Funeral home site of apparent suicide
An elderly man apparently took his own life Thursday morning, at the back door of Columbia Hills Memorial Chapel funeral home in Goldendale.
Early Thursday morning the man’s body was discovered by a passerby, who notified a NAPA auto parts driver across the street from the funeral home. “The driver called it in,” says Derek Krentz, proprietor of Columbia Hills. Police responded about 7 a.m. and found the man lying on the ground with a gun shot wound to the head. “I understand his head was on a pillow,” Krentz says. “It was clearly well thought out.”
The Sentinel has learned the man’s name but chooses to withhold that information until it is certain his family has been notified. It is known that the man was born in 1926 and, according to Krentz, had been living in the Motel 6 in The Dalles the last several weeks, though his driver’s license shows a Goldendale residence.
The Goldendale Police Department conducted an investigation and concluded that the cause of death was suicide. There was a small caliber pistol next to the man and also a suicide note. It was apparent the man drove his vehicle to the parking lot of the funeral home and took his life by the back door.
The Medical Examiner’s Office in Vancouver, Washington will conduct an autopsy at the request of the police and the Klickitat County Coroner’s Office. A final determination will be made after the results of the autopsy.
Brooks Park meeting focus on preserving resources
Lou Marzeles
Editor
The Central Klickitat Conservation District (CKCD) presented its case for taking over Brooks Memorial Park from the state at a meeting last Tuesday at Goldendale High School.
The meeting was attended by about 30 people, including county commissioner Ray Thayer and Jim Harris from Washington State Parks. The park consists of 700 acres on both sides of Highway 97, with the bulk of it on the east side, though the 100 acres on the west side has day-use facilities developed on about 20 acres. The east side has the Environmental Learning Center lodge which accommodates larger group activities including camping, weddings, and school study groups for up to 100 people. The large lodge has a commercial kitchen, and there are cabins with shower facilities and restrooms for each group.
Harris went through the state’s reasoning for seeking to relinquish ownership of Brooks. Thirteen state parks—three of them “east of the Cascade curtain,” Harris said—are being transferred to other ownership as the state seeks to trim its budget.
Jim Hill, manager of the CKCD, said at the meeting that there were strong reasons to take over Brooks, with a view toward its financial self-sustainability. “A lot of people and groups from around the area, in both Klickitat and Yakima counties, have been using the Environmental Learning Center,” he said. “People would really miss that if it were no longer available. Church groups, family reunions, school students use Brooks Park for recreation and study, and they’d have to travel significantly farther to find a comparable site. For schools in particular, that added expense would likely mean the end of these kinds of trips.”
Before submitting its proposal and business plan to operate the park, CKCD solicited input from many groups within Klickitat County, including the Klickitat County Commissioners, Klickitat County Natural Resources, Klickitat County Parks Commission, Washington State Parks, and Back Country Horsemen. Klickitat County has offered $25,000 toward the start of CKCD’s ownership. The business plan for park operation estimates that it can gross about $100,000 a year, below its projected break-even point of $145,000. According to the business plan, the CKCD “would ask State Parks to pay the park ranger salary for the first three years. We estimate it could take up to three to five years to make the improvements necessary to make the park self-sustaining, therefore we will be seeking up to $50,000 to be available each year for five years from State Parks, Klickitat County, resource partners or benefactors outside the CKCD.
“How much cash are you starting up with?” one meeting attendant asked.
“We don’t know yet,” was the response. “We’re still negotiating with the state to get started. There are additional revenue sources out there. For example, there is no place between the Canadian border and the southern Oregon border to go horse riding overnight—other than Brooks. There seems to be a sizable market for these tourists.”
Conversation remained focus on the costs of park operation, in particular on prevention of any additional financial impact on taxpayers.
Next steps were identified. There is another entity that has expressed interest in acquiring the park, and to accommodate that inquiry, the final decision from the state on turning the park over could come anytime between June and September.
City retires canine cop
Lou Marzeles
Editor
A water line break, drug busts, capital outlay for firefighting equipment, and the retirement of a canine office highlighted proceedings at Monday’s Goldendale city council meeting.
Last Wednesday a large water line break occurred at the corner of Wilbur and Burgen, with some 325,000 gallons of water lost on the streets, according to a report given at the meeting. The leak was determined to be caused by the break of a blocked end of a pipe, in turn caused by the installation of a catch basin. A contractor had inadvertently removed almost all the dirt supporting the thrust block on the pipe earlier in the day. By 10:45 p.m. the same day, water service was restored. No water contamination was able to enter the water system.
Police Chief Rick Johnson reported on the most recent drug bust, conducted last week, which netted several more arrests related to delivery of meth. “We’re trying to get the message out: not here,” Johnson said, speaking of crime deterrence. “Today we did an arrest on the courthouse steps,” he said. “We knew the suspect had to report for a court appearance, and we had him on an additional warrant.” Johnson also reported on the suicide Thursday morning by an elderly man who took his own life at the Columbia Hills mortuary. “There is a report that he discovered he had cancer,” Johnson said.
Speaking of the dramatic drug busts in recent days, Johnson said, “Our guys did a great job and a tremendous amount of work. We have guys writing warrants who never did before.” He reported also that there is a good possibility of getting outside funding for a new police officer, fully funded for a three-year position. There have also been two new applications for reserve officers.
Chris Randall was announced as the city fire department’s new assistant chief. A capital outlay for the fire department was passed to purchase 15 self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) devices at a total cost of $71,353; funding for the purchase comes from a $25,000 grant from Klickitat County, $30,000 from the initial approved city budget for 2010, and $17,000 from a second budget allocation.
A motion was passed authoring payment of $3,300 to Calvin Jordan Associates for building permit ready plans for an addition to the animal control shelter building.
Chico, the police department’s canine office, was formally retired from active duty at the meeting, and the dog was transferred to Lieutenant Reggie Bartkowski. A plaque honoring the dog’s eight years of service was presented, and Bartkowski spoke of Chico’s many accomplishments. “He’s assisted with 12 different agencies,” Bartkowski said, “including DEA, Washington and Oregon state patrols, and other counties. He’s a great deterrent—I’ve come up to bar fights in the streets and just pulled up with Chico in the car. When Chico started barking, the fights immediately broke up.” The dog also proved invaluable in arrests with highly resistant suspects who were immediately intimidated by the dog. “I’ve honored to have him,” Bartkowski said. “He knows when to go to work, but he’s also a great pet, great with kids. My wife, my kids, and I love him.”
|
