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About The Hood River news. (Hood River, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (May 30, 2015)
A4 V IEWPOINT Hood River News, Saturday, May 30, 2015 JOE PETSHOW Publisher/President, Eagle Newspapers, Inc. TOM LANCTOT Past President, Eagle Newspapers, Inc. CHELSEA MARR General Manager KIRBY NEUMANN-REA Editor JODY THOMPSON Advertising Manager TONY METHVIN Columbia Gorge Press Manager DICK NAFSINGER Publisher, Emeritus (1933-2011) DAVID MARVIN Production Manager Subscription $42 per year in Hood River trade area. $68 outside trade area. NATIONAL NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION OREGON NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION Printed on recycled paper. Official Newspaper, City of Hood River and Hood River County Published Every Wednesday & Saturday by Hood River News, P.O. Box 390, Hood River, Oregon 97031 • (541) 386-1234 • FAX 386-6796 Member of the Associated Press ON THE AGENDA These are the regular meeting times of governing bodies for these agencies: O ur readers write Cascade Locks Cascade Locks City Council, 7 p.m., City Hall Council Chambers, 140 W. WaNaPa St., second and fourth Mondays of the month. Cascade Locks Planning Commission, 7 p.m., City Hall Council Chambers, 140 W. WaNaPa St., second Thursday of the month. Cascade Locks Port Commission, 6 p.m., City Hall Council Chambers, 140 W. WaNaPa St., first and third Thursdays of the month. Hood River City of Hood River Planning Commission meeting, 5:30 p.m., Hood River City Hall Council Chambers, 211 Second St., generally the first and third Mondays of the month. Place and dates subject to change. Hood River Port Commission, 5 p.m., 100 E. Port Marina Drive, board room, first and third Tuesdays of the month. Hood River City Council, 6 p.m., Hood River City Hall Council Chambers, 211 Second St., second and fourth Mon- days of the month. Hood River Soil and Water Conservation District Board of Directors meeting, 4 p.m., OSU Extension Service Building, 2990 Experiment Station Road, first Thursday of the month. Hood River Valley Parks and Recreation District, 6 p.m., Aquatic Center, 1601 May St., third Wednesday of the month. Place subject to change. Hood River County Hood River County Board of Commissioners regular ses- sion, 6 p.m., 601 State St., first floor conference room, third Monday of the month. Time subject to change. Committed to serve In response to a recent editorial, the United Em- ployees of Columbia Gorge Community College, AFT- Oregon Local 4754, want the Gorge community to know we are committed to furthering the quality of public higher education in our community. We are united in our mission to guarantee that our students have the tools they require to be successful. Our days are spent educating, assisting, mentor- ing, and guiding students and potential students. We are dedicated to providing students with a compre- hensive and fulfilling educational experience. As in- vested educators, we want to ensure our students have the best learning environment possible. Thus, we will continue to raise our voices when we see in- justice, unfairness or misinformation. We stand to- gether to resolve issues affecting our college commu- nity, such as campus security and staff layoffs. Together we’re working to create an atmosphere of openness and fairness with the college community and college administration. We are eager to work with the administration to create solutions to these important issues and cultivate a better educational experience, and will continue to be open and honest at the table when discussing these topics. We are united in this effort as instructors, custodi- ans, administrative assistants, accounting special- ists, facilities technicians, instructional assistants, computer support technicians, payroll and benefit specialists, and will continue to provide the best edu- Hood River County School Board, 6:30 p.m., meets at schools and district facilities on a rotating schedule (visit hoodriver.k12.or.us for location), second and fourth Wednes- days of the month unless school vacations or other holidays interrupt the schedule. Hood River County Transportation District, 9 a.m., Hood River County Transportation District Board Room, 224 Wasco Loop, second Wednesday of the month. Chelsea Marr General Manager CMarr@hoodrivernews.com Founded in 1905 419 State Street Hood River, OR 97031 P.O. Box 390 Phone: (541) 386-1234 Fax: (541) 386-6796 Operations: Joe Petshow Publisher President, Eagle Newspapers (541) 386-1234 JPetshow@hoodrivernews.com Chris Stenberg Bookkeeper CStenberg@hoodrivernews.com By KIRBY NEUMANN-REA N News editor ews that Sunset magazine gave Hood River its “Best Adventure Town” award was welcome indeed, and deserved, given our “star- tling breadth of experiences.” That’s the summary phrase in the article in the June edition of the magazine. (Hood River News story, page A3 in our May 25 edition.) Sunset gives a brief but glowing report, with a map, on “Hood River,” extoling Full Sail Brewery, Big Winds, Pacific Crest Trail, White Salmon River, and Timberline. Of course, just two of these at- tractions are located in the City of Hood River, and the verbiage for Big Winds —”gear awaits at a locally- owned shop that rents out equip- ment…” — makes it sound like it is the only one in town, when in fact you can choose from several such shops providing sales, rentals, lessons, or all three, for whatever windsport you want to do. Mentioning Full Sail alone is a disservice to the excellent, and growing, beer community of Hood River and the Gorge; the Breweries in the Gorge organization formed last year and covers both sides of the river. Meanwhile, places in the next county, or ones located outside the state, are lumped as being part of Hood River. The regionality of these things is understood, but the five bases for the “Best Adventure Town” award truly stretch the geog- raphy. Or they ignore it: the biggest News: Kirby Neumann-Rea Editor HRNews@hoodrivernews.com Ben Mitchell Front Office/ Classified Advertising: Stacey Methvin Classifieds/Receptionist HRNClass@hoodrivernews.com SMethvin@hoodrivernews.com omission is that of any mention of Cascade Locks in the description of Pacific Crest Trail. It is the only place the PCT traverses an incorpo- rated city, yet not even the map lists Cascade Locks. Granted, anyone planning to hike PCT, partially or through, is going to do research beyond Sunset, but, in the context of using PCT, to ignore the Cascade Locks community and its food, accommodations and other visi- tor amenities is writing in a vacuum. Further, Sunset says the PCT “cuts west of Hood River.” Yes, 20 miles west. It’s like writing an article on the delights of The Dalles and saying Hood River’s Sandbar is a recreation- al place just west of town. I think Sunset truly likes Hood River and the Gorge, considering it’s done five or more similar articles in recent years. For that we should be appreciative; it is an informative magazine with a long history. But Sunset operates a little like a party host who introduces a guest by the wrong name. Thanks, but … awk- ward. In April, the magazine played up Hood River as a destination, saying it is “surrounded by pear, apple and peach orchards” and “a 35-mile stretch of road dotted with fruit stands and lavender farms;” nothing substantially wrong there, though there are in fact just two lavender farms and few peach orchards, and no mention of the cherries aplenty. Then there is the Gorge travel write-up nugget that gets passed down from article to article like sour- dough: the “basalt cliffs” mention. It seems that every article ever written in a national publication mentions LisaAnn Kawachi News/Features LKawachi@hoodrivernews.com Kirsten Lane Advertising Sales Production: David Marvin Ailene Hibbard Archivist Production Manager Jim Drake Advertising: Jim Drake Entertainment Jody Thompson Advertising Manager JThompson@hoodrivernews.com Production BenMitchell@hoodrivernews.com JDrake@hoodrivernews.com Trisha Walker News/Features TWalker@hoodrivernews.com the “basalt cliffs” in some way. A ref- erence to the basalt cliffs towering “4,000 feet above the Columbia” has unfortunately appeared in more than one publication. (Perhaps 1,000 feet in one or two places, maybe …) In the case of the April article, Hood River is “surrounded” by basalt cliffs, which is technically true, but directly around Hood River are — do we stop often enough to appreciate this? — forested slopes, probably growing out of the basalt. I don’t know, I am neither forester nor geolo- gist. It just seems like writers are sit- ting in New York or San Francisco, thinking of how to flesh out this piece on the Gorge and playing Please Pass the Basalt. But when borrowing factoids over- shadows the work of actually visiting a place, the article suffers and so does the picture of the place. Sketchy fare such as Sunset produces does not re- flect as well as anyone would hope upon either the magazine or Hood River. I admit, there is the other side of it. Sunset’s WAS a glowing report: no warts, that is. Years ago I wrote a freelance piece on a bed and break- fast in Northern Michigan and saw plenty of things that would have put the place in a bad light, but left them out. It was a great establishment, but I might have mentioned the win- dowsills lined with dead flies. If Sun- set found dead flies in Hood River, they didn’t mention them. But between what is made less of or made more of, you get the feeling in reading these travel pieces that whoever writes them did not actually visit the place. KLane@hoodrivernews.com Patrick Mulvihill News/Features PMulvihill@hoodrivernews.com News/Features Circulation: Esther K. Smith Circulation Manager (541) 386-1234 Ext. 205 ESmith@hoodrivernews.com I would like to thank Hood River City Mayor Paul Blackburn, City Manager Steve Wheeler and the City Director of Public Works Mark Lago for taking the time to clear the recently cut down trees and tree de- bris from the BMX and Skateparks. This is a heavily used park but starting to look for- gotten. It is my hope that one day this park will be- come part of a green belt connecting the west and east sides of Hood River via the River Front Trail. I hope the mountain biking community will come together and add a few mountain bike obstacles and challenges like the ones found on Family Man in Post Canyon. The importance of this green space should not be overlooked. Thank you again, the park looks much better and is ready for summer. Jim Klaas Hood River Travel writers are forever passing the basalt in flavoring this place Hood River County Planning Commission meeting, 7 p.m., 601 State St., first floor, generally second and fourth Wednes- days of the month. Hood River County Commission on Children and Families Board meeting, 5:15 p.m., Providence Hood River Memorial Hospital boardroom, generally first Tuesday of the month. Job well done EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK Library District Board meeting, 7 p.m., 502 State St., con- ference room, third Tuesday of the month. Hood River County Water Planning Group, 2 p.m., 601 State St., first floor conference room, generally first Wednes- day of the month. cational experience to our students as they maneuver through the world of higher education. To do anything less, as some members of college’s board have recently suggested, is unthinkable. Please stand with us in our efforts to improve the education experience at CGCC, for your students are our priority. Signed, Tom Kaser and 51 faculty and classified employees Columbia Gorge Community College Hood River Liana Stegall Advertising Sales LStegall@hoodrivernews.com DMarvin@hoodrivernews.com JDrake@hoodrivernews.com Allen Diers Commercial Printing ADiers@hoodrivernews.com 419 State Street Hood River, OR 97031 P.O. Box 390 Phone: (541) 386-1234 Fax: (541) 386-6796 Tony Methvin Plant Manager (541) 386-1234 TMethvin@columbiagorgepress.com Lisa Becharas Commercial Printing LBecharas@columbiagorgepress.com
