145 YEARS OF HEADLINES & HISTORY Goldendale, Washington
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2024
Vol. 145 No. 6
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KCSO WEBSITE
ARRESTED THEN RELEASED: Tanner Carricio, a Level 3 sex offender, was arrested by Klickitat County Sheriff’s deputies then directed to be released by the county Prosecuting Attorney who said there was insufficient evidence to charge him.
LOU MARZELES
THE HEART OF THE MATTER: February 2 was National Wear Red for Women’s Heart Health Day, and the event was observed by many at Klickitat Valley Health. The day kicks off American Heart Month and focuses on cardiovascular disease as the number one killer of women, according to the American Heart Association.
Sheriff, Prosecutor at CenturyLink odds over sex offender still down, LOU MARZELES EDITOR The Klickitat County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) reported Thursday it arrested a Level 3 sex offender, brought him to the County Jail, then released him on direction from the Klickitat County Prosecutor’s Office. The county prosecutor later issued a terse statement reflecting a level of frustration with Sheriff Bob Songer related to the release of the offender. Level 3 is the highest level of sex offender designation, indicating a person considered to present the greatest potential risk to a community and a threat to re-offend if given the opportunity. Washington State law requires such an offender to register within a certain time frame with law enforcement and for the general public to be notified of information on the offender. The KCSO reports over the last two months it received nu-
merous reports and complaints about Tanner Carrico, a Level 3 sex offender from The Dalles, Oregon, who was transient and frequently spotted near the communities of Trout Lake, BZ Corner, and Bingen, Washington. His erratic behavior caught the attention of U. S. Forest Service law enforcement, where he was reportedly camping and harassing various park-goers in Gifford Pinchot National Forest. On January 31 the KCSO arrested Carrico for failing to register as a sex offender. He was transported to the Klickitat County Jail. Thursday, the KCSO reported, the Klickitat County Jail received a memo from the Klickitat County Prosecutor’s Office directing it to release Carrico immediately without conditions. The jail staff escorted Carrico to the Sheriff’s Office where he was registered as a Level 3 offender in the county. He was then re-
See KCSO page A8
KVH marks 75 years of healthcare Coinciding with the 75th anniversary of Klickitat Valley Health (KVH), the hospital is set to commence a series of significant capital projects this spring. On February 12, at 10 a.m. a groundbreaking ceremony will mark the initiation of these endeavors. KVH has worked on designing and securing funding to modernize its aging electrical and heating/cooling systems in recent years. Many of the systems the hospital is upgrading are 50 to 75 years old. A prominent addition will be the construction of a new chiller building with a cooling tower, strategically located at the front of the main campus. Beyond those additions, KVH will introduce a suite of enhancements, including a highly efficient condensing boiler, new condensing hot water tanks, a modern air handling unit, upgraded electrical switchgear, a new backup diesel generator, a cutting-edge hydrogen fuel cell, and a hydronic system linking the Emergency Department wing to the Central Utility Plant. These systems, aiming at maximum redundancy and efficiency, are designed to enhance campus resilience and operational cost-effectiveness. Their sizing allows for integration with future expansions, including a future patient wing. The project carries a $10 million price tag, with $6.5 million secured through various grants. Notable contributions include a $3 million state capital budget appropriation procured by Rep. Gina Mosbrucker, a $500,000 Energy Efficiency Grant from the Washington State Department of Commerce, a $500,000 grant
from The Sunderland Foundation, and a $2.5 million federal appropriation sponsored by Representative Patty Murray. The remaining funds come from a low-interest loan from the Washington State Treasurer’s Office LOCAL program, repaid through accrued energy savings. Apollo Solutions Group, selected through the Washington State Department of Enterprise Services Energy Services Performance Contract, is the general contractor that will spearhead the implementation of these projects. A highlight of this initiative is the incorporation of a hydrogen fuel cell, a groundbreaking endeavor wherein KVH will utilize stored hydrogen to power a 100kW Kohler fuel cell during power outages. Given the novelty of fuel cells in backup power, KVH has engaged Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the Center for Hydrogen Safety for support in system design, permitting, and training of staff, local fire, and building officials. Simultaneously, KVH is breaking ground on a kitchen remodel project. The Dietary Department, originally constructed with the Golden View Terrace building in 1998, underwent reassessment during the Covid pandemic. Recognizing the need for increased storage, a separate dishwashing galley, and a more efficient service line, KVH secured a $657,000 USDA grant for the kitchen remodel. The project, scheduled to commence in the coming months, has been awarded to Hale Construction from Hood River, Oregon. KVH was founded as Public
See KVH page A8
users frustrated CODY A. COURSON FOR THE SENTINEL
CenturyLink, headquartered in Monroe, Louisiana, has left customers in the Goldendale area without internet services since Saturday, January 27. To date there has not been a reason given for the outage, and customers are becoming increasingly irritated with the issues. As inconvenient as the lack of service has been, it appears what’s upsetting community members more is the continued lack of communication, with one customer saying, “It seems like a service provider might post some proactive status updates via their X feed [formerly Twitter] when there is an outage.” Bob Yoesle in Goldendale has tried calling CenturyLink several times, only receiving the message, “The problem is on our side, and we’re working on it” and being given an outage reference number. Many more customers are
having trouble accessing email, watching TV, or even reaching their doctors. Goldendale resident Eugene Courson shared he has received at least two notifications from CenturyLink every day since the outage began, pushing back the estimated time that service will be restored. The most recent message read, “The estimated time of restoral for your service interruption has been changed to 2/6/24 at 11:30 a.m. We will continue to keep you informed of any updates. Once restored, you may need to restart your equipment by unplugging the power supply, waiting a moment, and then reconnecting the power. We appreciate your business, and we apologize for any inconvenience.” Courson is frustrated over the situation, commenting that he hasn’t been able to use his desktop computer
for work. While it’s not confirmed that the same issue is occurring nationwide, there are CenturyLink outages as far away as Littleton, Colorado, with online customers stating they’ve been without internet for days. This is far from the first time CenturyLink has experienced widespread outages, with the Federal Communications Commission ordering the company to pay a $16 Million penalty for failing to disclose a 911 outage in April of 2014 and a $500,000 penalty in December of 2018, after allegedly violating the Commission’s rules in connection with a multistate outage. A representative with CenturyLink overseeing consumer products and services has been contacted with no response to date.
City council allocates lodging tax funds on second round RODGER NICHOLS FOR THE SENTINEL The Goldendale City Council was able to pass an ordinance distributing money from the city’s lodging tax at their meeting Monday night, a task that that eluded them in January. A clear explanation of the lodging tax can be found on the website of the Municipal Research and Services Center (MRSC), a nonprofit organization that provides legal and policy guidance to local governments in Washington State. “Any city, town, or county has the authority to levy lodging taxes, also known as ‘hotel/ motel taxes,’ on lodging at hotels, motels, and short-term rentals, including Airbnb, bed and breakfasts (B&Bs), RV parks, and other housing and lodging accommodations, for periods less than 30 days,” the website advises. “The tax is collected as a sales tax and paid by the customer at the time of the transaction, and the revenues must be used for eligible tourism promotion activities or tourism-related facilities.” Local requests for lodging tax dollars go through the city’s Events Committee, which recommends distribution recipients and amounts to the full city council. There are always more requests for money than the amount of money available.
This year, the requests were: $15,000 from the Brighter Goldendale Christmas Committee; $15,000 from Abate of Washington; $1,800 from the Kiwanis Club; $3,000 from the Goldendale Pride event; and $33,000 from the Greater Goldendale Chamber of Commerce: a total of $67,800. In December, the Event Committee recommended $7,500 for the Brighter Goldendale Christmas Committee; $7,500 for Abate of Washington; $1,800 for the Kiwanis Club; $2,000 from the Goldendale Pride event, and $26,000 from the Greater Goldendale Chamber of Commerce: a total of $43,800. The committee only had $50,000 to distribute and decided to hold some back to take advantage of opportunities that might come along during the year. The council voted to accept the committee’s recommendation. But at the January 2 meeting, an ordinance enacting those recommendations failed on a split vote. Councilors Andy Halm and Theone Wheeler are both members of organizations that applied for lodging tax funds and abstained. Councilors Miland Waling and Ellie Casey voted in favor, but Councilors Steve Johnston, Loren Meagher, and Danielle Clevidence voted against it. At Monday night’s meeting, the Event Committee had a new set of recommendations: retaining $7,500 each for the Brighter Gol-
dendale Committee and Abate of Washington, dropping the Kiwanis request to $1,000 and the Goldendale Pride request down to $1,250. The only organization getting an increase this time round was the Greater Goldendale Chamber of Commerce, going from $26,000 to $27,000. All others were getting roughly half of the amount they requested. This version passed, with Halm and Wheeler abstaining, Waling and Casey and Clevidence in favor, and Johnston against. (Loren Meagher had been excused from attending that meeting.) And there was good news to share. “Overall, the city had a great year,” auditor Jan Forsberg told the councilors. “The city came in where they were hoping to and got some projects completed. We have a lot of good projects lined up for ’24, and we’ll get the areas that need to be updated for ’24 updated. We’ll bring that forward to the council at a later date.” City Administrator Pat Munyan reported on the next step in upgrades to the city’s municipal airport, announcing that the city was taking delivery today on 4,000 gallons of aviation fuel for the new tank system at the airport. He cautioned people that didn’t mean the aviation fuel would be available for use right away. “This is a test run,” he said.
See City page A8