Blossom Time
Track
Photos
and a look
ahead to
Week 3 –
HRV sweeps
Blossom meet – A7
M IDWEEK E DITION
Vol. 109, No. 32
75 cents
2 Sections, 20 Pages
B1
HOOD RIVER, OREGON
Official Newspaper, City of Hood River and Hood River County
■
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2015
www.hoodrivernews.com
CELEBRATING SUSTAINABILITY
Oil spill
plan in
update
Earth Week
Columbia Gorge Climate Action Network
(CGCAN) and other local groups are hosting a
number of Earth Day events on Saturday and
Sunday in Hood River supporters said are in-
tended “to celebrate and connect Columbia
Gorge residents around Earth awareness.”
Today, April 22, is officially Earth Day, but
in Hood River as with many communities,
events have happened on the surrounding
weekends (see page A10 for related photos.)
Here are three events happening in Hood
River to mark the occasion and inform the
community about themes and practices of
sustainability:
Tod J. LeFevre Awards
The Tod J. LeFevre Sustainability Awards
party is April 22 at the Center for the Arts be-
ginning at 6:30 p.m.
This award is named after the late Tod J.
LeFevre (pronounced “la-fay”): skier, moun-
taineer, father and husband, engineer, straw
bale home builder, proponent of sustainable
energy, and founder of the Hood River firm
Common Energy.
Business Nominees
Dirt Hugger, Turtle Island Foods (Tofurky),
Solstice Wood Fire Cafe and Bar, Mt. Hood
Meadows
Individual Nominees
Heather Staten, Hood River Valley Resi-
dents Committee; Kate McBride, Friends of
the Columbia River Gorge and a Hood River
City Council Member; Jurgen and Susan
Hess, Hess Photography and Envirogorge;
John Jacobson,Mt. Hood Org anic
Far m/School Aid pro g ram; Jeanette
Burkhardt,Yakama Nations Fisheries
Student Nominees
Roland Platt, Columbia Gorge Community
Draft is online,
public asked to
leave comments
By DEREK WILEY
The Dalles Chronicle
Photo by Kirby Neumann-Rea
RILEY DAVIS, 2, of Hood River, joins her sisters, Ella, 8,
and Kennedy, 6, and parents Jeremy and Kim in Satur-
day’s Waterfront Park cleanup. More of the same is
planned throughout the Hood River Waterfront (details
on page A10) as part of Earth Week events.
See EARTH, Page A10
Dig into Earth Week events
Student film fest splices creativity, competition
By PATRICK MULVIHILL
News staff writer
For students at Hood River Val-
ley High School, film-making is a
passion best shared through com-
petition.
HRVHS multimedia teacher
Shawn Meyle’s class was a whirr of
activity for the last six months,
with students preparing for a new
competition on top of their every-
day class projects: the first annual
Hood River Independent Film Fes-
tival.
The festival, hosted by Hood
River Education Foundation, will
allow HRVHS students to showcase
their independent films on the big
screen at the high school’s Bowe
Theater on May 9. The films will be
three minutes or less and span the
genres of sports action, animation,
documentary and narrative films.
The grand prize will be a $500
college scholarship for creative vi-
sual arts. The runners up will earn
priz es provided by sponsors
Dakine and Second Wind Sports.
The idea of the film festival
stemmed from Hood River County
Education Foundation board mem-
bers Mike Schend and A.J. Kitt,
and Meyle.
Meyle said he was enthusiastic
to help kick off the burgeoning fes-
tival. “It’s all about getting kids
fired up,” said Meyle.
Meyle explained that all the stu-
Photo by Patrick Mulvihill
HRVHS TEACHER Shawn Meyle demonstrates a camera stabilization rig Wednesday, which his multimedia students use
for sports action shots. HRVHS students Ronaldo Rodriguez, center, Myles Cameron and Owen Kozec have been hard at
work honing their film skills over the school year.
dents entering videos at the film
festival are in their third, most ad-
vanced year of his multimedia se-
quence. The third unit is the most
flexible, with students charting
their own course in video produc-
tion.
“I’m more like a producer,” said
Meyle. “I’m just trying to provide a
conducive environment for them to
take off.”
Meyle’s classroom serves as the
proving grounds, cutting room,
beat lab and production studio.
On the submission deadline last
Wednesday, students gathered
around computer screens in
Meyle’s class to review their pro-
jects one last time.
Third-year multimedia student
What would happen if oil
spilled along the Middle Columbia
River?
The Oregon Department of En-
vironmental Quality and the U.S.
Environmental
Protection
Agency spent Friday morning at
Columbia
Gorge Com-
Train protest
munity Col-
march
lege answer-
On
Thursday
from
ing
that
noon to 1 p.m., a
question.
march is planned
M i k e
Boykin, an
near the BNSF
EPA
on-
tracks in Bingen.
scene coordi-
Meet at Dauben-
n a t o r ,
speck Park at
opened the
noon;
the march
workshop
will
be
less than a
with a lesson
mile and start at
on crude oil,
12:20 and
how it’s mea-
conclude by
sured and
how it re-
12:45 p.m.
sponds to dif-
ferent envi-
ronments.
Richard Franklin, also an EPA
on-scene coordinator, then ex-
plained the differences between
Bakken crude oil and oil sands,
which both come through the Co-
lumbia Gorge.
While Bakken is easier to clean
because much of it evaporates
after 24 hours, Franklin said, “Tar
sands is going to be the biggest
problem. The answers are not all
in for this, especially for a spill re-
sponse.”
Franklin also went over avail-
able response tactics.
He said the priorities after an
oil spill are safety, a stabilized sit-
uation and then environmental
considerations. Three physical
measures are taken: stop it, boom
it and then suck it up with vacu-
um trucks if possible.
“We may not expect to get every
molecule up,” Franklin said.
Don Pettit, an emergency re-
See OIL, Page A9
See FILM, Page A9
Sunday fire claims Parkdale family’s home
By PATRICK MULVIHILL
News staff writer
Photo courtesy of Parkdale Fire Department
FLAMES ENGULF the Rodriquez family home on Quinn Road in Parkdale Sunday.
A blaze destroyed a double-
wide manufactured home in
Parkdale Sunday, leaving its resi-
dents with few worldly posses-
sions. It was the second home to
burn down in Hood River County
within the last two weeks.
No injuries were reported, but
Rigoberto Rodriguez’s family, in-
cluding two adults and two chil-
dren, lost their home on Quinn
Road in Parkdale as well as two
passenger cars, a 2003 Ford Expe-
dition and a 2002 Subaru sedan.
Parkdale Fire Chief Mike Mc-
Cafferty said the cause of the fire
is still under investigation.
Parkdale Fire Department re-
sponded to the fire at Quinn Road
about 4:15 a.m. Sunday. They were
joined by West Side Fire and
Wy’East Fire District, who helped
wrestle the flames down within
an hour.
Firefighters contained the
flames before they could spread to
neighboring buildings, but they
were unable to save the Ro-
driguez’s house or their two cars
parked out front.
“They lost everything,” said
McCafferty. He estimated the cost
of damages to be about $50,000.
Volunteers from the American
Red Cross of the Cascades Region
responded, providing clothing,
shoes, food, baby formula, bed-
ding and linens.
The Rodriguez family is cur-
rently staying with friends in
Odell, until they can find a per-
manent replacement for their
home.
McCafferty called the fire “a
fluke” because it was unlikely to
See FIRE, Page A9
Four To Go
Glow-in-dark mini-golf returns
Hood River’s only full-size indoor “Glow in
the Dark” 18-hole mini-golf course will open its
doors again for the next two weekends, at Im-
manuel Lutheran Church, located at 9th and
State streets This neon-lit mini-golf course of-
fers 18 unique and entertaining holes that are a
challenge for all ages. All proceeds go towards
Immanuel’s middle school and senior high
youth ministries.
Hours are April 24,, 5 to 8 p.m.; April 25, 2 to 8
p.m.; May 1, 5 to 8 p.m.; and May 2, 2 to 8 p.m.
Cost is $5 per
person for 18
holes.
7
05105 97630
3
Bike drive Saturday
and Sunday
‘Art of Community’
call for artists
Anson’s Bike Buddies collects
used bikes, repairs them, and then
matches them to children who would
benefit from owning a bike. Founder
Anson Pulk, 8, and his family are
helped by groups such as Providence
Hood River Memorial Hospital and
The Next Door.
Anson is holding a bicycle drive
Saturday and Sunday at Cascade Eye
Center on West Cascade from 10 a.m.
to 2 p.m. Whole bikes or frames or
parts are accepted. For details go to
www.ansonsbikebuddies.org
May 15 is deadline for artists
to respond to the 2015 Art of
Community “big art” project.
Pieces will be selected by June
1, and installation happens in
late August.
Art of Community works are
on exhibit at 15 outdoor loca-
tions (16 or more in 2015) in the
project, which debuted last July.
For details call Kristen Godkin,
development director, or go to:
www.art-of-community.com
Author Luis Urrea appears Saturday
The 2015 Hood River
Reads program con-
cludes Saturday with a
free talk by author Luis
Alberto Urrea, whose
book “Into the Beautiful
North” was featured in
the program this year.
Urrea will speak at 2
p.m. at Hood River Li-
brary.
The program is free
and open to all.