Klickitat County has established an outdoor burn ban in its Burn Ban Zone Two in the central section of the county to begin June 1 and continue through September 30.  Zone Two includes lands outside the jurisdiction of the Yakama Nation and Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission, and runs from the eastern boundary of Klickitat County Fire District #7 to the western boundaries of districts 4, 12, 1nd 15 then north on the Klickitat River north to the north county line.  The ban will prohibit the issuance of burning permits except for authorized agricultural burning.  Residential barbecues will be allowed.  Klickitat County Burn Ban Zone One in the eastern end of the county went into effect on Wednesday, and will also continue through September 30.

The Hood River County School District announced the appointment of three people to serve as elementary school vice-principals.  The district is adding the positions for the upcoming school year.  Two of the new vice-principals already have been working for the district, with Vickie Schmidt taking the new position at May Street and Amy McConnell appointed to the job at Westside.  Jim Mangan, most recently a principal at a dual-language immersion school in the West Linn-Wilsonville School District, will become vice-principal at Mid-Valley Elementary.  Superintendent Dan Goldman said the district was “thrilled” to be adding support at the three schools.  The hires are pending school board approval.

Ballots are slowly being returned to county election offices for the May 21 special districts election.  The Hood River County elections office reported on Tuesday afternoon that 17.6 percent of ballots had been returned, while Wasco County was at 13.42 percent at the end of Tuesday.  Election officials say Wednesday is the last day to mail ballots.  After Wednesday they recommend delivering them to County election offices or designated official drop boxes to meet the May 21 deadline.  Also, Wasco County Clerk Lisa Gambee issued a reminder that it’s a Class C Felony to sign another person’s ballot.  If you get all the way to the ballot drop box and realize your spouse or family member forgot to sign the envelope, take it back home to them.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center are partnering to put on Migratory Bird Day on Saturday at The Dalles Dam Visitor Center.  There will be a high-tech scavenger hunt, bird bingo, kids crafts, and a presentation at 10 a.m. from the Discovery Center featuring an American Kestrel.  The Dalles Lock and Dam park ranger Amber Tilton says this year’s theme for the event is “Protect birds:  Be the solution to plastic pollution.”  The event runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at The Dalles Dam Visitor Center.  To get there take Interstate 84 exit 87 and travel east on Bret Clodfelter Way.  Visitors are encouraged to bring their own scopes, binoculars, GPS units, and cameras.

Boys Golf

The Dalles’ Aidan Telles finished in a tie for third and teammate Tyler Vassar tied for eighth at the Oregon Class 5A Boys’ Golf Tournament at Trysting Tree in Corvallis.  Telles shot a 76 in the final round on Tuesday, while Vassar fired a 75.  Issac Buerger of Ridgeview won the title with a four-under 67 on the final day to clear the field by eight shots.  Hood River Valley finished seventh in the team standings, with Crescent Valley taking the championship.

Girls Golf

The Dalles’ Samantha Stansbury shot a 98 in the final round to finish in a tie for thirteenth at the Oregon Class 5A Girls’ Golf Tournament at Quail Valley in Banks.  Hood River Valley’s Victoria Ervin finished in 27^th.

Baseball

Hood River Valley 8, The Dalles 0:  Harrison Howell pitched a one-hitter as the Eagles finished Intermountain Conference play with their fourth straight win.  Ben Nelson led off for the Riverhawks with an infield single, but Howell retired the remaining 21 batters he faced, walking no one and striking out ten.  Howell, Caden Leiblien, and Jeremiah Brittle had two hits apiece to lead the HRV offense.

Dufur sweeps Weston-McEwen 10-0 and 15-2:  The sweep lifts the Rangers into a tie for second in Class 2A/1A Special District 7, qualifying them for the state playoffs.

Softball

Hood River Valley 6, The Dalles 0:  Lauren Decker pitched a five-hit shutout as HRV won for the sixth straight time to close out its IMC schedule.  Makenzie Chambers drove in two runs as the Eagles never looked back after scoring three runs in the first inning.

The Dalles City Council approved an ordinance to give local police more tools in dealing with recreational and oversized vehicles parked on public streets.  The ordinance would allow people to get a five-day permit to park such vehicles on a street adjacent to an occupied single-family dwelling at no cost, with an annual limit of six permits per property.  RVs which are found to be parked upon a public street without a permit would be subject to issuance of a citation and impoundment within 24 hours of the issuance of the citation, with similar regulations for trailers.  City officials say in some cases, the RVs are abandoned, and in other cases they are being used for long term residential use.  Police Chief Pat Ashmore says they hope to use education to eliminate the problem rather than resorting to towing the vehicle away.

The Hood River County School District budget committee is sending a budget to the district board for the 2019-20 school year that includes an additional 18.4 full-time equivalent employees, lowers class sizes, adds electives, and expands preschool and increase counseling, mental health and behavioral support in schools, while reducing next year’s tax rate on the district’s local option levy by four percent and maintaining a 13 percent reserve.  District Superintendent Dan Goldman says a number of factors are allowing the district to make the moves, including existence of the local option and operational changes over the last few years, adding he believes it is a sustainable budget through the end of the current biennium.  Goldman says they used the Governor’s state K-12 budget proposal to develop their plans.  The district board will hold a budget hearing on June 12.

Wasco County continues to prepare for taking over building code services on July 1.  The Commission is scheduled to pass the second reading of the ordinances to establish the services at their meeting on Wednesday morning.  Commissioner Scott Hege says they are on track for the July 1 startup date.  The County decided to take over the building codes services after the state indicated it would probably not have a local office to provide them in the wake of the dissolution of the Mid-Columbia Council of Governments.

The White Salmon City Council and the White Salmon Valley Pool Metropolitan Park District reached consensus during a joint meeting not to try to reopen the existing aging swimming pool this summer, but instead focus on constructing a new facility.  The City was informed by inspectors last month the current pool would need $50,000 worth of repairs to be safe to open, and it would probably take until mid-July to get the work done.  Combined with previous commitments to the White Salmon Valley School District to decommission the pool after the 2020 season, City officials reaffirmed their decision not to expend the funds for the repairs.  The City will continue to look to purchase pool passes to a facility elsewhere for this summer, while the pool district continues its work to build a new aquatic facility.

Boys Golf

Aidan Telles of The Dalles is just one shot off the lead heading into today’s final round of the Oregon Class 5A high school boys’ golf championships at Trysting Tree in Corvallis.  Telles shot a one-over-par 72 on Monday, good for a tie for second with Michael Gray of Crescent Valley, trailing only Issac Buerger of Ridgeview.  The Riverhawks’ Tyler Vassar is tied for eighth at six-over.  Hood River Valley is tied for sixth in the team standings with Churchill, 41 shots back of leader Crescent Valley.  The Eagles’ Ren Tappert is tied for 24^th at 13-over, while Chad Klaas is 15-over.

Girls Golf

The Dalles’ Samantha Stansbury is in 13^th at the Oregon Class 5A girls’ golf tournament at Quail Valley in Banks.  Stansbury shot 29-over-par, 21 behind leader Megan George of Pendleton.  Hood River Valley’s Victoria Ervin is tied for 20^th at 34-over.

Tennis

Kelli and Kristin Bighorn of Goldendale won the girls’ doubles championship at the SCAC West sub-district tournament.  The Bighorns defeated Reese Vetsch and Courtney Standley of LaSalle 7-5, 6-2 in the final.  They move on to the SCAC district tournament in Connell on Friday and Saturday.  The Timberwolves’ Aidan Bothamely also qualified for district with a fourth place finish in boys’ singles.

Girls Lacrosse

Hood River Valley 17, Lakeridge 5:  Kathryn Koenig scored five goals for HRV, while Brynne Holman added four.