www.hoodrivernews.com
Hood River News, Wednesday, January 7, 2015
A7
City, county elected officials start new year with oath of office
Mayor announces
next council
meeting postponed
in light of UO
football game
By KIRBY NEUMANN-REA
News editor
The business of transi-
t i o n i nvo l ve d h u g s a n d
h a n d s h a ke s, c a ke, a n d
checks to sign as city and
county elected officials for-
mally took office on Monday.
T h e C o u n t y B o a rd o f
Commissioners and Hood
River City Council held 4:30
and 5 p.m. special meetings
Monday for the sole busi-
ness of swearing in new and
returning electees.
The City Council’s first
regular meeting of the year
has been postponed to 6 p.m.
Tuesday, Jan. 13, to avoid a
conflict with the Oregon-
Ohio State National Cham-
pionship football game on
Jan. 12, announced new
M ayo r Pa u l B l a ck bu r n ,
whose wife, Dr. Kristen Dil-
lon, and daughters Althea
and Rosalie also attended.
Immediately after the meet-
ing, he sequestered with city
staff to sign checks.
Said Peter Cor nelison,
one of three new City Coun-
cilors: “I feel a little more
weight on my shoulders and
I’m standing a little taller to
compensate.”
Municipal Judg e Will
Carey administered the oath
of office to City Councilors
Susan Johnson, Becky Brun
and Peter Cornelison after
swearing in Blackburn.
A half-hour earlier, Carey
did the same honors with
county elected of ficials,
Chairman Ron Rivers and
Commissioners Bob Benton
and Karen Joplin. All three
were re-elected in November
without opposition.
Present were Commis-
sioner Les Perkins, Health
Department officials Ellen
S HOTS
Continued from Page A1
Hood River County Fair-
grounds.
One bullet entered the
home of Cord Adams on Ku-
sisto Road and lodged in the
microwave oven. Four people
were in the room at the time,
according to English.
“Based on the investiga-
tion, the deputies were able to
determine that the shots were
allegedly fired from Mr. Ha-
zlett’s home,” in the 3000 block
of Kusisto, English said.
English said alcohol was in-
volved, but both men com-
plied with officers. They were
arrested and taken to NOR-
COR in The Dalles. Both are
scheduled to appear in Hood
River Circuit Court on Jan. 12.
English said New Year’s
Eve was “uneventful overall. I
think the fact that it was on a
weeknight and it was pretty
darned cold were mitigating
factors,” English said.
Extra deputies were out on
DUII patrol but made no ar-
rests nor issued citations.
The same was the case in
the City of Hood River, ac-
Photos by Kirby Neumann-Rea
TAKING THE OATH: At top, Hood River County counsel Will Carey administers the oath of office to re-elected Commissioners Bob Benton, standing at left, and Karen Joplin,
watched by County Chair Ron Rivers, center, and Commissioner Les Perkins. Not present was Commissioner Maui Meyer. At right, Rivers takes his turn. Above, City Council
Members Susan Johnson, left, Peter Cornelison and Becky Brun take the oath of office at a separate ceremony at City Hall.
Larson and Mike Matthews,
emergency services coordi-
nator Barb Ayers, and Cas-
cade Locks City Administra-
tor Gordon Zimmerman and
his wife, Coral, along with
City Administrator David
Meriwether, legal counsel
Lisa Davies, and adminis-
trate assistant Sandi Lain.
At City Hall, supporters
including Susan Johnson’s
father, Tom, visiting from
Tucson, Ariz., and return-
ing
councilors
K at e
McBride and Mark Zan-
miller watched as the new
council members and mayor
took the oath. (Councilor
cording to Sgt. Don Cheli. A
31-year-old Hood River man
was cited for DUII on the
evening of Jan. 1, but that was
the sole citation, Cheli said.
“It was a little slow, which
was good,”’ he said. The Jan. 1
arrest stemmed from a citizen
reporting seeing an apparent-
ly impaired man getting into
his vehicle downtown on Co-
lumbia. Officer Sal Rivera
stopped and arrested the man
in the 1300 block of Cascade.
“We had extra cars out for
‘It was a little slow
which was good ...
we had extra cars
out for DUII
saturation and we
made a lot of car
stops but no arrests.’
— SGT. DON CHELI
DUII saturation, and we made
a lot of car stops but no ar-
rests,” Cheli said.
The New Year’s Day acci-
Laurent Picard was not pre-
sent.)
“We had good energy on
the last council, but I think
we’ll have different energy,”
Zanmiller said. “I’m really
looking forward to the dis-
cussions.’
Asked about what’s next
in terms of challenges or
chief tasks for City Council,
the new officials answered
this way:
Becky Brun
“The budget is the biggest
thing looming. It’s going to be
our biggest challenge in this
next quarter,” Brun said.
dent happened at about 7 p.m.
at Oak and Second streets.
According to witnesses,
Maureen Vargas, 56, and her
husband, Orlando, were cross-
ing the street and were report-
ed to be inside the crosswalk
when a 76-year-old Mosier
man allegedly struck Mau-
reen Vargas and continued
without stopping, after turn-
ing right from Oak onto Sec-
ond.
Orlando Vargas was able to
move out of the way without
being hit, but his wife fell to
the ground and suffered a bro-
ken wrist and strained back,
according to Cheli. Orlando
Vargas chased the vehicle on
foot and threw a soda bottle,
striking it. The driver then
stopped and Vargas confront-
ed the man, who was later
cited for Failure to Perform
the Duties of a Driver.
Maureen Vargas was treat-
ed and released at Providence
Hood River Memorial Hospi-
tal, and the case got somewhat
confusing when officers con-
tacted her there, according to
Cheli.
“Upon being released Var-
gas was unsure if the truck
had actually made contact
with her or if she had sus-
tained the injuries from jump-
Hood River Weather Forecast
Date
Today Jan 7
Thurs. Jan 8
Forecast
Partly Cloudy
Partly Cloudy
Daytime / Overnight
High / Low (°F)
48° / 35°
47° / 35°
Fri. Jan 9
Partly Cloudy
48° / 36°
Sat. Jan 10
Partly Cloudy
49° / 37°
Sun. Jan 11
AM Clouds PM Sun
45° / 38°
“It feels good. I feel like I’ve
been mentally preparing the
last months, and clearing my
plate of a few other things,”
she said.
Susan Johnson
“We’re going to find out,
we’ll be working on a few
things. Well see, it’ll be a sur-
prise,” Johnson said.
“I’m really excited. You can
tell by the look on my face,”
she said.
Peter Cornelison
Cornelison said he enjoyed
the council/staff goal-setting
session in late 2014, attended
ing out of the way,” Cheli said.
“She said the whole incident
happened very quickly.”
Cheli said, “at this point, all
we have to go by is the state-
ments of several witnesses,
who were certain that the ve-
hicle had struck her, but the
victim said she is unsure if
that was what happened.” The
case is under review by the
Hood River County District
Attorney’s office.
■
On Dec. 29, at 9:47 p.m.,
Hood River Police stopped a
vehicle on Interstate 84 near
milepost 66, for improper lane
change violation.
Of ficers contacted the
drive, Kenneth Sitz, 54, from
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and de-
tected an odor of marijuana
from inside the vehicle. Ac-
cording to Cheili, Sitz admit-
ted to having a small amount
of marijuana inside his vehi-
cle. He consented to a search,
and more than eight pounds of
marijuana and just under a
quarter-pound of hashish
were allegedly recovered, ac-
cording to Cheli. Sitz was
lodged at NORCOR on charges
of Possession and Delivery of
Marijuana and Possession,
Delivery and Manufacturing
of Hashish.
by then-council and the
electees, pointing to coopera-
tion with the Port, community
building, and additional help
for the planning staff among
the prime goals of the city.
“Eighty percent of the city
is stuff that can’t be changed,
the ongoing work of the city,
but it’s that 20 percent we can
influence,” Cornelison said.
Paul Blackburn
“I’m excited to get going. It
was such a long process of
campaigning but this is what
it’s all about. I’m excited to get
going and do the work,” he
said.
L OLLEY
Continued from Page A1
fending Lolley for his
“grandfatherly” influence in
their lives.
But Deputy District Attor-
ney Carrie Rasmussen pre-
sented a far different picture
of Lolley. Rasmussen read
statements by three parents
of the girls abused, and one
mother, whose first name is
Tabitha, spoke to Lolley and
the judge. Tabitha was ac-
companied by victims’ advo-
cate Gloria Needham.
“My daughter cries every
time she hears your name,”
Tabitha said. “I pray there
are not children out there
who even worse things hap-
pened. I knew you for years
and I gave you the benefit of
the doubt, but I know now I
was in denial about you. And
I feel guilty for that. I
thought that some old people
just go about things differ-
ently, they can be touchy-
feely. But a trust that is bro-
ken can’t be fixed. I just hope
this helps protect other chil-
dren.”
Lolley initially faced 14
Oregon Weather Map
Newport
53° | 50°
Portland
52° | 47°
Salem
54° | 48°
Eugene
55° | 45°
Pendleton
48° | 37°
Bend
46° | 37°
Ontario
37° | 28°
Last Update on 05 Jan 7:00 am PST
IDAHO
North Bend
58° | 49°
Medford
56° | 38°
Klamath Falls
49°
| 32°
CALIF.
© 2015 Wunderground.com
Today’s Forecast
Mon. Jan 12
Tues. Jan 13
Mostly Cloudy
Partly Cloudy
WINTER
CHECKLIST
48° / 40°
44° / 36°
counts of first-degree sexual
abuse after allegedly touch-
ing the private parts of three
girls, ages 8, 10, and 11, on
multiple occasions in 2013.
He is the former owner of
KV Pottery on Tucker Road
in Hood River, where he
taught pottery classes to chil-
dren and adults before the
business closed after his ar-
rest.
Lolley was originally
scheduled to enter a plea in
April, but his attorney last
spring asked the court to
push back the plea date to
June 30, and it was pushed
back again to August. When
Lolley was arrested back in
December 2013, he was origi-
nally held in NORCOR on
$300,000 bail, but Starns was
able to get the bail reduced to
$40,000 in February 2014, de-
spite the objections of Ras-
mussen. She noted at the
time that Lolley had a 1989
conviction for public inde-
cency after exposing his gen-
itals to two young girls as
they walked to school in
front of his home in Hood
River.
Families of the alleged
new victims also made im-
passioned requests to the
court to keep Lolley in jail.
Humidity 85%
Wind Speed WNW 8 G 22 MPH
Barometer NA
Dewpoint 47°F (8°C)
Visibility NA
WASH.
Astoria
53° | 49°
“It’s going to take us all a
little awhile to get our feet
wet and figure out how the
process works,” said Black-
burn, who alone among the
new officials had served on
council, 2004-08.
“I hope we can move for-
ward expeditiously on doing
the work of the city,” Black-
burn said. “I know many of
the incoming folks have
agenda items they’re hot to
talk about and we’ll begin
getting a sense of each other
and where we want to go to-
gether, because of course the
staff runs the city, we give
the guidance.”
Actual High / Low
AGRIMET HOOD RIVER OR
Lat: 45.6842 Long: -121.5181 Elev: 510
http://uspest.org
Dec
Dec
Dec
Jan
Jan
Jan
Jan
29
30
31
1
2
3
4
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38/28
28/20
40/29
30/14
43/16
40/33
36/32
Partly sunny, with a high near 44. East wind around 6 mph.
Updated Monday, Jan 5
at 9:00 a.m. PST
Data from www.weather.com
HOOD RIVER
3140 W. CASCADE •541-386-1123