Brandy Slagle
Staff reporter
Former Battle Ground city council member Art Nelson will begin serving an eight month jail sentence this week after pleading guilty to four counts of theft in a Clark County courtroom.
Judge Roger Bennett, who administered the sentence Dec. 20, gave Nelson, 52, time to celebrate the Christmas holiday and 26th wedding anniversary with his wife, Marie, before starting the sentence.
Bennett also ordered Nelson to pay $19,676 in restitution to Grace Fellowship Church as part of a plea bargain, even though eight counts of theft had been dismissed.
Nelson was charged with theft of church funds in August 2007. He was elected to the Battle Ground city council in the November general election and sworn into office Dec. 3. He resigned during the Dec. 17 meeting, two weeks later.
Nelson was accused of writing checks on the Grace Fellowship Church bank account for charitable or other purposes, but taking the money for himself.
Nelson has no prior convictions, according to court records. He had been a member of the church for over seven years and served as a head deacon. His wife served as treasurer.
Defense attorney Jon McMullen said Nelson had questions about money that he said was owed to him and “how that was dealt with.”
When Judge Bennett asked Nelson why he did it, Nelson said he made a mistake.
“I did a lot of things in and for the church,” he said. “I didn’t like to see the way it was going.”
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Gene Pearce said no members of the church wished to speak at the hearing.
“The church members are upset over a breach of trust and a sense of betrayal,” said Pearce.
Nelson had pleaded not guilty on all counts of theft at his August arraignment. Before making last week’s court appearance, Nelson said he had every intention of pleading not guilty until after he was sworn into office Dec. 3. He did not want to cause problems for the council or bring negative attention to their work, he said.
“I had thought I could fight this,” he said. “I had every intention of seeing this through. I have no proof of my innocence.”
If he had not taken the plea bargain and the case had gone to trial, Nelson said, he could have faced five years in prison if found guilty.
Everything in his life had been called into question since being charged with theft, he said, even his blindness.
“What people don’t realize is that if they saw me out cutting my grass or doing anything, it is because a mobility trainer has come from the state to teach me how to do it,” he said.
Nelson said he would like to share his gratitude to the Battle Ground city council, city staff and voters.
“They have supported me and stood behind me,” he said. “That has meant a lot to me.”
Battle Ground City Manager Dennis Osborn drafted Nelson’s resignation letter, which was signed at the Dec. 17 council meeting. Osborn said Nelson’s resignation was not discussed during an executive session. Nelson signed the resignation letter drafted by Osborn before re-entering the council chambers and no formal statements were made at the time.
Nelson said he is incapable of reading or writing. Osborn said he knew of Nelson’s illiteracy, but that was not why he drafted the letter.
Nelson was sworn in to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of Sandy Hall.
The council can appoint the next city councilor to the vacant position, said Osborn. Councilors are given 90 days to complete the appointment process from Jan. 1.
Councilor Mike Ciraulo said no decisions have been made as to who will be selected to fill the vacancy, but he has spoken to several other councilors who agree that the next candidate should be selected in an open public process.
“I don’t foresee us just arbitrarily picking someone,” said Ciraulo. “This is not to discount Mr. (Thomas) Schultz. He might be the right person for the job, but we want to make sure we have a fair public process.”
Nelson defeated Schultz in the November election for the open council position.
Anna Cross, a resident of Clark County since 1972 and a retired public school library employee, donated $100,000 anonymously to the Battle Ground library construction fund last spring. She now allows her identify to be known because, she said, it may encourage others to support the project as well.
Cross has served on the library planning committee for many years, once joking that when the planning process began she didn’t have grey hair or wrinkles. “I’m now on Social Security and Medicare,” said Cross, 67.
Cross has purchased a home in a new housing development in the vicinity of the planned new library.
“It is time,” said Cross in allowing her identify to be revealed as the anonymous donor. “We can see the light at the end of the tunnel and this seems to me to be the right moment.”
“I am very thankful that it was possible for me to be able to make this contribution as I have supported this project from its inception,” added Cross. “I would encourage others to recognize the importance that a properly-funded and accessible library can have on any community.”
“Our new library will become a center for learning and sharing that will benefit every person in our surrounding county area,” said Cross.
Cross said she worked as a technical assistant at the Battle Ground High School library for 11 years and then one more year in middle school libraries.
Cross said she accumulated the $100,000 library donation by working two jobs, saving money, and having good financial planning. She credited Stephen Mueller, a certified financial planner in Portland, with providing the advice and guidance that made her library gift possible.
Cross moved to Amboy in 1972 from Renton. She has three sons and five grandchildren in the Clark County area.
The Cross donation will be recognized with the naming of a literacy area in the new library in honor of the late Pat Redjou who helped found the literacy program in Battle Ground. The literacy area will bear the name of Pat Redjou, sponsored by Anna Cross.
Rick Smithrud, who coordinates library construction funding through the Fort Vancouver Regional Library Foundation, said all donations made for the Battle Ground library are dedicated for that purpose and will not be used elsewhere.
About $200,000 remains to be raised in the $3.4 million library project. The sale of sidewalk bricks continues at a strong pace, said Jane Higgins, president of the Friends of the Battle Ground Community Library project.
Cross said her contribution was made because “this project means that much to me. I really love the library.”
“If I can do it, I hope it will inspire others to join in,” said Cross, explaining the importance of financial donations to the project as well as other ways of supporting the library such as working at book sales and other fundraisers, and other community projects. “They all tie in,” she said.
Anyone interested in supporting the library project is encouraged to call Jane Higgins, 666-5865, or Smithrud, 699-8846.
Bill Myers
staff reporter
Members of the Hockinson Hay’all Herd 4-H Club on Sat., Dec. 15 brought sheeps, goats, a camel and sang Christmas carols for the holiday enjoyment of Saturday shoppers at the Wilco Farm Store in Battle Ground.
Children of shoppers enjoyed a virtual petting zoo as 4-H Club members gathered with their young animals in front of the store. Members of the 4-H Club raise beef, sheep and goats to show and market.
Curly, a friendly one-hump camel owned by Club advisors Jeff and Marilyn Siebert, was the star at the event. Children of all ages couldn’t resist petting the docile, curious creature.
“The Wilco Farm Store is a big supporter of 4-H, and we wanted to help welcome Wilco shoppers as a way of saying thanks,” said Marilyn Siebert.
Brandy Slagle
Staff reporter
Battle Ground city councilors, community members and public leaders gathered to honor the work of Mayor John Idsinga during the final council meeting of his decade-long term. He has served as mayor for the past five years.
Idsinga was defeated in his run for reelection in the November general election.
Idsinga was presented with a memorial plaque, ceremonial gavel and gifts from other councilors.
Councilors Mike Ciraulo, Alex Reinhold, Bill Ganley and Chris Regan all made public statements to the strong character and leadership Idsinga has provided to Battle Ground, calling him a teacher, mentor and friend. An emotional councilor Lisa Walters wiped at tears during their comments.
Some of the accomplishments he was publicly recognized for included his vision for the future of transportation throughout Battle Ground, and a focused, 50-year plan for growth. Idsinga was instrumental in creating legacy standards and developing the parks program. He also pushed plans forward on the construction of the new police building and city hall during his years in office.
In his last state of the city address, Forging an Extreme Future, Idsinga outlined a vision for the parks program that incorporated trail systems, ball fields and a community center.
He pushed for what he said were much needed improvements at Kiwanis Park in 2006. Renovations at the park included rest rooms, an expanded play structure, water play features and an additional basketball court.
In what became a more controversial push in the parks department, Idsinga was a strong supporter of implementing the skate park this year. With over 25,000 square feet of features, the Battle Ground skate park is one of the largest on the West Coast.
The council has taken a lot of criticism over their decision to build the skate park, he said.
“But it’s the best thing we could have done for those kids,” he said. “You have to provide something to the children who are not the softball and basketball players. Not all kids are interested in those things. We have to take care of our kids because they are our future leaders.”
Battle Ground Skate Park and Kiwanis Park were recognized at Clark County’s 2007 Community Pride Design Awards ceremony for demonstrating an innovative approach to architectural design as well as providing a significant enhancement to the community.
Ginger Metcalf from Identity Clark County expressed her appreciation to Idsinga and the council for all of their support.
“He (Idsinga) has always been willing to partner with the businesses in the community,” she said.
Elaine Hertz, a Battle Ground resident who attended the Dec. 17 council meeting, said she felt that Idsinga had led the city out of troubled times when he took office.
“We were in true chaos,” she said. “We needed change and you spearheaded a lot of things for the city.”
Idsinga narrowly lost to Battle Ground newcomer Paul Zandamela in the November election. Zandamela will take his oath of office at the Jan. 7 meeting. Councilors will then start the process of selecting a new mayor and deputy mayor.
Alice Perry Linker
staff reporter
A request to allocate dedicated housing funds to a charitable agency turned into a Woodland City Council debate about providing help to undocumented immigrants.
The city has collected about $40,000 in document recording fees, and according to state law, a portion of that money must go to help low-income people find housing. The Woodland Community Service Center last summer asked the city to allocate a portion of the funds to help Woodland people move into housing.
Among those who would be helped are families with children and victims of domestic violence.
The discussion took place near the end of a nearly four-hour-long meeting Dec. 17. Council member John J. Burke said that he is opposed to granting funds to people who are not citizens or legal immigrants.
“If it’s our money, it should go to legal people,” Burke said.
Council member Darwin Rounds argued that funds used to help victims of domestic violence find housing should be distributed without asking questions about citizenship.
“If a guy beats up his girlfriend and she is illegal, if the victim is here illegally, are we just going to say, ‘the hell with it,’” Rounds questioned.
“Yeah, the hell with it, if she’s illegal,” Burke said.
Reading from a Cowlitz County document on homelessness and housing, council member Marilee McCall said that 20 percent of homeless people in the county are victims of domestic violence, and she said she was “disturbed by this discussion.”
“We’re looking at emergency shelter,” McCall said. “I don’t think we should have this discussion. A person who is temporarily homeless has already taken a hit. I don’t think they should have to go through an inquisition.”
Coincidentally, representatives from the Cowlitz-Wahkiakum Council of Governments (COG) reported to the council on Dec. 17 that Woodland’s population is 5 percent of Cowlitz County, but the Woodland area homeless population makes up 10 percent of the county’s homeless population.
Statistics presented by the COG show that during a one-day counting of homeless people in 2006, 60 Woodland-area people were without homes.
Countywide, 17 percent of homeless people suffer from a mental illness and 28 percent abuse alcohol or drugs, officials reported.
Mayor Doug Monge, who was born in Costa Rica, said it can be difficult to prove citizenship because citizens, unlike legal immigrants, do not carry citizenship cards.
“I don’t want a bloody victim walking around the streets of Woodland,” he said.
Council member Erica Rainford suggested that all who apply for help in finding housing be asked if they are American citizens or are in the U.S. legally.
“I would say ask everybody,” Rainford said. “You don’t know who’s legal. I could be illegal.”
That question could lead to charges of discrimination, said city attorney Paul Brachvogel, “if it has the effect of discriminating against a race of people.”
“No where in state law does it say that a city can ask a question based on residency,” Brachvogel said. “I’d be very careful with this.”
Police Chief Rob Stephenson urged the council not to ask about citizenship.
“It’s difficult enough for crime victims to reach out,” he said. “I don’t know whether it’s a cultural or trust issue. They’re still victims of crime. My concern is to be able to reach out to victims.”
Eventually, the council voted 3-2 to write a contract with the Longview Housing Authority. Monge voted in favor of the contract to break a 2-2 tie. Rainford and Burke voted against the contract.
Burke questioned the mayor’s ability to break the tie, saying that the mayor cannot vote to break a tie to spend money.
Brachvogel said the city is not voting to spend money but voting to write an interlocal agreement with the Longview Housing Authority so that the funds can be allocated. The housing authority will administer the funds and retain a percentage for administrative costs.
Burke also argued that the Community Service Center should not be the recipient of the funds, and he asked that the city appoint a committee to determine where the funds should be allocated.
“We’ve got a contract zone with them,” Burke said about the Service Center. “This is not in the contract.”
He said that the center has closed once and may close again.
The Woodland Community Service Center is a non-profit organization that provides emergency food boxes and other help for low-income people and families.
Alice Perry Linker
staff reporter
At the end of a cold, misty day, the students were dirty, wet, tired and hungry, but they had received many “thank-yous” from the people they had helped.
Forty-two students from Woodland High School traveled with vice-principal Dan Uhlenkott Dec. 13 to Chehalis and rural Lewis County to help residents who had been hit by the early December flood that closed I-5 between Chehalis and Olympia.
“They crawled under houses, pulled out wet insulation,” Uhlenkott said. “Many of them were covered in mud.”
Senior Rachael Fair, who said she wanted to do community service, said the hard work and cold were well worth the trip, and she said she’d “do it again.”
Those thoughts were shared by other students who said people had thanked them over and over for taking the time to help.
Jared Hadaller, also a senior, was assigned to work at a rural home near Boistford, a small community west of Chehalis.
Although the house appeared untouched, the garage was full of mud, Hadaller said.
“The garage was a shambles and the owner was thankful that he got out with his life,” Hadaller said. “I thought, ‘There’s no way we can do anything for this guy.’”
The volunteers walked over mud to get from the road to the garage, and the garage was covered in mud.
“When I walked in the garage, I thought I needed better boots,” Hadaller said.
By the end of the day, Hadaller realized that the four students working on the garage had moved out the refrigerator and a number of other large items and had partly cleared the mud and debris.
“The guy lost about $6,000 worth of tools,” he said.
While Hadaller and others were digging out appliances from a garage, Fair and senior Jaime Garcia were working on a farm. The mud and water had flattened many of the plants growing on the farm, and the equipment was covered in mud.
The two noticed that the water line had reached about five feet high on one building.
Working with others, the Woodland students sprayed equipment and “got the tractor running,” Garcia said.
When the students left to return home, “there was still a lot to do,” he said.
Fair recalled being cold and wet.
“I had four pairs of socks, and I was soaked,” she said.
While 30 of the 42 students were digging out farm equipment and rescuing valuables, sophomore Heather Dalpias and 11 Woodland students were working in a warehouse and distribution center in Chehalis. Heather and others sorted clothes that had been donated and put them in boxes to be taken to the donation center.
Even though she was inside, Dalpias was pretty cold, as the portable stoves did not put out a lot of heat.
Dalpias realized how desperate the flood victims were.
“People came to the store crying,” she said.
Vice principal Uhlenkott worked with other students in a homeowner’s shop.
“We didn’t see any destroyed homes, but we heard about them,” he said.
Where Uhlenkott was working, the water line was about three feet high, he said. His group removed a destroyed freezer, a damaged refrigerator, ruined cabinets and a water-logged generator from the building.
The homeowner said he didn’t have insurance, Uhlenkott said.
“He was an older man on a fixed income,” he said. “Over and over, he said how wonderful that we came to help.”
Hadaller heard similar words of thanks and praise.
“We were treated like superstars,” he said.
The students were amazed at the damage caused by the flood.
“We saw people’s stuff in trees, parts of houses broken off,” Fair said.
“You don’t see the real damage on TV,” Dalpais said. “It was devastating.”
The thought of hard work did not discourage students from volunteering, Uhlenkott said.
“We turned away many students who wanted to go,” he said.
Woodland police officer Geary Enbody graduated from the Washington Police Academy at the top of his class of 30.
Enbody, who graduated Dec. 6, was named best overall recruit in his class, as well as earning the highest academic score in the class, said Chief Rob Stephenson.
“I believe, if memory serves, that Geary is the first Woodland officer ever to graduate from the academy at the top of his class,” Stephenson said.
During his six months at the academy in Burien, Enbody was elected vice president of the class and became a member of the 10,000 push-ups club. Stephenson said Enbody ran in a Seattle-area marathon with academy instructors.
“He did a fine job of representing the city and the police department and he is commended for his outstanding performance,” Stephenson said.
One of the youngest people ever to be elected to Woodland City Council was sworn in Dec. 17.
Aaron Christopherson, a 19-year-old business administration student at Washington State University Vancouver, was sworn in by outgoing Mayor Doug Monge. Christopherson defeated Al Swindell in the November general election.
As Christopherson was taking the oath, council member Erica Rainford, who took office at age 23, was ending her first term and leaving the council.
Council member Marilee McCall was sworn in for her first full term. McCall was originally appointed to fill the position vacated by Bruce Summers when Summers moved away from the city.
Mayor-elect Chuck Blum will take the oath of office during a ceremony and reception Sat., Dec. 29, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Love Street Playhouse, 126 Love St. The event is open to the public.
The newly elected mayor will preside at the Mon., Jan. 7, council meeting.
Alice Perry Linker
staff reporter
A group of Woodland-area residents has decided not to appeal a court decision that allows Wal-Mart to build a superstore in the city.
Woodlanders Against the Wal has been fighting the retailer’s plan to build a store on commercial land next to the city’s industrial area. The organization opposed a proposed roundabout at the interchange of Dike Access Road and I-5, as well as a judge’s decision not to force Wal-Mart to fix inadequate drainage that occasionally causes flooding under the interstate.
Attorney John Karpinski, who represents Woodlanders Against the Wal, said earlier in December that the citizens’ organization needed to raise additional funds to continue their appeal.
Cowlitz County Superior Court Judge James E. Warme ruled in November that a hearings officer’s decision to require Wal-Mart to pay for fixing the drainage was unlawful.
Woodland Hearings Examiner Irv Bertig originally ruled that Wal-Mart must wait until a state study of the city’s transportation needs was finished before beginning development, but that ruling was later modified to allow the store to proceed.
Karpinski said that Wal-Mart had agreed to ensure the safety of a roundabout.
“(The) first priority has been on traffic safety and the roundabout issues,” Karpinski said. “Our victory on that issue still stands.”
According to Warme’s ruling, Wal-Mart must design a traffic circle to allow “larger wheel base vehicles.… The design… must accommodate the largest heavy haul truck using the interchange.”
Iris Swindell, chairwoman of the Woodland group, said the organization had hoped the city would join the appeal to overturn Warme’s decision that Wal-Mart should not pay to improve the drainage along Dike Access Road.
Who would be responsible for improving the drainage remains uncertain. Karpinski has said the city would be responsible, but City Attorney Paul Brachvogel has said that the diking district would be responsible. The road is within the city limits.
“We are disappointed the City of Woodland didn’t step up to defend this decision and protect the Woodland taxpayers,” Swindell said.
The cost of improving the drainage has been estimated to range between $640,000 and $7 million, Karpinski said.
“Woodlanders Against the Wal will now focus its efforts on making sure the remaining conditions regarding the roundabout and the other drainage issues are met,” he said.