Official Newspaper, City of Hood River and Hood River County HOOD RIVER, OREGON � WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8, 2015 www.hoodrivernews.com

A newcomer eyes theCommunity Ed catalog – A5

Top Ten‘Kettles’ of Fun

‘Follies’return thisweekend

– B1

Photo by LisaAnn Kawachi

BEARING BLUEQuinn Carloss, left, and Casey Beaman, both 9, reach high to attach blue ribbons on trees on Oak Street Saturday,some of 3,000 in Hood River County prepared for the 24th annual Blue Ribbon Campaign during National Child AbuseAwareness Month in April. The Child Abuse Advocacy Center hosts a fundraiser on April 19; learn more about that andthe Blue Ribbon Campaign on page A12.

‘Politics ofClimateChange’speakertoday“The Politics of Climate

Change” will be the focus of a pre-sentation this Wednesday, April8, featuring former White Housestaffer Dr. Johannes Loschnigg atSpringhouse Cellars in Hood River.Doors open at 7 p.m., and the pre-sentation is at 7:30 p.m., followed byquestions and answers.This event is a fundraiser for

Hood River County School Districtmiddle and high school science pro-grams. A $5 donation will be invit-ed at the door.Dr. Loschnigg served as senior

policy analyst at the White HouseOffice of Science and TechnologyPolicy from 2009 to 2013. As part ofthe Environment and Energy Divi-sion, he helped develop federal pol-icy for renewable energy, climatechange, aerospace and earth satel-lite observations.Previously, he was staff director

for the Subcommittee on Space andAeronautics of the Committeeon Science in the U.S. House ofRepresentatives, overseeing NASAand U.S. civil space programs.Springhouse Cellars is located at

13 Railroad Street, Hood River.

HRVHS cheerholds Clinic SundayStudents 7-14 are invited to

Sunday’s cheerleading clinic atHRVHS, 1 to 4 p.m., taught by twojuniors on cheer squad, for theirExtended Application project.Cost is $10, with all funds goingto HRVHS cheerleading. Learndance, chants, motions, jumpsand crowd-working tips. For de-tails call Kelsey at 541-399-6634 orSkylar at 490-7441. The camp isrecommended for any eighth-grader planning to try out for fallsquad.

Four To Go

Get Theeto the Library!Hood River Library

hosts a passel of events forShakespeare Week, April21-24; kids can pick upbookmarks starting April14.Shoe Box stagecraft hap-

pens April 21; assembleyour own shoe box theaterand all the world’s yourstage. Portland’s OriginalPractice Shakespearetroupe on April 23.

Panorama: April 11Panorama, Hood River News’

four-part annual special section,is coming. Panorama is yourguide to Blossom Time eventsthis month as well as the panora-ma of pleasures of living in theGorge and will be included in theApril 11 edition.

Stewards seek helpon Indian CreekTo celebrate Earth Day, Indian Creek

Stewards will replace blackberry andother noxious weeds on Indian Creek.Volunteers are needed on April 18 tospread mulch to discourage noxious weedinfestation.Meet on Broken Tree, west of Indian

Creek Golf Course; work goes from 9 a.m.until about 1 p.m.Bring a wheelbarrow, rake, or shovel;

coffee and snacks will be provided. Fordetails, contact Megan Saunders or at 541-386-6063 or megan@hoodriverswcd.org.

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MIDWEEK EDITION 75 centsVol. 109, No. 28 2 Sections, 22 Pages

Port plans toclose on LowerHanel land buy

By PATRICK MULVIHILLNews staff writer

The Port of Hood River is takingfinal steps to close on the purchaseof a 9-acre property in Odell, theformer lower Hanel Mill site. Thevacant lot could become a valuableproperty for the Port as early asJuly.The property sits just off High-

way 35 north of Odell at 3289 NealCreek Mill, near the tracks of Mt.Hood Railroad — a potential spotfor businesses in need of rail andhighway access. The Port is inter-ested in subdividing the 9.3 acresinto several parcels for light indus-trial use.“We’ve got a pretty clear path to

finish the work we need to do toclose,” said Port Executive DirectorMichael McElwee.The Port originally voted to pur-

chase the site from Hanel Develop-ment Group in May of 2014 at theprice tag of $850,000, subject to afive-month due diligence process.However, the commission decidedit needed more time to assess theproperty for “surprises” such asenvironmental contaminants, saidMcElwee.“The commission wasn’t com-

fortable with that price with thoserisks,” said McElwee. “So essential-ly the purchase and sale agreementexpired but we remained interestedin it.”The port underwent extensive

environmental analyses beforeagreeing to renew their sale con-

Blossom Time: Cider Fest, Studio Tour and moreBy KIRBY NEUMANN-REA

News editorBlossom Time bubbles up this

weekend with the kickoff event,the second annual Hard PressedCider Fest, at Mt. Defiance Fruit onStadelman Drive in Odell, noon to 7p.m. Saturday.Also happening this weekend is

the annual Gorge Artists Open Stu-dio Tour, April 10-12, throughoutthe Gorge. This self-guided tourprovides visitors the chance tomeet and talk with artists in theirstudios. A total of 38 artists will beon hand from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. eachday.Detailed maps are available at

www.gorgeartistist.org and at areaChambers of Commerce, and Co-lumbia Center for the Arts.This year’s artists feature works

in a variety of media including

painting, drawing, jewelry, glass,sculpture, photography, textless,fiber, and more.Hard Pressed Cider Fest is open

to all ages. Admission is $5 (ages 18and under are free), and $5 for atasting cup and four tokens. Lookfor more parking this year; admis-

sion is limited to 3,000 mug holders.A total of 21 cideries from Hood

River and the Gorge as well as Port-land and Washington state are ex-pected (see list, page A11), andthere will be food, music, and akids’ area.The monthly Second Saturday at

Western Antique Aeroplane andAutomobile Museum will host amini-car show featuring DodgeBrothers automobiles on April 11.WAAAM will have its 1916 DodgeBrothers Roadster out to take partin the retrospective of DodgeBrothers vehicles. The restorationshop will also be open for a tour at1 p.m. and some airplanes from themuseum’s collection will be out get-ting some exercise too.Three weekends make up Blos-

som Time. The centerpiece onApril 18-19 will be the BlossomCraft Show and the Blossom FestQuilt Show, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.The fairgrounds are located in themidst of orchard country at 3020Wy’east Road, near the communityof Odell. Admission and parkingare free.

See BLOSSOM, Page A11

Submitted photos

OPEN STUDIOS tour: works in-cluding photographer Leah Hed-burg (cherries) and ceramistAimee Herring Brewer (vase)highlight the April 10-12 event.

PressingissuesIn town hall, Merkleyblasts budget, calls for‘action now’ overclimate change

By KIRBY NEUMANN-REANews editor

High school students had thefirst and last words at Sen. JeffMerkley’s town hall Monday nightat Hood River Middle School, call-ing for action on immigration andclimate change.Merkley, a Eugene Democrat,

told HRVHS senior Christina Gar-cia he wouldkeep work-ing to reviveimmigrationreform, say-ing “our sys-tem is bro-ken,” and hereturned toj u n i o rC h a r l e yBoons t ra ’sconcern byspeaking toc l i m a t echange in hissumming upbefore the au-dience of 75 people.“We all have to tackle this to-

gether,” he said, pointing to a newcarbon reduction agreement withChina that he finds encouraging.In the town hall, Merkley said he

supports the Iran nuclear frame-work agreement and will work toprevent Congressional opponentsfrom stopping it, and said revisionsare on the horizon in federal educa-tion law, replacing No Child LeftBehind (NCLB).Hood River Education Associa-

tion President Kelvin Calkins toldMerkley, “There are many ways toassess (student progress). We don’thave to test every student, everygrade, every year.”Merkley told him, “No Child Left

Behind went way off track withhigh stakes testing and the sham-ing of schools, rather than support-ing schools that need help. Theshaming of schools has notworked, anywhere,” he said of

See PORT, Page A11

See MERKLEY, Page A11

Jeff Merkley