Gorge
Columbia River
Business
February 2015
Review
Covering Gorge Business
TD Chamber
Distinguished
Citizens:
Man, Woman
of the Year
Page 6
Volume 7, No. 2
SPECIAL
SECTIONS
INSIDE
Annual Hood River
County Chamber
Banquet
Page 3
W EEKEND E DITION
Vol. 109, No. 11
Official Newspaper, City of Hood River and Hood River County
HOOD RIVER, OREGON
■
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2015
75 cents
4 Sections, 38 Pages
www.hoodrivernews.com
Ordinance to revise
‘unusual’ BOCC land
use review process
Hearing on proposed
ordinance Feb. 11
By BEN MITCHELL
News staff writer
SCOUTS remove dumped tires from an ac-
cess road near Bennett Pass. It took about
an hour and then they returned to the fun
of snow camping.
Photo by Dave Slover
Scouts show tireless ‘can-do’
By KIRBY NEUMANN-REA
News editor
Lack of snowpack exposed an
ugly mountainside scene, but a
group of Scouts quickly dealt with
it.
Troop 282, Venture Crew 282,
Troop 378 and Troop 398 were on a
snow camping trip to Bennett Pass
last weekend, and discovered an il-
legal dump of 88 tires along a trail
about a quarter-mile up a service
road.
The scouts, all 50, plus adults,
rolled, carried and sledded the
tires to a waiting Les Schwab
truck.
“Leave no trace is the outdoor
code we all go by, and this was a
way to reinforce that,” said Scout-
master Jeff McCaw. “It’s just un-
fortunate that people would do
that.”
“They just jumped in and did it.
They truly have gotten to that
point that when they see stuff, they
want to take care of it,” he said.
Assistant Scoutmaster Dave
Slover said once the tires were dis-
covered, they decided to call Les
Schwab, who had a truck there
within two hours.
“Many hands were primed for a
service project, the trail was
cleaned up inside of an hour and
we continued on our overnight ad-
venture,” Slover said.
“Leave no trace is the
outdoor code
we all go by, and this
was a way to
reinforce that.”
JEFF MCCAW, SCOUTMASTER
“When we get a chance for ser-
vice we are quick to get to it,” he
said. “We saw the tires and it was a
natural for our group to clean
them up. It is pretty awesome!”
Michael Becker, assistant Scout-
master, took the group up Saturday
morning to set up, and they found
the tire dump.
McCaw said Becker had taken a
group of Scouts to the same loca-
tion in August and the tires were
not there. Les Schwab responded
with “no questions asked,” McCaw
said. “We really appreciated their
support. It cost them time and gas,
and the cost of disposal.”
“The Scouts have a ‘go get ‘em’
attitude, and we could have had
five times the tires. That’s what’s
pretty cool, the attitude they have
about it,” McCaw said.
The winter trip, emphasizing
survival skills and also known as
Photo by Dave Slover
LES SCHWAB employee Ron Solomon
drove up to collect the tires, which
nearly maxed out the truck. With him
are scoutmasters Michael Becker, cen-
ter, and Jeff McCaw.
Snowmageddon, is a favorite and
always well attended, Slover noted.
“Usually we ski or snowshoe, but
this year we just hiked on the lim-
ited hard snowpack. It is great for
young people to know they can be
comfortable on a cold rainy/snowy
winter night outdoors,” he said.
“Our troop tries to have a campout
every month of the year. We do all
kinds of fun things like backpack-
ing, rafting on the Deschutes and
John Day and canoeing at Lost
Lake and Timothy Lake.”
S p o t l i g h t
a
t
u
r
d
a
y
The Hood River Police Depart-
ment has arrested a 17-year-old ju-
venile male they say is responsible
for a recent vandalism spree on the
west side of the city of Hood River.
Hood River Police Chief Neal
Holste reported that a juvenile was
arrested in the early morning
hours of Feb. 4 in connection with
the crimes, which involved “ap-
proximately 22 Hood River resi-
dents having their vehicles and
property vandalized” with gold-
colored spray paint.
Safeway employees were the
first to report the vandalism to
their vehicles and after officers
searched the area for the suspect,
they found “several more vehicles
with similar vandalism” located
outside homes immediately south
of Safeway. Holste said property
was found damaged in a path start-
ing from the storage units adjacent
to Safeway, going down Cascade,
south on 20th Street, and then east
on Prospect Street to the Hood
River Middle School.
Holste reported that the juvenile
lived in the vicinity of where the
damage occurred and was contact-
ed on a “hunch” because HRPD
“had dealt with the juvenile on dif-
ferent incidents over the last
month.” When asked for a possible
motive, Holste said the 17-year-old
told police that he was “mad at the
world.”
The juvenile was booked on
Please see POLICE, Page A10
A weekly series about a day in the life ...
Tom Yates begins a new path at an old career
BY TRISHA WALKER
News staff writer
Photos by Trisha Walker
Tom Yates is going through a bit of a transition at Provi-
dence Down Manor, where he’s worked as community rela-
tions coordinator for almost two years.
He’s decided to cut back on his hours and has taken a new
position that begins this Sunday: activities and transporta-
tion assistant for Providence Down Manor and neighboring
Providence Brookside Manor.
“I like my job,” said Yates. “I like helping senior people. I
just turned 66, so I’m like, ‘Tom, you’d better start liking
yourself,’” he joked.
Yates has been with Providence for the past seven years,
and this is not the first change he’s made, having started as
assistant administrator at Brookside.
But more on that later.
As community relations coordinator, Yates is in charge of
outreach — or, in his words, “bringing people into the build-
ing.” He described the job as “full time, just being out in the
community and letting people know the good things about
Down Manor.”
Please see TOM, Page A7
Three To Go
A2 — Legislative Update
A3 — Entertainment
A4— Viewpoint
A5 — This Week at HRVHS
A6 — Obituaries,
Building Permits
A7, 8 — Sports
A9 — Legals, Happenings
A11 — Business
GC — Classifieds
05105 97630
Please see ZONING, Page A10
Police arrest juvenile in
Feb. 4 vandalism spree
TOM YATES is transitioning from his role as
community relations coordinator at Providence
Down Manor to activities and transportation assis-
tant, which will also include neighboring Providence
Brookside Manor. Here, Yates visits with residents during lunch
hour in the center’s dining room.
LOOK INSIDE
7
The Hood River County Plan-
ning Commission will hold a hear-
ing next week to decide whether it
should amend an “unusual” zon-
ing ordinance that currently does
not allow the Board of County
Commissioners to modify land use
decisions made by the planning
commission.
The public hearing is one of the
first under new Hood River Coun-
ty Planning Director John Roberts
and is an attempt by the county to
clarify language in its zoning laws
as well as streamline the process
by which county commissioners
review land use appeals.
The Wednesday evening hearing
is prompted in part by the findings
included in an Oregon Land Use
Board of Appeals (LUBA) case
published two years ago regarding
a dispute over Barrett Park be-
tween the Hood River Valley Parks
and Recreation District and Hood
River County as well as local or-
chardists Fritz and JoAnn von
Lubken. HRVPRD’s appeal
stemmed from a 2012 county com-
mission decision to overturn the
planning commission’s approval of
a needed park permit due to con-
cerns it was out of compliance
with state land use laws.
LUBA’s brief stated that the
county made errors when review-
ing the application and sent it back
to the planning commission. And
although it wasn’t listed as an
error, LUBA also noted that the
county’s ordinance governing the
process for reviewing land use ap-
peals was “unusual, resembling
the kind of limited review con-
3
Fort Dalles Museum
seeks volunteers
The cruise ships are coming!
Fort Dalles Museum needs volun-
teers to help welcome tourists to
The Dalles. Learn about local his-
tory while meeting and greeting
national and international travel-
ers. The first cruise ship arrives
March 4. Call today 541-296-4547
(leave a message) or email fort-
dallesmuseum@gmail.com. The
Fort Dalles Museum and Anderson
Homestead complex is located at
500 W. 15th and Garrison streets.
Second Punchbowl forum Tuesday
The next public forum regarding a plan to
create a county park at Punchbowl Falls will
take place Tuesday, Feb. 10 at 6 p.m. in the
County Business Administration Building at
601 State St., Hood River.
Hood River Valley Residents Committee
and other stakeholders will review the pub-
lic input received so far, then begin turning
that input into a plan, discussing habitat
conservation, recreation access for fishing
and paddling, trails, safety and maintenance.
HRVRC plans to post iterations of the plan
online for public review.
School superintendent
holds ‘Listening Sessions’
Hood River County School District Superintendent
Dan Goldman will be holding two community listening
sessions with the public in the month of February. He
will share information regarding the district’s budget
for the 2015-16 school year and district programs and
he will be collecting feedback from parents, staff and
community members regarding the information
shared.
The first listening session will be held on Feb. 12 at
the Hood River Valley High School Media Center. The
second listening session will be held on Tuesday, Feb.17
at the Wy’east Middle School Auditorium. Both ses-
sions are from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Spanish translation will be
provided at each forum.