Tidewater Barge Lines has received a grant of over $4.1 million from the U.S. Maritime Administration to acquire equipment to expand regional barge service on the Columbia River. Tidewater will provide nearly $2 million in matching funds. The grant will provide two new low and zero emission cranes to enable the loading of additional solid waste containers on barges for shipment from southwest Washington to eastern Oregon. Tidewater President and CEO Todd Busch says the funds will allow the company to barge thousands of additional containers that would normally be trucked on the region’s highways. The cranes will be installed at Tidewater’s Vancouver and Boardman terminals. Previous grants from the Maritime Administration to Tidewater and the Port of Morrow helped improve terminal infrastructure and construct a specialty-built barge.

Boys Soccer

Wilsonville 4, Hood River Valley 2

  Girls Soccer

Wilsonville 8, Hood River Valley 0

  Volleyball

Parkrose def. Hood River Valley 25-9, 25-18, 25-11

Centennial def. Hood River Valley 25-11, 25-21, 13-25, 25-19

  Cross Country

Hood River Valley cruised to a win in the girls’ half of a four-school Northwest Oregon Conference cross country race at home, while finishing second in the boys’ portion to Canby.  In the girls’ run Phoebe Wood was first and Liv Nickson fourth as HRV had five of the top eight finishers.  HRV’s Elliot Hawley won the boys’ race with teammate Logan King in fourth.

  The Dalles grabbed three of the top four places in winning the boys’ portion of the Estacada Invitational.  Juan Diego Contreras won the race with Riverhawk teammates Leo Lemann in second and Egan Ziegenhagen in fourth.  The Dalles was second to Oregon City in the girls’ run, as Alana Casady finished sixth.

  Stevenson’s girls were second to Seton Catholic in a four-school Trico League race at King’s Way Christian.  Ruby Langer was the top Stevenson finisher in sixth.  The Bulldogs were fourth in the boys run, with Leavitt Woodall-Schafer their top finisher in 15th.

 

The Dalles City Council approved a reorganization of the City’s Community Development Department to create a new Economic Development Officer position and move General Services from the City Manager’s supervision to the department.  New City Manager Matthew Klebes made the proposal to the Council, looking to strengthen municipal economic development efforts distinct from planning duties.  Klebes said the intent of moving General Services to the Community Development Department is an attempt to improve the focus and resources associated with maintenance needs for all City facilities and the public infrastructure associated with community development efforts.  The City is currently in the midst of searching for a new Community Development Director.  The City Council voted unanimously to approve the restructure.  

Signs warning of contaminated water were being removed from The Hook area.  They were put up after a weekend spike in E. coli levels in effluent discharged from the Hood River Wastewater Treatment Plant.  New Hood River Public Works Director Rich Rice told City Councilors Tuesday evening that water samples showed the discharge was back within Oregon Department of Environmental Quality limits.  Rice adds a new ultraviolet system is being installed in the plant to help reduce these kinds of issues.  That should be operating in a few weeks.  Rice said an investigation in to what may have caused the spike is underway.  There was a similar spike in September of 2021.

Klickitat County has re-established a burn ban in the western portion of the county through the end of October, along with extending the ban in the rest of the county until Halloween.  County officials decided to reinstate the burn ban in its Zone 3 due to the persistence of dry conditions.  The ban prohibits the issuance of burning permits in unincorporated areas of Klickitat County except for authorized agricultural burning.  Residential barbecues are still allowed.  Burn ban zone maps are available on the Klickitat County Department of Emergency Management webpage.

The Hood River County Health Department is encouraging people to get their flu shot. Department Director Trish Elliott says the flu vaccine is available now from health care providers and pharmacies, adding unlike the last couple of winters when COVID-19 concerns limited people’s interactions and the spread of influenza, this winter brings the expectation of more flu cases. Elliott says flu vaccine is available the health department as part of their day-to-day immunization availability. She adds the health department expects to hold a community flu shot clinic later this fall.

Girls Soccer

Goldendale 2, Mabton 1

  Volleyball

The Dalles def. Madras 25-6, 25-6, 25-14

Columbia def. Seton Catholic 3-1

King’s Way Christian def. Stevenson 25-20, 25-17, 25-22

Lyle-Wishram def. Horizon Christian 25-15, 25-16, 25-15

Sherman def. Condon 3-0

Klickitat-Glenwood def. Bickleton 25-15, 25-10, 25-21

Goldendale def. White Swan 3-0

Boys Soccer

The Dalles 8, Crook County 1

North Clackamas Christian 3, Horizon Christian 0

Trout Lake 2, Columbia Adventist 0

  Girls Soccer

The Dalles 5, Crook County 1

Hood River Valley 2, Pendleton 0

Trout Lake 1, Westside Christian 1

  Volleyball

Hood River Valley def. Centennial 25-19, 22-25, 25-21, 16-25, 18-16

The Dalles City Council reached a consensus to have City Manager Matthew Klebes develop a plan to preserve and maintain the Gitchell/Waldron Drug Building as is, with the possibility of following a path taken in Astoria to project several faded “ghost signs” that are on the building and bring them back to life.  Klebes presented a range of options that included demolition of the building and multi-million dollar restoration possibilities.  But the option to preserve and maintain came with the lightest price tag, about $76,000 in today’s costs but needed over a five to twenty year period.  Mayor Rich Mays and the rest of the Council felt it was a good route to take after years of discussion surrounding the building’s future.  Klebes noted he will be talking with KPFF Consulting Engineers to develop a more formal improvement and maintenance plan to bring back to the Council.

The North Central Public Health District’s board has an executive committee studying the future of the district with Gilliam County having left the district at the start of the current fiscal year.  Wasco and Sherman counties remain in the district, and the question is whether it’s better to be an independent district or return to a contractual agreement where Wasco County provides public health services to Sherman County as was done prior to the district’s formation.  District Board Chair and Wasco County Commissioner Kathy Schwartz says the goal is for the committee to make recommendations to the full board by December.  Whether the decision is to have a separate district or a contractual arrangement, Schwartz says timelines to develop agreements would take place in 2023.