The Oregon Trail Rally returns to the region this weekend, with racing planned in the Goldendale area on Saturday and the Dufur area on Sunday.  This is the 26th year of the Rally, and their will racers from around the world for the race that is part of the American Rally Association National Championship.  The Rally’s Karen Jankowski says the race involves “real cars that are real fast.”  For spectator information, go to oregontrailrally.com.  

Washington Fourth District Congressman Dan Newhouse and Oregon Second District Congressman Cliff Bentz joined with 19 other House Republican colleagues in introducing the Trust the Science Act to strengthen state management of the gray wolf.  The bill requires the Department of the Interior to reissue the 2020 final rule which delisted the gray wolf from the list of endangered species in the lower 48 states and ensures that the reissuance of the final rule will not be subject to judicial review.  Newhouse says gray wolves have been successfully recovered through effective state and local species management plans.  In Washington state alone, there are at least 206 known wolves in 33 known packs, including at least 19 breeding pairs.      

A Warm Springs man pleaded guilty in federal court for sexually assaulting a woman on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation in August of 2020.  27-year-old Jerome Albert Stanley, Jr. pleaded guilty to one count of abusive sexual contact.  According to court documents, Stanley entered a bedroom occupied by an adult woman in a residence and sexually assaulted the woman.  The documents say that later, during a recorded call with the victim, Stanley admitted to the abusive sexual contact and acknowledged it should not have happened.  Stanley faces a maximum sentence of two years in prison, a $250,000 fine and five years’ supervised release.  He will be sentenced this August before U.S. District Court Judge Michael Mosman.

A Goldendale man was killed in a motor vehicle accident Tuesday morning on Highway 97 near Goldendale. According to the Washington State Patrol, the pickup truck driven by 61-year-old Stephen Hyrniak was southbound on Highway 97 near milepost 27 when it veered into the oncoming lane and collided with a tractor-trailer driven by 55-year-old Erasto Castellanos Ruiz of Visalia, California. The WSP says Hyrniak was pronounced dead at the scene. Ruiz was not injured. The accident occurred at 11:30 Tuesday morning.

Hood River County Commission District 1

Leti Valle Moretti 1,315 70.5%

Kathleen Sanders 545 29.2%

Hood River County Commission Chair

Jennifer Euwer 3,737 63.1%

Ron Rivers 2,127 35.9%

Wasco County Commission Pos. 1

Scott Hege 3,841 70.8%

Cynthia Bearss 1,566 28.9%

Wasco County Commission Pos. 3

Phil Brady 3,169 51.7%

Rod Runyon 2,936 47.9%

7th District Circuit Judge

John Wolf 6,503 53.6%

Caleb Berthelsen 5,603 46.2%

Dufur Recreation District 3-year local option

Yes 232 59.2%

No 160 40.8%

City of Shaniko 5-year local option No 7

Yes 5

State Senate District 26 GOP

Daniel Bonham 76.7%

Steve Bates 14.5%

Michael Nugent 8.5%

State House District 52 GOP

Jeff Helfrich 87.4%

James Born 9%

Britt Storkson 3.2%

U.S. Senate GOP

JoRae Perkins 32.2%

Darin Harbick 30.3%

Congressional 2nd District-GOP

Cliff Bentz 75.9%

Mark Cavener 18.6%

Congressional 2nd District-Democrat

Joe Yetter 69.4%

Adam Prine 28.7%

Congressional 3rd District-Democrat

Earl Blumenauer 94.6%

Jonathan Polhemus 5%

Softball

The Dalles sweeps Hood River Valley 9-8 and 4-2:  The Riverhawks scored six runs of the top of the seventh inning of game one to keep their playoff hopes alive, and then held off a Hood River rally in the bottom of the seventh in game two to advance to the state Class 5A playoffs and eliminate the Eagles.  Despina Sefualemua doubled in the winning run in game one, and hit a two-run homer to cap a four-run third inning in the nightcap.

  EWAC Softball Tournament

Goldendale 11, Mabton 9:  The Timberwolves advance to a second round game with Kittitas on Friday.

  Baseball

Hood River Valley 7, The Dalles 2:  The Intermountain Conference champion Eagles scored five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning for the win, with Kyle Smiley’s two-run double bringing home the go-ahead runs.

Grant Union sweeps Lyle-Wishram 34-0 and 23-0

  Boys Soccer

Washington Class 1A First Round

Bridgeport 2, Columbia 0

  Boys Golf

The Dalles finished eighth at the Oregon Class 5A boys’ golf tournament at Trysting Tree in Corvallis.  Joe Codding finished in a tie for 22^nd for the Riverhawks.  Hood River Valley’s Kiernan Chown finished in a tie for 31^st.

  Girls Golf

Katelyn Vasser of The Dalles finished in 13^th at the Oregon Class 5A girls’ golf tournament at Emerald Valley in Creswell.

With the new “Postmark Rule” in Oregon, winners of a number of races in the primary election won’t be known for a few days.  Under the new rule in Oregon, any ballot postmarked by Election Day is considered on time even if it arrives at elections offices up to seven days after the election.  Wasco County Clerk Lisa Gambee says they will still do a first release of results after 8 p.m., then collect ballots from drop boxes and publish updated tallies later tonight, and then take ballots over the next seven days.  Results won’t be officially certified until mid-June.

The White Salmon City Council will hold a public hearing Wednesday evening on new water use and efficiency goals.  The proposed new goals are a two percent reduction in average gallons per equivalent resident unit per day, and distribution system leakage of under 25 percent by 2028.  The City set similar goals in 2014, but was never been able to achieve them.  Mayor Marla Keethler says it’s important for the City to be more efficient use in its of water as it grows.  The Council meets at 5:30 Wednesday in the White Salmon Fire Hall, and the meeting can be accessed remotely, go to white-salmon.net for information.  

Hood River County Commissioners talked about Congressman Earl Blumenauer’s Mt. Hood and Columbia River Gorge Recreation Enhancement and Conservation Act, noting that while they like parts of the bill, there are still details to work out before they can fully support it.  Commission Chair Mike Oates says getting into the specifics of the mapping involved is one piece, along with getting federal officers to assist with patrolling and search and rescue around Mt. Hood.  Another topic County officials want addressed is ensuring the Middle Fork Irrigation District can do necessary work on Coe Creek.  The bill is to be heard in a House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Wednesday.

People traveling along Washington Highway142 should plan extra time for travel as work to resurface the roadway gets underway.  The Washington State Department of Transportation says work will start Wednesday to resurface a nearly 33-mile section of the highway between Lyle and Goldendale, in Klickitat County.  Travelers should expect daytime delays of up to 20 minutes, Mondays through Fridays, from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m., and should follow the direction of flaggers or pilot car.  Crews will work during daytime hours until all work is complete later this summer.