Area mother has multiple military children, grandkids
Lou Marzeles
News Editor
Patricia Padilla could just about form a platoon with her progeny and their families who've gone into the military, all with marked distinction.
"I've got a son who's an Air Force Lieutenant Colonel serving in Afghanistan, David Padilla," she says with obvious pride.
One almost imagines she's checking a lineup card with all her family and their military associations.
"And my son Frank"—that's Air Force two-star Major General Frank T. Padilla to you civilians—"is commander of reserves at Carleswell Air Force Base in Ft. Worth, Texas. And my son Frederick Padilla is a Marine brigadier general select who will be taking command of the recruiter school at Paris Island, North Carolina."
Children from the same mother, all senior officers, all serving with distinguished service and accomplishment, she recalls fondly. But Padilla, now a resident of San Antonio, Texas, but originally from right here in Goldendale, is just getting warmed up. She's not even through all her kids yet. Where were we? The first three were Lieutenant Colonel David Padilla, Major General Frank Padilla, and Brigadier General Fred Padillia. "Now, my daughters," Padilla continues, "include retired Lieutenant Colonel Becki Padilla Gardner and retired Major Theresa Padilla Reich. And my sixth child is Tina Padilla Plum." Five children out of six in uniform. Is there something in the water near the old Padilla homestead? But wait. We're not through.
"Then there are the grandchildren," she says.
"Kristofer Padilla is an F16 pilot who flew missions over Baghdad and now trains pilots at Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio.
"Captain Katy Padilla Hunter-Frank's daughter-is a C5 pilot, flying the biggest planes made, at Travis Air Force Base in California. Frank has 7,500 hours logged in a C5, and Katy has more than 1,500 hours.
"Michael is a captain who flew a C17 over Iraq."
There is a pause. Is she catching a breather before beginning again with a new wave of names? No, that's it.
The Padilla name, it seems, will carry a long and powerful legacy of service.
Chamber of Commerce seeks to keep focused on managed growth
Lou Marzeles
News Editor
From the offices of the Greater Goldendale Chamber of Commerce, there is good news and bad news-but even the bad news is good.
"I think Goldendale is on the verge of a major explosion," says Chamber President Len Crawford." "It's because of all the things that are happening around us, with the wind farms, with the people who are looking at Goldendale as a business opportunity."
That very statement combines good and bad news for some in the community. There is a strong perception that growth is fraught with danger, and so it's viewed with considerable trepidation by some. But at the same time, the Chamber reports, there seems to be a realization that change is inevitable, and so there is an opportunity to manage growth productively, carefully, and with benefit for all.
"I think everybody realizes that the end result is going to be beneficial for everybody," Crawford says. "It's kind of like jumping into a pool: you want to make sure there's some water in there. It's a big leap. We've got to build that confidence. And that is the job of the Chamber."
The organization does not work in a vacuum, though. It is partnered in several ways with area entities aligned with managing the area's growth in a controlled, careful way, such as the Economic Development Committee, which draws together the Chamber, Klickitat County, and the city of Goldendale, among others. And the Chamber's members themselves are variously active in the pursuit of managed growth.
"There's been a shift," maintains Mindy Blomquist, Executive Director of the Chamber. "In the two years I've been here, meeting with all the member and non-member businesses, and considering the changes that have been made as far as looking out for each other, the products they're working on together, ideas that they're coming up with together-they are looking out more for their neighbor."
That was hardly always the case. Recalcitrance to get together has marked much of the area's history when its growth has been discussed, and the attitude is certainly not entirely gone. "This has been attempted several times in the past," Blomquist says, "and among the things that have held it back from being successful is lack of unified business groups. In regard to city renovation, for example, one person had the idea to go Tuscany, one to go Western-whatever the idea was, we couldn't get unified ideas.
"We want to get everybody together and get a consensus of the people and not just say, 'Well, your idea doesn't matter.' It's really important that we get everybody involved in it. That's why we're trying to keep everything we're doing on the projects open to everyone. We don't want anybody to be left out. We don't think any one person's input is more important than anyone else's."
But if the growth bandwagon hasn't gotten everyone on board, nonetheless there is distinct progress being made. "Two years ago we had a meeting about this subject, and there was nowhere near as many people in it as attended the last meeting," Crawford says, referring to a meeting April 25 of this year when staff from the American Planning Association (APA) presented initial findings on plans for Goldendale's renovation and future. "We had 75 people in that room. Paula Reeves [from APA] told me that was one of the largest-attended meetings they've ever had. They're very excited about the possibilities for Goldendale."
At that April meeting, the atmosphere was mixed with enthusiasm and doubt, reflecting the sometimes conflicted attitudes of the community. There was strong interest in the APA's findings and recommendations, particularly in the repositioning of Goldendale from a gateway to another location to being a destination in itself. But with that repositioning came concern about whether or not the area could even have a clear destination identity, and, if so, what that identity could and should be. Commensurate with that challenge, there arose issues of themes for downtown renovation, what it takes to pull traffic off Route 97, and what would be inviting to visitors once they pulled into town. The meeting concluded with creating a list of priorities for the area, arranged high, medium, and low, and the formation of committees to address the priorities and the first pass at assigning people to the committees.
"Our next step," says Crawford, "is consolidating the committees along with the members who said they would work on them. "Then we'll have a meeting as soon as we get the hard copy from the APA to get the committees moving."
High among the priorities is the renovation of the downtown district, a project for which grant monies on the state and federal levels are available. The Chamber wants a strong business plan in place before attempting to go after those monies, given their highly competitive nature. What constitutes a strong business plan, Crawford emphasizes, is something well thought out and with strong unity among the community.
As well, he wants nothing moving forward that might damage the quality of life in the area. Asked if thinks too much growth could harm businesses here, he responds, "I think too much of the wrong growth could. A Wal Mart would hurt just about every business in this community. And that's not the object of what we're trying to do. We're trying to make the existing businesses more profitable for the owners while at the same time maintain the small-town feeling of what we've got. If we ever lose that small-town feeling, we'll never get it back."
There is a concern among many that if there were serious growth here, there would be a commensurate demand for more convenience, more services locally for things that send people off to The Dalles now. "That's a reality; that's the real world," Crawford considers. "That's one of the first things people ask me in my business, as a realtor: what are the services available? When you've got 50 percent of the people in Goldendale at retirement age, those people are coming from large metropolitan areas that do have services. As growth continues, it's going to put more demand on the community. That can't be helped."
There are still significant attitudinal challenges to accomplishing the vision he paints. For one thing, some businesses in town still can't understand why people don't shop more often in their stores, though the reasons seem so clear.
"Our goal is first and foremost to support the businesses in the community," says Blomquist. "But there are services that are not available in Goldendale, first of all, childcare. Although 50 percent of the community is retirement age, there is still a huge need for childcare. There's something as simple as dry cleaning. We have county offices and they have business wear, the schools have business wear, we have professionals in the area, and they have to go out of town. If they have to go out for dry cleaning, they're going to do their other chores at the same time.
"A lot of businesses don't understand why people don't buy more locally; they say, 'Well, I've got this product, and it's good and it's competively priced, why don't people buy it here?' They don't understand that for a lot of people in the community, if they have to go out of town to buy something or get a service that they can't get here, like dry cleaning, then they're going to do all their other errands in one whole day and get it all done, and then they don't need to buy some things here. If we had those services here, then more people would buy more locally."
But in the end and considering all things, things look better than worse, according to Blomquist. She emphasizes stressing the positive developments. "Even though there are people who are very concerned about themselves, they're also very concerned about the community," she says. "So many businesses give so much of their time and money, and not just to the Chamber. They give, as much as they can. They very much try to give back to the community. There aren't very many communities that I've been in where you can see the giving nature of the businesses. It keeps building the good things."
Maryhill Museum gives Award of Merit
Maryhill Museum of Art has announced that Mary Dodds Schlick is the recipient of an Award of Merit from the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) Leadership in History Awards.
The award recognizes Schlick's role in expanding knowledge and raising awareness of Columbia Plateau basketry. Over more than 30 years, she has conducted museum and field research, interviewed tribal elders and weavers to document Plateau weaving methods and techniques, and authored numerous articles and publications on the subject. In 1990 she was designated a master-weaver with the Oregon Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program and, in partnership with the Warm Springs Indian Reservation, took on two Wasco apprentices to help in the revival of traditional Wasco weaving. Schlick has also worked tirelessly to raise awareness of Native American art and artists among museum directors, curators and the general public, promoting and supporting the careers of many contemporary Native American artists.
"Mary Schlick's lifelong work has contributed significantly to both the renaissance of Plateau basketry as a living art form, and to the scholarship that serves as a basis for our understanding of Plateau basketry and its historic and contemporary role," says Colleen Schafroth, executive director of Maryhill Museum of Art, where Schlick has worked as a volunteer and adjunct curator since 1991.
At Maryhill, Schlick also serves on the Art Committee and has presented programs related to Lewis and Clark and Native American Arts. She has curated several Maryhill exhibitions, most notably Ancient Images of the Columbia River Gorge (1992), The Day The Columbia Ran Backward (2007), and Festive Gatherings: Tribal Life on the Columbia Plateau, 1962-1957. She curated an exhibit from the images of Indians of the Columbia Plateau. |
