THE OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF KLICKITAT COUNTY
Goldendale, Washington
WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 2022
Vol. 143 No. 20
$1.00
Oregon Trail Rally returns The Oregon Trail Rally Car Show returns to Goldendale this Saturday, May 21, at 8 a.m. on West Main Street in Goldendale. The race starts at 9 a.m. from Columbus Avenue and Main Street. You can breakfast with the Rally teams at the Goldendale Amer-
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ican Legion before the race, early Saturday from 6 a.m. to 11 a.m. It’s $12 for scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits and gravy, fresh fruit, coffee, and fresh fruit. You can also meet the drivers of the Oregon Trail Rally Saturday morning on Main Street:
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Brandon Semenuk ( Brandon is currently 1st of 65 drivers in the National Overall Championship with 52 points ) Travis Pastran Ken Block
OREGON TRAIL RALLY
WHERE TO VIEW: Spectator A and B positions, shown here, are where viewers can catch the action this Saturday.
City council marks chief ’s anniversary RODGER NICHOLS FOR THE SENTINEL
The Goldendale City Council rolled through a number of topics at its meeting Monday night. Mayor Mike Canon did note a special anniversary: “It’s a unique night for Chief Hunziker,” he said. “He is celebrating his 24th year of service to Goldendale in the police department.” The announcement drew a hearty round of applause from the room. Later, Canon noted how lucky Goldendale is, for a town of 3,500, to have such welltrained and responsive emergency services and public works department. “Other places, when people call, say they can get to it in a couple of days,” he said. “That doesn’t happen here.” During the main body of the meeting, councilors heard a presentation from Jason Shira
of Portland-based Aspect Consulting on plans to evaluate the chlorination station and Basse Wells to check on pumps, gauges and water table levels and voted to spend $43,000 on the project. They also approved a new fiveyear agreement with Klickitat County to reimburse the county for work done by the county on city streets, primarily chip sealing. Two items were added to the agenda at the beginning of the meeting at the request of the Ordinance Committee. One was to remove the requirement that the front door of a new dwelling face the street on which it receives its number. Apparently, on some of the smaller lots in the city, this creates a placement problem for contractors, and the requirement was removed. A second item allowed detached garages to be 2,000 square feet instead of the previous 1,000 square feet limit
RODGER NICHOLS
24 YEARS ON THE JOB: Goldendale Chief of Police Jay Hunziker was acknowledged at Monday’s city council meeting for his 24th anniversary of service in the Goldendale Police Department. in certain city zones. Both items were approved on the spot, waiving the second reading. Assistant City Administrator Pat Munyan reported that work on a section of Highway 97 near Goldendale brought in a portable asphalt plant, and the city was allowed to have the output of the plant for two days. They used it
See City page A8
Fox 13 reports on Kelly LOU MARZELES EDITOR In the wake of The Sentinel’s story last week on former Lyle School District Superintendent Andrew Kelly, Fox 13 Seattle reported on Kelly Monday night (www.q13fox.com/video/1070325). In its story last week, The Sentinel inadvertently mixed separate incidents together in the condition-of-anonymity source’s account of Kelly’s reported intoxication, a conflation incurred through a misunderstanding in the source’s wording. “I am sorry if my comments reflected badly on [Kelly’s] ex-wife
or wife,” the source said Monday. “I have nothing at all against either of them. But what I said doesn’t change the main thing I was talking about.” The Sentinel story said that, as an Uber driver, the source went to pick up Kelly and saw him drunk on that occasion. Monday she clarified she did not pick him as a driver but did stress she saw him intoxicated on three different occasions. “One time was at a Christmas party,” she said. Another time was at the home of an associate, where she said she observed Kelly drinking the entire time. The third time was when, as an Uber driver, she went to the Porthole Pub in Ocean Shores to
pick up other people. It was inside the pub that she says she witnessed Kelly drinking. Kelly was superintendent of the North Beach School District in Ocean Shores, Washington, until he was suspended in March. He subsequently resigned effective June 30. Last Wednesday students in the North Beach District schools staged a walk-out protesting what they saw as the school’s mishandling of reports of sexual misbehavior by a student. Shannon Rubin, a concerned parent, sent a strongly worded letter to the North Beach school board last Thursday.
See Kelly page A8
LOU MARZELES
TWO SALES AND A WALK: All events occurred Saturday. Top, the Fire Victims’ annual sale and auction was packed with eager shoppers at the Rural 7 Fire Hall. Middle, supporters turned out for the Goldendale Pregnancy Center’s annual Walk for Life fundraiser. Above, the Farmers’ Market opened more quietly for those willing to risk the gray clouds.
Ecology completing study on aluminum plant site
SESQUICENTENNIAL COIN
RARE CHANCE: A limited number of special Goldendale Sesquicentennial coins have been commissioned for sale in part to support Goldendale charities. They can be advance ordered now.
Special Sesquicentennial coins available, will support charities A new special-edition coin commemorating Goldendale’s Sesquicentennial (150th anniversary) goes on advance sale this week, with some proceeds going to support local charities. The coin, pictured above, depicts key Goldendale elements on the obverse, with homage to Native Americans depicted on the reverse. The coins will arrive
in Goldendale the third week of June, but advance “early bird” orders are being taken now. Initial sales of the coin will go to support the Fire Victims Fund and scholarships for Goldendale High School students going on to college. Other local charities are welcome to apply for funds from sale of the coins. Requests can be submitted at the Golden-
dale Sentinel office in person, by phone, or by email to Info@GoldendaleSentinel.com. Only 300 of these coins are being made at present. The price for advance orders is $25 per coin. Once the coins arrive, the price will be $30 per coin. Advance orders can be taken at the Sentinel office.
The Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) is completing a study on contamination at the former Goldendale aluminum plant. Ecology prepared a lengthy statement on the study and potentials for clean-up of the site. The statement follows: For many years, the former Columbia Gorge Aluminum smelter was a pillar of the local economy in Klickitat County, providing hundreds of family-wage jobs. It was common to have multiple generations of the same family working side-by-side at the smelter. As with many of Washington’s aluminum smelters along the Columbia River, economic changes and increases in electric power rates in the early 2000s led to closure of the facility. Three decades of heavy industrial activities left behind soil and groundwater contamination at the site. Addressing the risk posed by the site’s industrial legacy is a priority for Ecology. Currently, we are working with
landowner, NSC Smelter, LLC, and past smelter operator, Lockheed Martin Corporation, to investigate and clean up the wastes and contamination remaining there. We are close to completing a Remedial Investigation, a study that measures the types of contamination across the site. Once we know the extent of contamination, our next step will be to conduct a Feasibility Study, which examines alternatives for cleaning it up. When these studies are complete, we will ask for input on the findings and potential options for cleanup. We will consider tribal and public feedback when developing a cleanup plan for the en-
See Ecology page A8