A8 Wednesday, January 1, 2020
HOOD RIVER NEWS | Hood River, Ore.
hoodrivernews.com
Bridge of the Gods starts BreezeBy service on Jan. 6
Local Stickers
and coupons
accepted until
Feb. 3
The Bridge of the Gods is
just about ready to start elec-
tronic tolling and, while there
is still plenty of time to set up
a BreezeBy account before the
system goes live Jan. 6, Port of
Cascade Locks Local Stickers
and coupon books will be ac-
cepted as discounted tolls and
payment until Feb. 3.
Ultimately, BreezeBy tran-
sponders will replace the stick-
ers and coupon books that
have traditionally provided
local commuters with dis-
counted tolls. Bridge users that
have signed up for BreezeBy
will pay $1.25 per crossing of
the Bridge of the Gods, and $1
at the Hood River-White Salm-
on Interstate Bridge, versus a
$2 cash toll at both bridges, ac-
cording to a press release from
the Port of Cascade Locks. Toll
rates depend on vehicle class,
with larger class vehicle tolls
determined by the number of
axles, said the press release.
The “BreezeBy” system was
first implemented for the Hood
River-White Salmon Interstate
Bridge in 2006, establishing the
first electronic tolling system
in Oregon. The system utilizes
prepaid funds and transpon-
ders to facilitate faster com-
mutes through the toll plaza
and provide user discounts.
The Port of Cascade Locks
signed an intergovernmental
agreement with the Port of
Hood River back in October for
use of the system. Because the
Port of Hood River owns the
BreezeBy system, the Port of
Hood River will provide back
office services for the Port of
Cascade Locks and The Port of
Hood River will retain 13 cents
per crossing to cover opera-
tional costs.
The Port of Cascade Locks
will be able to control its own
toll rates, but will have to fol-
low the same business rules,
such as vehicle classifications
and account policies, as the
Port of Hood River.
Current Port of Hood River
BreezeBy customers don’t
need to do anything to be able
to use their transponders on
the Bridge of the Gods when
the Cascade Locks system goes
live Jan. 6: BreezeBy customer
account statements will depict
which bridge was crossed for
each charge to the account
balance, said the press release.
New BreezeBy customers
can open an account online
and receive their transponders
in the mail.
New accounts can be cre-
ated online at portofcascade-
locks.org (click BREEZEBY,
then click the BreezeBy logo,
then click “New Account”).
There is no required personal
identification to open an ac-
count, but each transponder is
linked to a specific vehicle, so
the make, model, color, year,
and license plate number is
required.
New customers should ex-
pect to receive their new tran-
sponders in the mail within
three to four business days,
depending on the volume of
orders. New customers can
open an account at either port
office during regular business
hours. New accounts cannot
be created at the toll booths,
however, due to traffic flow and
safety concerns.
Port of Cascade Locks cus-
tomers can redeem any un-
used bridge coupons for credit
of their value into a BreezeBy
account at either port office
during regular business hours.
There are no fees to open an
account, and each account
receives one transponder for
free; each additional transpon-
der costs $5.
For more information, con-
tact the Port of Cascade Locks
via email to rvollans@portof-
cascadelocks.org or stop by the
port office at 427 Portage Road
in Cascade Locks.
Questions can also be di-
rected to the Port of Hood
River via email to porthr@
gorge.net, or visit the port
office at 1000 E. Port Marina
Drive in Hood River.
FLOOR: ‘This building holds so many wonderful memories for me’
continued from A1
a request by Madsen that they
save him a piece of the gym.
“I just can’t tell you how
much I appreciate it,” Madsen
said. “This building holds so
many wonderful memories for
me, and that gym was some-
thing special.”
“I did a lot of running
around on that gym floor,” said
Madsen, who spent most of his
27 years at May Street before
retiring in 2005.
Carter put a frame around
the floor section, made from
other recovered wood from the
gym, and Beard added anoth-
er piece of the gym, from the
bleachers. The school district
has retained sections of the
old seats and used refinished
foot-long pieces as honorary
plaques.
“You dedicated a good por-
tion of your life to the children
of this community and that
building held a place in your
heart and I know it coming
down was a difficult thing to
see,” Beard told Madsen at
the unveiling with Carter and
long-time school secretary
Kim Maddy.
“The entire building, you
were so devoted to and we
wanted to make sure you had a
piece of that,” Beard said.
Madsen added that most of
the running he did was up and
down the old stairway.
“I probably made 20 trips a
day,” said Madsen, who taught
at both May Street and Hood
River Middle School in his ten-
ure, and also served for awhile
as assistant baseball coach at
“Two words fit the
way I teach: Fun and
fitness. The things
we teach are skills
for life. The things
we teach are skills
if you want to be an
athlete. The things
we teach are skills
for fun.”
Larry Madsen
Hood River Valley High School.
His wife, Cheryl, taught for
many years at May Street and
retired a few years after Larry.
Maddy added that the gym
was not the only treasured
structure demolished to make
way for the new school; the
Larry Madsen play-shed was
also torn down. Madsen has
the sign in his garage. The sec-
tion of flooring will remain in
his woodshop, for now, unless
he can convince Cheryl to let
him display it in the house.
“It wasn’t easy,” to salvage
the flooring, Carter admitted.
“It kind of came out in kin-
dling.” He had to cut through
a lower layer of flooring and
in doing so the “new” layer
splintered. Beard said it had
been buffed and refinished
many times over the years, but
in its later years was too frag-
ile for more of that treatment
and the boards had dried and
separated.
Madsen reminisced about
the distinctive “crackling”
sound the board made when
walked upon, and before some
sound-proofing was done the
teachers in classrooms below
asked Madsen not to let kids
bounce balls.
The school now has a new
gym, but two things remain
constant: Some of the bleacher
seats are there, repurposed
as sound buffers. That and
the name: Teddy Webber
Gymnasium. In the entryway
are the name and photo of
the gym’s namesake, a stu-
dent-turned-teacher at May
Street who died in 1996. Mad-
sen helped found the Teddy
Webber Scholarship that con-
tinues to this day.
While it is true that Madsen
did a lot of running in the gym,
FLOOR piece loaded into Larry Madsen’s (right) 1947 Chrysler, with help from Kelly Beard, left, and
Mike Carter.
he is also remembered for a
lot of running on the school
exterior: He started the annual
Run For Fitness, an enduring
springtime tradition at the
school. T-shirts and other priz-
es, along with the satisfaction
of racking up laps walked or
run, are the rewards for the
students, teachers and parents
who get involved in the event.
In a 1997 Hood River News
interview, Madsen said, “My
feeling is this: I want to encour-
age a child to come to my PE
classes and have fun. There is
a definite correlation between
having fun at an early age and
understanding how important
physical fitness is through life.
The goal at elementary school
is to plant a seed that will even-
tually grow into enjoyment for
physical exertion ...
“Two words fit the way I
teach: Fun and fitness. The
things we teach are skills for
life. The things we teach are
skills if you want to be an ath-
lete. The things we teach are
skills for fun.”
DISCOUNTED
BRIDGE TOLLS
with
What is BreezeBy?
What are the benefi ts?
BreezeBy is an electronic system
for paying tolls on the Bridge of the
When the Bridge of the Gods
Gods and the Hood River-White
Salmon Interstate Bridge. Each
BreezeBy system goes live on January
6, 2020, BreezeBy customers will be
time you cross the bridge your toll
is automatically deducted from the
prepaid balance on your account.
able to use their transponders to pay
How do I sign up?
their tolls on both bridges with one
What does it cost?
Create a new account online today at
account. BreezeBy cutomers will pay
There are no fees to open a
portofcascadelocks.org
BreezeBy account, and your fi rst
We will mail your transponder to you,
transponder is free.
no need to come to the Port offi ce.
1
1
only $1.25 at the Bridge of the Gods, 2
instead of $2 for cash toll payments. 3
2
BreezeBy toll at the Hood River Bridge is $1 -- 3 Base rates are for 2-axle vehicles.
One free transponder per household. Each additional transponder is $5.
Beginning January 6, 2020, BreezeBy works for the Bridge of the Gods in Cascade Locks
What happens to my
Local Sticker?
What happens to my
Coupons?
Coupons will no longer be sold after
December 20, 2019. Coupons will no longer
Local Stickers will not be
be accepted for toll payment after February
accepted after February 3,
3, 2020, but can be redeemed at either Port
2020. Having an active
offi ce for credit to a BreezeBy account. Cash
Breezeby account will
be the way to get
discounts on tolls
refunds will also be available at the Port of
Cascade Locks offi ce.
going forward.
Breezeby account
holders will pay $1.25 per crossing at the Bridge
of the Gods. 4 The cash toll will be $2.00.
4
BreezeBy toll at the Hood River bridge is $1
Questions?
More information online at portofcascadelocks.org
Call (541) 386-1645 or email porthr@gorge.net.