INDEX
Home and Garden — Inside
Classifieds
B10-11
History
B6
Kidspace
B16
Obituaries
A7
Opinion
A4-6
Police, Sheriff Logs
B4-5
Public Notices
B8-9, B14
Senior Living
B3
Sports
A13-15, B15
What's Happening
B7
Local election candidates —
A13-14, A15
Sports — A13-15, B15
Weather
Warm and breezy through
the week. Showers possible
starting Fri. Weekly high of
82 across the Gorge.
WS sixth grader wins $5,000 for
her classroom — Kidspace, B16
Columbia Gorge News
HOOD RIVER | THE DALLES | WHITE SALMON
Wednesday, April 28, 2021 Volume 2, Issue 4
$1.00
COVID-19
Volunteer nurse Kathy Schwartz prepares to give Becca Richelderfer her first COVID-19 vaccine shot
during a Pfizer clinic held at the The Dalles High School's Wahtonka Campus Friday afternoon. At
right, volunteer Eleanor Lemann walks a student through the sign-up process. The vaccine was of-
fered to those as young as 16.
Mark B. Gibson photos
Vaccination campaign
launches in TD
Walker Sacon
■ By Columbia
Gorge News
Mid-Columbia Senior
Center, The Dalles Area
Chamber of Commerce and
North Central Public Health
District have launched
a campaign in hopes of
increasing COVID-19
vaccination numbers in
Wasco County, MCSC
Communications Specialist
Rachel Harrison said last
week.
After the three groups met
and discussed the idea, they
reached out to Columbia
Gorge Community College,
The Dalles and Wasco
County which all joined the
campaign as partners.
Chamber Director Lisa
Farquharson said businesses
are among the first to suffer
when case numbers rise. She
said not meeting state-man-
dated thresholds locally is
“letting businesses down.”
Farquharson said indi-
viduals doing their part to
keep case numbers down
— regardless of their political
views and beliefs about
COVID-19 — help Wasco
County’s businesses face less
restrictions.
NCPHD Interim Director
Shellie Campbell said there
are plenty of vaccine doses
available in Wasco County at
this point. She said indi-
viduals getting the vaccine
are playing their part in
reaching herd immunity,
which will ultimately end
See CAMPAIGN, page 6
Plans reviewed for downtown Recreation Building
Nichols
■ By For Rodger
Columbia Gorge News
something like they have in Hood
River of a bunch of artists to be in
there — some kind of made-in-the-
Gorge, made-in-The-Dalles kind
THE DALLES — If you’ve been
wondering what new businesses are of thing for travel and tourism. The
downstairs side, the furthest east
planned for the renovation of the
old Recreation Building, at least part area where the old archery range
was, can only be used for storage.
of the answer was revealed at the
Under the middle building, the
April 20 Columbia Gateway Urban
Horn Saloon, we’ve got that pegged
Renewal Area board meeting.
as a recreation-type facility, so bil-
Todd Carpenter and Carla
McQuade, who upgraded the old
liards or an arcade, a family-friend-
Vault building into the Last Stop
ly kind of thing for the community.”
Saloon, bought the Recreation prop-
Back at the sidewalk level, they
plan an ice cream and candy shop,
erty some time ago, and have been
a sweet topping to the story. Look
working on gutting and rebuilding
for work on the next phase to begin
it. Carpenter had this to share with
as early as next week, with comple-
the agency:
“We’ll try to bring in an arti-
tion by the end of the year.
san co-op or a craftsman co-op,
Oberst
■ By For Gail
Columbia Gorge News
An outdoor bandstand and dining area are planned for the former "Recreation
Building" downtown The Dalles adjacent to the Last Stop Saloon on Second
Street. The existing building would be removed.
Contributed graphic
GORGE LOCAL — EDUCATOR SPOTLIGHT
'Classroom engagement' new normal for teachers
Walker Sacon
■ By Columbia
Gorge News
T
HE DAYS OF “CLASSROOM
management” as students
distracted each other with
side conversations gave way to
seeking “classroom engagement”
for teachers at Columbia High
School during the pandemic,
English and social studies teacher
Kelly Hume said.
Math teacher Jenna Mobley said
she was, at times, teaching to a
virtual classroom populated with
black boxes as students weren’t
required to leave their webcams on.
Science teacher Amie Ell said
one teacher put it best, saying “she
was like a stand-up comedian for
her house plants.”
Ell said students communication
skills and ability to connect with
one another seemed “repressed”
when they did return to in-person
learning.
Ell taught through a video screen
with a substitute in the room for the
first three weeks of the return until
receiving a COVID-19 vaccine. She
HR County
rules change
development
timelines
“We really didn't have a map
going forward. I think we just
sort of left a trail behind us.”
Peter Knowles
Columbia High School teacher
HOOD RIVER — The Hood
River County Commissioners are
mulling additions to the coun-
ty zoning ordinance that could
extend timelines for some land-
use permits, while curtailing the
number of extensions that could
be allowed for developers to com-
plete projects.
While most land-use permits
would be limited to six years
under the new proposed rules, the
ordinance could allow an addi-
tional extension in extraordinary
circumstances, such as delays in
obtaining state or federal permits.
Currently, the county’s process
allows an indefinite number of
extensions to complete a project,
giving developers time to address
unforeseen environmental, com-
munity or even their own appeals,
some of which can take years.
The new rules aim to clarify the
process for developers and for staff
as they consider requests to extend
See TIMELINES, page 3
said she asked students if it was
“this quiet in all of your classes,”
when she returned to the class-
room. Students nodded.
“I said, ‘Do you guys want to
work on some skills for getting
more comfortable talking with each
other again?’” Ell said. “I thought,
‘Oh, they’re going to be like oh that
old lady she’s so weird,’ but their
smiles and their nods were huge
under their masks.”
Ell, Mobley, Hume and social
studies teacher Peter Knowles
worked together on several
committees to plan for this year.
Knowles said this year has, in a
way, allowed teachers to “start
from scratch” and think about what
parts of “the old way” should be left
Contact Us at
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541-296-2141
Amie Ell, Peter Knowles, Jenna Mobley and Kelly Hume stand outside Columbia
High School on April 21.
Contributed photo by Sydney Thornton
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behind.
“I think that’s an opportunity
to restructure how we all think
about what it is we’re trying to do
while we’re doing this thing called
‘school,’” Knowles said.
Hume said the past year has par-
ticularly changed the way she looks
at assessing students’ understand-
ing of material. In her classroom,
the days of multiple choice tests on
paper are gone, she said.
“A lot of my assignments now,
they have the ability to either type
See ENGAGEMENT, page 3
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