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About The Hood River news. (Hood River, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (April 11, 2015)
blossom time SPECIAL SECTION INSIDE panorama Official Newspaper, City of Hood River and Hood River County HOOD RIVER, OREGON ■ W EEKEND E DITION Vol. 109, No. 29 SATURDAY, APRIL 11, 2015 By PAYTON RIGERT News intern “I love giving back to the community” is Lucas Gilbert’s response to Hood River Valley High School Robotics newest project. Gilbert is involved in an or- ganization called Enabling the Future, a global network of pas- sionate volunteers using 3D printing to give the world a “Helping Hand”. Enabling the Future special- izes in creating free 3D printed prosthetic devices for children and adults who have wrists but no fingers or elbows with no hands. These devices are color- ful, fun and provide a general basic functional grasping mo- tion. Enabling the Future pro- vides the pattern for the 3D printed device and then people, like Gilbert, print them out and assemble them. Gilbert, a sophomore, has re- cently finished his first 3D printed hand. “The total project took about 35 hours, but most of it was the time it took to print the plastic out,” he said. “It was very easy and anybody could do it.” Gilbert is now working on adding to the original design to make it easier to use. He wants to add more of a robotic compe- tent to it using his skills from his time in HRVHS Robotics, an active part of the HRVHS Engi- neering department. This is the first prototype that the HRVHS Robotics class has put together. They are look- ing for anyone who is in need of a prosthetic hand. The dimen- sions can be scaled to fit any hand and the Robotics Class will donate the prosthetic to anyone who would benefit from a 3D printed prosthetic hand. If you have any questions, contact Jef f Blackman at jeff.blackman@hoodriver.k12.o r.us. 6 Sections, 54 Pages www.hoodrivernews.com Getting a hand up HRVHS robotics student gives back to community 75 cents Schools looking at $896,000 in budget cuts next year By KIRBY NEUMANN-REA News editor Photo by Payton Rigert HELPING HAND: Lucas Gilbert holds a prosthetic device he created in the HRVHS En- gineering department. Saying “it will be impossible to make cuts that don’t affect kids,” Superintendent Dan Goldman an- nounced that he expects budget cuts totaling $896,000 will be re- quired of Hood River County School District for the 2015-16 school year. That’s about $96,000 more than the district dealt with two years ago when it had to make about $800,000 in budget cuts due to a flatlined biennial budget in 2013. Goldman said the grim HRCSD budget picture is now clearer fol- lowing last week’s Oregon Legisla- ture approval of a $7.235 billion bi- ennial budget. Meanwhile, Rep. Mark Johnson See BUDGET, Page A11 Soto-Quintana sentenced 17 years for manslaughter, assault By PATRICK MULVIHILL News staff writer A Hood River man accused of killing the mother of his child last year was sentenced to 17 years in prison Wednesday after pleading guilty to charges of manslaughter and assault. Miguel Angel Soto-Quintana, 29, was convicted for the death of Ce- cilia Campuzano-Ortiz, 23, last Oc- tober. Soto-Quintana will serve 16 years in prison for manslaughter and 14 months for fourth degree as- sault. He will also serve three years in a post-prison supervision program and pay $14,611 in restitution, Miguel Angel most of Soto-Quintana which is por- tioned for the victim’s family. In a written statement read by S p o t l i g h t a t u r d a y his translator, Soto-Quintana said he had been drinking and had “lost control” when he caused Cam- puzano-Ortiz’s death by suffocating her. “At a certain time I lost control and, without thinking about it, I grabbed a pillow and I put it on her face so she wouldn’t scream any- more … Afterwards, I realized that she was not breathing anymore.” Assistant District Attorney Car- rie Rasmussen and Soto-Quin- tana’s attorney, Clayton Lance, agreed there was evidence that Soto-Quintana’s three-year-old daughter, Damaris, witnessed the death of her mother. “Clearly the daughter was in the house. There is evidence that she saw … the event,” said Lance. Soto-Quintana expressed re- morse for his actions. “At the mo- ment I was not thinking,” he said. “My bad behavior and terrible ac- tions were the cause of her death.” Soto-Quintana was held in Northern Oregon Regional Correc- tions Facility in The Dalles for nearly six months before his sen- tencing hearing. He was arraigned last October and appeared in court via video feed from jail in Novem- ber. During the latter appearance, Lance requested postponement of the hearing in order to prepare a plea. Soto-Quintana appeared before Judge John Wolf in a packed court- room at the Hood River County Courthouse Wednesday. Members See SENTENCE, Page A11 A weekly series about a day in the life ... Artist Robin Panzer employs ancient ‘new’ medium BY TRISHA WALKER News staff writer Hood River’s Robin Panzer is a Chi- giri-e artist — an ancient Japanese art form (Heian period, 794-1185) that uses layers of hand torn colored paper to cre- ate images that, when completed, re- semble a textured painting. Although it’s an old tech- nique, she unknowingly stumbled upon it in 2011. A painter at the time, Panzer was asked to donate a painting to an animal rescue fundraiser auction. But when she learned that many paintings had al- ready been donated, she resolved to make something different. “I decided to explore my supply shelves for a more unique approach to my donation,” she said. “I came across a box of beautifully made Japanese papers I had been gifted by anoth- er artist. Being very kinetic by nature, I immediately felt a kinship with these beautiful papers as I cautiously began tearing them. Soon, I no- Robin Panzer is passionate about animal rescue and donates $1 for every like on her Facebook studio page to such causes — up to $100 each month. Visit Robin Panzer Art Studio 33. ticed that the lovely fibers in the paper had a fur-like quality to them, so I began to assemble them using a transparent acrylic gel medium to ‘paint’ with the paper … “I was delighted by the textures and uniqueness of the art I was creating, a likeness of one of the shelter pups that I was hoping would get adopted.” It was that piece that set her upon a new path. She received so many com- mission requests after the fundraiser that she has had a two year waiting list ever since. It was a year before she realized that her “new” art form had a name. “It wasn’t until a year later that I learned my medium had a name and a long, illustrious history,” she said. “My husband met a woman visiting our town from Japan and, upon sharing my art with her, she said, ‘Your wife’s Chigiri-e is excellent, did she go to Japan to train with one of our Masters?’ “I was so excited to hear this and en- joyed researching the wonderful pieces of Chigiri-e created throughout history. My husband and I now joke that I must have been a Japanese Artist in a former life.” Although Panzer has been a Gorge- area artist for many years — she moved to Hood River in 2004 with her husband and son from Bellevue — this is the first See ROBIN, Page A11 LOCAL CHIGIRI-E ARTIST Robin Panzer will open her Lincoln Street studio for the first time this weekend for the annual Gorge Artists Open Studios Tour. Original artwork, prints and demon- strations are a few of the ac- tivities she has planned for tour-goers. Photos by Trisha Walker
