Construction will soon begin for Camas Ridge Apartments, a 51-unit residential property located on the east side of Prune Hill in Camas at Northwest Logan and Northwest 28th Avenue. The property is being developed by the Vancouver Housing Authority as part of its Workforce Housing program to provide adequate housing for working families in local communities. KeyWay Corp. of Tigard, Oregon, is the general contractor for the project and was scheduled to start construction  August 20.  More information about the project is available online at http://www.vhausa.com.

David Kennedy

David Kennedy has been chosen as principal of Glenwood Heights Primary School, pending approval by the Battle Ground School Board on Saturday, Aug. 28. He replaces Eric Hoglund, who has taken a principal’s job near Spokane. Kennedy, 37, has been an assistant principal in the district for three years. Prior to coming to Battle Ground Public Schools, Kennedy, a trumpet player, taught music for several years in Vancouver at all grade levels and taught one year in Seattle. Kennedy was raised in Eastern Washington. He and his wife Marie, have a son Kohen, 5, and daughter, Claire, 1.

Affordable Community Environments has extended the online  fundraising auction to Tuesday, Aug. 31. To participate, visit http://benefitevents.com/auctions/acecommunities/. All proceeds benefit ACE’s housing and resident services programs. To learn more about ACE, its programs and new affordable housing projects, visit   www.acecommunities.org.

E.W. Firstenburg

The memorial for First Independent Bank founder E.W. Firstenburg has been scheduled from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 27, at the First Independent Bank building at 1220 Main St., in downtown Vancouver.

No formal program is planned, and those in attendance will be encouraged to share their memories. Those wishing to make a donation in his memory are asked to choose their own charity or give to the Firstenburg Family Foundation.

Firstenburg died Saturday, August 21. He was 97 years old.  Firstenburg is widely credited with raising the standard of philanthropy in Southwest Washington.

A fundraiser for Tony Golik’s campaign for Clark County prosecutor is planned from 5:30 to 7 p.m. tonight at the Don Jacobs Law Firm, 514 W. Ninth St., Vancouver.

The first public event offered as part of “Road to Equality: The Struggle for Women’s Rights in the Northwest” will be at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 28, at the Clark County Historical Museum, 1511 Main Street in Vancouver. The Politics of Women’s Underwear 1790-1950 will be presented by Rebecca Morrison-Peck. It will explore the history of pinching corsets, trailing skirts and enormous petticoats.  More information is available at www.cchmuseum.org.

As ballots continued to be counted Thursday, the Fort Vancouver Regional Library District property tax levy measure gained more than 400 votes in favor of passage. The measure will increase the levy to a statutory maximum of 50 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value.

More information about the Tuesday, Aug. 17, primary election is available on the Clark County Elections website at www.clarkvotes.org.

Former state Senator Al Bauer and his family surround the sign at Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center that proclaims the main internal road on campus dedicated Thursday as Bauer Drive.

Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center and its Salmon Creek Hospital Foundation honored former Senator Al Bauer Jr. Thursday, Aug. 19, by naming the road in front of the hospital after him and establishing the Bauer Charity Care Fund in his name.

Nearly 100 people, including family and longtime friends, attended the dedication. The honors came as Legacy Salmon Creek marked its five-year anniversary in the community. It was especially poignant for Bauer because Legacy Salmon Creek stands on the land that had been his family’s farm since 1942.

“Today we find ourselves at the five-year anniversary of the hospital. In those five years, more than 8,000 babies have been born and 200,000 patients seen on the Bauer Farm,” said Jonathan Avery, chief administrative officer of Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center.

Bauer Drive – a road internal to the campus, not a dedicated street – runs east-west across the center of the Legacy Salmon Creek campus, with a turnaround at the hospital’s front doors.

Also announced Thursday was the newly named Bauer Charity Care Fund, made possible by the generous donations of three dozen inaugural donors who gave gifts totaling $16,000. The fund will provide assistance to patients at Salmon Creek who do not have the financial resources or insurance coverage for essential services or items needed to improve their health.

Bauer served 10 years as a Washington state Representative before serving 20 years as a state Senator. A school teacher and Navy veteran, he was named Vancouver’s First Citizen in 2001 and was elected to the Salmon Creek Hospital Foundation Board of Trustees in 2007.

A “Concours d’Elegance” display of over 150 classic automobiles, including a Ford Model A and a Gull Wing Mercedes, is planned from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 22, on Officers Row. It is a fundraiser for the Rotary Club of East Vancouver and the Rotary Club of West Linn, Ore. Admission is $10 for adults, children 12 years old and younger are free.  Proceeds from the event will support local and international Rotary projects, such as the group’s back-to-school shoe and school supply drive and its polio vaccination program for children in developing countries.

Bobbi Heitschmidt

First Independent has welcomed Bobbi Heitschmidt to its retail banking group.  As vice president of branch sales and administrative manager, Heitschmidt supervises branch team leaders and the administrative team that supports the bank’s branch network.

A 20-year veteran in the financial services industry, Heitschmidt most recently served as a regional sales manager for The Hartford, in Seattle.  She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from the University of Northern Colorado.

A full service community bank with assets of nearly $1 billion, First Independent is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.  The bank serves SW Washington and Portland residents and businesses from 20 branches and offices in the region and a variety of online and mobile banking services.

The National Park Service is hosting this season’s final 1860s Vintage Baseball game on Saturday, August 21, at 6 p.m. on the Fort Vancouver Parade Ground. The event is free. More information is available at http://www.nps.gov/fova/.

With 11,000 more ballots left to be counted, the Fort Vancouver Regional Library District levy is still failing, but  there is a mathematical possibility it could pass after all the votes are tallied.

Detailed information about the election results is available on the Clark County Elections website at www.clarkvotes.org

Senator Murray and President Obama meet with Washington state small business owners at Grand Central Bakery in Seattle. To the right of President Obama is Gillian Allen-White, followed clockwise by Joe Fugere, Secretary Gary Locke, and Tiffany Turner.

On Tuesday, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke, and President Barack Obama joined with Washington state small business owners at Grand Central Bakery in Seattle to discuss helping small businesses create jobs and grow the economy.

“I am so glad that President Obama got to speak with Washington state small business owners about what we can do to help them create jobs and grow the economy,” Murray said. “I told them that I am going to keep fighting for a small business lending bill that would allow businesses across Washington state to expand and add jobs.”

In July, Senator Murray spoke on the Senate floor to strongly urge her colleagues to support the Small Business Lending Fund and State Small Business Credit Initiative.

On Aug. 16, Clark Public Utilities celebrated the completion of the South Lake Well Field. This well field and treatment facility is located on Fruit Valley Road, about one mile south of N.E. 78th Street. Clark Public Utilities is a customer-owned public utility district that also provides electric service to more than 183,000 customers throughout Clark County.

With ballots continuing to be counted at the Clark County Elections Office, the Fort Vancouver Regional Library District’s levy lift measure was failing by a narrow margin the morning after Tuesday’s primary election.

Voters approved levies in both Fire District 6 and Washougal to fund Emergency Medical Services.

More information about those measures, as well as how Clark County voted in local, state and national races, is available at the county’s elections website, www.clarkvotes.org.

Electric rates in Clark County will increase September 1, following action today by the Clark Public Utilities board of commissioners.

The increase is necessary due to a number of factors, including the local effects of the recession, a warm winter and higher taxes.

For a typical homeowner using 1,500 kilowatt-hours a month, the average bill will increase by $6.95, from $122.75 to $129.70, a 5.7 percent increase. Rates for commercial and industrial customers will increase by varying amounts, based on usage patterns.

Director of Finance Rick Dyer said the increase was unavoidable.

“When the 2010 budget was adopted, it was very tight,” Dyer said. “The budget included absorbing a 4.6 percent increase in BPA power costs that was effective in October 2009, and an upcoming increase of the same amount that will be effective October 1, 2010.”

Clark Public Utilities is a customer-owned public utility district that provides electric service to more than 183,000 customers throughout Clark County.

Southwest Washington’s Got Talent, produced by the Rotary Club of Vancouver Sunrise, invites anyone, regardless of age, residence or amateur status, to enter the performance competition. The deadline to enter is midnight Sunday, Aug. 22. To enter, competitors need to submit a video on the contest website, www.southwestwashingtonsgottalent.com, with a $25 entry fee.

Today, the National Weather Service issued a red flag warning for Fire Zone 660, which includes the South Washington Cascades and Foothills from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. A red flag warning means that critical fire weather conditions are occurring or will soon.

Zone 660 represents the Wind River, Mt. Adams and St. Helens Ranger districts of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest as well as Cascade and Green Mountain foothills to the south and west. It excludes the Columbia River lowlands of Clark County.

Southwest Washington continues to be under a burn ban.

The Clark County Elections office will accept ballots until 8 p.m. tonight for the primary and special election. The elections office at 1408 Franklin Street will be open until 8 p.m. as will several deposit locations. Visit  http://www.co.clark.wa.us/elections/index.html for a complete list.

Election results will start being released shortly after 8 p.m. at Clark College’s Gaiser Hall.