 48, was present in Camas at the BLM rally held on Friday, August 28 described himself in a social media post as “100% ANTIFA.” 

Danielson
This sticker was handed out to supporters.

What is Patriot Prayer?

Patriot Prayer is not an official organization, but the group does attract controversy. Gibson was accused of starting a Portland riot last year and is a frequent target of ANTIFA and other groups.

A close friend of Gibson’s, who was attacked by an ANTIFA group following last week’s Trump rally, explained what the group is about. 

“Patriot Prayer is a fight to bring God back into this country,” he said. “This country is founded underneath God. He’s given us all our liberties and rights and freedoms. We have these rights because we were born as human beings because of God. Patriot Prayer is exactly that. We stand up for this country under God because all of us are created equally and we need to remember where that glory goes to. It all goes to God.”

The group says it attends these political events to help persuade to stop hating and to turn to Christianity.

Gibson’s Facebook and Instagram pages were removed by Facebook earlier this week.

“Antifa groups murdered my friend while he is walking home, and instead of the multibillion dollar company banning Portland antifa pages they ban Patriot Prayer and myself,” Gibson said in a statement.

Facebook confirmed the pages were removed due to its “Dangerous Individuals and Organizations” policy.

“They were removed as part of our ongoing efforts to remove Violent Social Militias from our platforms,” a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement, who pointed to the policy that was expanded last month.

Joey Gibson was charged with felony riot for his alleged involvement in a 2019 May Day brawl at a Portland bar called Cider Riot.

On August 27, 2019, Gibson pleaded not guilty to a felony riot charge. He was booked at the Multnomah County Detention Center on $5,000 bail, posted bail a few hours later and was released.

Gibson said he believes the felony riot charge is politically motivated and an attempt by the city of Portland to ban him from the Rose City.

Danielson
Speaking at the candlelight vigil.

The Downtown Camas Association (DCA) officially dedicated the Mill Photo Collage Friday afternoon with a ribbon cutting at the Universal Martial Arts building at the corner of 4th Avenue and Adams.

The collage honors the history of the Camas Paper Mill with original images.

DCA Board President, Caroline Mercury, emceed the event, which was mostly a live-streamed virtual ceremony, providing context about the public art project from concept to construction.

“It’s just our pleasure to dedicate this beautiful photo collage to the city of Camas as a wonderful public art project that the DCA has executed to honor the huge role that the paper mill played in making Camas what it is today.”

Mercury was dressed in a paper dress to honor the occasion and the history.  The dress is a replica from a 1940s Paper Festival, which was the precursor to the contemporary annual Camas Days event.

“About four years ago, the design committee at the DCA began incubating the idea for a large-scale mural, collage, of vintage photos from the mill collection, and then entered Anna Fry,” said Mercury. 

Former and longtime mill employee Fry was involved in community relations and was the champion of this project through the GP Foundation process.

Big Hook Graphics was the company who put together the giant photo collage following direction from the talented artist, Allan Jeffs.

The Clark County Historical Museum also contributed to the project. Kitchen Electric added dusk to dawn lighting to illuminate the strumming mural. Additional funding came from Riverview Bank and the Clark County Historical Commission.

DCA Executive Director, Carrie Schulstad, explained the collage has a QR code that visitors can scan to get more information. Schulstad thanked Mercury for her daily commitment to making this project come to fruition.

Mill
www.lilyatelier.com

“Her love of the mill is just incredible as you can tell, and we are so lucky to have her in our community,” said Schulstad. “The town is fantastic and it grew up to serve the mill so if you would like to learn more there is a QR code that’s right there on the legend and you can click that and it takes you on a tour of downtown.”

Camas Mayor Barry McDonnell was there, accompanied by the brand-new City Administrator, Jamal Fox.

“Anytime you ask anyone in Camas who has been here for a while they have some sort of connection to the mill, whether they work there, they knew someone that was there … or maybe they just like to catch the toilet paper rolls that get thrown out at the Camas Days parade.”

Following his speech, McDonnell cut the official ribbon.

The photo collage was originally scheduled for its official dedication in April, but due to the pandemic that was delayed.

#downtowncamas #camas #photocollage #camaspapermill #papermakerpride #lacamasmagazine #lacmag 

Mill
From left: Marquita Call, owner of Camas Gallery, City of Camas Administrator Jamal Fox, and CW Chamber Executive Director Jennifer Senescu.

Washougal, WA — About 200 Camas High School Papermakers gathered at the Port of Camas Washougal at 6:30 am Thursday to hold an annual tradition — the Senior Sunrise.

The Class of 2021 is starting their school year with remote learning, and will likely stay in this state for at least a couple months, so decided they wanted to gather and feel a sense of normalcy. 

“This is just one of the senior year traditions where everybody gathers early in the morning to watch the sunrise,” said Dave Peddie, a Camas High School senior, and State Champion swimmer. “Other schools in the area did it and we wanted to do it too to keep the tradition alive. We got the word out and everyone is here.”

Reactions to the way the school year is starting is mixed. Some say it’s working well, for them, while others would prefer to have school in the classroom.

“It’s going better than we thought,” said Peddie. “The teachers are putting in a lot of work, and they are making sure we’re learning the material we’re supposed to learn. It’s a smooth transition so far.”

Prior to departure, the Camas Swim team decided to provide water entertainment by stripping down to their competition swim suits and plunging into the cold Columbia River.

“We decided to hop in,” said Peddie. “It was Jack’s (Harris) idea. He texted us late last night and he’s like bring your speedos and we’ll do a little swim. It was fun!”

Senior
CHS swimmers, wearing competition suits, got into the cold Columbia River.

Harris admitted it was his idea.

“Once I heard about the planning of this Senior Sunrise thing, I thought we’d do the best we can to make memories this year considering everything that’s going on so I thought it would be really funny if me and the guys decided to hop in front of everyone,” said Harris, a CHS Senior and member of the school’s swim team. “I thought it would be something fun to talk about as a good memory. The water wasn’t that bad, but it was refreshing.”

Getting in was the hardest part, said CHS senior, Alex Duma. “Nobody actually wanted to get in, but once we got in it was good.”

Peddie isn’t sure what other events are planned, but he said it was good to gather and connect with friends.

About half the students wore face masks, and they mostly stayed in smaller groups, except for one larger group by the river’s edge. The event lasted about 45 minutes, after which many headed out to eat breakfast.

Senior
Hanging out at Senior Sunrise.
Senior
Friends at Senior Sunrise.
Senior
Alex Duma exits the river, followed by Nathan Kim.

Camas, WA — The #camasunites program, organized by Papermaker Pride, donated nearly $3,000 to the Family Community Resource Center today, which provides food and clothing to local residents.

Karen Gibson, a partner at Papermaker Pride, presented the check to Mary Weishaar and Olivia Eagle Wednesday afternoon on behalf of major donors, including Suzanne Ferguson from Juxtaposition (from sales of specific #camasunites products), Leonard and Julie Felix (representing CID Bio Science and Felix Instruments), and Katie Elliott, who makes regular monthly donations.

“We have Katie Elliott here today,” said Gibson. “Her family has donated $250 each month for the past four months, and it’s an ongoing thing for their family, that’s their give back. Suzanne from Juxtaposition has donated $800 towards today’s check, and we have a group that donates to charity and they chose #camasunites and the food program, and it was a $1,000 donation. We have just under $3,000 in this check.”

The program was started several months ago as a means to raise money to help feed local families. This is the fourth check #camasunites check presentation since the program began. A total of $13,078 has been donated through the program to date.

“Our community has been so amazing at just stepping up and helping us sustain this area,” said Mary Weishaar. “Olivia, Debbie and Rachel are working hard to get all the school supplies out to families.“

At this time, the center doesn’t need anymore clothing unless its brand-new socks and underwear. The program, located at the Jack, Will and Rob Center near Doc Harris Stadium is open to the public.

To purchase #camasunites products, visit www.PapermakerPride.com

#camasunites
www.artfuljuxtaposition.com
#camasunites
Food at the resource center.

Up to $10,000 is available for businesses with 10 to 20 employees to support COVID-related response and recovery

VANCOUVER, WA – The Columbia River Economic Development Council (CREDC) is accepting applications for the Clark County Main Street Support Program (CCMSSP), which will provide new emergency grants of up to $10,000 each for businesses with 10 to 20 employees in Clark County. Grant money can be used to reimburse rent expenses related to the impact from COVID-19.

A pool of approximately $432,000 is available only to businesses in Clark County until funds are exhausted. Applications will be accepted through end of day on September 12, 2020To learn more and apply, visit credc.org/ccmssp.

Funding for the program is from the state’s Working Washington Small Business program and federal Coronavirus Assistance, Recovery and Economic Security (CARES) Act funds to help with COVID-19 response and recovery efforts across Washington State.

“As CREDC continues to support businesses through COVID-19 response and recovery efforts, we are pleased to be able to bring a second round of emergency grants to Clark County,” said CREDC President Jennifer Baker. “Our focus on rent support is responsive to feedback we received from businesses hit particularly hard by the pandemic.”

CREDC and other local economic development organizations statewide partnered with the Washington State Department of Commerce to make a new tranche of $10 million in Working Washington Small Business Emergency grants available. As the state-designated Associate Development Organization for Clark County, CREDC is running point on the applications and administration of the new funds locally as other ADO’s that serve all 39 counties are doing within their municipalities. The Washington State Department of Commerce is not accepting or reviewing applications.

“The length and depth of the pandemic have hit small, main street businesses hard,” said Washington State Department of Commerce Director Lisa Brown. “In particular, restaurants, hotels and other service industries have not seen the expected number of customers. Small businesses need these resources to stay open as we respond to the public health crisis and help get people back to work.”

CREDC will contact grant finalists the week of September 28, 2020.

About CREDC
Since 1982, the Columbia River Economic Development Council (CREDC) has served as Clark County’s leading economic development organization, connecting companies to the resources they need to expand or locate in the region. As a private-public partnership, we leverage the expertise and collaboration of over 140 investors and strategic partners to advance the economic vitality of Clark County while maintaining our exceptional quality of life. www.credc.org

Washougal, WA — The Washougal School Board approved a new, two-year contract with the Washougal Association of Educators at its Tuesday, August 25 board meeting.

The contract puts equity, diversity, and inclusion front and center for the district, with a major investment in teacher training on equity this coming school year.  The district is excited to be partnering with the Washougal Association of Educators (WAE) as well as the statewide Washington Education Association to provide culturally responsive practices training for all teaching staff. The contract includes new language around inclusive practices, and language to remove barriers to student participation that are created through discipline processes.  This work will help both groups work to eliminate the achievement gaps for our diverse learners, as school leaders and teachers work together to authentically know all learners, nurture relationships that build common understanding, and challenge each of us to disrupt systemic racism in our society. 

The contract also features an investment in additional teacher training focused on technology to build skills and to ensure quality implementation of the new impactED remote learning model.  

“Our vision to know, nurture and challenge all students to rise remains in place,” said WSD Superintendent, Mary Templeton.  “This training will help our teachers deliver positive and engaging learning experiences for our students.”

The contract includes a state provided increase in compensation across two years, along with additional paid training time.

“This keeps the district’s overall compensation in alignment with our region, so that we can continue to attract and retain great teachers,” said Aaron Hansen, Assistant Superintendent of HR & Student Support. 

“WAE are happy to have the contract in place for the next two years,” said Eric Engebretson, WAE President.  “It is one less item on teachers’ plates.”

This agreement makes changes to Special Education language that provides more equity to Special Education teachers as compared to general education teachers.

Other contract features are additional non-discrimination language, changes in leave provisions, creation of a guest teacher (substitute) handbook, and more structure for teacher involvement in equity and school building leadership teams.  

“This was an unusual bargaining process for many reasons,” said Hansen. “We held about 18 bargaining sessions; all were done over Zoom.  Both sides worked extremely hard to listen, to seek common ground, and to collaborate as we solved issues in the contract. It is the first time in quite a while we’ve settled a contract without support from a mediator.”  Engebretson added “I think that this is one of the earliest contracts to be settled between WAE and WSD.  We appreciate the work the Union and District did together to come to an agreement.”

The tentative agreement was reached at the bargaining table July 29.   WAE membership ratified it in a general meeting on August 21, and the WSD Board approved it at the August 25 board meeting. 

Clark County Public Health issued a statement today regarding last week’s Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) provisional death data update. Here is their statement:

We’re seeing a lot of misunderstanding around new data from the CDC, and we need to set the record straight. Provisional death data updated by the CDC last week shows that for 6 percent of COVID-19 deaths, COVID-19 was the only cause mentioned. The remaining 94 percent of deaths were among people with other underlying conditions.

This does not mean that only 6 percent of deaths are due to COVID-19. It means that for the other 94 percent, there were underlying conditions that likely made their COVID-19 illness worse and made them more at risk for serious illness and death.

There are different types of cause of death: immediate, underlying and contributing. For COVID-19, a common example might be an immediate cause of death of acute respiratory distress syndrome (which is what actually killed them), and an underlying cause of death would be COVID-19 or pneumonia from COVID-19 (which are the triggering factors that lead them to get the thing that actually killed them), and then contributing factors could be asthma, COPD, or diabetes (something that may have made their illness worse than it would have been).

As an underlying cause of death, COVID-19 is the thing that triggered the cascade of events that eventually leads to death. For example, older adults are more likely to have more contributing factors, but if they don’t get COVID-19, then they don’t start this cascade of events that lead to death.

None of this is new information. We’ve known that individuals with certain underlying conditions are at greater risk for severe illness and death. You can learn more about conditions that increase the risk of severe illness on the CDC website: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/people-with-medical-conditions.html

COVID-19
www.artfuljuxtaposition.com

Clark County COVID-19 Update

Monday COVID-19 update: Since the last update on Friday morning, another 76 people have tested positive for COVID-19 and two people have died – a man in his 60s (unknown whether he had underlying health conditions) and a man in his 70s with underlying health conditions.

Over the weekend, Clark County had an average of about 25 new cases per day (Fri-Sun). To date, 2,610 Clark County residents have tested positive for COVID-19 and 51 people have died.

Nineteen COVID-19 patients are hospitalized and five persons under investigation (PUIs) for COVID-19 are hospitalized.

PORTLAND, OR — Aaron “Jay” Danielson, aka Jay Bishop, a Patriot Prayer supporter, was fatally shot Saturday night in Portland following a pro-Trump caravan.

Bishop attended Friday’s dueling Camas pro-police and #BLM rallies and was seen riding around and talking with supporters and protestors on both sides.

Patriot Prayer founder Joey Gibson, a controversial local public figure, who arrived at the scene shortly after the shooting, issued the following statement today:

“1st- We love Jay and he had such a huge heart.  God bless him and the life he lived. 

“2nd-I am going to wait to make any public statements until after the family can.

“3rd- If you planned on going to the boat cruise, please go!  I know that Jay would love to look down from heaven and see tons of American flags on the Columbia river today.  I will not be attending but I hope all of you enjoy yourselves out there.  Fly them high for Jay.

“God Bless all of you.”

Matt Robins, a protest medic near the shooting scene, said he heard two pops.

Prayer
Patriot Prayer supporter, Aaron “Jay” Danielson aka Joey Bishop.

“We thought someone had lit fireworks off or something, and when we looked, we saw a guy run for like two seconds and then plop on the ground,” Robins said.

Robbins said he and his partner help treat people injured at protests.

“There’s a guy standing over top of him saying this is my friend, help him please,” Robbins said.

Robbins said once Portland police arrived he and his partner were told to leave.

“We were forcibly pushed down,” Robbins said. “My partner, a field medic, tried to get her gear, because like I said, they rushed us so fast that some of our gear had fallen down.”

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler said the shooting is under investigation, however, and a 48-year-old man who was accused of carrying a loaded gun at an earlier Portland protest is under investigation in the fatal shooting of Bishop.

Michael Forest Reinoehl refers to himself as an anti-fascist and has posted videos and photos of demonstrations he attended since late June, accompanied by the hashtags #blacklivesmatter, #anewnation and #breonnataylor.

Prayer
Video capture of alleged suspect, in black hat.

More than 300 Camas Rally For The Blue supporters, and approximately 150 Black Lives Matters (BLM) squared off Friday night mostly at 3rd Avenue and Dallas Street to express their beliefs.

The BLM rally started off at Camas Public Library at 4 pm and within about 20 minutes the group migrated to the ARCO station where they stayed for the duration — until just past 10 pm. The pro-police rally was scheduled as a stand-alone event, but Tuesday night local students organized a counter BLM protest.

The Camas Rally For The Blue began a little before 5 pm at two locations — between Camas Safeway and Dairy Queen — but eventually migrated to occupy three of the four corners at 3rd and Dallas.

”We just want to stand up and say Black Lives Matter,” said Cindy Graham, a Camas resident who rallied with the BLM team. “Middle class white people care about black lives and I don’t want to say anything negative about the police because I know a lot of Camas cops are good friends of mine and they are great guys. But that doesn’t negate the fact that we need to stand up and do something to help African Americans. In my opinion the BLM movement doesn’t stand for socialism like some of these people are saying, it just stands for black people have been oppressed and we often don’t understand how oppressed they are so we need to make more of an effort. All lives matter, but black lives matter needs to be said when this is happening in our country.”

She said this is a vote for Black Lives Matter.

“We need more white middle class people to stop screaming at their televisions and get out here and stand peacefully on the corner and say that,” Graham added. “Actually all classes of white people need to do this.”

The interview was interrupted by a BLM supporter in blue hair who told this reporter to “get out of my face.”

Blue
BLM supporters at ARCO station.

”I just wanted a rally to support our police,” said Blue Rally organizer, Helen Sudbeck. “It’s a fabulous town and we have a great police department. They need to know how much we care about them and appreciate them. It’s been a rough couple months for police across the country and I think there are a lot of people in Camas who really care about our police. That’s it. We are just here to support the police. I realize there’s a counter demonstration and that’s fine. It’s a group of kids and that’s their First Amendment right, and that’s fine. They chose to have the rally at the exact same location, and that is their right, as well.”

Was it a bad idea to have this Blue rally today given the historic anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream Speech”?

“I just picked a Friday night after work hours to show the police we care. I didn’t have any grand plan. We know police morale is low these days. Most cops are good people who have families,” she said. “We know reforms need to take place, and I encourage people to learn more about Project 21.”

It was a lively night, tensions were high, and it wasn’t entirely peaceful.

Blue Rally supporters filled trucks and cars chanting “Blue Lives Matter” while circling city streets for hours. BLM supporters chanted “All cops are bastards,” “I see racists,” and “Black Lives Matter.”

Blue
Police supporters.

Here are some of the things this reporter witnessed:

  • One man was carrying an assault rifle, which was intimidating to many. Police stayed close to him throughout the evening.
  • One Blue Rally supporter went over to speak with BLM supporters to simply express admiration they were being vocal in their beliefs. He knew the teens there and while addressing them, a professional BLM organizer got in his face with a camera demanding he wear a face mask. Another BLM supporter challenged him, as well. The video will be posted on Saturday.
  • A Trump supporter threw coffee at an elderly lady while driving by. It stained her jeans.
  • Joey Gibson, of Patriot Prayer, had a very nice conversation with a BLM supporter about religion and removing hate from our lives. There was a lot of good dialogue between the two individuals. But, his presence also intimidated protestors.
  • Several BLM supporters didn’t want this reporter to conduct interviews and chanted “racist” to my face multiple times.
  • Police broke up a couple altercations before they escalated.
  • Confederate flags were brought in, which disturbed a lot of people.
  • Some of the BLM teens felt intimidated by Blue Rally supporters.
  • Camas Police asked everyone to break up the events shortly after 9 pm. The Blue Rally crowd quickly dispersed, while the BLM group lingered past 10 pm with about 30 people.

The evening ended with a very positive conversation between a BLM/Joe Biden supporter, who is a teacher in the Evergreen School District, and a Blue Rally/Donald Trump supporter, who had a 7-minute conversation about how to make things better. They found common ground. Initially, both sides agreed to be recorded, but after it ended, the teacher withdrew her permission for us to post it.

“I just want our cops to know we do appreciate them, but we also need to help our black people right now,” she said. “They need a voice to know that we don’t want them to be oppressed.”

The Trump supporter agreed, and then the night ended.

Blue
Black Lives Matter Supporter

Camas author, Seth Sjostrom, releases his latest thriller this September. Dark Chase, an FBI paranormal thriller uses rural America as the setting for the novel.

Why are the residents of a quaint farm town inexplicably dropping dead?

An FBI team has been called to investigate why the population of the seemingly sweet town of Hope, ND appears to be being literally scared to death.

Professor Ryder Chase and his team of paranormal researchers have been assigned to assist with the 
investigation, much to the bane of no-nonsense FBI Special Agent Devon Jeffers. The oppositional mix of 
Professor Chase, Agent Jeffers and their respective teams struggle to manage their stark, at times comical, differences.

Faced with unexplainable events, weathering brutal storms and wild chases through cornfields, the team takes the case deadly serious as one of their own go down.

Can they pull together in time to solve the mystery before more people die? 

A fascination with finding scientific facts to explain the seemingly unexplainable inspired Sjostrom to write Dark Chase. A lifetime of family trips to Hope, North Dakota to visit his grandfather and extended family inspired him to make Hope the setting for his latest thriller. “I always love visiting Hope. There is such charm and the epitome of Americana. The kindest people you would ever meet, overwhelming sense of peace, just a wonderful town in the middle of our country. I wanted share it with my readers and pay homage to my family,” Sjostrom shares.

Sjostrom
www.champpizza.com

“I’ll admit, I was a bit nervous making Hope one of the stars of the book. After all, it is a thriller with unpleasant things happening there and a brash FBI agent with no qualms turning his nose up at the simple, hardworking community…I wanted to make sure that the town and the people of Hope were represented as the way I see them. Kind, generous and welcoming,” Sjostrom added.

A serial entrepreneur, adventurer and author, Dark Chase, is Sjostrom’s seventh novel. The thrillers Blood in the SnowBlood in the Water, Blood in the Sand, Penance, as well as the romances, Finding Christmas and Back to Carolina were his first books published.

Dark Chase all of Sjostrom’s books are available anywhere books are sold, including online through Bookshop.org and Amazon.com.

For more information regarding Seth or his books, visit www.sethsjostrom.com.  

Sjostrom
Book author, Seth Sjostrom.