INDEX
Classifieds
History
Kidspace
Medical Directory
Obituaries
Opinion
Police, Sheriff Logs
Public Notices
Senior Living
Sports
COVID-19 — first
vaccinations in sight in the
Gorge — A11
B7-8
B6
A14
B9
A7-8
A4-6
B2
B5
B3
B2
NW Natural: Outage
expected until Wednesday in
HR
— page B3
Weather
Chilly temps — rainy
Christmas day — and sub-
freezing nights in HR
Merry Christmas: Tree of Joy
adds cheer in White Salmon —
A14
Columbia Gorge News
HOOD RIVER | THE DALLES | WHITE SALMON
Wednesday, December 23, 2020 Volume 1, Issue 37
Bingen
outbreak
details
emerge
Dalles to
max out
shelters
Mark Gibson
■ By Columbia
Gorge News
Purchase and citing of a total
of 18 Pallet emergency shelters
for the homeless was given the go
ahead by The Dalles City Council
in a 3 to 2 consensus at the regular
Council meeting Dec. 14. Twelve
additional shelters will be pur-
chased and installed just west of
the six shelters currently in place
on city property along Bargeway
Road.
Additional CARES Act funding
already alloted by the city included
$10,000 each for St. Vincent dePaul
and Windy River Gleaners and
$5,000 for Point Man Ministries, all
of which provide immediate needs
assistance in the city. Remaining
funds, which must be spent by
the end of December, will be
used to compensate the city’s first
responders, primarily the city’s po-
lice department. That amount was
estimated to be about $250,000.
Councilor Darcy Long-Curtiss,
who has been working on the
emergency shelter project since
its inception both as a council
member and as a private citizen,
said she was hoping to use some of
the remaining CARES Act funding
to max out available shelters at the
city-owned site.
“I was hoping to use some of
this funding for more shelters,”
Long-Curtiss told the council. “We
have to do this isolation (using
shelters) because of COVID-19.
We would like to use some of
these funds to max out our shelter
capacity.” She said the current site,
which will be in place through
March, has room for a total of 18
shelters. Six are currently in use,
See SHELTERS, page 9
Jacob Bertram
■ By Columbia
Gorge News
Dear Santa...
Kids from throughout the
region wrote letters to Santa Claus,
some submiting them online to
the Columbia Gorge News and
others through a "Santa Mailbox"
at the Hood River Chamber of
Commerce. Above, a drawing by
Malena of White Salmon; at left,
an illustrated letter from Eric A.
of Parkdale and far left, a Snoopy
Chrismas with Carolynn C. of
Dufur. Find more letter inside, page
B1.
Businesses learning
to cope with COVID
TD man ■
indicted F
following
stabbing
■
By Walker Sacon
Columbia Gorge News
By Jacob Bertram
Columbia Gorge News
A grand jury indicted a resident
of The Dalles last Tuesday on mul-
tiple assault charges and unlawful
use of a deadly weapon after a
Dec. 4 stabbing at a residence on
the 1900 block of W. 13th Street.
Clay Faro
Parsons, 63, was
booked Dec.
9 at Northern
Oregon Regional
Correctional
Facility and is
being held on
$250,000 bond.
Clary Faro
A plea hearing is
Parsons
scheduled for Jan.
19 at 1:15 p.m.
According to an arrest warrant
affidavit, officers of The Dalles
Police Department, aided by
Wasco County Sheriff’s deputies,
responded to a report of a stabbing
in West The Dalles at around
3:45 a.m., the morning of Dec. 4.
According to the affidavit, Parsons
was on the phone with dispatch
stating he had stabbed the victim
after he (Parsons) was accused of
hitting on the victim’s “women.”
A witness told investigators he
had not seen Parsons stab the
victim, but did witness a struggle
between Parsons and the victim,
and after seeing him hold a knife,
told Parsons to drop it and leave,
See STABBING, page 9
$1.00
IVE WOMEN WEARING
down jackets and gloves
spread out across a patio on
May Street in Hood River. They
lunge and squat as a child watches
curiously from the back of a pass-
ing tandem bike.
Stephanie Adams leads the
group with another 17 students
following along online through the
laptop resting on a stool in front
of her. Adams closed Flow Yoga’s
downtown Hood River location
in May after spending 17 years in
the space where she settled down
after traveling North America to
teach.
Adams worked out an arrange-
ment with Susan Sorensen of
Columbia
Gorge Dance
“Maybe buy a
Academy to
gift card or a
rent part of
beautiful
gift
Sorensen’s
space which
you wouldn’t
had been
normally
think
closed to
about.”
classes. The
mutually
Lorraine Lyons
beneficial
64 Oz
arrangement
allowed the
studio to remain useful while giv-
ing Adams a place to host outdoor
and online classes.
“Your muscles don’t know num-
bers. They know fatigue!” Adams
calls out, coaxing a few more
reps from the class. During the
pandemic, local businesses have
known both.
Adams said her business has
made less than half of a normal
year’s income. She has been “con-
stantly” researching precautions
to take and has applied for “every
grant that’s out there.” She said
there have been several moments
where she found herself consider-
ing giving up on the business.
Stephanie Adams, owner of Flow Yoga
in Hood River, teaches a strength
class outside the studio she shares
with Columbia Gorge Dance Academy
in Hood River, above. At left, Adams
chats with students after a lives-
treamed strength training class.
Students can join Adams and other
Flow Yoga instructors online or out-
side the studio.
Walker Sacon photos
Hood River County Chamber of
Commerce Coordinator Mary Ellen
Holmes said many local businesses
are struggling. “It’s hard for a lot
of people, and there’s a lot of fear
around losing businesses, for sure,”
Holmes said.
“I think people are really digging
in to support each other, there’s
a good sense of community out
there,” she said.
The chamber has been hosting
video meetings every Friday morn-
ing where entrepreneurs can share
stresses or innovations with others
in similar situations. Holmes said
businesses have found creative
ways to maximize revenue within
COVID-19 restrictions.
Lorraine Lyons, who owns 64
Oz., said the pandemic has forced
business owners “to do some very
intense introspection on what
makes their business profitable
and what doesn’t.”
64 Oz. was one of several busi-
nesses in Hood River to put up
“parklets,” as a way to offer outdoor
dining where none had existed
before. The tables set in downtown
parking spots led to a weeks-long
battle with ODOT which Lyons said
only ended when businesses ral-
lied support from state legislators,
See COPING, page 3
WHITE SALMON — COVID-19
cases are rising in Klickitat County,
evidence which Mount Adams
Fruit’s management team is point-
ing to as a factor in the outbreak
at the Bingen facility, which was
announced Dec. 11.
Doug Gibson, vice president
of Mount Adams Fruit, told
Columbia Gorge News that the
company began testing Dec. 10
after the team had expressed con-
cern regarding the spread of the
virus county-wide.
Upon recommendation and
oversight by the Klickitat County
Health Department, they tested
around 200 employees, “Just
about everybody,” Gibson said.
According to Erinn Quinn,
Director of Klickitat County Public
Health, nearly all of the employees
See OUTBREAK, page 11
Businesses
seek to
challenge
restrictions
Walker Sacon
■ By Columbia
Gorge News
A group of businesses in Wasco
County have been strategizing and
preparing for a legal battle as they
seek to challenge the governor’s
order restricting indoor gatherings
due to COVID-19.
Todd Carpenter, who owns Last
Stop Saloon in The Dalles, said an
LLC — Wasco County Business
Alliance — was formed Dec. 17 to
retain an attorney and “assemble
a defense fund for county and
state-level lawsuits.”
Carpenter said owners of at least
seven other restaurants in The
Dalles have discussed a potential
legal challenge. He said businesses
are forming a plan to open safely
which they will present when they
find the best legal avenue to do so.
“We opened safely for six
months, why are we shut now?”
Carpenter said.
Beachwood Eatery owner Ken
Catlin said small businesses have
been disproportionately impacted
by restrictions. Catlin has been
cooking at Beachwood while his
wife and mother-in-law help han-
dle orders. He said he has put the
last of his savings into the restau-
rant’s account, despite laying off
staff to cut overhead.
See BUSINESS, page 2
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