Barry and Irene Holbrook put out feeders for hummingbirds each year on the first day of spring and welcome the colorful, fast-winged creatures to their Hockinson home.
The ritual took place again this year despite the presence of snow on the landscape--and snow falling during the day.
Irene Holbrook said she hung a feeder on March 20 and welcomed the hummingbirds back to her Rawson Road home despite the weather. The birds remain, she said, until fall at the couple’s 1,600-foot elevation home.
To accommodate the large number of birds at her home, Holbrook said she installs four feeders and fills them every day. Holbrook makes her own water-sugar mixture, having not had success with store-bought products.
Holbrook combines a quarter cup of sugar with one cup of water and boils until thoroughly dissolved. Three of her feeders hold one cup of mixture, and one feeder holds two cups. Sometimes she prepares the mixture in advance and refrigerates it, she said. She does not use food coloring.
Each feeder has four feeding locations, said Holbrook, and sometimes all four are in use simultaneously.
Because of the number of hummingbirds around her home, Holbrook said she and others need to be careful that the birds don’t collide with people. Sometimes a hummingbird will touch the top of her head when she is outside, she said.
Hummingbirds also enjoy fuchsias, said Holbrook, as well as geraniums and fox glove. She is not certain of the types of hummingbirds that spend the summer at her home. “I just feed whatever comes,” she said.
The Holbrooks also supply seed for various birds, with seed feeders suspended from a wire stretched about nine feet above the ground. The seed feeders are not bothered by squirrels, she said.
La Center city council member Bill Birdwell has called for a discussion regarding placing a proposition on the Aug. 19 primary ballot to determine if voters want the city to offer sewer services to the Cowlitz Tribe for its proposed casino.
Birdwell raised the issue at the city council meeting on March 26 and requested a discussion of the issue be placed on the agenda for the April 9 meeting, to be held at 7 p.m. at the La Center Community Center, located at 1000 E. 4th St.
“It’s on the agenda to be discussed,’’ Birdwell said. “The whole issue would have to be passed by a resolution to allow it to be a ballot proposition. Three of us would have to vote to allow it to be on there.’’
Last year, the city council voted 4-1, with Birdwell casting the only vote of opposition, on a resolution stating the city would not enter into negotiations with Cowlitz Tribe to provide sewer service to the casino’s proposed location near the La Center I-5 junction.
The city is currently attempting to fund a $13.7 million improvement to its existing sewage treatment facility. A sewer rate increase of $5 per month in each of the next five years is being considered by the council, which will hold a public hearing on the matter at the April 9 meeting.
A public hearing on the proposed rate hike was also held at the March 26 council meeting. There was a great deal of testimony from citizens, who spoke in opposition of the increases. The public comments also often turned to the issue of providing sewer service to the Cowlitz Tribe’s casino.
Birdwell would like answers from La Center voters to two questions. First, should the city provide sewer service to the Cowlitz casino? And, second, do they want the council to mitigate the known impacts?
“Those are the two questions, a simple yes or no,’’ Birdwell said. “If everyone comes back and says no, then the issue goes away. If they say yes, it would have to come back to council to see how the rest of the members of the council feel.’’
In order for it to be placed on the ballot for the Aug. 19 primary election, the resolution would have to be turned in by May 22, according to Birdwell.
Birdwell has picked up support on the issue since last year’s vote not to negotiate with the tribe. Mike Nolan is the lone new member on the council.
Nolan has publicly expressed his willingness to consider all options regarding the improvements to the sewage treatment facility as well as those associated with building a conveyance to the I-5 junction, which potentially could service the proposed Cowlitz casino and other development in the 700 acres added to the city’s Urban Growth Boundary.
“I am for negotiating with a large developer to mitigate the known impacts,’’ Nolan repeated at the March 26 meeting.
Several times during the March 26 council meeting, Mayor Jim Irish stated that there currently is no proposal from the Cowlitz regarding sewer service and no negotiations with the tribe are taking place. Prior to last year’s vote not to negotiate with the tribe, however, the Cowlitz had presented La Center with a proposal regarding sewer service.
Whether Birdwell can gain the needed one additional vote to have the issue placed on the ballot is not known. Council members welcome public input, but members Bob Smith, Troy Van Dinter and Linda Tracy have been clear in their previous opposition to negotiating with the Cowlitz.
Those members’ opposition is based in the belief that any cooperation by the city would give the Cowlitz the opportunity to claim public support in their efforts to be granted the right to build the casino, which is still being considered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
“I think we have to consider all the comments,’’ Smith said. “But, as far as trying to get an agreement with the Cowlitz, I’m not for that for many reasons. I think we have to deal with the devil we know as opposed to the devil we don’t know.’’
Almost two-thirds of La Center’s current tax base is made up of tax revenue from the four existing card rooms in the city, which most council members feel would be greatly impacted if the Cowlitz Tribe was able to build its mega casino.
“Anything we do, we would be feeding the lion that is going to eat us,’’ Smith said.
A lawsuit filed in Clark County Superior Court alleges that the city of Ridgefield violated the state Open Public Meetings Act in 2006 by holding two executive sessions to discuss litigation without the presence of its City Attorney.
In a complaint filed March 17, the Center for Justice, a non-profit public interest law firm based in Spokane, said the State Auditor’s Office discovered during an audit that executive sessions to discuss litigation were held without the presence of a city attorney at city council meetings June 6 and again July 13, 2006.
The complaint, one of five brought against public agencies throughout the state by the watchdog organization, said the Open Public Meetings Act contains a presence-of-counsel requirement when executive sessions are held to discuss litigation to prevent governing bodies from misusing litigation-based executive sessions by discussing unauthorized topics. If counsel is present, there is a greater likelihood that actual litigation is being discussed, said the complaint.
The complaint asks the court to assess a civil penalty of $100 against members of the city council who attended the executive sessions and for plaintiff costs and attorney fees. None of the city’s current council members were seated on the council when the alleged violations occurred.
Ridgefield city attorney Justin Clary said he and other city officials diligently adhere to provisions of the Open Public Meetings Act. He said city attorney Chris Sundstrom is reviewing the complaint.
The Center of Justice filed similar actions against the Spokane Regional Clean Air Agency, the Arlington School Board, the Yelm Fire District and the Port of Longview.
A parachute reportedly found last month in the Green Mountain area was not used by the man known as D.B. Cooper who jumped out of an airplane with $200,000 in 1971.
Laura Laughlin, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Seattle Division of the FBI, announced April 1 that the found parachute had no connection to the D.B.Cooper case.
The FBI investigation into the discovered parachute, which included interviews with parachute experts and additional digging at the site, was concluded April 1. No further investigation into this aspect of the Cooper case is anticipated, according to Robbie Burroughs, spokesperson for the FBI in Seattle.
“This is exactly what we were hoping for when we opened our investigation to the public,” said Laughlin. “From the children who discovered the parachute and convinced their father to call the FBI, to the experts who came forward with offers of assistance, this investigation has truly become a joint effort of the public, the media and law enforcement. We are confident the case can still be solved with this new emphasis.”
According to the FBI, a property using a tractor to build a road somewhere between Green and Bald mountains west of Amboy discovered the parachute. The landowner’s children pulled the parachute canopy from the ground, cut the shroud lines, and urged their father to report the matter to the FBI, which he did.
FBI agent Larry Carr declined to provide the landowner’s exact location.
The mystery of D.B. Cooper began on Nov. 24, 1971, when a male passenger aboard a Northwest Orient Boeing 727 flight from Portland to Seattle gave a stewardess a note saying he had a bomb and demanded $200,000 and four parachutes.
When the plane reached Seattle, the ransom was ready in marked bills, and the plane took off, reportedly for Mexico, without passengers.
Authorities theorize that the plane was over the Ariel-Green Mountain area when Cooper jumped.
Seven years later, a placard containing instructions for opening the cargo door was found north of Cooper’s believed drop area. And then in 1980, a boy digging in the Columbia River at about 121st St. and Lower River Road, Vancouver, found $5,800 in $20 bills that were part of Cooper’s haul.
Agent Carr theorizes that the money could have reached the Columbia River via the Washougal River after lying on the ground until a flood in 1977. If that were the case, said Carr, Cooper would have jumped several miles to the east and south of the Ariel-Green Mountain area.
The Colf family of Woodland is hopeful an end might be in sight to their nine-year battle with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Members of the Colf family and their representatives made a proposal to the Corps of Engineers in a meeting April 3 at the Oak Tree Restaurant in Woodland. The family--which includes siblings Richard, Robert and Nancy Colf--proposed trading the Corps the 447-acre Martin Island property for two nearby parcels located in the Woodland Bottoms.
The Colfs would receive a 73-acre parcel currently owned by the Washington-sponsoring Ports, and an additional 40-acre parcel owned by a private group which uses the land for duck hunting. The proposal also would allow the Colfs to maintain ownership of 105 acres of the their agricultural land and continue to farm the property.
“This is a bargain for them, in my opinion,’’ said Richard Colf.
The two sides planned to meet again either April 7 or April 8 to further examine the proposal.
The issue between the Colfs and the Corps was born in 1999 when Margaret Colf Hepola, her two sons and daughter first learned that the Corps planned to acquire about 550 acres of Colf family property to use for habitat mitigation purposes necessitated by the dredging of the Columbia River.
Members of the Colf family said they informed the Corps in 1999 and repeatedly since then that they do not want to sell their lands, but rather want to continue farming activities on desirable Woodland Bottoms land and other locations.
Federal officials have contended that the Columbia River dredging project was thoroughly studied and permits acquired based on specific mitigation properties, and that a change in such mitigation sites would have adverse impacts on the dredging work schedule. Officials have threatened to use their power of eminent domain, if necessary, to take the property.
“The Colf family just wants to continue to farm,’’ said Roy Heikkala, a consultant to the family.
The latest proposal would allow the Colfs to continue to farm. It would give the Corps habitat property on Martin Island and would also avoid the estimated $20 million cost of building a dike in the portion of wetlands previously targeted.
The Colfs currently use Martin Island to graze cattle. They estimated only 130 of the 447 acres on the island is suitable farmland, which is close to the 113 acres they would acquire in the swap.
“We are looking to trade farmland for farmland,’’ Heikkala said. “Even with the proposal, we will lose one herd of cattle.’’
The Corps was represented at the April 3 meeting by Col. Tom O’Donovan and other representatives.
“There are some aspects of this proposal that are not the responsibility of the Corps, so we can’t touch those,’’ Col. O’Donovan said. “We’ve got to sit down and take a look all the different aspects.’’
The main issue will be whether or not the Colf’s proposal meets the requirements of the Corps for mitigation of the dredging project.
Scott Morey from the Battle Ground firm MRM Consulting is representing the Colfs in their attempt to show the Corps that the proposed land swap meets the requirements for mitigation.
“It’s three or four more times suitable than the 105-acre site,’’ said Morey, a soils & environmental scientist. “There are a couple of concerns with the 105-acre site.’’
The first concern of the 105-acre site, according to Morey, is the loss of industrial farmland, which he said Woodland doesn’t have a lot of at this point. The second is the costly plan to build the dike.
The 40-acre site, referred in the proposal as the Duck 40, would have to be purchased from its current owners and transferred to the Colfs.
“I am told the Duck 40 people would definitely like to sell it,’’ Heikkala said.
Even though the Colfs proposal could end up being a sound compromise for all parties, it’s still a painful loss of valuable land to the family and its members.
“It is sad,’’ said Margaret Colf Hepola. “I didn’t want to part with the island, but I think maybe the people of Woodland will all be happier. It’s a historic island. You can’t put a price on that land.’’
The Colfs wouldn’t say what their next step would be if the Corps rejected their proposal, but they reaffirmed their claim to not back down.
“We’re going to be firm,’’ Richard Colf said. “We’re going to have to see what they want to do. We’re not going to back down. We are reasonably optimistic. They seem like they are more receptive than they’ve ever been before.’’
Col. O’Donovan spoke of the need for a conclusion in the very near future because the dredging project “must move forward.’’ He also reiterated that the Corps is still involved in negotiations with the Colfs because it doesn’t want to have the property taken from the family by use of eminent domain.
“One of the reasons we are still where we are, is that we are loathed to execute eminent domain,’’ he said. “We don’t take it lightly.’’
The Colfs are equally eager for a resolution.
“We would like in the next week or so for the Colonel to say we can make a deal,’’ Heikkala said. “But, if they can’t, we would like them to at least say it’s feasible.’’
In the end, it will be up to Morey to show the Corps that the Colf’s proposal meets its needs.
“I am positive that we will be able to meet or exceed them,’’ Morey said.
"We are confident the case can still
be solved."
Laura Laughlin, FBI