LONGVIEW The Cowlitz County Board of Health has formed an advisory committee to solicit more citizen input, despite some disagreement on the need for the volunteer group and its creation process.
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Cowlitz County Superior Court Judges end contract with ICE to house youth By Katie Fairbanks, The Daily News
Published: February 9, 2021, 7:42am
Share: A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer looks on during an operation July 8 in Escondido, Calif. Associated Press files
LONGVIEW Cowlitz County Superior Court’s judges are ending the last contract in the U.S. to house unaccompanied immigrant youth in a facility for more than 72 hours.
The judges’ decision announced Feb. 5 ends the county’s controversial contract with Immigration Customs and Enforcement to hold juveniles at the local youth facility, citing a significant increase in the length of stay and a new state law requiring such agreements to end this year.
Plans for a managed encampment for people without shelter inched forward Tuesday, as Longview City Council agreed to work with Cowlitz County Board of Commissioners to expand a draft plan.
This is the first joint step forward after the ad hoc committee formed last December to identify a potential site for a hosted encampment disbanded in June.
After two-and-a-half hours of discussion and some public comment, the council came to a general consensus to move forward with developing the plan and giving the county staff a list of priorities, while acknowledging the potential camp wonât fix every problem.
âI know there are people that have some questions, and weâre not going to be able to solve every problem with this approach, and I agree, itâs a complicated problem,â said Longview Councilmember Ruth Kendall. âIf thereâs anything Iâve learned in past year ⦠there is no easy answer. it is a hard problem, but we donât make progress withou
Joan LeMieux, a longtime Mark Morris High School English teacher and former Cowlitz County Commissioner, died Dec. 10 in Anacortes after a long illness. She was 87.
Initially a transplant to Longview, LeMieux quickly ingrained herself in the community and would eventually run for political office and rally other women to do the same.
âShe pulled together women in this area for the purpose of networking and trying to get women more involved on local boards and elected to political office,â said Karen Pickett, a longtime friend of LeMieuxâs. âThis was at a time when women were beginning to realize that if they were going to be part of the decision-makers (group), they needed to be in network with each other. ⦠That was kind of the genesis of this in Cowlitz County.â