La Center plea denied
Alice Perry Linker
staff reporter
A plea from the La Center School District to move some commercial and industrial land from the Ridgefield to the La Center District was denied Jan. 11 by a special regional committee of Educational Service District 112.
The board split 4-3 on the decision.
La Center asked the committee to approve the transfer of land along I-5 and north of 299th Street from the Ridgefield District to the La Center district. La Center Superintendent Mark Mansell argued that there is little commercial and no industrial land within the La Center district, and commercial or industrial zoning is expected along I-5 at the La Center Junction.
The city of La Center has asked Clark County to extend the city’s urban growth area to I-5 and zone the land for commercial and industrial uses.
The county is expected to make a decision on all urban growth areas by June, county planner Marty Snell told the committee.
County commissioners Betty Sue Morris, Steve Stuart and Marc Boldt supported the La Center district’s request in a letter to the committee.
Ridgefield’s interim Superintendent John Simpson indicated that politics has played a role in the request. He said the committee should keep the “real issues” in mind.
“The real issues are school children and learning—not politics,” he said.
Committee chair Bruce Hagensen, who supported the property change, said, “La Center is trying to get a diversified tax base and to me, that’s valid.”
Committee member Christine Wamsley of Vancouver, who voted for the land change, said that industrial development is moving north along the I-5 corridor.
“The economic pattern has changed. As industry moves, the tax base changes,” she said.
Committee member James Tormanen, who represents Battle Ground and Hockinson, voted against the change, saying that Hockinson has no commercial or industrial land and has successfully passed bond issues and levies.
Robert Rice of Longview, who also voted against changing district boundaries, said the state Legislature should address issues of financial equity, and decisions should not be made on a district-by-district basis.
Ridgefield’s Simpson said that parents of children in the Ridgefield district testified against the change at a November hearing.
“People with children in Ridgefield do not want their children in the La Center district,” Simpson said. “I’d think long and hard before undermining the basic choice of people to choose their schools.
“There’s nothing to be gained by the Ridgefield School District (in the boundary change), and much to be lost,” he said.
Had La Center prevailed, about $47 million of assessed value would have gone from Ridgefield to the La Center district. Ridgefield would have received about $7 million in value as a southern piece of land in the La Center district would have be transferred to Ridgefield.
La Center’s Mansell told the committee that 30 acres outside the La Center district will be zoned for commercial or industrial use. He said that the Ridgefield district’s assessed value is “greater than any other district in Clark County.”
Without the commercial and industrial lands, the La Center district will be left with primarily residential property, Mansell said.
“How much does one district need when another district has so little?” he asked. “I see the impact on Ridgefield as minimal if this is approved now.”
Simpson said that approval of the property change would create a “domino effect,” with other school districts filing claims for land from their neighbors.
He said that a decision to change district boundaries would be based on future events.
“(You should) ignore the politics, ignore the speculation about what might happen 10 years from now,” he said.
Mansfield said after the meeting that the decision was “tough.”
“The decision came down to following their hearts,” he said. “I respect their decision. Now we have to go out and build a school.”
The La Center District has the right to appeal the committee decision to an administrative law judge appointed by the state superintendent of instruction. The appeal must be based on a procedural error, and only the testimony submitted at the committee hearing may be considered, said Tim Merlino of ESD 112.

Woodside happy with Montana
Well known in Clark County for operating a La Center dairy farm for nearly 30 years, Ray Woodside is now a resident of Potomac, Montana, where he professes happiness with his ranch, his animals, the weather, and life in general.
When contacted last week, Woodside was driving along the ice-swollen Blackfoot River enroute to his 120-acre ranch located about 30 miles east of Missoula.
Woodside, 61, moved to Clark County with his parents and wife, Merry, in 1968 when he was 23 years old. The family purchased a 350-acre dairy farm in La Center, larger than the 100-acre, 40-head dairy farm the family had operated near Issaquah. Woodside graduated from California State Polytechnic University in 1967 with a degree in dairy husbandry.
Woodside said he enjoyed the holstein cattle, the milking ritual and rural life during the La Center dairy farm years. He served in various dairy organizations. The farm milked 140 holsteins, then grew to 200-250 cows under Woodside’s management. All of his four children were born while the family lived at La Center.
Woodside’s father, Stuart, died in the early 1990s.
Woodside found some new farming regulations to be burdensome, including rules dealing with the handling of manure. He sold 300 acres of the La Center farm to Storedahl for gravel mining. Due to various regulations and permit requirements, mining has not yet begun on the site.
Woodside went to Montana in 1995 to work with an “outfitter”--a packing and hunting business that used mules to reach the back country with guests for summer outings and fall hunting trips.
He enjoyed the experience. He went back in 1997, the same year he was divorced. He bought his ranch in Potomac in 1998. He worked for the Rich Ranch at Seeley Lake for eight years, leading groups into wilderness areas in the summer and guiding hunters during hunting season.
Woodside fit into the cowboy life. He looked the part. He told stories around the campfire.
“There are no radios, no television sets out there,” said Woodside. “You have to learn the fine art of conversation.”
Woodside said he enjoyed sitting by a fire and getting to know people. Stories often involved adventures and misadventures with back country trips and mule teams.
Woodside invested some of the proceeds from the sale of his La Center farm land into rental properties in Missoula, easing the need for daily work, although he is by no means retired.
Woodside bids on Forest Service contracts for trail maintenance in wilderness areas where no motors or machines are allowed. He packs into areas using mules and horses, removes downed trees with a 2-man cross cut saw, winches logs off trails, and removes brush, all without motors or chainsaws. His work is done primarily in the Bob Marshall Wilderness area. “Some trees take an hour to do if they are two or three feet in diameter,” said Woodside.
Woodside also helps outfitters in special cases. Recently, one outfitter broke a leg while leading guests on a hunting trip and asked Woodside to break down his camp. Woodside reached the camp with 23 mules, loaded gear including tents, stoves and supplies, and packed the equipment out.
Woodside now owns eight mules and four horses at his Potomac ranch. Why mules? “A mule beats all other pack animals,” said Woodside. “They are calm. They are more careful about what they do than horses.”
Woodside said if a horse falls down a bank, it thrashes around and causes further damage. Mules don’t do that, he said.
Woodside now competes in mules shows. He trained “Willie” over the winter of 2005-2006. Last summer he took Willie to a show in Bishop, CA, and entered the “green mule class.” Woodside walked away with first place in Gambler’s Choice Trail class, first place in Western Riding, and fourth place in Western Reigning. He also shows mules in halter classes much like showing cattle, he said.
Woodside also has a special dog, Sparkey, a 45-pound border collie.
“I love the weather here,” said Woodside of his adopted Montana home. “There’s not much rain. I ski half the winter. And I ride and pack all summer.”
Despite temperatures as cold as 48 below, Woodside provides no shelter for his mules. “They are never wet,” he said. “They do just fine.”
Woodside said he can hunt in Montana from Sept. 15 until Thanksgiving.
Woodside served on the La Center School board for 20 years; he has served on the Potomac School Board for 10 years. He also recalls his years as a 4-H leader.
Woodside has two daughters and one son in Clark County, and another son in Montana. He has three grandchildren.
What is a mule?
Woodside explained that a mule is a cross between a male donkey (jack) and a female horse (mare). Mules can be both male (John) and female (Molly), but they are sterile and cannot reproduce except in very rare situations.

District requests lease for La Center Library building
Alice Perry Linker
staff reporter
Officials of the Fort Vancouver Regional Library District have requested that the owner of the La Center library building sign a two-year lease.
Bob Colf owns the historic structure that houses the library next to the city park. The building, originally a hospital, was remodeled for a library and moved to its present location more than two years ago.
The Vancouver Regional Library District operates the library but does not pay rent to Colf.
“We’ve been operating on a handshake agreement,” said Library District executive director Bruce Ziegman.
The library district decided that a more formal agreement was needed.
“We’ve signed an agreement that extends through April,” he said.
At that time, the district hopes to sign a two-year agreement with Colf.
Attorney Arin Dunn, who represents Colf, said that his client has not signed any agreement with the district.
Dunn declined to comment on aspects of the proposed lease until an agreement is reached.
“The matter is basically not resolved,” Dunn said. “We are very committed to trying to resolve the issues to the benefit of all parties concerned.”
Even though no agreement has been signed, the library continues to operate and there are no plans to close the building.
Ziegman said under the terms of the proposed lease, the library district is responsible for all operational costs, such as utilities and building maintenance, and Colf is responsible for repairs to the structure and any taxes that may be assessed. The district is seeking a two-year lease agreement. The length of the term is the only issue, he said.
“The library is running just fine,” he said. “It’s been there 2 1/2 years.”
The library district leases space in White Salmon for $1 per year and leases space in Westfield Vancouver Mall. The district pays common area charges there. In Woodland, the city owns the library building, and the City of Vancouver owns the main library branch building.
Ziegman said the district has a “wide variety” of ownership and lease agreements for its buildings.

Ridgefield appoints new council member
Selection process to continue Jan. 25
Bill Myers
staff reporter
A depleted Ridgefield city council has named Ridgefield School District board member Matthew Swindell to an interim city council post pending November 2007 elections.
Swindell, one of four candidates for two open council positions, was appointed Jan. 11 to a Position 4 post vacated recently by Chad Sessions. Sessions, in a December resignation letter, said the job took too much time from his job and family.
Swindell was named to the post after votes by mayor Gladys Doriot and council members David Standal and Gary Adkins.
If Swindell wants to continue to serve on the council until the Position 4 term expires at the end of 2009, he must run for election to the post in November.
The selection of Swindell was greeted with applause from a room full of citizens. The new council member will participate at the next regular council meeting on Jan. 25 as council members choose one of three remaining candidates for Position 1. The post was recently vacated by Scott Hanson who resigned following an alleged hit and run incident.
Swindell, 37, a lifetime resident of Ridgefield, is a community development acquisition manager for Kimball Hill Homes where he has worked since March 2005.
In response to questions from council members, Swindell said his employment would not create a conflict of interest. Swindell said his employer currently owns no property in Ridgefield. He said that if purchases occur in the future, he would not have involvement in them and would recuse himself from any council votes related to the purchases. He has held various management positions in construction since 1992, including the operation of his own framing business.
Swindell said that if selected for a council post, he would resign his school board post in March 2007 after helping the school district hire a new superintendent.
For the past two years, Swindell has served on the board of the Ridgefield School District. He also served on a City Council Budget Committee during 2006. He is president of the Ridgefield Little League, and chairman of the Builder Developer Board for the Building Industry Association of Clark County.
Swindell said he was released from service after one year in the U.S. Army following an injury.
Other city council candidates are Michael Hefflin, Ronald Onslow and Darren Wertz.
Hefflin, a Ridgefield resident for several years, was a member of the City planning commission from 1995 until 2000, and a city council member from 2000 until 2004. Married with two children, Hefflin is employed as a collector for a Vancouver collection agency.
Onslow is a retired Vancouver restaurant owner who has lived in Ridgefield with his wife for the past two years. He is a past president and holder of other officer positions with the Vancouver Junior Chamber of Commerce and is currently a member of the Advisory Board for the Culinary School at Clark College.
Wertz spent several years working as a project economist and in financial planning positions. He is currently employed as clerk of the Clark County Board of Equalization. Unmarried, Wertz has lived in Ridgefield for 23 years. He served as an officer in the U.S. Army 1969-71.
A second round of interviews will be conducted by council members with the three remaining candidates at the Thur., Jan. 25, regular city council meeting. The meeting will start at 6:30 p.m. in the Ridgefield Community Center, 210 N Main Ave., Ridgefield. Information telephone is 887-3557.