Pierce County deputies have arrested a man who will face kidnapping and custodial interference charges in Skamania County along with multiple charges in Grays Harbor County.  Skamania County Undersheriff Pat Bond says 21-year-old Jeremiah Shallow of Tacoma was taken into custody at a library in Graham on Wednesday evening.  Bond says Snallow had contacted on social media a 16-year-old Carson girl and had been last seen with her on Monday.  The girl was reported as a runaway on Wednesday, and she made contact with her family and told them she was at the Graham library, and that Shallow was en route to pick her up.  Pierce County officers went there and arrested the man on a felony warrant.  Bond says this past Sunday Skamania County deputies responded to a report from a business owner for a juvenile female who said she was from Aberdeen and “on the run.”  She had been picked up at the YWCA in Hoquiam thinking an adult male she had met through friends and later identified as Shallow was going to take her home, but she told officers that instead she was driven to the Stevenson area after he allegedly committed a burglary and sexually assaulted the girl near McCleary.  Both girls have been reunitied with their families.

The Port of Cascade Locks will be receiving $2.4 million in lottery bond funding to support economic development and infrastructure investment at the Port’s business park.  Port officials say the funding request will support investments in “innovative and sustainable businesses” that will lead to the creation of at least 100 new jobs in Cascade Locks.  They add that is critical to a community they say continues to experience a 12 percent unemployment rate.  Port of Cascade Locks officials hope to have Governor Kate Brown visit the town later this summer to see the developments in the business park.

Klickitat County will hold a pair of meetings next week to update work on the County’s hazard mitigation plan.  County Emergency Management Director Jeff King says public input is being sought to better frame the regions efforts for hazard mitigation projects, wildland fire protection, resource enhancements, and emergency preparedness.  The meetings will include a slideshow presentation and discussion on the identified hazards, potential improvement, and risk reduction projects.  The meetings will be Tuesday at the Klickitat PUD office on 1313 South Columbus in Goldendale and Wednesday at the White Salmon City Council Chambers on 119 Northeast Church Avenue.  Both meetings begin at 6 p.m.

The Dalles Public Works on Monday will begin a sanitary sewer main construction project on East 9^th St. between H Street and I Street to provide service to new homes being built in that area.  Construction will take about two weeks.  Full road closures will be in effect during work hours from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays.  No parking within the work area will be allowed during work hours due to heavy equipment use and the location of the trench.  Detours will be in place during work hours on H Street and East 8^th Street, east and west alley access on H Street between East 8^th St. and East 9^th St., H Street and East 9^th Street, and I Street and East 9^th Street.

After a nine year hiatus, football will return in the fall of 2019 to Wy’east Middle School.  Hood River County School District athletic director Trent Kroll made the announcement this week.  During most of the past nine years, students have participated on a team with a mixture of Hood River and Wy’east Middle School players.  This year each middle school will have its own team, own uniforms and own schedule.  Coaching positions are currently available, to apply go hoodriver.tedk12.com/hire.

Plenty of activities are planned in the area for the Fourth of July.  In Hood River, events begin with the Kollas/Cramner Memorial Run and Walk from Mid-Valley Elementary School in Odell to Hood River’s Jackson Park.  Registration is at 7 a.m. with walkers leaving at 8 a.m. and runners at 9 a.m.  The Lions Club parade will go from Pacific down 12th Street to May Street and then west to Jackson Park at 10 a.m., with the motto “Hood River Together” and Hood River police and sheriff’s departments serving as grand marshals, followed by events in Jackson Park at noon.  The Eyeopeners Lions Club will hold its fireworks display in the Port of Hood River area at 10 p.m.  In The Dalles, Point Man Ministries will celebrate “Fourth of July in the Park” with free hot dogs and music by Outside the Wire from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., in the covered picnic shelter at Sorosis Park July 4.  All are welcome.  The Fort Dalles Fourth fireworks show also begins at 10 p.m. at Lewis and Clark Festival Park.  There will be a parade through downtown White Salmon at 1 p.m., followed by a picnic and games in Rheingarten Park at 2 p.m.  And Mill A’s 19th annual Independence Day parade will take place in the morning at 10:30 with registration and lineup at 9 a.m. at Jessup Road and Cook-Underwood Road.  There will be a picnic at Mill A School following the parade and 11:30 a.m. flag ceremony.

The Port of Hood River will be limiting access to several waterfront properties to allow for the Eyeopeners Lions Club fireworks display to take place.  The Spit will be closed from noon Wednesday to noon on Friday.  Access to the sandbar from the Event Site and the sandy area of Marina Beach will be closed at 7 p.m. on July 4, with kiteboard launching and landing from the Event Site grass and beach and Marina Beach prohibited.  Once Marina Park parking areas are full on the Fourth, closed signs will be posted at the entrance and additional vehicles will not be allowed in.  Parking will be free on the 4^th at all Port-owned streets and Lot 1, but parking permits and day use passes are still required for Event Site parking.  Fireworks of any kind are prohibited on all Port properties, including the Marina and Waterfront areas.

A Pacific Power official reiterated their use of a “Public Safety Power Shutoff” in times of extreme fire danger in the Hood River/Mosier area would be very rare, but also said their weather metrics will change over time.  Pacific Power vice-president of external affairs and customer solutions Scott Bolton said on Bicoastal Media’s Mid-Columbia Today program on Tuesday that they do not believe they would have taken such a step in the past eight years.  Bolton said the basic criteria is for high winds, hot temperatures, and low humidity in locations with high fuel loads that could come into contact with electrical facilities, but the specifics will evolve over time as they install more weather monitoring, gain more experience with the plan, and work with communities.  Bolton said a shutoff could be in a very specific area rather than throughout the entire coverage area.  Pacific Power had planned a public meeting on the subject in mid-July, but Bolton said it was cancelled as local emergency officials asked for more information to work on a broader plan before it moves to a broader discussion.

Hood River County Commissioners talked about next steps in a possible second try at a revenue measure with a political consultant Monday. Amy Ruiz of Strategies 360 said she thinks the County has a chance to get a local option levy passed, but not this November, believing the County would not get the type of voters where their proposals would have the most support until May or November of 2020. Ruiz said the 2020 elections during a Presidential year will bring out more young voters. She added the County probably needs to do a better job of spelling out the consequences of a “no” vote in their next effort. Commissioners seemed to have a consensus for waiting until 2020, even though Chair Mike Oates did say it was hard to wait and not do it as soon as possible. They will discuss the matter further at their meeting on July 15. County Administrator Jeff Hecksel got the go-ahead from Commissioners to begin to develop a prioritization of services…which will start with work at the staff level and take about 30 to 45 days to present to the Commission.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has reduced the amount of damages but still agreed with the BIA’s Yakama Agency assertion that Klickitat PUD was responsible for the Mile Marker 28 fire in 2013.  Nearly two years ago the PUD had appealed the Yakama Agency determination that the PUD failed to remove trees near distribution lines, leading to the fire.  The PUD claims that’s based on a Washington Department of Natural Resources report it believes was flawed and unreliable.  Klickitat PUD says it will appeal the BIA decision in July to the Department of the Interior’s Board of Indian Appeals, saying the latest decision was made without any hearing to present evidence or provide any opportunity to present testimony and cross-examine DNR investigators or other witnesses.  The PUD believes a tribal logging contractor’s crew working adjacent to PUD power lines when the fire started caused the blaze, and also did not or delayed reporting when two trees caught fire.  The BIA reduced the damages claim from $65.5 million to $58.4 million.  A federal government claim has also been filed in federal court, and the PUD says it will “vigorously defend itself.”