TUESDAY, JULY 20, 2004

Clark College building at WSUV
groundbreaking Wednesday
    Clark College and Washington State University Vancouver take the next step in their partnership with groundbreaking of the Clark Center on the WSUV Salmon Creek campus at 10 a.m. Wednesday, July 21.
    Expected to open in the fall quarter of 2005, the building will have a capacity of more than 1,000 students. It will be the new home of Clark's nursing program. The center will also provide housing for the new WSUV Engineering and Science Institute, a partnership of Washington State University and Clark and Lower Columbia Community Colleges.
   Clark College president R. Wayne Branch, WSU Vancouver chancellor Hal Dengerink, chairman of the State Board of Technical and Community Colleges Tom Koenninger, state Sen. Don Carlson (R-49th), and Sue Fratt, chair of the Clark College board of trustees, will preside over the groundbreaking of the $19.7 million building.
Designed by LSW Architects, the three-story classroom and lab center at the Washington
State University Vancouver Salmon Creek Campus will open in the fall of 2005

SWMC emergency department set to grow in preparation for $146 million patient tower project
    Southwest Washington Medical Center's emergency department will be expanded by 2,000 square feet, mostly dedicated to a larger waiting space for patients, and a third triage area, beginning in September.
    The work is expected to be completed by next March when the medical center expects to begin its $146 million patient tower project.
 
PIC Centers puts high school dropouts back on track
    Eight 17- and 18-year-olds have spent the last four weeks getting ready to rejoin high school classmates this fall. They were enrolled in a newly reopened service offered by Partners in Careers in a 100-hour program allowing them to catch up after having been high school dropouts.
    From 1997 to 2002, 92 percent of the former students completing the program went on to complete high school with their classmates. The program had been discontinued for lack of funding. It is now open on a fee basis. For further information, call Beth Taylor, 696-8417.

Building lot production tripling
    The number of new building lots created in Clark County in the first half of 2004 was nearly three times greater than those created in the first half of 2003, reports county Community Development Department director Rich Carson.
    According to Carson, 1,016 building lots were approved in the first six months of this year, compared to 356 in the first six months of 2003. First-half year building lot approvals in previous years were 675 in 2002, 291 in 2001, 525 in 2000, and 582 in 1999.

Cruz-In returns to Pearson Field Wednesday
    Cruz-In returns to Pearson Field, 4 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, July 21, featuring Corvettes. Admission is $1 per classic vehicle, according to spokesperson Jani Jason Williams. Walk-in admission is $5. Children 12 and under are free. No pets are permitted.
    Food and beverages by Shanahan's are available. Free tours of the museum are offered. Fifteen-minute airplane rides are $15.
    Cruz-In at Pearson will continue Wednesday afternoons through September, weather permitting, Jason Williams says. Pearson Field is at 1115 E 5th Street. For further information, call 694-7026.

People
    Susan Chambers has been reelected president of the Evergreen Habitat for Humanity board of directors. Other newly elected officers are Carol Fenstermacher, vice president, Matt Lewis, treasurer, and Teresa Munn, secretary. Judie McLauren was elected to the board of directors.

News briefs
    The 10 a.m. Wednesday, July 21 showing of the movie Good Boy! at Regal Cinema 99 in Hazel Dell is free as part of the theater's Free Family Film Festival. nnn Clark County commissioners meet in an informal session at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 21. nnn Sheer Bliss headlines the Vancouvercenter concert in Esther Short Park at noon Wednesday, July 21. Blankets, low-back beach chairs and sandwiches are recommended. There is no charge. No alcohol permitted.

On the air Tuesday
   Boston at the Seattle Mariners (live)--1:30 p.m. KFXX
    U.S. Rep. Brian Baird (D-3rd) Town Hall Meeting--3:30 p.m. CVTV
    Firstenburg Center Groundbreaking Ceremony--5:30    p.m. CVTV
    Portland Timbers at Edmonton (live)--6 p.m. KZNY, KRMZ
    Vancouver Land Use Hearings (live)--7 p.m. CVTV 
    Tacoma at the Portland Beavers (live)--7 p.m. KKAD

News links (click on the headline to read the complete story)

Renovation of the Red Cross Building in Vancouver Barracks nearing completion. International Air Academy expected to use the building for a hospitality-restaurant training school--Columbian, Jeffrey Mize

Placing an initiative or referendum on a citywide ballot would be more challenging and the mayor's term would increase from two to four years under recommendations presented to the City Council on Monday night--Oregonian, Allan Brettman

Crime may put curfew on Cottonwood Beach in Washougal--Oregonian, Bill Stewart

Otis lightens up Ridgefield's management woes--Columbian, Margaret Ellis

Clark College will begin offering an Elderhostel program next summer that someday could allow traveling seniors to stay in an Army barracks built in the 19th century--Columbian, Jeffrey Mize

Columbia Credit Union Feud not yet over--Columbian, Jonathan Nelson

Barn dances and top bluegrass acts converge at the annual Columbia Gorge Bluegrass Festival, Thursday through Sunday at the Skamania County Fairgrounds in Stevenson--Columbian

You can't put a price on customer service--Columbian, Kathy Condon

Greenspan says the Federal Reserve may raise rates more quickly if inflation suddenly worsens--USA TODAY, AP  
 

The Weather and Town Tabloids

   James Marten completing a good summer season. nnn Pat Doran reciting 500-year-old history lessen. nnn Henry Diaz trying to part with ''98 Impala (see Insider classified ads) nnn Lisa Pletcher in the loop. nnn Pete Capell at the very least being photographed on a flexbike. nnn Tuesday, mostly cloudy, 79. Wednesday, mostly sunny, 85. Thursday, sunny and hot, 90.