Dry conditions could put a damper on Clark County’s traditional Fourth of July firework fun in 2016.
At its board time meeting Wednesday, the Clark County council discussed possible options for a last-minute ban on fireworks after several members of the public expressed fear of this year’s drought conditions.
Don’t fret, fireworks fans. The county can’t impose any changes this close to the holiday. It takes a year for new fireworks laws to go into effect.
Clark County Fire Marshal Jon Dunaway said the council could consider an ordinance allowing it to declare a state of emergency and ban fireworks if conditions are too dry and dangerous. Depending on if and when the council takes such action, such an ordinance could go into effect in time for Fourth of July next year.
Dunaway tends to err on the side of caution regarding fireworks, saying in an email to Acting County Manager Mark McCauley and Community Development Director Marty Snell that any Fourth of July season “without fireworks is a safer one for everybody.”
One of the Larch Corrections Center inmates who escaped Tuesday was apprehended “without incident” Tuesday night, according to the Department of Corrections.
Donald Williams McLain, 33, is in custody, the department said. Police were still looking for the other escaped inmate, Randall Jacob Marlow, 44, Tuesday night.
McLain and Marlow were doing landscaping work with an inmate crew at Clark Rifles, 25115 N.E. Rawson Road, east of Hockinson, said spokeswoman Danette Gadberry. A crew supervisor noticed the pair were missing around 1:30 p.m. and launched a search with help from the Clark County Sheriff’s Office and the Department of Corrections escape response teams.
Residents in the area received a phone alert letting them know about the escaped prisoners.
At the time of their escape, the two men were wearing typical work crew attire: red shirts with white shirts underneath, and khaki pants, Gadberry said.
Grief counselors were available at Hudson’s Bay High School on Monday after a longtime teacher and coach died over the weekend.
Biology teacher Bill Brown, 52, had taught in Vancouver Public Schools since 1989. He first taught at the former Shumway Junior High. He began teaching at Hudson’s Bay in 1992.
On Saturday, the district learned of Brown’s death. Over the weekend, the district used a phone tree to inform Hudson’s Bay staff. Principal Val Seeley provided talking points to her staff to help inform their students.
Kelly Cutter, a fellow Bay teacher, had known Brown since third grade, when they attended Minnehaha Elementary School together.
“He saved me from a bully at the bus stop,” Cutter said. “He’s always been that way. We’ve lost a beloved staff member.”
Most of Laura Kotsovos’ life, she’s been told she can’t do things.
She loved ballet as a child but was told she would never be a professional dancer. She was steered away from basketball, softball and every other physical activity she enjoyed. People told Kotsovos her cerebral palsy diagnosis as an infant meant she’d never excel in sports.
For a long time, Kotsovos believed it. That changed when she found Pilates.
“For so long in my life I’ve felt so limited by my body,” Kotsovos said. “It’s not true. I don’t have to believe in those limitations.”
Because of that, the 39-year-old Camas woman decided to leave her career in traditional health care and pursue a career as a Pilates instructor.
“The last thing anyone thought I would do for a living,” she said with a smile.
The United States is the world’s third-largest producer of raspberries. Washington state leads the nation in red raspberry production, accounting for nearly 95 percent of the U.S. crop with about 70 million pounds per year.
Raspberries are delicious and nutritious, free of fat, cholesterol and sodium — but they are packed full of vitamins, antioxidants and dietary fiber. One cup is only about 64 calories
The most common raspberry is the red; it is also the earliest raspberry to fruit, followed by golden, blackcaps, purple and the elusive blue raspberry in late summer.
Red raspberries have a sweet-tart flavor, which is delicious eaten fresh alone or combined with other berries.
The golden variety is fuzzy, fragile and extremely sweet, with just a subtle hint of tartness.
