A4
V IEWPOINT
Hood River News,
Wednesday, March 11, 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.
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.
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ASSOCIATION
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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
Profound Play
‘Madwoman’ at HRVHS closes this
weekend, deserves an audience
W
hat are you hiding from me?”
“Nothing, Countess. It is you who are
hiding.”
So goes a key scene in “The Madwoman
of Chaillot” on stage for a final weekend at
Hood River Valley High School.
“Madwoman” is a chance to see talented young actors
movingly interpret a “past” world that is altogether cur-
rent. The words of playwright Jean Girardoux rattle
like familiar echoes, and the Countess stands in for any-
one with eyes cloudy but capable of clarity.
The Ragpicker (Jasper Krehbiel) tells the Countess,
“The world has changed since the time you knew.” (He
is wiser and nobler than his title might suggest). “Even
the people are different. No one is involved with anyone
else any more. The world is no longer beautiful. No one
is happy.”
The Countess (Delaney Barbour), who is not so
“mad” as the play title suggests, sheds tears but asks,
“This is true? The world is not beautiful? The world is
not happy? Why wasn’t I told?”
“Because you’ve been dreaming a long time, Count-
ess. And nobody wanted to disturb you. Today, the world
is full of faceless people. People who look back at you
with gelatine eyes. Once you stop dreaming, you can see
them quite clearly. They were here today.”
She asks, “But who are these people? What do they
do?”
“They do nothing, Countess. They feel nothing, make
nothing, give nothing. The poets, the jugglers, the inno-
cents, all are disappearing. The world’s been taken over
by the pimps. The rest of us are finished. They want to
make us all like them.”
But the Countess will have none of it, and what be-
comes of the posers and thieves of the world is both hi-
larious and how director Rachel Harry and her back-
stage and onstage crews carry out the comeuppance is a
credit to their skill and understanding the context of
this funny, touching, challenging story.
Just two shows remain (details on page B3), two
chances to see veteran seniors in their final HRVHS per-
formances and upcoming underclassmen with the de-
gree of talent that has been the hallmark of Hood River
Valley’s drama and music productions for many years.
This is not a dated play about odd characters in frilly
period garb hanging out in a kitschy Paris café. The sets
feel real, the settings seem current, and the statements
about speaking truth to power are perhaps more rele-
vant today than when Girardoux wrote them in the
1940s.
Bravo to director Harry and her students and adult
supporters for an outstanding production.
Blessed
Hood River
Hood River County is blessed with
a preponderance of special, unique
and extraordinarily beautiful
places: the north side of Mt. Hood,
the Hood River Valley, Lost Lake and
Panorama Point among them.
Punchbowl Falls is another one of
these very special places. It deserves
to remain a destination for us and
future generations to enjoy and mar-
vel at, as it was for our forefathers. I
hope the Hood River County Com-
missioners will take the long view
and make Punchbowl Falls part of
the public trust and ownership.
Peter Cornelison
Hood River
Growth and
goodness
I had the pleasure of attending the
Hearts of Gold Gala last weekend
and left with a heart of gratitude
and the realization that I was in a
room filled with people with hearts
of gold. I felt compelled to express it
publicly. Brandi Sheppard and
Susan Frost, thank you for your
hard work in organizing an amazing
event! Thank you to Don Benton and
Dr. Paul Hamada, the recipients of
this year’s awards, for your count-
less acts of kindness, generosity,
public service, and years of service
in so many ways to our community.
I am honored to call PHRMH my
place of employment for over 20
years. I have had the pleasure of
watching the hospital grow and pro-
vide exceptional care to our commu-
nity. Our Oncology and Infusion
Clinic is the recipient of the funds
raised this year and appropriately
named the Don Benton Fund. The
money will be used to expand cancer
services here in the gorge. Thank
you to our CEO Ed Freysinger for
believing in this program and push-
ing for its growth. Alice Facteau,
dedicated and very special volunteer
at the hospital, generously donated
$3,000 to get the fund off the ground.
Thank you Alice! A huge thank you
to a community donor that gave
$20,000 to the fund. Dr. Jeff Menashe,
Dr. Christine Lin, and Dr. Rui Li,
thank you for your stellar services
in our community and dedication to
its people as you drive the gorge
weekly to provide top notch care.
Thank you Rachel Thompson,
Clinical Nurse Manager of Infusion
and Oncology, and Elke Geiger, De-
partment Manager, and the entire
team that cares for people holistical-
ly and with excellence.
So many great plans and ideas are
about to be put into action, all to en-
hance the already exceptional care
available to cancer patients and
their families. What an exciting
time for our community! Thank you
to all who choose Providence. We
know you have a choice, feel vulner-
able, trust us and we are honored to
care for you and be a part of your
journey.
Carrie Kennedy, RN
Hood River
‘Common
Core Cluster’
Parents, you may have heard
about the new upcoming Common
Core “Smarter Balanced” Tests for
grades 3-12. CC, originally a well-
intentioned effort to raise educa-
tional standards, has instead mor-
phed into testing, not learning.
Parents should be aware:
1) Oregon expects more than 65
percent of children to fail the test.
2) This year, your child’s scores
won’t be used for grade or place-
ment.
3) CC was blindly adopted by
Oregon & rubberstamped locally;
HRCSD Board claims they “didn’t
get a vote” on CC. However, there’s
supposed to be local curriculum
control.
4) Local/state teachers unions
are opposed to the CC; it aims to tie
teacher evaluation/compensation
with tests. Some teachers are con-
cerned with developmentally inap-
propriate tests, like 5th graders
suddenly expected to know compli-
cated high school math concepts.
5) The test robs valuable class-
room time — estimated at 10-20
hours, not including “practice
tests.” Teachers are scrambling
with requirements, knowing the
majority of kids will fail.
6) If just 6 percent of local chil-
dren “Opt Out,” the results are in-
validated. (State requires 95 per-
cent participation.)
7) Parents can “Opt Out” of the
test. Contact school in writing stat-
ing “Religious” (which to me, in-
cludes moral convictions) or “Dis-
ability” exemption.
8) Opting Out” is the ONLY way
you can protest this unproven test.
The Smarter Balanced test is
neither “smarter,” nor “balanced.”
It’s being pushed on teachers,
using our kids as guinea pigs. The
winners are the federal govern-
ment/ big testing, curriculum com-
panies. Steve Gates spent $170 mil-
lion to manipulate the government
to impose CC. His company, Pear-
son, contracted for state curricu-
lum/ testing, stands to make $1 bil-
lion on the deal.
Put in farmer terms, “To grow a
pig, you feed it more — you don’t
weigh it more.” If you want a child
to learn more, you don’t test it
more.
If you’ re unhappy with the
HRCSD, budget woes to curricu-
lum, run for school board. Four
seats are open; March 19 is the ap-
plication deadline. Support teach-
ers and kids, not government bu-
reaucracies, administrators, and
big businesses.
For more information on opting
out, go to OptOutOregon.org. For
practice
test,
go
to
sbac.portal.airast.org/practice-test/.
Kris Wilhelm
Hood River
YOUNG VOICES
‘I trained hard and was prepared for this moment’
By PAYTON RIGERT
When I walked out of the
warm-up room to the mat, I
knew I was ready for the
restling is the
competition. I trained hard
world’s oldest
with my teammates all sea-
sport and is a
son and was prepared for
test of the deter-
this moment.
mination and
My adrenaline rose up as
toughness of its competitors.
I stepped onto the mat for
Last Friday and Saturday, I
my finals match. I had wres-
competed in the Women’s
tled this girl two weeks be-
State Wrestling Champi-
fore at the District Qualifier
onships at the Memorial Col-
and had pinned her in the
iseum. Nothing compares to
third round after a grueling
the feeling of stepping out on
battle. I knew that didn’t
the mat in front of crowds of
mean that I would beat her
people. The competition may
Photo by Adam Lapierre
again, and I had to leave my
start on the mat, but before
you can wrestle, you need an PAYTON RIGERT accepts coach Trent Kroll’s congratula- all on the mat. This was my
chance to prove, to myself,
tions after winning at state.
opponent. The sport of
that all the extra work had
women’s wrestling has been
been worth it.
growing exponentially in the last few years.
The match started and I took her down for two
It is amazing to look around and see the number of
points in the last minute of the first round. Then I
women who are competing now compared to my fresh-
went for the pin. I have this goal that once my oppo-
man year. The women are from all over the state and a
nent is on their back, there is no way they are getting
lot of them are the only woman on their high school
up. In the last 15 seconds, I had her on her back, but
team. A lot of people wonder what it’s like to compete
the referee wasn’t calling it. I repositioned myself
in a sport that is male dominated. I think that by look-
ing at the girls who are competing on teams where they and just as the time ran out and the buzzer sounded,
are the only girl gives you the answer. Teams are about the referee called out, “Pin!” I had won my second
Women’s State Wrestling Championship. I ran to my
family and should not be about gender. I believe that
coaches. All the work had been worth it.
the women who are wrestling now are the pioneers for
I love the sport of wrestling and I love that fact
future generations where there are just as many
that more women each day are getting involved. I
women wrestling as men.
think that everyone should be given equal opportuni-
For me, my team has always been there for me, no
matter what, and I have never felt uncomfortable. My ty to find something they are passionate about. This
teammates are the people who understand the feeling sport has taught me the meaning of hard work, but it
has also taught me that the rewards are sweeter.
of going through a hard practice or what it means to
The parts I remember best, after my finals match,
win or lose a match. I like to think about the sport as
a true test of endurance and metal ability. It’s hard to are the moments afterwards. My coaches, teammates,
family, and friends were all congratulating me on a
come back from a loss. You are the only person out
there, with everyone watching, and it’s literally a test job well done. In those moments, I realized that these
of your strength, speed, and smarts against one other are the people who are always going to be there for
me. My time at the Memorial Coliseum and as a mem-
person. The key word there being “one.” There’s no
ber of the Hood River Valley Wrestling Team is time I
half-way or stand in the back, it’s all on you. That’s
wouldn’t trade for anything.
why training and being prepared is so important.
News intern
W
Photo by Kirby Neumann-Rea
‘RAGPICKER’ Jasper Krehbiel discovers a 100-mark note. The Pres-
ident soon takes it from him, but the treasure of “The Madwoman
of Chaillot” is something anyone can find for themselves, by this
weekend.
W HERE TO WRITE
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/
2nd Congressional District Representative — Greg
Walden, 14 N. Central Ave., Suite 112, Medford, OR 97504.
Phone: 541-776-4646;
E-mail: www.walden.house.gov/contactgreg
Governor — John Kitzhaber, 254 State Capitol, Salem, OR
97310. Phone: 503-378-3111;
E-mail: www.governor.state.or.us/email.htm