The Goldendale Sentinel is the official newspaper of Goldendale, Washington and surrounding communities in Klickitat County.

Class creates Goldendale flag

    To Judith Lovelace’s second grade class last year, the fact that Goldendale didn’t have a city flag was just not right. So they made one.
    At Monday night’s city council meeting, the class presented the flag to the city and accepted the council’s gratitude for their initiative.
    “We were studying about flags and how important they are,” Lovelace said at the meeting. “They help bring a community together. We called city hall and asked if Goldendale had a city flag, and we found out that it didn’t. So the class decided to design one, and each student brought in his or her own design. The class presented all their designs to the mayor for her to choose one.”
    “They were wonderful,” Goldendale mayor Arletta Parton said. “I couldn’t pick any one drawing, so we asked to have all the class flag drawings combined onto a single flag.”
    The city council meeting room had each child’s drawing on one wall and the combined drawings pieced together into a single flag, with the word “Goldendale” in the middle, on the opposite wall.
Lovelace and her students spoke before the council to offer their flag to the city. They were received with expressions of appreciation and a long round of applause.
    Subsequently the council meeting went on to other matters. In one action, realtor Dan Byers asked the council for an exception to its ordinance prohibiting long-term residence in an RV. In a letter to the council, Byers said over the past three years he’s had different friends “reside in my motor home on my commercial property… They have acted as my security system. While the meat market and the convenience store across the street have been broken into, my office has not.” At the meeting, Byers said his friends residing in the motor home have continually scared off any potential thieves.
     After initial suggestions to Byers that he invest in a security alarm, the council referred the matter to its ordinance committee for further consideration.
    Sonny Wright then appeared before the council to request an exception to its new parking regulations to allow him more convenient access to his travel trailer. Wright moved his trailer in compliance with the city’s new law but said that having it away from his property imposes undue difficulties for him, and he included a copy of his state-issued Individual with Disabilities Parking Privilege license. “There’s something not fair here,” Wright said at the meeting. “You’re trying to clean up the city, and you’ve got them moving their trailers, but then they just put them in their front yards, and it’s horrendous and the city can do nothing about that.” Wright’s request was tabled pending a city check with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) guidelines to determine whether or not they apply to such a situation.
    The council approved a capital outlay request from police Chief Rick Johnson for a new police car. The city will purchase a new Ford Explorer for about $22,500 and then have it outfitted for police function for about an additional $6,000. Another capital outlay request, $38,000 for a new grinder at the lift station, was also approved.
    In his report on goals for 2010, city manager Larry Bellamy mentioned that the city will explore the possibility of doing its own garbage collection and recycling program. Additionally, Bellamy said the city might examine zoning issues such as the one Wright brought up, about parking RVs anywhere on one’s property. “Some cities say you can park it on the side or in the back of your home but not in the front,” Bellamy said.

KVH cites no-findings audit, program and profit developments at Chamber lunch

    Klickitat Valley Health (KVH) is about to receive a clean report from the state auditors.
    “The cat’s out of the bag about the audit,” said KVH Chief Financial Officer Leslie Hiebert Monday at a Chamber of Commerce lunch meeting. Hiebert and KVH Chief Executive Officer MaLisa Mudgett were the featured speakers at the meeting, which was packed to capacity at the Cowboy Corner restaurant. “The auditors just completed their review, and we have no findings,” Hiebert added. A report of no findings from the state auditors means no problem issues at the hospital were discovered by the auditors. “The report will be out in another couple of weeks.”
    A no-finding report from the state auditors is a major milestone for the hospital, which has not received a completely clean bill of health from the state for the last few years.
    Significant financial improvements were also reported at the meeting. “Our operating margin is at two percent now,” Hiebert said. That’s up from minus 19 percent in 2008. That’s a dramatic increase in profitability.” The hospital’s cash flow has significantly improved as well, despite a large cash outlay last year for Medicare adjustments. KVH expenses are down, as, among other things, the hospital focused on hiring employees rather than outsourcing. “That’s less expensive and keeps money in local hands,” Hiebert said.
    Mudgett reported on new services at the hospital, which include a podiatry clinic, event monitoring, interpretive service, and cardiac care.
    She also spoke of the overall economic impact the hospital has in the community. “The hospital is a large employer,” Mudgett said, “with 200 employees and a gross payroll in 2009 of $8.3 million. There’s a formula in business for determining the broad economic impact an institution has in a community; you take that figure and multiply it by seven. That’s seven times $8 million, so that means the hospital’s economic impact here is about $56 million.”
    KVH’s community impact is reflected also in its involvement with the community, Mudgett reported. “We’re involved with schools, in student training, the athletic program, and learning lab,” she said. “We have a health fair. We have artwork by local artists hanging in the hospital, which we arrange with the art gallery.” As well, KVH is involved with the Rural Outreach in Nursing Education (RONE) program, which facilitates nursing education in rural Washington hospitals.
    Mudgett and Hiebert said the hospital is conducting long-term strategic planning, which includes examining facilities use, new services, and continued community involvement and partnerships.

Foiled breaking and entering thief drops in on bar

     A blundered attempt at breaking and entering last week resulted in the prospective thief falling through a ceiling.
    Daniel Clark, 23, of Goldendale made a startling entrance into the Simcoe Wednesday, falling through the ceiling and landing behind the bar. The incident occurred around 11 p.m. when the bartender noticed dust falling from the ceiling and heard some noise. Moments later, Clark fell through the ceiling. After hitting the floor, Clark immediately ran from the bar, but he left his glasses and checkbook behind, simplifying the case for local police, who went to the address in his checkbook.
    A more serious call was answered by Goldendale Police, also on Wednesday, when they were called to a residence where a man was attempting to break into the house. Officers arrested Steven Powers, finding him with a crow bar, rope, and utility knife. According to police, Powers said he was “planning on hurting somebody.” He also said he was going to put the woman who resides in the home, “into submission because he loves her and can’t stand to see her with somebody else.”
     This is the second time in less than two months that Powers has been arrested at the residence. On Dec. 18, he was arrested for felony mischief after smashing the windows on a vehicle outside the residence and tearing down Christmas decorations. This time Powers is being charged with attempted second degree assault, violation of a no contact order, attempted unlawful imprisonment, and malicious mischief.
    The police also reported that Jeremy Moss voluntarily turned himself into the police last week after showing up in last week’s Sentinel as the police’s Most Wanted fugitive.
    Theft of a flat-bed, car trailer was discovered at Broadway Automotive on Jan. 25. The trailer was behind a locked fence, but thieves cut the lock and stole the trailer sometime over the previous weekend.