Big Sky statement
W HAT ’ S G OING O N
Hawks
roll –
Entertainment A3 Happenings A9
W EEKEND E DITION
A10
Vol. 109, No. 3
Official Newspaper, City of Hood River and Hood River County
HOOD RIVER, OREGON
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75 cents
2 Sections, 16 Pages
SATURDAY, JANUARY 10, 2015
www.hoodrivernews.com
‘Grow a row for us’
Non-profit’s members look
at challenges and
opportunities in goal
of feeding the Gorge
By KIRBY NEUMANN-REA
News editor
Gorge Grown, champion of local grow-
ers and improved nutrition and access to
quality food in the region, hosted a wide-
ranging discussion on “feeding the
Gorge” Thursday.
At the second monthly “Community
Conversation” on local agriculture, Rebec-
ca Suits of Oregon State University asked
the producers to “Grow a row for us”: set
aside a portion of their fields to grow food
that can be used in nutrition education
programs in the schools.
Suits noted that this month, OSU nutri-
tion educator Lauren Kraemer served stu-
dents onions, caramelized and in high de-
mand — last month it was carrots — and
Suits said students responded well to con-
suming healthy foods. Kraemer is always
looking for local food to serve to kids at
“tasting tables” that demonstrate how de-
licious healthy, whole food can be.
Suits added that the Hood River County
School District is amenable to increasing
purchase of locally-grown food, as long as
they can get it fresh — just one opportuni-
ty mentioned in Thursday’s gathering at
Springhouse Cellars.
About 70 people attended, more than
Gorge Grown director Sarah Sullivan ex-
pected, prompting a second run for pizza,
as the group weighed in on challenges as
well as opportunities to local food produc-
ers.
Please see GROW, Page A2
Photo by Kirby Neumann-Rea
“CHANGE HAPPENS from the ground up,” Gorge Grown
director Sarah Sullivan told members Thursday.
Groups seek public
input on Punchbowl
First of two public
meetings on park
proposal held Tues.
By BEN MITCHELL
News staff writer
Park visioning meeting:
Tuesday, Jan. 13, 6-7:30 p.m.,
County Business Administration Building,
601 State St., Hood River. For more information,
contact Heather Staten at 541-490-5225 or
heather@hrvrc.org.
Punchbowl Falls online survey:
S p o t l i g h t
www.surveymonkey.com/s/punchbowlfalls.
Photo courtesy of Western Rivers Conservancy
PUNCHBOWL FALLS will be the subject of discussion during a public forum held next week to gather input on a plan to
turn 102 acres of land around the falls into a public park. The meeting will be held Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the County Busi-
ness Administration Building, 601 State St.
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Kirk Miller enjoys the challenges of Ski Patrol
By TRISHA WALKER
Photos by Trisha Walker; submitted
News staff writer
New year, new series
Kirk Miller has a day job — he’s a
software designer at Insitu — and,
with his 50 hour work weeks, you’d
think that would be enough to keep
him plenty busy.
Spoiler alert: It’s not.
This is Miller’s fourth year as a vol-
unteer member of the Mt. Hood Ski
Patrol. Unlike pro patrollers, who
cover all resort locations on Mount
Hood year round, volunteers commit
to working at Mt. Hood Meadows one
day every other weekend — for Miller,
that’s Sunday — during the season,
which generally runs November
through May.
Ski patrol serves as “a release from
my normal day to day routine, so it’s
a nice break for me,” he said. “How-
With
Megan
Spears we began
“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 KIRK, Page A7
Three To Go
A2 — The Ale List
A3 — Entertainment
A4 — Viewpoint
A6 — Obituaries, Public Records
A8 — Adopt-A-Pet
A9 — Legals, Happenings
A10 — Sports
GC — Classifieds
05105 97630
Please see LAND, Page A2
A weekly series about a day in the life ...
This is Kirk Miller’s fourth season on the Mt.
Hood Ski Patrol, a volunteer position he maintains
because he enjoys the comradery of the team. Pic-
tured are, from left, instructor John Gastineau, Miller,
and Beau Dickey.
LOOK INSIDE
7
Hood River County and conser-
vation groups want to turn an area
around a popular waterfall near
Dee into a public park and are look-
ing to the public for input on the
plan.
On Tuesday, a meeting will be
held in Hood River to discuss a pro-
posal regarding the development
and management of a public park
at Punchbowl Falls, located just
north of Dee off Punchbowl Road.
The 10-foot-high falls are created by
the West Fork of the Hood River
tumbling over pillars of columnar
basalt, from which swimmers often
leap on a hot summer’s day.
Though it is a popular place for
swimming as well as other recre-
ational activities, the land is cur-
rently private property. Portland
nonprofit Western Rivers Conser-
vancy bought 20 of its 102 acres
along Punchbowl Falls from
Longview Timber in 2006 and the
remainder from PacifiCorp in 2010
for the purpose of preserving the
land for public access as well as for
fish habitat. The land under WRC’s
ownership includes land south of
the falls and stretches past a popu-
lar sandy beach located north of
the falls at the confluence of the
East and West forks of the Hood
River.
WRC has been trying to sell its
land to the county for years with
the provision that it be used as a
county park, but has not been suc-
cessful. Early last year, WRC met
with the county and offered to sell
its land at half its appraised value
of $1.1 million and offered to set up
a development and maintenance
fund for the proposed park.
The county agreed and pursued a
$578,000 Oregon State Parks Grant
to purchase the park, but was de-
nied, with the state placing the re-
quest near the bottom of a list of 36
other projects around the state that
were also seeking funding.
Heather Staten, executive direc-
tor of Hood River Valley Residents
Committee, a citizens land use
group that is helping with the pub-
lic “visioning” process for the pro-
ject, said that one of the reasons
the state had ranked the project so
low was because the county had not
3
May special districts
election filing begins
Rotary Ski Day returns
Jan. 19 at Meadows
The filing period has started for the
Special District election on May 19,
2015.
Filings for special district seats are
accepted through March 19, which is
also the deadline for districts to file a
measure for the May election.
Potential candidates can find the fil-
ing form on the Hood River County
Elections website. All applications
must be in our office no later than 5
p.m. on March 19.
For details contact the Hood River
County Elections office at 541-386-1442.
The best deal on skiing you’ll find all year will be
Jan. 19 at Mt. Hood Meadows.
The occasion is the annual Rotary Ski Day, for all
the skiing you can do from 2-9 p.m. The price is $15
in advance, $20 at the gate. Go to: ski-
hood.com/schedules and events to purchase your
Rotary pass. Rotary devotes the proceeds to its
scholarship program and other projects. In addition
to the skiing, Rotary brings in singer-comedian Joe
Stoddard for a show from 6-9 p.m. Food and drink is
available for sale at the various Meadows outlets at
the resort. Regular tickets and season passes will be
in effect until 4 p.m., but after that you need a Ro-
tary ticket to use the lifts on Jan. 19.
Lions Club Christmas tree collection
The Hood River
Lions Club will be
picking up Christ-
mas trees inside the
Hood River city
limits today (Jan.
10) from 9 a.m. until
noon, said Christ-
mas Tree Pickup Project chairman Scott
Thomson. To participate, simply leave your
tree outside on the curb for club members to
collect. There is no charge for the service;
however, Lions members will go door-to-door
to collect donations, and donation envelopes
will left where residents are not at home.