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About The Hood River news. (Hood River, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (June 20, 2015)
A10 Hood River News, Saturday, June 20, 2015 D ROUGHT Continued from Page A1 ration) to the governor and the director of Oregon Emer- gency Management for con- sideration by the drought council,” said Meriwether. If the state council agreed that Hood River County is facing a drought emergency, the case would go to Gov. Brown’s desk for executive action. The Hood River is running at 40 percent below its nor- mal level, and Mount Hood bears a discomforting 14 inches of snow water at the National Resources Conser- vation Service site on its south side, compared to 48 inches during an average year. “We know the snowpack was a record low … It’s been so dry, it’s time to give that serious thought,” said Meri- wether. Local irrigation districts and watershed groups have H OUSING Continued from Page A1 Photo by Kirby Neumann-Rea N EW L IFE A T O LD S TORE Renovations are underway at long-vacant Oak Grove Store, west of Hood River at Country Club and Portland Drive. Betty Paddock and Patricia Huff purchased the property this month and are gutting the inside and planning outside renovations (including to the rusted metal sign that has remained on the side of the building since it closed in 1994.) On Thursday, Kaiel Linhart, left and Alonzo Cisneros from the WINGS program, along with A.J Jenkins (not pic- tured) pulled down ceiling tiles and lathing. “These are the hardest-working guys, they’ve done all the grunt work,” said Huff, who lives next door to the store. A pool table left in the store will go to WINGS for its rec room, Paddock and Huff plan to reopen the store by mid- summer and sell used household items, as well as food, camping supplies, local fruit, art work, and other items for the local community as well as for people traveling to adjacent Oak Grove Park and up the hill to Kingsley Reservoir and other recreation sites. Paddock said WINGS workers will also have a presence at the store, selling restored donated objects to support the life-skills residency program located west of Hood River, not far from Oak Grove. SPECIAL ADVERTISING 2015 Call today to reserve your space in these Hood River News special sections! 541•386•1234 Ask for Liana, Kirsten, Jody or Chelsea Find the newest member of your family Look for the pet’s name above his photo. You can adopt them from the location listed underneath - right next to their local sponsor. AAD - Adopt-A-Dog • HAL - Home At Last • BMCA - Be Mine Cat Adoption • PFCA - Purrfect Fit Cat Adoptions • CPC - Cascade Pet Camp 541-354-1083 541-296-5189 541-386-3776 541-386-5099 541-354-2267 HUGS FRECKLES AAD AAD Happy Tails 70 Acme Rd., White Salmon, WA 509.493.4255 Carol Annala 2495 Cascade Ave, Hood River 541.387.6563 Adopt-A-Pet OTIS Call Today! ROSIEBEE Only 1 sponsor space left LADY BUG AAD AAD The Pilates Studio of Hood River LLC 541.490.0660 Footwise 413 Oak St., Hood River 541.308.0770 BENJI in Business A LOGAN BO Barb Smith photo Page 2 Page 6 Page 10 Page 14 Page 18 Page 22 Page 26 Page 28 Page 30 Page 32 Page 36 Page 46 Page 50 Fall issue of Savor Reserve ad space by: Gorge Dog By TRISHA WALKER Gorge Dog, owned by Lisa Willis Wiltsie, will celebrate its 15th anniversary in November. Located at 412 Oak Street, it’s a business plan that reflects Wiltsie’s love of dogs. “Sitting on the library lawn with my husband one day, we started commenting on how many dogs there were in Hood River,” Wiltsie said. “I have been doing retail since I was 16 — I worked for many different department stores during my career, including Front Street Sail- boards (the space prior to Big Winds). I thought I could bring a fresh idea for selling fun and functional items for dogs and novelty gift items for their humans.” People assume Gorge Dog’s products are more expensive than chain stores, but Wiltsie disagrees. Besides competitively priced mer- chandise, she also offers many specialty items not found in other stores. Take her top sellers — collars and toys. “I pride myself on our collar selection,” she said. “I have a diverse selection of collars for dogs who swim, wedding collars, special occasion collars, reflective collars and just plain fun col- lars.” She’s also constantly searching the market for indestructible dog toys. “Some have come close, but there are just those dogs who can get through anything — my dog being one of those,” she said. “We carry squeakies, rubber, ropes, leather, light up balls, Frisbees and lots of plush. We try to include large and small dogs in our collection.” The store is, of course, dog-friendly. “This is Women In Business Reserve ad space by: July 27 Savor S U M M E R 2 0 1 5 THE HARVEST 14 WOMEN IN BUSINESS // JULY 2014 June 29 LA UREN M. KRAEMER, KR AEMER, A LAUREN MPH Or egon State Stat e University Univ U ersity Oregon Ext ension Service S Ser vic e Extension Lauren L aur en Kraemer Kr aemer is i a family fa amily health instructor and c community ommunity hea alth ins truct or with the Or egon S t at e Univ ersity Oregon State University Ext ension Servic e in n Hood Riv Extension Service Riv- er. . She holds a mas s t er of public master from Oregon State Univer- health fr om Or egon nS t at e Univ er sity, sity y , with a fo f focus ocus on n fa f family amily and c community ommunity health. t teach each h a variety v ariety i of f food f d preser- pr eser vation v ation n classes each year y ear that highlight highlig ight the many man y methods available a v ailable for fo preserving pr eserving food. These methods include freezing, i fr eezing , drying, drying , fermenting, fermenting ng , boiling water w at er bath can- can ning, smoking, , ning , pressure pr es ssur e canning, canning , smoking and even milk into e v en turning t int o cheese and yogurt. y ogur rt. Because of the risk of food-borne e illnesses and the pres- pr es ervation erv ation of o valuable v aluable nutrients, my m y favorite fa v orit e m methods of putting up I and a d much h of f those h traits tr aits i can b be pre- pr e valuable nutri- - s served serv ed along with v aluable nutri are e sensiti sensitive e ents that ar v e t to o heat, heat t, light, simply a oxygen. and o xy gen. Later Lat er on, simpl y open the are e th he freezer fr eez er and delicious dishes hes ar r ready ead y to t o be assembled. I lo love v e fer- fer sour-mak- m mentation for its wild, sour r -mak properties ing ng pr operties and the ways w a ys the th he end product flavor, p pr oduct differs in texture, t extur e, fla a v or , from a and smell fr om what you y ou s started start ed w with and ho how w our o own wn hands ds and h homes can impact those fla flavors. a v ors o Wednesday’s special meeting will be conducted by the board of commissioners and will focus on the drought res- olution, but the rest of the session will be a more free- form discussion held by local irrigation district leaders. This portion of the meet- ing is a new tradition spear- headed by Buckley, who hopes the response group will meet monthly through the summer, sun setting in October. According to Cindy Thie- man, watershed coordinator for the Hood River Soil and Water Conservation District, the last time a drought re- sponse team met on a month- ly basis in Hood River Coun- ty was in 2005, one of the worst droughts in the last 30 years. Invited to the meeting are key stakeholders including irrigation managers, leaders in the forest service and fire departments and the Confed- erated T ribes of War m Springs. Members of the public are also invited. ments the inventory of va- cant land in Hood River, based on tax lot data, data about development on each tax lot, and constraints to de- velopment (for example, steep slopes or wetlands). “The cost of housing in communities throughout the Gorge has increased more rapidly than wages, and housing affordability is a challenge for people across the socio-economic spec- trum. Those who work in our community are increasingly unable to live here. And em- ployers are increasingly challenged by their ability to attract a talented work force due to the cost of housing,” Madsen said. The report also includes a forecast of needed housing and land for housing in Hood River based on expected pop- ulation growth. The forecast of housing needs considers historical infor mation about Hood River’s housing market, in- cluding recent development trends, homeownership trends, and trends in hous- ing prices. The forecast is based on Hood River’s forecast for population growth and con- siders information about the demographic and socioeco- nomic characteristics of Hood River’s current resi- dents and trends that may af- fect housing choice over the 2015 to 2035 period. T he draft Hood River Housing Strategy focuses on increasing residential land use efficiency, secondary housing and shor t-ter m rental housing policy, and the development of afford- able housing. If Hood River adopts the proposed strategy it could serve as a model for other communities in the Gorge that seek attainable housing solutions. Madsen said the document is based on three parame- ters: more efficient use of the land, the short-ter m rental market and vacation market, and affordable hous- ing as a problem that affects many socio-economic levels. “The basis is in the num- bers,” he said. “If you look at the housing needs analysis, there is a deficit of available housing for people across the spectrum. There is an ele- ment of affordability and we need to keep that in mind, it is not just the low-wage workers, this is a big issue across the board.” “I am so pleased that Hood River is taking action to ad- dress the challenge now — before the situation becomes worse — to foster the kind of diverse Gorge community we all want, and where we all have access to safe and af- fordable homes,” he said. “It sets a good framework for what other localities could do the help address the challenge. In many ways Hood River leads our region and this is another example of how they’re kind of lead- ing the charge. “I’m excited and pleased the city has taken seriously the afford- ability issue,” he said. “This is huge, a move for- ward. I applaud the leader- ship of Mayor Paul Black- burn and (city manager) Steve Wheeler in moving this along. We’ve been talk- ing about this issue for some time, and this is something that can really help move the needle.” Oregonians agree ** : Public notices should stay in the newspaper! You have a right to know what your government is doing. A celebration of fresh, local food! H OOD R IVER N EWS W HITE S ALMON E NTERPRISE JULY 2014 PUBLICATION OF THE AND THE ■ Vacation and short-term rentals create market pres- sures and deplete attainable housing ■ A recent study indicates that if you make less than $16.61 per hour, you can’t af- ford a two-bedroom apart- ment in Oregon ■ For those who qualify for assistance programs, there is not enough housing to go around. The needs and inventory study “provides Hood River with a factual basis to sup- port future planning efforts related to housing and op- tions for addressing unmet housing needs in Hood River,” according to Mid-Co- lumbia Housing Authority Executive Director Joel Mad- sen, who is also a member of the advisory committee “The TAC has been re- viewing the recommenda- tions, trying to poke holes in it, to get to a point where we have a base knowledge of the facts and data behind the facts to drive us to make pol- icy recommendations,” Mad- sen said. “That’s what this document is all about: Look- ing at the data, here are the strategies that the city has come up to address the prob- lems we have been looking at for a long time.” He said the focus of the Housing Needs Analysis is an assessment of whether Hood River has enough land within the City’s Urban Growth Boundary to accom- modate expected population growth. The report docu- urged homeowners and agri- culturists to reduce their water use by at least 25 per- cent — but John Buckley, East Fork Irrigation District manager, said customers have only reduced their use by 10 percent thus far. Buckley said those most affected by the low flows and poor snowpack are farmers, fire de par tments and wildlife. “We’re not as bad as Cali- fornia, by (any) means, but we have concerns. You’ve got fish, you’ve got farming and you’ve got fire. As far as do- mestic water, I think we’re okay,” said Buckley. West Side Fire Marshal Jim Trammel characterized current conditions as “dry” and windy. He said the de- partment draws from the do- mestic water supply, so low snowpack levels don’t affect them the same way as the river irrigation districts. There are 170 hydrants in the West Side district, a 25- square-mile patch with 3,000 residences. T he first por tion of w ould ld happen if you y ou o chopped h d that h would same cabbage, mix mixed x ed it with a lit tle bit of salt and then hen massaged it your produced with y our hands until ntil it pr oduced enough of its o own wn n juice to t o full immerse the cabbage age in its o w own brine?” ” Ans Answer: brine? w er : Sauerkraut. Sauerkr uerkr aut. icity of fermen This is the simplicity fermen- With pure e so tation. W ith a little e bit of pur dium chloride ( (salt) salt t ) and y our own o w your hands, y ou can get delicious vege v ege you table mixtur es that at ar pr eserv e mixtures are e preserved Current Oregon law requires public notices to be printed in a newspaper whose readers are affected by the notice. But federal, state, and local government agencies erroneously believe they can save money by putting public notices on their web sites rather than in the local newspaper. If they did that, you’d have to know in advance where, when, and how to look, and what to look for, in order to be informed about government actions that could affect you directly. And people without internet access could no longer be so informed. Less than 10% of the U.S. population currently visits a govern- ment web site daily, * but 80% of all Oregon adults read a news- paper at least once during an average week, and 54% read public notices printed there. ** If public notices were moved from newspapers to government web sites, less than 10% of Oregonians would have any chance of seeing a given public notice. And of those that did see it, about 40% wouldn’t trust the content.** Keep public notices in the newspaper! * U.S. Census Bureau, May 2009. ** American Opinion Research, Princeton NJ, September 2010.
