Morning Press: Graduation, commissioners, spite, H.S. sports

Happy Monday! The weather was picture prefect all weekend. What does the week have in store? Check out the local weather forecast here.

The weekend’s top stories and some news you may have missed

Trio of local triplets to earn diplomas

The approach of high school graduation is a hectic time for high school seniors and their families. Months before graduation, students completed college applications, took college entrance exams, posed for senior portraits, and ordered graduation announcements, their cap and gown and tickets to the big event. Their parents filled out forms to determine how much financial aid their child can receive, and then pulled out their checkbooks.

Now imagine tripling the activity, stress and expense of senior year. That’s the experience of three Clark County families who have triplets graduating from high school this month. Nicole, Tanner and Troy Blake will graduate from Union High School on June 11. Ben, Joe and Sam Howard will graduate from Mountain View High School on June 12. Hannah, Jacob and Mac Wright will graduate from Washougal High School on June 14.

Read the full story here.

County commissioners may have violated meetings law

Clark County commissioners may have violated the state’s Open Public Meetings Act when they convened a secret session to agree on appointing a new county commissioner.

Read the full story here.

In spite of it all some will act against best interests

It can be a freeway, a parking lot or a divorce court.

They’re all settings where people are willing to suffer harm for the opportunity to hurt someone else.

That is what spite is all about, and it’s all around us.

“It’s when folks are willing to do something not in their own best interest — suffer some harm — to harm another,” Washington State University researcher David Marcus said. “There are those tiny, little instances of spite that probably happen on a day-to-day basis.”

Still, it’s been an overlooked aspect of social behavior.

“Most research that focuses on negative social behavior is on the dark personality traits,” he said.

Those dark traits include narcissism and psychopathy.

“Spitefulness hangs together with them, except it didn’t look like spitefulness was getting its own focused attention,” the psychology professor said. “It seemed like a niche to fill.”

Read the full story here.

Papa Murphy’s reaches out to franchisees

Papa Murphy’s International appears to be making moves to patch up its troubled relationships with some franchise owners, an issue that has drawn attention from investment analysts and prompted critical reviews of the Vancouver-based company’s recently issued stock.

A recent newsletter from the Papa Murphy’s Franchisee Association, representing a group of franchise owners of about 820 stores, includes a letter from association president DJ Cavenaugh outlining steps the company is considering to support some of its weaker franchises. Many new franchise owners, especially those introducing the take-and-bake pizza into new markets, say they scarcely are breaking even after covering costs, including franchise fees. Papa Murphy’s released the newsletter to The Columbian. The company went public with a stock sale on May 2 on the Nasdaq Exchange under the ticker FRSH.

The latest newsletter, dated June, follows a February newsletter that spelled out numerous concerns of franchise owners about profitability. That newsletter, which was posted on the Internet and has drawn the attention of some analysts, includes a board update indicating that about one-third of the chain’s 1,360 franchised stores were in serious financial trouble. Those approximately 430 stores had averaged less than $8,000 in average weekly sales, the letter stated, up from an estimated 25 percent of the chain making less than the break-even amount in September.

Read the full story here.

Twitter and public safety: Agencies seek to inform

In the days and weeks that followed a Vancouver woman live-tweeting a crash that killed her husband, Washington State Patrol Trooper Will Finn received what he called hate mail.

“It was negative comments and commentary from folks that believe … I shouldn’t be sending anything out, and how inappropriate it was for me to do that,” he said.

Finn, the public information officer for the Vancouver area, tweeted information about a fatal crash on Interstate 205 the afternoon of Dec. 4. Before knowing that her husband, Craig Johnson, was the victim, Caran Johnson also tweeted about the crash from the Twitter handle @scancouver. Realizing her husband was late coming home, she tweeted her anguish and asked Finn questions via Twitter.

When Finn learned it was, in fact, her husband who had died, he sped up the notification process. Two troopers went to her house to deliver the news.

Even with the tragedy unfolding how it did and with the angry backlash he received, Finn said he’s glad he uses Twitter.

Read the full story here.

State track: Pro decision awaits Efraimson after setting another meet record

TACOMA — Before she possibly leaves the state track championships in her dust, Alexa Efraimson took one more dash across the meet’s record book.

The Camas junior defended her state title in the Class 4A 800 meters Saturday. Her time of 2:04.10 lowered her own meet record by more than three seconds.

It’s the fastest 800 time nationally this season and the second fastest by a Washington high school girl, bested only by Becca Noble, who ran 2:03.73 at the 2005 USA Junior Nationals for Rogers-Spokane.

Efraimson has been the toast of this year’s state meet since she broke the national high school record in the 1600 meters on Thursday. On the award stand, she received loud and long ovations from fans at Mount Tahoma High School on Thursday and again on Saturday.

Saturday might have been the final chance to watch Efraimson in a high school track uniform. She is considering turning professional in the near future.

“Honestly, I don’t really know if I’m going to be here next year,” Efraimson said. “It’s sort of up in the air right now. But I think we’ll know relatively soon.”

Read the full story here. See all of our high school state playoffs coverage at Columbian.com.