FISH Moves
Food drive May 9 – A13
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May 2015
Covering Gorge Business
Volume 7, No. 5
Reach Out and Read
(pg. 16)
True Value marks 75 years
(pg. 6)
Willamette Week
Beer Awards Page 7
SPECIAL
SECTION
INSIDE
W EEKEND E DITION
Vol. 109, No. 35
HOOD RIVER, OREGON
Official Newspaper, City of Hood River and Hood River County
■
SATURDAY, MAY 2, 2015
I IN
N NEPAL
N E P A L
www.hoodrivernews.com
By PATRICK MULVIHILL
News staff writer
Photo courtesy of Peter Marbach
DAMAGE to Kumari clinic after the earthquake that rocked the Asian nation of Nepal.
Leader asks for help after village with connections to
Hood River is hit hard by last month’s earthquake
News editor
“Kumari people are in big diffi-
cult situation and all your supports
and help will big relief at this mo-
ment.”
Those words are from Jagat
Lama of Kumari, Nepal, a village
assisted in the past two years by
Hood River residents.
Kumari suffered heavy damage
in last week’s devastating earth-
quake to the Himalayan nation.
From one of its young leaders
comes a message of despair, mixed
with hope, from inside a nation
that has seen 7-10,000 people killed
and thousands more displaced in
the capital of Katmandu as well as
remote villages that have been ex-
tensively damaged or wiped out.
Jagat, who founded the school
and clinic in Kumari, contacted
Jim Haun and Peter Marbach of
HELP FOR NEPAL
Peter Marbach said the best way
to help is to donate to Health and
Education 4 Nepal. through this
link: www.healthanded4nepal.org.
“This is Jagat’s main non-profit
partner in the U.S. This will ensure
ever dollar goes directly to relief ef-
forts in Kumari,” Marbach said.
“Compassion needs to be
matched with action. There is an
overwhelming immediate need for
supplies of food, water and tempo-
rary shelter.”
Hood River this week. (Hood River
News profiled visits by Marbach in
2013 and by Haun and Dr. James
Pennington in 2014 and early 2015.)
Notes Haun, “For me, as I think
would be the case for many others,
S p o t l i g h t
a
t
u
r
d
a
y
3 Sections, 46 Pages
Port of CL plans
upgrades for next
decade of BOTG
THE NEED
By KIRBY NEUMANN-REA
75 cents
it makes it feel all the more real.
The list of supplies is absolutely
necessary, but hearing how Jagat is
feeling, his fear and desperation at
the most intimate level, really be-
ings it home.
“It’s not just another disaster in
another faraway place. It part of an
ongoing relationship between Ku-
mari and Hood River,” Haun said.
Marbach said, “It’s such a kick in
the gut for those of us who have
been there and experienced the
warmth and gentle nature of the
people of Kumari.
“In the best of times they were
living on the margins of existence
but there was a peaceful rhythm to
life. Now there is so much fear and
uncertainty.”
Jagat wrote:
“Our Kumari road is blocked at
this moment and we cannot drive
See NEPAL, Page A10
The Port of Cascade locks is
eyeing computerized and physical
upgrades to speed up and revital-
ize operations at the Bridge of the
Gods over the next decade.
The Cascade Locks Port Com-
mission shared its 10-year plan for
the Bridge of the Gods at a com-
munity meeting Thursday, in
which they outlined the costs re-
quired for upkeep of the bridge’s
deck and metal structure, as well
as proposed electronic tolling up-
grades.
The proposed bridge budget
from 2015 to 2025 is $8.3 million.
Deck, plate and spot repairs ac-
counted for more than $4 million
out of that total, which Port of
Cascade Locks President Jess
Groves referred to as “the main
puppy” in physical expenses. The
costs would be dispersed in bursts
over the next ten years, subject to
state and federal grants.
The port commission’s primary
discussion on Thursday, however,
focused on the million dollar
chunk relegated to electronic up-
grades, which would partially au-
tomate the tolling process and po-
tentially make for smoother, faster
bridge crossings.
Currently, the tollhouse relies
on human employees equipped
with paper and pen. For truck
crossings, an operator has to look
out the window to count each
truck’s axles and look past “mud
flaps,” said Groves. All vehicle
crossings are still logged on a clip-
board.
Groves said the upgrades would
“get us up to date with the real
world as far as the system’s con-
cerned.” Groves said the new sys-
tem would still require a human
operator, but axle-checking, log-
ging and other functions would be
See PORT, Page A10
CGCC faculty
censures Toda
Faculty at Columbia Gorge
Community College voted by a
wide margin on April 25 to submit
a letter to the CGCC Board of Ed-
ucation censuring college Presi-
dent Frank Toda and calling for
his resignation.
The letter of censure will be
submitted to the CGCC board of
education in its next meeting, May
12, 6 to 8 p.m. at The Dalles cam-
pus.
“This official vote was conduct-
ed by each of the nine department
chairs in exactly the same manner
as the vote of no confidence made
in September 2013,” said Tim
Schell, who chairs the writing, lit-
erature and foreign language de-
partment at CGCC. “The vote was
conducted at the faculty bi-annual
in-service at The Dalles campus.”
Of the 72 votes, 51 voted in favor
of censure, 15 against and 6 ab-
stained, Schell reported.
“We believe that for the college
See TODA, Page A11
A weekly series about a day in the life ...
Doug Nichols ‘blessed’ at wastewater treatment plant
BY TRISHA WALKER
News staff writer
Photos by Trisha Walker
Doug Nichols, Project Manager for Hood River
Public Works, has been in the wastewater treat-
ment business since 1979. The “nuts and bolts” of
the operation are his crew — with Nichols are Sara
Horne, Gary Duree, Brent Tillett, Kelby Johnson, Bobby Green
and Louie Hooks. Not pictured: Sean Desmond.
Doug Nichols, Project Manager for Hood River Public
Works, has a job that not many people understand: Waste-
water treatment.
“Wastewater treatment in general is a very misunder-
stood public utility,” Nichols said. “It involves a variety of
physical, chemical and biological processes and applied sci-
ences. A lot of people have no idea what transpires at a treat-
ment plant, or perhaps aren’t even aware of where the water
goes when they shower or flush their toilet.”
It’s a fairly complex process, but basically, what happens is
this: Wastewater gets funneled through the city’s sewer sys-
tem, where it eventually ends up at the treatment plant.
From there, it’s prescreened, de-gritted (the pipes tend to
have a lot of gravel in them), and put through a series of
clarification and aeration systems where microbes do their
work before the water is pumped back into the Columbia
River.
It’s a process that mimics what happens in nature — in a
very concentrated time period. The plant treats an average
See DOUG, Page A11
Four To Go
‘Wild’ screens May 9 in CL
A free community screening of the movie based
upon the bestselling novel “Wild,” by Cheryl Strayed,
is planned for May 9 at the Marine Park Pavilion,
Cascade Locks. There will be a social at 5 p.m. and
the movie will begin at 6 p.m. The event is co-spon-
sored by the Pacific Crest Trail Association, Port of
Cascade Locks, Hood River County Library District,
and Thunder Island Brewing. Because the movie is
rated R, anyone under the age of 18 will need to be
accompanied by an adult. Beer will be sold by Thun-
der Island Brewing. For more information, contact
the Hood River
County Library
District at
541-386-2535.
7
05105 97630
3
Dalles Dam visitor center
reopens for summer
Latino Council
meets May 6
Parking restricted
on State Street May 7-15
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers invites
guests to visit The Dalles Dam this summer.
The dam’s visitor center will be open 9
a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays through Sundays from
May 1 until Memorial Day, and then every
day through Labor Day. The visitor center
will then be open Fridays through Sundays
until it closes for the season Sept. 27. The
visitor center has many interactive displays,
a short film on the benefits and impacts of
the dam, and a bookstore offering local in-
formation and treasures. Pre-registration for
tours is encouraged, as space is limited. Call
541-506-7857.
Hood River Mayor Paul
Blackburn’s Latino Advisory
Council will hold its month-
ly meeting on May 6 at 4:30
p.m. at City Hall.
Topics will include the
City budget process, the on-
going housing study, and the
Sister City possibilities with
Colotlan, Jalisco. “All are
welcome. Espero que ven-
gas,” Blackburn said.
A section of sidewalk will be removed
and replaced on the south side of State
Street in front of the State Street parking
lot May 7 until May 15. During this time
there will be no parking on the south side
of State Street in front of the parking lot.
Permitted parking will be allowed only
on the south side of the parking lot.
There will be no parking on the north
side of the lot. Vehicles with parking per-
mits issued for the north side of the lot
will be allowed to park in marked spaces
throughout the downtown area during
the construction period.