Arson at William Clark Park probed

Local authorities are investigating a report of a suspected arson in Washougal for the second time this summer.

An unidentified person set several garbage cans on fire, damaging the women’s restroom at William Clark Park on Aug. 10, according to Washougal Police Department (WPD) captain Zane Freschette.

“Two of those garbage cans were inside the women’s restroom, and several were outside and away from anything else that would actually burn,” said Freschette, who added that the Camas-Washougal Fire Department is investigating the incident.

The suspect “placed those two trash cans (that were positioned outside the restrooms) inside the women’s restroom near the sink,” according to a report written by responding WPD officer Kevin Wooldridge.

“It appears the suspect(s) filled both trash cans with the toilet paper rolls out of each restroom along with other burning material before setting fire to each trash can,” he wrote. “The fire caused extensive damage inside the restroom.”

A nearby citizen saw the fires and called a 911 dispatcher, who notified the Camas-Washougal Fire Department.

“Upon arrival, the fires were extinguished,” Wooldridge wrote. “No person was seen at or near the garbage cans at the time they were burning. The fires caused no damage to the surrounding vegetation.”

On Thursday, Aug. 11, Wooldridge talked with Cottonwood Beach caretaker Samantha Weber, who stated that she opened the door of the damaged restroom between 5:30 and 5:30 a.m. the previous day, according to the report.

“Samantha stated as she approached the restrooms, she saw two subjects walking into the brushes as if they were attempting to hide from her,” Wooldridge wrote. “She stated she was able to see one of the subjects from the waist up as he stood in the trees. She described that subject as being a skinny white male wearing a white T-shirt. She stated she could not see the other subject, so it’s unclear if that subject was a male or female.”

The restroom fire occurred less than two weeks after a case of reported arson at Smead’s Pub in Washougal. The WPD is investigating pub owner Kimber Eckman’s claim that an unidentified male threw two Molotov cocktail bombs onto the roof of her estbalishment in the early-morning hours of Sunday, July 31.

“It is unknown at this time if there is any relation (between the restroom fire and) the Smead’s incident,” Freschette said.

The restroom remains closed indefinitely, according to Rocky Houston, Clark County’s parks and lands division manager.

“We’re still waiting for our facilities (department) to confirm, but luckily the structures are solid concrete, so just internal things — the sink, the divider, those sorts of things — were impacted,” Houston said. “It made it to where it’s not usable, but it could have been much worse. (We don’t know when it will open again), unfortunately. With the supply chain and all those things, it’s taking a little bit longer to get parts to do some repairs.”

The fire wasn’t the first instance of vandalism at William Clark Park this year, nor was it the last. In early July, a men’s restroom was “blown up” by fireworks, according to Houston, who added that the same restroom was damaged once again on Thursday, Aug. 25.

“It appears that between the hours of 5:30 a.m. and 8:30 a.m., someone went into the men’s bathroom and used, potentially, a rock to break the sink and the mirror and all the ceramic, porcelain urinals and toilets in there,” he said.

Houston called for community members “to be aware, be observant, and speak up if they see something or report to the right authority so that less vandalism and damage is occurring” in public places.

“(Our parks) have vandalism, like any public entity does,” Houston said. “We have a couple parks where things happen more than others, but luckily, we’ve been fortunate that most people are pretty darn respectful of these wonderful assets we have. We have other parks that have different types of vandalism, like tagging and things like that. But for this year, in these last two months, this is our third occurrence where we’ve had some pretty significant damage to our restrooms or infrastructure (at William Clark Park), so there is an uptick there.”

With two restrooms now closed at William Clark Park, Houston said that Clark County officials are considering temporary alternative options.

“We’re not there yet,” Houston said. “I think the consideration of ‘porta-potties’ or something (like that) is something we’re looking into, but it’s a matter of ensuring a way to secure those as well with the level of action (that is occurring). Porta-potties are expensive — we’ve had to buy a couple of them (recently). We’re going to try to ensure that we can meet the public’s needs given the resources we have.”

Houston added that “it’s hard to understand what motivates people to do things that cost jurisdictions more money to fix.”

“When there’s vandalism, it’s just taking time and money away from other maintenance tasks and/or other improvements that we can make to the park,” he said. “When the parks or other public assets are impacted, it’s a sort of a double-edged sword in that not only does it reduce recreation value for the community while the repairs are being made, but it also takes away from opportunities to expand or improve somewhere else as well. I just wish it didn’t happen.”

That sentiment is shared by city of Washougal officials, who continue to grapple with an uptick of graffiti and other acts of vandalism in public places.

“I’m sure our maintenance crew is tired of spending man-hours to paint over the same things over and over again,” Washougal Mayor Rochelle Ramos said during a council workshop session on Monday, Aug. 22, referring to a recent report of tagging at Hartwood Park. “I hear rumors that (we’re spending) 15 hours a week cleaning up graffiti, (and I can’t believe) that’s the best use of our people. I know that Hartwood Park isn’t the only spot — the vandalism is crazy with the women’s restroom at Cottonwood Beach being set on fire. It’s just very, very disheartening that our community is getting crushed like this.”