Gorge
Columbia River
Business
Review
Covering Gorge Business
June 2015
Lutz Garden
Momma Monzie’s
(pg. 6)
Volume 7, No. 6
Page 11
Smoking band at Port of
Cascade Locks
2BlondesCrafting
(pg. 8)
SPECIAL
SECTIONS
INSIDE
Page 7
W EEKEND E DITION
Vol. 109, No. 45
Official Newspaper, City of Hood River and Hood River County
HOOD RIVER, OREGON
■
SATURDAY, JUNE 6 , 2015
75 cents
5 Sections, 60 Pages
www.hoodrivernews.com
M USICAL G ESTURES
Hood River Valley High School Chamber Singers
perform Wednesday as part of a week for good-
byes. Graduation ceremonies happen June 5 at
HRVHS and June 6 at Horizon Christian School. The
music department’s annual “Farewell Concert” at
HRVHS included emotional sendoffs for seniors,
many of whom have been involved in the music
department for four years – or longer: see page A3
for related article. Shown are seniors and under-
classmen members of the Chamber Singers per-
forming as an ensemble for the last time, doing
“Luk Luk Lumbu” featuring choreography by De-
laney Barbour and Hannah Simons, based on In-
donesian dance. The concert was the last one for
music director Mark Steighner, who is retiring. His
last time directing singers at HRVHS was Friday’s
graduation, when music department members per-
formed the Class of 2015 original song, “Blast
Off,” written by Noah Tauscher and friends. See the
June 10 edition for more graduation coverage.
Photo by Kirby Neumann-Rea
3 brothers arrested, 2 ‘Puff Factory’
charged with murder coming to CL
Siblings suspected in
2014 disappearance
of Parkdale man
By PATRICK MULVIHILL
News staff writer
Three brothers are facing felony
charges in connection to the May
2014 disappearance of a Parkdale
man — two were charged with mur-
der.
Brothers Michael David Schnei-
der, 27, Donald Mathew Schneider, 22
and Peter Damien Schneider, 23, of
Parkdale were arraigned in court
Thursday in connection with the
May 2014 disappearance of their
family friend, Jason R. Muschaweck,
24, also of Parkdale.
Michael and Donald Schneider
were charged with murder, burglary,
theft, unlawful use of weapon and
abuse of corpse in the second de-
gree. Peter Schneider was charged
with burglary and theft in the first
degree.
If found guilty, Michael and Don-
ald Schneider would face 25 years to
life for murder, a maximum of 20
years for first degree burglary and
five years each for theft first degree,
unlawful use of weapon and abuse of
corpse second degree — a class C
felony. Peter would face a maximum
of 25 years in total if pronounced
guilty of theft and burglary in the
first degree, both felonies.
The motive and cause of Jason
Muschaweck’s death were not indi-
cated in court Thursday.
Hood River County District Attor-
ney John Sewell said he could not re-
lease any information on where or
how the body was found, or how the
Schneider brothers were linked to
the case.
Sewell said the court appearance
Thursday was an “arraignment on
information of felony,” not an ar-
S p o t l i g h t
a
t
u
r
d
a
y
raignment following a formal indict-
ment.
The Schneider brothers appeared
separately before Judge John A.
Wolf at the Hood River County Cour-
thouse Thursday via video feed from
Northern Oregon Regional Correc-
tions Facility (NORCOR). They were
arraigned and charged individually,
though Donald’s and Michael’s
charges were identical.
When reading out the brothers’
charges stacked against them, Wolf
noted that the first degree theft and
burglary charges referred to the
theft of a pistol owned by Jason
Muschaweck.
Wolf appointed attorneys for each
brother — Kami White for Michael,
Jim Mason for Donald and Sheri
Thonstad for Peter. However, Mason
indicated that Donald Schneider
might be appointed a different a
lawyer in the future.
See ARRESTS, Page A7
Port closes on deal
with new freeze-
dried fruit business
By PATRICK MULVIHILL
News staff writer
The Port of Cascade Locks
has finalized a deal with an
Odell orchardist, Jacqueline
Alexander, which will make
way for “The Puff Factory,” a
26,000 square-foot plant that will
freeze-dry Hood River Valley
fruit and turn it into package-
able snacks.
The business will use a pro-
prietary freeze drying process
to transform fruit from local or-
chards into a healthy snack
food. The company has worked
closely with the OSU Food Inno-
vation Center in Portland to de-
velop and test market the prod-
uct, said Holly Howell, the
JACQUELINE ALEXANDER of
Morale Orchards in Odell has made
a deal with the Port of Cascade
Locks to start a new business, Puff
Factory, at the Port’s business park.
Port’s marketing and develop-
ment manager.
Puff Factory plans to employ
30-50 people, once the plant is up
and running.
See PORT, Page A2
A weekly series about a day in the life ...
Melissa Vovou finds right steps with Pilates
BY TRISHA WALKER
News staff writer
Photo by Trisha Walker
MELISSA VOVOU, left, grew up in Hood River
and, after traveling the world dancing, is now a cer-
tified Pilates instructor in Hood River. Above, she prac-
tices at Laurence Lake. More at melissaspilatesclasses.com.
When Melissa Vovou was growing up, she wanted to be a vet-
erinarian.
“But it turns out I faint at the sight of blood,” she joked.
So she turned to dance.
Actually, that’s not quite correct. Vovou has always danced.
She grew up in Dukes Valley, and, as a homeschooler, began bal-
let classes as a social outlet. She was drawn to ballet and knew
she wanted to dance — she just didn’t think she could make a
career out of it.
In those early days, she danced ballet at Bridgewater Dance
Theater under Bev Cron, and later “did a little bit” at The
Workout, owned by Charlotte Arnold and taught by Margaret
Dallman — her favorite ballet instructor.
She eventually took classes in the Portland area, and, after
graduating from high school, moved to the Bay Area to dance
at Marin Ballet, a school known to lead in to the San Francisco
Ballet Company.
“At that time, I thought that’s what I wanted to do — profes-
See MELISSA, Page A2
Four To Go
Tour de Coop is today
Lions hold food drive today
June 6 hike changes
Plan ahead for July 4
Tour de Coop, a tour of Hood River chicken coops,
takes place June 6. Coops will be open from 11-2 p.m.
(except for that at Ted James’ place, which will be
open until 3 p.m.). The tour is a fundraiser for Valley
Critters 4H Club. Coops can be toured in any order.
Maps are $3 and available at Little Bit Ranch Supply,
Gorge Grown Food Network, and the OSU Extension
office. The highlight is the unusual coops, from
small to large, but also features goats, rabbits, pigs,
geese and kids.
The Columbia Gorge Lions organiza-
tions are holding a food drive for FISH
June 6 from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Lions will
be stationed at Hood River Safeway and
Rosauers supermarkets as well as at Mid-
Valley Market in Odell and Cascade Mar-
ket in Cascade Locks.
Lions will provide lists of what is need-
ed most at the food banks, for shoppers to
use while in the store.
“We’re doing this drive now to take ad-
vantage of a generous offer by Centu-
ryLink to do a percentage match based on
how much food and money we are able to
gather,” said Lion Tony White.
To find cooler weather, the June 6
Community Education hike will be to
Killen Meadows in Washington in-
stead of School Canyon. Killen Mead-
ows is medium difficulty, elevation
gain 1,520 feet,10 miles round trip, two-
hour drive time to trailhead. The
Meadows will be filled with wildflow-
ers and great views of Mount Adams.
Meet at Coe Building at 7:50 a.m., leav-
ing at 8. Washington residents can
meet at the park and ride west of
bridge at 8:10 a.m. Contact Ed Walston
at 541-308-5994. Bring two quarts of
water, lunch, and $3.
This year’s Hood River July 4 pa-
rade theme will be “Beautiful
Bounty,” starting 10 a.m. with the
line up on Eliot Drive beginning at
8:30 a.m. To speed up the registra-
tion, forms and instructions can be
obtained by linking to “gorge-
lions.org.” The parade fee is $10
and there will be monetary prizes
for the best entries. The grand
marshals will be people associated
with Fish Food Bank. which
opened its new facility last month.
A food drive at Jackson Park will
follow the parade.
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