Boys Soccer Hood River Valley 10, Pendleton 0 Hermiston 6, The Dalles 1   Girls Soccer Hood River Valley 9, Pendleton 0:  Claire Davies scored two goals while seven other Eagles chipped in one. Hermiston 1, The Dalles 0 King’s Way Christian 3, Stevenson 0   Volleyball Hood River Valley def. Hermiston 21-25, 25-13, 25-22, 25-20 Pendleton def. The Dalles 19-25, 25-16, 25-19, 25-19 Columbia def. Seton Catholic 25-13, 25-20, 25-23 LaCenter def. Stevenson 25-9, 25-4, 25-8 Dufur def. South Wasco 25-18, 25-17, 11-25, 25-18 Sunnyside Christian def. Lyle-Wishram 25-9, 25-18, 25-22 Naches Valley def. Goldendale 25-19, 25-14, 25-21   Football Dufur 58, Arlington 14   Girls Water Polo Hood River Valley 16, Sandy 10

The Columbia Gorge Community College Board of Education this week decided to formally oppose efforts by the White House to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program.  They joined a national effort by the American Association of Community Colleges to encourage federal legislation allowing DACA recipients to pursue higher education in the United States.  CGCC’s student body is more than 35 percent Latino, and the college is a Sanctuary campus, emphasizing legal protection for all students through federal law that safeguards student education records for all institutions that receive funding from the U.S. Department of Education.  The College Board invited current and potential students who would be adversely affected by loss of DACA to contact CGCC Student Services, which maintains a resource list of community services available to all students.

The Hood River County School District board held its first discussions about renewing the local option levy that has been in existence since 2005-06.  The district is in the final year of a five-year local option levy of a $1.25 per $1,000 of assessed property value.  That is the voter approved rate first established in 2008-09, down from a $1.50 in the first three-year levy approved in 2005-06.  District board chair Mark Johnson says the district’s budget committee will have to discuss a rate for the upcoming request, but he points out the local option has become a lifeline for the district.  The board’s opening discussion centered around process toward putting together a proposal to place on the May ballot, and Johnson expects that to ramp up at the start of the year.

The Hood River Valley Harvest Festival takes place this weekend at the Waterfront Event Site.  Hood River County Chamber of Commerce events director Ashley Huckaby May says they have rearranged the layout of the festival for this year, with all art vendors under one large tent.  There will also be a kids’ activity area, complete with bouncy houses, face painting and other activities.  Harvest Fest will be open from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.  Admission is $6 for adults, with seniors admitted for $3 on Friday and $5 Saturday and Sunday, and kids under 12 are free.

The Oregon Department of Forestry and local fire agencies in Hood River and Wasco counties will lift the burn ban in Wasco County and the modified burn ban in Hood River County as of 1 a.m. Saturday.  This applies to burn barrels and small backyard piles.  Large industrial piles and fuels treatment project piles are not being allowed.  Valid burn permits from either the Oregon Department of Forestry or local fire departments are still required for all outdoor burning activities.  Officials advise people to have an adequate buffer around any burn pile or barrel, have a good water source available, and digging tools are required in case there is an escaped fire.  Also plan burn activities on cool days when the wind is calm.

A four-hour closure of the Hood River-White Salmon Interstate Bridge planned for Thursday night has been cancelled.  The Port of Hood River says bridge engineers and work crews were able to complete the testing and equipment staging ahead of schedule.

Cross Country The Dalles girls finished second and the boys third in a four-school meet at Tualatin.  Emma Mullins finished fifth and Hanna Ziegenhagen sixth for the Riverhawk girls, while Sam Alvarez earned a fifth place finish in the boys race.   Columbia won both the boys and girls competitions in a dual meet with Stevenson on Wednesday at Strawberry Island.  The Bruins’ Dylan Beneventi won the boys’ race, and Haley Blair of CHS was the girls’ winner.   Boys Soccer Southwest Christian 4, Horizon Christian 3

Fishery managers from Oregon and Washington have scheduled two days of recreational white sturgeon fishing on the Columbia River below Bonneville Dam during the month of October.  Approved sturgeon retention days are Saturday, October 21 and Thursday, October 26.  The open area is the mainstem Columbia from the Wauna power lines, located 40 miles from the river mouth, upstream to the fishing deadline near Bonneville Dam.  The fishery is subject to a harvest guideline of 1,245 legal-sized white sturgeon.  Legal retention size is 44- to 50-inch fork length.  The bag limit is one legal-sized white sturgeon per day, and no more than two for the year.  This is the first sturgeon retention season between Wauna and Bonneville since 2013.

Firefighters have now completed most of the suppression repair work on the Eagle Creek Fire.  A cold front that has moved into the area bringing cooler temperatures and rain has further reduced the potential for any significant fire activity.  The wildfire is listed at 50 percent contained where the majority of containment lines are near communities, infrastructure and along road systems.   The uncontained portion of the fire is in steep, inaccessible terrain and fire managers do not anticipate the wildfire will spread in these areas.  Residents and visitors may see visible smoke coming from the fire area, but the heat is well within established containment lines.  In some areas much of the vegetation and root systems that stabilize rocks, logs and ultimately entire hillsides have been consumed by fire.   As a result, standing dead trees, large diameter logs and rolling rocks will continue falling onto roads and trails, and rockslides and landslides are also a threat especially after heavy rainfall.  An area closure will limit access to some recreation sites and roads for the foreseeable future.

Interstate 84 will see rolling slowdowns and delays between 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. Thursday in the Lindsay Creek area near milepost 53 for rock blasting necessary to build the latest segment of the Historic Columbia River Highway State Trail.  The delays, which could last up to an hour, are the second in a series of as many as seven closures needed in the coming weeks for controlled blasting at that location.  The blasting is necessary for construction of the Historic Columbia River Highway State Trail segment connecting Wyeth and Lindsey Creek.  It is located in the same area where eastbound traffic is temporarily diverted into one lane of westbound I-84 due to fire debris removal activity from the Eagle Creek Fire.  As part of the State Trail construction, a contractor was to begin rock scaling Wednesday to remove loose rock from the slopes at Shellrock Mountain.  No additional traffic impacts are anticipated at this time.