Dufur Cemetery is seeking funds to erect a Veterans Memorial to honor the current 66 Veterans interred in the cemetery. That includes fourteen who fought in the Civil War. The cemetery needs $9,000 to put up the memorial, and a GoFundMe campaign is underway. On the GoFundMe post, Darlien France indicated the goal is to establish a Veterans Memorial that will be a living legacy to future generations and perhaps spark interest for further research to find Dufur-area families who served in times of peace and war. To view the GoFundMe, go to gofundme.com and use search to go to Dufur Cemetery.
Author: mbailey
Newton Expected To Be Named HRCSD Interim Superintendent
The Hood River County School District Board is expected to appoint Bill Newton to serve as the district’s interim superintendent at a special meeting on Monday. If the board votes to approve a contract for Newton, he will hold the position for the 2023-24 school year. Newton would be taking over for Rich Polkinghorn, who resigned to take the superintendent’s job in the White Salmon Valley School District. Newton has served as the district’s curriculum and instruction executive director since the 2019-20 school year. He was principal at Westside Elementary from 2012 to 2018, and prior to that worked 14 years in Salem-Keizer Public Schools. District Board Chair Chrissy Reitz said the board was impressed with Newton’s extensive knowledge of the district’s operations and programs. The district will begin a formal process to hire a permanent superintendent in October.
Demolition Of Tony’s To Begin
Demolition begins this month on the former “Tony’s Town & Country” building in downtown The Dalles to open the site for redevelopment through the city’s Urban Renewal Agency. Sidewalk closures will occur periodically through October. The Dalles Urban Renewal Agency purchased the property on East Second Street in 2016. Since then the agency considered multiple development options, ranging from replacement with multi-story mixed-use to reuse as a fitness center, but none of the plans proved feasible. Various inspections revealed the high cost to repair and reuse the structure, as well as a significant amount of hazardous material. The Urban Renewal Board directed staff to pursue demolition and hazardous material abatement to make way for a development-ready site. The agency received assistance through the City of The Dalles Brownfield Revitalization program to conduct an environmental assessment, including removal of an underground storage tank on Federal Street.
Warm Springs Tribe Adopts Missing Persons Response Plan
In a first for Oregon, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Tribal Council has unanimously adopted a Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Tribal Community Response Plan. U.S. Attorney for Oregon Natalie Wight says the plan ensures that all available resources—government, law enforcement, and community members—are quickly deployed in support of a full and thorough investigation. The plan is a guide for how Tribal law enforcement and community members will respond when someone goes missing from a Tribal community, tailored to the needs, resources, and culture of individual Tribal communities. The Warm Springs TCRP establishes four different sets of guidelines relevant to MMIP: law enforcement, victim services, public and media communications, and community outreach. The plan was created in partnership with the Oregon U.S. Attorney’s Office as part of a U.S. Department of Justice national initiative. The District of Oregon is one of six pilot program districts working to develop community response plans in accordance with this initiative.
Active Firefighting Concludes On Boulder Fire
Active firefighting has concluded on the Boulder Fire, but there are tasks that must be completed before management of the incident is returned to the Mt. Hood National Forest. Northwest Team 10 Operations Section Chief Bert Thayer says Thursday was a day of transition as they send some firefighters back home to their units. Suppression repair continues to take place, and fire managers have assigned some of the remaining crews to do this work, returning disturbed areas to as natural a state as practical. The Boulder Fire burned 233 acres near Boulder Lake Trailhead in the Barlow Ranger District.
Numbers Of Overdose Incidents Close Together Not Uncommon
Emergency responders in The Dalles this past weekend were called to three separate overdose incidents within about two hours of each other, and the City’s police chief says it wasn’t that uncommon. Tom Worthy says there has been a pattern of overdoses occurring when new supplies of fentanyl come in to the area. Worthy added in this case, bystanders had Narcan and administered it before officers, who also carry it, arrived. Worthy says since Measure 110 was passed by Oregon voters and eliminated officers’ ability to arrest users, police have lost the ability to gain information that helped them work their way to apprehend those who bring in and sell the narcotics in the community.
HR Fair Open Class Open To Entrants In Four Counties
The Hood River County Fair this year is allowing entries for its open class exhibits to residents of Wasco, Skamania, and Klickitat counties along with Hood River County. Fair board member Dennis Zimmerman says they are looking to expand their pool of exhibitors. For information on how to enter, go to hoodriverfairgrounds.com. The Hood River County Fair starts this coming Wednesday.
Wasco County Appoints Albrich To Gorge Commission
The Wasco County Commission unanimously approved Elaine Albrich to be the County’s representative on the Gorge Commission. Albrich is a lawyer with a background in land use, permitting, and policy issues, and recently purchased a house and moved to the Dufur area from the Willamette Valley. County Commissioner Scott Hege noted while they heard some concern about her relative recent arrival in the County, he said her experience with the Gorge Commission as a lawyer overrides that for him. Albrich succeeds Rodger Nichols, who served for 12 years in the position.
Rand Road Housing Project Receives State LIFT Funds
The City of Hood River’s proposed housing project on just over seven acres on 780 Rand Road received a major funding boost as Oregon Housing and Community Services approved $15.1 million in Local Innovation Fast Track, or LIFT, program funding for the development. It was the second time project partners Community Development Partners and Columbia Cascade Housing Corporation had sought the LIFT funds that would go towards 129 units of rental housing for households earning between 30 and 60 percent of the area median income. City Planning Director Dustin Nilsen says the next steps will be for CDP and CCHC to complete site designs and apply for land use approval in the lead up to a sale agreement with the City. He says it is anticipated that within the next couple months the application materials will be complete and site review will begin. CDP and CCHC plan to apply to OHCS for 4% Low Income Housing Tax Credits and tax-exempt bonds next year to complete the project’s financing.
Agencies Seek Forest Service Grant For Community Wildfire Defense
Wasco County Commissioners gave their go-ahead to a group of 15 state and local agencies that will seek a five-year, two million dollar Community Wildfire Defense Grant from the Forest Service to develop a county-wide wildfire mitigation program and support risk reduction. The grant would cover hiring a County Wildfire Coordinator, conducting fuels treatment, public engagement and education, and mapping development and maintenance. Kristin Dodd of the Oregon Department of Forestry says the coordinator position has been identified as a need for some time. The program would be modeled after Deschutes County’s nationally recognized Project Wildfire program. No funding match is required from the County due to the fact it is considered a high-risk community with heightened socioeconomic vulnerability to wildfire. The County would serve as the fiscal agent and manager of the grant.