Stories by Scott Hewitt

Columbian staff writer

@_ScottHewitt

(360) 735-4525

scott.hewitt@columbian.com

Riding in traffic where there’s no bike lane, Sara Schmit approaches the busy intersection of Mill Plain Boulevard and Southeast 98th Avenue in Vancouver. Schmit has been a dedicated all-season bike commuter for years, and said she learned how to do it safely and comfortably the hard way: trial and error.

‘The first bad decision was assuming I needed a car’: Vancouver woman embraces biking to work year-round

August 31, 2024, 6:13am Clark County Health Subscriber Exclusive

It’s a rare occasion when Sara Schmit climbs into somebody’s car. When she does, she said, she always feels anxiety. As the car moves, her legs refuse to stay still. They want to pedal. Read story

Do you have a story? Let’s hear it

August 31, 2024, 6:00am Clark County News Free

It’s back-to-school season for kids, and back-to-storytelling season for fans of our “Everybody Has a Story” feature. Read story

Camas plein air event is a tribute to its founder, the late Marquita Call.

August 30, 2024, 8:44am Clark County Life Free

An Oct. 5 plein air painting competition in Camas will honor the late Marquita Call, an arts booster and local gallery owner who founded the annual event in 2013. Call died in August 2023. Read story

Beaches restaurant, which will close at the end of the year, hosts its last few Summertime Cruisin’ events Wednesdays through Sept. 25 at Portland International Raceway in North Portland.

Try this: Cruisin’ at cruise-ins; grist mill’s Treat Day; Day of Healing the Wimahl

August 29, 2024, 6:05am Clark County Life

Cruisin’ to the end Beaches restaurant, which will close at the end of the year, hosts its last few Summertime Cruisin’ events Wednesdays through Sept. 25 at Portland International Raceway in North Portland. The event raises funds for nonprofit organizations and features hot rods, exotic sports cars and… Read story

The Cowlitz County sheriff (Jack Vanover, center) and a U.S.

‘Feet of Death’: SW Washington filmmaker’s Bigfoot story to screen Thursday at the Kiggins in Vancouver

August 28, 2024, 2:51pm Clark County Life

The way Mount St. Helens looms large over James Chick’s home turned out to be inspirational for the aspiring local filmmaker. Read story

Fort Vancouver’s presidential pipes were the election swag of the 1840s and 1850s

Lean in closely to make out the name “Fillmore” on this glazed clay pipe fragment, held in the gloved hands of Meagan Huff, curator at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site. Archaeologists have found thousands of pipe fragments in and around the fort site, including “president pipes” dated to election campaigns of the 1840s and 1850s, Huff said.

In presidential races of yore — before the advent of T-shirts, hats, signs and bumper stickers — voters indicated their preferences through the pipes they smoked, puffing tobacco between their favorite presidential wannabes’ ears. Read story

Get a look at sunspots using sun-filtered telescopes at the Heritage Farm in Hazel Dell

The sun’s magnetic polarity appears to reverse at a super-fast speed — every 11 years. The cycle produces sunspots, solar flares and huge coronal mass ejections.

August 14, 2024, 6:06am Clark County Life Subscriber Exclusive

The maximum of the Perseid meteor shower turned out to be pretty minimal for local stargazers. Thanks to partly cloudy, smoky skies, meteor viewing was a washout on Monday, the highly anticipated night of peak activity. The viewing party we previewed in the Columbia River Gorge at Rooster Rock State… Read story