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Stories by Doug Flanagan

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January 16, 2025
Recluse Brew Works employee Andrew Bradford pulls a pint of Entonces, a Vienna-style lager, at the Washougal taproom on Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025. (Doug Flanagan/Post-Record)

Recluse Brew Works named one of nation’s best new breweries

During Recluse Brew Works’ one-year anniversary party on Dec. 1, 2024, Ezra Johnson-Greenough, founder of the “New School Beer and Cider” web magazine and the Oregon Beer Awards, told Recluse’s owner and lead brewer, Gus Everson, that the Washougal brewery might soon be receiving some special recognition.

January 16, 2025
IMPACT Washougal volunteers package food donations in 2024. IMPACT Washougal is one of several Camas-Washougal Community Chest grant recipients serving local residents in need. (Contributed photo courtesy of Rich Reiter)

Camas-Washougal Community Chest to host Valentine’s Day fundraiser

The Camas-Washougal Community Chest (CWCC) nonprofit organization is prepared to give $141,000 to Camas-Washougal charitable groups in early March 2025, a $7,000 increase over its 2024 distribution total but far short of the combined $306,736 requested from a record 43 grant applications.

January 10, 2025
Washougal pet photographer and owner of Fuzzy Butt Pet Photography, Jess Kristen Peterson, captured this image of a client and their dog in an undated photo.  (Contributed photo courtesy of Jess Kristen Peterson)

Washougal pet photographer plans expansion

Growing up on a farm, with separated parents and no siblings, Jess Kristen Peterson gravitated to the dogs, cats, horses, chickens and other animals that were around her on a daily basis.

January 2, 2025
East County Fire and Rescue Fire Chief Ed Hartin (Contributed photos courtesy of Ed Hartin)

Retiring ECFR fire chief reflects on 50-year career

To East County Fire and Rescue (ECFR) Fire Chief Ed Hartin, serving as a firefighter has been more than just a job. It’s been a way of life and a calling that began when Hartin was a young child growing up in a firehouse with his father.

January 2, 2025
Doug Flanagan/Post-Record 
 The Big Foot Inn in Washougal is pictured Dec. 27, 2024. Jesse Shehan, 85, of Washougal, faces vehicular homicide charges after allegedly driving his Suburu Legacy into two people outside the local tavern on Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, killing one.

Washougal man faces vehicular homicide charges

An 85-year-old Washougal man is facing vehicular homicide charges after allegedly hitting two people with his car outside the Big Foot Inn tavern in Washougal on Sunday, Dec. 22, killing one.

January 2, 2025
The Walden a mixed-use complex in downtown Washougal, is set to open to residents on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (Photos by Doug Flanagan/Post-Record)

The Walden opens in downtown Washougal

DaShon Stevenson smiled as he cast his gaze east over building rooftops, toward the Columbia River, and, in the distance, Mount Hood, while standing in the center of the rooftop deck on the sixth floor of The Walden, Washougal’s newest residential complex, on an overcast mid-December afternoon.

December 27, 2024
Washougal Police Chief Wendi Steinbronn sits inside her Washougal office, Dec. 18, 2024. (Doug Flanagan/Post-Record)

‘It’s been a team effort’

As a child, Wendi Steinbronn never dreamed about becoming a police officer. Rather, the current Washougal police chief’s true calling was something she found later in life — almost by chance — after working in the high-tech industry.