The Port of Hood River is recommending motorists avoid the Hood River-White Salmon Interstate Bridge on Thursday between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. as electrical and engineering crews work to re-commission newly installed electrical controls and systems for the bridge lift span.  Delays of an hour or more are anticipated, as the work entails testing and troubleshooting any issues as they arise, there is no set schedule for the closures.  Port Executive Director Michael McElwee says they will try to open the bridge if possible during the work, but they can’t guarantee it.  McElwee adds motorists will be turned around at the Highway 14 and south of the toll booths to prevent vehicles from becoming stacked up on the bridge.

The future of the Blue Zones Project in The Dalles is in doubt after City Councilors turned down a request for funding during the current fiscal year.  By 3-2 votes, the Council voted down motions to either make a one-time $100,000 contribution during the current fiscal year or $50,000 this year and having the municipal budget committee review the rest for Fiscal Year 2019-20.  Another 3-2 vote approved declining the request for this fiscal year, and sending the matter to the budget committee to consider for 19-20.  Councilors Russ Brown, Linda Miller, and Rod Runyon indicated the process for funding from outside groups was recently established, and needed to be followed.  Councilor Tim McGlothlin said he feared this would be the “death knell” for Blue Zones, but Mayor Richard Mays says it’s still possible for the organization to receive funding through the budget process that will begin next week.  The local Blue Zones organization has reported it has a $192,000 deficit for the final two years of the four-year project, and sought the City money as a way to leverage more dollars from other sources.

The Hood River City Council approved changes to the ordinance for accessory dwelling units, hoping to removal obstacles to their construction.  The biggest point of discussion revolved around a planning commission recommendation to eliminate the requirement of one parking space per ADU.  There were concerns about already crowded parking situations in some neighborhoods, but the cost of providing the parking is an obstacle, and Councilors decided to go with the recommendation.  Mayor Paul Blackburn says they will monitor the impact of that decision.  The Council is hoping eliminating barriers to ADU construction will encourage more of them to be built in response to Hood River’s on-going housing issue.

An arrest has been made in connection with the death of a 24-year-old Newberg man whose body was found in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in late January.  Skamania County Sheriff Dave Brown says 22-year-old Damian Bradley Belander of Dayton was served an arrest warrant in the Yamhill County Jail, where he is lodged on unrelated charges.  Brown adds efforts are underway to ensure Belander is eventually transferred to Skamania County to face the charges.  Belander is accused in the death of Brian Bodle.  Bodle’s body was discovered on January 24 seven miles east of Cougar off Forest Road 83.

Baseball

Dufur sweeps Union 4-3 and 5-4:  The Rangers move into third place in Special District 7.

Boys Golf

Ridgeview held off Hood River Valley and The Dalles in an Intermountain Conference tournament at The Dalles Country Club.  Issac Buerger of Ridgeview shot a 73 to earn medalist honors, with Aiden Telles of The Dalles second and Ben Tappert of Hood River Valley third.

Boys Tennis

The Dalles 5, Hood River Valley 3

Girls Lacrosse

Hood River Valley 13, Central Catholic 2:  Elena Kroll scored three goals as the Eagles went to 3-0 in the Portland League of the Oregon High School Girls Lacrosse Association.

The Hood River City Council will receive the neighborhoods and districts framework plan for the Westside Area Concept Plan at the Council’s meeting tonight.  City Planning Director Dustin Nilson says this is the first opportunity the City has had to organize a master plan into neighborhoods.  No alternative or specified code changes are proposed with this framework, but the associated vision and guiding principles will influence the design of the other framework plans as well as future code work.  Other frameworks will include streets, pedestrian and bicycle connections, parks and open space, and land use.  Tonight’s Council meeting is at 6 p.m. in Hood River City Hall.

Klickitat County is considering whether to open up roads to help with firefighting efforts in the Columbia Hills area of the County.  County Commissioner Jim Sizemore says he was asked by Centerville fire officials to organize a meeting with property owners to discuss the issue.  Sizemore adds the goal would be to increase the accessibility for firefighting equipment to get into the Columbia Hills and extinguish blazes rather than letting them burn.  The meeting is at 7 p.m. Monday evening in the Centerville Fire Hall.

A group of law enforcement agencies conducted a sex offender compliance sweep in Hood River County this month, resulting in enforcement actions against six registered sex offenders.  The Hood River County Sheriff’s Office says compliance checks showed that of the 89 sex offenders in the county, eight were non-compliant, resulting in arrest, citation, or warning on six offenders.  The remaining two verified as non-compliant were not located, likely due to moving out of state.  The Hood River County Sheriff’s Office, United States Marshal’s Service, and Oregon State Police took part in the sweep.

Baseball

Hood River Valley splits with Crook County, losing game one 6-4 but winning the second contest 12-0:  Ryan Gray pitched a five-inning perfect game to help the Eagles bounce back after losing their first Intermountain Conference game of the season in the opener.

The Dalles sweeps Ridgeview 16-0 and 4-0:  Mike Armstrong pitched a five-inning perfect game in the opener, as the Riverhawks now share first place in the Intermountain Conference with Hood River Valley.

Sherman split with Pilot Rock, winning game one 4-1 but losing the nightcap 2-1.

Dufur at Union doubleheader postponed to today at 2 p.m.

Lyle-Wishram lost two games to Sunnyside Christian in extra innings, falling 8-4 in eight innings and 8-7 in ten innings.

Softball

The Dalles splits with Ridgeview, losing the opener 8-0 but coming back for a 2-1 win in the second contest to hand the Ravens their first loss of the season and moving into a tie for first in the Intermountain Conference.

Hood River Valley sweeps Crook County 11-0 and 17-6:  Lauren Decker pitched a four-hit shutout in the opener, while Makenzie Chambers had a grand slam on the way to driving in five runs in the nightcap, running her school record RBI total to 52 in 15 games.

Stevenson at Castle Rock, postponed to Wednesday.

Goldendale sweeps LaSalle (Yakima) 16-1 and 17-2

Track and Field

Columbia and Stevenson finished one-two in the boys’ competition while they were third and fourth behind victorious Estacada in the girls’ standings of the Bruin Invitational in White Salmon.  Lincoln Krog of Stevenson won three boys’ events while Columbia’s Stanley Hylton and Chandlor Bucklin won two apiece.  Hannah Polkinghorn and Chanele Reyes each won a pair for the CHS girls.

The Dalles girls were fourth and the boys sixth at the Hermiston Kiwanis Invitational.  Dufur’s Kiersten White won the girls’ high jump.

Hood River Valley’s Frances Dickinson won the girls’ 1500 meters and took second in the 800 at the Wilsonville Invitational.

Horizon Christian’s boys were second and the girls fourth at the Condon-Wheeler Invitational.  Caleb Lingel, Andrew Wells, Kyle Brown, and Valerie Bruggeman were event winners for the Hawks.

Trout Lake won both the boys and girls team titles at the Pirate Invitational in Bickleton.  Kevan Bren of Glenwood and Jeremiah Larson of Klickitat won two boys’ events apiece, while Glenwood’s Brooklyn Emerson won three girls’ events.

Goldendale’s Ellie Rising won the girls’ 800 meters and finished second in the 1600 while Tiana Watson won the javelin at the Prosser Rotary Invitational.

Boys Tennis

Redmond 8, Hood River Valley 0

Boys Lacrosse

Hood River Valley 8, Summit 7

White Salmon will not have a swimming pool this summer.  Klickitat County and Washington state health inspectors found numerous critical deficiencies to the aging pool that are a significant risk to health and safety that would have to be repaired prior to its opening, and the cost is estimated at over $50,000, more than what municipal officials had budgeted to run the pool this summer, so City Councilors made the decision not to reopen it.  The City along with the new White Salmon Valley Metropolitan Pool District agreed to look into providing discounted passes to the Hood River Valley Aquatic Center for district residents this summer.  The pool district has already indicated it is highly unlikely a new pool can be built before the 2020 summer season.  That district was created in November with the intent of seeing through construction and then operation of a new swimming pool.