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Here are some of the top stories this week at columbian.com.
It’s closing time for the Safeway on 117th in Orchards, where on Wednesday nearly every item was marked down and shocked shoppers asked what they should expect before the doors shut for good.
Though there are plenty of other places in the area to get groceries, by May 17 you won’t be able to shop here.
Employees were waving “everything must go” signs on the corner of Northeast 117th Avenue and 76th Street as cars zoomed past Wednesday afternoon. A banner on the top of the building read “total inventory blowout.” Hours have been cut to 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Read more about closure of the store described as “underperforming.”
Two men who burglarized an occupied west Hazel Dell home claimed to be police, according to the Clark County Sheriff’s Office.
A woman was home alone at about 5:45 a.m. Wednesday when two men, whom she did not know, came into her home, the sheriff’s office reported. The address of the residence was not released.
The men forced their way into the house and indicated to the victim that they were the police, Major Crimes Sgt. Todd Barsness said.
Read more about the crime, in which the home’s occupant was not injured.
The grandmothers’ stories followed a similar narrative: They formed a relationship with their grandchild, family dynamics shifted and now they are no longer permitted to see the child.
“I haven’t seen my grandchild since February of 2013,” said Judi Sullivan of Vancouver. “I try every six months to reach out. … It’s very, very hard.”
One of the state’s more emotionally charged issues is the battle between parents’ rights to decide who spends time with and influences their child and grandparents’ rights to see a child they love.
On a recent sunny afternoon, a handful of local grandmothers collected signatures to qualify Initiative 1431 for the ballot with the hope it will be voters who decide in November whether the state should have a grandparent visitation law.
Read more about the effort to ensure visitation rights to grandparents.
Like every other gymnast heading to Wenatchee this week, Gigi Gernhart would love to earn a medal at the Washington State Xcel Gymnastics Championships.
But Gernhart is not just another competitor. For one thing, she figures to be smiling no matter how her first gymnastics state meet experience unfolds.
Sheri Bousquet figures to be emotional, too. Bousquet coaches the Naydenov Gymnastics Special Abilities program for people with intellectual and physical disabilities, which she started six years ago. It was Bousquet who suggested that Gernhart, who is 27 years old and has Down syndrome, join the competitive Xcel team.
Read more about inspirational gymnast Gigi Gernhart.
It won’t be long before you start hearing this phrase: “Hey, let’s go down to the warehouse for dinner.”
Warehouse 1923, the new restaurant planned for the old Red Lion Hotel Vancouver at the Quay on the waterfront, is already making itself at home ahead of a planned June opening.
“They’ll recognize the ballroom, but not the restaurant,” owner Mark Matthias said Friday as he stood inside the stripped-down 90-year-old warehouse that is at the heart of the Port of Vancouver’s plans for its Terminal One project. “My goal is to put it back into a warehouse look.”
Read more about Mark Matthias’ plans.
