Wasco 2040, Wasco County’s Comprehensive Plan update, will be discussing goals relating to wildlife, forests, and recreation over the next few months.  Wasco County Long-Range Planner Kelly Howsley-Glover this could be one of the most contentious parts of the process, noting wildlife map revisions in the past have brought up both private property and conservation issues.  She says they will be updating two overlay maps based on new data from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.  Four public meetings are scheduled in February on the topic starting February 19 at Columbia Gorge Community College in The Dalles, and moving on to Dufur School on February 20, Wamic School on February 26, and Mosier Grange Hall on February 27, all at 5:30 p.m.  More information is available at wasco2040.com.

Entries are being taken from high school and middle school teams to compete in the annual Wind Challenge set for March 14 at the Fort Dalles Readiness Center.  Google, Columbia Gorge Community College, and the Gorge Technology Alliance sponsor the event.  Jessica Metta of the Gorge Tech Alliance says it’s a unique one-day event where the participants don’t have to prepare much ahead of time, and they are given a box of wind turbines parts along with a mentor to help guide them in putting the turbine together.  To enter teams can sign-up at windchallenge.org.  The deadline to enter is February 3.

After a furious week of getting out the vote, The Dalles will now wait to see if it has paid off.

Voting to determine which of five hopeful towns will be featured on the “Small Business Revolution” program finished last night…and the winning community will be announced next week.

There will be a watch party in The Dalles next Tuesday at 5 p.m. at The Dalles Civic Auditorium to watch the video presentation to announce the winner.

Program co-host and Deluxe Corporation Chief Brand and Communications Officer Amanda Brinkman will step on the stage at the watch party of the winning town

Fredonia, New York had led every update issued on the program’s Facebook page, with The Dalles in second.

Main Street The Dalles led a massive voting push featuring its lovethedalles.com website and establishing a number of locations where people could vote multiple times per day on a number of different devices.

The “Small Business Revolution” program and Deluxe Corporation will invest $500,000 in the selected city to improve six small businesses over eight episodes during the fifth season of the program, which is distributed on Amazon Prime and Hulu.

Boys Basketball

Pendleton 78, Hood River Valley 61:  Tanner Sweek scored 14 of his 18 points in the second half as the Buckaroos dominated the paint on the way to the win in the Intermountain Conference season opener for both teams.  Dakota Sams led for Pendleton players in double figures with 25 points, while Noah Webster scored 19 and Ian Searcy 12 for Hood River.

 

Seton Catholic 76, Stevenson 69:  Seton Catholic held off a fourth quarter push by the Bulldogs.  Xavian Rushing paced Seton Catholic with 23 points, while Jonathan Blackledge scored 21 for Stevenson.

 

Castle Rock 64, Columbia 44:  Davis Koester led the CHS effort with 16 points.

 

Horizon Christian 53, South Wasco 49:  The Hawks moved into a three-way tie for first place in what is shaping up to be a wild Big Sky Conference race, with six teams within one game of each other.

 

Dufur 42, Sherman 32:  The Rangers are also now tied for first in the Big Sky.

 

Sunnyside Christian 72, Lyle-Wishram 22

 

Goldendale 50, Highland 34

 

Girls Basketball

Dufur 56, Sherman 30

Highland 46, Goldendale 39

 

Wrestling

Hood River Valley 51, Pendleton 29:  Chad Muenzer, Javier Galvez, Timothy Fletcher, Andrew McCreery, and Abraham Tirajero all recorded victiories by fall for the Eagles, as HRV won the Intermountain Conference dual match.

 

Klickitat County honored its search and rescue volunteers at a recent appreciation night event in Goldendale.  Three new members were recognized with commemorative SAR pins, including K9 Ellie and handler Jim Jones.  Recognition went to Jeff Adams and Tom Cochrane for 5 years of volunteer service and LeRoy Booth for 10 years of volunteer service.  Special recognition was given to 2019 “Rookie of the Year”, Chuck Pullen and “Volunteer of the Year”, Leandra Paasch.  In 2019 the Klickitat County SAR volunteers donated a total of 5,158 hours, including 941 hours on 15 missions, 3,655 training hours and 271 hours on preventative SAR public relations events.  Those who would like information about joining the Klickitat County Search & Rescue Team can contact the Sheriff’s Office at 509-773-4455 or download an application at www.klickitatsar.org.

A measure authored by Washington 14^th District State Representative Gina Mosbrucker to create a Joint Legislative Task Force to identify the role of the workplace in helping to curb domestic violence gained unanimous approval in the House.  Under House Bill 1056, the new task force must review the role of the workplace in the lives of individuals experiencing domestic violence, the appropriate role of employers and employees in helping reduce the incidence of domestic violence, and whether legislation is needed to address these issues.  The task force would be made up of one member each from a number of different business, labor, and domestic violence prevention organizations.  A preliminary report of the task force findings would be provided to the Legislature by December 1 of this year, with a final report due next year.

 

The Hood River County School District is continuing the process of preparing its plan for using three million dollars in Student Success Act funding from the state for next school year.  Superintendent Sara Hahn-Huston says they received feedback from about 300 people during a community survey along with in person interviews…and said many of those focused on equitable opportunities for all students across the district.  She added other feedback involved connecting and communicating with students, in particular those with behavioral issues.  Hahn-Huston says district staff are sorting through their data and developing a plan that can be submitted to the state Department of Education, with a worksession planned with the district board in February.

There is less than two days left in voting to see which of five communities will be featured by the “Small Business Revolution” program on Internet streaming services, and The Dalles continues to trail Fredonia, New York in standings released this morning on the program’s Facebook page.  Online voting is now underway and will continue through Tuesday at 8 p.m.  Katie McClintock of The Dalles Area Chamber of Commerce says they are encouraging the entire community to vote to get The Dalles over the top.  Those wishing to vote can go to lovethedalles.com to link to the ballot website.  People can register one vote per unique email per device per day.  The “Small Business Revolution” program and Deluxe Corporation will invest $500,000 to improve six small businesses over eight episodes during the fifth season of the program, which is distributed on Amazon Prime and Hulu.

The Port of Hood River is embarking on a traffic analysis of the Waterfront area.  Port commissioners has approved a contract with an engineering firm to do the work.  Port Executive Director Michael McElwee says they want to know how traffic has changed since development in the area began in earnest in the past decade.  In 2011, the Oregon Department of Transportation did an interchange access management plan that set limits on how much traffic could increase from the waterfront and the Interstate 84 exit 63 interchange at the entrance to the area without some improvements.  McElwee says the Port board wants to know where they stand right now relative to those limits.

Boys Basketball

The Dalles 68, Crook County 67

Horizon Christian 55, Dufur 43

Horizon Christian 51, Echo 34

Dufur 84, Mitchell-Spray 56

South Wasco 50, Sherman 35

Trout Lake 59, Klickitat-Glenwood 54

Bickleton 44, Lyle-Wishram 28

Zillah 93, Goldendale 63

Goldendale 81, Granger 77

Hood River Valley at Pendleton, ppd to Tuesday

Stevenson at Castle Rock, ppd to Jan. 25

LaCenter at Stevenson, ppd to Jan. 27

King’s Way Christian at Columbia, ppd to Feb. 10

Trout Lake at Yakama Tribal, ppd.

Sunnyside Christian at Klickitat-Glenwood, ppd.

 

Girls Basketball

The Dalles 47, Crook County 45

South Wasco 46, Sherman 35

Dufur 61, Mitchell-Spray 11

Trout Lake 58, Klickitat-Glenwood 12

Zillah 64, Goldendale 30

Goldendale 45, Granger 37

Pendleton at Hood River Valley, ppd to Jan. 28 in Pendleton

Trout Lake at Yakama Tribal, ppd.

Sunnyside Christian at Klickitat-Glenwood, ppd.

 

Wrestling

Hood River Valley won one out of five matches at the Oregon Classic, losing four before defeating Milwaukie. Chad Muenzer won all five of his matches for HRV. 

 

The Dalles tied for eighth at the Tigard Invitational.  Steven Preston had the best individual finish for the Riverhawks, taking second at 170 pounds.

 

Girls Wrestling

Hood River went 3-0 to win its pool at the Oregon Classic before dropping two matches in the final bracket.  Gracie McCafferty and Lauraine Jones won four out of five matches for the Eagle girls.

 

Alpine Skiing

Hood River Valley’s Eva Jones won the Mt. Hood League girls’ slalom race at Timberline on Saturday, while teammate Marisa Rigert was fifth.  Hannah Beinh of The Dalles was 25^th.