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The Icarian's avatar

Small minded people in a small town proving they, and especially their police force, can be as corrupt as any big city.

This small group of police-affiliated insiders are ruining their community. The city is already spending half the budget on police, and police insiders want more. Meanwhile, it's likely all manner of other services go down the drain.

And this same group no doubt will blame others as the city deteriorates.

It's a shame.

Joyce Reynolds-Ward's avatar

Columbia County is rife with such stories. Clatskanie is another place with a very dark history going back a couple of generations.

Leah Sottile's avatar

Feel free to email us with clatskanie story ideas!

Joyce Reynolds-Ward's avatar

Oh, take a hard look at the sex abuse stuff coming out of the schools there.

Also take a peek into who was doing the land surveying locally, and their relationship to power groups in the town, especially a couple of generations back. That includes the latest generation speaking out allegedly against whatever’s going on down in the tidelands. Meanwhile they’re operating an AirBnb illegally, and developing illegally on their own land.

Em's avatar

I can't believe this write-up was somehow wholly unrelated to the scandal of the St Helen's high school administration--this town is brimming with secrets and darkness.

and giving the cops more money solves absolutely nothing...

what incentive does anyone have to fix things when they're getting powerful and wealthy as a consequence of the chaos?

Jared Brown's avatar

Great reporting! But I don’t believe any of the Twilight movies were filmed in Forks (or Washington at all). The narrative is set there, though. Somewhat ashamed to know this 😬

Leah Sottile's avatar

Thank you! I've made the correction.

Cass's avatar

Have you two looked at the multi-year lagoon-fill boondoggle? The City of Saint Helens served as a pass-through for around a million public dollars to Maul Foster Alonghi engineers, for a plan that was unacceptable on its face.

Ryan Haas's avatar

It definitely was mentioned as I was reporting this story. As with many things in St. Helens, talk to one person and you’ll hear allusions to at least 10 other local stories that need coverage.

The demise of local media in our region has such major, real world financial consequences. It’s staggering and makes me want to be able to duplicate myself daily.

Mark Whitson (M)'s avatar

The Trojan Nuclear Power Plant was located in Columbia County, Oregon, approximately 12 miles north of the city of St. Helens. The plant was situated on the Oregon side of the Columbia River, while the mountain itself is roughly 30 miles away from the site. The facility was demolished in the early 2000s

Mark Whitson (M)'s avatar

The 2020 U.S. Census recorded 13,817 residents…