A4
V IEWPOINT
Hood River News,
Saturday, March 7, 2015
O ur readers write
JOE PETSHOW
Publisher/President,
Eagle Newspapers, Inc.
CHELSEA MARR
General Manager
JODY THOMPSON
Advertising Manager
DICK NAFSINGER
Publisher, Emeritus (1933-2011)
TOM LANCTOT
Past President,
Eagle Newspapers, Inc.
Meet Rob
Brostoff
KIRBY NEUMANN-REA
Editor
TONY METHVIN
Columbia Gorge Press Manager
DAVID MARVIN
Production Manager
Subscription $42 per year in Hood River trade area. $68 outside trade area.
NATIONAL NEWSPAPER
ASSOCIATION
Printed on
OREGON NEWSPAPER
PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION
recycled paper.
Official Newspaper, City of Hood River and Hood River County
Published Every Wednesday & Saturday by Hood River News,
P.O. Box 390, Hood River, Oregon 97031 • (541) 386-1234 • FAX 386-6796
Member of the Associated Press
Spring Ahead
— and get alarmed
M
arch 8 marks the beginning of Daylight
Saving Time and serves as a good reminder
for Oregonians to test their smoke alarms.
The Office of State Fire Marshal is urging
residents to test their smoke alarms before
automatically changing the batteries.
Smoke alarm technology has advanced and many
now come with 10-year batteries and some are tamper-
resistant, said State Fire Marshal Jim Walker. Residents
are encouraged to test their alarms before changing the
battery.
Oregon law requires ionization-only smoke alarms
that are solely battery powered to come equipped with a
hush feature and a 10-year battery. Because of this tech-
nology, the national slogan “Change your clock, Change
your battery” may not apply to Oregon residents who
have these ionization-only smoke alarms.
Other types of alarms are also being sold with either
a 10-year battery or a standard-life battery.
“Ensuring you have working smoke alarms in your
home is the single most important step you can take to
increase your family’s safety from a home fire,” adds
Walker. “Also, be sure to replace any smoke alarm that
is 10 years old or older.”
To test your alarm properly:
Push the test button to be sure the battery is working;
when replacing batteries, follow the manufacturer’s in-
structions for the correct battery to use; always retest
alarms after installing new batteries; replace any alarm
that fails to operate after installing a new battery; in-
spect your alarms to determine if they are 10 years old
or older, and replace any smoke alarm 10 years old or
older.
(Look for a date on the back of the alarm. If there is
no date, your alarm is more than 10 years old and
should be replaced.)
Finally, follow the manufacturer’s instructions on
regularly cleaning your alarms of dust and cobwebs.
Budget help
needed
T
Operations:
Joe Petshow
Publisher
President, Eagle Newspapers
(541) 386-1234
JPetshow@hoodrivernews.com
Front Office/
Classified Advertising:
Stacey Methvin
Classifieds/Receptionist
HRNClass@hoodrivernews.com
SMethvin@hoodrivernews.com
Circulation:
Esther K. Smith
Circulation Manager
(541) 386-1234 Ext. 205
ESmith@hoodrivernews.com
See CGCC art Good time to
students’ works enroll at CGCC
Sometime near the end of the 2014
Columbia Gorge Community Col-
lege spring term — as I was leaving
published author Tim Schell’s Writ-
ing 121 class — I stopped to admire
some art that was being exhibited by
the students of Abby Merickel’s
printmaking class. There were infor-
mative displays, pictures of the stu-
dents creating prints, actual
linoleum blocks carved by the stu-
dents that I could pick up and study,
as well as the tools used to make
them, along with a wide array of
very interesting hand-pulled prints
to look at. I was so impressed by the
quality of art that was being shown
and equally intrigued in the differ-
ent processes being used that I de-
cided it was a class I needed to take.
I enrolled in Art 270 Printmaking
for winter term, and it has been a
fantastic experience thus far. As the
term draws to a close, we have ex-
Please consider taking a class
with Columbia Gorge Community
College. So many wonderful learn-
ing opportunities to enrich your life
are available right here in the Gorge.
The spring schedule is available now
and registration just started this
week, so now is a good time to con-
sider taking that class that you have
been putting off taking. Statewide,
community college enrollment is
down 20 percent. The good side to
this is smaller class sizes and more
one on one student to instructor at-
tention. Please take a look at the of-
ferings and consider a new adven-
ture in your life of learning. Sched-
ules are available at the college loca-
tions in Hood River and The Dalles,
or online. Classes will be starting
March 30.
Elizabeth Anderson
Hood River
Climate change
deniers
Climate change deniers have an
icon they look up to with reverence
and unshakable faith. Their deity is
Wei-Hock Soon. Soon, who is not a
climate scientist but a physicist, has
made a career and a living out of
denying any human activity effect-
ing the earth’s climate change – it is
all the fault of “changes in varia-
tions in the sun’s energy.” But
Soon’s much quoted “climate re-
search” was paid by Exxon Mobil,
Southern Company, the American
Petroleum Institute and the Charles
G. Koch Charitable Foundation,
March 11 — Hood River County
School board meets at 6:30 p.m. at
May Street Elementary
ly the first and third Mondays of
the month. Place and dates subject
to change.
March 9 — Cascade Locks City
Council meets at 7 p.m. and the Hood
River Council at 6 p.m. at their re-
spective city halls.
Hood River Port Commission, 5
p.m., 100 E. Port Marina Drive,
board room, first and third Tues-
days of the month.
Hood River City Council, 6 p.m.,
Hood River City Hall Council
Chambers, 211 Second St., second
and fourth Mondays of the month.
■
These are the regular meeting
times of governing bodies for these
agencies:
Cascade Locks
Cascade Locks City Council, 7
p.m., City Hall Council Chambers,
140 W. WaNaPa St., second and
fourth Mondays of the month.
Cascade Locks Port Commission,
6 p.m., City Hall Council Chambers,
140 W. WaNaPa St., first and third
Thursdays of the month.
President — Barack Obama, White House, 1600 Pennsylva-
nia Ave., Washington D.C., 20500
E-mail: president@whitehouse.gov
U.S. Senators — Jeff Merkley, SDB-40B, Dirksen Senate Office
Building, Washington D.C., 20510. Phone: 202-224-3753; E-mail:
oregon@merkley.senate.gov; Ron Wyden, 717 Hart Office Build-
ing, Washington D.C., 20510. Phone: 202-224-5244.
Web address: www.senate.gov/member/or/wyden/general/
Founded in 1905
419 State Street
Hood River, OR 97031
P.O. Box 390
Phone: (541) 386-1234
Fax: (541) 386-6796
It doesn’t matter if you agree with
Obama’s Iranian nuclear policy or
not. How dare some foreigner come
into my house and tell me what to
do! Into my country, my capitol, my
Congress. Save it for the floor of the
UN or your own country where it be-
longs.
Jerry Giarraputo
Hood River
Cascade Locks Planning Commis-
sion, 7 p.m., City Hall Council Cham-
bers, 140 W. WaNaPa St., second
Thursday of the month.
W HERE TO WRITE
Chris Stenberg
Bookkeeper
CStenberg@hoodrivernews.com
Tell it to the UN
plored many techniques for relief,
surface and intaglio printing, such
as monotype, linocut, dry point and
solar-plate etching. The printmak-
ing class offers a wonderful opportu-
nity to work alongside local artists,
learn a valuable new skill, and cre-
ate something that you can display
and be proud of forever. The class is
collaborative as the students share
everything starting with the inking
table and printing press, as well as
the sharing of ideas and images, cre-
ating a real sense of community.
There is a mixture of degree seeking
students, and also people who enroll
just wanting to try their hand at
something new and interesting.
We will be having an open house
exhibition displaying the work cre-
ated this winter term on Tuesday,
March 17, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the
main lobby of the CGCC Hood River
campus across from Rosauers. The
course will be offered again spring
term — Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9
to 11:50 a.m. — at the Hood River In-
dian Creek campus. Stop by and see
what you are missing out on.
John Stewart
Hood River
ON THE AGENDA
his is budget crunch time — as in people are
needed to serve on local budget committees.
The deadline for elected special district posi-
tions is March 19, but the budget jobs are ap-
pointed, and seasonal — April through June. If
you’ve ever wanted a foot-in-the-door means of doing
public service, contact Columbia Gorge Community Col-
lege (details on page A1) and City of Hood River cityof-
hoodriver.com, about applying for the budget jobs.
The city is set to fill two positions on its Landmark
Review Board, which meets Wednesday at 3;30 p.m. at
City Hall and features an overview of historic buildings
and the differences between remodeling, renovating, re-
habilitating and restoring, by historic preservationist
Sally Donovan, one of the community’s keenest experts
on the subject.
Chelsea Marr
General Manager
CMarr@hoodrivernews.com
I’d like to introduce myself to the
Hood River community, especially the
West Side school community. My
name is Rob Brostoff and I’ve been
representing Cascade Locks as its ex-
officio member on our Hood River
school board for nearly three years.
I’d like to represent the West Side
School and community as well, so I’m
running for the school board to repre-
sent both. I’ve been a county resident
for nearly two decades and have held
public office here in Cascade Locks as
a city councilman, a planning com-
missioner, and as a member of both
the port and city budget committees.
Some of the challenges I see ahead
for our schools are the state budget,
which underfunds education, it’s gone
from 45 percent of the budget down to
39 percent, slowly reducing operating
revenues over many years. We also
face local challenges in raising our
graduation rates from 81 percent to
having all students ready for employ-
ment or prepared for entry to college.
Class sizes and days of instruction
per year are also issues. We also are
challenged to bring grade equity for
all students no matter what their
background or financial situation.
On the positive side, did you know
our high school was ranked by a
major newsmagazine at number 11 in
the state? That’s out of over 260 high
schools. We have outstanding stu-
dents doing incredible things, excel-
lent award winning robotics teams,
state champs in soccer, and placing
well above average in graduation
rates in the state.
Please vote and consider me when
you do so.
Rob Brostoff
Cascade Locks
groups with a strong financial stake
in denying man’s influence on climate
change. He was $1.2 million for “deliv-
erable” results. The conflict of inter-
est here is staggering.
Dr. Don Rose (letter “A non-solu-
tion,” Feb. 28) must be an avid follow-
er of Mr. Soon. The science of climate
change was settled decades ago, what
remains is a warring debate between
culture and ideology, not science. Yes,
the sun shines on this planet, without
it no life would exist. But the sun’s en-
ergy must pass thorough the earth’s
atmosphere. It is what is in that at-
mosphere that sunlight must pass
through that effects a planet’s climate.
Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
does have a profound effect on plane-
tary surface temperatures. Venus has
an atmosphere that is mostly CO2
with a small amount of Nitrogen.
Venus’s surface temperature is 825 de-
grees Fahrenheit. The more CO2
human activity releases into the
earth’s atmosphere, the higher our
surface temperatures will be. No ifs
ands or buts!
Gary Fields
Hood River
Hood River
City of Hood River Planning
Commission meeting, 5:30 p.m.,
Hood River City Hall Council
Chambers, 211 Second St., general-
News:
Kirby Neumann-Rea
Editor
HRNews@hoodrivernews.com
Hood River Soil and Water Con-
servation District Board of Direc-
tors meeting, 4 p.m., OSU Exten-
sion Service Building, 2990 Experi-
ment Station Road, first Thursday
of the month.
Hood River Valley Parks and
Recreation District, 6 p.m., Aquatic
Center, 1601 May St., third Wednes-
day of the month. Place subject to
change.
Hood River County
Hood River County Board of Com-
missioners regular session, 6 p.m.,
601 State St., first floor conference
room, third Monday of the month.
Time subject to change.
Library District Board meeting, 7
Trisha Walker
News/Features
TWalker@hoodrivernews.com
p.m., 502 State St., conference room,
third Tuesday of the month.
Hood River County Planning
Commission meeting, 7 p.m., 601
State St., first floor, generally second
and fourth Wednesdays of the
month.
Hood River County Water Plan-
ning Group, 2 p.m., 601 State St., first
floor conference room, generally
first Wednesday of the month.
Hood River County Commission
on Children and Families Board
meeting, 5:15 p.m., Providence Hood
River Memorial Hospital board-
room, generally first Tuesday of the
month.
Hood River County School Board,
6:30 p.m., meets at schools and dis-
trict facilities on a rotating schedule
(visit hoodriver.k12.or.us for loca-
tion), second and fourth Wednesdays
of the month unless school vaca-
tions or other holidays interrupt the
schedule.
Hood River County Transporta-
tion District, 9 a.m., Hood River
County Transportation District
Board Room, 224 Wasco Loop, sec-
ond Wednesday of the month.
Production:
David Marvin
Production Manager
Adam Lapierre
Ailene Hibbard
Archivist
DMarvin@hoodrivernews.com
News/Features
Advertising:
Jim Drake
ALapierre@hoodrivernews.com
Jody Thompson
Advertising Manager
JThompson@hoodrivernews.com
Production/Commercial Printing
Liana Stegall
Advertising Sales
LStegall@hoodrivernews.com
Production/Commercial Printing
Ben Mitchell
News/Features
BenMitchell@hoodrivernews.com
Jim Drake
Entertainment
JDrake@hoodrivernews.com
Kirsten Lane
Advertising Sales
KLane@hoodrivernews.com
JDrake@hoodrivernews.com
Andy Taylor
ATaylor@columbiagorgepress.com
Allen Diers
Commercial Printing
ADiers@hoodrivernews.com
419 State Street
Hood River, OR 97031
P.O. Box 390
Phone: (541) 386-1234
Fax: (541) 386-6796
Tony Methvin
Plant Manager
(541) 386-1234
TMethvin@columbiagorgepress.com
Andy Taylor
Commercial Printing/Production
ATaylor@columbiagorgepress.com
David Marvin
Commercial Printing/Production
DMarvin@hoodrivernews.com