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.
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Footwise
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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
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same cabbage, mix
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brine?
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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.