A10
Hood River News, Wednesday, July 22, 2015
Governor Brown Q & A
‘We’re going to need to take proactive measures,’ Kate Brown
says of drought and other effects of global warming
Oregon Gover nor Kate
Brown sat down with the
Hood River News editorial
board Friday morning to dis-
cuss the prescient issues
Oregon faces, part of her
day-long visit to Hood River.
First, Brown signed the af-
fordable college bill, SB 81, at
CGCC Indian Creek. Then,
she fit in a talk with the
News between her speech at
Leaders for Tomorrow and
her business tours at Pfriem
Family Brewers and Dakine.
Brown fielded questions
about numerous topics con-
cerning the recent legislative
session, from education and
infrastructure spending to
marijuana and the proposed
Nestlé water bottling plant
in Cascade Locks.
Education
Brown signed the Oregon
Promise affordable education
bill, SB 81, at CGCC Friday
morning, then met with local
education officials in a round
Photo by Ben Mitchell
GOV. BROWN SPEAKS at Best Western Plus Hood River Inn at the
Leadership for Tomorrow’s 20th anniversary celebration. She told
the group, “We are all standing on the shoulders of people who
came before us and we need to think of that as we start to grow
and train the next generation of leaders. I wanted them to think
about the future and who they need to start bringing up with them.
We’re standing on the shoulders of others and our shoulders are
going to be stood on as well.” Other Leaders for Tomorrow speak-
ers were Tofurkey founder Seth Tibbots and 2010 HRVHS graduate
Jackson Dougan, who has served as a United Nations Youth Ob-
server. Below, Brown shares a laugh with Rep. Mark Johnson fol-
lowing signing of the community college bill at Indian Creek. (On
page A1, Brown accepts a bountiful gift basket from the Leaders for
Tomorrow organization.)
table, discussing CTE and
STEM education.
The complete total num-
ber of $7.4 billion (is) a sig-
nificant increase from the
last biennium.
Obviously the growing
economy has something to
do with that, but we were
able to direct the dollars crit-
ically important to reducing
class sizes, which I know is
really an issue in this area.
We invested in Career
Technical Ed and STEM edu-
cation. I followed up the
billing signing, Senate Bill
81, with a round table around
that particular issue: how
can we create an educational
system — cradle through ca-
reer — that will meet the
needs of our diverse student
body, giving the opportunity
to expand their learning
horizons but also meet the
needs of our workforce, of
the future.
We invested heavily in
early childhood education,
something I’m very passion-
ate about, expanding access
to Head Start, early funding,
all-day kinderg ar ten —
something for the first time
ever in Oregon’s history —
insuring access to more qual-
ity day care programs for
working families, but also
significantly investing in our
K-12 schools.
We added $12.5 million to
our ELL program and have
revamped that. I hope it will
be a more successful ap-
proach than our current sys-
tem, as well as providing
dedicated funding for GED
programing in student ab-
senteeism, and so I think
there’s some dedicated fund-
ing that will help different
schools districts based on
their makeup.
Also there was a signifi-
cant investment in the Stu-
dent Opportunity Grant.
More than 16,000 students
will be able to access these
grants. These are additional
students, after the current
number.
So speaking as a whole I
think we’ve made g reat
strides in expanding oppor-
tunities for Oregon families
across the state.
process and make sure that
the laws are being enforced
— state laws are being en-
forced. I guess what I would
do is encourage Oregonians
to get in touch with my of-
fice, which they seem to feel
free in doing both through
social media and paper and
phone calls, but I would
strongly encourage folks
(who) are concerned or sup-
portive of the project to be
contacting directly the City
of Cascade Locks.
Photo by Ben Mitchell
Drought declaration
GOVE. KATE BROWN meets with Hood River News editorial
board.
Hood River submitted an
emergency drought declara-
tion June 24 to the Governor.
We’re moving very quickly
on these drought declara-
tions. I (have) declared 20 at
this time.
So we move very quickly
on them because we want to
make sure that the commu-
nities can access all the
available resources, includ-
ing federal resources. You
conservation plans, to sub-
mit those plans to the Water
Resources Department and
make sure they have metrics
about their water usage and
how we can measure if
they’re working to conserve
energy.
And I’ll just tell you per-
sonally, I’m reducing my
shower time and I’d encour-
age my fellow Oregonians to
do the same.
Oil and coal trains through
the Gorge
In terms of our agency
processes and my commit-
ment on new projects … are
to facilitate the process and
make sure Oregon laws are
being followed … that if
there is a public process that
it be a transparent one and
that Oregonians are able to
participate in that process
Photo by Kirby Neumann-Rea
TOURING THE BREWERY, Brown samples Belgian Strong Blonde ale courtesy of pFriem general man-
ager Ian Hutchings, right and co-owner Josh Pfriem. She also met with local elected and appointed of-
ficials from the city, county and port. “It’s a true Hood River success story,” she said of the brewery,
pointing to its growth from three to 55 employees since the founding three years ago. “It’s an incred-
ible product that’s breaking barriers all across the Northwest.” Brown also visited the neighboring
Dakine facility and met with vice president Roger Roediger. “The products they make are really cre-
ative. It’s got Hood River DNA all through its products,” Brown said.
Sales Tax
Photo by Kirby Neumann-Rea
I think we have to look at
all the options, and I think
the challenge for Oregon has
been with our active initia-
tive process, that it’s really
been a challenge to rewrite
our entire revenue code. I
know that we are an un-
bound stool. I think that
question is, can we do it in a
way that makes tweaks to the
system that can survive the
initiative process and I don’t
know what those answers
are. At this point I wouldn‘t
take anything off the table.
Nestlé water bottling plant
My job as governor in
terms of this particular pro-
ject is to f acilitate the
this iconic resource for
many years to come,” said
Dave Meriwether, Hood
River County Administrator.
The OPRD advisory com-
mittee recommended the
Punchbowl application last
month, but it was uncertain
until last week if the funding
would come through. At a
June 30 Hood River County
Board of Commissioners
meeting, Meriwether said
the Punchbowl project was
“fifth in line” at the state
committee.
OPRD’s Local Government
Grant Program gives $4 mil-
lion annually to Oregon com-
munities for outdoor recre-
ation projects — the Punch-
bowl grant accounts for
about 12 percent of that total
funding pool. Last year, the
should know, obviously, the
drought and its nefarious
companion, wildfire, are at
the (top) of my radar screen
this summer, particularly
with the warm, dry weather
we’re seeing. Unfortunately,
we don’t anticipate that this
is a short term issue. This is
a long term changing of our
climate brought about by
global warming and we’re
gonna need to take proactive
measures to tackle these is-
sues.
One of the things I’m
doing next week is signing
an executive order asking
my agencies to develop water
and have their voices be
heard.
I will be upfront, I did have
a meeting with the governor
of Wyoming and they’re cer-
tainly encouraging us to
move forward on coal pro-
jects, but I committed to
making sure Oregon laws
are begin followed.
Marijuana
This has been an interest-
ing issue for Democrat and
Republican legislators to
come to g ether. T hey’ve
passed multiple major bills
on this issue.
For me, I wanted to make
sure that we kept marijuana
out of the hands of young
people —that means under
legal age — and secondly,
that we increased adults’
awareness of marijuana, and
third that we work to reduce
or minimize the amount of
marijuana going into the
black market.
So toward that end, the
bills I have signed I think
move us in that direction.
When the legislature ad-
journed, I get 30 days to sign
whatever I have not signed,
which is including the bill
you just mentioned, and dur-
See BROWN, Page A11
Joined the
G RANT
Continued from Page A1
establish a protected public
park: Punchbowl Falls Na-
ture Park.
The property will pass
into the county’s hands by
the end of the year and most
park improvements, includ-
ing a gravel parking lot, in-
for mational
signa g e,
portable toilets and an en-
hanced trail system, will be
completed by next summer.
“The people of Hood River
County will be able to enjoy
Recycle Tips
COMPOST
- Food as garbage creates
methane, which is a green-
house gas 21 times stronger
than carbon dioxide.
- Food as compost
creates soil.
- Composting sustains 4
times more jobs than
landfilling.
- Home Composters are sold
at local transfer stations for
$50 each.
- Commercial Curbside
compost service available
through Hood River Garbage
and The Dalles Disposal
Service.
www.tricountyrecycle.com
541-506-2636
River City Team!
county failed to secure the
grant, but the tides have
turned in their favor.
Meriwether attributed to
success to a combined effort
from Western Rivers, the
state and local resident
groups.
“We wish to acknowledge
the outstanding efforts of
the Western Rivers Conser-
Matt Rankin
Oregon Broker
541-400-0648
209 3rd Street • Hood River
mattrankin@remax.net
River City
See GRANT, Page A11
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