A look back at 2016

• Members of the Wasco County Sheriff’s Office went to Harney County to help provide law enforcement protection following the Jan. 2 armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge there. The 41-day takeover ended in early February.

• St. Mary’s Academy Principal Kim Koch was picked the winner of the sold-out Gorge Dancing with the Stars competition. The event raised more than $8,000 for the Mid-Columbia Community Concert Association.

• School officials reported that the new trimester schedule at The Dalles High School was already reaping benefits in terms of improved grades, better attendance and fewer discipline issues. The school was previously on a semester schedule.

• After an extensive public process, the Wasco County Commission passed an ordinance allowing the growing and processing of marijuana in all parts of unincorporated Wasco County, except the small percentage of land that fell in rural residential zones.

• The new Freebridge Brewery was opened in downtown The Dalles, prompting Mayor Steve Lawrence, at the grand opening, to proclaim the opening was the first of several businesses that would open in downtown. “It will change the face of The Dalles but it won’t change its character,” he said.

• Motivated by a desire to repair the Pine Hollow Reservoir north boat ramp, a group of South Wasco County citizens won approval from the Wasco County Commission to form a non-taxing parks and recreation district. The district, later formed in March, would operate on grant monies, not local taxation.

• With the Fort Dalles Days professional rodeo suspended due to the sale of the land it operated on, the rodeo committee announced the suspension of the wider celebration around the rodeo, called Fort Dalles Days. “Nobody’s willing to say Fort Dalles Days are never going to happen again but we just felt this was a good year to step back and readdress the situation,” said Susan Buce, a member of the committee.

• Housing officials spoke of the dire need for more affordable housing locally. More federal money reduced the waiting time for housing vouchers from two years to just six months, but voucher holders were now having trouble finding places to rent.

“We really are at one of the most heightened, challenging positions we’ve been in with regards to our housing market,” said Joel Madsen, director of the Mid-Columbia Housing Authority.

• A new Columbia Gorge postmark was made available in The Dalles and other gorge locations. The postmarks were issued in conjunction with the unveiling of the U.S. Postal Service’s new Columbia Gorge Priority Mail Express postage stamps. The postmarks depict the Bridge of the Gods spanning the Columbia River in Cascade Locks.

• The Dalles robotics team the Bazinga Bots won the Connect Award at the FIRST Tech Challenge Mid-Columbia and Central Oregon Championship in Hood River. The robotics team had a popular booth at The Dalles Main Street Summerfest where they allowed kids to drive robots.

• Anthony Pereira was named Outstanding Man of 2015 at the annual “Unsung Heroes” banquet hosted by The Dalles Area Chamber of Commerce, and Andretta Schellinger was named Outstanding Woman of 2015. Pereira is a scout master, and Schellinger works with veterans.

Outstanding Educator of the year was Brian Goodwin, who runs Wahtonka Community School. Outstanding First Responder of the Year was Roger Howe, who provides first aid training.

Outstanding Volunteer of the Year was Patti Blagg, president of the Mid-Columbia Community Concert Association. Max McClennon was Outstanding Youth of the Year. Outstanding Ag Achievement went to Robert Durham and Outstanding Business went to Crestline Construction.

• The Celilo Converter Station went back online after a $370 million modernization. Construction began in fall of 2014, and the station had been out of service since October 2015 for final installation and testing of the new equipment. The modernization included adding six massive new transformers, each weighing more than a Boeing 747 airliner.

FEBRUARY

• Julie Krueger, longtime clerk for the city of The Dalles, was offered the post of city manager, a position she’d been filling temporarily since former City Manager Nolan Young was terminated in September 2015. “It makes me feel very good that the city council has this confidence in me after four months,” Krueger said. She didn’t apply for the position when the city began a nationwide search, but after a month or so as interim manager, she began to feel confident about her leadership abilities. The city offered the job to a top applicant, but when that finalist didn’t take the job, the council began to consider Krueger. The city suspended its search “because Julie had done such a fantastic job – she’s very skillful and thorough,” said Mayor Steve Lawrence.

• A memorial service was held for a well-known local homeless man known simply as “Patch.” Don Douthit was described as a big-hearted man who chose, years ago, to live on the streets of The Dalles. He was found dead at his camp near Interstate 84 by friends. The death was ruled to be of natural causes. Douthit, a 1981 graduate of Wahtonka High School, touched many lives. His brother said Patch was an athlete as a youth, and brain surgeries in 2000 affected him physically and mentally.

• The Dalles Police Chief Jay Waterbury announced at a city council meeting that he planned to retire in July. He received a rare standing ovation. He served almost 42 years in law enforcement upon his retirement, almost 41 of them for The Dalles Police Department. He said the department is in the best shape he’s seen in 40 years.“You have a department you can be proud of,” he said.

• Mid-Columbia Medical Center discussed plans to build a new 70,000-square-foot patient tower, with 32 to 36 new patient rooms, all private. A new tower, along with changes in how existing space is used, would allow for more efficient patient care. The hospital has discussed building a tower for five years, and in recent months had

multiple intensive design sessions. Rough estimates for the project are $53 million, but the scope has not been decided yet. The hope is to have the new tower open by 2020 at the latest.

• A youth shelter, dubbed YES for Youth Empowerment Shelter, finally found a residence to open up shop in The Dalles after searching for four years for a suitable home. The home is big enough to house 10 kids. Still to come are hiring multiple staff to oversee the shelter.

• The Dalles High School announced its graduation rates are increasing, with just released data showing a 68.3 percent graduation rate, up from 64 percent the year before and well above the 59.9 percent posted in 2012.

• Wasco County Sheriff Rick Eiesland announced he would retire April 30. After careers in farming and construction, Eiesland joined the Wasco County Sheriff’s Office as a road deputy in September 1987.

In January 2003, he was promoted to chief deputy and then, after attending the FBI National Academy, was appointed sheriff in March 2004. In between, he was a detective, patrol officer and sergeant on the narcotics task force as well as a patrol sergeant and detective sergeant.

• Former The Dalles High School student Eli Holeman nominated The Dalles High School teacher Tegner Weiseth for an Inspirational Teacher award from Eastern Oregon University. The award recognizes high school teachers who encourage and represent the importance of high education to their students. Weiseth is one of 26 teachers honored from Oregon, Washington, California and Nevada.

• Vandals set fire to the green plastic spiral slide at Tree Top Play Park. Two teens were later arrested. It cost about $10,000 to replace the slide, with insurance covering the cost.

• The Columbia Gateway Urban Renewal Advisory Committee decided not to pursue negotiations for the sale and renovation of the Granada Theater until more was known about the scope of work and how it would be paid for. A review group had recommended negotiating with an Illinois couple for the work.

• Emergency crews rescued a man who fell off a 20-foot cliff by Rock Fort on the Columbia River.

The man was found at the base of the cliff and his injuries were minor, but he could not get out of the area without assistance. The man was loaded onto a boat provided by the Columbia River Intertribal Fish Commission.

• By a 3-2 vote, The Dalles City Council decided not to refer to voters the question of whether to approve pot stores in The Dalles. Rather, the council agreed to create regulations for growing and selling pot. One councilor said he’d lost sleep over the divisive issue. The Oregon measure that legalized recreational marijuana lost by only 98 votes in The Dalles, showing the town was closely divided on the issue.

MARCH

• Sa-BOT-age, a robotics team made up of students from The Dalles High School were on the alliance that won the state robotics championship at Benson Polytechnic High School in Portland with a record 515 points. In the process, they defeated a former world champion team.

• Ema Erikson was named a National Merit Scholar, placing her in the top one percent of high school students nationwide. Her SAT scores were better than the average of students entering Harvard, but she chose to go to Macalester College in Minnesota. Her National Merit Scholarship will net her $2,000 per year for each year of college.

• In the annual Traditions of Compassion awards ceremony, sponsored by the Mid-Columbia Health Foundation, Randy and Lori Carter were named outstanding philanthropists of the year. Klea Espy was named as the outstanding volunteer. Windermere Real Estate was named outstanding philanthropic corporation and Meals on Wheels was named the outstanding community service organization.

• The Fort Dalles Fourth Committee partnered with The Dalles Main Street Program and The Dalles Area Chamber of Commerce to provide a solid future of growth for the July 4 festivities. The Fourth group brought back a July 4 fireworks display to The Dalles in 2014 after a long hiatus.

• The Wasco County Wolf Compensation Committee voted 4-2 to recommend ouster of Debra Lutje, one of two wolf advocates on the committee, following comments she made in an opinion piece in the Chronicle that other members of the committee saw as insulting to farmers and ranchers. The Wasco County Commission later declined to follow that recommendation.

• The Columbia Gateway Urban Renewal Agency Advisory Committee voted to reject all proposals for the Granada block and put the three buildings, the theater, Recreation building and Blue building, back on the market. That recommendation was later followed by the urban renewal agency itself, which is made up of the members of The Dalles City Council.

• North Wasco County School District 21 announced it would survey the public to see what support existed for building new school facilities, and what particular types of facilities were seen as most needed.

The district has aged, with crowded schools that are expensive to maintain. In 2015, a self-appointed citizen group suggested various locations for a new high school. Another citizen group formed to address graduation rates and test scores in the district.

• Two Washington men were arrested, one at gunpoint, following a high-speed chase that ended in an east The Dalles neighborhood. The driver and passenger of the vehicle faced a combined 21 charges.

• Google broke ground on a new data center, its third facility in The Dalles, and also announced it had bought 74 acres of land, where the Fort Dalles Pro Rodeo was held. It also announced a $100,000 grant to The Dalles-Wasco County Library Foundation for STEM programming and to help furnish the new children’s wing.

• Bob Crosby donated his entire estate, valued at $689,218, to the Dufur School District. His four-bedroom, two-bath, 2,490-square-foot home was auctioned off at the Dufur School gymnasium. Eight years earlier, Crosby, who moved to Dufur from Portland in 1998, donated computers to the school, and then set up the Bob Crosby Science Scholarship Fund for school graduates planning to get science degrees in college.

• The Dalles Community Dog Park Association celebrated a decision by the Northern Wasco County Parks and Recreation District to create an off-leash dog park at Firehouse Park, with scheduled hours. Early morning hours were instituted, with evening hours a consideration for later.

APRIL

• Police cautioned local residents about scammers who were targeting citizens of The Dalles and Wasco County. The scammers were falsely claiming to be law enforcement officials and telling people there was a warrant out for their arrest. The bogus callers then were telling the person if they gave cash to the caller, they could avoid arrest. Police warned local residents not to hand over any money to the callers, and reminded citizens the police would not call and ask for payment.

• A suspect reportedly tried to rob Bank of the West, at 120 E. Fourth Street, just down the street from The Dalles Police Department. Dennis Spaulding, 54, of The Dalles was arrested and charged with second degree robbery.

• The Dalles City Council declined to sign on to a letter

asking the Port of Vancouver to help shut down a proposed oil-by-rail terminal.

If approved, crude oil would come by rail to Vancouver, where it would be loaded onto ocean-going vessels for transfer to West Coast refineries. City Council member Dan Spatz, who urged the full council to sign the letter, said he was concerned because the oil trains would come through the gorge.

However, other council members said they felt they had no business trying to tell a city in another state what to do, and the call to sign on to the letter was not pursued.

• The Dalles saw an increase in the number of transients using an overnight shelter on cold nights over the winter, and city officials said they believed many of the homeless were being sent to The Dalles from Portland by bus. The lure of services has made The Dalles an attractive location for the homeless. Over the winter, the Warming Place – a local cold night warming shelter – reached its capacity of 19 people for the first time.

• The city of The Dalles finally decided to demolish a burned-out, gutted house that stood at the corner of 10th Street and Mount Hood Street for more than a year after a homeowner died in a fire he set after learning he was being evicted. City officials determined the house was a dangerous building and should be demolished per city ordinance.

• U.S. Rep. Greg Walden came to The Dalles to tell a group of veterans and family members that he believed his efforts to help get a medical clinic renamed in honor of Loren Kaufman, a soldier from The Dalles who earned the Medal of Honor for heroism during the Korean War, were finally successful and the renaming would be taking place.

• The North Central Public Health District medical clinic, which had cut back its hours and was open just one day a week over the past year because of budget cuts, announced it planned to restore most of its hours by summertime due to an infusion of $90,000 from the Columbia Gorge Community Care Organization, which oversees health care for those enrolled in the Oregon Health Plan.

With the funds, the clinic was expected to extend its walk-in clinic hours to three days, with appointments available on the two other weekdays.

• Columbia Gorge Community College announced that it would raise tuition costs by $6 per credit hour, and add a new $25 admission fee for registering students.

The college reported that it was trying to make up a budget shortfall of $748,000 for the upcoming year. The tuition hike boosted the cost for students per credit hour from $91 to $97.

• Michael C. Stephens, 19, a 2014 graduate of The Dalles-Wahtonka High School, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for sexually abusing six girls, ages 13 to 15. Stephens met his victims through church and 4-H activities.

MAY

• Rewards totaling $2,000 were offered for information regarding the killing of three bighorn sheep. The Oregon Hunters Association and the Oregon Foundation for North America Wild Sheep offered the rewards after a ram was found shot and left to waste near Interstate 84 east of Rufus.

• Crews from Northern Wasco County Parks & Recreation District replaced a plastic slide at Tree Top Play Park that was destroyed by arson in February.

• The Dalles City Council voted 3-2 to invest up to $96,500 into a summer concert series organized by musician Nolan Hare and concert promoter Randy Haines. The city expected to be repaid through ticket sales for the concerts.

• More than two dozen local jobs were lost as Dakine, a major backpack and accessories company, announced it would close its 92,000-square-foot warehouse in The Dalles and relocate it in California. Dakine had used the warehouse, on the western side of The Dalles, for about 10 years.

• Lane Magill became Wasco County’s new sheriff when he was appointed by the Wasco County Board of Commissioners to replace Rick Eiesland, who retired in late April.

Magill, who has been in law enforcement on a full-time basis since 2002, ran unopposed to become the 36th sheriff in the November general election.

• Incumbent Wasco County Commissioner Steve Kramer kept his seat after defeating challenger Rodger Nichols in the May 17 primary election. Kramer had about 54 percent of the vote to Nichols’ 45 percent.

• Approximately 120 people jammed into a Columbia Gorge Community College lecture hall to discuss concerns about odors and potentially hazardous fumes coming from the AmeriTies plant in The Dalles. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality sent representatives to the meeting to hear from the public.

• The local school district encouraged citizens to take a survey to share their hopes about what they want public education in Oregon to look like in the future. Called “Oregon Rising,” the survey was prepared by three Oregon organizations that represent school administrators, teachers, and school board members.

The goal of the survey effort was to reach 10,000 residents, with the results used to build a plan for the future of Oregon’s public schools, with the results later being presented to the Oregon Legislature.

• After 29 years with the Oregon State Police, Patrick Ashmore was selected to be the new police chief of The Dalles. Ashmore had been getting ready to retire from OSP, but after taking a call from retiring The Dalles Police Chief Jay Waterbury, Ashmore – who grew up in The Dalles – decided to apply for the vacancy and won the job.

• The Columbia Gateway Urban Renewal Agency allowed Sunshine Mill in The Dalles to restructure a $100,000 loan that helped pay for property and improvements to the business. Sunshine Mill’s payment to the agency had been due in mid-May, but the company informed the agency that an unexpected supply chain failure caused a temporary revenue shortage. Under terms of the deal, Sunshine Mill was to pay monthly installments of $10,000 until the balance is repaid.

JUNE

• Representatives of Oregon Cherry Growers said they are anticipating a solid cherry harvest this year, much better than in 2015. “The crop is very nice and everything’s in high demand,” explained Meghan Thompson, field representative for Oregon Cherry Growers.

Cherry crop problems in neighboring Washington and California were giving Oregon an added edge this year, allowing the state’s growers to send more fruit to foreign customers at a maximized price.

• On the afternoon of June 3, an oil train derailed in Mosier on tracks owned by Union Pacific Railroad. Sixteen tank cars carrying Bakken crude oil, known to be highly volatile, derailed just west of downtown Mosier and several cars caught fire, sending black plumes of smoke into the sky.

Interstate 84 was closed between Hood River and The Dalles following the accident, resulting in traffic tie-ups and heavy traffic detouring on State Route 14 on the Washington side of the Columbia River.

No one was injured, but many homes and townspeople in Mosier were evacuated, including approximately 220 public school students in Mosier who were evacuated to The Dalles.

• In the aftermath of the June 3 derailment of a Union Pacific oil train at Mosier, protests mounted and there were calls to halt oil trains from running through the Columbia River Gorge.

On June 9, tribal leaders from the Yakama Nation, Lummi Nation, Warm Springs and Umatilla tribes gathered at Mosier in a public event organized by Columbia Riverkeeper, a regional environmental organization.

The tribal leaders demanded that no more oil trains or coal trains be allowed to pass through their region.

Citizens and local mayors also expressed concern and called for an end to crude-by-rail through the area.

• Les Cochenour, president of the Mid-Columbia Veterans Memorial Committee, and Andretta Schellinger of Home Fires Burning, asked The Dalles City Council to provide $90,000 in funding for each of the next five years to fund veterans’ services.

The advocates said they wanted the funding to allow the hiring of an office manager at the Wasco County Veterans Service Office.

• The mother of a teenage sex abuse victim sued First Christian Church in The Dalles for $5 million, alleging the church did not adequately supervise a youth leader who abused her. The lawsuit comes in the wake of the conviction of Michael Cele Stephens, 20, who abused girls he met through a youth group at the church.

The suit alleged negligence in failing to investigate warning signs involving Stephens, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

• Mystery surrounded the disappearance of “Ray,” a 1,300-pound sea lion that had been hanging out at The Dalles Marina for many years. The sea lion’s disappearance came after several attempts to dart the huge mammal so he could be relocated to the Bonneville Dam area. Over three days, Ray was hit by tranquilizing darts, but then went into the water and escaped. On the third attempt, he was hit by a dart, went into the water and was never seen again.

• A vigil was set up at the Lewis & Clark Festival Park in The Dalles after a lone gunman entered a gay nightclub in Florida on June 12 and opened fire, taking the lives of 49 people. Local residents Katy Bowman and Denise Harwood organized the June 16 event to express their grief and allow members of The Dalles community to do the same.

• The Dalles Police Chief Jay Waterbury retired after 41 years in law enforcement, including 20 years as police chief in The Dalles. Waterbury first joined The Dalles Police Department in 1975, and worked his way up from patrolman to eventually become chief of the department.

• A wildfire burned 31 acres of grass and brush west of Dufur on June 25. Firefighters from several agencies battled the blaze, with help from a bulldozer and an air tanker dropping retardant and water. Crews halted the fire with no injuries reported or structures lost.

• The Dalles City Council voted 4-0 to approve an ordinance that would impose a 3 percent tax on retailers’ sale of recreational marijuana items within the city. State law allows the tax, but also required the city council to refer the proposed tax to local voters. Whether or not the tax will go into effect was to be decided by the city’s voters during the Nov. 8 general election.