(Columbia County, Oregon) – Columbia County’s cemeteries are seeing new life thanks to the recent efforts of the Columbia County Corrections Work Crew, and according to those involved, it’s having a big impact on the offenders now tending to the grounds.  According to Community Service Coordinator David Brooke, about five months ago, the Rainier Cemetery District was scrambling to find new ways to keep the grass cut. Their usual landscaper, responsible for maintaining 13 cemeteries and the more than 13,000 gravestones they contain across Columbia County, was retiring soon.  “That’s when we stepped in,” Brooke said, explaining someone from the cemetery district’s board reached out after seeing the work crew in action at one of the many parks they help maintain. “They were in some rough sha…

(Columbia County, Oregon) – The Columbia County Second Amendment Sanctuary Ordinance, recently adopted by the Columbia County Board of Commissioners to implement the intent of the voters as demonstrated by the passage of the “Second Amendment Preservation Ordinance” in 2018 and the “Second Amendment Sanctuary Ordinance” in 2020, has now been passed to Judge Ted Grove for ‘Judicial Examination and Judgement of the Court as to the Regularity, Legality, Validity and Effect’ of the ordinance via a petition for validation of local government action.   Under ORS 33.710, the Columbia County Circuit Court is authorized to conduct an examination of the ordinance and to provide a judgement as to the legality of the authority of a county governing body to enact the Second Amendment Sanctuary Ordinan…

(Columbia County, Oregon) – When the staff at Columbia Health Services (CHS) opens their boxes of vaccine for their clinics at the Sacagawea Health Center, they have to use the doses within five hours. Sometimes, when someone doesn’t show up for an appointment or they didn’t have enough booked, they end up with extra. Now, determined not to waste a single dose, they’re taking their extra shots over to the Oregon Trail Lanes in St. Helens on Thursday afternoons at 3 p.m.  “Oregon Trail Lanes is a small local business that is very involved in the community, and we thought it was a nice, centralized location,” CHS Executive Director Sherrie Ford said. “It’s got lots of people shopping nearby, getting gas, that sort of thing, so we have staff running around to the nearby businesses who are sh…

(Columbia County, Oregon) – The Columbia County Board of Commissioners is now welcoming letters of interest and resumes for appointment to the open positions of County Assessor and County Clerk, due by 5 p.m. on May 15, 2021.With the upcoming retirement of Assessor Sue Martin and the passing of Clerk Betty Huser prior to the completion of their elected terms, the County is opening the application process for these positions to all qualified, interested parties.Minimum qualifications for each position are as follows: Assessor:· Citizen of the United States· Elector under Oregon Constitution· Resident for one year preceding the next election· Qualified as a registered appraiser or is an appraiser trainee under ORS 308.015 and becomes registered appraiser within two years of taking office an…

CORRECTION – In this release, we printed that the next election to fill the County Clerk position was in November 2023. The election will actually take place in November of 2022, for a term of four years. The person appointed to fill the vacancy will serve until the beginning of January 2023. (Columbia County, Oregon) – With great sadness, the Board of Commissioners of Columbia County regrets to announce the passing of Elizabeth “Betty” Huser, who has served as Columbia County Clerk for 32 years, on Monday, April 26. Huser was born in Cumberland, Wisconsin near the Great Lakes, where her family had a cabin she loved to visit. Her family later moved to Scappoose where she graduated from Scappoose High School and began work for an insurance company in Portland. Huser served as Mayor of Scap…

Multiple outbreaks linked to rise in cases could shift Columbia County back to High Risk (Columbia County, Oregon) – Columbia County recently linked several COVID-19 cases to recent gatherings and activities in North County. If this trend continues, it could shift Columbia County back into the High Risk Category and lead to stricter capacity restrictions and gathering limits. Residents should be advised that cases are also trending up across the state. The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) COVID-19 Weekly Report, released on Thursday, April 1, reported 2,456 new daily cases of COVID-19 during the week of Monday, March 22 through Sunday, March 28. That represents a 28% increase from the previous week. Given the rise in new cases, Columbia County Public Health would like to remind our communiti…

(Columbia County, Oregon) – The Columbia County Second Amendment Sanctuary Ordinance, recently adopted by the Columbia County Board of Commissioners to implement the intent of the voters as demonstrated by the passage of the “Second Amendment Preservation Ordinance” in 2018 and the “Second Amendment Sanctuary Ordinance” in 2020, will now move on to Validation proceedings in Columbia County Circuit Court.In passing the Ordinance, many provisions of both Measures 5-270 and 5-278 remain the same. The Ordinance amended the Second Amendment Sanctuary Ordinance to incorporate provisions of the Second Amendment Preservation Ordinance where it differed from the Second Amendment Sanctuary Ordinance. The new Ordinance’s adoption kept it consistent with County practice and corrected scrivener errors…