In your neighborhood

Battle Ground, Meadow Glade and Hockinson

Battle Ground: The Pleasant Valley Middle School marching band won the Sweepstakes Award in the 2010 Junior Rose Parade on June 9. The school won the sweepstakes in four of the past six years. Maple Grove Middle School took second place in A Class, for 99 or fewer musicians.

Battle Ground: Sheila Shulleeta, Battle Ground, graduated with her new guide dog, Tulsa, from a two-week training course at Guide Dogs for the Blind Inc. Shulleeta and her pooch learned how to negotiate stairways, elevators, overhead obstacles, crowded sidewalks and busy streets. Tulsa even learned how to avoid distractions and disobey commands to cross a street if traffic is approaching.

Battle Ground: Jessica Murray thanked the body of the Washington State Elks Association summer session on June 19 for a $2,000 scholarship she received from the organization. She will be taking business management and catering service classes at Clark College in the fall. Murray graduated from La Center High School and is sponsored by the Battle Ground Elks Lodge No. 2589.

Battle Ground: Facilities and operations staff at Captain Strong Primary donated enough money to send a student to summer school. Michael Haynie, a Battle Ground school district grounds crew employee, heard a student was in need of a scholarship and left a note and envelope asking for donations to “send one of our own to summer school.”

West Vancouver and Downtown

Esther Short: Katlin Smith of southwestwashingtonzest.com was walking along C Street between Regal City Center 12 cinema and the new Vancouver Community Library on June 22 when she spotted a mysterious rodent weaving through a construction fence. Smith thought it might be a ferret, so she sent a photo to The Columbian. We sent the photo to the Oregon Zoo in Portland for identification. The animal registrar at the zoo suspects the animal is a long-tailed weasel, which is native to the area. After we informed Smith of the animal’s identity she noted that no sounds were made. “Not even a ‘pop!’ as in ‘Pop Goes the Weasel,’” Smith said in an e-mail.

North Clark County and Woodland

La Center: True North Alpacas, an animal farm owned by Owen and Peggy Sue Snoey, held its annual shearing in late June. Shearer Kim Rooney brought her shears and skills to True North to trim all 22 animals on the farm. All the fiber was sorted and stored, and will be used to make yarn, either by hand spinning or at a mill. And Peggy Sue, who said she believes in a waste-not, want-not approach, held on to 100 pounds of what’s generally considered trash wool from the lower leg and underbelly for donation to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill effort, since animal hair is an excellent oil sponge. It was quite a day, Peggy Sue said; she even had to go to the emergency room for stitches to a cut she acquired while snipping alpaca nails.

Amboy: The Daughters of the Pioneers of Washington, Chapter 19 had an eventful meeting June 17 at the North Clark Historical Museum. A $750 scholarship was presented to Adrienne Hurst, granddaughter of DPW member Margaret Lubbers. Outgoing president, Jackie Andersen, was presented with an appreciation gift of a vase of flowers. The following new officers were installed: Nira Lang, president; Sandra Ruff, vice president; Jayne McCarley, secretary and Jackie Andersen, treasurer.

East Clark County: Camas and Washougal

Washougal: Six students from Image Elementary were awarded brand-new bikes for reading a book through Bikes for Books, a program sponsored by the Masons from North Bank Lodge in Washougal.

Hazel Dell, Felida and Salmon Creek

Hazel Dell: The Northwest Association for Blind Athletes was awarded a $3,500 grant from the Northwest Lions Foundation for Sight and Hearing and a $2,500 grant from the OCF Joseph E. Weston Public Foundation. Grant funding from the Northwest Lions Foundation for Sight and Hearing will partially fund the expansion of a sports outreach program for blind and visually impaired students across the state of Washington. The OCF Joseph E. Weston Public Foundation grant will help to provide general operating support for expansion of programming. The association’s sports outreach program will launch in September.

Central Vancouver, Minnehaha and The Heights

Central Park: Esther “Kitty” Ham, who died in 2005, was the mother of the local community garden movement. In the late 1960s Kitty and husband Alan started the Senior Citizen Sharecropper gardens on their Lewis River farm, providing land and help to green-thumbed senior citizens. When they moved to Vancouver, Kitty hunted down land to carry on the program there, and eventually launched gardens at the Marshall Community Center, Fruit Valley Elementary School and a Grange hall in Sifton. Today there are five city-sponsored community gardens, as well as many smaller ones operated by neighborhood associations, churches and schools. On June 23 the Ham family gathered at Marshall to admire new raised beds and a basalt monument that bears Kitty’s name. A kiosk is planned that will tell her story; meanwhile, you can read Kitty’s own words and review some vintage Columbian coverage of her at http://www.estherkittyham.com.

Bagley Downs: Vancouver Public Schools has a safe fleet. The district buses were inspected by the Washington State Patrol and received a rating of 98.8 percent. Inspectors made only two deductions: one for a burned-out turn signal light and one for a side emergency door buzzer switch. In addition to the great work done by the drivers, mechanics, service workers, dispatchers, safety officers and training officers, three VPS bus drivers placed in the top five in the Regional Rodeo on May 22. The rodeo is a competition that tests 10 driving skills. Becky Babb placed second and will compete statewide. Duane Peterson placed fourth and Judy Sharpe placed fifth.

Hudson’s Bay: After being planted about 38 years ago, a titan arum plant started blooming in Laurie Mario’s yard. The plant, also known as the corpse flower, gives off a smell similar to that of a decomposing animal. “It’s the most horrible thing you’ve smelled in your life,” Mario said. According to the U.S. Botanic Garden website, the plant produces some of the largest unbranched flowers in the world and blooms in an unpredictable schedule as the root collects energy. The process usually takes several years.

Central Park: Robert Giles, Hy Cohen, Mark Burbey and Mark Feener graduated from the School of Piano Technology in June. The four completed a two-year program that teaches blind and visually impaired people how to tune and repair pianos.

Ogden: George Middleton was installed as the president of the Rotary Club of Vancouver Metro Sunset on June 15. Other new officers are Ryan Hart, president nominee; Jeanne Jolivette, secretary; Lyle Smith, treasurer; Dena Horton and Diana Smith, sergeants-at-arms, and Nadine Robertson, charter president. Robert Stewart is president-elect and will take over for Middleton next year. Club directors are Shelly Fleming, Donna Warnes, Andrew Geisler and Brent Boger.

Central Park: Colton Woods and Lisa Hugichi will serve as the two top editors for The Independent, Clark College’s student-run newspaper in the fall. Woods will be editor in chief and Hugichi will be executive editor. The Independent is published during the fall, winter and spring terms and is available online at http://www.clark-independent.com.

East Vancouver, Cascade Park, Fisher’s Landing and Evergreen

East Vancouver: Umpqua Bank associates Kandis Michnal and Darci Vick handed out organic dog treats to pooches at Dakota Memorial Dog Park on June 17 as part of the bank’s “Random Acts of Kindness Week.” Associates also handed out frozen treats at Esther Short Park, bought coffee for customers at local coffee shops and washed cars throughout a two-week period. Individual branches were responsible for choosing two “acts” to give back to the community, said Susan Schwemberger, regional sales manager.