Art on the Boulevard jazzing up January

Jan Heigh’s acrylic 12” x 12,” Nude 3,
in Art on the Boulevard’s January
exhibition, is $290.00.

A new exhibition, Jazz it up in January, presented by Art on the Boulevard opens at 5 p.m. Friday, Jan. 5, in the fine-art gallery in the Vancouver Marketplace, Columbia Street and W. Evergreen Boulevard.

Featured artists are: Melisse Lang, textile arts; Jesse Corralez, wood sculptures; Jan Heigh, acrylics; Elida Field, acrylics; Dorothy Ryan, cast paper; Chris Tymoshuk, oils and acrylics; and Jan Taylor Taskey, collage.

The Chance Hayden Duo entertains. Complementary light refreshments will be served at the free event.

The Art on the Boulevard gallery is a project of the Friends of the Arts, an arts advocacy nonprofit organization whose mission is “to, establish a community environment in which the arts are pervasive and can flourish.”

The gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. For further information, call 750-4499.

Mental health crisis service transferred
to county’s Center for Community Health

Clark County’s Department of Community Services has assumed management of crisis mental health services for the county and is accepting patients in the 16-bed evaluation and treatment facility in the new Center for Community Health, 1601 E Fourth Plain Boulevard.

The treatment facility, called Hotel Help, will be operated under contract by Columbia River Mental Health Services, which had formerly provided crisis mental health services.

According to Cheri Dolezal, deputy director for the Department of Community Services, crisis situations typically result from mental and/or substance abuse disorders that have destabilized or have not been treated. Behaviors requiring crisis intervention may include not being able to provide self-care, threats to commit suicide and threats to harm others.

Crisis services personnel work with the county’s Law Enforcement Crisis Intervention Team. Services include initiating 72-hour involuntary holds on persons deemed a high risk to harm themselves or others.

Poverty abundant in Clark County

More than one out of ten Clark County residents is living below the poverty level, reports Michael Piper, director of the county Department of Community Services.

Poverty numbers, the results of the recently completed U.S. Census’ American Community Survey, show that in 2005, 46,473 people, 11.6 percent of the county’s total population, were living below the poverty level.

“The rate of poverty, especially among women with children is growing faster than the rate of population in Clark County,” according to Piper.

In the five-year period, 2000-2005, the number of female households with no husband present living with children under five rose 191 percent, from 708 in 2000, to 2,059, in 2005.

For those female householders with no husband present living with children aged 5 to 17, the increase was 114 percent, from 1,492, to 3,186.

The growth in poverty in the county has serious implications for the county’s Community Action Program, which is the key provider of emergency needs and essential services for those below the poverty level, according to Piper.

That county program is funded by federal, state and local sources. 

Calendar

Following an 8:45 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 21 presentation for JoAnne McBride, retiring Clark County Clerk, Clark County commissioners meet will meet in regular session at 9 a.m. n The Christmas Ships are scheduled to cruise along the Washington shore of the Columbia River this evening beginning at 7 p.m. The ships depart from the 42nd Street boat ramp on the Oregon side of the river.

Wednesday, Dec. 20 headlines

Oregon to widen Interstate 5 to 3 southbound lanes; construction to begin in 2008--Columbian, Don Hamilton

Downtown Vancouver to gain two big projects in 2007--Oregonian, Allan Brettman

Spirit of Christmas reflected from five Clark County homes--Columbian, Kim Jarvis

Clark Public Utilities signs agreement with Avista Energy for both natural gas purchases and sales and for electric energy sales from Lower River Road plant--Columbian, Courtney Sherwood

Nautilus moving a Colorado division to Vancouver boosting local employment by 30 to 50 jobs, to a total of 600 locally--Columbian, Jonathan Nelson

A half-century ago there were 1,345 dairy farms in Clark County; now there are ten--Columbian, Tom Koenninger

Mt. Hood search called off--KATU, AP, Sarah Skidmore

Obesity linked to microbes--USA TODAY, AP

Bush says victory in Iraq is still possible--Washington Post, Sheryl Gay Stolberg and John Holusha