Police officer recovering after being shot

Vancouver Police Sgt. Jay Alie, first to respond last night to a residential burglary, is recovering from having been shot by a suspect he had attempted to stop. Alie, who was wearing a ballistic vest, was shot in the chest.  He was assisted by a second officer who was present and was transported to an area hospital for evaluation and released this morning. He is in good condition and recovering.

Hockinson School District appoints
Michael Grubbs superintendent

Michael C. Grubbs has been appointed superintendent of the Hockinson School District. Grubbs was one of 23 candidates who applied for the position.

Grubbs brings nearly 30 years of education experience to Hockinson, including his current role as superintendent of the Green Mountain School District in northern Clark County that he had led since 2003.

Grubbs held positions of assistant and acting superintendent for the Clarkston School District from 2001 to 2003, and was a principal of elementary and junior high schools for 12 years in Lewiston, Idaho. He was a certified teacher for 11 years in Idaho Falls, Las Vegas, and El Centro, Calif., school districts.

Grubbs, a graduate of San Jose State University, has a doctor of jurisprudence degree from the University of Arizona and a master of arts in educational administration from San Diego State University.

Margaret Bates, who joined the district in 2001, will resume her role as assistant superintendent after serving as acting superintendent during the current school year.

Sandra Yager will begin a part-time apprenticeship in the superintendent's office, while maintaining most of her duties as principal of the Hockinson High School.

Vancouver Symphony young artists
offering Wagner, Mozart, Mendelssohn

The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra concerts this weekend will show off the three young artists winners and the music of some of the best-known composers: Wagner, Mozart, Mendelssohn and von Koch.

The Young Artists program features young performers, violinist Kelly Talim, a seventh grader at Whitford Middle School in Portland, pianist Stephanie Cai, a seventh grader at Waluga Jr. High School in Lake Oswego, and alto saxophonist Ted Schaller, a senior at Lake Oswego High School in Lake Oswego.

Vancouver Symphony music director Salvador Brotons conducts.

The remainder of the program consists of the music of Richard Wagner, with instrumental excerpts from four of his operas: Tristan und Isolde, Die Meistersinger, Gotterdammerung, and Die Walküre.

The 15th Annual Young Artists Competition attracted fifty-three applicants from Washington and Oregon.

The concerts are at 3 p.m. Saturday, April 18, and 7 p.m. Sunday, April 19, in the concert hall at Skyview High School, 1300 NW 139th Street. Tickets prices range from $7 for students to $40 for reserved seating.

Gregoire, Kulongoski applaud
high-speed rail funding proposal

Govs. Chris Gregoire and Ted Kulongoski jointly gave their approval and encouragement today to the Obama administration’s $8 billion high-speed and intercity rail investment proposal.

Gregoire said, “Our states, along with British Columbia, have a committed partnership with Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Amtrak to help advance our service and improve our infrastructure.”

Said Kulongoski: “To be competitive in a 21st-century economy, we need a balanced transportation system

that allows us to move people, goods and commerce quickly and efficiently—and that reduces the number of cars on our roads.”

In 1999, Washington, Oregon and British Columbia formed a partnership for passenger rail service, Amtrak Cascades Service, the region’s signature high-speed rail corridor.

In 2008 ridership reached nearly 775,000 passengers, an 82 percent increase in passenger rail service in ten years.

The $8 billion initiative is in addition to the administration’s budget proposal for $1 billion a year for high speed rail through 2014.

People

Michael Kleiner and Beth Doughty, both social studies teachers at Chief Umtuch Middle School in the Battle Ground School District, are two of three national winners of the Barringer Research Fellowship for two weeks’ study, with a stipend plus expenses paid, at the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies in Jefferson’s home town, Monticello, Va. They leave on a red-eye flight the night school lets out for the summer and return on the 4th of July.

Calendar

The Port of Camas-Washougal is holding a special meeting to discuss historical park property at 5:30 p.m. this evening in the port offices, 24 S A Street. <> An Arts Equity Onstage-sponsored forum “What Is Art and Who Decides It Is?” is being presented at 7:30 p.m. this evening in the Clark Public Utilities Community Room, 1200 Fort Vancouver Way. Panelists are Vancouver-Clark Parks & Recreation director Peter Mayer, Evergreen Schools superintendent John Deeder, and Vancouver Arts and Academics principal James O’Banion. Former Clark County commissioner Betty Sue Morris is the facilitator. For further information, call 695-3770. <> The Southern Washington Blood Program is holding blood drives  between 9 and 11:30 a.m. at the Family Physicians Group, 16811 SE McGillivray Boulevard, and 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. at the Southwest Medical Group, 720 W Main Street, Battle Ground, Thursday, April 17.

Community Calendar Links

• Southwest Washington Center for the Arts

• Greater Vancouver Chamber Community 

• City of Vancouver Calendar