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About The Hood River news. (Hood River, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 11, 2015)
STATE CHAMPIONS ‘FULL MONTY’ HRV girls wrestle to the top – M IDWEEK E DITION A7 Vol. 109, No. 12 Musical opens Friday – B3 Official Newspaper, City of Hood River and Hood River County HOOD RIVER, OREGON ■ WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2015 75 cents 2 Sections, 26 Pages www.hoodrivernews.com Burglar hits CL School, church ‘It is my job to implement programs to guide balance and sustainable growth.’ The Hood River County Sheriff ’s Of- fice is seeking information related to two burglaries in Cascade Locks that happened on the night of Jan. 5. The incidents were in Cascade Locks School and neighboring Cas- cade Locks Community Church, be- tween 8 and 10 p.m. More than $1,000 worth of damage was caused by forced entry through multiple locked doors at the school. A white adult male in a dark sweatshirt was captured on surveillance video breaking an office window. Sheriff Matt English said his office is seeking information now about bur- glaries from last month because some leads that deputies were following had failed to pan out. In 2014 there were six burglaries re- ported in Cascade Locks, out of 51 total in the county; in 2013 there were three in Cascade Locks and a total of 42, according to the Sheriff ’s office. SCHOOL VIDEO surveillance image of the Cascade Locks burglary sus- pect. Image submitted by Hood River Sheriff office See SUSPECT, Page A10 – JOHN ROBERTS, COUNTY PLANNING DIRECTOR Planning director dives in By TRISHA WALKER News staff writer The Hood River County Planning Department has a new director of community development. On Dec. 15, John Roberts suc- ceeded longtime director Mike Benedict, who retired at the end of November after 15 years with Hood River County Planning. Roberts spent the last three and a half years as Wasco County plan- ning director, where he was hired to “improve customer service and communication between the plan- ning department and both the pub- lic and community organizations,” he said. “It was a work in progress, in which my staff was also very in- volved, and I feel we collectively improved our service levels and made some key process improve- ments and changes to operational efficiencies.” Before coming to Wasco County, Roberts worked 10 years as senior planner and manager of long range planning in Summit County, Colo., where he was responsible “for all long range planning activities de- velopment and adoption of master plans, managing and implementing programs to guide future growth Photo by Kirby Neumann-Rea BRIDGE OF THE GODS toll employee Peggy Towery reaches to accept a toll from a driver heading north. Port officials are looking at creating an electronic toll system for the first time in the bridge’s 90-year history. Port of CL looking at electronic tolling for BOTG By BEN MITCHELL News staff writer Crossings over the Bridge of the Gods may soon be getting quicker as the Port of Cas- cade Locks is looking at having the bridge outfitted with electronic tolling technology by this fall. The Cascade Locks Port Commission re- viewed a report last week during its regular meeting that contained information on dif- ferent kinds of electronic tolling technology offered by companies such as Xerox and 3M that the port might potentially install on the Bridge of the Gods. In general, electronic toll collection func- tions with the use of transponders that are fashioned to a vehicle’s windshield or dash- board and are then read by an antenna or other device as they pass through a toll booth. The transponder can either be con- nected to the driver’s bank account, or the entity that is collecting the tolls can choose to bill the driver at regular intervals. The Port of Hood River installed similar technology, referred to as “BreezeBy,” on the Hood River Bridge in 2007. Port of Cascade Locks General Manager Paul Koch indicated that this would be the first time electronic tolling technology had been used on the nearly 90-year-old Bridge of the Gods. Koch said the port is looking to install the technology to improve the tracking and re- porting of toll collections and to speed up the time it takes to collect a toll “as traffic in- creases on the bridge.” Koch said the system would also help make sure “that we are prop- erly measuring the number of axles” of ve- hicles that cross the bridge. In July, ODOT notified the port it would have to restrict spe- cialized haul vehicles that had more than four axles and weights of 50,000 pounds if the port could not afford to upgrade its ap- proach spans. See BRIDGE, Page A9 See PLANNING, Page A9 Sweet and Sour: pFriem Family Brewing’s ‘overwhelming, and perfect’ expansion BREWMASTER, and guy with his name on the business, Josh Pfriem stands in front of the nexus of original brewing area and the new section, now under construction. The brew- ery, founded in 2012, is going through one of two staged ex- pansion periods. Expansion will allow pFriem to offer an expanded range of sour beers, including Lambic, a traditional Belgian ale produced via spon- taneous fermentation. ■ Page A9 – Details on Zwick - elmania tour events. By KIRBY NEUMANN-REA News editor The folks at pFriem will have plenty to tell Zwickelmania visitors this weekend. As breweries around the state are opening their doors and celebrating the compounding growth of Oregon’s brew- ing industry (see sidebar, page A9), the Belgian-style brewhouse on the Hood River waterfront exemplifies that growth. pFriem rhymes with dream, not prime, but both words apply to what is going on at the brewery that is not yet three years old. Growth is a challenge, but the only sour part is the beers that have been aging for 18 months and sched- uled for market this spring. pFriem is bursting, poised to double in output this year and double that again in about another two years, as the brewery Photo by Kirby Neumann-Rea A2, 3 — Entertainment A4 — Viewpoint A5 — Zwickelmania A6 — Obituaries, Police log A7, 8 — Sports B1 — Travelogue to India B2 — Cascade Observations B3 — Happenings B6 — Parkdale News B8 — Classifieds 05105 97630 See PFRIEM, Page A9 Three To Go LOOK INSIDE 7 adds tanks and expands its sour produc- tion area and prepares for its first bot- tling next month. pFriem Family Brewing is gearing up for more efficiency and capacity to keep up with rapidly expanding production of beers such as Belgian Strong Dark, Strong Blonde, and Wit, and this spring, its new line of Flanders Red and Flan- ders Blonde sours. “2015 is the year that everything comes together that we wanted to do,” said co-owner and brewmaster Josh Pfriem, who started out brewing solo in 2012 with part-time help and now em- ploys six other brewers, with another coming aboard this spring. “Because we’ve grown so fast, we’ve had to hold off on bottling and some of the smaller projects. It’s like a dog chas- 3 ‘College Night’ on Feb. 11 at HRVHS Class of 2016 “On the Road to Col- lege Night” for students and parents will be Wednesday, Feb. 11 at Hood River Valley High School. This is the first stop for parents and students as they plan for life after high school. The guidance counselors and ASPIRE program will be presenting information re- garding the college search process, admission testing and college cost information. This night is designed for juniors only. Cub Scouts invite boys to OMSI trip Mayor speaks on Radio Tierra Thursday Cub Scout Pack 378 is planning a trip to OMSI and the Oregon Rail Museum on Saturday, Feb. 28. They plan to do all the activities at OMSI as well as tour the rail museum and take a 45 minute train ride. All boys who might be inter- ested in Cub Scouts (grades 1-5) are invited. Be- cause tickets must be purchased in advance to get the group discount, it is necessary to call Cubmaster Alex Marquez 541-490-7908 by Feb. 13 if you would like to accompany the pack. The cost for the two activities is $15 and a sack lunch is needed. (The pack will pay half the cost of the tickets if a boy decides to join the pack.) Mayor Paul Blackburn will make his first appear- ance on Radio Tierra (KZAS 95.1 Hood River) since taking office last month. Humberto Calderon will interview Blackburn about city issues at 8 a.m. Thursday. Blackburn, who speaks Spanish, recently formed a Latino Advisory Commit- tee that next meets at City Hall on April 7 at 4:30 p.m.; the community is welcome. Council Member Becky Brun said in Monday’s City Council meeting that Hood River resident Carlos Alvarez had spoken with her about revitalizing Hood River’s Sister City rela- tionship with Colotlan, Mexico. Blackburn said he would use the April meeting as an opportunity to explore the topic.
