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About The Hood River news. (Hood River, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 3, 2015)
A CTIO s N ! Top sport moments of 2014 T HANKS Community partners A11 M IDWEEK E DITION A7 Vol. 108, No. 1 Official Newspaper, City of Hood River and Hood River County HOOD RIVER, OREGON ■ SATURDAY, JANUARY 3, 2015 75 cents 2 Sections, 18 Pages www.hoodrivernews.com 2014 in review Land use squabbles, marijuana dispensaries, budget woes, and a historic win for the HRVHS soccer team were just some of the many stories the Hood River news reported on in 2014. Here’s a look back at some of the top stories from each month. Stories are categorized by the month in which they were published. By BEN MITCHELL welding facility, and the en- gineering department was slated to get new computers, 3-D printers and 3-D ma- chines, and computer-aided milling machines, along with new Solidworks, 3-D software to design and build parts with. Update: The components are in place and students are using them to learn. ■ A concert and event am- phitheater planned for the old mill site in Dee receives a flurry of feedback from local residents who were ei- ther pleased at the an- nouncement or upset about potential noise and traffic impacts. The developer, Jason Taylor, ultimately ended up scaling down the proposal from 3,095 parking spaces to 437, but the coun- ty’s decision to approve the scaled-down application was appealed to the Hood River County Planning Commis- sion by the Hood River Val- ley Residents Committee. The appeal was heard in De- cember and failed due to a News staff writer January ■ With H1N1 flu (swine flu) cases on the rise, Provi- dence Hood River Memorial Hospital institutes visiting restrictions in attempt to re- duce the spread of the virus in the county. The restric- tions allowed patients to have no more than two visi- tors at time and restricted children under the age of 18 from entering certain wings of the hospital due to their higher rates of exposure to the flu. Update : Providence staffers reported in Febru- ary that flu impacts ended up being “lighter than antic- ipated.” ■ Hood River Valley High School receives a $438,000 grant from the state as part of its Career and Technical Education Revitalization program. The funding was planned to give the welding shop a complete makeover with a new state-of-the-art deadlock. Update: As of the Dec. 30 appeal deadline, nothing was filed. February: ■ A weather-related land- slide lets loose more than 3,000 cubic yards of debris about a mile west of Hood River, resulting in the shut- down of all eastbound lane of Interstate 84. No mo- torists were injured by the falling debris, although a driver from Summerville badly damaged his rental car due to the landslide. Crews worked round-the- clock and had all lanes of I- 84 open within a few days. ■ The U.S. Forest Service approves Mt. Hood Meadows to construct an 878-car park- ing lot, referred to as the Twilight Lot. The lot is to be located east of Elk Meadows trailhead and west of the Ore gon De par tment of T ranspor tation mainte- nance yard off of Highway 35 near the entrance to the Hood River Meadows lot. S p o t l i g h t a t u r d a y March ■ The Oregon Depart- ment of Fish and Wildlife re- leases a report that wolf Please see REVIEW, Page A5 2014 News file photos HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2014 include (top left to bottom right) a deci- sion on the controversial Barrett Park property, an historic state soc- cer championship, a mayoral runoff between Greg Colt and Paul Blackburn, a precarious Gorge Fire between Rowena and The Dalles, the county’s first same-sex marriage and school district budge woes. A weekly series about a day in the life ... Megan Spears brings Disorder 2 Order By TRISHA WALKER Photos by Trisha Walker; submitted MEGAN SPEARS, CPO, works with home and business clients on a variety of projects, from paper and desk organization to pantries and spare bedrooms. She began Disorder 2 Order in 2004. News staff writer New year, new series Megan Spears is not a naturally or- ganized person. “I sense that people think it’s easy for me (to be organized) or that I don’t struggle or that my house must be completely organized,” she said. But what she does have is a knack for organization, setting up systems and completing projects. It’s what led her to start her Hood River-based pro- fessional organization business, Dis- order 2 Order, in 2004. “I see the rewards. I see the benefits of setting up the right systems to process things. It makes such a huge difference,” said Spears, a Certified Professional Organizer (CPO). “You can draw disorganization to the actu- al point when it started, some life With Megan Spears we begin “Saturday Spot- light,” our new weekly feature, suc- ceeding Slice of Life. “Spotlight” will focus on how local people spend their days. Do you have a person in mind for Spotlight? Send ideas to Trisha Walk- er at twalker@ hoodrivernews.com. Please see ORDER, Page A2 Three To Go LOOK INSIDE A3 — Entertainment, Happenings A4 — Viewpoint A5 — Worship Directory A6 — Obituaries, Sheriff Log A9 — Sports A9 — Legals A12 – Senior Calendar GC – Gorge Classifieds 7 The decision drew some con- troversy from those who felt the plan would impact near- by Nordic skiing trails. Update: Meadows say Twilight Lot likely won’t be developed for a couple years. ■ Hood River County Cir- cuit Court Judge Paul Crow- ley announces his retire- ment after serving over 20 years on the bench, 15 of which he served as the pre- siding judge of the Seventh Judicial District. Judge John Olson was named pre- siding judge by Thomas Balmer, Chief Justice of the Ore gon Supreme Court. Judge Karen Ostrye was ap- pointed by Gov. John Kitzhaber in June to fill the vacancy and Ostrye later was elected to the position in November, defeating op- ponent Timothy Farrell. 05105 97630 3 School resumes Monday City, County swear in officlals Monday Roman Ortega is the year’s First Baby Classes resume Monday after winter break for stu- dents in the Hood River County School District and in area private schools; par- ents are reminded that the county district schools are on scheduled one-hour late start on Mondays for staff in-service. The first meeting of the county school board for 2015 will be Jan. 14 at 6:30 p.m. at the Hood River Valley High School library. New mayor Paul Blackburn will take the oath of office in Monday, along with newly- elected City Councilors Susan Johnson, Peter Cornelison, and Becky Brun. It hap- pens during a 5 p.m. City Council special meeting Monday at City Hall. Leaving office are Ed Weathers, Brian McNamara and Car- rie Nelson. County Board of Commissioners will also meet Monday at 4:30 p.m., at the county ad- ministration building, to swear in Council President Ron Rivers and commissioners Karen Joplin and Bob Benton. All were re- elected in uncontested races in November 2014. “A good start,” is how Fernando Orte- ga described the feeling of being parent the first child born in the new year. Roman Isaac Ortega was the first baby born in Hood River County in 2015, at Providence Hood River Memori- al Hospital. Roman arrived at 12:07 p.m. Thursday. His mother is Alexis Davila, and Roman’s brother is Fernando, 5. The family lives in The Dalles. “It was a little tough, but we’re doing well,” Alexis said Thursday evening. Area merchants sponsored a variety of prizes to help wel- come the first baby to the world; see the Jan. 7 Hood River News for details.
