Sophia Howard named
2009 Fair Court Queen

2009 Clark County Fair Court includes, Queen, Sophia Howard, center, Princess Courtney Miskell, left, and Princess Sierra Hawksley, right. 

Sophia Howard has been named queen of the Clark County 2009 Fair Court. The daughter of Neil and Tammie Howard of La Center, she will be a junior at La Center High School and is a first-year Running Start student at Clark College.

Her hobbies include playing the violin, horse riding, and mentoring community children.

Also of La Center, Courtney Miskell, is one of two designated Fair Court princesses. She is the daughter of John and Nancy Miskell. She also will be a junior at La Center High while attending CCC through the Running Start program.

Sierra Hawksley, the daughter of Ray and Cheryll Hawksley of Brush Prairie, is the third member of the court. She is a senior at Hockinson High School. Queen Sophia, along with Princesses Courtney and Sierra, will tour the west, attending rodeos, parades and other events, prior to the fair.

The fair returns August 7th through August 16th. Over the past 141 years, Clark County Fair has grown into the largest single location event in the Vancouver-Portland area. For information on the fair, visit www.ClarkCoFair.com.

Medals of Honor due local
SWAT Team members

Members of the SW Washington Regional SWAT Team, who in 2007 responded to a barricaded hostage incident in which a gun battle ensued—Vancouver Police Cpl. Chris LeBlanc, Vancouver Police Ofc. John Key, Clark County Sheriff's Office Dep. Scott Holmes, and Clark County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Scott Schanaker—will each receive Washington State Medals of Honor for heroic actions in the line of duty.

LaBlanc was shot in the melee. The other members of the team shielded him until he was evacuated and treated.

The awards will be presented at the Washington State Capitol in Olympia on Friday, May 8.

Battle Ground High School
jazz band third in nation

The Battle Ground High School Advanced Jazz Band,  directed by Greg McKelvey, finished in third place at the recent Savannah Music Festival national competition and workshop in Savannah, Ga.

Portland’s Pacific Crest Community School took first place in the 12-band national competition.

The Battle Ground band won $1,000.

The envelope, please, for 2009
Business Growth Awards

The Vancouver Business Journal’s annual Business Growth Awards for Southwest Washington, in six categories, are about to be announced. Attendees to the festivities, which include cocktails and hearty appetizers, have the opportunity to meet representatives of each finalist organization before the awards are announced. The event is Thursday, April 16, beginning at 5 p.m. in the Hilton Vancouver Washington.

The finalists in each of the award categories are as follows:

Start-Up of the Year, Stitchcraft and Tully’s Coffee; Fastest Growing Business, One to Five Years, Acuity Group and Simply Thyme Catering; Fastest Growing Business, Six to Ten Years, Creative Computer Solutions Inc., Electrix and On Line Support; Fastest Growing Business, More Than Ten Years, ControlTek, Foster and Assoc., Papa Murphy’s and Silicon Forest Electronics; Innovator of the Year, Ecolution NW and Nutrition Now; and Nonprofit of the Year, Dream Big Community Center, Humane Society for Southwest Washington, Share and YWCA Clark County.

Advance registration is required. Tickets are $45 and can be purchased at www.vbjusa.com/bgaregistration.php or by calling Debbie Trimble at 448-6006.

Mount St. Helens Institute exhibit
gets $25,000 foundation award

The Mount St. Helens Institute has received an award of $25,000 from the Ben B. Cheney Foundation to help pay the cost of a future seismic exhibit.

“Taking the Pulse of an Active Volcano at Mount St. Helens,” the seismic exhibit planned for the Johnston Ridge Observatory, will allow visitors will view real-time earthquakes, explore the relationship between shrinking and swelling of the earth’s crust and eruptive activity, and learn about the art and science of volcano monitoring.

Designed as collaboration between multiple agencies, among them the U.S. Forest Service and the Pacific Northwest Seismograph Network at the University of Washington, the exhibit will directly enhance the experience of more than 12,000 students who visit Johnston Ridge Observatory on field trips each year and the hundreds of thousands of students who will visit the website.

The Ben B. Cheney Foundation funding will be used as a match for initial funds provided by The M.J. Murdock Trust.

In addition, the Mount St. Helens Institute is hosting a public Seismic Exhibit fundraising event on Saturday, May 16, event, “It’s a Blast: Volcano Science in Your Backyard,” which offers hands-on science activities, guided hikes with scientists, special presentations, children’s activities and a special appearance by Bill Nye, the Science Guy®.

The exhibit is expected to open in May 2010 in conjunction with the 30th anniversary of the May 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens, according to Jeanne Bennett, executive director of the Mount St. Helens Institute. Interested donors should visit the Institute’s website at www.mshinstitute.org or call Bennett at 891-5107.

Calendar

The Life of Christ~An Easter Celebration continues today and tomorrow, April 11, noon to 9 p.m. Saturday, in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Vancouver Washington West Stake Center at 9728 NE 50Th Avenue. There is no charge. For information, call 907-9544. <> Tree pruning tips are being offered from 9:30 a.m. to noon Saturday, April 11, in the Marshall Community Center, 1009 E McLoughlin Boulevard.

 Community Calendar Links

• Southwest Washington Center for the Arts

• Greater Vancouver Chamber Community 

• City of Vancouver Calendar