Stevenson High School and Wind River Middle School associate principal Carolyn “Suz” Clark-Bennett passed away Tuesday night after a motor vehicle accident in Hazel Dell.  According to the Clark County Sheriff’s Office, Clark-Bennett’s SUV pulled out of the King’s Way Christian School parking lot and was making a left turn onto 78th Street when it went directly in the path of a pickup truck driven by Kierstan Cormican of Battle Ground.  Cormican, along with three passengers in Clark-Bennett’s vehicle, were injured and taken to area hospitals.  The Sheriff”s Office did not have information on their conditions.  Law enforcement also indicated Cormican has been very cooperative with law enforcement, and no charges have been filed.  In a Facebook post, the Stevenson-Carson School District said school counselors and members of the local Trauma Intervention Program would be available throughout the day at their secondary schools.  Clark-Bennett was 54.

Hood River County Commissioners have voted to place a proposed public safety levy on the May ballot.  The Commission took the action after a public hearing Tuesday night on the five-year levy for 78-cents-per-$1,000 of assessed property value that is the second attempt to address the County’s budget shortfalls.  Both a local option levy and a prepared food and beverage tax for general county operations failed last year.  Some at the hearing were wondering how the levy would affect other County operations, and Commission Chair Mike Oates says they can’t guarantee anything beyond public safety.  Oates added while if the levy is approved those funds will go into the general fund, that money will be accounted for separately and be overseen each year by the County’s budget committee.

There will be intermittent, single lane closures on the Hood River-White Salmon Interstate Bridge beginning Friday at 9:00 a.m. for repair inspections of the lift span and replacement of a broken street light.  Flaggers will direct traffic around the moving work zone.  Delays of 10 to 15 minutes are expected, depending on traffic volume.  Work is expected to conclude by 11:00 a.m. 

 

A bill that would require huckleberry buyers to retain purchase records for at least one year, and make those records available to law enforcement officers upon request, unanimously passed the Washington House of Representatives.  Goldendale Representative Gina Mosbrucker had introduced the bill, which she says was brought to her by Klickitat County Range Deputy Harold Cole, who expressed concerns about groups of people coming onto public property where huckleberry plants are growing, raking the berries from the plants, and in some cases, taking the entire bush and destroying the landscape, which is illegal.  Existing law requires people who harvest and sell raw or unprocessed huckleberries to obtain a specialized forest product permit from the county sheriff’s office, or from the U.S. Forest Service if the harvest is on Forest Service land.  Buyers of wild huckleberries are required to collect and record certain information, including the seller’s name, the product amount, the delivery date, and whether the product came with an invoice.  The measure now goes to the Senate for further consideration.

Boys Basketball

Crook County 73, Hood River Valley 57:  Kevin Sanchez scored 25 points and Caleb Arnold 23 as the Cowboys stayed in a tie for first place in the Intermountain Conference with Pendleton.  Noah Webster scored 19 points for HRV, as the Eagles remain a game out of the league’s third and final playoff spot behind Redmond, which lost to Pendleton 73-53 last night.  The Eagles are at Redmond tomorrow night.

 

The Dalles 54, Ridgeview 42:  Jacob Hernandez scored 22 points and Styles DeLeon added 12 as the Riverhawks snapped a six-game losing streak.  The Dalles used a 16-6 first quarter run to take control of the game early.

 

Southwest Washington Class 1A Boys Basketball Tournament

Second Round

LaCenter 91, Stevenson 67:   The Wildcats scored 29 first quarter points and never looked back.  Hunter Ecklund led LaCenter with 25 points, while Jonathan Blackledge had 23 for the Bulldogs.  Stevenson faces Forks in a loser-out game on Thursday at 6 p.m. at Castle Rock.

 

Big Sky Conference Boys Basketball Tiebreaker

Condon-Wheeler 53, Horizon Christian 46:  The Blue Devils advance to the Big Sky Tournament this weekend in Madras.

 

Girls Basketball

Ridgeview 52, The Dalles 40:  The Ravens clinched at least a tie for the Intermountain Conference championship with the win.  Raine Codding led the Riverhawks with 10 points.  The Dalles is a tied for second in the IMC with Pendleton, and will host Buckaroos on Friday at 7 p.m..

Crook County 56, Hood River Valley 25

 

Greater Columbia League Girls Basketball Tournament

Semi-Final

Sunnyside Christian 54, Trout Lake 37

The body of a California man reported missing in the area of Mount Hood Meadows Ski Resort was found Monday evening in the Heather Canyon area.  The Hood River County Sheriff’s Office says the body of 47-year-old Tim Bauters of Sunnyvale, California was found by Meadows Ski Patrol.  Bauters’ family had called the Sheriff’s Office on Monday afternoon, advising he had been in Oregon for an extended work trip and failed to arrive back in California as planned.  The last time they had heard from him was Friday when he was at Mount Hood Meadows, and was believed to be snowboarding alone.  The Sheriff’s Office says Bauters had gone to Meadows multiple times on his work trip, and his rental vehicle was on site.  A medical examiner has been brought in, and no other details have been released.

 

Work started yesterday in White Salmon on the replacement of a water main along Jewett Boulevard.  Mayor Marla Keethler says the work will run through September, and an open house is planned for Thursday evening for the public to learn about the plans for construction.  Keethler adds the City has been working with the contractor to have work done in the business district during the early part of the project in the spring, rather than during the heavier tourist months of summer.  The open house will be Thursday from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the City Council chambers at the White Salmon Fire Hall.  Information and updates about the project are available on the city’s webpage http://www.white-salmon.net.

A bill authored by Washington 14th District State Senator Chris Corry to provide compensation for ranchers and farmers whose land leases are terminated early by the Department of Natural Resources was unanimously approved in the House.  House Bill 2498 would require the state to reimburse ranchers and farmers for some of their losses, including infrastructure investments made on the land such as fencing and other improvements.  According to state law, DNR can use a non-default termination to replace a lessee with a higher-revenue tenant.  Revenue generated from state trust lands provides funding for K-12 school construction and other projects throughout the state, so DNR has an interest in leasing to tenants who produce high revenues.  The bill now heads to the Senate.

Hood River County School District Superintendent Sara Hahn-Huston recently presented a draft plan to the district board for using three-point-five million dollars of funds coming from the state for the 2020-21 academic year as a result of the Student Success Act.  The proposal splits the funding primarily into three areas:  mental and behavioral health, well-rounded education, and class sizes.  Hahn-Huston says one of the advantages in the Hood River district is a priority has always been placed on lowering class sizes.  The district plans to put the draft on its website this week, more public input will be taken online and at the district board’s February 26 meeting at 6:30 in the district office, with the board expected to approve a plan to submit to the Oregon Department of Education at its March 11 meeting.

Big Sky Conference Boys Basketball Tiebreaker

Condon-Wheeler 47, Sherman 45:  Cooper Johnson’s rebound bucket in the waning seconds of the game gave the Blue Devils the win, and the chance to face Horizon Christian for the final spot in this weekend’s Big Sky tournament.  The winning score came after the Huskies came back from a late five-point deficit to tie.  Condon-Wheeler faces Horizon Christian at 6 p.m. this evening at Sherman High School.