Mountain View High School
still in the top five percent

For the third year in a row, Evergreen Schools' Mountain View High School has made it to the top five percent of Newsweek Magazine’s annual high school ranking list. This year, Mountain View the school received its highest ranking to date, 752 out of the top 1500 high schools in the country.

Rankings are based primarily upon the Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate programs at the schools. Mountain View's ranking places them in the top 10 high schools in Washington, according to associate principal Mark Osborne.

The complete Newsweek list can be found at: http://www.newsweek.com/id/201160.

CRC sets sessions on Columbia
Crossing tolling and project elements

Four more public meetings are set for the end of June and July 1, to provide for public input on the proposed Columbia Crossing.

The Columbia River Crossing Project Sponsors Council is recommending that the I-5 replacement bridge be a two-structure crossing.

With two structures, north and southbound traffic would travel on separate bridges. Light rail could travel beneath the deck of the southbound structure. The final location of the pedestrian and bicycle path is still being evaluated.

Open houses will be from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 23, in the Jantzen Beach SuperCenter community room, 1405 N Jantzen Beach Center, and Wednesday, June 24, in the Red Lion Hotel at the Quay, 100 Columbia Street.

Tolling listening sessions are set for 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, June 30, in the Washington State Department of Transportation offices, 11018 NE 51st Circle, and Wednesday, July 1, in the Jantzen Beach SuperCenter.

The open houses will provide updated information on bridge design, light-rail planning and design, interchange design, pedestrian and bicycle facilities, finance plan and tolling, and community and environmental effects.

Two listening sessions on tolling will provide opportunity for decision-makers to hear public comments on how tolling can best be designed to raise revenue and manage traffic congestion

Multiple sources will be necessary to fund construction of the Columbia River Crossing, including federal and state sources and tolls. Specific toll collection strategies have not yet been identified, but tolls would be collected electronically to avoid the need for toll booths and keep traffic moving.

Clark Public Utilities begins
major expansion of new water site

Clark Public Utilities this week approved a $3.7 contract with Rotschy, Inc. of Vancouver for construction of buildings to house two wells and water treatment equipment in the South Lake Well Field in Vancouver.

The winning bid was well under a $5 million cap set by the utility.

The field is expected to be a major source of water for utility customers in the years to come. In addition to the work done so far, new wells are planned for the site. Water from the project is expected to begin serving customers by next summer.

Already completed are two 600-foot wells, with a combined pumping capacity of about 7.5 million gallons per day.

WSU Vancouver offering
low-cost sports physicals

Washington State University Vancouver nursing staff and students are holding the fifth annual sports and camp physical exams clinic from 12:30 to 5 p.m. Wednesday, June 17, at Battle Ground High School.

Students from any middle or high school may participate. The cost is $15.

“A tsunami of children needs physicals every year before August,” says WSU Vancouver clinical assistant professor of nursing Melody Rasmor. “Our program helps the community by giving complete physicals at a reduced rate to children who need them for summer camp applications or intramural sport requirements in the fall.”

For further information, call Rasmor at 546-9619.

News brief

Commercial exhibit space at the Clark County Fair has a potential of reaching 265,000 people in ten days, reports Heidi Wilson, fair event manager. The fair is accepting applications for commercial booth vendors for the 2009 fair, August 7 through 16. For further information go to www.ClarkCoFair.com, or call 397-6170.

Calendar

The Fairgrounds Neighborhood Association meets at 7 p.m. this evening in the meeting room in the Community of Christ Church, 400 NE 179th Street. <> A pruning and tree care workshop is being held from 6 to 8 a.m. Friday, June 12, in the Firstenburg Community Center, 700 NE 136th Avenue. For further information, call 619-1108.

Community Calendar Links

• Southwest Washington Center for the Arts

• Greater Vancouver Chamber

• City of Vancouver Calendar