OLYMPIA…State Sen. Don Benton, R-Vancouver, has stepped out front on an issue that means saving a community program for more than 600 children in Camas.

The Washington Military Department owns the Camas Military Armory which is leased to the Camas Community Education Department in partnership with the Camas School District for a community gymnastic and dance program that serves more than 600 children. The lease runs to 2009, but the department has notified the school district it plans to sell the building.

“There is no other building in the area that can accommodate this successful program for these children,” Benton said. “I’ve asked the House and Senate capital budget chairs to consider three options, but my first choice is to transfer ownership to the school district at no charge.”

Benton’s other two options are to include $350,000 in the supplemental capital budget this year for the Camas School District to purchase the building; or to direct the department to honor the current lease and provide for the purchase in next year’s capital budget.

Benton’s letter to the capital budget chairs was co-signed by his colleagues from the 15th, 17th, 18th and 49th legislative districts.

“The Camas School District originally owned this building, but in 1955 it was sold to the Washington Military Department for $10,” Benton said. “When the department no longer needed the facility, it was leased back to the district and refurbished through a partnership between the two entities. Today is makes a difference in the lives of more than 600 junior high and high school children.”

In addition to making a direct request to the capital budget chairs, Benton worked with his colleagues from the 17th, 18th and 49th legislative districts to add saving the building to the “critical projects list” for southwest Washington.

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For local information contact:
Ernie Suggs, Community Education Director
(360) 817-4468
For more information contact Penny Drost at (360) 786-7522 or penny.drost@leg.wa.gov