‘Voice’ star concert
Blossom Time
Entertainment
features Taylor
John Williams
Craft Show, Quilt Fair B2
M IDWEEK E DITION
Vol. 109, No. 30
A3
Official Newspaper, City of Hood River and Hood River County
HOOD RIVER, OREGON
■
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15, 2015
75 cents
2 Sections, 24 Pages
www.hoodrivernews.com
ODFW approves water rights swap with CL
Action paves way
for Nestlé plant
By PATRICK MULVIHILL
News staff writer
The Oregon Department of Fish
and Wildlife has agreed to trade
water rights with Cascade Locks,
which puts the city one step closer
to bringing Nestlé’s proposed water
bottling plant to its business park.
The city of Cascade Locks and
the state agency filed joint paper-
work to the Oregon Water Re-
sources Department last Friday. If
approved by the department, the
city would transfer 0.5 cubic feet
per second (cfs) — 225 gallons per
minute — of its ground water right
in exchange for 0.5 cfs of ODFW’s
water right to Oxbow Spring, locat-
ed near Oxbow Hatchery on the
east side of Cascade Locks. The
city would then sell the spring
water to Nestlé for bottling in its
proposed 25,000-square-foot plant.
In exchange, ODFW would use
the city’s ground water for the
Oxbow Fish Hatchery, sustaining
its salmon tenants with a more con-
sistent water source year-round.
The first 30-day comment period
for the cross trade began Tuesday,
according to Oregon Water Re-
sources Department Senior Policy
Coordinator Racquel Rancier. Dur-
ing this time, the department will
review the cross transfer applica-
tion and hear public input, then
issue a decision in mid-May. From
there, another 30-day comment pe-
riod will commence. If there are no
further legal challenges, the final
transfer could be approved in June.
Originally, the city and ODFW
planned to enter a gallon-per-gallon
“water exchange” without altering
their respective water rights. How-
ever, due to ongoing legal pressure
from environmental groups, both
the city and Nestlé sought out a
way to speed up the process: a cross
water rights transfer.
According to a staff report earli-
er this year from the city of Cas-
cade Locks, the cross transfer is
projected to be quicker than the ex-
change, now taking an anticipated
two years instead of four.
This option bypasses a public in-
terest review and instead progress-
es to a review process conducted by
OWRD.
Bark, one of the environmental
groups opposed to the partnership,
expressed frustration at ODFW for
filing for the cross transfer. Bark di-
rector Alex Brown called ODFW’s
cross land transfer decision “disap-
pointing.”
“This is the state telling (citi-
zens) your concerns don’t matter,”
See NESTLÉ, Page A9
blossom
time
is here
A11: WEEK TWO EVENTS
A12: PLENTY OF NEW
Submitted photo
FLAMES DEVOURED a cabin in Cascade Locks Saturday, leaving its residents
without a home or possessions.
CL home incinerated,
family displaced
BY PATRICK MULVIHILL
News staff writer
CIDER MAKER Christina Nance of Rack and Cloth in Mosier serves a glass of Stony Pig during Saturday’s
Hard-Pressed Cider Fest. Clay in hand, artist Laurel Marie Hagner talks to visitors to her Glassometry studio
Saturday during Gorge Open Artists Studio tour; turn to page A10 for more photos. FULL DETAILS on these
and other events are in the Hood River News’ four-part special section Panorama, available at the News, 419
State St., and at the Chamber Visitor Center. (Hagner’s glass artwork is shown at the top of this page.)
By KIRBY
NEUMANN-REA
News editor
Blossom Time started
with the cider spectrum
— from clear to cherry
red — enjoyed by an esti-
mated 2,000 people at the
second annual Hood
River Hard-Pressed Cider
Fest in Odell (see page B6
for photos).
Art-lovers also made
the circuit in the week-
end-long Gorge Artists
Open Studio Tour (pho-
tos on page A10), which
included a peek inside
the cozy painting shed
once used by the great-
g randf ather of two
artists on the tour.
Blossom Time is just
getting started. The cen-
terpiece on April 18-19
will be the Blossom Craft
Show and the Blossom
Fest Quilt Show, from 10
a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Hood
River County Fair-
grounds. Admission and
parking are free — turn
to page B2 for full details.
One of the longest
standing Blossom events
is the 22nd annual Park-
See BLOSSOM, Page A11
Two adults and one child were
displaced Saturday by a fire that
destroyed their home in the 700
block of Northwest Forest Lane in
Cascade Locks.
Christina Fehd, Shane Barron
and 13-year-old son Logan Barron
lost their home and roughly $60,000
in personal possessions in the fire.
Cascade Locks Fire Department,
Hood River Fire Department and
Stevenson Fire Department re-
sponded to the scene Saturday
evening. The fire destroyed the
cabin and nearby trees before fire
fighters could subdue the flames.
The fire was contained before it
could spread to a neighboring
apartment complex.
No injuries were reported, but
the family lost nearly all of their
possessions and may have lost
their cat, which vanished after the
fire, said Fehd’s daughter, Ariel
Ontiveros.
“We had just the clothing on our
back,” said Fehd.
Ariel Ontiveros said she wit-
nessed the fire and alerted the fam-
ily after calling 911. “We started
hearing stuff blow up inside,” said
Ontiveros. “By the time I called
911, flames came out of the win-
dows … it just engulfed.”
The American Red Cross of the
Cascade Region responded to the
scene and provided food, clothing
and temporary lodging at a motel
in Cascade Locks. The family
stayed there for three days before
relocating to a friend’s travel trail-
er.
The 40-year-old cabin was built
by Barron’s family, and was well
known in the community accord-
ing to Ontiveros.
A donation fund to help the fam-
ily has been set up at the Riverview
Bank in Stevenson.
Cash donations can be made at
the Barron fund at Riverview bank
in Stevenson or online at
www.gofundme.com/rnq3bfc. For
more information, contact Linnea
Prowett 503-888-0589.
Young Voices
“The statement ‘you only
live once, eat local,’ shows
how our choices can affect
the way our body functions
work properly.”
Klahre House students pay tribute to
local agriculture, in words and
pictures, in this week’s Kaleidoscope,
which runs on pages B1 and B12 .
Four To Go
Chamber hosts Coffee Clatter
April 17
Saddle Club
fundraiser April 17
Internet Cat Video Fest
is Saturday at Arts Center
HRVHS invites ‘19 students
to open house April 15
The April Chamber of Commerce Coffee
Clatter will be 8-9 a.m. April 17 at Cascade
Acupuncture (5th near Cascade), which is
celebrating its 10th anniversary. Coffee,
goodies, and networking available.
Business windows are bound to stand
out this week — the Chamber’s first Blos-
soms window display contest is on at local
Chamber businesses; judging took place
April 10.
The Hood River Saddle Club
(Country Club and Belmont
roads) will host its annual
spaghetti feed fundraiser on
April 17, from 5-8 p.m., serving
all you can eat spaghetti, garlic
bread, salad, beverage and
dessert. Tickets are $8 for adults
and $5 for children ages 6-12.
Funds raised will support the
Mt. Hood Pony Club and scholar-
ships for local high school se-
niors. For more information, call
Helen Hansen at 541-386-5913.
Columbia Gorge Cat Rescue and Columbia
Center for the Arts present the Internet Cat
Video Festival from the Walker Art Center, Sat-
urday at the center, Third and Cascade streets.
Activities include a raffle, face painting, cat
photo contest, local cat videos, silent auction,
and more. The Walker’s Internet Cat Video Fes-
tival is a traveling show that features an 80-
minute reel of clips culled from 10,000 submis-
sions.
Tickets, available online or at the Center, are
just $10 for adults, and children 11 and under are
$5. The event starts at 6 0p.m. and films begin at
7:30 p.m.
Students and parents of the Class of 2019
are invited to Hood River Valley High School’s
Open House on April 15 to tour the school and
learn about the academic programs and re-
quirements, meet the counselors and adminis-
trators, and learn about the many clubs and
athletic teams offered at HRV. Students will
turn in completed forecast sheets, and enroll-
ment and locker request forms.
For those incoming freshman students who
do not attend a Hood River County middle
school but are interested in attending HRVHS,
there will be an informational meeting prior
to the Open House at 5 p.m. in Room E20.
7
05105 97630
3