North Wasco County School District 21’s ambitious 20-year bond measure to fund construction of four new schools in that time period went down to defeat.  59 percent of voters rejected the measure.  5,233 said no, to 3,608 saying yes.  The Dufur School District’s bond measure was approved 620 to 294…while a measure to prohibit certain marijuana registrants and licensees in Dufur passed narrowly…178 to 163.  A five-year general operations levy for the White River Health District was rejected 590-to-542.  The two incumbents seeking to retain their seats on The Dalles City Council did so.  For position one Tim McGlothlin received 2,720 votes to 2,165 for Chip Wood….and Russ Brown was re-elected to position three with 2,569 votes to 2,283 for Tiffany Prince.  For the Council’s at-large position…Rod Runyon was elected with 2,330 votes to 1,937 for Brian Stevens and 774 for John Fredrick.  Stan Ashbrook won seat two on the Dufur City Council…190-to-120 over Matt Brougher.  In Maupin…Lynn Ewing was elected as Mayor with 175 votes to 78 for Suzanne Knapp…while for Maupin City Council Randy Bechtol had 168 votes, Mike Foreaker 163, and Susan Wright 156 to win election, with Kathie Richey receiving 100 votes and Jim Holycross 99.

In Hood River…Paul Blackburn held off the challenge of City Councilor Susan Johnson to retain his position as Mayor.  Blackburn received 1,791 votes to 1,618 for Johnson.  In polling for three Hood River City Councilor seats…Jessica Metta was easily the top votegetter with 2,256.  Erick Haynie claimed the second seat with 1,410 votes…while Tim Counihan grabbed the final spot with 1,154 votes.  Incumbent Peter Cornelison was fourth with 999 votes…followed by Joe Sheahan at 944…Jim Klaas at 934…and Brian Towey at 899.  Hood River County’s measure to tax retail sales of marijuana as approved by a count of 7,587 to 2,736.  Tom Cramblett was re-elected as Mayor of Cascade Locks…receiving 319 votes to 205 for Kathy Tittle.  In polling for three Cascade Locks City Council seats…Jules Caldwell-Wagner received 292 votes…Sara Patrick 285…and Richard Randall 257…while Butch Miller recorded 254 and Deanna Busdieker 232.  A pair of ballot measures in Cascade Locks were approved by wide margins…one to ensure plurality elections following a City Council vacancy with 361 yes votes to 170 no…and another to continue an EMS service fee to fund emergency medical services by a count of 421-to-120.  Hood River County elections supervisor Kim Kean reported over 200 ballots in the County were being challenged over signatures.

In a race that bounced back and forth…incumbent Republican Chuck Thomsen has narrowly held off  lead over Democratic challenger Chrissy Reitz in Oregon State Senate District 26.  Thomsen had polled 27,656 votes to 27,057 for Reitz…with Thomsen holding an advantage of 3,355 votes in Clackamas County…where over half of the ballots are cast in the district.  In Oregon State Senate District 30…Republican Cliff Bentz retained his seat with 72 percent of the vote over Democrat Solea Kabokov.  Anna Williams used a nearly two-to-one margin in Hood River County to lead Jeff Helfrich for the Oregon House District 52 seat.  Williams…a Democrat…has polled 15,283 votes to 14,419 for Helfrich…who had been appointed to the position one year ago.  In the House District 59…Republican Daniel Bonham received just under 62 percent of the vote to maintain his position by over six-thousand votes against Democratic challenger Darcy Long-Curtiss.  In Washington House District 14…it was the two Republicans winning election.  Chris Corry had received just over 61 percent of the vote for position one over Democratic challenger Sasha Bentley.  And incumbent Gina Mosbrucker is retaining her position two seat…receiving just under 64 percent to hold off challenger Liz Hallock.

In Sherman County…Joe Dabulskis won the vote for Judge…532 to 436 over Mike Smith.  Andy Anderson narrowly outpolled Perry Thurston for mayor of Moro…92-to-90.  For a pair of Moro City Council seats…Bryan Cranston received 134 votes to 116 for Seth VonBorstel…while Abbey Phelps had 84.   In Wasco…Eileen Wainright received 104 votes for mayor to 92 for Scott Miller…and in the vote for three City Council seats Rodney Patten had 160, Gena Arthur 130, and Erik Glover and William Minter were tied with 104.

In Klickitat County over 5,000 ballots remained to be counted…with an updated tally to be released late this afternoon.  For County Commission position two incumbent David Sauter has tallied 2,405 votes to 857 for Raymond Clough…while Sheriff Bob Songer has 2,449 votes to challenger Douglas Charters’ 963.  The White Salmon Valley Pool Metropolitan District measure had received 565 votes in favor to 461 against.  In races for positions on the district board…Lloyd DeKay had 445 votes to 235 for Mikael Naramore…Benjamin Briggs had a narrow 354-to-344 lead over Pam Morneault…Troy Witherrite led Michael Oldfather 530 to 177…and Karen Skiles had received 481 votes to 220 for Jan Brending.  Husum Fire District’s bond measure was being approved 396-to-186…and the County Emergency Medical Services District levy was passing 2,481 to 847.

There are an estimated 700 ballots left to be counted in Skamania County.  Gabriel Spencer was winning the election for assessor…2,231 to 1,343 over Tom Dillon…while Adam Kick was ahead in his bid to be re-elected as Prosecuting Attorney with 2,111 votes to 1,585 over Dan McGill.  Dan Boyes was winning the PUD District Commissioner race 1,937 to 1,439 over Marie Gluesenkamp Perez.  The Underwood Parks and Recreation District levy measure had received 230 votes in favor to 148 against…while the Home Valley Water District levy had received 64 votes in favor and 43 against.

Here are links for the latest local and statewide election returns tonight:   Oregon:  http://results.oregonvotes.gov/   Hood River County:  http://results.oregonvotes.gov/ResultsSW.aspx?type=CTYALL&cty=25&map=CTY   Wasco County:  http://results.oregonvotes.gov/ResultsSW.aspx?type=CTYALL&cty=24&map=CTY   Sherman County:  http://results.oregonvotes.gov/ResultsSW.aspx?type=CTYALL&cty=27&map=CTY   Washington:  https://results.vote.wa.gov/results/current/   Klickitat County:  https://results.vote.wa.gov/results/current/klickitat/   Skamania County:  https://results.vote.wa.gov/results/current/skamania/  

The Hood River County Christmas Project will start to take sign-ups for food and toy boxes on Thursday.  The Christmas Project has been an annual effort in Hood River since 1923. Low-income families in Hood River County are eligible receive a box from the Christmas Project.  The first sign-up session will be Thursday afternoon from 3:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at Diamond Fruit’s cafeteria in Odell.  Another is planned for Saturday morning from 10:00 a.m. to noon at the Hood River FISH Food Bank on 1130 Tucker Road.  More sign-up opportunities will be available over the next month, for a complete schedule and eligibility information go online to hoodrivercountychristmasproject.com.

An escaped debris burn near Tygh Valley has burned about 500 acres.  According to the Oregon Department of Forestry, strong winds on Sunday pushed the Shadybrook Fire through grass and other light fuels, spreading into oak and brush in some of the surrounding draws.  Fireline was constructed around most of the fire by late Sunday evening and forward progress was stopped.  There were no structures damaged by the fire.  Two five person ODF crews, three ODF engines, two U.S. Forest Service engines and overhead personnel were completing fireline today and working to find and extinguish hotspots.  Firefighters from Tygh Valley, Wamic, and Juniper Flat fire departments were also involved in the suppression effort.

Cross Country Hood River Valley has won the OSAA Class 5A girls’ cross country championship in a dominating performance in Eugene, finishing 51 points in front of Wilsonville and Crater. HRV’s Frances Dickinson was the individual champion in a time of 18:40 while teammate Brinna Weiseth was in second two seconds back. Josephine Dickinson was fifth, and Evelyn Nunez ninth.  It’s the second time Hood River Valley has won a state girls’ cross country title, winning the 3A title in 1992, and follows up a second place finish last year.  Frances Dickinson is the third Eagle to win the state individual girls’ cross country title, joining Christy Paul in 2001 and Grace Grim in 2012.  The Dalles finished ninth, with Emma Mullins the top Riverhawk runner in 20th. Hood River Valley was sixth as a team in the 5A boys’ race, led by an 11th place finish by Josh Haynes and 14th by Omar Quintana.  Sam Alvarez of The Dalles was 19th. Columbia was 12^th and Goldendale 14^th in the Washington Class 1A Boys Cross Country Championships in Pasco.  Top local finishers were Goldendale’s Lucas Anderson in 25^th and Dylan Beneventi of Columbia in 27^th. Goldendale was 11^th in the Washington Class 1A Girls Cross Country meet.  Ellie Rising of Goldendale was 29^th, Joules Hope of Columbia 31^st, and Isabella Spencer of Stevenson 41^st. Trout Lake finished seventh in the Washington Class B Girls Cross County Championships.  Lauren Peck was the top Mustang finisher in 34^th.   Oregon Class 5A Volleyball Tournament The Hood River Valley Eagles volleyball team won the fourth place trophy at the OSAA Class 5A tournament in Hillsboro, finishing with a 10-25, 25-21, 25-20, 22-25, 15-13 win over Crater.   HRV’s Katie Kennedy was named to the first squad of the all-tournament team.   Southwest Washington Class 1A District Volleyball Tournament King’s Way Christian def. Columbia 19-25, 25-15, 25-15, 25-18   Oregon Class 1A Football Playoffs First Round Dufur 62, Bonanza 7:  The Rangers will host Camas Valley in a quarter-final game on Saturday at 1 p.m.   Southwest Washington Class 1A District Playoff Montesano 22, Columbia 7   Regular Season Football Lyle-Wishram 44, North Beach 12:  The Cougars play at Garfield-Palouse in a play-in game on Tuesday. Wapato 41, Goldendale 6