It will be a busy Monday for public meetings in the area.  Skyline Hospital in White Salmon will hold a public forum to update the community on the hospital’s exploration of a possible affiliation with a larger health system and give the public an opportunity to answer questions.  That will start at 5:30 Monday evening in the hospital’s downstairs meeting space.  The Dalles City Council also meets at 5:30 Monday in The Dalles City Hall, with a discussion of transportation system funding planned.  And the Hood River Council meets Monday at 6 p.m. in Hood River City Hall.

The Skamania County Sheriff’s Office is investigating after detectives responding to a report of suspicious circumstances on a forest road in the northern part of the county discovered a deceased person.  Sheriff Dave Brown says the investigation on Forest Road 83 about six miles east of Cougar is in its very early stages, and there is no additional information at this point.  Officers found the body Thursday afternoon, and with diminishing daylight the area was secured overnight to allow the scene to be processed this morning.  The investigation efforts will cause traffic delays on forest road 83 and will impact recreational traffic to the Ape Cave as well as the Marble Mountain Sno-Park which provides access to the climbing route for Mt. St. Helens. 

The Dalles Public Works Department will be flushing fire hydrants in the Port area over the next few weeks, weather permitting.  Motorists and pedestrians are asked to avoid driving or walking through the water coming directly from a hydrant while it is being flushed.   Occasionally main flushing causes water flowing from a tap to be discolored from stirred up sediment or milky white caused by tiny air bubbles.  Although discolored water won’t make you sick, you might want to flush the pipe by running the water for several minutes before drinking or washing.  Fire hydrants are flushed in order to clean out deposits, sediments and rust from distribution pipelines, help minimize water quality problems, test fire protection water pressures, exercise hydrant valves, and identify hydrants needing repair or replacement.

Girls Basketball

Redmond 58, Hood River Valley 43:  McKaylie Capps scored 25 points for Redmond on six three-pointers as the Panthers led from wire-to-wire.  Morgan Baker led HRV with 11 points.

King’s Way Christian 59, Stevenson 36:  King’s Way got off to a quick start and moved two games in front of the Bulldogs atop the Trico League standings.

Seton Catholic 69, Columbia 61

Swimming

Hood River Valley’s girls rolled by Redmond 130-34.  The Eagles received two event wins apiece from Sarah Arpag, Alea McCarty, and Faith Ocheskey.  Redmond topped the HRV boys 84-73, in spite of two wins each for HRV from Chad Klaas and David Hecksel.

All parties have agreed to final language revisions for the Intergovernmental Agreement between Columbia Gorge Community College, the City of The Dalles, and Wasco County to provide the seven-point-three million dollars in local match of state grant funds to construct the Treaty Oak workforce training center and campus housing.  CGCC’s Dan Spatz says signatures are being gathered this week which paves the way to prepare for a bond sale and get funds in the bank by a state deadline of February 11.  Spatz once the state bond sale occurs later this spring the college would have three years to complete the project, but they would like to get it done faster than that.  The project will take place on property adjacent to the Fort Dalles Readiness Center that was prepped for construction when that facility was built.

Oregon 59th District State Representative Daniel Bonham has seen his committee assignments shuffled as the legislative session gets underway.  The Dalles Republican will be vice-chair of the House Committee on Economic Development while also serving on the House Business and Labor and the Joint Carbon Reduction panel.  Bonham notes Democrats have the votes to pass some kind of cap and trade carbon tax plan during this session, so he sees his role on the carbon committee as a voice for the rural part of the state.  Bonham was also just selected to the Joint Committee on Ways and Means General Government Subcommittee.

Boys Basketball

King’s Way Christian 78, Stevenson 58

Seton Catholic 81, Columbia 25

Wrestling

Pendleton 72, Hood River Valley 6:  Cody Durham provided the lone win for the Eagles.

Hood River County Commissioners continued a public hearing on proposed revisions to regulations on short-term rentals in the county’s zoning ordinance as they asked for some language changes.  County Administrator Jeff Hecksel says the modifications will require the ordinance to go through another first reading at the Commission meeting in February.  Commissioners also continued discussions on the potential for seeking both a local option levy and a prepared food and beverage tax during the May election, but no decisions were made.  Hecksel said the Commission plans to address that subject during their annual planning session this Saturday.

Voters in the Lyle School District will be receiving ballots in the mail soon for the district’s replacement maintenance and operations levy.  With the state of Washington limiting local school tax levies during its revamp of education funding to a $1.50 per thousand dollars of assessed value, the rate in the Lyle School District for the proposed two-year levy will drop from its current $2.90 per thousand.  Superintendent Ann Varkados says the district is facing cuts, and they would be deeper without the levy.  Ballots must be in by February 12.

Hood River’s waterfront area has been used for years by freight companies as a place to park and transfer their trucks and trailers, but how long that can remain the case is an open question.  The Port of Hood River currently has contracts with several freight companies to park trucks and trailers on Port roadways, but Port Executive Director Michael McElwee says with the increase in development and recreational use in the waterfront area, he’s not sure those arrangements will be feasible in the future.  McElwee gave Port Commissioners a report on the issue after talking to various stakeholders, and it indicates that it would be difficult to find a replacement location in Hood River, which could result in shippers having to make deliveries more frequently and increase costs.