Kaleidoscope
Crag Rat Hut
Page B1
MIDWEEK EDITION $1.00
Vol. 114, No. 13
2 Sections, 20 Pages
HOOD RIVER, OREGON • Wednesday, February 12, 2020
Official Newspaper, City of Hood River and Hood River County
www.hoodrivernews.com
Photo by Emily Fitzgerald
THE PORTS of Hood River and Cascade Locks held a joint meeting Jan. 30.
From left, Cascade Locks Commissioner Joeinne Caldwell and Cascade Locks
Commission President Jess Groves with Hood River Commissioners Hoby
Streich, Kristi Chapman and Ben Sheppard.
Photo by Kirby Neumann-Rea
TRUCK driver Juan Castro, in orange, talks with authorities after the truck and train collision Monday at Herman Creek
Lane and Forest Lane in Cascade Locks.
Train and truck collide in CL
unhurt in the collision. He was haul-
ing about two tons of wood chips
southbound out of the Bear Mountain
A Union Pacific train collided with supply yard at 8:47 a.m., heading to
and bisected a loaded tractor trailer the pellet plant’s main plant, when
Monday morning at the rail crossing the truck got stuck on the tracks, ac-
with Herman Creek Lane at Forest cording to Sgt. Pete Hughes of Hood
Lane in east Cascade Locks.
River County Sheriff’s Office, who
Driver Juan Castro of Carson was responded to the scene along with
By KIRBY NEUMANN-REA
News editor
Cascade Locks Fire Department.
A Union Pacific train did not have
time to stop, according to Hughes.
“It was scary. It’s not something
you see every day,” said Kipsy
Mathews of the adjacent hillside
Shalala neighborhood, who saw the
See TRAIN, page A8
Lunch and Learn series ends with
with gender identity discussion
Library Series to
continue in May
rent practice to let people choose for
themselves whether they are comfort-
able with that practice.
She also noted that while the topic
is new “for our society,” gender iden-
tity and multiple genders “have been
represented in our world for a long
time,” she said. “We’re acknowledging
that this isn’t new and isn’t some-
thing that’s been created in the last
20 years.”
Gender identity corresponds with
who you feel yourself to be on the
inside. Gender expression is how
you might show your gender on the
outside — clothes, hair, makeup, how
you walk or talk.
This can be different from sex
assigned at birth, when babies are
born and identified as male or female
based on genitalia. That can be com-
plicated if a baby is intersex, meaning
the person is born without being “en-
tirely aligned male or female,” Winn
said. In the past, doctors and parents
would decide on the gender.
“The medical community is mov-
ing further and further away from
surgeries and letting young people
experience and determine their own
identity,” she said.
Transgender refers to someone
who does not identify with the gender
they were assigned at birth; cisgender
refers to someone who does identify
with the gender assigned at birth. And
See GENDER, page A8
See FLOODING, page A8
Corps of Engineers photo
HIGH WATERS in Mill Creek in Umatilla County, where Corps of Engineers are
working to relieve flooding.
BRIEFS
B6
A3
A2
B3
B1
B5
A6
Opinion
Sports
Yesteryears
A4
A7
B2
“Education — no one can ever take
that away from you, the knowledge
you learn.” — Veronica Sandoval,
Cascade Observations, B2
3
INSIDE
nonbinary refers to someone who
does not identity exclusively as male
or female.
A person may also identity as gen-
der queer — identity that falls on the
spectrum between male and female
— or gender fluid — identity that
changes over time, from one end of
the spectrum to another.
“I’ve met trans-kids at age 3, living
life with parental support, no big
deal,” Winn said. “For some, it’s a big
decision, but for others, our gender
identities solidify at 2 or 3, and for
parents and grandparents and those
supporting their own young people,
the power of believing, of choice
and power and love, is huge … At 2
and 3, little kids start knowing who
they are, and that can be difficult for
some people to digest. Sexual orien-
tation comes into play at puberty;
gender identity starts very young
and is completely different than sex-
ual orientation that happens around
puberty.
“They might biologically be fe-
male, but gender expression or gen-
der identity is gender queer and they
might be attracted to women,” Winn
said. “Gender identity and assigned
sex does not dictate who a person
will love or be physically attracted
to … We can never assume or know
who were canvassing the area with
neighbors.
Umatilla County and Walla Walla
District Corps of Engineers have
issued the following details:
Since flooding started, the Oregon
Army National Guard used helicop-
ters to rescue 54 people, 10 dogs,
one cat and one rabbit stranded
by the flood. High water and road
damage closed Interstate 84 in both
directions Friday, Feb. 7 between
Exits 182 and 188. Crews worked
through the night and opened one
lane in each direction late Sunday
night, Feb. 9. On Monday, weather
was expected be cool and dry with
no new flood threats.
A website has been set up for
homeowners, renters and business-
es to report damage to their prop-
Waterfront closures
Alzheimer’s support
HR Council meets
The Hook Road is closed to all
access Feb. 10-14 while the Port
of Hood River grades roads and
applies herbicides. The Spit Ac-
cess Road will be closed Feb.
18-21; Marina Park Feb. 24-28.
Hood River Valley Adult Center,
2010 Sterling Place, hosts its
monthly Alzheimer’s Support
Group on Feb. 12 from 2:30-
3:30 p.m. All are welcome. More
at 541-386-2060.
The Feb. 10 agenda, too late for
presstime, included Hood River
Reads proclamation, HR Bridge
project update, and Transpor-
tation System Plan update. See
Feb. 15 paper for details.
05105 97630
Photo by Trisha Walker
PARTICIPANTS in the Feb. 6 Lunch and Learn presentation on gender identi-
ty come together at the conculsion of the event in a show of support.
Interstate 84 is open after a one-
day closre near Pendleton, but oth-
erwise, the counties neighboring
the Gorge in eastern Oregon are
emerging from ome of the worst
flooding in memory, and one per-
son has died in the disaster.
On Feb. 6, a combination of
heavy rain and snowmelt caused
by warm temperatures brought
flooding to many areas of Uma-
tilla County; Gov. Kate Brown has
declared a State of Emergency (de-
tails on A8).
One woman was killed when
high water swept through her
property near the Bar M Ranch,
the only reported fatality in the
flooding.
The body of Janet Conley of
northern Umatilla County was
recovered on Sunday morning
by search and rescue volunteers
7
News staff writer
Classifieds
Entertainment
Greater Gorge
Happenings
Kaleidoscope
Legal Notices
Obituaries
successful so far.
“It’s always an anxious time to
implement a system but knock on
wood … this has been a very good
implementation,” said Fred Kowell,
chief financial officer for the Port of
Hood River, at a joint meeting of the
Port of Hood River and Port of Cas-
cade Locks commissions on Jan. 30.
By EMILY FITZGERALD
“We’re focused on (fixing) little
News staff writer
things right now, not big things,”
said Bridge of the Gods Manager
A month into electronic tolling Ryan Vollans, referencing cases
on the Bridge of the Gods, roughly of drivers incorrectly registering
30 percent of bridge traffic is now their vehicle, and incidents where
using the Port of Hood River’s the BreezeBy sensor was tripped
BreezeBy system, and the Port of by Cascade Locks’ heavy morning
Cascade Locks reports that both fog. “These are small things that we
the system and the partnership
between the two ports have been
See BREEZEBY, page A8
About 30 percent of
bridge traffic used
electronic tolling
during first month
E. Oregon flooding
causes major damage,
claims woman’s life
By TRISHA WALKER
The last in a series of five Lunch
and Learn presentations at the Hood
River Library came Feb. 6, with more
than 30 people coming together in
the Hood River Library’s downstairs
meeting room to learn more about
gender identity, the featured topic.
Megan Winn, Columbia Gorge
Pride Alliance board member, led
the talk, encouraging participants to
ask questions or speak to their own
experiences.
“I know there are people in this
room who could teach this way better
than me,” Winn said. “And I know
there are people here who are just
learning about this.”
She asked those gathered to adhere
to four agreements to aid in the con-
versation: To speak your truth, to stay
engaged, to experience and lean into
any discomfort and except and accept
non-closure.
In short, she explained, sometimes
a new idea or topic that pushes us in
a direction we’ve yet to think about
or experience can lead us to tune
out and not be engaged — one of the
body’s natural impulses — and that,
because gender identity is a big topic,
not everything could reasonably be
covered in an hour.
Winn had participants introduce
themselves and say a few words about
why they were in attendance.
“I’m surprised, I thought there’d be
like 10 people,” she said to the crowd.
“Some of you are at expert level, some
are at infant level, and I want to make
sure I hit the middle.”
Several said they wanted to learn
more about the topic to support
friends and family; others expressed
a desire to help build a more inclusive
community or learn to use the correct
pronouns.
“It’s important to show up and nor-
malize the conversation,” said one.
“There’s always more to learn,” said
another.
Winn noted that while some peo-
ple shared their preferred pronouns
during their introduction, it is a cur-
‘Good implementation’
of BreezeBy on CL’s
Bridge of the Gods