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What’sIntheSky
B6
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A12
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The Ale List — A14
What’s new
in the Gorge
beer scene
WEATHER
HIGH 80S BY MID-WEEK,
CLOUDY BY THE WEEKEND
Dance studio opening soon in
Bingen
Page A13
Columbia Gorge News
HOOD RIVER | THE DALLES | WHITE SALMON
Wednesday,September30,2020 Volume1,Issue26
COVID-19
Silver
Lining
COVID leads
to housing for
some homeless
■ By Neita Cecil
Columbia Gorge News
I
N A SILVER LINING TO
the otherwise dismal
stream of news com-
ing out of the coronavirus
pandemic, a number of
area homeless families and
individuals found permanent
housing as a result of the
pandemic.
Gorge Outreach, a program of
Community Action Partnership
of Oregon, began during the early
SeeHOUSING,page10
30 cases
reported at
senior living
facility in
The Dalles
Thirty cases of COVID-19
were reported Sunday among
residents and staff at Flagstone
Senior Living in The Dalles. Most
of the cases are mild or asymp-
tomatic, and no one has had to be
hospitalized.
Tests were given to 119 resi-
dents and staff late last week and
results came back Sunday, Sept.
20 from the Oregon State Public
Health Laboratory. All positive
cases and identified family
members and close contacts have
been notified.
“Reportedly most of the cases
involve mild or no symptoms,
but this still serves as a wake-
up call for our community to
take appropriate measures to
protect ourselves, our families
and our fellow citizens,” said The
SeeCASES,page2
$1.00
Gorge receives state relief funds
■ By Mark Gibson
Columbia Gorge News
Columbia River Gorge cultural
organizations received $380,858
in grant funding through Oregon’s
Coronavirus Relief Fund Cultural
Support (CRFCS) grant awards
totaling $25.7 million statewide.
Six Wasco County cultural
organizations were granted a total
$209,256; eight organizations in
Hood River County received $171
thousand. Statewide, 621 organiza-
tions received grant awards.
Grants were distributed through
a partnership between the Oregon
Cultural Trust and its County and
Tribal Cultural Coalitions.
The funds, allocated to the
Cultural Trust for Oregon, are for
cultural organizations facing losses
due to the COVID-19 health crisis,
Funds were made available through
a $50 million relief package for
Oregon culture approved by the
Emergency Board of the Oregon
Legislature in July.
“Many cultural organizations and
SeeCULTURE,page10
A family explores a pond at the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center/Wasco County Museum in The Dalles Sept. 29. The facil-
ity has received $123,742 in state grant funding, part of a $25.7 million relief package for cultural organizations approved
by the emergency board of the Oregon legislature in July.
Gary Elkinton photo
Hood River takes steps toward new police
station, invites county to join project
the city is targeting a ballot request
for 2021, with the idea of putting the
project into place in 2022. Assuming
voter approval, completion of any
facility is likely at least three years
away.
Columbia lot is located between
■ By Kirby Neumann-Rea
Fifth and Sixth streets, across from
Columbia Gorge News
Full Sail Brewery and Hood River
Cinemas.
Hood River City Council was
“We need a preliminary design
scheduled to consider in its
and get a solid cost estimate to
Monday meeting whether to take
bring to voters,” said Assistant City
the next step in developing a new
police facility — and possibly a joint Manager Will Norris in an interview
Friday.
facility for city police and Hood
The council met after press
River County Sheriff.
deadline; see details online and in
What council was set to look at
was two paths forward: A city-only the Oct. 7 edition for details on any
council decision.
police station and parking lot or a
“What we’re asking is to do a
joint city-county facility, both locat-
ed on the Columbia Street lot. Both solicitation that asks firms to bid on
models would require construction both projects so if county wants to
chip in we’ll be ready to go,” Norris
of a parking garage — likely the
police facility on the west side of the said.
“I think we’re (the city) ready to
lot and parking to the east.
The project would require
move, but the council may want
voter-approved bond approval, and more information,” Norris said.
Council scheduled
to consider asking
architects’ bids for
preliminary design
and cost estimate
He also briefed the County Board
of Commissioners on the project in
their work session Sept. 21.
Norris said Monday’s action
would be to get council permission
to put out a request for architec-
tural firms to prepare two designs
and cost estimates: One for the city
SeeSTATION,page3
Fifth and Columbia lot, owned by the city, is the likely location of a new police
facility and parking structure, possibly with Hood River County participation.
The site is also home to events including Farmers Market and, shown, Hood River
Hops Fest (canceled for 2020).
File photo
Nisley reclaims District
Attorney’s office
DA reinstated for
remainder of term
■ By Rodger Nichols
For Columbia Gorge News
The Oregon Supreme Court
ruled Thursday, Sept. 24, that
Wasco County District Attorney
Eric Nisley did not lose his office
following a 60-day suspension
from the Oregon Bar Association
and should have immediately been
returned to office following his sus-
pension and reinstatement to the
bar, which took place April 15.
The same court had upheld the
suspension itself in December
2019, but issued no guidance on
what would occur after the suspen-
sion ended.
The Oregon Attorney General’s
Office had argued that the office
had become vacant at the point
of his suspension, and assigned
a representative from the AG’s
office, who has been Acting District
Attorney. Nisley’s lawyer noted
Nisley was not the first district
attorney to be suspended while in
office and that, in earlier cases, no
vacancy in the office of district at-
torney had been declared. Instead,
those suspended had resumed all
district attorney duties at the end of
the suspension period.
Today’s 18-page decision affirms
Nisley as the validly elected Wasco
County District Attorney.
“We are persuaded that respon-
dent’s brief and transient inability
to practice law was not what the
legislature intended to describe
with the phrase “ceases to possess”
a qualification for holding office.
Accordingly, the office of Wasco
County District Attorney did not
become “vacant” and respondent
remains the rightful holder of the
office until the expiration of his
term of office,” the decision states.
That expiration will take place
in January, when Matthew Ellis,
who was elected DA in the May 19
primary, will take office for the next
four-year term.
Nisley was back in the District
Attorney’s office at the Wasco
County Courthouse Thursday.
Nisley issued the following
statement:
“I look forward to finishing my
term as District Attorney. I also
pledge to do what I can to make the
transition in the office as smooth
as possible. I have reached out to
Mr. Ellis and we have had some
preliminary discussions about
what that might look like and I am
sure we will have more discussions
SeeTESTING,page2
The
Gorge
magazine
T
Kristyn Fix of Slopeswell Cidery, part of the Women of Cider feature in the Fall
2020 edition of The Gorge Magazine. The cover features a photo by Lyle rancher
Mary Kleihege.
Emily Fitzgerald photo
Artistic sanity, turtles worth preserving, students
navigating a pandemic: Inside the new edition
HE FALL 2020 EDITION
of The Gorge magazine
is now available at busi- CONTACT US AT
nesses throughout the Gorge.
This edition features a cover pho- 541-386-1234
to by Mary Kleihege of Little Seven 541-296-2141
Seven Ranch near Lyle.
DELIVERY/Subscribe@gorgenews.com
Other features include Women
of Cider, “Art Saves Sanity” in
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