Awards program to recognize achievement in community
The annual Community Distinguished Service Awards will be presented in Goldendale at the Community Grace Brethren Church on Thursday, Feb. 26. The event, sponsored by the Goldendale Jaycees and Greater Goldendale Area Chamber of Commerce (GGACC) will begin with a social at 6:30 p.m. with dessert being served at 7 p.m. and the awards presentation immediately following.
This year, the Jaycees will honor various individuals in the following categories: Educator, Law Enforcement Officer, Fireman, Businessman, Farmer, Boss of the Year, Health Care Professional and Citizen.
GGACC will honor the Citizen of the Year and Volunteer of the Year. The event is free and open to the public. The event was created to honor those who have worked hard in the community over the past year.
Winter ice causes $143,000 in overtime
Thick fog in eastern Klickitat County forced PUD crews to work through the nights
By Don Mcmanman
For The Sentinel
Thick ice fog this winter caused the Klickitat PUD to burn through half its 2009 overtime budget in a few weeks, officials said last week.
"Crews were working straight around the clock in the last two weeks in December and through January," said Ron Ihrig, operations manager for the utility.
The cost: about $143,000 for overtime alone.
The issue was in the eastern half of the county where crews battled badly iced lines.
The problem was ice fog. In some hard-hit areas, ice built on power lines, making them wrist-thick and, in some cases, as wide as an oatmeal container. Wires sagged, poles bent (and occasionally shattered), and cross-arms collapsed.
The problem extended from Centerville eastward along ridgelines to Alderdale Road.
Customers in the area endured repeated outages. In January alone, the PUD clocked about 11,000 outage hours shared by about 500 customers.
Most customers were understanding, PUD officials said.
"The folks in Bickleton were pretty good," Ihrig said.
Also, in early December, crews worked in the west end of the county as wet snow weighed on tree branches, which fell onto lines.
Ice in the eastern portion of the county also affected the PUD's H.W. Hill Landfill Gas Project. Once transmission lines were down, there was no way to get power from the project to market.
Ihrig said the PUD lost 222 megawatt-hours of generation, representing about $8,200 in lost sales.
To battle the ice, PUD linemen, all members of IBEW Local 125, cruised east county roads. Trucks had what Ihrig called "frost cages." Workers would ride in the cages and hit sagging lines with "hot sticks." The blows would shatter accumulated ice, and lines would snap up.
Flailing power lines presented a danger to crews, hence the need for a cage. However, the cage offered no protection from cold and wind for linemen riding inside.
There is little the PUD can do to protect lines from icing the future, other than rebuilding its grid, Ihrig said.
"When we rebuild, we need to build shorter spans and build them beefier," he said. "We rebuilt three miles of line out there two years ago, and it stood up to the frost."
EDA official heads to Washington
Miland Walling to join 30 others in urging freight legislation
Miland Walling of Klickitat County was to join 30 state and local leaders from all across the country in Washington D.C. this week to urge members of Congress to support legislation that will lead to an increase in freight rail capacity.
Walling, who serves with Klickitat County's Economic Development Committee, is a member of Growth Options for the 21st Century (Go21), a national public interest organization. The group advocates the public benefits of moving freight by rail, such as increased fuel efficiency, reduced greenhouse gas emissions and easing traffic congestion.
In the ninth annual Railroad Day on Capitol Hill this week, Go21 members will be joined by 300 representatives of the nation's freight railroads and rail supply industry.
"American shippers and consumers have caught on to the tremendous benefits of freight rail," said Walling. "It's important that Congress hear this message and act to preserve and expand freight rail's ability to continue."
A key issue Walling was to address in meetings with legislators is the expansion of freight rail capacity.
Today's poor economy notwithstanding, the Department of Transportation forecasts that the demand for freight transportation will double in the next two decades, according to representatives from Go21. Railroads are the best way to meet this demand, the group said.
"I want to urge Congress to support the bi-partisan Freight Rail Infrastructure Capacity Expansion Act (H.R. 272)," said Walling. "This legislation would provide a 25 percent tax incentive for any business investments in new track."
The retired wheat farmer is a fire commissioner for Bickleton Fire Department and current chairman of the Washington State Fire Commissioner's Legislative Committee. |
