Oregon
Oregon summer camp for children of military families seeks state funding help
In this undated photo provided by Oregon Summer Star, campers fold a flag in honor of those who serve in the military. A new bill would support the camp, which supports children from military families. The camp has recently faced financial struggles.
Courtesy of Oregon Summer Star
Active duty federal military installments are for more than just national defense. Forts, bases and outposts offer grocery stores, bowling alleys, churches and other centers of civic life that provide community for families and support children whose parents serve.
Oregon is one of a handful of states that doesn’t have any active duty bases. Since 2006, Oregon Summer Star, the state’s only overnight summer camp for children of military families, has sought to fill that gap by bringing these kids together and helping them through the challenges of being apart from an enlisted parent. But recently, funding the camp has gotten harder.
“The last five years, we have been retreating to a place where we can barely pull it off,” said Ethan Erickson, the founder of Tsuga Community Commission, a nonprofit that sponsors and administers the camp. “And we’re at a point now where if we don’t have $50,000 by a certain date, we’re not going to be able to do it.”
Sen. Suzanne Weber, R-Tillamook, is proposing a bill during this upcoming legislative session that would allocate more than $100,000 for the camp, which supports families of veterans, the Oregon Army National Guard, and children with other military connections.
The camp has “been operating purely on donations for many years now and it has come to our attention that this much needed service for military affected youth could come to an end very soon without help,” Katy Cvitanovich, Weber’s chief of staff, said in an email. “With assistance they could continue providing the vital support and sense of community Oregon’s military impacted youth deserve.”
Lawmakers review hundreds of spending requests like this during any legislative session. It will be months before they have a firm sense for the state’s financial picture and the costs of the largest issues they plan to address during the upcoming session, including housing and transportation.
Ultimately, this will determine how much is left to spend on other projects, so it’s unclear whether the bill stands a chance of passing. Cvitanovich said in a text message that lawmakers have yet to determine how they would fund it.
In this undated photo provided by Oregon Summer Star, campers paddle canoes on a summer day. The camp used to host about 200 children from military families each year, but now hosts about 50. The camp’s goal is to provide community to children with military ties.
Courtesy of Oregon Summer Star
Oregon Summer Star used to serve nearly 200 kids annually, at locations that included Central Oregon, Southern Oregon, the Willamette Valley, and most recently Camp Cedar Ridge in northern Willamette Valley off Highway 26 in Vernonia.
Campers pay $350 to attend, but the new bill would cover the cost for military families to participate, Erickson said. Other camp costs, including staffing and extracurriculars, would still be funded by donations. There are more than 2,000 children in Oregon with active-duty parents, and more than 7,200 with parents in the National Guard or military reserve, according to Dec. 31, 2023, data from the Department of Defense.
In recent summers, the camp hosted about 50 children annually. It costs about $50,000 to run the camp annually, and food costs, property taxes and associated costs of facilities have increased, making it harder to fund the maintenance staff, cooks, nurses and others who keep it running.
“We literally can’t afford the cost of feeding and giving somebody a bed for the night at the camp itself,” said Erickson, who served as a lieutenant with the Oregon Army National Guard.
The week-long camp offers children the chance to play games such as capture the flag and recreational activities like swimming, volleyball and basketball. Throughout the week, campers take part in activities designed to teach them about plants and stream biology and more. Like any summer camp, attendees sing songs and perform cabin skits.
But the camp also includes activities aimed at relating to experiences of families in the military, including raising and lowering the flag and singing a version of “Taps” at the day’s end. By Thursday of camp weeks, when the campers are comfortable and opening up, the kids get an up close look at their parents’ lives in the military: The Oregon Army National Guard brings out vehicles like Humvees and, once, a Black Hawk helicopter. Kids try on camouflage uniforms and helmets and use a radio.
“It’s a way to close that gap a little bit,” Erickson said.
The camp is an important way to help kids in an emotionally turbulent moment in their lives, Erickson said. There’s mental health help and sharing circles with social workers where kids get to talk about experiences that only other campers understand, everything from missed birthdays to picking up an absent parent’s chores to the challenges of growing up without a supportive adult nearby.
“Kids serve, too,” Erickson said. “They didn’t make the choice to get in uniform, but they have to serve, too. They have to do their part within the family.”
In this undated photo provided by Oregon Summer Star, campers gather around a campfire. During the annual week-long camp, attendees sing songs, perform skits, play volleyball and learn more about their family’s lives in the military. Supporters of the camp say it helps children feel less alone during the isolating experience of being apart from an enlisted parent.
Courtesy of Oregon Summer St
Annette Caroline, a 15-year-old student, moved to Portland from Washington D.C. in 2019. She said the camp was one of the first ways she made friends after leaving an area with a significantly higher population of families with armed services members. Her father was a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force. At camp, she said she’s made friends who can relate to her experience, prompting her to return every year since. Now she’s planning to be a counselor.
“Sometimes I’ll mention something to my friends who don’t have any military affiliation, and they’ll just kind of look at me sideways and be like, what?” she said. “But when I get to talk to these people from camp we all get to have this good sense of connection, and we get to relate to each other in a way that’s really difficult to find in other places in Oregon.
If the camp were canceled, she said, the loss would be a big deal to people like her.
“I think it would break a lot of hearts of the campers there and the counselors themselves who are always looking forward to the next week of camp to not be able to have that anymore,” she said.
Should the bill pass, Erickson said it would be enough to buoy the camp for at least two years, giving them time to figure out a long-term funding plan.
A night removed from winning their series opener, two uncharacteristic fielding errors and a roughshod thirteen hits doomed Oregon State against the Air Force Falcons, 9-6.
The full box score can be viewed at this link, and our game recap can be read below.
The elder statesman of Oregon State’s pitching rotation, junior righty Eric Segura, forced a pair of groundouts to keep the top of the first scoreless. His strong start was followed by an Oregon State run in the bottom of the first. The Beavers’ opening run started with gold glover AJ Singer, who flashed his batting prowess by pinging a double to the warning track. Singer scored on a Paul Vasquez slash through 5.5 hole, and Oregon State led 1-0.
Air Force batters went down in order to begin the second inning. Their short stint at the plate was followed by another successful Oregon State frame. With one out and no one on, Josh Procter swung at the first pitch he saw. After his ball landed 399 feet away, Oregon State doubled their advantage.
As one might expect, the Air Force cadets showed perseverance against adversity and calmness under pressure. In the third inning, they seized the lead. Their four run rally started with a pair of singles. Then facing one out and runners at the corners, Falcons’ senior Ben Niednagel drew a walk to load the bases. The next man up, 2026 Preseason All-Mountain West catcher Walker Zapp slugged a bases-clearing double. With Oregon State suddenly trailing, pitching coach Rich Dorman met his starter Segura at the mound. After the meeting, a fielding error by first baseman Ethan Porter returned runners to the corners, and then Air Force senior Tripp Garrish reached on a fielder’s choice, inching Zapp home from third.
Singer answered with a solo homer in the bottom of the inning. His shot traveled 407 feet, and landed a few yards to the left of Goss Stadium’s batter’s eye. As if they were awoken by the blast, Oregon State roared back to life: with Porter on base after getting hit by a pitch, Vasquez singled, and then Bryce Hubbard rolled a tough groundout to short, moving both runners into scoring position. Following an Air Force pitching change, Adam Haight sent a one-hopper into the grass beyond second base. While the sophomore outfielder was thrown out trying to reach first, his effort scored Porter from third, tying the game 4-4.
Again, the Falcons responded. After Air Force loaded the bases, their senior two-batter Niednagel forced a fielding error on a sharply hit grounder to Singer at second. When the dust settled, two runs scored. In the ensuing moments, Oregon State pulled Segura off the mound, replacing him with 6’2″ righty Zach Edwards.
Segura, a key factor in Oregon State’s sweep of Long Beach State last weekend, struggled mightily tonight. When his shift ended after 3 and 1/3 innings, he had allowed 7 hits and 4 earned runs. The top of the fourth finished with his successor Edwards stranding two runners, while Oregon State clawed closer in the bottom frame thanks to a pair of wild pitches moving Tyler Inge across the bases.
However, the one-run margin wouldn’t last for long. Facing a 2-2 count with no outs in the top of the fifth inning, Air Force’s senior Garrish smoked a high, middle fastball. Once his strike returned to Earth, the cadets led 7-5.
Scoring stalled until the top of the seventh. Oregon State’s reliever Edwards cruised for 2 and 2/3, until a pair of singles invited his pitching coach to the mound, who called for another change. Out went Edwards, and in came Washington transfer Isaac Yeager. The consistently reliable 6’6″ right hander – with 40 strikeouts and just 22 hits allowed across 33 innings – couldn’t stop the bleeding tonight. His first batter faced, Tripp, delivered another Air Force run home on a slow roller up the middle.
Oregon State climbed closer in the bottom of the seventh, after Bryson Glassco singled up the middle, delivering the Huntington Beach native Porter home from second base. The base hit also placed Vasquez in a threatening position at third base, but a Haight groundout stranded Oregon State’s runner ninety feet away from the promised land.
Air Force denied the Beavers once again in the bottom of the eighth. Tying runner Easton Talt faced a 1-2 count with 2 outs and a teammate on first base. In one of the game’s biggest moments, Falcons’ reliever Gaines Estridge offered a sky-high outside fastball. Talt swung tight, striking out, and stranding the runner at first.
The cadets tacked on one more run in the top of the ninth, when center fielder Christian Taylor beat out a throw across the diamond, helping Walker Zapp race from third. Entering the bottom of the ninth, the Beavers needed three runs to tie. Unfortunately, Falcons’ closer Patrick Davidson struck out the side.
The loss snapped Oregon State’s eight game win streak, and moved their overall record to 42-12. More importantly, their postseason fate is now in jeopardy. The three-time national champions entered the weekend needing a sweep to solidify their RPI before the regular season ends. Tonight’s defeat – following a pattern of upset losses to Portland, UTRGV, Cal State Fullerton, and CSUN – puts a hypothetical Corvallis Regional host site at the mercy of the selection committee.
Oregon State concludes its regular season tomorrow afternoon against Air Force, with first pitch scheduled for 1:35 PM PST at Goss Stadium in Corvallis. The game broadcast will be televised on Portland’s CW, and radio play-by-play can be heard across the state on Beavers Sports Network affiliate stations.
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HAPPY VALLEY, Ore. (KATU) — Health officials have identified a new measles exposure site in Happy Valley.
The Oregon Health Authority and Clackamas County public health officials said people may have been exposed at Providence Immediate Care – Happy Valley, 16180 S.E. Sunnyside Road, Suite 102, between 11:05 a.m. and 3:47 p.m. Tuesday, May 12.
Officials said anyone who was at the clinic during that time should notify a health care provider about the possible exposure. Providers can determine whether a person is immune to measles by reviewing vaccination records, age or laboratory evidence of a previous infection.
Health officials urged people to monitor for symptoms and seek medical advice if they believe they may have been exposed.
ABOUT MEASLES
Measles is a highly contagious respiratory virus that spreads through the air when an infected person breathes, speaks, coughs or sneezes. The virus can linger in the air for up to two hours and can infect up to 90% of unprotected close contacts. Complications can include pneumonia, brain inflammation and death.
Nationwide, measles cases have been rising since early 2025. Nearly 2,300 cases were reported last year, with most occurring among unvaccinated children.
Symptoms typically begin seven to 21 days after exposure and include cough, runny nose and conjunctivitis accompanied by a high fever. A rash usually follows, starting on the head or neck and spreading downward. People are contagious from four days before the rash appears until four days after.
A graphic from the Oregon Health Authority shows the symptoms of Measles.
HA advises health care providers to report suspected cases immediately and consider post-exposure treatment for exposed patients. The measles, mumps and rubella vaccine can be given within 72 hours of exposure. Immunoglobulin may be administered within six days.
For most people 6 months and older who are eligible for vaccination, receiving the MMR vaccine within 72 hours of exposure is recommended.
Anyone not protected against measles is at risk, according to OHA. The agency encourages residents to check their vaccination status and contact a health care provider with questions.
Oregon police have arrested two suspects in connection with the shooting of a father who drove himself to a hospital after being struck in the head by a bullet after shots rang out while he was pulling out of In-N-Out drive-thru with his wife and two young sons.
Ethan Adrian Armenta-Lagunas, 20, and Gabriel “Alex” Javier, 18, both of Salem, were taken into custody Wednesday.
They face charges of first-degree assault, unlawful use of a weapon, criminal mischief, and recklessly endangering another person in connection with the Feb. 9 shooting of Marcio Garcia.
Multiple guns were allegedly found at Armenta-Lagunas’ apartment, the Keizer Police Department said. Javier was arrested later in the day.
Authorities are still searching for a third suspect, 22-year-old Anthony Taylor-Manriquez, who is considered armed and dangerous.
Garcia, 28, was in a car with his wife and two children, ages 2 and 7, when shots rang out near the burger chain.
The gunfire shattered the car windows and struck Garcia in the head; his wife and children were uninjured, police said.
“In the middle of chaos and fear, while he was injured and in pain, he somehow found the strength to drive us out of the scene to safety,” his wife wrote in an online fundraiser.
“He protected our family before thinking of himself. That is the kind of man and father he is.”
Images posted online showed the bullet that was removed from Garcia’s head during surgery in February, according to his wife.
She also noted that Garcia did not suffer major brain damage and is currently recovering at home.
“The doctors told us what we already believe — this is nothing short of a miracle,” she said. “Now he faces a long road of rest, healing, and recovery.”
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