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