The son of Asa Ellsworth Westcott, a state representative and Banks resident, runs away from home and is found in Bend, a Sunday school in Gales Creek is booming, and Timber residents seek to better their roads. That and more in this week's Dispatches from History: Western Washington County 100 years ago.

A new strain of the virus that causes COVID-19 has been reported in South Africa, Botswana, Belgium, Hong Kong and Israel. The World Health Organization dubbed the new variant "Omicron" today. Little is known yet about the new strain.

We're returning to January, 1928 in Esther Lilly Hundley’s personal diaries which chronicle her life on the family’s original homestead and farm in the Fir Creek community of Gales Creek from 1928 to 1960.

Adverse winter weather at mountain passes, impaired drivers, and more could face travelers as they hit the road this weekend.

In a tradition the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD) dubbed “Green Friday,” a $5 parking fee is waived at more than two dozen parks Friday, November 26.

Those attending local dances in Gales Creek are asked to leave the moonshine at home, Banks' American Legion Post helps form a county-wide organization, and some impressive potatoes are unearthed in the Fir Creek community near Gales Creek. That and more in this week's Dispatches from History: Western Washington County 100 years ago.

Following recommendations from the FDA, CDC, and the Western States Scientific Safety Review Workgroup, Oregon Governor Kate Brown gave the go-ahead to open eligibility for booster shots to all adults in Oregon Saturday.

Vaccine booster shots could soon be available for adults in Oregon, pending approval from the Western States Scientific Safety Review Workgroup and Oregon Governor Kate Brown.

The Oregon Department of Administrative Services (DAS) issued this week a quarterly economic forecast predicting higher wages increasing projected tax revenue will allow the state to recover more quickly from the recession.

Forest Grove Fire & Rescue said that six out of 36 people in a school bus involved in a crash near mile marker 35 on Highway 6 Friday morning were transported to area hospitals. After a closure, the highway reopened after 11:30 a.m. to one lane of traffic.

The Oregon Department of Transportation announced that beginning January 1, 2022 fees for renewing vehicle license plates, getting new trip permits, and applying for vehicle titles would increase by 3 percent.

Chief Jim Geering, who began work Wednesday, will serve as the head of many of western Washington County’s fire agencies and districts, including Forest Grove Fire & Rescue, the Forest Grove Rural Fire Protection District, which counts Gales Creek in the district's bounds, Cornelius Fire Department, Cornelius Rural Fire Protection District, and the Gaston Rural Fire Protection District.

Supply chain disruptions continue to impact county road work projects. As winter approaches, the Washington County Department of Land Use and Transportation warned that a number of materials could be delayed, including liquid magnesium chloride, an anti-icing agent, but that enough had been stockpiled to last the winter.

Free Fishing Weekend will return to Oregon on Friday and Saturday, November 26 and 27, the last of three such "Free Fishing Weekends" to be held in 2021. Hagg Lake is expected to be stocked with 4,000 legal-size trout this week.

A Buxton man and World War 1 veteran is laid to rest after an illness fells him at age 32; fortunes are told in Gales Creek; a Gaston man sends his truck flying near Dilley. That and more in this week's Dispatches from History: Western Washington County 100 years ago.

Oregon State Police are seeking public assistance in two poaching cases in Tillamook County that both happened in the first half of November. It was not clear if the cases are considered connected.

Washington County’s mobile vaccine clinic will hold three school-based vaccination clinics which will include vaccines for students in the newly eligible age bracket of five to 11 years old in western Washington County this week.

A new business in the Gales Creek area will host a holiday market featuring vendors, music, a food cart, and more Sunday, November 14 to introduce their farm and event space to the community.

The Portland office of the National Weather Service warned that heavy rains expected to begin Wednesday night could bring flooding along creeks and rivers in northwest Oregon and southwest Washington.

A community member is laid to rest in Gales Creek, an inquest following a tragic train crash near Scofield clears the train's crew, and Forest Grove tells people outside of city limits to deal with fires on their own. This and more in this week's double-feature of Dispatches from History: Western Washington County 100 years ago.

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention panel voted to authorize the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for children ages 5 through 11 Tuesday afternoon, followed by an approval from the agency's director, Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky.

Today marks the first day you can legally use studded tires on Oregon roads. The Oregon Department of Transportation would rather you didn’t. “Our latest study concluded studded tires cause about $8.5 million in damage each year on state highways," ODOT said, and noted that traction tires that meet certain standards are considered just as good or better in most cases than studded tires.

A Tillamook resident died in a crash Sunday morning near milepost 8 on the Wilson River Highway. The driver of one vehicle involved in the crash fled the scene, according to Oregon State Police, but was apprehended four hours later nearby.

The next leader of the Oregon Department of Forestry was selected Friday morning by the Oregon Board of Forestry, who unanimously selected Cal Mukumoto, of Coos Bay, for the job of State Forester.

The Washington County Sheriff's Office said that the driver of a pickup truck that crashed in Gales Creek fled to a nearby home, where deputies believe the occupants are involved in drug trafficking and have firearms, leading to a search warrant being issued.

Gales Creek is the site of a large police presence west of the junction of Highways 6 and 8, where dozens of law enforcement vehicles, including Washington County's Tactical Negotiation Team, flooded the area with sirens blaring as they seek to apprehend a suspect that allegedly fled an earlier hit-and-run crash in Gales Creek.

Back by popular demand: We’ll be publishing the diaries of Esther Lilly Hundley every last week of the month to see what Esther & Co. have been up to. For those just joining us, we’ve previously published more than three years of Esther's diaries which chronicle her life on her family’s original homestead and farm in the Fir Creek community of Gales Creek from 1928 to 1960.

Local vaccination clinics coming up in the area, FDA panel recommends vaccine for those 5 to 11 years of age, and more.

The Oregon Board of Forestry is expected to vote on a candidate this week to become Oregon’s next State Forester.

Fire season ended in the last of the 16 million acres of Oregon forestland protected by the Oregon Department of Forestry as of Friday morning, ODF said.

Washington County transitioned today to a new emergency alert system—used to notify county residents who've signed up for alerts during fires, floods, for missing persons notices and the like—called Everbridge.

While the Tillamook Forest Center has yet to reopen following what was initially a temporary shuttering of its doors in the spring of 2020, the facility appears to be on track to reopen for the spring 2022 season. To fully staff the facility, ODF relies on volunteers.

Bonanza. Coleman’s. Soon, Chicken and Guns Smokehouse. The building on the Wilson River Highway just west of the junction of Highways 6 and 8 has long served Gales Creek residents and visitors looking for a spot to eat. In spring of 2022, a Portland restaurateur plans to expand his Portland food cart to a full restaurant in Gales Creek.

What might be considered gossip fills the columns of this week's double-feature of Dispatches from history: Western Washington County 100 years ago.

What do Gales Creek and Vernonia have in common? They'll both be voting to elect a representative to House District 31 in November 2022.

State Senator Betsy Johnson, a Democrat who serves the northwest corner of Oregon in the state legislature, including Gales Creek and Banks, will run for governor under no party’s banner in 2022, Johnson said in an email to supporters.

According to the county’s mobile vaccine team schedule, two Forest Grove clinics are scheduled for Wednesday, October 20. The first of those clinics is scheduled for 12 to 2 p.m. at the Forest Grove Senior and Community Center (2037 Douglas Street), followed by the regular clinic at the Forest Grove Famers Market (2030 Main Street) from 4 to 7 p.m.

Members of Friends of Historic Forest Grove, Gales Creek community members, and school administration met on the grounds of the former Gales Creek Elementary School Saturday, August 21 to place a plaque commemorating the Jennie Ranes Building, which was built 100 years ago in 1921.

An election scheduled for Tuesday, November 2 will see few measures in Washington County to vote for, and none in Gales Creek; for those within Banks’ city limits, those in Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue's service territory, and that small sliver of Lake Oswego in the county, a handful of local measures will be determined. Voters elsewhere can instead look forward to the May 17, 2022 Primary Election.

100 years ago: A hog and dairy show is planned in Banks, and news of a new bridge in Gales Creek is "joyfully" received. This week, the clips in this history column come from the September 22 & 29, 1921 editions of the Washington County News-Times.