There have been plenty of applications for the vacant Position 3 on The Dalles City Council.  Six people have applied to fill the seat that was left vacant when Russ Brown resigned.  The six to apply so far are Scott Randall, Lindsay Giamei, John Grant, Dan Richardson, Donna Lawrence, and Jeffry Stiles.  Applications for the position, which represents the east side of The Dalles, will be taken through next Wednesday (March 4) at 4 p.m.  For information on how to apply and the qualifications required, go to the City’s website.  The Council will interview applicants at its March 16 meeting.

Washington State House and Senate Democrats released their proposed 2020 supplemental operating budgets Monday after the state’s Economic and Revenue Forecast Council said the state would collect an additional $1.1billion over the next four years, and Goldendale Republican Representative Gina Mosbrucker is advocating sending some money back to taxpayers.  Mosbrucker is on the House Appropriations Committee, and she thinks with a budget surplus of $2.4 billion, a billion dollars should in some way be distributed back to taxpayers.  A Republican-backed bill proposes just that.  The supplemental budget proposals by majority Democrats do address homelessness issues that have been a priority this session, with the House allocating about $235 million to them and the Senate $140 million.

The U.S. Forest Service will release online permits on Sunday for hikers headed to Dog Mountain on weekends from April 18 to June 14.  The permits are required to ensure public safety near Dog Mountain Trailhead, where congestion during the spring wildflower hiker rush created annual congestion and at least one fatal accident before permits were required in 2018.  Every hiker on the Dog Mountain Trail system on Saturdays and Sundays between April 18 to June 14 will be required to carry a permit, or digital proof of one.  Anyone parking at Dog Mountain Trailhead will need to reserve one permit for each person online at recreation.gov and pay the $1 non-refundable per person administrative fee in addition to paying the recreation site fee of $5 per car.  Valid Northwest Forest or interagency federal passes are accepted as a form of paying the recreation fee but are not a substitute for having the per person permit.  Hikers can also obtain permits by riding a Skamania County West End Transit bus shuttle from the Skamania County Fairgrounds in Stevenson to the Dog Mountain trailhead, which is $2 roundtrip and includes a permit.  The shuttle runs about every half hour from 7:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on weekends from April 18 to June 14.

Klickitat County Commissioner David Sauter is hopeful that a bill to designate the proposed Goldendale Pumped Storage Project as a “Project of Statewide Significance” will pass the Washington State Senate.  Sauter notes the bill has already passed the House unanimously, and has a hearing before a Senate committee on Tuesday.  Sauter has been talking with legislators about the bill, noting the most important thing is the attention the designation would give the project.  Sauter notes there would be no shortcuts through the permitting process, but it is helpful when the involved agencies are focused on the project.

The Dalles Public Works crews will paint fresh markings at the Webber Street railroad crossing on Tuesday and Wednesday beginning at 7 a.m. each day, weather permitting.  The railroad crossing will be closed to all traffic in both directions during working hours from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. both days.  Motorists and bicyclists area asked to use detours around the work zone during those hours.  The street will be reopened to the traveling public each day after the paint has dried completely.

Repairs begin next week on the aging bridges that carry Interstate 84 across Hood River, leading to around-the-clock single lane closures in both directions and ramp closures.  The concrete decks are deteriorating on the I-84 structures over Hood River between exits 63 and 64.  The first phase of the project takes place from March through May, with a second phase this fall and a third next winter.  One lane in both directions of Interstate 84 will be closed during each phase of construction, there will be traffic shifts with reduced lane and shoulder widths, and speed limits in the work zone will drop to 50 miles per hour.  Nighttime ramp closures at exits 63 and 64 will take place periodically from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Monday through Thursday nights, primarily at the beginning and end of each phase.  Cyclists using the shoulder of I-84 will need to use an alternate route during construction, while pedestrians can continue using the overcrossings and trails under I-84 with minor delays.          

Beginning next Monday, the contractor working on the water main improvements on White Salmon’s Jewett Boulevard will be moving to the core downtown area and working between Estes and Main.  The east-bound lane of Jewett will be closed with no parking, and marked detours in place.  The west-bound lane will be open to one lane of travel in that direction with parking available on the north side.  Public parking lots have been marked and are available west of White Salmon City Hall, both the lower and upper parking lots and north of the fire station on Church Street.  Once work is completed between Estes and Main, the contractor will be moving work to the area between Main and Garfield.  For more information on the water main project, check the City of White Salmon webpage or call City Hall at 509-493-1133.

Swimming

Hood River Valley won the boys’ 200 yard freestyle relay by two-one-hundreths of a second over West Albany as the Eagles finished fifth in the Oregon Class 5A championships in Beaverton.  The quartet of Clayton Lee, Connor McElwee, Luke Southall, and David Hecksel recorded a time of 1:29.61.  Hecksel was second in the 100 backstroke and third in the 50 freestyle, and Southall sixth in the 100 freestyle.  HRV was sixth in the girls’ team standings, led by Sarah Arpag finishing second in the 100 butterfly and third in the 100 backstroke.  The Eagle girls earned fourth place finishes in both the 200 and 400 freestyle relays.

 

Wrestling

Hood River Valley will send seven wrestlers and The Dalles five to the Oregon Class 5A wrestling tournament after earning top four finishes at the Intermountain Conference championships.  Dusty Dodge of The Dalles won the league title at 170 pounds.  Hood River’s Carson Farlow, Chad Muenzer, and Cody Durham and The Dalles’ Taylor Moorehouse all had second place finishes.

 

A fifth place finish by Goldendale’s Blake Waddell was the top performance by an area wrestler at the Washington Class 1A Mat Classic in Tacoma.  Columbia’s David Durham, Bowen Durkee, and Payden Webster, and Stevenson’s Logan Hoffberger and Solomon Mahoney all earned top eight finishes.

 

Boys Basketball

Pendleton 79, The Dalles 65

 

Girls Basketball

Pendleton 33, The Dalles 19

Redmond 52, Hood River Valley 38

 

Big Sky Conference Basketball Tournament at Madras

Girls Semi-Finals

Dufur 58, Ione 50

Echo 62, South Wasco 39

 

Girls Finals

Third Place:  South Wasco 54, Ione 50:  South Wasco will visit Country Christian in the first round of the state 1A tournament on Tuesday.

Championship:  Dufur 50, Echo 44:  The Rangers get a bye into round two of the state playoffs on Friday.

 

Boys Semi-Finals

Ione 61, Dufur 42

South Wasco 62, Condon-Wheeler 56

Boys Finals

Third Place:  Dufur 70, Condon-Wheeler 47:  Dufur visits Life Christian to begin the Oregon 1A tourney on Wednesday.

Championship:  Ione 74, South Wasco 68:  The Redsides will host Elgin in round one of the state 1A tournament on Wednesday.

 

 

Nordic Skiing

Hood River Valley’s girls were fifth and boys eighth at the Oregon Interscholastic Ski Racing Association nordic skiing championships at Mt. Bachelor.  Frances Dickinson was 13^th in the girls’ 5.1K freestyle and 17^th in combined.

 

Alpine Skiing

The Columbia girls’ Madison Swanson and Hood River Valley boys’ Aidan Gonzales-Haynie have qualified in both slalom and giant slalom out of the Mt. Hood League for the state skiing championships.  HRV’s Parker Dey and Columbia’s Camden Uffulman also qualified in boys’ slalom and the Eagles’ Hugh Dalbey advances in the boys’ giant slalom.

Columbia Area Transit says funds from the state are allowing a free bus pass program for Hood River County School District middle and high school students that have a valid school ID.  The funds for the passes are as a result of the Keep Oregon Moving Act that passed the Legislature last year.  It included an employee payroll tax dedicated to funding public transportation services expansion, and one percent of all funds allocated to transit agencies is to be spent on addressing the needs of young people.  CAT will be establishing a new transit stop at Wy’east Middle School at 3:35 p.m. for after-school activities in Hood River, and another picking up at 8 a.m. from the Rockford Grange and at 3:30 p.m. from May Street School.  For more information call CAT at 541-389-4202.

Washington 14th District State Senator Curtis King has proposed that the $196 million expected from Boeing in 2020-21 from the aerospace tax incentive reform bill be used to fund fish passage projects around the state.  Along with Senator Marko Liias of Lynwood, King is a co-sponsor of Senate Bill 6690, which would capture the projected $196 million from Boeing during 2020-21.   It is possible that the projected funds could be cut short if the bill’s trigger mechanism is activated through settlement of Boeing’s World Trade Organization dispute over subsidies, which led to the reform bill.  However, it is also possible that more fish passage could be remediated since the $196 million only accounts for expected revenue from the Boeing portion of the aerospace sector.  King is the ranking Republican member of the Senate Transportation Committee.