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Morning Press: Navigation Center; New Washougal park; Final Christensen Yacht

By The Columbian
Published: June 15, 2019, 6:00am

After this week’s mini-heat wave, what is headed our way this weekend? Check out our local weather coverage.

Here are some of the top stories of the week:

Neighbors assail Navigation Center

Seven months after the Navigation Center opened in central Vancouver and started offering services to people experiencing homelessness, neighbors are complaining that they were misled by the city about what the center would mean for their homes and businesses.

Nearby residents claim their once-quiet neighborhood is now unrecognizable. Among their list of grievances: people harassing them on the sidewalks, dealing and ingesting drugs in plain sight, and defecating on their property.

A Vancouver Police Department study of the surrounding neighborhood suggests that crime in the area remained steady following the opening of the shelter. However, criminal activity now seems to be centered closely around the day center’s location at 2108 Grand Blvd.

Learn more about neighbors’ concerns.

Christensen Shipyards rolls last finished yacht out of Vancouver facility

Employees at Vancouver’s Christensen Shipyards marked the end of an era on Wednesday when they rolled the last yacht out of the company’s manufacturing bay in the Columbia Business Park and down the road to the nearby marina for launch.

The luxury yacht-building company was founded in 1985 by Dave Christensen and has operated out of the Vancouver facility for the past 34 years, but current owner Henry Luken plans to move operations to a bigger shipyard in Tellico Lake, Tenn.

The Vancouver facility is slated to become a shipbuilding center for Portland-based company Vigor, which will use the site to manufacture a new type of landing vehicle for the U.S. army.

Read more about the final yacht.

Two Woodland graduates’ stoles set off debate

A decision that Woodland High School Principal John Shoup made shortly before the school’s graduation ceremony June 7 caused a bit of a stir on the internet, leading to some less-than-friendly calls and emails to the district.

Two students who are entering the U.S. Navy after graduation were presented with stoles — sashes graduates drape around their necks — by a recruiter earlier in the week. The students asked on the day of graduation if they could wear them while they walked in the ceremony, and Shoup said no.

“Our high school commencement exercises are and forever have been a celebration of what students have accomplished in their high school career,” Woodland Superintendent Michael Green said.

Find out why the superintendent refused the stoles.

Passersby recount rescuing two from fiery crash

Weary from a long night of travel, Hayden Curtis’ journey had barely begun.

Around 3 a.m. Monday, Curtis, 22, and his girlfriend were driving on the 3600 block of Pioneer Street in Ridgefield — the final stretch home in a five-hour drive from British Columbia. They noticed, on the side of the road, a four-door Jeep that had veered off the road, crashed into a tree and caught fire.

“We were absolutely drained,” Curtis said. “We didn’t process it at first, but 20 feet later, we realized, ‘Oh crap, a car is on fire.’”

Read more about dramatic rescue.

Washougal park unveils new natural play area

WASHOUGAL — Graham Fine scaled the beast’s back and crouched on its head.

“I’m king of the yeti,” he said, surveying the crowd below him.

Fine, 5, attends Little Lamb Preschool in Washougal, and his school doesn’t have a playground. If it did, he’d want it to have something similar to the new natural play area at the Washougal Waterfront Park, 56 S. First St.

Learn more about the new park.

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