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About Columbia Gorge news. (The Dalles, OR) 2020-current | View Entire Issue (June 2, 2021)
INDEX Fighting wildfire with trust — A3 Classifieds B8-9 History B6 KidScoop B1 Obituaries A7 Opinion A4 PoliceLogs B5 PublicNotices B10-12 SeniorLiving B3 Sports A13-15 ThroughtheEyesofanElder B14 What'sHappening B5 Sports — A13-15 What's in the Sky? — B3 Weather Heatadvisoryinplaceuntil Thurs.evening-high90son Wed.Weekendtocooldown withchanceofshowersSun. Odell student heading to Harvard for Ph.D. — A6 www.columbiagorgenews.com/enespanol Columbia Gorge News HOOD RIVER | THE DALLES | WHITE SALMON Wednesday,June2,2021 Volume2,Issue8 Remembering The Fallen $1.00 Residents challenge HR 'middle housing’ codes Gail Oberst ■ For By Columbia Gorge News Members of White Salmon American Legion Post 87 and Carson Legion Post 137 present the colors, with honor guard, above, during a veterans memorial ceremony on Memorial Day, May 31, at the White Salmon Cemetery on Snowden Road (Mark B. Gibson photo). Gorge communities honored veterans in a variety of ways over the weekend: At left, top to bottom, some scenes from the weekend: Flags wave in the morning at Idlewilde Cemetery, Hood River, as visitors prepare graves (Trisha Walker photo); A family cleans up and decorates a grave at the Odd Fellows Cemetery in The Dalles amid sprinklers and flags (photos courtesy Flora Gibson). Columbia High School students win first for communication invention Jacob Bertram ■ By Columbia Gorge News “I am super beaming with pride,” Gorge MakerSpace founder Jack Perrin said of the students. “There A group of six Columbia High School students invented a device, are lots of really natural-born lead- through extracurricular work with ers in this group.” local afterschool program Gorge The students have been working MakerSpace, that helps a third- since last fall under the mentor- grade student with a speech disor- ship of Perrin to create something der communicate in the classroom. tangible that would solve a need for The invention scored the group first someone in the community. Enter Aiden Dennis. place May 16 at Project Invent’s Aiden has a speech disorder Demo Day, an annual convention called Childhood Aproxia of where student groups across the Speech. According to the Mayo country pitch original invention ideas to industry leaders and com- Clinic, children diagnosed with pete for funding to further invest in Childhood Aproxia of Speech, or CAS, have difficulty making accu- their creation. The group, composed of juniors rate movements when speaking. Dylan Durand, Madison Swanson, “As a result, he often knows what CC Ahrens, Cin Ahrens, Wyatt he wants to say,” but can struggle Sheaves, and sophomore Henry with verbalizing his thoughts, often Kirkwood, won the grand prize of only able to speak one or two words $1,000 for further development of at a time, the students told the their invention. The students intro- panelists. The students met Aiden last year duced their device in a five-min- for the first time and have been ute presentation to panelists and working with him during their free answered questions about their time to understand his needs and design process. develop a device that eases the burdens he faces. After working with him to identify his needs, the group decided to focus on helping Aiden have the ability to express his thoughts to his teachers in a manner that was more comfortable for him. When they first met in Aiden's classroom at Whitson Elementary School, the students realized that he "is a super cool kid." “He genuinely likes people and seems like any other third-grader,” the students said. What they discovered was that, without any assistance, Aiden can have a difficult time expressing himself in the classroom, where “it is vital that students be able to com- municate with teachers and classmates alike and participate in class discussion.” SeeINVENTION,page2 Riverbend Community School: New digs, and second chances for students Mitchell ■ By For Ben Columbia Gorge News F OR ASHLYN JONES, ATTENDING THE Dalles’ Riverbend Community School has been nothing short of life-changing. Jones, 16, of The Dalles, says she used to strug- gle with her grades. She didn’t get along with her teachers. She didn’t think college was a viable option for her. Not anymore. Since enrolling at Riverbend in November, Jones is thriving, loves her classes, and is thinking of attending culinary school — a dream she had previously deferred because she didn’t think she would get good enough grades to get in. “Riverbend completely changed how I feel about school, and teachers, and everything,” she says. While there are all different kinds of students who attend Riverbend, Jones' story is not an un- common one there, nor is her level of passion. Although, to be fair, Riverbend’s students are extra excited these days. For one, Riverbend, a public charter school that is part of North Wasco County School SeeRIVERBEND,page12 Unhappy with “Middle Housing” changes to Hood River’s zoning and building codes, Brian Towey and four other city resi- dents say they will appeal the city’s decisions to a higher court. The City of Hood River did not give residents adequate notice for the March 8 public hearing on the new codes, Towey said in “Intent to File,” an appeal to Oregon’s Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA), the state’s highest tribunal for land- use decisions. As of publication, LUBA had received, but not yet agreed to hear, the case. Hood River Mayor Kate McBride said she welcomed LUBA’s opinion. “In addition to holding more than 14 public meetings on this particular legislation (between the Planning Commission and the City Council), we received SeeCODES,page2 Songer sued for cougar policy Jacob Bertram ■ By Columbia Gorge News A lawsuit seeks to declare Klickitat County Sheriff Bob Songer’s cougar sighting response program illegal. Songer had announced the creation of the program in a post on the Klickitat County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page dated Aug. 27, 2019, calling cougar sightings in the communities of Goldendale, White Salmon, Glenwood, Husum, and other neighborhoods in the county a “serious PUBLIC SAFETY CONCERN.” The program, which was later published under the sheriff’s di- rective titled “Dangerous Wildlife Policy and Procedures” (DWPP), gives sheriff’s deputies as well as members of the volunteer com- munity policing program, Klickitat County Sheriff's Posse, the au- thority to “respond to all reported dangerous Wildlife conflicts that is a risk to human safety or domestic pets and livestock. “A fully commissioned deputy will be in charge of the incident SeeCOUGAR,page3 Contact Us at 541-386-1234 541-296-2141 delivery: Subscribe@gorgenews.com news tips: News@gorgenews.com place an ad: Sales@gorgenews.com Stay connected Facebook.com/columbiagorgenews Twitter.com/gorge_news The Riverbend multi-use science classroom is housed at Columbia Gorge Community College. Photo courtesy Sean O'Connor/Story Gorge