Deluge soaks Aimee's Attic
Joshua Quantrell
For The Sentinel
Sunday afternoon seemed quite ordinary by most standards but for businesses at the intersection of Bickleton Highway and East Broadway, in Goldendale, it became the location of some surreal trouble. Waters flooded the corner several feet deep in places from a backed-up culvert.
“In 20 minutes our parking lot was under two feet of water and our whole store was under five to 10 inches of water,” said Aimee Waddell, owner of Aimee’s Attic, the hardest hit business. The sudden deluge flowed down the ditch past an overwhelmed two-foot culvert under Bickleton Highway, to gather in front of both Aimee’s Attic and Williams Electric.
“Yesterday about five to three I got a phone call from my daughter,” said Sally Lemley. “When I got here it looked like a lake and it wasn’t going anywhere.” She did the first thing that came to mind. “I called the police twice and no one came. They said they would send someone but no one came until the alarm went off at Aimee’s. I know that I am not the only one who called.”
Pat and Brook Williams of Williams Electric, were winding down their day when the water began to cover their parking lot. “I went home at noon and my wife was here working at the computer,” said Williams. Brook Williams looked outside, saw the water and called her husband. He came as soon as he could and started using a tractor. Realizing he was overmatched he called his friend Jason Mulroney, who came with a backhoe to excavate a plugged culvert. After searching for the culvert without any success, Williams got in the water. “Finally, I just took off my jacket and jumped into the water that was up to my neck,” he said. He used his hands to find the culvert and then had Mulroney tear a hole in it with the backhoe. Bypassing the clog, the culvert started draining the water as designed.
Mulroney wasn’t the only local to lend a hand. When the water threatened the office of Williams Electric, volunteers from the community showed up to help. “We put some shovels out front and people stopped by, picked up a shovel and started moving sand to the front,” said Brook Williams. “The water came within two feet of our front door. It was amazing to see who stopped and who drove by. There were people here I didn’t even know.”
Volunteers were also there to save, salvage and clean what could be saved from Aimee’s Attic. “When I saw it all, I had given up. I was so overwhelmed,” said Waddell. But people began to stop and help. “We had about 30 people from our community help us move furniture and get the water out. They were here with pumps and mops working very hard.” People brought shop vacuums, sump pumps, and a truck mounted shampooer to help clear the water out of the building.
Unfortunately, more than just water made it into the premises. Mud and silt coated the entire floor and had to be shoveled out by volunteers.
Among friends and family, there were anonymous people who stopped from their regular routines to help out. “The problem with using names to thank people is that you always leave someone out,” she said. “I didn’t even know some of the names of some of the people who helped me.”
She added that without the help of these volunteers there is no way she could have saved what she did. “It is amazing what was done in three or four hours.”
The price tag even with the help of the community is grim. “We lost about $5,000 in product and the floor is about a $10,000 fix,” Waddell said. The business did not have flood insurance because of the large distance to any large body of water and so must pay for all of the damages with its current merchandise. The loss is forcing her to have a liquidation sale, both to raise some capital and to clear the floor which must be entirely replaced. “If my customers see something they want, they just have to make an offer,” she said. “We are trying to liquidate whatever we can.”
Even though her business was hit hard, Waddell plans to stay where she is. “I love Goldendale. It’s times like these when all of the good things you hear about a small community turns out to be true,” she said, thinking about all the help she received. “Nothing beats a small town.
WSP to investigate loss of Rural 7 funds
More than $18,000 of public funds were misappropriated from the Rural 7 Fire District, according to a report released by the Washington State Auditor’s office on Monday.
The report concludes that between Jan. 1, 2006, and Feb. 28, 2007, “the former district secretary deposited at least $18,340.15 in district funds into non-district accounts” that were under the control of the secretary. The report states that payments from those accounts were made to the secretary and her relatives for personal purchases.
The audit was the result of a request made by the Rural 7 Fire District upon discovering the potential loss of funds. The report states that an additional $225.53 was paid from the district’s general fund for goods they did not receive. Furthermore, the Auditor recommends that the Rural 7 district board “seek recovery of the $18,565.68 in misappropriated public funds and $864.60 of related audit/investigation costs.”
Named in the report is Linda Story, who was the Rural 7 secretary during 2006, leaving the position at the end of Feb. 2007. The report says that the secretary told the Fire Chief that she had written checks on different accounts and “had lost track of how much she owed.”
According to Klickitat County Prosecutor, Tim O’Neil, a draft report was sent to his office and he recommended they refer the issue to the Washington State Patrol for investigation to avoid any conflict of interest within the county, and according to his information, the auditor made that referral to WSP. A decision on prosecution of the matter will depend upon the outcome of the WSP investigation.
Caucuses give voters opportunity for debate
JOSHUA QUANTRELL
Reporter
Local Republican and Democratic parties, both reported excellent attendance at their local caucuses this year.
Julie Larsen, head of the Klickitat County Democrats, was pleased with the participation and turn out. “We had over 250 people show up. The atmosphere was pretty electric, people were excited, engaged and respectful,” she said. “It was a much higher turnout than in years past.”
Not to be outdone, Klickitat County Republicans, also came in high numbers to their local caucuses. “In the Goldendale caucus we had 53 people, which is a lot higher than usual,” said Kathy Moco, a representative of the local Republican Party. “Everyone was charged up, but in a good way. No one got out of control and it made for a very exciting day.”
After signing in and listing their presidential preference, everyone was required to sign an oath swearing that they were voting for the party whose caucus they were attending. From there, the people were divided by precinct and sat at tables with others from their area.
After listening to presentations by people supporting their candidates and other issues, the precincts decided among themselves who they would send as a delegate to represent their party. “There were people of all ages and walks of life,” said Larsen. “Some people even brought their kids so they could prepare for their future.”
The Goldendale Republican caucus had a surprise candidate winner. “We had a preponderance of Ron Paul supporters, way more than were polled in the state,” said Moco. “They had gotten together and organized so that about two-thirds of the people were there for Ron Paul.”
Some of the Democratic precincts were very tight when it came to deciding who would win their delegates. If there is a tie and no one is willing to change their vote, the position is officially decided by a coin toss. “We did have one precinct looking for a quarter,” said Larsen. “It didn’t greatly change the outcome and it was fun as a change.”
Of the 88 delegates available for the county Democratic Party, 65.9 percent voted Obama, 31.2 percent voted for Clinton, two percent were undecided and less than one percent voted for Edwards.
Larsen added that while the actual caucuses were exciting there still was some confusion on how the process worked and a few people got snowed in.
Final tallies from the Republican caucuses were not available at press time.
|
