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About The Hood River news. (Hood River, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (May 20, 2015)
www.hoodrivernews.com Hood River News, Wednesday, May 20, 2015 A11 PINE GROVE NEWS John Stehlik named Wy’East Firefighter of the Year By DEBRA LARAWAY Pine Grove correspondent I am slow/late getting this infor mation in the paper but felt it should still be reported. Unfortunately, with all the recent passing of neighbors and friends, I thought I should remind everyone that for interment arrangements at the Pine Grove Butte Cemetery, Jean Godfrey is the Secretary and can be reached on her cell at 541-490-7713. Randy Holmstrom is the Sexton (grounds keeper) and can be reached on his cell at 541- 380-1130. Now for the late report- ing of the Wy ‘East Fire Dis- trict Annual Appreciation dinner, which was held Sat- urday, Feb. 7 at the Hood River Inn Columbia Room. The room was decorated with a February theme and the meal was quite tasty. Our thanks to the Hood River Inn staff and chef for our delicious meal. Officers of each fire sta- tion were introduced and then service awards were given out. Ten year pins went to Ryan Dethman, Kev i n L o n g a n d Pe p e Rivera. A 25 year pin went to Lee Lage, a 30 year pin to Joey Sheirbon, a 40 year pin to Jim Wells, and a 45 year pin to Butch Still. Those amount of years say a lot for the commitment of our volunteers and our thanks to you. We have a new award this year and it will be called the “Firefighter of the Year.” .John Stehlik was chosen for this and the other new award is “EMS Provider of the Year 2014,” going to Chrystal Akin-Bruce. “Stu- dent Firefighter of the Year 2014” was Rafael Contrbras. All members are eligible for these awards and congratu- lations to these fire volun- teers deserving of the recognition. We then went into our dif- ferent awards for mishaps or screw-ups within the fire departments. For Odell, the award went to Tony Guisto, whose name will be on the plaque forever as “Toast Em To n y. ” T h e “ H o t L i n e Award” for Pine Grove went to Steve Bickford for “Sit- tin.” Many try to avoid these awards, but those who win them are more than happy to tell you what to avoid to not win! It has also always been customary within the de- partments to give silver baby cups to new parents. John and Merridy Stehlik for their son Luke, Peter and Sarah Cushman for their daughter Zella, Pepe and Maria Rivera for their daughter Vida, Jeremy and Kelsey Cervantes for their daughter Lydia, and Rafael Contreras and Cecilia Gan- dara for their daughter Alli- son. Welcome future fire volunteers and EMS! New members for the depart- ments are David Rummel (wife Mea g an) for Pine Grove and for Odell, Nora Contreras, Tom Fur row (Roberta), Diego Vaca, Jose Villegas, Chris Voyles. Wel- come new members to each station and to Wy ‘East Fire District. Chief Greg Borton also gave mention of past fire department members, hon- orary members and past Charter members, one of which Bill Laraway was one of our last. The night ended with a skit by Jon Laraway performing a ventriloquist a c t a s s i s t e d by h i s “dummy” Dwight Moe and we enjoyed the light look at fire department procedures. Door prize tickets were drawn and table decora- tions given to all the win- ners (all of the gals) and we appreciate both de par t- ments for hosting this din- ner. Special thanks to Ryan Willis and John Stehlik for choosing the venue and set- ting things up. It is a great night of fun and visiting and appreciating our volun- teers and their families. ■ Call Debra Laraway at 541- 386-3316 with your news of the Pine Grove community. Photo by Kirby Neumann-Rea AT THE Pine Grove Fire Department auction in March, John Stehlik shows his lighter side, playing up the charms of an orange easy chair newly up for bid. Stehlik was named Wy’east Fire District Fire- fighter of the Year. Submitted photo PATTI ANN MONZIE, owner of Momma Monzie's Doggie Delights, with official taste testers Max and Barkley. New business profile ‘Momma Monzie’s Doggie Delights’ swift success BY TRISHA WALKER News staff writer It all began on Facebook. Patti Ann Monzie, a retired U.S. Forest Service employee, posted a couple of pictures of the treats she was making for her Greater Swiss Mountain Dogs, Max and Barkley, and her grand-Beagle three days before Christmas 2014. The post was for her sister in Montana, who had requested a visual explanation of what Monzie meant when she said she was “making bones.” Five minutes later, someone asked if they could order the treats. And the requests kept coming. She didn’t take any orders on Christmas Eve, but still, she baked 54 dozen dog treats in two days to send to cus- tomers in time for the holiday. “That was crazy because you don’t ever start something like that before Christmas,” Monzie said. She didn’t take any more or- ders until the end of the year “to see if it was just a fluke,” she explained. January 1, she decided to try again just to see what would happen. What happened is that Momma Monzie’s Doggie Delights was born. Through Facebook and word of mouth, orders have been steadi- ly flying out the door, both locally and nationally — she has cus- tomers in Massachusetts, Florida, Georgia, Montana, North Dakota, Idaho and Washington State. “The dog treat business was not on my mind,” she said. “I was re- tired and having fun playing with my dogs. I had no intention of starting a business.” She initially baked her all-natur- al dog treats in her home kitchen, but when she started selling in re- tail establishments — in March, Hood River businesses Rosauers and Gorge Dog were the first to pick up the treats, and she has since expanded to Cascade Pet Waucoma hosts author Steve Martini May 23 Waucoma Bookstore is host- ing New York Times best- selling thriller author Steve Martini for a book signing on May 23 from 1-3 p.m. at the bookstore, located at 212 Oak St., Hood River. Martini will be signing “The Enemy Within,” the latest book in the Paul Madriani series. Defending an innocent young man, defense attorney Paul Madriani uncovers a morass of corruption and greed that leads to the highest levels of political power. It leads Madriani into a vortex of corruption, and at its center, a devious killer poised to strike again Martini is the author of nu- merous New York Times best- sellers, including Trader of Secrets, The Rule of Nine, Guardian of Lies, Shadow of Power, and others featuring defense attorney Paul Madri- ani. He has practiced law in California in state and federal courts and has served as an ad- ministrative law judge and su- pervising hearing officer. He lives in the Pacific Northwest. June 1 Call for Appointment Camp in Odell, Dickey Farms in Bingen, Gorge Groomers and Pet Supply in White Salmon, and Dinah’s Doghouse in The Dalles — she had to find a commercial kitchen, as Oregon law prohibits food products sold to the public to be made in home kitchens. “So that’s when my whole life re- ally changed,” she said. “I didn’t know anything about starting a business.” She turned to the internet for help and learned how to apply for a license, how to buy UPC codes and liability insurance, how to find a licensed community kitchen, and how to start buying in bulk. She also began meeting with Fritz El- lett, Columbia Gorge Community College small business advisor. “He’s been wonderful,” Monzie said, providing her with spread- sheets and class recommendations. “It’s so un-Forest Service! It’s a whole new world.” So she uses the community kitchen located on GCCC’s The Dalles campus. It takes her two days to make each batch, mixing the dough and baking one day, cool- ing and packaging the next. How big is a batch? “I made 1,500 cookies last week,” she said. She hand-makes every treat, from mixing the dough, to cutting of the cookies, to packaging — “with love!” — in bags. On her Facebook page, she sells them by the dozen; in stores, they go by the ounce. Soon, she’ll have a website, in the final stages of production by local web designer Chris Frazier, and said the treats will be sold by the ounce and by the dozen there. She has a monthly give-away on her Facebook page for a free dozen dog treats, and whoever happens to order the 100th dozen gets theirs for free. About a week ago, she sent out a package of treats to a winner in Massachusetts, who had ordered the 500th dozen. “I’ve met so many really nice people” through the busi- ness, Monzie said. “Our dogs are our families, and we want to give them safe, nutritious, good-tasting treats.” Her treats have no added sugar, are gluten-free, preser- vative-free and contain all human-grade products. The recipes she uses for her treats — she has two flavors avail- abl e, b e e f a n d p u m p k i n - peanut butter — are “super simple, but they like them.” Cat owners have also found her, she said — they just break the treats into pieces. The next step? Continued expan- sion. “I want to do more already, but I have to remind myself I’ve only been in business for five months,” she said. Planned or not, she’s enjoying her new career, and feels very blessed by the way her business has taken off. “I am seriously thankful to all the people who support small busi- nesses like mine and trust me to m a ke t r e a t s f o r t h e i r d o g s, ” Monzie said. “It’s absolutely amaz- ing, the outpouring of support I’ve gotten.”
