Klickitat County Search & Rescue volunteers were honored Tuesday at the group’s annual appreciation ceremony.  In 2020 the Klickitat County SAR volunteers donated a total of 2,638 hours, including 644 hours on 13 missions and 1,994 training hours.   Special recognition was given to 2020 “Rookie of the Year” Jim Jones and “Volunteer of the Year” Deb Ireland.  Eleven new members were recognized with commemorative SAR pins.  SAR Program Coordinator Jeff King recognized the two newly certified K9 search dogs, Griffin and handler Maija DiSalvom and Ellie and handler Jim Jones for their hundreds of hours of training to achieve certification.  Those who would like information about joining the Klickitat County Search & Rescue Team contact the County Sheriff’s Office at 509-773-4455 or go to klickitatsar.org.

Oregon Governor Kate Brown’s office announced on Tuesday that Hood River County’s COVID-19 risk designation will be moved from extreme to high risk on Friday.  Hood River County is one of twelve counties that are improving in risk level during the next revision that occurs every two weeks, with ten moving from extreme risk to high risk, including the three Portland metro area counties.  Restaurants in “high risk” level counties will be allowed to open for indoor dining and gyms can increase the amount of people inside.  The capacity for both restaurants and gym can’t exceed 25% maximum occupancy or 50 people, whichever is smaller.  Hood River County officials say practicing basic prevention measures is more important than ever — wearing masks, physical distancing, avoiding gatherings, staying home if sick — and must continue, particularly with new variants of the virus spreading.  Wasco County is one of fourteen counties remaining in the “extreme risk” level.  

The Wasco County Commission and The Dalles City Council will hold a joint hearing on February 17 to discuss a draft of a strategic investment document for a future phase of Google building more facilities in The Dalles.  The first three phases of Google development saw the company employ the state’s Enterprise Zone provisions, but County Commission Chair Scott Hege says under the Strategic Investment program a significant amount of project value will go directly onto the tax rolls.  Hege says details will be in the meeting packet that will be available on the Wasco County website by Friday.  He also said the February 17 meeting will be the first of a number of opportunities for public input.  

Hood River City Councilors got some ideas of what sort of policy options might be available to them for affordable housing during a Monday evening worksession.  The Council heard from EcoNorthwest vice-president of operations Lorelei Juntunen, who said Hood River’s housing market will need help to take care of its middle and low end.  She pointed out that the market doesn’t build affordable housing…and traditional policy changes may be insufficient, so partnerships and resources available for the City to use as leverage are important.  Juntunen emphasized not underestimating the importance of the market environment, and bringing up the number of units being constructed to the number of people moving into the City is a critical piece of bringing down price increases, and zoning, parking, and infrastructure are important pieces to moving in that direction.

The Dalles City Council got its introduction into work currently being done at the municipal planning commission level in response to state legislation adopted in 2019 to provide more opportunities for what is called “middle housing.”  That is duplexes, triplexes, quadplexes, town homes, and cottage clusters.  The Dalles Community Development Department Director Alice Cannon says the state law requires every single family residential lot in the City has to be available to these kinds of development.  Cannon says a clear and objective path for residential development is required…adding the City addressed that during October 2019 housing code revisions.  Cannon said a consulting team has worked on writing code amendments to meet housing groups over the couple of months.  She noted the goal is to finish by June 30, but she added she doesn’t want to wait until the end of the process for the Council to weigh in.

The Klickitat County Health Department says it has been notified of three recent community member deaths classified as related to COVID-19.  In a statement, the department said all three individuals had underlying health issues that affected their health in addition to having COVID-19.  Two of the individuals had recovered from COVID-19, however, their deaths were classified as COVID-related based on national standards.  Two were from White Salmon, a 90 year old who tested positive on December 8 and passed away on January 15 while under hospice care, and a 77 year old who tested positive on December 12 and passed away on January 8.  The third was a 71-year-old Glenwood resident who tested positive for COVID-19 on November 9, was admitted to a Portland area hospital in mid-January, and passed away on January 20.  Klickitat County has had a total of 717 COVID-19 cases to date and eight deaths.

Still hoping for changes in contact sports guidance from state officials this week, the Oregon Schools Activities Association executive board on Monday made provisions for football and volleyball as the start date for both sports approaches.  The state classifies both as contact sports, so under current guidance, football in all counties and volleyball in extreme-risk counties would be prohibited from joining soccer and cross country to start their seasons on March 1.  Volleyball outside of extreme-risk counties is permitted.  OSAA executive director Peter Weber did say they anticipated new guidance in the next couple of days that could allow for football and volleyball.  Football teams could begin non-contact practices Monday, but without changes to state guidance, contact practices and games would not be allowed.  In that event, the board approved potential football activities such as 7-on-7, flag, virtual lineman challenge and virtual combine.  The board voted to proceed with soccer and cross country. Both sports can begin practicing Feb. 22 and start contests March 1.  The board also voted to proceed with volleyball for the 47 schools located in the 12 lower, moderate and high-risk counties.  For the schools in the 24 extreme-risk counties, the board approved outdoor volleyball as an option.  Volleyball teams also could benefit from the board approving a “change of season request form.”  Schools, leagues and regions not currently permitted to participate in an activity can request to shift their seasons to a later date, when they would be allowed to participate.  The board voted to table the discussion on culminating week events until its next meeting, a Feb. 17 work session.    

North Central Public Health District is now providing COVID-19 vaccines to those 80 and older.  District officials say this may be the hardest vaccine group to reach, since older Oregonians may not have email and their vaccine booking system is email-based.  Mid-Columbia Senior Center is partnering with NCPHD in assisting those seniors who don’t have email, or need help to sign up for vaccines.  The Senior Center can be reached at 541-296-4788.  Mid-Columbia Medical Center will be calling its patients who are 80 and older to provide assistance if required.  All those who are able to sign themselves up are urged to do so.  The practice of Valerie Hiveley-Blatz will also reach out to its patients to offer help if needed.  For information on how to sign up for the COVID vaccine in Wasco, Sherman, and Gilliam counties, go to ncphd.org.  People are asked to talk with older family members, neighbors, and friends and ask if they need help.

The Washington House Children, Youth and Families Committee is expected to take action later this week on a bill by 14th District Reprsentative Gina Mosbrucker that would create a team of experts to look into the reason for suicides of young people up to the age of 25.  The committee held a public hearing on House Bill 1354 last week.  Under the bill, the Washington Youth Suicide Review Team is instructed to perform an in-depth review of each instance where a person under age 25 has died by suicide during the 2020 calendar year, excluding suicides on tribal reservations if the trial government opposes the review.  The measure has been scheduled for committee action either Wednesday or Thursday.

The Hood River County Commission has developed a draft strategic plan to guide the County’s decision making over the next few years.  County Administrator Jeff Hecksel says there are seven goals identified in the plan.   At the top of the list is to modernize the County’s organization and align services with community needs.  Hecksel feels that emphasizes reinvesting in the County to make it more efficient in providing service to the public.  Other goals include fostering financial stability and strength, increasing housing diversity and affordability, enhancing communication internally and externally, reinforcing support of the agricultural industry, adapting the forest management plan to current and future needs, and supporting economic growth and high quality job generation.  Commissioners will examine the draft again at their February 16 meeting.