Camas, WA — Friends and family are paying tribute to Marquita Call, longtime Camas Gallery owner, resident, and friend to many, who passed away in late August, at two Saturday events.

Call, known for her infectious smile, listening ear, honest advice, and love of family and friends will be honored Saturday, October 7 at a 2 pm memorial at Journey Church in downtown Camas. The public is also invited to a celebration afterwards at Shangri-La Farm in Fern Prairie (details below).

Call was born on April 23, 1943, in Vancouver, WA to Art and Lenora Gaiani (Bennett). She graduated from Camas High School in 1962, and forever be a Papermaker. She frequently spoke of her love for Camas, and never hesitated to share that love to anyone who entered the gallery. Family and friends often referred to the talk as the “Camas Wellness Talk.”

“Camas has a sense of wellness,” she always said. “People here care for each other, and support one another. My heart will always be here. I will forever be a Papermaker.”

And, she loved to sing the Camas High School Fight song.

Call owned the Camas Gallery for the past 14 years. She welcomed visitors to her gallery, located on 4th Avenue, with warmth and enthusiasm and freely shared her historical knowledge of Camas. One visitor claimed Marquita is to Camas what Dolly Parton is to Pigeon Forge, TN.

Call’s first job was at the Ideal Corner Cafe at the age of 15. She also worked at Dairy Queen with classmate Denis Hayes, the International Chairman of Earth Day. She and her friends started the first recycling center in Camas in the late 60s. She taught Sunday School at Zion Lutheran Church for 20 years, where her mother Lenora Gaiani served as superintendent. Her dad, Art Gaiani, built more than 50 homes in Camas. Her grandmother Marie Eymer played piano at the Liberty Theatre when it opened in 1927.

This reporter will always hold a special place in his heart for the great friend that Marquita is. Although she has left mortality, she is not gone, but simply ahead in the journey. She taught people to be strong, resilient, and brave. She was honest and forthright, and I loved giving her the scoop on breaking stories. We will miss her greatly.

She is survived in death by her husband of 28 years, Dennis, her two children, Tom Johnston (Tracy), Jennifer Senescu (Jim), 2 stepchildren Darren Call (Tekla), Denise Hibbard (Joe), sister MelodyGood, and brother Art Gaiani (Karen), and several grandchildren.

Immediately following Call’s service at Journey Church, guests are invited to Shangri-La Farm to celebrate her life. Park at rented Grove Field Airport parking lot in Fern Prairie, 632 NE 267th Ave., Camas, WA. Walk or take a ride on the Sunflower Mobile on a short trail through the woods to Shangri-La.

Lacamas Magazine interviewed Stephen Dabasinskas, who is running for the Camas City Council At-Large seat being vacated by long-term Camas City Council Member, Don Chaney. 

Why do you want to be on council?

When the pandemic started I had lots of time to study council and what has been happening with the city. I’ve been looking at the mistakes the city is making. I have a lot to bring to city council.

I graduated from UC San Diego with an Economics degree, had a 10-year law enforcement career (two jobs). During that final job I ran a narcotics task force in Orange County that comprised 20 agencies, and it allowed me to work with many jurisdictions. I did a lot of grant writing, and worked on some great legislation. 

I did consulting for the Department of Defense (DOD), and we worked on legislative budgeting while the DOD put on trainings on budgeting all over the country.

Over time, I increased my consulting, and I got involved with a tech company doing CFO consulting services, and have been a CFO and CEO consultant with my company, Innovative Business Resources, for 25 years. 

I’m 58 years old, and our family has lived in Camas since 2018. 

What are the top issues of your campaign?

Growth and development. We grow for growth’s sake, we don’t do it responsibly. We need to update roads, sewers and electrical, and make infrastructure improvements. 

Environmental. We have the Lacamas Lake cleanup that’s been pending for years. We’ve spent money, we have done consulting, we’ve done more testing. It’s been toxic for many years. All the warnings are there with the algae blooms. With growth comes management of natural resources. The tree canopies, the trails, the things we all like. We need to be hard and fast and hold developers accountable to maintain open spaces. We need to make sure trees are saved and not just replaced.

Financial stewardship. Our city budget is in the hundreds of millions. We need to ensure we use taxpayer money properly. We must make sure we use consultants properly.

Examples: For the Lacamas Lake Roundabout project we spent $2 million on consultants alone. The city administrator was paid $600,000 for 18 months. We spent $390,000 for the Crown Park consultancy. We just need to be better at using them and also review the contracts better. We shouldn’t have open-ended contracts. Sometimes the scope of work isn’t as defined as it should be. We need to do reviews before the bill is paid.

Public Safety. This makes our community great. People are very pleased with the fire and police departments. Our fire department is currently renegotiating with Washougal to ensure everyone is paying their fair share. We need to make sure those departments are funded properly as we grow.

Citizen engagement. People feel like they’re not being heard. It’s supposed to be run by what the citizens want. People’s voices need to be heard. Right now, they use directional surveys to do what they want. The pool bond, the Crown Park splash pad. And, so many people are against North Shore plans. 

We send out surveys and they don’t get a good response. It’s our job to get out and meet with people. It’s been great meeting people and hearing what they have to say.

What three things is the city doing correctly?

• Police and fire. We have great public safety services. 
• Camas is doing a better job at fixing smaller issues like the downtown tree plan. 
• They are re-writing the down sub area plan. This is good. At the heart of it everyone wants to keep Camas like it is. We are trying to make ourselves better. 

Vision

I want Camas to be a better version of ourselves. Focus on downtown, improve our infrastructure, draw more big business for a better tax base for our city. We have high property taxes. We need to find other sources of income is to bring more businesses into Camas. 

To learn more visit: www.stephen4council.com

Randal Friedman answered Lacamas Magazine questions about his candidacy. He’s presently in a race to be Camas Mayor against incumbent Steve Hogan.

Why do you want to be mayor? 

I want to be Camas Mayor to bring our government back to our community and neighborhoods, and not serve special interests. I want to bring a new and needed vision to our city’s future. This vision is not the four-year term of a mayor, but a four-decade view on the Camas we leave behind for the future. I have a lifetime of problem solving, connecting and creating common ground on issues, and the passion to solve problems instead of kicking them down the road. One of my duties as the Navy’s advocate in California was looking four decades out at how California’s direction could impact military training and operations vital to our nation’s defense. I was successful in doing so, and bring those skills to Camas. 

What are the top three issues of your campaign?

1. A safer and livable community. Ensuring that every resident, regardless of their background, can find a safe, secure and reasonably priced place to call home is crucial to a thriving community.
2. Thriving Camas Lake and Forests. The restoration, preservation and enhancement of our natural gems into clean, vibrant, sources of pride for Camas is essential.
3. Mill cleanup and future planning. We must plan for the Camas Mill’s future use in a way that aligns with our city’s needs and aspirations.
   

What three things is the city doing correctly? 

1. Our own independent library. It took some work, but we reap the benefits of hard work by citizens to build and maintain our independent library. I’m a huge believer in libraries as sacred and neutral ground where a city comes together to learn, discuss, and have aspirations for the future. Our library has done special programing on issues in the past, and I will bring them back. We need to be looking four decades out for our future, and thank goodness we have our library to be part of that process.
   
2. Consistent with looking four decades out, Camas has done a good job acquiring open space for our future. The Legacy Lands, open spaces in Forest Home, Ostenson Canyon, and Green Mountain are part of our future now. I would continue to look for opportunities, and start a conversation on how best to use them to serve our needs.
   
3. The Lacamas Lodge is a gem in an incredible setting. It’s a gathering place for city and community events. It is there for classes. It embodies what we need as a city and is a model for the future as our population grows. 

What three things is the city not doing correctly? 

1. Understanding the difference between listening and hearing. More and more I hear people fed up with making the effort to do surveys, attend workshops, and speak out only to see nothing happen beyond what the city/and our consultants recommend. A community pool is the prime example. Why does it feel like the community is being punished for stating unequivocally that while they want a pool, they do not want one that will place the city in debt, and will require fees out of reach to many of our most challenged households. The public sentiment is clear. Why four years after the 90 percent rejection of the pool bonds is a simple pool ten years out? 
2. Growth management. Developers run the table and the city doesn’t negotiate. Even when something right was done to save trees, for example, the developer threatened litigation and we folded. On the other hand, when the community rose and actually litigated an issue, the city spent our money to fight the community. The City’s survey made clear the city is on the wrong track with growth management. 
3. Respecting our newer residents. Half of Camas is made of people living here 10 years or less. They are constantly reminded that they haven’t lived here long enough to earn an opinion. This is wrong. People who moved here made a decision to uproot their lives and start a new one. They bring with them a new set of experiences, and an appreciation of problems that seem headed for Camas. Their opinions and ideas must count the same as any other resident but they don’t. New residents are not just an ATM machine for getting building impact fees and a variety of other revenue. They are creating new neighborhoods, and are the future of our city. They are the households with young families that are concerned about the Camas their children and grandchildren will inherit. They matter and must be part of governance. They feel they don’t belong.

How should the city handle mill cleanup? 

The Washington Department of Ecology has made something clear: the level of cleanup is based on future uses envisioned by the city. Rather than leave it to a private conversation between Ecology and Koch Industries, as the Mayor recently stated, and then have that agreement “explained” to the public, the public deserves the “seat at the table” we successfully fought for during Covid. The Community Advisory Committee has done a fantastic job starting a conversation about the mill’s future, and the importance of this to guide the cleanup. Unfortunately that spirit has been lost by a city still living in the mill’s shadow and acting like we are still a “mill town”. We also need to acknowledge this is more than a local issue. We are custodians of ancestral lands of Native Americans. As the Yakama Nation provided to me in a resolution I proposed to Council: “the cleanup of the Camas Mill Site and the restoration of natural resources impacted by the past, current, and future releases of hazardous waste in order to make the public whole and further tribal Treaty rights.” 

How should the city handle Lacamas Lake cleanup? 

Leading by example. The Lacamas Shores biofitler has become the unfortunate symbol of decades of general neglect of the lake. What was once a tremendous victory for Camas’ early non-governmental organization, the city looked the other way as it was abandoned and now pollutes the lake every time it rains. It doesn’t have to be this way. Through leadership on fixing this biofilter, we can move forward with the County, state, and work with other pollution sources to clean. We will have shown them our willingness to first clean the only known direct source of pollution into the lake. We are walking the walk. Come join us. We need to stop kicking the can down the road as some are saying and be willing to try some solutions. Maybe they won’t work the first time, but there is science out there strongly suggesting solutions. Unfortunately, we continue down the road of falling back to more study. 

You can learn more about Friedman’s campaign at: https://www.whatcamaswants.com