A 60-year-old Hood River man who had not been since Monday morning has been found safe in Klamath County.  The Hood River Police Department says Lawrence Norman Tolbert was located in Klamath Falls.  After a tip from family members, Klamath County Sheriff’s deputies were able to locate Tolbert at a KOA campground.  A statement from Hood River Police say Tolbert was reported to be unharmed, and his family is working to reunite with him as soon as possible.

The Hood River Police Department is seeking the public’s help in locating a missing Hood River man.  60-year-old Lawrence “Larry” Norman Tolbert, who resides on Rand Road, was last heard from on Monday morning at around 8:15.   Tolbert may be driving his silver and black 1990 Ford F-250 pickup, which has a white “Elkhorn” camper attached, with Washington license plate B32624Y.  Tolbert is six-feet-one inches tall, weighing 180 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes.  His family believes he is most likely wearing blue Levi jeans and a dark gray Pendleton jacket.  Police are working with the family to follow up on all possible leads.   If you have any information or know the whereabouts of Tolbert, please contact Hood River Police Detective Sal Rivera at 541-387-5257.

Hood River Valley High School boys’ soccer coach Jaime Rivera was named the National Federation of State High School Associations 2015 State and Sectional coach of the year for Boys Soccer.  The Northwest Section includes Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming.  Rivera’s HRV boys’ soccer team has won the Oregon Class 5-A championship the past two season.  NFHS Awards are based on several factors that include: the coach’s record, longevity in coaching, membership in and affiliation with coaching and other professional organizations, involvement with other school and community activities and programs, and coaching philosophy.

Boys Basketball Hood River Valley at Tualatin, postponed Lyle-Wishram 53, Klickitat-Glenwood 47:  The Cougars outscored the Vandals 17-8 in the 4^th quarter to grab the win.  Gavyn Nelson scored 20 points to lead Lyle-Wishram, while Easton Atchley paced Klickitat-Glenwood with 16. Castle Rock 68, Stevenson 50 Irrigon 67, Horizon Christian 35   Girls Basketball Heritage at Hood River Valley, postponed Lyle-Wishram 48, Klickitat-Glenwood 21:  Lacy Carse led the Cougars with 23 points. Ridgefield 59, Columbia 44 Irrigon 60, Horizon Christian 20

The Dalles City Council decided it would be best to work with Oregon’s Congressional delegation to try to make changes in the City’s urban growth boundary rather than continue to wait on the Columbia River Gorge Commission.  The City has expressed an interest in getting Gorge Commission approval for a boundary expansion for nearly a decade, particularly in regards to expanding the City’s supply of buildable lands to meet a state-required 20 years of need.  Mayor Steve Lawrence says it’s become apparent Congressional action is their best option.  But Lawrence does add some of the urgency behind the initial request has eased, noting they have an agreement with the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development that the 20-year requirement isn’t reasonable given the Gorge Commission situation, and the City is working to increase density and be more efficient in using the land that is available.

The Hood River City Council has given City Manager Steve Wheeler the go-ahead to sign an agreement which will see the Urban Renewal Agency purchase three acres from Naito Development in the Nichols Basin in front of the hotel Naito is constructing for use as a passive park.  Urban Renewal is paying $395,000 for the land, but won’t pay anything until the hotel starts producing property tax increment revenues, and some of that will be used to pay for the property.  Wheeler says it will be a passive park.  Dedicating the three acres for the passive park was a key to Naito receiving City approval to build the hotel.  Once the park is paid for by Urban Renewal, the City will take over ownership of the land.

The City of White Salmon is going to send out letters to some homeowners advising them they need to make changes in order for firefighters to be able to protect their property in the event of a wildfire.  The move came out of Monday’s City Council goal-setting session.  Mayor David Poucher says fire officials have identified some homes where currently firefighters might not be able to safely offer protection during a wildfire, but they can be made safe.  In some cases the problem is dead end roads without sufficient turn arounds for fire equipment, and in others it’s ladder fuels on private roads.  Poucher emphasized letters will be sent to those properties that have been identified, adding this is mainly about wildland fire protection rather than home fires.

The Port of The Dalles will consider Wednesday whether to move ahead with an application to the Department of State Lands for permit to allow a wetlands plan to move forward.  Port officials along with others have been working on a plan to be able to move wetland mitigation across property boundaries to be able to proactively deal with issues involving identified vernal pools in The Dalles.  Port Executive Director Andrea Klaas says they would be applying with the Department of State Lands for the aquatic resources regional general permit.  Klass notes with only 250 to 270 acres of industrial land in The Dalles urban growth area, they need to be able to take advantage of all the property they have.

Google has given Q-Life an $87,880 dollar grant for the Maupin Broadband Project.  The grant funds will be used to assist in bringing high-speed broadband to the Maupin community and establishing free public Wi-Fi at Maupin’s Riverfront Park and the Maupin branch of the Wasco County Library District.  The grant will also connect the Maupin library to The Dalles-Wasco County Library and provide free internet on library computers for patrons.  Google funding also will pay for three years of operation and internet connection.  The Maupin Broadband Project is a joint venture of Q-Life, The City of Maupin and the State of Oregon’s North Central Community Solutions Team.  The project should be completed during the first half of 2016.

In a unanimous vote, Wasco County Commissioners adopted amendments to the County land use ordinance to regulate the time, manner, and place of marijuana production and processing operations in the County.  The panel adopted the recommendation of the County Planning Commission, allowing growing and processing in farm zones…and growing but no processing in forest zones, which accounts for nearly all of the lands in unincorporated areas of Wasco County.  Commissioners had considered for a time sending a measure to County voters that would allow them to opt out of allowing marijuana business to take place in the County, as state voters approved in November 2014.  But Commission Chair Rod Runyon says as they continued to consider the matter, he started to doubt voters would decide to opt out.  Runyon noted a petition to put an opt-out measure on the ballot can still come from the citizens.