EDITORIAL: Cheers & Jeers: Charter review; a newt low
May 18-Cheers: To improving county government. The Clark County Charter Review Commission, a 15-member board that was elected last year, is reaching out to the public. Four remaining town halls are scheduled to discuss amendments that might land on the ballot this November. The next session is at 10 a.m. Saturday in the Columbia Room at the Vancouver Community Library in downtown Vancouver.
The charter review commission, which is elected every five years, walks a fine line of proposing changes to county government while avoiding partisan recommendations; the charter is a framework for operations, not a policy statement. Holding town halls in each election district within Clark County enhances public involvement and creates a sense of engagement for voters. It is one way of working toward a county government that can best serve the region.
Jeers: To invasive newts. In a week filled with animal stories - humpback whales returning to the Salish Sea, a Washington man arrested for throwing a rock at a seal in Hawaii, a warning about yellow-legged hornets - this one caught our attention. A man from Everson, near the Canadian border, has been charged with trafficking invasive newts. Authorities claim that Anatolia newts were sent to the man from Massachusetts without proper permits.
Newts are not just a subject of fairy tale witches' brews; they are salamanders typically 4 inches in length. Officials seized 16 newts from the man's home, saying the creatures are a "high-risk invasive species" that can carry "a potentially devastating amphibian pathogen." As far as we know, the man was not caught with toe of frog or fillet of fenny snake.
Cheers: To beavers. Speaking of animals, the Cowlitz Indian Tribe has launched a "Kit Cam" providing a peek at a beaver mother and her four newborns. The Columbian reports that the livestream "gives viewers the opportunity to watch in real time as the kits grow and learn essential survival skills from their mother. It will be available until the beavers are released into the wild."
Cowlitz Indian Tribe Chairman Bill Iyall said: "As Cowlitz people, we have always understood our responsibility to care for the land and the resources it provides. This program is one way we are putting that responsibility into action - restoring balance to our ancestral homelands and waterways, and planning for the generations that come after us." The video is awwwww-inspiring.
Sad: To a change of plans. Lisa Perigo and Chris Foster had planned to be married Saturday at Lewisville Regional Park - and then the venue's historic central picnic shelter burned to the ground in a suspected arson. At last report, the couple were scrambling to find a new venue.
"We'll find a way," Perigo told The Columbian last week. "I'm just excited about the man I'm marrying on Saturday." Given their globe-trotting romance of the past three years, detailed by Columbian reporter Tyler Brown, we're confident that things have worked out, leaving the couple with a unique wedding story.
Cheers: To independent investigations. The importance of the Washington State Office of Independent Investigations has been on display in Vancouver. Officials recently concluded their examination of a police shooting last year and forwarded results to the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney's Office.
The independent investigations office opened in 2021 to assess the use of deadly force by police. Although the process is excessively slow, removing investigations from law enforcement agencies improves accountability.
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This story was originally published May 18, 2026 at 7:04 AM.