www.hoodrivernews.com
P ORT
Continued from Page A1
tract early this year with a
new, shorter due diligence
period. The new deadline is
July 6, but the port could
take action and buy the prop-
erty before then, McElwee
said.
The lower Hanel Mill is
the last piece of the Hanel
Family’s mill land holdings
in Hood River County. The
rest has been sold off over
the last two decades to light
industrial businesses includ-
ing Mt. Hood Forest Products
and Cardinal Glass.
The final lot remains va-
M ERKLEY
Continued from Page A1
NCLB practice of branding
schools as failures if one or
more testing sub-g roups
comes short of benchmarks.
“We’ll see an elimination
of high stakes testing,”
under forthcoming legisla-
tion being developed by
Washington Sen. Patty Mur-
ray and Sen. Lamar Alexan-
der of Tennessee, chair of
the Health and Education
Committee.
To applause, Merkley said,
“We have heard from the
northern, western, eastern
and southern states, urban
and rural, and the concerns
have been similar: there
needs to be a diminishment
of high stakes testing.”
Garcia, who was born in
Oregon, asked what Merkley
could do to help children of
undocumented residents
achieve accepted status to
legally work and receive gov-
ernment college financial
aid.
Merkley said that people
such as Garcia “have known
no other country that the
U.S., and I want to see them
thrive and to get rid of the
shadow economy.
“It is important to reach
out to your elected,” Merkley
said, especially those in the
House, where immigration
reform legislation he sup-
ported in 2010 went down
B LOSSOM
Continued from Page A1
The 22nd annual Parkdale
Fire Department Casino
Night starts April 18 at 5:30
p.m. This is a 21-and-over
event; admission is $20 and
includes dinner and $50 in
chips, and admission to the
beer and wine garden. Local
rides home are provided.
Valuable prizes are given
to the top players and there
are also a couple of separate
raffles and a general raffle
(included in the price of ad-
mission) at the end of the
evening. This long-standing
Blossom tradition is the de-
partment’s only fund raiser
of the year.
Prizes include: an iPad,
one night stay at the Cooper
Spur Inn, $250 gift certificate
at McIassc’s store, $425 gift
certificate for automotive
service at Green Tree Auto,
and other gift certificates
and prizes, both large and
small.
Leos collect
shoes for
‘Soles4Souls’
campaign
Hood River News, Wednesday, April 8, 2015
cant except for a 20,000-
square-foot building and a
50,000-square-foot building,
previously used for storage
and offices. Stray rubble and
piles of wood litter the scene.
Because it was half-centu-
ry-old mill with an unknown
history of environmental
practices, the Port took
months to analyze the prop-
erty, teaming up with envi-
ronmental and utility spe-
cialists.
Anne Medenbach, Port De-
velopment and Property
Manager, said the team
found no hazardous material
in the soil, just an abundance
of sawdust.
“Now we’re to the point
where we can move forward
with the property in a clean
without a vote.
“Keep pushing to say this
should be a top priority,” he
said.
Boonstra told Merkley
that she and other members
of the HRVHS Climate
Change Club “are trying to
raise a sense of urgency on
this issue.
“We want to hear what you
are going to do and what we
as a community can do,” said
Boonstra, who is also a mem-
ber of the Gorge Climate
Change Action Network.
Merkley said climate
chang e is af fecting the
health of forests, oceans,
agriculture, and humans,
pointing to the rise of pine
beetle populations and in-
creased evidence that ocean
acidity caused by carbon
dioxide is inhibiting baby
oysters from developing
shells.
“Baby oysters are our ca-
nary in the coal mine. If this
is happening in our oceans,
we have to ask what else is af-
fected that we have not seen
yet,” he said.
He thanked Boonstra for
speaking, and said, “Our
young people are more and
more aware of this problem,
but we can’t wait to act until
they’re holding office at age
40 or 50. We have to act now.”
He said he supports the EPA
Clean Power Plan, designed
to phase out coal-based
power plants and replace
them with those using alter-
native energy.
state, once we’re through
with our final cleanup pro-
jects, and we can move for-
ward with site develop-
ment,” said Medenbach.
The port will now need to
install basic utilities and
clean up the lot and grading
and other groundwork be-
fore the land will be consid-
ered “saleable.” They will
also need to clarify the layout
of each legal zone they are
looking to parcel out for
business purposes.
McElwee said the property
is significant because light
industrial businesses have
limited options within the
Hood River Port District.
“We’re so tight here …
there’s not a good place to do
it on the waterfront or down-
town, so this is the next clos-
est, best place,” said McEl-
wee.
If the sale closes, the
Hanel property will become
one of two properties the
port owns in Odell. In 1990,
the port developed John
Weber Business Park, locat-
ed on Eagle Loop, but the
port now only owns one
building, which is currently
the site of operations for
Wyeast Laboratories.
McElwee said the port has
been in communication with
businesses that are looking
to possibly locate in their
new property. However, the
port has not yet publicly
named any of the business-
es.
A11
Photo by Patrick Mulvihill
THE PORT OF HOOD RIVER is planning to purchase the former
site of the lower Hanel Mill in Odell by July 6. The 9.3-acre proper-
ty, visible from Highway 35 just before entering Odell, is zoned light
industrial and is planned to be used by the port for economic de-
velopment purposes.
ABOUT 75 people filled cafeteria tables at Hood River Middle School Monday to hear Sen. Jeff Merkley. Criticizing the Citizens United
decision by the Supreme Court and billion-dollar elections influence by the Koch brothers, Merkley said, “We are a nation of government
‘of the people,’ not ‘of the titans.’ I will do all I can to save our vision of ‘of the people’ pathways.”
Saying “the fossil fuel in-
dustry has sunk its teeth
dee p into Capitol Hill,”
Merkley called for an end to
fossil fuel subsidies, saying
“we need to take the oil sub-
sidies and convert them to
subsidies for renewable en-
ergy sources.”
Merkley met for a half-
hour prior to the town hall
with officials from the cities
and ports of Hood River and
Cascade Locks, Hood River
County, Hood River County
School District, and Colum-
Also happening April 18-19
are several other traditional
Blossom Time events: West
Side Fire Department All
You Can Eat Pancake Break-
fast, Parkdale Grange Blos-
som Dinner, Asbury United
Methodist-Our Redeemer
Church bazaar, and Apple
Valley BBQ dessert party.
Details on these events,
and many more, will be
found in this weekend’s
Panorama special section.
As part of Blossom Time,
On April 15 at 7 p.m. photog-
rapher Peter Marbach and
author Janet Cook will do a
book signing for their new
book “Columbia River
Gorge” as part of a public
presentation, ”Wild at Heart
in T he Columbia River
Gorge”, at Columbia Center
for the Arts, 213 Cascade Ave.
The full-color book was
printed in Hood River by Co-
lumbia Gorge Press. Doors
open 6:30, presentation starts
at 7 p.m.
The book will be pre-
viewed April 10, 11, and 12
during Gorge Artists Open
Studio Tour, with Marbach
hosting a stop for the first
time, at his Eliot Drive stu-
dio.
Marbach and Cook, who is
The Gorge magazine editor,
collaborated on a book for
the 25th anniversary of the
Scenic Act four years ago,
but publisher Beautiful
America has since gone out
of business.
“It was unfortunate be-
cause it was a labor or love,
and we were looking at ways
to revive it,” Marbach said.
This is their fourth collabo-
ration over the past 10 years.
Marbach did a 2015 calen-
dar with Columbia Gorge
Press (for sale locally includ-
ing Hood River News), which
helped lead to the new book.
“When that turned out so
well, I approached Tony
Methvin (CG Press manager)
and we were able to do the
book together, too,” Marbach
said.
“For me it was really im-
portant to do this again and
to keep the legacy alive that
Janet worked so hard,” Mar-
bach said.
Hood River Valley High
School Leos Club has
launched a drive to help
Soles4Souls reach its goal of
collecting one million pairs
of shoes in the Pair It For-
ward campaign.
The campaign is aimed at
diverting used shoes away
from landfills and toward
creating a source of revenue
for micro-entrepreneurs in
developing nations.
Used and new shoes can be
dropped off at select loca-
tions listed below anytime
between April 1 and April 14:
Westside and May Street
elementary, Wy’east and
Hood River middle schools,
Mosier Community School,
Bright Beginnings, HRVHS,
Doug’s, Columbia River In-
surance, Shortt Supply, and
The Next Door.
BUY LOCALLY. PRINT LOCALLY.
bia Gorge Community Col-
lege. Several citizens sat in,
as the meeting was publicly-
notified as a special meeting,
given the likelihood of a quo-
rum by several elected bod-
ies.
In that session, Merkley
praised local efforts to op-
pose rail transport of coal
and oil, and said he feels it is
likely Congress will pass a
two-year extension of the Se-
cure Schools legislation, aka
“county payments,” used for
schools, public safety and
roads in timber-based coun-
ties.
“It’s critical,” County
Commission president Ron
Rivers told Merkley.
Merkley, who credited U.S.
Rep. Greg Walden (R-2nd Dis-
trict) of Hood River with re-
viving the Secure Schools
legislation, said, “I’m opti-
mistic but (the funding) is
only part of the story; the
other point is sustainable
forest management,” a point
he later reiterated during the
town hall.
In both the special meet-
ing and town hall sessions he
also repeated criticism of
the currently proposed feder-
al budget, in that it contains
no funding for transporta-
tion, and includes cuts to
Medicare, Head Start, STIP
(food stamps) and college
Pell grants.
“In terms of a foundation
for supporting low-income
families and the struggling
middle class, I give (the bud-
get) an ‘F’,” Merkley said.
HARD PRESSED CIDER FEST BASICS
When: Saturday, April 11
Where: 3315 Stadelman
Drive, Odell
Hours: Noon-7 p.m.
Cost: Entry tickets: $5 (ages
14 and under are free); Brand-
ed cider glass and 4 drink
tokens: $5
Tickets: www.brownpaper
tickets.com/event/1337580
This is the updated list of
cideries expected at the festi-
val, as of April 6.
Atlas Hard Cider (Bend)
Bull
Run
Cider
(Forest Grove)
Carlton
Cyder-
works (Carlton)
Cider Riot! (Portland)
Fox-Tail Cider (Hood River)
Gorge Cyder House (Hood
River)
Hood Valley Hard Cider
Co. (Parkdale)
HR Ciderworks (Hood River)
Jester and Judge Ciderworks
(Stevenso)
Neigel Vintners Cider (East
Wenatchee, Wash.)
Portland Cider Co.
(Oregon City)
Rack & Cloth (Mosier)
Reverend Nat’s Hard
Cider (Portland)
Rivercider (Hood River)
Rogue Cider (Newport)
Schilling Cider (Auburn,
Wash.)
Seattle Cider Compa-
ny (Seattle, Wash.)
The
Gorge
White
House (Hood River)
Tieton Cider Works
(Yakima, Wash.)
2 Towns Ciderhouse
(Corvallis)
Wandering Aengus (Salem)
■
Cider Fest signs will be placed
at Exit 64 for directions. Visit
www.hoodriver.org for more
details.
COMFORT
EXPERTISE.
WE COME BY IT HONESTLY.
Quick, dependable service backed by over
100 years of Lennox innovation. Only from
Honke Heating & A/C.
RECEIVE UP TO
1,700 IN REBATES
$
*
with the purchase of a qualifying Lennox ® home comfort system.
UP T
TO
O $2,219
,219 IN L
LOCAL
OCAL UTILITY REBA
REBATES*
A TES* AND
A
UP
TO $850 IN
N T
TAX
A X CREDIT
CREDITS
S WITH THE PURCHA
PURCHASE
SE OF A
QUALIFYING
QU
ALIFYING
YING LENNO
LENNOX
X HOME C
COMFORT
OMF OR T SYSTEM.
S Y S TEM.
$139
$
1 3 9 TUNE-UP
T U N E - U P S
SPECIAL**
P E C I A L * *
S
P E C I A L FINANCING
F I N A N C I NG AVAILABLE***
A V A I L A B L E * * *
SPECIAL
Serving Our Customers Over 45 Years!
Color printing at an affordable price.
sales@columbiagorgepress.com [ 541.386.1234 ]
C C B # 17 6 2
CCB#1762
O Offer
f f e r e expires
x p i r e s 6/12/2015.
6 / 1 2 / 2 0 1 5 .
* *System
S y s t e m r rebate
e b a t e o offers
f f e r s r range
an g e f from
r o m $300
$ 3 0 0 t to o $1,700.
$ 1 , 7 0 0 . S Some
o m e r restrictions
e s t r i c t i o n s a apply.
p p l y . S See
e e y your
o u r local
l o c a l L Lennox
e n n o x d dealer
e a l e r for
f o r details.
d e t a i l s .
* **See
* S e e dealer
d e a l er for details.
d e ta i l s. * ***See
* * S e e dealer
d e a l er for details.
d e ta i l s.
© 2 2015
0 1 5 Lennox
L e n n o x I Industries
n d u s t r i e s I Inc.
n c . Lennox
L e n n o x D Dealers
e a l e r s i include
n c l u d e i independently
n d e p e n d e n t l y o owned
w n e d and
an d o operated
p e r a t e d b businesses.
u s i n e s s e s . One
O n e o offer
f f e r a available
v a i l a b l e p per
e r qualifying
q u a l i f y i n g purchase.
p u r c h a s e .