2019 year in review

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With 2019 officially at a close, The Reflector is taking a look back at prominent happenings and news stories affecting North County throughout the past year. A measles outbreak, gun control pushback, the arrival of the Ridgefield Raptors and renewed discussion of the Interstate 5 bridge top the list of biggest stories, recounted in chronological order.

 

County has measles outbreak — January

The year started out with a health scare in Clark County as the first cases of measles in the area were announced in January. By the official end of the outbreak in April there were a reported 72 confirmed cases of the disease, including a handful of hospitalizations, though no deaths.

The outbreak led to the Clark County Council and Gov. Jay Inslee declaring a state of emergency in Clark County by the end of January. The outbreak was estimated to have cost close to $865,000 in resources, and was a chief reason for State Rep. Paul Harris, R-Vancouver, sponsoring a bill that would remove the personal and philosophical exemption from the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine needed to attend schools in the state, which ultimately passed.

Pushback against gun control spurs movement — February

Opposition against the voter-approved Initiative 1639 led to an organization in Southwest Washington to oppose changes to law that opponents of the initiative felt were unconstitutional. 

Beginning in February, Vancouver-based right-wing activist group Patriot Prayer organized rallies, particularly ones in Battle Ground, as it and other North County residents sought to push municipalities to come out with resolutions stating their opposition to the law changes.

The efforts in Battle Ground seemed to dissipate following an official statement approved by the city council in May deferring to the courts on the initiative’s constitutionality. Where Battle Ground deferred, Yacolt approved a resolution in opposition of I-1639 in June.

The issue was enough to spur candidates to file in the 2019 municipal elections, with one anti-1639 candidate, Shauna Walters, winning the November election to the Battle Ground City Council. 

Raptors come to town — June

After being announced nearly a year prior, the Ridgefield Raptors played their first season with home games at the Ridgefield Outdoor Recreation Complex this year. The Raptors were able to place fifth in the West Coast league with a 27-27 record for their inaugural season, which began with opening day June 4.

According to team General Manager Gus Farah, the Raptors had the fifth-highest attendance in the 12-team league for the 2019 season. The team’s mascot, Rally the Raptor, has been a fixture around Ridgefield since the team’s debut, usually found among the crowd at many noteworthy events in the city.

Farah was particularly thankful for the way the community supported the team in its first year, noting the support of host families for the college-aged players as well as attendance.

Rare ‘corpse flower’ blooms — July

WSU Vancouver’s campus was the center of attention for several days in July as a rare flower native to Indonesia provided sights — but mostly smells — for its first bloom since it was planted 17 years prior. The Amorphophallus titanum, dubbed “Titan VanCoug,” was planted by university molecular biosciences professor Steve Sylvester and had numerous sprouts of a “leaf” before dying back and repeating the process over the years, though it was 2019 it finally had a legitimate bloom.

Apart from rising more than 4 feet tall, the plant also brought with it a stench of rotting fish and moldy cheese, a result of its lifecycle which requires pollination by corpse flies and dung beetles.

It was Sylvester doing the pollinating in July, however; he told The Reflector he hoped to use pollen he received from the New York Botanical Gardens in an attempt to boost the endangered plant’s numbers.

Amenities come to Ridgefield — July

2019 marked a number of new businesses to Ridgefield, filling needs the rapidly-growing city has as it evolves from a sleepy town off the interstate to a key player in Southwest Washington. In July, the city welcomed a branch of The Vancouver Clinic to offer medical services in city limits, and in December the city welcomed the two first businesses at the Discovery Ridge development off of Pioneer Street — a Rosauers supermarket and a Taco Bell.



New committee inherits Harvest Days, succeeds in inaugural event — July

The folding of the Battle Ground Chamber of Commerce could have spelled the end of the annual Harvest Days celebration in the city, but local business leaders with some city council help were able to take the reins and provide an event that in subsequent years could see the festival return to its former glory.

The Battle Ground Festival Association formed this year in order to run the event for years to come. Many perennial mainstays of the event were maintained or returned, with a car cruise, carnival and parade all a part of 2019’s event.

Following the conclusion of this year’s event, BGFA member Kenda Laratta was pleased with how 2019’s Harvest Days went, adding at the time that although nothing was set in stone, the association may look at expanding offerings in 2020 into Thursday.

Public outcry leads to BGPS dropping sex education — October

Controversy over the potential implementation of comprehensive sexual health education in Battle Ground Public Schools led to the district board of directors not only dropping consideration of the curriculum, but dropping nearly all sex education in the district other than what was required by state law.

Following the board’s decision to suspend a vote on implementing new sex ed curriculum in 2018, the district brought it back for consideration in Fall 2019. Following forums in September, the board had a series of public hearings in October. Opponents of the curriculum, which would include topics ranging from anatomy and sexually-transmitted diseases, to gender identity and consent, packed the board room to protest its implementation, with the board ultimately voting Oct. 28 to remove all sex ed other than a fifth-grade “human growth and development” course as well as state-mandated education on HIV/AIDS.

Elective courses featuring sexual health education did get the go-ahead following a board vote Dec. 9, though the courses would be “opt-in” as opposed to the “opt-out” sex ed in the district previously had.

Milestone wins, end of Hockinson’s win streak — Fall

North County football had a number of noteworthy moments for the 2019 season, with two head coaches hitting milestone win numbers while the dominance of the Hockinson Hawks finally ended in the state playoffs.

The Hawks had their first loss in 28 games at the hand of Archbishop Murphy with a 27-21 defeat Sept. 13. The team proceeded to win the rest of the season’s games with Steele netting his 100th win with the Hawks Oct. 11. Though the team won two playoff games, a 55-7 loss to Tumwater in the semifinals Nov. 30 eliminated the team and their chances for three-straight state championships, having took the 2A title in 2017 and 2018.

In 1A, the La Center Wildcats’ coach John Lambert had his own milestone to celebrate the week prior to Steele’s 100th Hawks victory. The Oct. 4 38-21 Wildcats’ win against King’s Way Christian was the 150th of his career at La Center 

I-5 Bridge replacement comes into focus — November

Though push on the Washington side of the Columbia River for a new Interstate 5 bridge has been building for years, 2019 saw the first major commitments from Oregon to return to the planning table to see what a replacement would look like. Both Gov. Inslee and Oregon Gov. Kate Brown came to Clark County Nov. 18 to sign a memorandum stating their intent to open a project office to oversee replacement, a milestone in efforts to take over where the failed Columbia River Crossing left off in 2013.

Though the Governors’ event was in November, work in both states prior signaled a return to a bi-state desire for bridge replacement. The 2019 biennial Washington State budget contained $35 million in funding for the project, while Oregon officials earmarked $9 million for their share. In October the Joint Oregon-Washington Legislative Action Committee had its first of three meetings this year, beginning official committee work that was the product of 2017 legislation pushed by Southwest Washington lawmakers.

Discovery Corridor development gets the go-ahead — November

Potential development on roughly 2,200 acres previously prohibited by a land use designation can move forward following a year of deliberation by Clark County Council on funding options to make sure infrastructure could meet up with increased demands as a result of urban expansion.

Council voted to approve the removal of urban holding Nov. 16, allowing for development in the area near the Interstate 5/179th Street interchange. The designation had been in place since 2004 as a way to prevent growth that would outpace needed infrastructure in the area, with transportation being the county’s top concern.

One of the requirements for lifting the designation was that the county had needed infrastructure projects adequately funded, something that causes the council to hit pause on the lift earlier in the year. In August, the council had voted on a $66.5 million funding package that would pay for transportation improvements in the area.

An economic study the county had done showed that a full buildout of the land in urban holding could result in more than 4,800 housing units and more than 2,800 jobs given zoning of parcels within.