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Five-member coalition will be community’s ‘eyes, ears and educators about public safety issues in La Center’KELLY MOYERstaff reporter

The newly formed La Cen-ter Police Advisory Coalition is up and running. In May, La Center Police Chief Marc Den-ney announced the coalition’s

first members. David Bodine, a former po-

lice officer with more than 25 years of law enforcement expe-rience and former La Center city councilor Linda Tracy will join La Center residents Carie John-son, Nelda Perryman and Ron Carmona on the five-member police advisory coalition.

Billed by Chief Denney as the “eyes, ears and educators for the community about public safety issues,” the coalition will act as a liaison between the La Center Police Department and the La Center community.

“This is not a ‘coffee group’

meeting with the chief, but a se-lect group, by application and interview, of citizens engaging with the police and community to bridge gaps and discuss con-cerns within the community re-lated to topics of public safety,” La Center Mayor Jim Irish said of the new coalition.

The members had their first meeting on June 2, and are ex-pected to meet at least twice a year and go on ride-alongs with the La Center Police De-partment.

Although the group will be in-formal, without any voting pow-ers, the advisory coalition will be

an important go-between for the community and the police force.

Interested coalition members submitted applications to the La Center Police Department in April and had to be at least 18 years old, live in La Center, be a registered voter of Clark Coun-ty, pass a background check and commit to a three-year term.

““I’m excited about it,” said La Center Police Clerk Alice Peters. “I think it’s a great way for the department to reach out to the community and to help educate people on some of the things going on (at the police department).”

La Center selects members for police advisory coalition

Clark County teen who drowned in Lewis River was known as a ‘free spirit’KELLY MOYERstaff reporter

Family and friends of Julian Norton, the 17-year-old Vancouver teen who drowned earlier this month after at-tempting to swim across the Lewis Riv-er near Woodland, gathered together on June 13 to memorialize the free-spirited, skateboarding teen who was known for his sense of humor and ability to make friends with everyone he met.

“He was outgoing and funny and charismatic,” said Amanda Joyce, a longtime friend of Norton’s father, Jack Norton, and stepmother, Tara Omnes, of Vancouver. “He joked all the time and liked to make people laugh … he made friends pretty easily because of that and he was always very giving to his friends. Julian is going to be sorely missed by so many people.”

Norton, a student at the alternative TEAM High School in Woodland, was described as a free-spirited boy who loved skateboarding, spending time with his tight-knit group of friends, listening

Friends and family remember Julian

Andrew Price’s first dance is a memorable eventJOanna MiChaudstaff reporter

“We’d love to take ... The real OG to ... Prom?”

To any other high school student, the four signs put together to deliver the above message might look like just one of the many common cute ways to ask someone to the prom.

However, to 18-year-old Prairie High School grad Andrew Price, this particu-lar message was such a surprise that the only way he said he really knows how to describe how he felt was “indescribable.”

“I was surprised, I didn’t even know what to say,” Price said of the question that was posed to him by two girls on the school’s junior varsity softball team. “I was flabberghasted. I was kind of in awe.”

Price, who worked as team manager for the Prairie High School girls softball team

a special night at prairie’s prom

EMi LOnG and Riley Morin, the two girls on Prairie’s junior varsity girls softball team who decided to ask their team manager, Andrew Price, to prom, posed the question to Price at the team’s last game in Kelso. They put together several signs that read: “We’d love to take … The real OG to … Prom?”

RECEnT PRaiRiE hiGh School grad Andrew Price is shown here getting ready to go to prom with the two young ladies from the Prairie girls junior varsity softball team who asked him to prom. Emi Long is pictured on the left, Riley Morin is on the right.

Photo courtesy of Marilyn Price

Photo courtesy of Michelle Bergerson

See PRiCE on Page A2

niCOLE nORTOn took her turn signing a skateboard in memory of her brother Julian, a 17-year-old Woodland teen who drowned earlier this month in the Lewis River. Friends and family members of Norton gathered Saturday at Orchards Park to remember the teen, who was described as “outgoing’’ and “fun.’’

JuLian nORTOn, 17, of Vancouver, drowned in the Lewis River near Woodland on Sun., June 7, after becoming overwhelmed by the cold water. A memorial to honor the free-spirited skateboarder was held Sat., June 13 at Orchards Park in Vancouver.

Photo by Tara Omnes, courtesy of the Omnes-Norton family

Photo by Mike Schultz

See nORTOn on Page A3

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during this past season, was defi-nitely not expecting to be asked to prom by not just one, but two girls on the junior varsity team. Price, who lives with Asperger’s syn-drome, had never been to any of the school dances during his four years at Prairie.

When he first read the sign asking him to prom, held up by several girls from the varsity and junior varsity teams after their last game regular season game in Kelso, Price said he didn’t even realize it was directed at him. The two girls who were asking him, emi Long and Riley Morin, stood on each side of the signs.

“The girls had come to me during class that day and said they wanted to ask Andrew to prom, but they weren’t sure how to do it and they thought maybe they could do it at the game that night,” said Michelle Bergerson, Prairie’s junior varsity softball coach. “I said, ‘sure, absolutely’ and told them maybe they could do a poster or something after the game.

“The JV girls included some of the varsity girls and they all came racing over with the sign after the game,’’ Bergerson said. “He (Andrew) read them, but he didn’t really know it was for him. I said, ‘Andrew, the question’s for you. You need to answer.’ Then he realized it was for him and said, ‘uh, sure.’”

The prom sign said “OG” (slang for original gangster) be-cause that had become Price’s nickname while he was working with the team.

That evening after the game and the prom proposal, Price’s mom, Marilyn, said he called her on the bus ride back and excited-ly told her that two girls had just asked him to prom.

“I said, ‘two?!’ How did you manage that?,” Marilyn said, laughing.

During his high school years, Price worked as team manager for several of the sports teams at Prai-rie, including the baseball team and the football team. For his senior year, he had promised his team manager services to Berger-son and the girls softball team.

As team manager for the soft-ball team, Price said he carried whatever the players needed him to for games and practice, helped with the water coolers and went and got whatever the girls need-ed. Bergerson said he helped the team get ready for the games and was amazing at doing everything that was needed.

“He was amazing,” Bergerson said. “He was always the first one out there taking care of the fields

before we even got there.”Bergerson said she definitely

witnessed a change in Price’s confidence and social skills over the course of the softball season. In the beginning, she said he was very bashful and when the girls would try and talk to him and ask him questions, he was usually very quiet and would answer with one or two words. However, Bergerson said “the great group of girls” never gave up and always included him in every conversation they had. When the team started travel-ing for the bi-district and state games, she said that’s when Price really started to come out of his shell.

“When he got to travel with the team and have that bus time with all the players and the coaches, that really brought him

out,” Bergerson said. “After that, he started his own conversations and as the games went on, I had to tell him sometimes to stay in the dugout because he wanted to be the first one out there to high-five everyone. In the end, I would kind of have to pull him back in. It was fun to really see him come out of his shell.”

Being asked to prom, however, was really when Bergerson said she saw the turning point for Price.

“From that point on he was a to-tally different person,” she said. “At the dance, he was talking with oth-ers, he was out there in the crowd adding his two cents to everything.”

“He was beyond excited after they asked him to prom. I think the smile on his face was per-manent for a few days. He would come talk to me every day about how his mom was helping him do this, about how he ordered the flowers and how was working and earning his own money for the tickets. every day he came to the classroom to remind me they were going. He was so excited.”

Marilyn, Price’s mom, laughs as she recalls that she was told Price was out on the dance floor at the World Forestry Center, where Prairie’s prom was held, dancing all night with a group of about six or seven girls.

“We’re the lucky ones”Both Riley Morin and emi

Long, who are both 15, agree that they had an amazing and fun time at prom with Price. Long said that after she and Morin heard that Price really wanted to go to prom, they thought it was a great idea to ask him. She said that from every junior varsity softball game she went to, Price was always there, raking the field, getting everything ready for the games and picking up balls for the players during warm ups. Long said Price is such a hard worker and is also very sweet.

“When we asked him to go to prom with us his eyes got so wide because he was so surprised, it was awesome,” Long said. “I honestly don’t think we could’ve asked for a better prom date. He opened doors for us, told us we looked nice multiple times and he even stood up for us when we came into the restaurant.

“He has manners that very few boys his age have,’’ Long add-ed. “Overall, I don’t think what we did was too special, we sim-ply asked our friend to prom, it wasn’t too big of a deal. I’m just happy that he let us be the ones that he took with him, he gave us an amazing night to remember.”

Morin echoed everything Long said, reiterating that Price is one of the kindest and most hardworking guys she knows. She said she was so glad to have the pleasure of taking him to prom and said she just wanted to make sure he had a very memorable se-nior year because he deserved it.

“Seeing how happy Andrew was when we asked him and how excited he was every time we talk-ed about it made it all the more spe-cial,” Morin said. “Overall, prom was one of the funnest nights I’ve had. We all had an amazing time and tore it up on the dance floor. I’m happy I was able to share the night with such an amazing guy/friend. I hope he had as much fun as I did. Thank you real OG for letting us take you to prom.”

Loved & acceptedBeing asked to prom came

right on the heels of another self-less act that the JV girls softball players decided to do for Price. As a freshman, Price decided to join the wrestling team at Prairie. His mom, Marilyn, said the wres-tling program ended up being great for Price and really changed him. He competed all throughout high school and won numerous matches in his weight class.

When the girls on the softball team found out Price might not be able to get his letterman jacket due to the cost and other issues, they decided right then and there that he was going to get one.

“They really are an amazing group of girls,” Bergerson said. “They wanted to give him a let-terman (jacket) and I said, ‘you realize they’re about $300-$400.’ But they never stopped until they got him the jacket. They did ev-erything they could to earn mon-ey and had all of the stitching they could put on there.”

The team presented Price with his letterman jacket just a week before Long and Morin asked him to prom. Price said he wasn’t expecting the jacket at all and was surprised when the team members gave it to him.

Price acknowledged that he felt being a part of the girls soft-ball team as team manager really did help him with his communi-cation and social skills.

“I feel like it helped me find some pieces to the puzzle,” he said.

Marilyn completely agrees that being a part of the team helped her son.

“The softball team really helped him the most, interacting with the ladies and learning not to be nervous,” Marilyn said. “It was amazing the way the girls em-braced him, accepted him so thor-oughly. If the ladies even knew he had Asperger’s or not, it didn’t matter, they just accepted him for who he was. Also, it really speaks positively to how these young la-dies are being raised. To see them be so accepting and do something completely for someone else.”

Marilyn stressed that she wanted people to know what these young ladies did for Price for two reasons.

“One, it’s great for people to see that there are young people today who put other people be-fore themselves,” she said. “The girls went above and beyond and they didn’t have to do it, but they did it because they wanted to. And two, this shows people in the world that people with special needs do have value, they do mat-ter. You just have to be willing to get to know people.”

ANDREW PRICE is shown here with his mom, Marilyn Price, after his graduation from Prairie High School this June. Price said he would like to have a career in the IT field.

Photo courtesy of Marilyn Price

PriceContinued from page A1