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.