Bill Myers
staff reporter
Hundreds of grieving citizens in northeast Portland held a march and candlelight vigil Jan. 31 in memory of Mark Zylawy, a Portland police officer who lived in Ridgefield before his Jan. 27 death. The citizens said goodbye to a beloved police officer who had policed their community for more than 15 years.
On the next day, a crowd of about 1,000 citizens attended a memorial for Zylawy at the New Hope Church in Portland. At the memorial, Portland Police Bureau chief Rosanne Sizer posthumously awarded a District Service Medal to the fallen officer and established a new, outstanding service award for the Bureau in his name.
Zylawy, 40, was killed on the morning of Jan. 27 in an I-5 mishap about five miles north of Vancouver while going to work. He had pulled his pickup onto the shoulder to investigate motor trouble and was struck by a truck and trailer. The incident is under investigation by Washington State Patrol officials.
Survivors include wife, Patti, and four children ranging in age from 10 to 22.
Portland Police Bureau commander Jim Ferraris said Zylawy was a highly decorated, outstanding officer with the Portland agency for 17 years. Ferraris said Zylawy made friends and improved numerous lives during more than a decade of uniformed police service in the Northeast Precinct. He received more than 30 commendations, two unit citations, and the police agency’s highest award, a Medal of Valor. Other credits included a recent nomination as an “All Star” by television officials with America’s Most Wanted. Zylawy was also a featured officer on the television series, Cops, said Ferraris.
Ferraris said Zylawy was known to fellow officers and the public he served as “The Z Man.” Ferraris said the officer had an incredible memory for names and faces that served him well in his work. “He was loved even by citizens arrested by him,” said Ferraris. Many residents of the Northeast Precinct credited Zylawy with having positive, life-changing influences on their lives. “He was always smiling, loved his family and had great family values,” added the commander.
Zylawy was born on Nov. 14, 1967 in Versailles, France, and moved with his family during boyhood to Montana. After graduating from Alberton High School, he earned a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice at Montana State University. He moved to Oregon in 1990 and began a career with the Portland Police Bureau.
In 1994, Zylawy married Patti Lewis. They moved with their family to Vancouver, and moved a few years ago to a small farm in the Ridgefield area.
Zylawy’s brother-in-law, Mark Donegan, said Zylawy loved being with his family and enjoyed farming and other outdoor activities. Donegan said he had a real passion for football, and enjoyed going to games or watching them on television with family members. Zylawy also loved his work as a police officer, said Donegan.
Mike and Gilda Ciraulo were named Battle Ground Citizens of the Year for 2007 at the culmination of a recognition banquet held Feb. 1 at the Heathman Lodge in Vancouver.
The annual award recognizes community service and volunteerism, and is presented by the Battle Ground Chamber of Commerce.
The award was announced by Bev Brissler, the Chamber’s 2006 Citizen of the Year.
Mike Ciraulo, recently named mayor of Battle Ground, has served on the Battle Ground city council for six years. He is president of the Clark County Mosquito Control District. He holds various offices in the Lewis River Rotary club, state of Washington Higher Education Facilities Authority, the state of Washington Special License Plate Review Board, and North Clark County Steering Committee for Loaves and Fishes.
Ciraulo is also a member of the Larch Corrections Community Advisory Board, the North County Leadership Group, and the North County Community Food Bank. He has served as master of ceremonies for various community events, including fundraising banquets for the Food Bank and Battle Ground High School. He has coached Little League baseball, youth soccer and youth football. He has been a Cub Scout leader, and has participated in Relay for Life, Walk and Knock food drive, and highway cleanup.
Gilda Ciraulo has been active in Lewis River Rotary for five years and currently serves as president. She serves on the board of directors of the North County Community Food Bank. She served two years as president of a high school auction committee. She is also active in Walk and Knock, Relay for Life, and Race for the Cure, and has picked up trash along highways.
The Ciraulos have hosted an exchange student from India. They also host visitors from Russia each year.
Others nominated for the award were Tracie Gorbet-Navarra, and Don and Jane Higgins.
The Citizen of the Year award was first given in 1973 when Larry Gaylor was honored.
Others winning since 1973 were Bob Brown, Jeanneane Dietel, Louise Tucker, Florence Robison, Oliva and John Dodge, Roy Staley, Bob and Thelma Bertsch, Everett Eaton, Greg Barcus, Denise Fairweather, Gladis McKinnis, Bonnie Walden Harold Wulff, Sharon and Jim Brown, Ron Lahmann, Merle Locke, Frank and Leona Everett, Ruthie Brown, Elaine Hertz, Sue Tegthof, Ronnie Johnson, Bill Tucker, Ron Johnson, Rose Fankhauser, John Idsinga, Cleon McConnell, Jerry Kolke, Terry Reddish, Bill Crego, Bob Hamel, Nils and Pat Wiwel, Barb Evans, Alex Reinhold, Rich and Trish Rubin and Bev Brissler.
Business person of year honored
Mike Harden, owner of Battle Ground Printing, was named Business Person of the Year for 2007.
Harden was honored for expanding his business, adding equipment, and offering a wide range of printing services. He is active in the Chamber of Commerce, Friends of the Library, Old Town Battle Ground Association, and Clark College printing advisory board. He offers the use of his reader board for community events.
Harden was announced as winner of the annual award by Elie Kassab who received the honor as 2006 Business Person of the Year.
Others nominated for Business Person of the Year were Rick and Jan Lewis of Battle Ground Bicycles, Dennis Pavlina and Carmen Villarma of The Management Group, Al Patel of Battle Ground Best Western Inn and Suites, Jeremy and Heather Brown of Rusty Grape Vineyard, Chris Kelly and Kirk Helmes of New Tradition Homes, Dr. William Pritchard of Pritchard Orthodontics, Tracie Gorbet-Navarra of Curves and Ron Bertsch of Coldwell Banker United Properties.
In other business at the banquet, Chamber officers were returned for a second year of services, including chairman Denis Marsh, and chair-elect Linda Thomas. Mike Harden and Michelle Freeman joined the board of directors.
Alice Perry Linker
staff reporter
Woodland’s Gary Loomis is on a mission to stop commercial over-fishing of waters off the shores of Washington and Oregon, and he believes the power of large numbers of people is the best way to reach the goal.
Loomis, inventor of a popular fishing rod and founder of GLoomis, is spearheading an effort to build a Pacific Northwest Chapter of the Coastal Conservation Association.
Citing the success of the National Rifle Association (NRA) in limiting gun control laws, Loomis said the four million or so NRA members are able to use their political clout. The number of people who fish for sport are greater than the number of hunters, he said, and sport fishermen should organize to oppose over-fishing by commercial interests.
The largest threats to the health of salmon and steelhead aren’t dams and logging, but over-fishing by commercial boats, Loomis said.
“I’d like to have fish for my grandkids and great-grandkids,” he said. “We’ll run out of fish before we run out of oil. We should be able to do something about the salmon and steelhead runs.”
The Coastal Conservation Association (CCA) was founded in 1977 in Texas to fight over-fishing that had decimated redfish and speckled trout along the Texas coast, according to the organization’s Web site. By the early 1990s, CCA had chapters in states along the Atlantic coast from Texas to New England. The Washington and Oregon chapters formed last year. According to the Web site, CCA has nearly 100,000 members and 206 chapters in 17 coastal states.
Early in the history of commercial fishing, selective harvest gear was used, Loomis said. Selective gear has been replaced by gill nets, he said.
“This year Alaska had the fourth largest (commercial) harvest since it became a state,” Loomis said.
At the same time, sports fishers in the Alaskan rivers reported the runs are “the poorest they’ve seen,” he said.
Loomis said that native salmon and steelhead won’t begin to recover until selective harvest is practiced by commercial fishing boats. He said the CCA hopes to attract enough members in the Northwest to make an impact on commercial fishing rules.
Commercial fishing has caused the extinction of 287 runs of salmon in the Northwest and has brought another 130 runs to the threatened level, Loomis said. Anadromous fish imprint on the river where they are hatched. After migrating to the ocean for as many as three or more years, they return to their home river. Their trip is known as a “run.”
“You can’t take one fish out of one river and put it in another river and have it spawn successfully,” Loomis said.
The organization is not opposed to commercial harvest, said President Steve Koch.
“We need a selective harvest system,” Koch said. “We need sanity in the harvest.”
Under the present commercial fishing system, 2 percent of the fishers get 98 percent of the harvest “with little or no responsibility” for sustainability, Loomis said.
“Until we force commercial fishing to selective gear or force them to release wild, native fish unharmed,” the numbers of wild salmon and steelhead will continue to decline, he said.
“We’ve got to get enough people to say that these fish are worth saving,” Loomis said. “Two percent of the population can’t harvest fish to extinction.”
Work has already begun at the state level to educate officials about fishing conditions, Loomis said.
The CCA office is located at 1006 W. 11th St., Vancouver. Meetings are scheduled for the second Tuesday of each month, 7 p.m., Camas Meadows Golf Course, 4105 NW Camas Meadows Drive.
Membership costs range from $1,000 for a life membership to $25 for a standard membership. For information, call 694-4300.
Brandy Slagle
Staff reporter
It was still dark when Kathy Vestesen drove down NE 299th Street on her way to work.
As a school bus driver, Vestesen said she is accustomed to driving down quiet country roads before the sun rises.
Yet on Jan. 16 at 5:50 a.m., she did not expect the 3-foot-wide, 3-foot-tall, 400-pound boulder to be directly in her path. Her jeep struck the boulder on the passenger side, flipping her vehicle into a ditch along the side of the road.
Lori Sams, who lives in a nearby residence, later reported to Clark County Sheriff’s deputies that she heard a loud crash on the road. Sams had been up to see her husband off to work and noticed a light colored pick-up driving in circles in the Charter Oak Church parking lot.
Vestesen had to be cut out of her vehicle. She had not been wearing her seat belt since it had recently broken.
“I was trying to find a replacement belt for less than $150 that the dealership wanted,” she said. “It could have been a lot worse.”
The right side of her body was thrown onto the side of the jeep, damaging her shoulder. She was treated at Southwest Washington Medical Center and has torn tendons around her shoulder and neck, which could take months to heal.
“I support myself, and I can’t work like this,” she said. “I’m not sure what I am going to do. I don’t understand why someone would do something like this.”
Vestesen said Sheriff’s deputies had said the rock was hauled out to the middle of the road. But it is also possible that the truck driving through the parking lot could have picked up the boulder underneath the vehicle where it got caught, according to the sheriff’s report. The vehicle, then trying to leave the scene, could have dislodged the boulder on the NE 299th Street and left it there where Vestesen collided into it minutes later.
Sheriff’s deputies are looking for a white, silver or light colored pickup with an extended cab and white camper shell. The vehicle could also have damage on the undercarriage from the boulder.
Sheriff’s deputy Rob Ternus is in charge of the case. Vestesen said she is looking for information that would lead to identifying the person responsible for leaving the boulder in the road.
But she is more concerned, she said, about the safety of other travelers on that road.
“If this was intentional, it could happen again,” she said. “People need to be looking out.”
Alice Perry Linker
staff reporter
Citing concerns about the future use of a city-owned lot, the Woodland City Council turned down a request from C&R Tractor and Landscaping for a one-year lease.
At the same time, the council gave the Woodland Fire Department the go-ahead to apply for a grant that would pay for a new fire station to replace one that sits in a flood plain.
City planner Kei Zushi told the council Jan. 28 that C&R wanted to make some changes to the building and the grounds at 300 E. Scott Ave. The changes would require permits and approval from the planning department, and the landscaping company asked for council approval before moving forward with the necessary permits.
Marilee McCall, who has researched the city’s options for building on the city lot, said she was concerned that the city would receive “short-term profit” that would threaten the “long-term goal.”
The city bought the property about three years ago with the idea of developing a building to house the city police and fire departments. Since the purchase, the city has looked at several ideas for a public safety building but has made no decisions as to how to proceed.
In an interview after the meeting, Casey Heaton of the Longview-based C&R said he does not know what the next step will be.
“The previous mayor gave me approval and now they denied it,” Heaton said. “I’ve jumped through all the hoops. This was supposed to be a short-term lease.”
He said Mayor Doug Monge assured him that the council would approve his request.
The council has discussed the possibility of using a Federal Emergency Management Act (FEMA) grant of $1 million to build a fire station on the property. After that, the city could add space for police.
The Woodland Fire Department tried to apply for the grant last year but could not meet the schedule required by FEMA. Fire Chief Tony Brentin told the council that the fire department again has an opportunity to apply for the grant that would provide $750,000 to move the city’s eastside fire station from the flood plain on Lewis River Road.
In two separate votes, the council unanimously decided to proceed with a pre-application for the federal grant and to deny C&R’s request for a lease.
Public works director Elaine Huber told the council that C&R had requested permission to put a landscaping and rock business along Atlantic Avenue but that request had been denied by the city. The property on Atlantic is zoned for commercial use and Zushi said a landscaping operation would probably need to go into an industriall zone.
Huber said the landscaping company had indicated that it would appeal the city’s decision to deny location on Atlantic Avenue but had dropped its plans to appeal after deciding to ask for a lease on the East Scott Avenue property.
Heaton said he decided not to appeal after he was told that applying for the city-owned site would be easier for his company. The city is now indicating that C&R may be able to locate on the Atlantic Avenue site, Heaton said.
“Woodland is not easy to work with,” he said.
In C&R’s request for approval to put the landscaping company on the city’s property, the company proposed a rent of $800 monthly with the first payment due 60 days after occupancy. The company also required a nine-month notice if the city decided not to renew the lease.
Zushi said C&R’s application for permits to develop the East Scott Avenue property was incomplete. Storm water and drainage issues were not addressed and the company had sought permission to pave the area. He told the council that the company did not want to go through the process of obtaining the necessary permits if the city did not grant the lease.
If the fire department is successful in its application for the FEMA grant, the city would be required to match $250,000. Brentin said several sources, including development fees, could be used to raise the required money.
Council members have said that the fire station, if approved, could be the basis for developing additional space for police and fire.
The city has talked about the possibility of asking the residents to support a bond measure, but the council has been reluctant to proceed because of the school district’s need for a new high school. Council members have said they do not want to interfere with the district’s efforts to float a bond measure.
Alice Perry Linker
staff reporter
On one of the coldest days of the year, three young women, members of the Woodland Planter’s Days court, set out to choose the outfits they will wear in parades, special appearances and for the coronation of the queen.
The three, Lindsay Hilliard, Emily McClure and Chelsea Anderson, were selected in mid-January to represent Woodland. They will reign throughout the year, and one of them will be crowned queen shortly before Planter’s Days, June 19-22, 2008.
“I’m excited to get started,” Hilliard said.
The others echoed her enthusiasm as they prepared for a busy spring, beginning with a Lions Club dinner. That dinner will be the first of many that the princesses will attend, speaking about their roles to different audiences.
When they speak or tour, they will sell tickets to the 2008 Woodland community celebration, raising money for future Planter’s Days.
“I want to get more involved in the community,” McClure said about her decision to try out for the court. “And there’s the scholarship. This is a good opportunity to get involved.”
McClure and Anderson moved to Woodland a few years ago. McClure was in the sixth grade when her parents, Patrick and Teresa McClure, brought the family to the community. Anderson was a rising high school freshman when her family settled in Woodland.
“We had moved around a lot,” Anderson said. “I felt Woodland was a place to call home, and this court represents Woodland.”
Hilliard, the daughter of David and Wendie Altfilish, has lived in Woodland her whole life. She remembers watching the princesses riding in convertibles when she was a little girl.
“My dad said, ‘You should do that,’” she said. “I’ve always wanted to do this.”
Although they have more than a year before graduating, the three women are making plans for the future. Anderson, the daughter of Chris and Melanie Anderson, has a long-term goal of becoming an anesthesiologist. She hasn’t decided on undergraduate school, but she’s “looking into Western Washington.”
Hilliard plans to start her college career at Clark College in Vancouver. Her goal is to become a kindergarten teacher.
McClure will apply to Oregon State University where she hopes to earn a bachelor’s degree in psychology.
“I want to be a clinical psychologist,” she said.
The three are good students, and most of their hobbies involve sports and community activities. For Anderson, it’s golf. She’s on the Woodland High School golf team. For two years, she played varsity basketball and was a cheerleader.
McClure, president of the junior class, plays softball and has played in the band.
Hilliard, who likes water sports such as knee boarding, water skiing and boating, plays soccer. As a member of the High School team, she has coached children through the summer soccer camp.
The three submitted long lists of charitable activities such as helping with food drives, Christmas gift charities and community events.
Chaperone April Chunn said that among other activities, the princesses will be hostesses for the Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens festival in May and will be attending a Mother’s Day tea at the Woodland Convalescent Center on Mother’s Day.
The court is scheduled to ride in military vehicles for the Long Beach Loyalty Day parade and will ride in convertibles for the Hazel Dell Parade of Bands. The three princesses are expected to participate in other events during the spring and summer.
Alice Perry Linker
staff reporter
An apparent mistake in an agreement to release city funds to help homeless people resulted in a second vote on the matter Jan. 28.
The city council unanimously voted to have interim City Attorney Brian Wolfe prepare a second agreement between the city and the Longview Housing Authority to release some $10,000 to the Woodland Community Services Center to provide emergency housing or rental assistance for people who are without homes. At least 20 percent of the funds must be set aside for crime victims.
The council had voted 2-2 on Dec. 17 to ask then-City Attorney Paul Brachvogel to prepare an agreement. Because the vote resulted in a tie, Mayor Doug Monge voted in favor to break the tie.
Council member John J. Burke challenged the mayor’s right to vote, saying that state law forbade a mayor to break a tie when funds were to be spent, and he asked the council to consider the matter again.
Wolfe, who was attending his first council meeting as interim city attorney, said the agreement that had been signed by the mayor did not mention the Longview Housing Authority.
Brachvogel apparently wrote the agreement that was signed Dec. 17 by Doug Monge and on Dec. 20 by Sheri Monge, executive director of the services center. Sheri Monge is Doug Monge’s wife.
The agreement states, “The city shall fund the Woodland Community Service Center $10,000 per year starting January 1, 2008, and every year hear after (cq), until this contract is modified or terminated….”
Longview Housing Authority is not a part of the agreement.
According to state law, a percentage of funds that come from document recording fees must be allocated to a housing authority or similar government entity to help people who are homeless. The council’s original vote authorized the city to release the funds to the housing authority which would then allocate them as needed to the Woodland Service Center.
Wolfe chastised the city council for “putting the mayor in the position of having to break a tie” to provide funds for an organization that employs the former mayor’s wife.
The council has not voted to release any funds but is expected to consider an agreement at its Feb. 4 meeting.
Chris Pegg, director of the Longview Housing Authority, said she and Sheri Monge were scheduled to meet to discuss the proposed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the authority and the Woodland non-profit.
“As soon as we have a contract signed with the city and the city approves the MOU, we should be able to get going in a matter of weeks,” Pegg said. “I’d like to see something in place during the cold wet weather.”
Pegg said the authority does not have agreements with other Cowlitz County cities but is using county document recording fees to build a home for pregnant women and new mothers who have completed drug treatment programs and need a temporary place to live.