www.hoodrivernews.com
Hood River News, Wednesday, July 22, 2015
E LDERLY
Continued from Page A1
Certified Ombudsman —
or COs — “advocate for the
rights of the resident — even
if it may be against the wish-
es of the facility, or family,
because residents don’t lose
any of their rights — educate
staff and family about those
rights, and investigate and
resolve issues,” she said.
Volunteers don’t investi-
gate neglect or abuse —
that’s a responsibility of
Adult Protective Services —
but they are often the first
person who sees and reports
it.
“An ombudsman comes
out and finds out what’s real-
B ROWN
Continued from Page A10
ing that, up until August 17,
we have legal counsel doing
very thorough legal reviews
of the bills.
So until that legal review
is complete, I don’t commit
to signing a bill either way,
which is why I think it was a
surprise on SB 81. Certainly
it was a surprise for legisla-
tors.
Cascade Amusements has begun prepping their carnival rides for the 2015 Hood River County Fair,
which opens today, July 22. Ride bracelets can be purchased in advanced for $17 — $22 at the fair
— at locations around the Gorge, including fair office, Mid Valley Market, Hood River Supply, and
G.G’s in Odell; at McIsaac’s in Parkdale; at Juanita’s Market in The Dalles; and at Juanita’s Market,
Hood River Supply, and Columbia State Bank in Hood River, and must be purchased by 5:00 p.m. on
July 22. Each bracelet ticket purchased may be used on any one day of the fair, and is good for rides
all day long. Carnival rides begin at 1 p.m. each day and continue until closing.
F AIR
Continued from Page A1
ternoon.
Griffith Motors and Les
Schwab Tires donated the ve-
hicles to the Fair, and they
will make the rounds be-
tween the fair office and
parking and animal barns
and other far-flung areas of
the fair.
In the park, the “Walk on
the Wild Side” exotic animal
show displays a wide range
of exotic animals and rep-
tiles in a jungle atmosphere,
and Godfrey the Magician
serves up award-winning
comedy and levitation tricks.
Professor Bamboozle’s Road
Show brings laughs and fun
— and balloons — to the park
and fairgrounds. And look
for Dr. Solar’s Good Time,
Traveling Medicine Show’s
unique magical and educa-
tional family-friendly enter-
tainment.
“Wool Busting!” is back.
Kids up to 55 pounds and
younger than 12 can try their
hand at riding sheep. It’s a
start for the next generation
of rodeo stars. Shows daily!
There’s fun for bigger kids,
too, including the Buck-A-
Ewe mechanical sheep, and
“Just for Fun” Roping Clin-
ics. Kids can also enjoy more
sedate pony rides in the
park.
‘It’s dry out there:’ Parkdale,
Wy’east firefighters respond
to pair of challenging fires
BY KIRBY NEUMANN-REA
News editor
Two fires, each hard to get
to in their own ways, chal-
lenged local firefighters in
the past week.
Parkdale Fire Department
responded to a report of a
column of smoke near Miller
Road Sunday, and on Thurs-
day, Wy’east Fire District
doused a grassfire on a steep
embankment leading to the
Hood River.
Fire officials from both de-
partments stressed the high
fire danger in the Gorge.
“We are really asking peo-
ple to be careful, things are
so dry,” said Wy’east chief
Greg Borton.
“I’d like to reiterate the
high fire danger, the fuels are
dry,” said Parkdale fire chief
Mike McCafferty. “Please be
cautious. There are too many
odds against us,” he said, re-
ferring to the high tempera-
tures and tinder dry fuels on
the ground.
McCafferty said that on
Sunday, firefighters received
multiple calls from residents
of Miller Road reporting a
column of smoke in the tree-
line above the homes.
“It appeared to be grow-
ing, and we headed toward
the Pinemont area and once
on scene the smoke went
away,” McCafferty said.
An ODFW helicopter was
dispatched and operators did
not initially see any smoke,
but they found two loggers
doing fuels reduction in the
area, and officials learned
that logging equipment had
apparently thrown a spark
off a rock, starting a 10-by-15
fire.
“T hey had self-extin-
guished on site when we ar-
rived,” McCafferty said.
The spark had flown into
the highly flammable layer of
packed fine materials,
known as duff, McCafferty
said.
“It was lucky. He was
being cautious, and was well
aware of his surroundings
and caught it in time,” Mc-
Cafferty said. U.S. Forest Ser-
vice investigators visited the
site on Monday and McCaf-
ferty said the loggers were in
compliance.
But seeing a column of
smoke from afar, and head-
ing that way only to lose
sight of the smoke, “felt like
a snipe hunt,” McCafferty
said. “It was definitely a
good column of smoke, and
fortunately they were able to
put it out before we arrived.”
National Scenic Area and
US Forest Service firefight-
ers also responded.
On Thursday, Wy’east Fire
District were called to a mys-
terious fire down a steep
bank off Highway 35 south of
Hood River.
Firefighters had to de-
scend the hillside, reeling
out 400 feet of hose to get to
the half-acre grass and brush
fire along a fishing trail that
goes down the slope and
across the Mt. Hood Railroad
tracks toward the Hood
River. Borton said the fire
was about a quarter-mile
south of the lower viewpoint
on Highway 35.
“It was an intense fire, and
had the potential to spread,”
Borton said.
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“All of Wy’east responded
and we put out a first alarm
and got wildland backup
from Gorge Scenic Area (per-
sonnel) and Oregon Depart-
ment of Fish and Wildlife,”
Borton said, adding that Mc-
Cafferty also assisted, and
ODOT provided traffic direc-
tion given the degree of
heavy smoke crossing the
highway.
“It was climbing the hill
and at one point we were con-
cerned it might jump the
highway,” Borton said.
The cause of the fire is
under investigation, but two
visits to the site by ODFW
and Borton have so far yield-
ed no specific evidence, ac-
cording to Borton.
“”It was definitely suspi-
cious,” Borton said. “We do
know that it was not started
by the railroad.”
Transportation and infra-
structure
For the Oregon Business
Council, business plan, in-
vesting in infrastructure and
modernizing was a priority
for the session and, obvious-
ly for me, coming together
around a bipartisan package
in terms of transportation
was critical.
Whether you’re just talk-
ing about congestion time in
metropolitan areas so people
can spend more time with
their f amilies, whether
you’re talking about busi-
G RANT
Continued from Page A10
vancy, OPRD, Heather Staten
and the Hood River Valley
Residents Committee and the
many supporters and volun-
teers who made this possi-
ble,” said Meriwether.
Western Rivers Conser-
vancy first began purchasing
parcels along the Hood River
in 2006, eventually assem-
bling the 103 acres that will
become Punchbowl Falls Na-
ture Park. The total acquisi-
tion and development budget
is $1.2 million — half of that
will be put up by Western
Rivers, and the rest comes
from the state grant and
funds from the County, Hood
River Parks and Rec District
and local donations.
“Thanks to decades of
hard work by valley resi-
dents, the Hood River is be-
coming a stronghold for Co-
lumbia River salmon and
steelhead,” said Phil Wallin,
Vice President of Western
C OUNTY
Continued from Page A1
tracks waving pitchforks,”
said County Commissioner
Bob Benton.
At the meeting Monday
night, the Board of Commis-
sioners also approved a reso-
ly going on, what’s the resi-
dent’s wish, what that per-
son’s rights are, if there’s an
issue they can resolve or in-
vestigate,” she said.
Eighty percent of the
cases that volunteers investi-
gate are solved within one or
two days. For the cases that
prove more complicated,
“there’s staff support,” Jor-
dan stressed. “We want them
to work independently, but
not in a vacuum … There’s
lots of support — they’re al-
ways welcome to call into the
office. People are not on their
own.”
The biggest role volun-
teers have is simply to check
in with their residents twice
a month — or more, if they
wish. While a facility usually
has between 75 and 80 resi-
dents, an ombudsman visits
just three or four.
Volunteers need to be good
listeners, relate to older peo-
ple, keep confidences and put
aside their own agendas.
“Sooner or later, all of us
will be in that position,” said
Jordan. “If not us, someone
we care about. And it’s im-
portant.”
For more information on
the Oregon Long Term Care
Ombudsman,
visit
www.oregon.gov/ltco — Jor-
dan puts on a monthly webi-
nar, the next of which is
scheduled for today, July 8 —
or call Jordan directly at 503-
983-3920. Preregistration is
required to attend the train-
ing as volunteers must fill
out an application and pass a
background check.
nesses getting goods around
the state, you know what a
quagmire the metropolitan
area can be but it’s not just
impacting Portland.
When I was in Medford a
few weeks ago, companies
(said they) are shipping
goods to the Port of Oakland
instead of the Port of Port-
land because of the conges-
tion on I-5. It’s not just Port-
land anymore. It’s impacting
all of us and it’s a statewide
issue.
Despite the fact that we
have strong Democratic ma-
jorities in both houses, we
need super majorities. And I
think it’s really important
for major policy initiatives
for there to be bipartisan
support.
We couldn’t get there is
legislation and that is cer-
tainly a disappointment for
me, but I think we laid the
g roundwork and built a
framework for future discus-
sion about a transportation
package.
A proposed bill would raise
speed limits in rural stretches
of state highways, including
I-84 and US 26.
It’s still in legal review.
One of the things that I
heard from legislators is that
on certain highways, if we
can do so in a safe manner,
that increasing the speed
limit makes sense for their
communities, so I heard that
message.
I would say that the bill
picks on some particular
roadways and not others;
that is what I will need to
take a look at.
Just to kind of push back,
I’m hearing from Oregoni-
ans who are concerned about
increasing the speed limit,
and one of the reasons that
we went down to 55 (mph)
and then raised it again was
it increased gas mileage. So
that is one of the concerns.
One of the challenges for
Oregon’s future is as more
and more folks are driving
fuel efficient or electric or
hybrid vehicles, our revenue
goes down in terms of the
gas tax. So that is a very real
challenge that we’re going to
need to face.
Rivers Conservancy. “Pro-
tecting the confluence of the
East and West Forks at
Punchbowl Falls is (a) his-
toric step forward in that
process.”
At previous meetings,
Hood River Valley Residents
Committee, a local land use
group, stressed that the park
is destined as a “passive use”
area, as low cost and natural
as possible. The only major
changes to the scenic area
will be new trails, a gravel
parking lot and a public re-
stroom. The trail system —
which will double in length
— will demand the most
labor and costs.
“Until now, the trails have
consisted of an old logging
road and a spider web of so-
cial trails that people have
created on the bluffs above
the West Fork,” said Heather
Staten.
Staten said a new “single
sustainable trail” called For-
est Loop Trail will replace
the old network of pathways.
The county will oversee vol-
unteers constructing the
trails, and Trail Keepers of
Oregon, a Portland non-prof-
it, will design the trails, pro-
vide the tools and hire crew
foremen. Local volunteers
will provide the “trail build-
ing muscle,” said Staten.
At the regular meeting
Monday night, Meriwether
updated commissioners on
volunteer efforts for the
county park, now that it has
secured grant funding. Meri-
wether said Punchbowl pro-
ponents are working to cre-
ate a Friends of Punchbowl
Falls group. The Friends
plan to coordinate volunteer
efforts and donation funds as
the nascent park comes into
being. Doug’s store in down-
town Hood River is hosting
the kick-off fundraising
event for Punchbowl Park,
Saturday, July 25 from 5 to 8
p.m. T he street will be
closed, so that guests can
mingle and enjoy music by
Tony Smiley, participate in a
silent auction, enjoy Double
Mountain beer and food by
Tofurky. Teva shoes will
match all sandal sales up to
$1,000 as a donation to park
improvements.
lution that moves $7,000 from
the County materials and
services budget to capital
outlay in the 911 Center bud-
get for the 2015-2016 fiscal
year. The County is moving
forward on a unified security
system, operated through the
911 communications center,
which will tie in with the
Hood River County Court-
house and Sheriff ’s Office.
In mid-June, Joel Harring-
ton, an ADCOMM Engineer-
ing consultant proposed a
new countywide radio sys-
tem that all fire and police
departments could use. This
would replace the current
system, which gets “poor to
non-existent portable radio
coverage” in remote areas of
Hood River County, and even
some areas within the city.
Rural speed limit bill
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