Cheers: To remembering the fallen. More than 40 years after the end of the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War, local soldiers and families who sacrificed have been honored. A memorial featuring the names of 58 Clark County servicemen who were killed or listed as missing in action during the conflict has been dedicated on Vancouver’s Veterans Affairs campus.
Creation of the memorial was a long time in coming, but dedicated efforts from the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Community Military Appreciation Committee finally resulted in development of the memorial. Local businesses donated materials and labor, and local laborers donated their time and skill. The result is a secure structure honoring a sacrifice that still is felt in communities throughout the country.
Jeers: To Clark County Councilor David Madore. Nobody likely expected Madore to go quietly as his time on the council nears an end (he was defeated in the primary election). Indeed, he is making noise.
Madore has filed a court petition seeking access to communications between the county manager and the county prosecutor’s office related to a contract the county entered into earlier this year. Madore’s request deserves consideration, but other officials described it as a “nuisance” and a “waste of taxpayer money and staff time.” That will be up to the court to decide. Meanwhile, Councilor Jeanne Stewart seemed to hit the nail on the head when she said, “If you disagree with him on anything, he wants to find some way that it is malfeasance or misfeasance on your part.”
Cheers: To first responders. A gas explosion in a Northwest Portland shopping district this week leveled one building and damaged several others, injuring eight people in the process. But thanks to firefighters and gas-company representatives who responded quickly to the gas leak and evacuated the area, no lives were lost.
Firefighters, police officers, and other public-safety employees typically do exemplary work in protecting the public. Because of the high stakes that are involved, it is understandable that it receives much public attention when they do make an error, but the fact is that we are all much safer because of their diligence and dedication.
Jeers: To justice denied. The Washington Legislature this year created a task force to make strides toward testing an estimated 6,000 rape kits that have gone ignored for years. For that, lawmakers are deserving of cheers, but the fact the situation has lingered for so long is embarrassing.
Rape kits include evidence collected at the time of a sexual-assault report and can be crucial in providing justice for victims. Officials say it will take years for Washington to eliminate its backlog of such evidence, but at least the state is finally paying attention to the issue. Nationally, an estimated 400,000 rape kits have gone untested; other states should follow Washington’s lead in facilitating justice.
Cheers: To the human spirit. Jeff Garmire of Vancouver recently completed an 80-day, 2,782-mile hike of the Continental Divide Trail, reaching the terminus in the Chihuahuan Desert in New Mexico. That is impressive in itself, but the feat is monumental when you consider that Garmire also has hiked the Appalachian and Pacific Crest trails this year.
“I am just a normal person who chose to get up and chip away at something big,” Garmire wrote on his blog. If only it were so simple. To borrow a quote from the movie A League of Their Own: “It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great.”
