Tickets sales began last week for a new fund-raiser for the Hood River Lions Club to benefit the youth activities fund and other community programs.

It is called the Hood River Get-Away raffle. There are three prize packages valued at over $1,200 each. Each package features two nights’ river-view accommodations at a local hotel: The Hood River Hotel, Columbia Gorge Hotel and the Best Western Hood River Inn. Packages include gift certificates from local businesses for meals, gifts and various activities.

Tickets are available from Hood River Lions Club members, and at Waucoma Bookstore, Print It!/Sign Media, Rivers Edge Towing, Hood River Community Ed Office, The Hood River Liquor Store and the Best Western Hood River Inn for $3 each or two for $5.

Planning began months ago, and like most new projects we hit some road bumps and had some delays. That was not a surprise. Something else that didn’t surprise me is the support shown by local businesses for our community and Lions Club.

Even during a time when sales are slow, costs are up and profits are down, business owners stepped up to the plate and showed that they believe. They gave from their heart because they believe our community is worth it. They believe our kids are worth it. They believe in the Lions Club, and they know the Lions Club serves our community well.

I want to personally thank each business owner for their past support of the Lions Club and for their support of this fund-raiser. I want to personally thank the many businesses out there that give every day to support so many other worthy programs and causes. Without you the Hood River Lions Club could not meet our commitment to this community.

Together we can do those things that one person alone cannot. Together, we can make a difference.

Mining issues

According to the Environmental Working Group, hard-rock mining has caused some of the most extensive, severe and longest-lasting environmental damage in U.S. history. Thousands of abandoned mines continue to pollute our public lands across the west.

South of Roseburg, runoff from acid-leach mining operations has rendered 18 miles of salmon-rearing stream totally lifeless. As metals prices rise, it is increasingly probable that some claims near cities and towns will be developed into mines, posing serious problems for adjacent communities.

This prospect is made much more likely by the antiquated 1872 Mining Law, which grants special status to mining activities, and does not provide citizens or government officials any way to stop a mine from being developed on any valid claims, short of buying out the claims or the extremely rare case of intervention by the Secretary of the Interior.

Unless Congress acts to reform the 1872 Mining Law, towns across the West will almost certainly be harmed by future mining activity.

Senators Wyden of Oregon and Cantwell of Washington are crafting a bill that requires stricter environmental oversight, funds for cleanup, the payment of royalties, and environmental buffer zones for our iconic national parks and monuments.

Oregon’s Senator Gordon Smith, also a member of the committee, is a key swing vote on this issue and may be the biggest hurdle to passage of this much needed legislation.

Support the schools

The “Support Hood River County Schools” campaign must raise $6,000 in the next three weeks so we can inform the voters of the importance of this election. We are convinced voters will say yes if they know:

n The measures protect the community’s investment in our existing school buildings and maintain our strong educational programs; and

n The measures do not increase the 2007 school tax rate.

There will be two school measures on the May ballot. One will ask voters to approve a construction bond levy to make the highest priority upgrades in our existing schools. The bond levy passed by voters in 1993 is expiring. This provides a special opportunity to pass a new bond levy to maintain our schools, and with the same tax rate of the expiring 1993 bond.

Another measure will ask voters to approve a local option levy to ensure we can continue our important academic, activity and sports programs. Hood River County voters passed a local option levy in 2003 to provide an essential supplement to fluctuating state school funds. This levy has been carefully used and never assessed at the maximum amount approved by voters. This levy is also expiring and renewing it now will also not increase the local option tax rate of 2007.

The “Support Hood River County Schools” campaign is ready to go but we need your help. We will succeed in raising the needed funds for our campaign if our school supporters step up and contribute. It’s an investment in our children and our community.

To learn more about the campaign, please give one of us a call or visit our Web site: www.supporthrcschools.net.

One-trick pony

Regarding the proposed casino construction in Cascade Locks: I really think all the resident supporters of a casino in Cascade Locks should think long and hard about the location of a casino in their beautiful town.

The Columbia Gorge is changing rapidly. This is because of the lifestyle and beauty that it offers. The lifestyle is beginning to change with the creation of more training facilities i.e. Columbia Gorge Community College and an influx of technological firms coming into the area. Many companies specific to the technological industry are looking throughout the Gorge to locate businesses here to make use of the lifestyle, lack of serious traffic (comparatively) and relative proximity to large markets and Portland.

Why consider the quick fix? Should a casino be located in CL if it would end any prospects for that kind of industry to move into that area? No respectable company would want to situate themselves next to a casino. I think supporting the long-term growth and community that could be located in CL is a far better bet than the quick fix the casino would offer. Choosing a casino in Cascade Locks will be irreversible!

Truly think to the future, not the one-trick pony of a casino. Patience will pay in the longer run.

Walden critic

It’s been a great week (March 10-13) for Oregon’s second Congressional District. The Honorable Greg Walden has voted against ethics oversight of Congress and in support of torture. I guess he is helping keep us safe and spreading democracy.

View on views

For the past 16 years, I have lived in Underwood within the area encompassed by the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Act.

When we purchased our residence, we understood the provisions of the Gorge Act and its boundaries. There were no guarantees that the areas visible to us outside the boundaries would remain undisturbed and, in fact, they have not.

Bingen Point has been developed into an industrial site and equipped with sodium vapor floodlights that are visible from Underwood all night, every night. Numerous developments have occurred in Hood River, not all of them necessarily attractive and practically none that comply with the visual restrictions imposed on the Scenic Area.

At the present time, a large three-story structure painted bright yellow with a red roof is being constructed on the cliffs overlooking the Columbia River and right next to a scenic waterfall (Wah Gwin Gwin).

It is only a few hundred yards beyond the boundaries of the Gorge scenic area and visible from key viewing areas for miles in all directions. (I understand that it will be condos. Think about the massive increases in traffic!) There now seems to be a big hue and cry because SDS is examining putting a wind farm on its own property outside of the boundaries of the scenic Gorge area.

A number of individuals (many of them in Hood River) want to expand the provisions of the act to areas outside of the boundaries that were established by Congress.

Where is the justice in this? Without objection or challenge, many industrial, commercial, and residential developments have occurred and are underway that are clearly visible from key viewing areas. They are legal because they are barely outside the scenic boundaries. Now it is being proposed to further restrict SDS’s use of its own properties because some individuals might find the view objectionable? If it makes economic sense and is otherwise legal use of the SDS property, then there is no valid basis for these objections, so these people should either get over it or move out.

Remembering

This week marks the observance of Holy Week when Christian communities will gather to experience the story of Jesus Christ’s last days.

We will remember his journey to the cross, his death, being laid in the tomb and finally we will rejoice in the Easter resurrection. This week also marks the five-year anniversary of our troops serving at war in Iraq.

Please take time this week and spend a moment in prayer, a moment to acknowledge all we reflect on and for all that we hope. Pray for an end to all wars; pray for an end to violence throughout the world; pray for the families and victims of violence; pray for peace.

Give thanks for all the joy and goodness in your life. Hope that tomorrow brings joy and goodness to others.

‘Free’ parking

To the Hood River Parking Committee:

I am not an elephant, I am a customer! Parking in Hood River has a new problem. The construction isn’t the problem.

For years, parking has been difficult for people who shop or work or shop and work downtown. Now, a person who works and is a loyal, everyday customer to downtown businesses is penalized by parking in the “free” customer lot.

Even when a vehicle parked in the free lot doesn’t display a downtown parking permit in the window, that vehicle is somehow identified as non-customer vehicle and receives a parking fine in the free lot. Why? Where are the time limit signs? Why is this vehicle profiling happening? To these problems I say: The customer parking lot signs clearly say FREE, but BEWARE the parking time limits unbeknownst to thee.

Somehow a few of the customer vehicles cause trouble but only the (parking enforcement officers) know who gets the tickets on the double. Then Hood River sees the parking fines taking away all customer’s GLEE!

Peace vow

A letter to our leaders and neighbors:

Today, March 19, marks the fifth anniversary of our nation’s war with Iraq.

As people of faith, we lament the suffering and death that this war has caused. We mourn the loss of nearly 4,000 women and men from the United States.

And although we do not know their names, we also mourn the loss of the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi women, children and men who have died as a result of this war.

We are painfully mindful of the effects of this war on our beloved nation. It has undermined many of our core religious and national values. It has also squandered billions of dollars that are urgently needed for other, life-giving domestic needs in health care, job security and education. It has given us a misguided sense of national security and damaged the relationships we have with peoples around the world.

We dedicate ourselves to the vision of a world in which war is not used to resolve conflict. We dedicate ourselves to a world where no nation occupies the land of another. We dedicate ourselves to a world in which our sons and daughters, and the sons and daughters of our neighbors worldwide, are not sacrificed on behalf of economic greed, political ambition or fear of different cultures and religions.

As people of faith, we call on our leaders to bring this war and occupation to an end. As people who yearn for justice and peace, we call on our leaders to fulfill our responsibility to an international stabilization and rebuilding of Iraq that is respectful of the Iraqi people.

As parents and grandparents and lovers of children, we call on our leaders to bring our sons and daughters home and ensure that they receive all of the medical, financial, psychological and spiritual support that they need and deserve.

We invite our neighbors and leaders to join us in a moment of silence today to remember those who have died, to remember those who grieve, to remember those who suffer and to re-commit ourselves to work for a world of peace with justice.

Sincerely,

Teams succeed

Congratulations, girls! You did it!

Over the past week-end, two small town middle schools entered the Mt. Hood Conference eighth grade girls basketball tournament at David Douglas.

Wy’east and Hood River competed against much larger schools from the metropolitan area and proved that Middle School sports are alive and well in Hood River County. Hood River came away with the fifth spot overall, while Wy’east finished in fourth place.

I feel compelled to write this in an attempt to, in a small way, give these two basketball teams the attention they deserve. This whole community has every right to be very proud of these student athletes.