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About The Hood River news. (Hood River, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 24, 2015)
Sports W HAT ’ S G OING O N Wrestlers Entertainment A3 This week at HRVHS A5 Happenings A9 roll – A7 Official Newspaper, City of Hood River and Hood River County HOOD RIVER, OREGON ■ W EEKEND E DITION Vol. 109, No. 7 SATURDAY, JANUARY 24, 2015 75 cents 2 Sections, 16 Pages www.hoodrivernews.com Giving a boost to Tensing up Gorge Commission Bridge lift span issue tied to cables; re-tension work likely this summer By BEN MITCHELL News staff writer The Hood River Bridge’s lift span has not been setting cor- rectly and an engineering firm contracted with the Port of Hood River believes it has dis- covered why. At a port meeting on Tuesday, David McCurry, project lead at Portland engineering firm HDR, reported that the cables respon- sible for raising and lowering the main lift span of bridge were no longer all tensioned cor- rectly, causing the span to set slightly out of balance. McCur- ry likened it to a four-legged stool where one of the legs isn’t quite touching the floor. The News published a story about the issue in November of last year, where it was reported that a three-quarter--inch gap had formed between the bottom of the lift span and the bearings — points of contact between the bridge piers and the span. Port Executive Director Michael McElwee said at the time that the issue with the bridge was not an imminent threat to mo- torist safety but was “about careful, prudent, active manage- ment of the movable lift span.” Workers with HDR performed daytime inspections of the bridge on Nov. 17 and Nov. 24 of last year to examine bridge op- erations in general and to deter- mine the cause of the setting issue, examining the lift span’s control room, climbing up and down the side of the bridge to check the cables, and conduct- ing other inspections. What they found was general- ly good news for the port. Al- though HDR discovered some other issues — switches not op- erating properly, warning gates on the bridge not dropping on the first try — the problem af- fecting the lift span did not re- quire repairs to the physical structure of the bridge. “There really just needs to be a span balance exercise done, a re-tensioning of the wire ropes,” explained McCurry. “There’s not a lot of wear. “Once the issue is fixed, the span should come down nice and level,” he added. The other good news the port received was the cables did not need to be replaced, which would have significantly in- creased the cost of the project. McCurry said the cost of rem- See BRIDGE, Page A2 with the Gorge Commission to ad- dress funding issues, the “various ef- fects” of the National Scenic Act, and determine any needed changes to the act that “could enhance the re- lationship between the (Gorge) Com- mission and Oregon and Washing- By BEN MITCHELL ton.” News staff writer The bill comes on the heels of The Gorge may be renowned for what has been a long pattern of re- its beauty, but the law that protects duced budgets and staffing that have the area, the National Scenic affected the Gorge Commis- Act, and the entity that im- sion, which is tasked with plements it, the Columbia protecting Gorge resources, River Gorge Commission, promoting economic devel- aren’t always so visible. opment within the region, Rep. John Huffman (R-The and addressing land use is- Dalles), has recently intro- sues. The agency, which was duced a bill he hopes will created a year after the Na- boost both the act’s and the tional Scenic Act was signed commission’s profiles with into law by President Ronald Rep. John his colleagues in the State Reagan in 1986, must be Huffman Legislature and help support equally funded by Oregon the commission as it struggles to ob- and Washington. If one state ear- tain enough funding to adequately marks less money for the Gorge carry out its federally-mandated du- Commission than the other, the ties. Gorge Commission is required to ac- The bill, HB 2039, would provide cept the lower amount. for the creation of a bi-state, bi-parti- When both states unveiled their san, bi-cameral taskforce comprised budget proposals last month, that’s of Gorge legislators and Governors’ representatives who would meet See GORGE, Page A2 Legislation would create taskforce, fund more employees At town hall, Walden faces tough climate By KIRBY NEUMANN-REA many of them critical of his record. (In the Jan. 17 forum, Walden also A dialog, and silent protest, on cli- took criticism on health care and im- migration. A longer version of this mate change wove through article appears on the newspa- U.S. Rep. Greg Walden’s per’s website, hoodriver- hometown town hall meeting news.com.) at Hood River Adult Center, Walden voiced his support attended by about 75 people. for the Secure Schools Act Walden spent about 15 (SSA), and said it would be minutes with a legislative among the top House priori- update, in which he reiterat- ties in February. ed his long-standing advoca- At the Jan. 17 town hall, cy for legislation that would Rep. Greg County Commission chair allow forest thinning and Walden Ron Rivers encouraged other practices in high-risk Walden to push for continua- fire areas of the state. Then, for about 75 minutes, See LAND, Page A2 Walden took audience questions, News editor S p o t l i g h t WORKERS FROM HDR inspect cables on the Hood River Bridge in November 2014. a t u r d a y A weekly series about a day in the life ... Karen Gass finds joy in teaching, hiking BY TRISHA WALKER News staff writer Photo by Blaine Franger KAREN GASS — or Teacher Karen to her students — has been teaching at Little Feet Cooperative Preschool for the past 20 years. Class begins and ends with circle time, with stories and songs. Photo by Trisha Walker A2 — CGCC information night A3 — Entertainment A4 — Viewpoint A6 — Obituaries A7 — Sports A8 — Kid Space A9 — Happenings, Legals GC — Classifieds 05105 97630 Karen Gass — or Teacher Karen, as she’s commonly known — has been teaching at Little Feet Cooperative Preschool for the past 20 years. While much has changed over that time, one factor has not: The preschoolers themselves. Too young to be influenced much by iPads or the Internet like their older counterparts, they’ve stayed pretty much the same. What has changed is the busyness of parents and the increase of two-income families. “I think it’s harder and harder, as the years go on, to have a commitment for parents to do a co-op,” she said. “Years ago, it was not uncommon for more stay at home moms. Now, families are a lot more creative on how they can make it work, one, in Hood River, a pretty pricey community, and two, to be in the classroom and in their kids’ lives.” Another change? More stay at home dads. “There are lots more stay at home dads,” she said. Please see KAREN, Page A5 Three To Go LOOK INSIDE 7 Photo courtesy of HDR 3 Community Ed class offering deadline Feb. 15 Public hearing on zoning ordinance Wednesday Do you have a skill or interest you can share? How about an event you want to inform the community about? Feb. 15 is the deadline for class offer- ings and advertisement for the new Community Education catalog, sched- uled to be distributed in late March. Community Ed is actively seeking instructors to present all types of class- es. Submit a proposal before Feb. 15 for the Spring/Summer 2015 catalog. For more information, contact Com- munity Ed at 541-386-2055 or email com- munity.ed@hoodriver.k12.or.us. The Hood River County Planning Commis- sion will hold a public hearing on Jan. 28 at 7 p.m. to consider proposed amendments to Arti- cle 61 of the county’s zoning ordinance regard- ing review of land use decisions by the Hood River County Board of Commissioners. The amendments pertain to simplifying language, creating a more straightforward hearing process, and address the existing limits to which the board can affect a decision. For more infor- mation, go to the county’s website at http://www.co.hood-river.or.us/ and click on “Community Development” under the “County Departments” tab or call 541-387-6840. Watershed Group looks at Indian Creek Hood River Watershed Group will host presentations on “Fire Hazard Conditions along Indian Creek and Re- ducing Risk to Homes” by Fire Chief Devon Wells and Indian Creek Stewardship: Successes and Challenges by the Indian Creek Stewards at 6 p.m. on Tuesday at the OSU Exten- sion meeting room, 2990 Experi- ment Station Rd. Based on the mul- tiple fires along Indian Creek this summer, Wells will discuss the fire risks in the area and what might be done to reduce hazards. The Stew- ards’ presentation will describe community engagement, restoration projects, current conditions, and future potential around Indian Creek.