A8
Hood River News, Saturday, May 30, 2015
W ATER
Continued from Page A1
characterized the current
low flow situation as one of
the worst in decades.
“It’s bad,” said Castagnoli
regarding Hood River Val-
ley’s low snow pack and
river levels. “It’s the worst
in quite a while, compared
to other years.”
However, Castagnoli re-
membered several other
years with comparable, even
worse droughts in the Hood
River Valley during his 15
years at the extension office,
namely 2005 and 2001.
According to a story in
the April 11, 2001 edition of
the News, the Hood River
was running at 60 percent
below normal that year, with
local reservoir levels vary-
ing from 70 to 90 percent
below average. That puts the
Hood River’s water levels at
20 percent higher this year
than its dire days in 2001.
Castagnoli said local agri-
culture has the biggest “con-
sumptive” use of water, and
would be impacted the most
by the drought. “Particular-
ly for orchards, the irriga-
Photo by Kirby Neumann-Rea.
SIGN PICTURED ABOVE was part of a 2001 water conservation
initiative, set to return this summer.
tion supply is highly depen-
dent on snowpack (and) the
snowpack is extremely low.”
Castagnoli said local resi-
dential water use was “pret-
ty minor” compared to agri-
cultural use. However, he
said it could still play a role.
“Any water that is conserved
will improve the local situa-
tion this year,” he said.
“We will all need to do our
part to help fish and agricul-
ture survive,” said Anne
Saxby, director of Hood
River Soil and Water Con-
servation District. “This is
the year to let your lawn go
dormant. It would make a
more profound change if
everyone did.”
Saxby explained that,
while homeowners can
choose whether or not to
water their lawns, or-
chardists don’t have the
same option. “Orchard trees
can’t go dormant … you
can’t not water those,” she
said.
The conservation district
is coordinating a campaign
to urge local residents to
conserve water. Megan
Saunders, watershed techni-
cian, is designing a new sign
to encourage conservation.
Photo by Patrick Mulvihill
O DELL C ELEBRATION
Kids dance at Mid Valley School in Odell Thursday evening, honoring staff who are retiring—
including Principal Dennis McCauley, center right. The school teamed up with the Odell His-
panic Prevention Coalition to honor educators and community members who made a positive
impact in the Latino community. Dancers were led by Mid Valley teacher Sandy Salazar, who
was also recognized at the event.
J OANNE
pensive,” she said.
Her job isn’t just about
cooking; there is a lot of pa-
perwork involved for both
her and her staff: First Cook
Veronica Jimenez, Assistant
Cooks Jennifer Cox and
Cindy Sparks, and Kitchen
Helpers Susana Hernandez
and Charmaine Wampler.
“We do a whole lot of
counting and a whole lot of
Continued from Page A1
Jane’s retirement; she then
became head cook. At first,
she prepared meals for West-
side students only. Several
years ago, she also began
cooking for Hood River Mid-
dle School, and has since
added Cascade Locks. She es-
timates that she serves 300
daily at Westside, 190 at
HRMS, and 50 at Cascade
Locks — for lunch. She also
makes breakfast.
It’s a challenge she enjoys.
“I kee p a production
record for each school, and
each day write down notes
for prep the next day — this
school gets this much, this
school gets this much,” she
said.
Each school has a desig-
nated storage area in the re-
frigerator, and breakfast and
lunch are prepared accord-
ingly. Two of her staff trans-
ports and serves the food at
HRMS, while Cascade Locks’
meals are delivered daily and
served by instructional as-
sistant Debi Fischer.
Portions are planned, with
an emphasis on fruits and
vegetables. Recent USDA
mandates state that every
child who goes through the
cafeteria line must receive a
half a cup of fruit or veg-
etable, and all breads must
be 100 percent whole grain.
“They have to take it,” she
said. “They’re learning to eat
it more.”
She serves fresh fruit,
ranging from apples to
grapes to cantaloupe, every
day for breakfast, and at
lunch, students choose items
from a salad bar.
Because students have to
take the fruits and vegeta-
bles, she tries to provide op-
tions like bagged carrots or
sealed applesauce cups that
can be “re-served” on the
cafeteria sharing table,
TCC
wireless
opens in HR
TCC, the largest Verizon
Premium Wireless Retailer
in the U.S., announced May
28 the opening of its newest
location in Hood River.
Located at 2149 W. Cascade
Ave., Suite 104, the new store
offers interactivity while
shopping for wireless de-
vices, accessories and home
solutions, and is designed as
a destination for guests to get
hands-on with the latest
wireless devices.
On May 30, TCC will hold a
grand opening event for the
Hood River community, pre-
ceded by a ribbon cutting
ceremony at noon on May 29.
Local radio station KIHR
(98.3 FM) will host a live re-
mote from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on
Saturday. Bro-Do gs and
Burgers will be on-site, pro-
viding guests with free hand-
crafted burgers and gourmet
sausage sandwiches. In cele-
bration of the new store,
TCC will make a charitable
donation to The Next Door,
Inc., a nonprofit organiza-
tion that works with commu-
nity programs to strengthen
children and families and
improve communities.
TCC will be giving away
gift bags to the first 25 guests
who attend the event.
bookwork,” she said. “With
the regulations that we have
now, we have to count every-
thing we put out and count
what’s left to make sure we
put out what we’re supposed
to.”
Shop Local
The Gorge
Athlete of the Week
Jestena Mattson
HRV track and field
Jestena Mattson won both the 100- and
200-meter dashes at the OSAA 5A State
Championship, setting new school records in
both, as well as placing second in high jump.
The Athlete of the Week will receive a large
pizza with 2 toppings from Papa Murphy’s.
Congratulations to our winner 5-30-15.
Photo by Trisha Walker
FIRST AND SECOND GRADERS at Westside Elementary choose fruit and vegetables at the cafeteria’s
salad bar. Thursday’s choices included fresh orange and apple slices, and bagged cut carrots. Once
through the salad bar line, they’ll hit the kitchen for their entrées.
where students who are still
hungry can chose from un-
wanted items. It’s one way to
cut down on food waste — al-
though waste still happens,
and there’s not much they
can do about it.
While cooks used to make
lunches from scratch, the
trend now is more frozen or
prepared foods. She often
hears that there’s a need to
go back to homemade, but
the kids’ tastes have changed
and they often won’t eat
those meals when they are
prepared.
“More and more parents
are so busy, they do a lot of
box cooking, frozen food or
take out and kids are just
used to that,” Franz said.
Another change: “We used
to do desserts more often,”
Franz said. “We took away a
lot of the snacky foods, like
chips and desserts. It’s more
fruit and vegetables and a va-
riety of choices for an en-
trée, but the kids don’t like
the idea that they don’t get
the desserts, they don’t get
the chips.”
On Wednesday, Franz and
other district head cooks vis-
ited Nature’s Finest in Park-
dale as part of the Farm to
School initiative, where local
farmers sell produce directly
to schools for their lunch
programs. Next year, the dis-
trict will purchase a variety
of vegetables from the farm
— carrots, cucumbers, cab-
bage, lettuce, broccoli, and,
Franz hopes, snap peas.
“The kids love (snap peas,)
but they’re usually too ex-
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