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Editorials

December 22, 2022

Moving on from pandemic requires facing hard facts

As we enter our third winter with COVID-19 hanging over our heads, it’s easy to forget the feeling so many of us experienced during the height of the pandemic when community members hopped up on a steady stream of far-right COVID disinformation directed their fear and rage toward public officials trying to protect the entire community from a highly contagious virus capable of destroying our lungs, harming our hearts, wrecking our immune system, damaging our brains and attacking the lining of our blood vessels.

December 1, 2022

In face of ‘tripledemic’ we must band together again

Our society has given up on nearly every ounce of COVID preventions we once had. Few people mask indoors anymore. Even fewer think to avoid large gatherings or test for COVID infections before meeting up with vulnerable friends and family.

November 24, 2022

Giving thanks to those who love and protect our natural spaces

In this Thanksgiving week of counting blessings and gathering with loved ones, we can’t help thinking about how grateful we are to live and work in such a naturally beautiful part of the world where people — for the most part — still value ideals that bring the community together and work toward a better future for our youth.

November 3, 2022

Right-wing misinformation comes to 3rd District debate

As anyone who had the misfortune of wading through the disgusting pool of homophobic misinformation being promoted by right-wing politicians and media regarding the in-home attack on Paul Pelosi, the elderly husband of U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, knows by now, we cannot afford to keep up the “both sides” narrative when it comes to misinformation.

October 27, 2022

October Cheers & Jeers

Cheers to the return of cooler, wetter weather. The sudden shift in weather last week provided some much-needed relief for firefighters battling the Nakia Creek Fire north of Camas-Washougal. The fire, which led to “go now” evacuation notices for thousands of Camas-Washougal households, but did not, thankfully, destroy any homes or take any lives, was 30% contained when the rains returned on Oct. 21, and fire officials said the forecasted rain would ease fire conditions and “offer relief to firefighters and residents alike.”

October 13, 2022

Focus on infrastructure must include climate resilience plan

Two of the most common answers to the question Camas Mayor Steve Hogan posed to potential Camas City Council applicants this week — “What are the top two or three issues facing Camas in the next five years?” — spoke to the city’s looming infrastructure needs and officials’ ability to proactively plan for future growth, especially in the city’s North Shore area.

September 15, 2022

Help bring history alive for Washougal students

Washougal middle school teacher Scott Rainey has been leading his eighth-grade Jemtegaard students on a “rite of passage” for 18 years. Students who can afford the trip — which now costs around $4,000 per person — head to the East Coast with their teacher, peers and chaperones during the summer break to take in some of the most iconic pieces of America’s history, including the United States Capitol, White House and Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C.; Times Square and Broadway in New York City; and the famed Civil War battlefield in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

August 25, 2022

August Cheers & Jeers

As much as we might love the long days, lake swims, camping trips and backyard barbecues summer brings, the shift from summer to fall has its own magic: cooler weather, the joy of drinking apple cider at a local pumpkin patch and the new school year’s promise of what might be.