Morning Press: Lucas retires, Courtyard Village, first baby

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Clark County Sheriff Lucas hangs up his star

When Garry Lucas walked into the Clark County Sheriff’s Office for his first day as a deputy, things ran a little differently than they do today.

“I was handed a hat badge and a coat badge, and the sheriff said, ‘Go commit law enforcement,'” he said.

The 24-year-old Lucas had to buy his own gun, uniform and handcuffs. With no police academy, he learned law enforcement skills on the job.

“I did spend about 10 days where I rode with another deputy, but that was the extent of (my training),” he said.

Nobody The Columbian spoke to at the low-income Rose Village complex on Wednesday morning was facing homelessness. But the legal notice to vacate by Dec. 31 — or Jan. 15, if you applied to property management for an extension — meant that some were making desperate choices nonetheless.

Salome Mallgren said her family will split up for a while. Her boyfriend is moving in with his mother in order to be near his new job, she said. Meanwhile she and their child are moving to his father’s apartment in Portland. She said they’ve done some local apartment hunting but discovered long waiting lists — as well as one landlord who offered to move the family to the top of the list in exchange for an extra hundred bucks, under the table.

Read more about the Courtyard Village Apartments.

Mom, daughter tell harsh truths about eating disorders

Alexis Colson hid in her mother’s closet with a bowl of cereal in her lap and beautiful little dresses dangling all around her head.

Colson hated dealing with people’s judgments. She loved being alone. She loved the cereal, which tasted too good to resist — especially because her body was literally starved for fuel.

She also loved the dresses, which fit her mother’s enviably “perfect” body, she said. “I always wanted to look like Mom,” she said. So Colson, a teen at the time, sat there in solitude, continuing what she’d been doing for years: swallowing the cereal and then vomiting it up. As revolting as it sounds, she’d developed expertise at hiding and disposing of the vomit so no one would know.

It took years of what Colson now considers genuine addiction to this behavior before anybody put a label on it: bulimia nervosa. It’s under control now, she said, but she’s relapsed before; as with any genuine addiction, she figures it’s hers for life. Now in her 20s and volunteering for Vancouver mental health clinic Children’s Center, Colson approached The Columbian to share her story.

The highly caloric, highly ritualized holiday season is bursting with eating disorder triggers, she said.

Learn more about eating disorders.

Little girl Clark County’s first baby of 2015

When the new year was just shy of being two hours old, a Vancouver couple welcomed their newborn baby girl. Aubrey Maya Schneider, born at 1:43 a.m. to first-time parents Kyle Schneider and Cassie Carter, is the first local baby born in 2015.

“We didn’t name her till she was born,” said Schneider. They had a list of names in mind, and Aubrey Maya was the right fit.

“The whole world celebrates your birthday,” said Wayne Carter, the child’s grandfather.

The pink bundle with a tuft of hair, dark brown like her mother’s, looked around the room. She opened her mouth, stuck out her tongue, and eyed her family members in the hospital room at Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center.

“She’s easy so far,” Schneider, 26, said. His older brother and sister-in-law, who brought their 2-year-old son to meet the newborn, looked at each other and chuckled.

Read more about the new arrival.

Resolve to live healthier in 2015

For many Americans, ringing in the New Year comes with pledges to get healthier. Nearly half of Americans regularly make New Year’s resolutions. Even more are infrequent resolution-makers. And, for many, health-related resolutions are at the top of the list.

A University of Scranton study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychology identified losing weight as the top resolution for 2014. About 38 percent of people made weight-related resolutions in 2014, according to the study. The Top 10 also included staying fit and healthy, and quitting smoking.

The Columbian asked local elected officials, health care providers, hospital officials and other leaders to share their health-related New Year’s resolutions. They’re resolving to exercise more, stress less, ditch the desserts, eat more vegetables, get more sleep and drink more water. Here’s to a happy and healthy new year.

Get inspired by the resolutions.