Columbia Gorge News
www.columbiagorgenews.com
New bi-state bridge entity emerging
Oberst
■ By For Gail
Columbia Gorge News
The progress of the Bi-
State Working Group had
Port of Hood River Board of
Commissioners in a self-con-
gratulatory mood June 1.
The two groups are
working together to estab-
lish an Oregon-Washington
ownership of the new bridge
that will one day replace the
100-year-old Hood River-
White Salmon Bridge, now
owned by the Port of Hood
River.
The year-old Bi-State
Working Group (BSWG)
is made up of collabo-
rators from Oregon and
Washington including rep-
resentatives from Klickitat
and Hood River counties, the
cities of Bingen, Hood River,
and White Salmon, and the
Port of Hood River.
June 1, port commission-
ers adopted bridge strategies
endorsed by the BSWG. That
step, along with $50,000 from
the state of Washington’s
transportation funds, will
move the group closer to
creating a standalone, bi-
state entity for the financing
and operations of the re-
placement bridge, accord-
ing to Kevin Greenwood,
Port of Hood River Bridge
Replacement project director
Although the port is the
current bridge’s owner, the
group is working to create
a different owner for the
new bridge, most likely a bi-
state authority that evolves
from the BSWG. The recent
Washington State grant
helps pay for legal work to
create that authority so that
it can issue bonds for bridge
construction, collect tolls,
and seek state and federal
grants and loans. The Joint
Transportation Committee
in the Washington
Legislature is expected to
consider that possibility
in September, and later, a
similar Oregon legislative
committee will do the same.
Visiting lobbyists from
Washington and Oregon
states, and Washington
D.C., applauded the BSWG’s
work to bring the north and
south shores of the proposed
Wednesday,June9,2021
13
The show goes on for
TDHS drama department
By Kelsie Cowart
■ Columbia
Gorge News
Progress is being made to establish an Oregon-Washington own-
ership of a new bridge over the Columbia River in Hood River, re-
placing the existing bridge, above, which is 100 years old.
Mark B. Gibson photo
bridge together. The three
lobbyists reported June 1 on
their efforts so far to raise
money for the bridge at the
state and federal levels.
“It’s an amazing working
relationship,” said Brian
Boswell, a consultant from
Washington State.
“It’s helpful at the federal
level that both states are
contributing,” added Hal
Hiemstra, a D.C. strategist.
Dan Bates, lobbying for
the bridge in the Oregon
Legislature, said that Hood
River’s state Legislators, Sen.
Chuck Thompson (R-Dist.
26) and Rep. Anna Williams
(D-Dist. 52) have been “great
champions.”
Estimates to remove and
replace the century-old
bridge are currently at $400
million. Work began in
earnest three years ago with
a $5 million Oregon trans-
portation grant, followed
by another $5 million each
from the Washington State
Legislature and a federal
BUILD grant. The Port of
Hood River has also com-
mitted $1.25 million to the
project.
Enthusiasm for the Bi-
State Working Group has
increased as the organi-
zation has grown from an
October 2020 Memo of
Understanding, establishing
how the members would
work together with the port,
to June 1’s adopted “Strategy
Principles,” summarized
below.
The BSWG currently in-
cludes Betty Barnes, mayor,
City of Bingen; John Everitt,
commissioner, Port of Hood
River; Marla Keethler, mayor,
City of White Salmon; Kate
McBride, mayor, City of
Hood River; Jake Anderson,
commissioner, Klickitat
County; and Bob Benton,
commissioner, Hood River
County. That membership
may change in July, as some
members are not returning
to their previous political
positions, but the position
descriptions will remain the
same.
The Bi-State Working
Group and the Port’s strat-
egies governing the bridge
replacement are summa-
rized as follows:
■ Continue collaboration
with the Bi-State Working
Group
■ Increase community,
state and federal support
■ Demonstrate project
readiness
■ Assemble a highly-expe-
rienced project team
■ Prepare transition of
leadership from the Port of
Hood River to another entity
■ Evaluate project options
and recommend the best
approach
The Port of Hood River’s
five-member Board of
Commissioners next meets
June 22, the last meeting
for John Everitt (Position 2),
David Meriwether (Position
3), neither of whom ran for
re-election. Commissioners
in July will swear in two
new members — Heather
Gearing to Position 2,
Mike Fox to Position 3, and
Benjamin Sheppard, who
was reelected to Position 1.
As distance learning
became the norm for the
2020-21 school year, many
extracurricular activities
— from sports to robotics,
culinary and other clubs
— had to get creative in
order to operate at all. The
Dalles High School Theater
Department did just that.
Due to COVID-19 restric-
tions, the TDHS theater
department was unable to
put on productions as they
would have traditionally.
Not only were they not
allowed to perform inside
the auditorium, students
would have had to stand
at least eight feet apart if
they wanted to perform
unmasked, according to
Lowry Browning, TDHS
English and theater teacher.
Browning, who has been
directing plays and musicals
at the high school for the
last 14 years, had to think
outside the box — not only
to put on a production, but
to get as many students
participating as possible.
“I have many wonderful
students in the theater
department,” she said. “I
really wanted more students
involved.”
This led to the decision to
film this year’s productions.
Browning said that she
and her long-time theater
department choral director,
Corin Parker, spent the bet-
ter part of this last year com-
ing up with ways to put on
a musical while still abiding
by the COVID guidelines at
the time, which included
all students wearing masks
while filming.
This led Parker to reach
out to Mark Steighner,
the artistic director of the
Columbia Gorge Orchestra
Association, about com-
posing a musical tailored
to their needs. According
to Browning, Steighner had
personal interest in the
history of The Dalles and
its historical figures, and in
February 2021, brought to
A screen shot from "Young Ben Snipes." Pictured are, left to right,
Asher Young, Zora Richardson, Shaelyn R. Scott, Rowan Bierwirth,
Alex Rector, Taylor Beeks, Lexi Irving, Izabella Marlinga, Avery
Winwood, Emma Lawson, Kate Ferguson and Wesley Parker.
them a draft of the musical
“Young Ben Snipes,” a histori-
cal period composition based
on the life of Ben “the Cattle
King” Snipes, a famed cattle
rancher and business owner
who lived in The Dalles in the
late 1800s.
Due to the subject of the
musical, rather than be re-
stricted to filming on a stage,
the Theater Department
had the freedom to film at
different locations through-
out town. This opportunity
offered major advantages
such as complete safety in
following COVID-19 guide-
lines, though there was a
learning curve to the experi-
ence as well. “It was very dif-
ferent directing for film than
onstage,” Browning shared,
“filming, you have to look at
the scenes in a different way.
I’d never done anything like
this before.”
TDHS Senior Taylor Beeks,
who played “Middle-Aged
Ben Snipes,” in the produc-
tion, shared that some of the
biggest adjustments they had
to accommodate included
performing with masks on,
which restricted the actors
in using tools such as facial
expressions in their perfor-
mances, as well as figuring
out scene blocking. “We
rehearsed at the high school
with kind of a vague idea of
what our scene would be
when we got to the actual
location,” he said. "For a lot
of them, we had to change
most things because the
filming locations didn’t work
out.” Despite these adjust-
ments, Beeks felt “everyone
did a good job of pulling it
together.”
Beeks, who has been a core
member of the TDHS Theater
Department since his eighth-
grade year, said that while he
preferred acting on stage, he
“had a lot of fun with (film-
ing),” and would “definitely
do something like it again.”
In her interview with
Columbia Gorge News,
Browning wanted to recog-
nize Parker’s contributions
to the production. Parker,
who is also a music teacher
at Chenoweth Elementary,
filmed, edited, and put to-
gether the entire project. “She
filmed it and had to superim-
pose the music. It was pieced
together, bits and pieces, and
Corin made it happen.”
On May 21, there was a
live, “grand opening,” of the
play for family and members
of the cast at the Discovery
Center. Due to the historical
nature of the musical, the
Discovery Center will be
showing the movie through-
out the month of June, on
Thursdays and Fridays at
3 p.m. for museum-goers
interested in watching. For
any other community mem-
bers interested in viewing
the production, the movie
is posted to the District 21
Media Youtube page, where it
can be watched for free.
Anyone interested in
supporting The Dalles High
School Theater Department
will find a link in the movie’s
description box on YouTube,
provided by the North Wasco
Education Foundation,
where they can donate.
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