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Hood River News, Saturday, June 13, 2015
A11
Windermere opens office on Oak
Photo by Damian Wright
FIREFIGHTERS WORK to douse the 7:10 a.m. Thursday fire at the Second Street overpass trail along
Interstate 84. It took about 45 minutes to put down the fire, which burned the grass and shrubs along
both sides of the trail.
Windermere Real Estate,
the largest regional real es-
tate company in the Western
U.S., has announced the com-
pany has opened an office on
Oak St. in Hood River.
Located at 315 Oak St., it is
the second office in Hood
River for the Windermere af-
filiate Windermere Glenn
Taylor Real Estate. The com-
pany’s office on Cascade
Street has been open since
the late 1990s.
“We have a team of 50 top-
tier real estate experts who
value knowledge sharing
and networking to better
serve their clients. The office
on Oak Street is designed
with our brokers’ collabora-
tive style in mind,” said Kim
Salvesen-Pauly, owner of
Windermere Glenn Taylor
Real Estate, which also has
offices in The Dalles, Bingen,
and Stevenson.
“Clients who work with
Windermere brokers actual-
ly have an entire team of pro-
fessionals supporting them.”
On May 1,
the brokers’
team expand-
ed worldwide.
With mem-
bership in
the invita-
tion-only
Luxury Port-
folio Interna- Kim Salvesen-
tional pro-
Pauly
g ram,
the
brokers have
global connections in a net-
work of 200 market-leading
real estate firms in more
than 50 countries.
“We are local. We are glob-
al,” said Salvesen-Pauly.
“With Luxury Portfolio, we
have tremendous reach and
can offer clients with high-
end properties unparalleled
exposure around the world.”
Some of Windermere’s es-
tablished brokers will move
to the new Oak St. office,
which includes space to
allow for continued company
growth. In keeping with the
“We are local. We are global”
mantra, the brokers have se-
lected ar twork by local
artists Angela Rouse and
Rick Pauly of Stave Designs
for office décor.
The company will hold a
grand opening celebration
later this summer.
The company’s office on
Cascade Street will serve as
the company’s headquarters.
Salvesen also plans to rent
out offices in the Cascade lo-
cation, pointing out that
there is a growing need
among small businesses for
space close to and in down-
town Hood River.
Wind stokes Thursday
morning brush fire
About 1,000
customers lost
power after blaze
next to freeway
By KIRBY NEUMANN-REA
News editor
A wind-rocked power line
apparently sparked and
caused Thursday morning’s
fire that resulted in about
1,000 electrical customers
losing power.
Hood River Fire Depart-
ment and West Side Fire De-
partment responded to the
7:10 a.m. fire at the Second
Street overpass trail along
Interstate 84. They needed
about 45 minutes to douse
the 20-by-100-square-foot fire,
which burned a mix of dry
grass and shrubs on both
sides of the trail. The eight-
foot concrete path runs east-
west from Second Street, and
then loops under the freeway
about 100 yards down a slight
incline.
Power was fully restored
by 9:30 a.m., according to
Tom Gauntt, Pacific Power
spokesman.
Winds were blowing at
about 45 miles per hour at
the time, according to Hood
River Fire Capt. Dave Smith.
“The wind was definitely a
factor,” he said. The fire
burned in a mix of vegeta-
tion, all of it dry, including
blackberries, which Smith
said look green and wet on
top but are tinder-dry under-
neath. Smith said the insula-
tors atop the pole were clear-
ly charred after two or more
lines seemed to come into
contact, causing the arc.
Damage to the trail was min-
imal, and the trail remains
open.
First on scene was the
Hood River Fire engine,
which staged on the east-
bound on-ramp to the free-
way. Firefighters placed an
A-frame ladder over the
chain link fence separating
the trail and the on-ramp.
Moments later, the brush
rigs from West Side and
Hood River arrived, and
those vehicles were able to
drive down the trail and
apply direct hose access.
Photo by Patrick Mulvihill
CRAG RAT Paul Crowley presents Claudia Barros with a badge of honorary status as “Crag
Rat for the day” Thursday, celebrating her rescue of a swimmer at Punchbowl Falls Sunday.
B ARROS
Continued from Page A1
school with Barros. Thomp-
son invited Barros to speak
at the Rotary meeting at the
Columbia Gorge Inn on
Thursday.
Barros shared her story
with the Rotarians, who re-
sponded with enthusiastic
applause. Then, Paul Crow-
ley of the Crag Rats, also a
Rotary Member, surprised
her with a badge of hon-
orary membership.
Crowley said he checked
L AST D AY O F S CHOOL
C RUZ
Continued from Page A1
Photos by Trisha Walker
LINDA THORNTON, who retired on Friday after 36 years of teaching, gives her first grade stu-
dents their report cards on the last day of school at Mid Valley Elementary in Odell. “I was in
tears this morning,” she said. “I still love the kids, but I’m ready to go on the next adventure.”
STUDENTS spent the morning working at stations, which included everything from puzzles
to coloring. Above, Karen Bruno (left) and Giselle Romero play a game of Math Dots.
His job at The Boys is to
“make sure everything goes
smoothly.” When he’s not
pumping gas or helping cus-
tomers, he’s busy stocking
shelves. The Boys is a gas
station, grocery store and
deli, with burritos, gorditas,
chicken strips, cheese burg-
ers and corn dogs available
in the hot case. They also sell
pop, beer and, of course,
Juanita’s items — another
family business.
But his favorite part of the
job is the customers.
“At my cooking job, I never
see the public,” he said. “I
only see the other cooks and
servers.”
That “cooking job” is at
Romuls, located in down-
town Hood River, where he’s
also worked the past two
months. He’s one of three of
the restaurant’s cooks.
“This (the store) is the
exact opposite of that,” he
said of The Boys. “I get to
run all over the place and
deal with the public.”
And he gets to deal with
the public a lot, because busi-
ness is booming.
S CHNEIDER
Continued from Page A1
F IRE
Continued from Page A1
was home to two adults and
as many as five dogs, accord-
ing to the Red Cross. Disaster
volunteers from the Red
Cross provided the victims
with food, lodging, clothing,
shoes and recovery informa-
tion.
The elderly couple lost
their home, Payne said. They
were unable to capture all of
the dogs. One was scared and
couldn’t be caught, she ex-
plained.
The burned home was well
away from the former motel,
where the fire started in a
railroad tie close to the old
Dinty’s Motel.
Also burned in the fire,
which started at 12:50 p.m.,
was an old antique store and
former hotel.
Payne said the fire burned
about three miles to the east
through brush and grass be-
fore firefighters got it con-
tained Wednesday night.
At the peak of the flames,
about 50 firefighters fought
the fire, Payne said. Rufus,
about five miles east of
Biggs, was not threatened.
A stretch of U.S. Highway
30 was closed temporarily.
Crews from Klickitat,
Gilliam, Wasco, and Sher-
man counties and other
agencies responded to the
fire.
Wednesday, June 3 in connec-
tion with Muschaweck’s dis-
appearance — two at a home
in the same block of Clear
Creek Road — but the link
between the suspects and the
victim’s death remains un-
clear.
The Schneider brothers
are longtime friends of the
Muschaweck family, said
Jason’s mother, Sharon
Muschaweck.
Michael and Donald
Schneider were charged with
murder, burglary, theft, un-
lawful use of weapon and
the group’s bylaws and de-
duced, “There’s nothing pro-
hibiting me from making
you a Crag Rat for the day.”
The Crag Rats are a volun-
teer team formed in 1926 that
rescues lost and injured hik-
ers in the greater Mt. Hood
area. Nearly every summer,
the team rescues people from
the Eagle Creek Trail, a pop-
ular tourist destination.
“One of the places we do a
lot of work is Eagle Creek.
You actually saved us what
we call a ‘call-out,’” said
Crowley.
“It was so cool what she
(Barros) did, so heroic. She
saved somebody’s life,” said
Thompson.
Thompson, who is a for-
mer lifeguard, said water
rescues are often dangerous
for both parties, swimmer
and rescuer. “It’s very com-
mon for both people to die in
a situation like this,” said
Thompson.
Barros is a Rotary Ex-
change student who has
lived with several host fami-
lies in Hood River since Sep-
tember, most recently Mike
and Angela Schock. While at
HRVHS, she participated in
soccer and lacrosse. Barros
plans to retur n home to
Chile near the end of sum-
mer.
“Demand is g etting
busier,” said Jaime Vira-
montes, a cousin of Torres’
and longtime The Boys atten-
dant. “Every day we strive
for excellence in customer
service.”
“The hardest part is mak-
ing it look easy,” joked Tor-
res.
“We try to be awesome,”
Viramontes agreed.
Part of “being awesome”
is keeping prices low, Vira-
montes explained.
“We are the next Wal-
mart,” he said. “We keep
prices low for the communi-
ty.”
The low prices, both at the
pump and in the store, bene-
fit the business as well as the
community.
“The low (gas) prices help
the store as a whole,” Vira-
montes said, as does Miss O’s
Coffee, a new drive-through
coffee stand owned by Court-
ney Harvey and situated on
the property behind the
pumps.
Torres works seven days a
week — this week, he put in
six day shifts at both The
Boys and Romuls. But he’s
also looking to the future:
His goal is to someday open
his own food cart.
“I’m working on a food
trailer,” he said. “I’m trying
to be entrepreneurial. My
goal is to work for myself,
making food.”
He’s been a cook for five
years, and has his associate
degree in commercial foods
and culinary arts from Mid
Florida Tech, located in Or-
lando. He plans to work on
his chef ’s designation “prob-
ably in the fall, when things
start slowing down,” he said,
adding that he has one year
of schooling left.
His food cart will feature
barbecued, g rilled, and
smoked foods. He’s been bar-
becuing and grilling since
before his years in Florida,
but perfected his technique
while there. His isn’t a tradi-
tional southern barbecue, he
said, because of the carcino-
gens that can occur with that
type of cooking.
“You’ve got to cater to peo-
ple’s health out here; they’re
more health conscious,” he
said.
Working at The Boys and
Romuls is good experience
for this future endeavor.
“Dealing with the pubic
and having a good, positive
report with the public, mak-
ing a name, your work ethic
… people see me and how we
do things, and that becomes
the expectation.”
abuse of corpse in the sec-
ond de g ree. Peter was
charged with burglary and
theft in the first degree.
In court Wednesday, Os-
trye set Donald Schneider’s
next court appearance for
Monday, June 15. Michael
will appear the same day.
Peter Schneider also ap-
peared in court Wednesday,
on screen from NORCOR.
His attorney, Sheri Thorn-
stad, called in and discussed
options for Peter’s release
from jail.
Thornstad indicated that
she would try to have Peter
released at his next court ap-
pearance, which is set for
Wednesday. Peter’s bail is set
at $5,000.
Michael and Donald
Schneider remain in jail
without a bail-release option.
The NORCOR online roster
lists $8,000 as their bail —
but paying that amount does-
n’t cancel out a state issued
“no bail hold” or guarantee
release, said Bietl.
If found guilty, all three
Schneider brothers would
face prison time. Michael
and Donald Schneider would
face 25 years to life for mur-
der, a maximum of 20 years
for first degree burglary and
five years each for theft first
de g ree, unlawful use of
weapon and abuse of corpse
second degree. Peter would
face a maximum of 25 years
in total if pronounced guilty
of theft and burglary in the
first degree.