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Update: California Fire Victims Receive RV From Camas Families

Camas, WA — “Mission accomplished,” said Ed Fischer, owner of Camas Bike and Sport in Downtown Camas. “We wrapped up with the local adopt-a-family here in Washougal, and what a nice family! And with the RV camper, the trip went smoothly and after the Chico DMV visit, we got the trailer up there right before nightfall and it was placed on the house pad where the lost home once sat. We did not get much of any time to take a look around, but the devastation was real and evident, and the recent flooding there really left the roads in shambles.”

When Fischer first heard about the Paradise, CA fires he became a big advocate in helping out, so he spent considerable time and money trying to locate a family that needed help, and would purchase an RV camper. But, even though his heart was in the right place, it ended up being a major challenge.

”I learned that it’s not easy to do all that stuff,” said Fischer. “It was very hard to organize, it took a lot of coordinating, planning, and communicating. There’s a lot more than the monetary portion. Procuring the trailer was very challenging. There were a lot of scams and misleading people out there, but ultimately we found a good trailer that would really help out this family.”

Fischer said about two-thirds of the cost of the RV was received through local donations following its purchase. He said many donations were $10, and one man gave $300.

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”Every amount helped,” said Fischer. “And, it was great to see all the support. All of it made this possible.”

Community members are contributed home essentials to fill the trailer, which was delivered several days ago.

Jeff Paul accompanied Fischer to California to deliver the trailer, and the two witnessed the fire’s devastation.

“It was amazing to see the random destruction, the fires took a few homes, then you’d see a couple that didn’t even look touched, then back to piles of debris where houses once stood.” said Fischer. “It really gave me a flashback to the fire’s I worked in back in Malibu in 1993, same thing happened where floods would come in soon after and reek further havoc on the area. In the end, the camper is now helping the family live on the property and rebuild, and it felt like we did the right thing for the right people! And last, could not have done it without all the support and contributions from so many that rallied around the cause. I didn’t get a lot of pictures because I want to respect people’s privacy. It wasn’t a staging photo moment. We got there kind of late, and the whole family wasn’t there.”

He also appreciates the local support of their adopt a family, who lives in Washougal.

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City of Camas Seeking Applicants for Vacant City Council Seat

Camas, WA — The City of Camas is now seeking eligible applicants from Ward 3 to fill the City Council vacancy left by Shannon Turk, who is now our Camas Mayor.

Think you might be a good fit? Please apply!

To be considered, your application must be complete and received by the City staff at Camas City Hall (616 NE 4th Avenue) no later than 5:00 pm on January 11, 2019. Additional written information after this date will not be accepted, unless requested by the City Council.

Please personally submit the following items:

  1. Signed application (see page 3 of link below).
  2. A one‐page cover letter indicating your interest and general qualifications for the position.
  3. A resume of no more than two pages.
  4. Answers to the Supplemental Questions of no more than two pages total (see page 4).
  5. Declaration and Affidavit of Candidacy

Inquiries and questions pertaining to this process or documentation should be directed to:

Peter Capell, City Administrator
616 NE 4th Avenue
Camas, WA 98607
Contact Phone: 360-834‐6864 Email Address: pcapell@cityofcamas.us

Eligibility, Requirements & Public Disclosure

To be eligible to be appointed to the Camas City Council, you:

  1. Must have continuously resided within the Camas city limits for a minimum of one year prior to your appointment to the Council.
  2. Must reside in Ward 3 where the opening exists.
  3. Must be a registered voter in the City of Camas.
  4. If you hold, participate in, or are involved in any contract(s) with the City of Camas, please explain your
    involvement in your cover letter.
  5. If you hold any other elected public office, please state what office and where in your cover letter.
  6. Please note that: Once a Council Member application is filed with the City, it is a public record available to the public.
  7. The applications received from all candidates who meet the minimum requirements of state law will be
    posted on the City of Camas website as part of the Council’s meeting packet the week of the initial
    interview.
  8. If appointed, you will be required by state law to file a personal financial disclosure statement with the
    Camas City Council Application. Washington Public Disclosure Commission (www.pdc.wa.gov)

> Full Details: https://goo.gl/SGMkdz

> Find Your Ward: https://goo.gl/PZR4C3 – Just click the Search tab and enter your address

> Map of Ward 3: https://goo.gl/frSwe7

> City Council Info: goo.gl/HN4qqx

Questions? Please contact City Administrator Pete Capell at 360-834‐6864 or pcapell@cityofcamas.us

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Local Community Helps CHS Senior Exceed Toy Drive Donation Goals

Camas, WA — Camas High School (CHS) Varsity Track star, Blake Deringer, decided to do a cool thing for his CHS Senior Project: Organize a Christmas toy drive for local needy families.

So, with the help of the Camas Public Library, CHS, and Washougal Sport and Spine, who provided locations for donation barrels, Deringer organized the effort, and marketed his plan. His goal was to gather and deliver 200 toys for the local Family Resource Center. That number would help out 60 families.

Thanks to a giving community, Deringer exceeded his goal, and collected 270 toys. Way to go Camas and Washougal!

“It was truly an amazing experience, and to never have done anything like this before and have it be so great, was unbelievable,” said Deringer. “The support from the community was more than I could’ve imagined, and to deliver the toys to the resource center and see how happy they were knowing they’d be able to give kids in need toys for Christmas was a humbling experience.“

Deringer who runs track for CHS, and also played Varsity football, learned a lot from the project.

“I honestly just got involved with the resource center and thought this would be a cool senior project,” said Deringer. “I haven’t done a lot of service projects before and was amazed at how many people who are in need. I realized this is something I could get behind. Really, I had no idea there were so many people in our local community that are homeless or in need. It really blew my mind. It’s really humbling seeing people going there asking for things on a everyday basis. It’s nice that I can help with that a little bit. I will definitely continue working with them after my senior project.”

Toy

Delivering the toys.

Toy

Loading up the toys for delivery.

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Camas City Council OKs $195 Million Budget; Funds 5 New Firefighters

Camas, WA — The Camas City Council unanimously (absent Councilor Bonnie Carter) approved a $195 million biennial budget Monday night that includes funds for five new firefighters.

The meeting was a stark contrast from the previous council session  that had councilors deadlocked about firefighter funding. In question was the Washougal funding for their portion of the fire services, which is 40 percent. Washougal hasn’t committed to their portion.

“Congratulations. That was a little easier this time,” said Camas Mayor Shannon Turk following the official vote.

The new budget increases funding for salaries and benefits for the Camas-Washougal Fire Department (CWFD) and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) by $663,988 in 2019, and by an additional $273,518 in 2020. The budget includes money for four new firefighters, a new fire marshal, as well as a new vehicle.

“The new vehicle is a one-time expense,” said city administrator, Pete Capell.

As Camas accounts for 60 percent of the funding for CWFD and EMS, several councilors expressed dismay at the reality that Washougal isn’t footing their part of the bill. They were previously hesitant to absorb the total cost.

The local firefighters union has pressed the council for most of 2018 for more personnel to “adequately serve Camas,” said firefighter, Josh Proctor.

City Councilwoman Deanna Rusch has always expressed support for the new personnel, and Capell has said because of increased city revenues “this is a good time to expand city services to meet our growing demands.”

He said staffing has been mostly stagnant for many years.

Washougal is willing to pay for their share of the new firefighter’s expenses, but they simply don’t have the funds.

Following passage of the 2019-20 budget, CWFD Fire Captain Kevin West addressed the council.

“I wanted to thank you for recognizing the need for firefighters,” West said.

Camas citizens are likely going to be very happy about the decision, given public input on the issue.

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CRGE School Kindness Project Shines Light on Positive Behavior

Washougal, WA — Inspiration is all around Columbia River Gorge Elementary school, and a single kind act has grown into a school-wide Kindness Project to shine a spotlight on positive behavior.

“This all began with creation of a holiday giving tree at the school to help a few local families,” said Christa Kornoski, CRGE Booster.  “It was tagged with 30 gift requests that our school community would volunteer to purchase.  The tags were depleted in two days so we added more families and, by the end, had a total of 74 gift requests.  Every one of them were fulfilled!  This tree demonstrated to students what a caring, giving, and supportive community we have here.”

With the success of the giving tree, the Boosters began thinking about ways to extended kindness beyond holiday giving and create something that could involve every child.

“We began looking at ways of organizing and recognizing random acts of kindness,” Kornoski explained.  “A sample calendar featuring daily kind acts was brought to us by fellow Booster Laura Kelly and we loved the idea.” The group brainstormed simple things students could do at school or at home to develop three calendars; one for young children, one for older and one that is a combination.

“This is when we heard that two 5th grade girls, Grace Hack and Bella Bradford, were also working on creating a kindness initiative,” Kornoski said. “So, we integrated their ideas and energy with ours. They created the calendar for the 4th and 5th graders.  We felt that this idea would be more influential coming from peers rather than parents at the upper elementary grades.” Suggested items on the calendar include writing a thank you note to your bus driver, sitting with someone new at lunch and cleaning out your parent’s car.

The next step in the project was recognizing the kindness students were showing. This is where Steve the Snowman came in.

“Steve is a life-size paper snowman on the hallway wall at CRGE,” Kornoski explained. “Each act of kindness a student shows can be written on a snowball tag and attached to him for all to see.  The goal is to have Steve completely covered with snowballs.”

And it is working.  The month-long CRGE Kindness Project began November 25 and will continue until the start of Winter Break and Steve is so filled with tags of good deeds that a new Sally the Snowman has been added.  Each tag lists the student, their teacher, their kind action and can be written by the student themselves or by a teacher or student who witnessed someone doing something nice.  A random tag is picked each morning to be read during the school news broadcast.  “The classroom with the most acts of kindness will be interviewed by the school’s morning news on why kindness is so important to them,”’ Kornoski said. “We decided it was best to reinforce this behavior by recognition rather than rewards or prizes.”

The plan is to continue after winter break with a Kindness Leadership Club that will meet once a month with a spring event before the end of school.  “We want to encourage kindness as something that will be in students’ thoughts throughout the year,” Kornoski said.  Her hope is that they will take this momentum with them into middle school.

Preparing for middle school is on the minds of Hack and Bradford and they feel this club will help ease that transition by reminding students about the importance of kindness.  “There can be a lot of unkind things that go on in middle school,” Hack said. “This club will help students understand the importance of being kind and inspire them to do their best to treat people nice.”

“We also hope our efforts will grow to the point that we could qualify for a grant to implement a large community project,” said Bradford.

“One of our goals is to change the narrative to focus on the positive things people do rather than the negative behaviors,” Kornoski said.  “We want these students to understand that one kind act can make a significant difference in a person’s life.”

Kindness

Putting a spotlight on positive behavior.

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Camas High Senior Blake Deringer Seeking Toy Drive Donations

For his Senior Project, Camas High School (CHS) Varsity track star, Blake Deringer, is collecting toys to be donated to the East County Family Resource Center as Christmas holiday gifts.

The goal of Deringer’s Toy Drive, which goes until December 12, is to gather 200 toys for local needy families. He says that amount of toys will help out 60 families.

Donation barrels have been placed at the following locations:

  • Camas Public Library
  • Washougal Sport and Spine
  • Camas High School

“Our goal is to get 200 toys delivered by the deadline,” said Deringer. “We got 15 donations so far, but we just started.”

His campaign is requesting unwrapped toys for children preschool through fourth grade.

“Once we collect all the toys, we will take them to the Family Resource Center, and they will wrap the gifts,” said Deringer. “December 12 is a hard deadline.”

Senior Projects are mandatory for CHS seniors, which requires a well-thought plan, a review board, a mentor, and a certain number of hours.

“I honestly just got involved with the resource center and thought this would be a cool senior project,” said Deringer. “I haven’t done a lot of service projects before and was amazed at how many people who are in need. I realized this is something I could get behind. Really, I had no idea there were so many people in our local community that are homeless or in need. It really blew my mind. It’s really humbling seeing people going there asking for things on a everyday basis. It’s nice that I can help with that a little bit. I will definitely continue working with them after my senior project.”

 

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Gift Store Teaches Hathaway Students About Commerce, Holiday Giving

Washougal WA — Volunteers at the Hathaway Elementary Gift Store are providing students the opportunity to learn the joy of holiday giving first hand. Now in its fifth year, the store is filled with new and gently used gift items that students “purchase” using “Pawsitives” coupons earned as a reward for positive behavior.

“You will find, normally before the holidays, kids can get anxious and excited and can lose some focus at school,” said Pam Clark, Hathaway Gift Store organizer. “The ability to earn Pawsititves to “spend” at the gift store for holiday giving is a powerful motivator to help students focus on positive behavior.”  The store is open each Tuesday and Thursday morning before school during the month of December.

Hathaway fourth grade student, Ruby Lacey, earned her Pawsitives by starting early on projects, being polite and listening in class. She was excited to be able to get a gift to put under the tree for her mother. “She is going to love it,” she exclaimed.

“It is really interesting to see how the kids make their choices,” said Clark.  “They will say they want something blue since it is their mom’s favorite color, or they see a type of toy or a book that they know a sibling would like. They seem to really enjoy the opportunity to surprise loved ones with a thoughtful gift.”

One year a student even bought a gift for the school principal.

Washougal School District Superintendent, Mary Templeton, also dropped in to assist shoppers on December 4.  “I love seeing how their positive behavior is rewarded in a way that allows them to give to friends and family,” she said.

“To stock and staff the store takes a large group of volunteers but each year the number of helpers grows,” Clark said. “Once you come and help you are hooked, and you’ll be back the next year.  That is just what happens!”

According to Clark it is the expression of excitement on children’s faces when they find that perfect gift that keeps the volunteers coming back.  “And the kids are always so polite and seem grateful for the opportunity we are providing,” she said.  “That is reward you feel deep in your heart.”

Finding items to stock the store takes place all year, with volunteers looking at garage sales and around their homes. The word has gotten out about the store and now local businesses and organizations are offering items.

One of the most popular gifts are coffee mugs.

“Last year we had 300 mugs and they all went!” Clark said. “Sometimes we’ll add a packet of hot cocoa mix, microwave popcorn or other small item to make them more special.”

Other gifts include ornaments, small toys, games, books, holiday décor, and even scarves and neckties.  To donate items, contact Clark at angels@airspd.net.

“I just need to thank everyone who helps with this project,” Clark said.  “Without help from the community, volunteers, businesses and my friends, we could not do what we are doing.”

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Gause Elementary Reduces Waste Through Green Schools Program

Washougal WA — Gause Elementary has a new team.  It’s the Green Team!  And, their goal is to make the school and world a better place by participating in Waste Connection’s Clark County Green Schools program to reduce school waste. Waste Connections works with Clark County Green Schools.

“It is important for kids this age to learn about how to care for the environment and understand the importance and benefits of recycling,” said Ellen Lancaster, Gause Day Custodian and Green Team Adviser.  “We want to start good habits and build a culture of recycling at Gause.”

As a part of the Green Team program the school received receptacles for use during cafeteria meals to sort waste.  “These containers make the process of separating food scraps from garbage and recycling easy to do and understand with colorful bins and clear labels,” said Lancaster.

And this is where the Gause Green Team, comprised of around a dozen third to fifth graders, springs into action.

“Our members monitor the containers at lunchtime and watch to help make sure students are sorting items properly and using the correct receptacles,” Lancaster explained.

Waste Connections picks up the food waste from a cart left with regular recycling and garbage containers.  Waste Connections partners with Dirt Hugger to transport food waste to Dirt Hugger’s composting facility in Dallesport, Washington. Once there, food scraps decompose and are turned into a nutrient-rich soil additive.

“The production of waste has enormous impacts on environments, economies, and societies throughout the world,” said Ellen Ives, Waste Connection Sustainability and Waste Reduction Educator. “Each of us has a responsibility to understand the impacts of the waste we produce, how much we produce, and how we can make choices to reduce waste and protect natural resources and human health.”

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An important step in Gause earning Green School Certification, is to perform a waste audit that took place on December 5 after school.

“We worked with Ellen Ives and Clark County Green Schools staff to look at a day’s recycling and garbage from classrooms and the cafeteria,” said Lancaster. “Students sorted out each waste stream and determine what is recycling and what is garbage.  They also asked themselves, ‘Was this put in the right place?’”

Fourth grade student, Olive Krysak, was a part of the audit and was amazed at how much recyclable materials and reusable items were in the classroom trash.

“It was really kind of sad,” she commented.  “A crayon might be broken, but you can still use it!  People need to learn the proper way to throw away things, so recyclable items and everything are in the right place.”

Washougal School District Superintendent Mary Templeton was also on hand to help sort trash during the audit.  More Washougal schools are becoming involved in the Clark County Green Schools program.

“These school waste audits help students recognize the enormity of solid waste production, disposal, and issues, the impacts of waste produced at their school and community and feel empowered to make choices which reduce these impacts,” said Ives. School waste production data collected during the audit will be used to create a plan for improving waste reduction and disposal at the school.

Waste

Students place waste in the proper receptacles.

“A part of the process is to understand how many dumpsters we fill on a regular basis and then work to have less going into the land fill and more in recycle but also to create less waste overall,” said Lancaster.

As a part of the Green Schools program the students will take a field trip to a Waste Connections transfer station.  Waste Connections Clark County pays all program costs for school participation.

“I want kids to look up, look out and see what’s there and take care of it,” Lancaster explained.  “I want to help teach them how to be responsible and aware of their world.”

Gause Green Team members meet before school on the first Tuesday of each month. “We also discuss ways to reduce, reuse and recycle,” said Lancaster.

Other initiatives include encouraging use of school water bottle fill stations with a reusable bottle rather than drinking from a carton or plastic water bottle; Crayola ColorCycle program to collect and repurpose used Crayola markers; and the Trex Challenge, to collect plastic grocery bags, bread bags, dry cleaning bags, newspaper sleeves, ziplock & other re-sealable bags, produce bags and more.

“Everyone who participates in the Trex Challenge gets a plaque, but the school who collects the most bags in a region will earn a Trex plastic bench for their school,” Lancaster said.

One of three Clark County schools Green Team advisers that is a custodian, Lancaster feels that it is a good fit.  “The club is a great way for me to connect with the kids at Gause in a different way,” she said. “They are all my kids.”Green

Lancaster’s goal for the program is to inspire students to help them understand their impact on the environment and know how they can make this a better place.

“There’s just one world!” she said.

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UW Marching Band Bus Accident: George Residents Feed 325 Students, Staff

George, Washington — A bus accident in Central Washington changed many lives on Thanksgiving Day, including Battle Ground City Councilor, Shane Bowman, his family, and the small town of George.

Moments after bus three in a six-bus caravan transporting University of Washington Marching Band and Spirit Squad members to Pullman slid and rolled on the icy highway, Bowman said he heard the sirens of fire trucks and ambulances passing through George.

“I grew up in Central Washington four miles from George, we were visiting for Thanksgiving, working outside and we heard some police sirens and ambulances, so we assumed there was an accident,” said Bowman. “We finished our work and pulled up the news and learned that a UW band bus rolled over just six miles from us. My son said we should go see if we they need any help.”

So they did.

Within moments, the Bowman’s found out they were triaging victims at George Elementary School. So, they called the fire chief and asked if they needed anything.

“They said they needed food and blankets,” said Bowman. “We rounded up everything we had and headed down there. All the buses were there, five in total. So, we just took in everything that we had, we called a few friends to gather food, and we went to the gas station and cleared out all the hot pockets and burritos we could buy. We bought a couple hundred of them.”

Bus

Local community members brought everything they could to feed the 325 students and staff.

Using the tiny school’s kitchen, they heated up the food, put out the snacks, and watched local community members bring in their delicious Thanksgiving food.

“We fed all of them,” said Bowman. “We had enough water and people showed up with everything — soups and enchiladas. Everything.”

From 6:15 pm until the UW buses departed at 10:30 pm, Bowman’s family, including his son, Trey, and his parents, Alan and Sue (and a total crew of about 10) stayed for the duration. Another 15-20 families came in and dropped off food.

“We’d been down there quite a while, and a whole bunch of food came in — the kids just snacked on anything we had,” said Bowman. “Then a bunch of people brought in more food, blankets and mattresses. A couple even came in from Wenatchee on those icy roads. We thought they were going to spend the night at the school at first. It was chaos, but I was impressed with how professional everyone was. The UW students and staff are incredible. They had a lot to deal with. No complaining from anyone. The whole group was very professional.”

Bowman also got to spend time with Union High School graduate, Tommy Strassenberg, who used to live in Battle Ground. Strassenberg was a phenomenal wrestler who is now part of the UW Cheer team.

Everyone was equally impressed with the first responders — especially given the resource constraints an accident this size causes in rural Washington. Bowman said each little jurisdiction has ambulances, but they don’t have the resources here to deal with something this big.

The UW students are dealing with a spectrum of injuries — from sore backs and lacerations to broken bones and concussions, however, Bowman said it could have been a lot worse.

“I spoke with the bus driver of bus 4 who said he nearly hit bus 3,” he said. “A second collision would have made things a lot worse. We’re very grateful there were no fatalities. There was a lot of ice on the road. We have four-wheel drive pickups and the roads were slick. It was bad out there. There was freezing rain and sleet for about an hour.

“Regarding the response, I don’t expect anything different. I was in Battle Ground when we had the tornado come through, and we had the same thing there. People just stepped up, and put aside all their differences, and that’s what was cool. All the Fire Departments here are volunteers. It’s refreshing to see everyone help out.”

The UW students spent the night at Moses Lake, and will likely return to Seattle tomorrow morning. They won’t attend the Apple Cup, which was their destination.

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Washougal Transitions to Council-Manager Form of Government

Washougal, WA — Washougal voters passed Proposition 8 changing the City’s form of government from mayor-council to council-manager in the November 6 general election. Current Mayor Molly Coston will become the eighth member of the Council, and current City Administrator David Scott was appointed Washougal’s first city manager at the November 19, 2018 Council meeting. All changes will go into effect November 27, 2018. Mayor Coston will serve as the eighth councilmember until the expiration of her current term in December 2021, at which time the Council will revert to seven members. At the December 3, 2018 meeting, the Council will select a mayor from among its eight members.

“I am very pleased with the turnout of voters and am looking forward to the transition to the new form of government,” Mayor Coston noted. “I think this change is positive, that this will even out the playing field, where there’s not too much executive power vested in one individual. We have a great team in Washougal, and the transition is going very well. I look forward to returning to being a member of the Council and the opportunity to continue serving our community.”

In March 2018, Mayor Coston appointed the Citizens Government Advisory Committee and charged them with the task of determining whether it was the right time to transition to a council-manager form of government. The Citizens Government Advisory Committee recommended that the City Council place on the November 2018 ballot a measure to adopt the council-manager form of government for the City of Washougal. On May 29, 2018 the Council adopted a resolution placing this issue on the November 2018 ballot.

Councilmember Julie Russell served on the committee and said, “I appreciated being appointed to the Citizens Government Advisory Committee by Mayor Coston. After reviewing all of the information regarding the two forms, I reached the conclusion that the council-manager form would be the best for our community moving forward. The Council is strongly committed to ensuring that our transition to the new form continues to go very smoothly.”

Council-manager

David Scott.

Under the council-manager form of government, the city manager has general supervision over the administrative affairs of the city, including daily operations, handling personnel functions (including appointment and removal of employees), and preparation of the budget for submission to the City Council for their review and approval.

Scott has served as city administrator since 2010. On his appointment to city manager, he remarked, “It is an honor to have the confidence of the Council. I am very grateful for the opportunity and look forward to working with the team to serve our community.”

The City of Washougal will join 53 other cities across the state of Washington that are organized under the council-manager form of government, including Battle Ground, Ridgefield and Vancouver in Clark County. More information about the council-manager form of government can be found at http://mrsc.org/Home/Explore-Topics/Governance/Forms-of-Government-and-O….

 

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