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The Morning Press: Oil terminal, commissioners and wine, K-9 retires, Wendy Rose

The Columbian
Published: July 26, 2013, 5:00pm
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Weekend’s top stories and news you may have missed:

Port of Vancouver unanimously approves oil terminal lease

Port of Vancouver commissioners on Tuesday unanimously approved leasing 42 acres for a controversial oil terminal, despite overwhelming public testimony against the plan by Tesoro Corp. and Savage Companies to build what would be the largest such facility in the Pacific Northwest.

Commissioner Brian Wolfe said the lease — worth $45 million to the port over an initial 10 years — addresses public safety concerns. Port managers will stay on top of Tesoro and Savage like “white on rice” to ensure the project is “done right,” Wolfe said.

Commissioner Nancy Baker said if the port doesn’t build the infrastructure to handle oil, then “someone else is going to do it. That’s the way the world works.” The project will generate family-wage jobs, said Commissioner Jerry Oliver, and help the U.S. wean itself off foreign oil. “We’re not adding to global warming,” he said. “We’re replacing oil (that’s) already being consumed.”

Read the full story here.

Madore, Mielke at odds over wineries

A partial board of Clark County commissioners failed to finalize a wineries ordinance Tuesday as the board’s two Republican commissioners came down on opposite sides of the issue.

The wineries ordinance has been in dispute for some time now as commissioners have wrestled with the question of what time is too late for amplified music in the rural areas of Clark County.

In June, the board tentatively adopted an ordinance to limit amplified music to 7 p.m., but backlash from the community saying that was too early caused the board to halt approval and bring it back for further discussion.

Commissioner David Madore said Tuesday he wants to see the time limit set at the same standard the state uses — no noise between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.

Read the full story here.

Vancouver man gets 6.5 years for shooting neighbor

A Vancouver man was sentenced Wednesday in Clark County Superior Court to 61/2 years in prison for the March 2012 shooting death of an unarmed neighbor who played loud car stereo music in the parking lot of their Cascade Park apartment complex.

Christopher D. Paul, 32, pleaded guilty March 26 to the first-degree manslaughter of Eric Walswick in exchange for prosecutors dismissing a second-degree murder charge. While expressing remorse Wednesday for Walswick’s death, Paul continued to claim he shot the 26-year-old in self-defense after he confronted Walswick at around 4 a.m. and a struggle ensued in the parking lot of the Village at Cascade Park Apartments, 501 S.E. 123rd Ave. in Vancouver.

“I acted because I believed my weapon would be turned against me,” Paul said.

Nearly 30 people filled the courtroom’s public gallery to attend the sentencing hearing in front of Judge Robert Lewis. They included the victim’s family and friends and members of the Greater Portland Area Chapter of Parents of Murdered Children.

Read the full story here.

Pizza chain raises dough for teen

Justin Carey tried to thank every customer who came through the Battle Ground Papa Murphy’s Wednesday evening, which was no easy feat.

By the time the store started its event at 4 p.m. to raise money to help offset the teen’s medical costs, there was already a line out the door and winding through the parking lot.

All 12 of the chain’s area restaurants took part in the event, called Dough Raising Night for Justin Carey, with 20 percent of all pizza sales between 4 and 8 p.m. donated to his recovery.

Early estimates suggest that more than 5,000 pizzas were sold during that time, said Molly Haynes, spokeswoman for the pizza chain headquartered in Vancouver.

Read the full story here.

Vancouver barbershop leaving longtime digs

A barbershop opened on Southeast Mill Plain Boulevard in 1966, and stepping into it takes you back in time.

Unlike modern barbershops airing ESPN on flat-screen televisions, Bernie & Rollies Barber Shop offers up chitchat. Instead of walls adorned with jerseys from Northwest sports teams, Big Rick, one of two barbers, devotes his corner to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Mountain View High School football gets love, too, as owner Rochelle Debuse’s son played for the Thunder.

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Want to flip through a magazine while you wait? A modern barbershop will have Men’s Health and Sports Illustrated.

At Bernie & Rollies, a wall-mounted rack holds issues of Playboy.

Bernie & Rollies has a loyal following, all of whom will undoubtedly be pleased that a shop rooted in another era managed to get a jump on the future.

Saturday will be the last day at 10323 S.E. Mill Plain.

Read the full story here.

Lazy days await Washougal police K-9

When rooting out bad guys, the nose knows — at least for Dingo, the Washougal police dog.

But the 9-year-old Dutch shepherd’s days on the force are numbered. He’ll be burying his badge in October — so to speak — as he retires from the Washougal Police Department after seven years of service. The four-legged crime fighter, specializing in drug detection, will spend his dog days comfortably as a house pet.

Chalk that up, in part, to changes in Washington’s marijuana laws, which allow people 21 and older to carry up to an ounce of pot, as opposed to any holes in his finely tuned olfactory senses. The other factor is his age. At 9 years old — 63 in people years — he’s reached retirement age.

Read the full story here.

‘Wendy Rose’ statue regains her head

Vandals didn’t destroy everything when they stole the head from Vancouver’s iconic “Wendy Rose” statue in May.

Besides leaving the body alone, a small piece, a structural support on the top of her neck, remained.

That rectangular grid of metal didn’t look like much more than a collar tag at the top of the statue’s sweeping frame. But it was immeasurably valuable to artist Sharon Warman Agnor as she went about replacing the head of the memorial to thousands of women who worked in the Kaiser Shipyards during World War II.

“When I saw it had been vandalized, I was sad,” Agnor said. “But people who do things like that are small people. They’re small people with a small view of the world. They’re only thinking about themselves and not the community.”

Read the full story here.

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