This is rivalry week in Clark County, with the biggest rivalry set to happen Friday at McKenzie Stadium when No. 2 Camas plays No. 3 Union in football.
So as we enter a week of hype and excitement, let’s get one thing clear.
Union High School is NOT in Camas.
Union High School has never been in Camas.
Union does have a Camas mailing address, even though it resides completely within Vancouver city limits because — and get ready for a shock — the post office is behind the times.
I mention this because Camas fans are sure to get on social media this week and refer to Union as “West Camas.” They’ll do this mostly to annoy Union fans.
It’s bad enough that Union students leave their campus on NW Friberg-Strunk Street, and look east on NW Lake Road and see Camas Papermaker banners flying proudly.
Now get this: It’s NW Friberg-Strunk Street because the street is in Camas. Streets don’t run north-south in Vancouver; they run east-west. Avenues run north-south in Vancouver. However, the Union campus is in Vancouver.
We should also note that if you turn left into Camas, it’s NW Lake Road. But if you turn right, into Vancouver, it’s SE 1st Street. You follow?
No? OK, here’s a little trip down memory lane.
Decades ago when the post office set up the ZIP code system to streamline mail delivery, it established the boundary for the Camas ZIP code of 98607 and the east Vancouver ZIP codes of 98683 and 98684 at 192nd Avenue. (You see, it’s an avenue. It runs north and south).
Back then, the only ones
affected by this border were cows, as it was mostly open farmland.
But as Vancouver’s urban sprawl spread east and Camas’ growth moved west, issues started to arise.
First, Evergreen Public Schools needed to build schools to serve all this growth. So it built Illahee Elementary and Shahala Middle School and then eventually Union High School, on the eastern side of 192nd Ave. And when EPS did this, it asked that the city of Vancouver extend its city limits eastward so that these schools would reside in Vancouver. The city did this.
However, the post office did not move its ZIP code boundary to match Vancouver’s new city limits.
So there are about 800 residents of the city of Vancouver who have Camas ZIP codes. And if you have a Camas ZIP code, chances are you’ll have a Camas mailing address.
That’s what happened to Union High School. If you Google Union High School, you’ll see it has a Camas mailing address, even though it resides in the city of Vancouver.
It’s not new. Hockinson High School has a Brush Prairie mailing address, even though it’s in Hockinson, not Brush Prairie. But Hockinson doesn’t have its own ZIP code, so it has a Brush Prairie ZIP code.
Actually, the closest high school to Brush Prairie is Prairie High School. But Prairie has a Vancouver mailing address because it has a Vancouver ZIP code.
As far as the Camas/Vancouver boundary goes, the post office is working to adjust the ZIP code boundary to rectify this issue. And there are actually people up in arms about having their ZIP code changed. I don’t know why. Maybe they have gold-laminated return address stickers or something.
So there you are. Union is in Vancouver.
End of story.
Now let’s play football.
Other highlights this week —
DISTRICT GOLF: The Class 4A and 3A district golf tournaments will be Monday and Tuesday at Tri-Mountain Golf Course in Ridgefield (which is actually not in Ridgefield, but… Oh, never mind). Golfers in the 4A event will be vying for berths to state, while some 3A golfers will receive state berths and others will advance to the bi-district tournament next spring.
THURSDAY FOOTBALL: We have another Thursday night football game, and it’s a good one. It looked last week that R.A. Long might excuse itself from the 2A Greater St. Helens League race when the Lumberjacks lost their starting quarterback to injury. But after Friday’s impressive non-league win over Prairie, R.A. Long is not conceding anything just yet. The Lumberjacks will host Woodland on Thursday in Longview in a battle of 2A GSHL unbeatens.
FRIDAY NIGHT CLASSIC: No playoff berths will be at stake when Columbia River meets Skyview in football at Kiggins Bowl, just bragging rights. But after last year’s game, the stakes just got higher. Unless you were living under a rock last year, and that rock didn’t have basic cable or Internet, you’ll know about the crazy ending of last year’s River-Skyview game. That’s when Skyview celebrated a presumed game-ending blocked field goal a little too early, allowing Reese Keller to score the winning TD for River. From there, the game exploded on the Internet, all over ESPN and beyond. Now comes the rematch. River wants to win this one. Skyview almost needs to win to exorcise some demons.
