Hood River County Commissioners talked about their goals for the upcoming year over the weekend.  Continuing to work on development of affordable workforce housing, maintaining public safety functions, the future of the County Courthouse, the management of the County’s timberlands, and potential financial challenges in the near future were all discussed.  County Commission Chair Ron Rivers says they are in good fiscal shape now, but rising costs remain a threat.  Rivers noted the County believes it will receive a grant from the Oregon Judicial System to study potential Courthouse needs.

Travel Oregon statistics for 2014 show it was a very good year for Hood River lodgers.  Hood River County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Mike Glover says Hood River fared very well in every measurement, including room tax and revenue collection, revenue per available room, and room demand growth.  Glover says the stats give private industry a good idea of demand for new lodging and tourism-related facilities.  He adds most tourism-related businesses in Hood River reported growth during 2014.

North Wasco County School District 21 officials plan to be patient in developing a budget for the 2015-16 school year while waiting for the Oregon Legislature to set its K-12 education funding level for the next biennium.  D-21 Chief Financial Officer Randy Anderson says the challenge is not receiving a solid budget estimate until late in the process.  Superintendent Candy Armstrong says the hope is the state funding number will be enough to maintain current programs and perhaps begin to add back what was lost to budget cuts in the past few years.

Boys Basketball Hermiston 69, Hood River Valley 58 The Dalles 60, Pendleton 41 LaCenter 63, Columbia 48 Seton Catholic 92, Stevenson 77 Dufur 66, Mitchell-Spray 34 South Wasco 55, Arlington 31 Sherman 86, Ione 46 Horizon Christian 74, Condon-Wheeler 31 Sunnyside Christian 60, Trout Lake 45 Lyle-Wishram 54, Bickleton 51 Dufur 69, South Wasco 49 Horizon Christian 65, Sherman 60 Bickleton 66, Glenwood 33 Yakama Tribal 62, Lyle-Wishram 50   Girls Basketball Pendleton 61, The Dalles 59 Dufur 47, Mitchell-Spray 32 Arlington 37, South Wasco 32 Sherman 38, Ione 25 Condon-Wheeler 64, Horizon Christian 25 Sunnyside Christian 53, Trout Lake 10 Bickleton 50, Lyle-Wishram 44 Goldendale 41, Naches Valley 40 Dufur 56, South Wasco 46 Sherman 45, Horizon Christian 35 Trout Lake 45, Klickitat 22 Cle Elum-Roslyn 50, Goldendale 46 Lyle-Wishram 51, Yakama Tribal 42   Wrestling Churchill held off Newberg to win the Hood River Elks Invitational at Vannet Court.  Hood River Valley finished fifth, led by a victory at 132 pounds by Christian Marquez.  The Dalles ended up in 17^th, with Joe Linebarger the top finisher for the Riverhawks, taking fourth at 220.

Fire destroyed a home on Hood River’s Westcliff Drive early Friday morning. Westside Fire District Chief Jim Trammell says the fire was called in at 5:40 a.m., and the house was fully involved by the time crews arrived. Trammell says the homeowner reported that he was woken up by a loud pop, and found the garage on fire. All of the occupants of the house got out safely. Trammell said the fire was extremely hot, and crews still could not go inside the home as of late morning because of the potential for falling debris from the two-story structure, so mop-up work has to be done from the outside.   Trammell termed the home a total loss, but a cause of the fire will probably not be determined until early next week. Crews from Hood River, Odell, Pine Grove, and Cascade Locks assisted Westside firefighters.  

One of the more intriguing issues of the Oregon Legislative session will be the dynamic between whether to allow the low-carbon fuel standard approved in 2009 to go into effect and how that would impact proposals to increase the state gas tax to fund transportation projects at the state and local level.  Republican 59th District Representative John Huffman thinks majority Democrats can get the votes to put the low-carbon fuel standard into effect…but they need a 60 percent vote for a gas tax increase, and they are one vote short in the House of being able to do that on a party-line vote.  That could lead to a compromise.  The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality estimates a low-carbon fuel standard could increase gas prices between four and 19 cents a gallon, while the Western States Petroleum Association estimates the increase at between 33 cents and a dollar-six cents a gallon.

The Dalles Sister Cities Association is launching a membership campaign, and has redesigned its website and informational brochure with a goal of expanding community involvement in the nearly 30-year-old program and relationship with Miyoshi City, Japan.  The organization’s mission is to build and sustain cross-cultural connections and mutual understanding with its sister city and the larger global community through cultural events, partnerships, and activities.  New members are needed to help with recruitment, event planning, fundraising, host families for future delegations, and the selection of student delegates from The Dalles and other Wasco County communities.  The group has set a goal of resuming annual student delegations to Miyoshi City in 2016, and a small group of adults, including Mayor Steve Lawrence, will make an official city visit this summer.  Information on how to join The Dalles Sister Cities Association is available at their new website, thedallessistercities.org.

Washington 14th District State Representative Gina McCabe wants to know what her constituents think about state Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s proposal to raise the legal smoking age from 18 to 21.  McCabe says she is torn on the issue.  She is encouraging 14th District constituents to give their input by taking part in a survey available through her e-mail newsletter…which can be obtained by signing up for it at McCabe’s legislative website.  Fellow 14th District Representative Norm Johnson says he has some mixed feelings on the smoking age proposal, but adds given what we know about the health ramifications of tobacco use he is leaning in favor of the Ferguson bill at this point.

Wrestling Hermiston 45, Hood River Valley 16 Girls Basketball Seton Catholic 53, Stevenson 38