Twenty years of columbian.com

The Columbian started distributing local news by pressing ink onto sheets of paper in 1890.The press, ink and paper now are optional. That process started 20 years ago Saturday with the launch of www.columbian.com on July 5, 1994.But it’s still about distributing news. Some of the stories we’ve reported in the past two decades reflect changing technologies of the digital era; others represent familiar newsmakers, including people, places and events — as well as commemorations of local historic milestones.How many of these do you remember?

1. What natural event that jarred Clark County within the last decade was measured in terms of the enhanced Fujita Scale?

• A. That sushi-related unpleasantness in 2006
• B. A series of volcano-related earthquakes in 2004
• C. The 2008 tornado

2. In 2004, Mount St. Helens was designated as Washington’s:

• A. Top polluter
• B. Official state volcano
• C. First Sasquatch refuge

3. In 1994, skater Tonya Harding won:

• A. Her appeal
• B. Her second U.S. women’s national championship
• C. A “tough-girl” boxing bout against a transvestite

4. In 2006, the community marked the 150th anniversary of Mother Joseph’s arrival. The Canadian-born Sister of Providence eventually realized:

• A. This place could use a lunatic asylum
• B. She left a wimple in Winnipeg
• C. Wait: This isn’t Vancouver, B.C.!
• D. Nun of the above

5. Which company was part of a million-dollar business story?

• A. Heraeus Shin-Etsu
• B. Boomsnub
• C. Quincunx
• D. All of the above

6. Former Clark County residents Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger and Mike Barratt were part of monumental scientific advances. Significant moments in both of their careers involved:

• A. Human urine
• B. The Chinook Salmon Genome Project
• C. Analyzing seismic clues to predict volcanic eruptions
• D. Thermal energy from deep-sea vents

7. A transportation issue that threatened to hamper traffic flow on the Interstate 5 Bridge centered around:

• A. A trunnion
• B. Paul Bunyan
• C. An onion

8. Randy Myers found fame and fortune as a “Nasty Boy.” The name refers to:

• A. New Zealand’s first reality TV show
• B. A bullpen
• C. A (nasty) boy band

9. Washington State University Vancouver got a big popular-culture spotlight as:

• A. A filming location for two of the “Twilight” films
• B. A filming location for two episodes of NBC’s “Grimm”
• C. One of the settings in the erotic best-seller “Fifty Shades of Grey”

10. A retired Ford engineer came through in 2005, following in the footsteps of a famous ancestor whose name is part of our community. (Fittingly, his résumé at Ford included work on the Explorer and Expedition.) His famous relative was:

• A. Meriwether Minnehaha
• B. William Clark
• C. George Vancouver

Answers

1. What natural event was measured in terms of the enhanced Fujita Scale?

C. The tornado that touched down near Vancouver Lake on Jan. 10, 2008, rated a 1 on the enhanced Fujita Scale, with wind speeds between 90 and 110 mph. The F-Scale estimates wind speeds based on damage; it goes from 0 (winds 40-72 mph) up to 5 (winds 261-318 mph).

2. In 2004, Mount St. Helens was designated as Washington’s:

A. Top polluter. “Since (it) began erupting in October, it has been pumping out 50 to 250 tons a day of sulfur dioxide,” the Seattle Times reported in December 2004. If the volcano were a new factory, it probably couldn’t get a permit, said Clint Bowman, an atmospheric physicist for the Washington Department of Ecology. All of the state’s industries combined produce about 120 tons of the noxious gas per day, the Times reported.

3. In 1994, skater Tonya Harding won:

B. Her second U.S. women’s skating championship. The U.S. Figure Skating Association took it away, citing her role in the attack on Nancy Kerrigan. Harding, the first American woman to land a triple axel in competition, also won the U.S. women’s title in 1991. (In 2005, Harding, then a Clark County resident, pulled out of a fight against transvestite Daisy D at a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., nightclub.)

4. 2006 marked the 150th anniversary of Mother Joseph’s arrival. The Canadian-born Sister of Providence eventually realized that:

A. This place could use a lunatic asylum. In 1861, she opened St. John of God Lunatic Asylum (the name is cited in the Sisters of Providence archives); it was Washington Territory’s first mental health center.

5. Which company was part of a million-dollar business story?

D. All of them. Heraeus Shin-Etsu America Inc. is a key supplier to the semiconductor manufacturing industry. The former Boomsnub chrome-plating facility in east Hazel Dell was a Superfund cleanup site. Quincunx built and operates the Sleep Country Amphitheater.

6. Former local residents Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger and Mike Barratt were part of monumental scientific advances. Key moments in their careers involved:

A: Human urine. Astronaut Metcalf-Lindenburger, a former Hudson’s Bay High School science teacher, was looking for the answer to a student’s question (“How do astronauts go to the bathroom in space?”) on the NASA website when she saw an application for educator astronauts. In 2009, Astronaut Barratt and two crewmates on the International Space Station drank a toast with their recycled urine. “Everybody’s talked about recycling water in a closed loop system, but nobody’s ever done it before,” the Camas native said in a NASA news release. It’s “technology that will get us to the moon and further.”

7. A transportation issue that generated a lot of coverage in 1997 centered around:

A. A trunnion. Two of the eight mechanisms that lift the Interstate 5 Bridge were replaced in 1997 in a six-day, $7 million project that closed the northbound span.

8. Randy Myers left Vancouver and found fame and fortune as a “Nasty Boy.” The name refers to:

B. A bullpen. The Cincinnati Reds relief pitcher shared the 1991 National League Championship Series MVP Award with fellow “Nasty Boy” Rob Dibble. Myers finished his career in 1998 and ranks No. 10 on the all-time saves list.

9. Washington State University Vancouver got a big popular-culture spotlight as:

C. One of the settings in the erotic best-seller “Fifty Shades of Grey.” Lead character Anastasia Steele was a student at WSUV.

10. A retired Ford engineer visited Vancouver in 2005, following in the footsteps of a famous ancestor whose name is part of our community. (Fittingly enough, his résumé at Ford included work on the Explorer and Expedition.) His famous forebear was:

B. William Clark. The explorer’s great-great-great-grandson, Peyton Clark, was among those here in 2005 to celebrate the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.