What’s on tap for this week’s weather? Check our local weather coverage.
In case you missed them, here are some of the top stories of the weekend:
Sleeping outside sucks, said Brian Moore.
The 35-year-old has been homeless off and on for three years, but this stint “has been a lot better.” That’s because some nights this winter, he’s slept on the cafeteria floor at Share House, the men’s homeless shelter in downtown Vancouver. Other nights, he’s at the day center at Friends of the Carpenter. He got snowed in at the warehouse in west Vancouver when about a foot of snow fell last month. It was the biggest snowfall since 2008 and among the top 10 snowstorms of the past century, with a deluge of ice, wind and rain that followed.
“Honestly, it was probably the best week ever of being homeless,” Moore said. “What they do for homeless people is pretty awesome.”
The tables in the 1,200-square-foot day center, which is a resource center during the day, are rearranged at night to make room for pads and sleeping bags on the concrete floor. Moore uses headphones to block out noise and fall asleep surrounded by at least a dozen other people.
While it may not sound ideal, such a facility to get out of the elements wasn’t available last winter. The day center and other buildings opened these last couple of months in response to severe weather that caught people off guard and forced the community to scramble to open severe weather shelters for homeless people.
“We were not prepared for this type of winter,” said Andy Silver, executive director of the Vancouver-based Council for the Homeless. “Certainly, I think one of our goals in the future is we’ll be more prepared for unusual weather events.”
Read the full story: Cold heats up homeless debate
If you see something, say something.
That’s what we’re told about terrorism or even the hint of terrorism. So ask yourself: When a bully harasses and intimidates a stranger — unleashing a torrent of hatred at someone inhabiting a turban or hijab or the wrong skin color or gender, or who’s maybe smooching someone of the same sex — how far away from terrorism is that?
(Webster’s definition: “The unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.”)
Most of us instinctively look away from trouble. It’s hard not to. But many are warning that an ugly new morning has dawned in America — a time when bigots feel permission to let their feelings fly. (In his smart “Saturday Night Live” monologue on Jan. 21, comedian Aziz Ansari begged all those liberated racists to “go back to pretending!”)
“It seems like it’s OK because we now have this world leader who behaves this way, and was behaving this way before he got elected,” said Carmen McKibbin, local president of the League of United Latin American Citizens. “It didn’t prevent him from getting elected.”
Now isn’t the time to recoil in fear. Now is the time to be an “upstander,” not a bystander.
“Not doing anything sends a message both to the person who’s being targeted and to the oppressor that this is normal and OK,” said Michelle Polek of the YWCA Clark County. “It is not normal and not OK.”
Read the full story: Be an ‘upstander’ … not a bystander
After President Donald Trump on Jan. 27 issued an executive order temporarily banning immigration from seven countries, the Associated Press requested information from the State Department to determine the number of people coming from those places and where they settled.
The Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration provided information on immigrants from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen who were allowed to enter the U.S. from 2007 through the end of January. The searchable database is on our website, www.columbian.com.
The data show that a number of refugees came to Vancouver and Camas.
Read the full story: Federal date show breakdown of refugees in Clark County
The Clark County council has decided to fold ’em.
Realizing that the Ilani Casino and Resort will almost certainly open in April, the county council directed legal staff to revise resolutions that oppose the casino and bar staff from speaking to the Cowlitz Tribe about the $510 million project, which it is jointly developing with the Mohegan Tribe of Indians in Connecticut.
In the past, the county has worried that the casino would strain housing, the environment, social services and roads. The county has tried to block the casino in court and at one point threatened to arrest construction workers installing a stormwater line for the casino on a county road.
At the council’s Wednesday board time meeting, Councilor Julie Olson, filling in as chair for Marc Boldt, suggested a new approach.
Although Olson noted that a subsequent resolution passed last year allowed staff from the county’s departments of public health, public works and others to speak to the tribe regarding the casino, she suggested it might be pragmatic to open up communication more.
Read the full story: County cancels rules against working with tribe on casino
