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About The Hood River news. (Hood River, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (March 14, 2015)
Brewery Bloom Full Sail employees approve sale – A2 In Schools ‘Work Day’ seeks sponsors – A9 School sports has sprung – A7 HOOD RIVER, OREGON Official Newspaper, City of Hood River and Hood River County ■ W EEKEND E DITION Vol. 109, No. 21 SATURDAY, MARCH 14, 2015 75 cents 2 Sections, 18 Pages www.hoodrivernews.com Positions open for the asking? As March 19 ballot filing deadline nears, many elected positions have no candidates By KIRBY NEUMANN-REA But if the election were held to- morrow, most races would provide Wanted: water, sanitation, port no choice – and possibly no candi- dates at all. and transportation direc- The deadline to file is tors. VACANT March 19, at the County The May 19 Special Dis- Elections Division. For de- SEATS tricts election will call on tails, call 541-386-1442. List, page voters to choose who will Based on filings so far, lead the boards and com- A11 voters will have races be- missions that oversee spe- tween Chris Reitz and Rob cial taxing districts all over the county, including several Brostoff for the School District, that cover the entire county. See ELECTION, Page A11 News editor Exhibiting Potential Photo by Kirby Neumann-Rea MAY STREET PARENT Rita Britt signs a letter in support of increased K-12 funding Thursday night at May Street, where she attended the Teddy Webber Scholarship Night with her daughter, Tia, 3, and son, Talon, 6. “I’m a Hood River native and I went through these schools, and now I have two children and I want them to have a good education,”Britt said. Schools raise funding alarm By KIRBY NEUMANN-REA News editor A rush-order letter writing cam- paign is underway at the urging of Hood River County School District officials. The Oregon Legislature is slated to decide as early as Tuesday on a 2015-17 biennium funding package for K-12 school support, and under the $7.325 billion package, the low- est and most likely to pass, Hood River would look at $1 million in cuts. (See hoodrivernews.com for a full version of this story.) A second formula, $7.5 billion, would provide “fragile stability” for most districts including Hood River, according to superintendent Dan Goldman, who re por ted Wednesday to School Board follow- ing his visit to Salem earlier in the week. He said that while both are larg- er than the current biennium, “nei- ther option adds back anything cut in the last 10 years.” Saying “a more thorough discus- sion on the Oregon education bud- get proposal is necessary,” Gold- man put out a call on Tuesday, after his visit to Salem, asking district patrons to let the Legislature know they support increased K-12 fund- ing. “Put bluntly, the $7.235 billion state budget is on the fast-track for adoption in Salem and will equate to an approximate $1 million reduc- tion for our school district next year,” Goldman said. “The status quo does nothing for fixing the fact that we (Oregon) are the second highest in class sizes (nationwide) and the fact that we are near the bottom of the barrel in See SCHOOLS, Page A2 S p o t l i g h t a t u r d a y THREE FIGURES AND THEIR IMPACTS According to Goldman, highlights (or lowlights) of the three main funding proposals include: ■ $7.235 million — “Could equate to the elimination of teach- ing positions raised class sizes, re- ductions in athletics, and other extra-curricular activities, or other program reductions.” ■ $7.50 billion — “This funding level would allow us to maintain current class sizes, maintain curricu- lum and technology infrastructure.” ■ $7.875 billion — This would allow the district to make “targeted investments” in instructional time, lowering class sizes, career and tech- nical education, Advanced Placement offerings, engineering and arts.” Museum welcomes new director By PATRICK MULVIHILL News staff writer After nearly a year in execu- tive limbo, the History Museum of Hood River County found a new director in Megan Shue- mate. The Wisconsin native comes to the job with enthusi- asm, experience and a drive to put the museum back on the pub- lic radar. Shuemate, who stepped in Monday, filled a vital position in the museum that was vacant since last May when former di- rector Connie Nice resigned for medical reasons. Heritage Council chair Dottie Gilbertson, who had assumed managerial duties during the void, was excited to welcome Shuemate. “We’ve been without a director for a long time,” said Gilbertson. “I’ve been acting kind of as an interim director because we didn’t hire one as fast as we wanted to.” The museum director is the only full-time, paid member of Megan Shuemate staff. With the title comes heavy re- sponsibilities include planning events and exhibits, coordinating with local businesses and drum- ming up public involvement for the museum’s cultural initiatives. According to Shuemate, literal heavy duties are also a part of the job. She cited “heavy lifting” as an unexpected challenge in setting up See MUSEUM, Page A11 A weekly series about a day in the life ... Craftsman David McClure ‘builds’ life in HR BY TRISHA WALKER News staff writer Photo by Kirby Neumann-Rea Photo by Trisha Walker BUILDER AND CRAFTSMAN David McClure has lived and worked in Hood River for 22 years and is a regular at local networking events, like Thursday’s Small Business Showcase held at the Butler Bank Building in downtown Hood River. One of his many specialties: Making efficient, elegant use of space. David McClure, of the Dave McClure, Co., and its sub- sidiary Hood River Woodworking, has made a name for him- self over the past two decades he’s lived and worked in Hood River. McClure is a builder and craftsman, and these days, the bulk of his company’s work is in cabinets. He does a little bit of everything, though, because the Gorge is a hard place to have a specialty. “There’s no shortage of specialized subcontractors, so you have to do it all,” he explained. “I’ve been here for 22 years — most of that time, I’ve worked as the David McClure Compa- ny, doing remodeling. But we built our cabinet shop (Hood River Woodworking) in 1998 and since then, an increased amount of our work has become cabinets and other wood- working things.” He hasn’t built a house since 2012, though it’s something he would consider depending on the design — if it’s energy efficient — and the customer. “I’ve done a lot of luxury homes, which can get pretty See DAVID, Page A11 Four To Go Climate Action Network holds stencil party Monday Sheriff beefs up enforcement on St. Patrick’s Day Columbia Gorge Climate Action Network meets at 6 p.m. Monday at Riverside Community Church over a potluck supper and then will participate in a “stencil party” at 7 p.m. With help from artist Janet Essley, participants will create new sten- ciled artwork on t-shirts, sweatshirts, hats, tote bags and cloth for banners to express concerns about the coal and oil rail transport through the Gorge National Scenic Area. Tools and paint pro- vided. If you plan to attend please RSVP to Peter Cornelison, 541-490-8473. Hood River County Sheriff Office is participating in a DUII enforcement effort on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, funded through the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration and administered by the Oregon De- partment of Transportation. The goal is to reduce driving under the influ- ence of intoxicants, through enforce- ment and visibility. If you have information about an impaired driver or are concerned about someone, please call 911 and re- port it. 7 05105 97630 3 Bridge closure scheduled next week Dog poisoned at Event Site After the reported injury of a dog that had visited the Event Site beach, Port of Hood The Port of Hood River an- River maintenance crews found animal poison nounces that the Hood River-White in an isolated area of the beach on the after- Salmon Interstate Bridge will be closed from midnight, March 16 to 6 noon of March 11. Crews cleaned up all prod- uct that was found, and have since conducted a.m. March 17 (for a total of six hours) to make needed repairs to the two thorough sweeps of the entire waterfront area. No other product was found during those lift span gates. Crossings during these hours will be allowed for emer- sweeps. Warning signs have been posted at the Event gency vehicles only, and must be co- Site beach. The Port urges all waterfront visi- ordinated through 911 dispatch. For more information, contact the tors to keep dogs on a leash at all times, and to notify the Port immediately if they see any Port of Hood River office at 541-386- other poison pellets in the area by calling 541) 1645 or via email to 386-1645 or via email to porthr@gorge.net porthr@gorge.net.
