HEADLINES & HISTORY SINCE 1879
Goldendale, Washington
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2023
LOU MARZELES
WHY SHE’S RUNNING: Theone Wheeler talked with The Sentinel about her race for city council. I’m part of their UAV program, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. We try to steer away from calling them drones. We work with helping the fire department and Search and Rescue. Initially, we weren’t supposed to be a support for the police, but we have already helped out in a couple of instances. It’s great. I’ve really enjoyed it, and the training is invaluable. I’ve also been the secretary for the local Kiwanis Club for eight years now. I just got reinstalled for another year. And I volunteer a lot for the Chamber of Commerce to help them set up events. I was on the Sesquicentennial committee and Community Days. I guess my biggest role in that was bringing the Native American culture more present in those events. I think that’s been a great addition. Everybody’s really enjoyed that. I think so. I just want to see more of it throughout the year, and so I am working with the local tribal bands to see if we can’t do a powwow here at least support the events that they want
See Wheeler page A8
LOU MARZELES
‘VILLAGE’ RESIDENTS FORCED OUT?: Twenty seniors residing at Golden Ridge Village, adjacent to New Life Assembly of God Church in Goldendale, say the owners are trying to force them out by raising rents to an unaffordable figure.
Golden Ridge residents say they’re being forced out LOU MARZELES EDITOR Some residents of Golden Ridge Village (GRV) on Columbus Avenue say the company that now owns the property is trying to force them out by exorbitant rent increases in short time periods. GRV rents plots of land to mobile homeowners. Some owners are renting their mobile homes along with the land on which they are set, while some own the mobile home but rent the land. The “village” is opposite the Goldendale Industrial Park and is entered by the driveway adjacent to New Life Assembly of God Church. Laura Watkins shares her lease
for her space on lot number 38. It shows her land rent going to $575 a month on January 1, 2024, after rent increases that soared from $315 a month last year to $465 this year. “It’s too much,” Watkins says. “I could have to sell my home and move. Many of us here are seniors on fixed income.” Besides the rent increase, residents will also be required to pay their own water and sewer bills as of the first of the year. Dottie Kastle, another resident, agrees the rent issue is a serious danger to the financial well-being of many residents. She also asserts Hurst & Son, the company that owns GDV, has maintained
See GRV page A8
Local resident teaching at U Wisconsin
The University of Wisconsin Madison last Thursday posted the following profile of Goldendale resident Tessa Conroy, newly installed as an associate professor at the university’s Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics. Tessa Conroy joined the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics as an associate professor and extension specialist in June 2023. Before transferring 100% of her faculty appointment
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Fifty years of stargazing on a hill in Goldendale
Meet the candidates Today The Sentinel begins a series of articles on candidates running for local office. Theone Wheeler is running for Goldendale City Council Position 2. She spoke with us on why she’s running in a question-and-answer format. Sentinel: What is your experience in community service to date? Theone: I’ve been on several committees, through the city council and through other organizations, to help bring about beneficial change for Goldendale. I’ve worked with grant programs. One I’m working on currently is for the parks, and to restore Ekone Park and World War II Park. Sentinel: What do you mean restore? Theone: There are a lot of invasive species that have taken over our Little League fields down at Ekone. It makes it very difficult for the children to play down there. Together with the [county] commissioners and the city administrator, I worked with the Yakama Nation and the local tribal bands so they can come together and form a plan to eradicate the goat heads and milkweed and bring in native indigenous plants to the area. And I know there was discussion of a splash pad or something of that nature for one of the other parks. The other thing that was discussed is possibly a pickleball court. I also volunteer for the Emergency Management Department.
Vol. 144 No. 41
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN MADISON
PROFESSOR CONROY: Tessa Conroy is now an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin Madison’s Department of Agriculture and Applied Economics.
to CALS, she held a tenure-track position with the Division of Extension since 2016.
See Conroy page B5
GOLDENDALE OBSERVATORY
GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY: The Goldendale Observatory is 50 years old this year. Special events are being held this weekend in commemoration. Below, the logo for the anniversary.
Observatory celebrates golden anniversary The Goldendale Observatory will celebrate its 50th year of operations this weekend. Washington State Parks, which acquired the observatory in 1980, will host an event at 2 p.m. on Saturday, October 14, to mark the occasion. The family-friendly event, which is free and open to community members and astronomy fans, will feature light refreshments, speakers, educational programming, live views of the sun streamed from the solar telescope to big screens, and replays of that morning’s annular eclipse. A Discover Pass is required to park at the observatory, but the park will have shuttles to and from Goldendale High School between 1:30 and 4:30 p.m. for the event. The Goldendale Observatory houses one of the largest publicly accessible telescopes in the nation. In the 1960s, four amateur astronomers associated with Clark College built the facility’s current 24-inch Cassegrain telescope. A chance stopover in Goldendale on a scouting trip for a home for the telescope led the four tele-
scope builders to meet with the town’s mayor. Thus, they made the decision to site their telescope in Goldendale. Bank loans, a federal grant, and donations funded construction, and the building opened October 13, 1973. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the park’s long-time Interpretive Specialist, Troy Carpenter, became an early adopter of virtual programming. The park livestreamed programs on YouTube and Facebook, using technology adapted for the telescope, thus
bringing the wonders of astronomy to laptops and living rooms worldwide. Back in person for some time now, regular programming by appointment is interspersed with public events to observe eclipses, comets, auroras, and more. Shuttles will run to the Observatory from Goldendale High School, 525 E. Simcoe Dr. during the anniversary event. Call State Parks’ East Columbia Gorge area office at (509) 773-3141 for more information.
Student Mock Election is now open for all Washington K-12 students Young Washingtonians across the state are invited to participate in the 2023 Student Mock Election presented by the Office of the Secretary of State. The Student Mock Election is a non-partisan, educational event that teaches children to be informed voters. All K-12 students in Washington state are welcome to participate by casting votes on races and measures. In recognition of National Voter Education Week the first week of October, Secretary of State Steve Hobbs is calling on students and teachers across Washington to take part in the Mock Election. “This opportunity is great preparation for young Washingtonians to become aware and involved as soon as they’re eligible,” Secretary Hobbs said. “I’m inviting educators throughout the state to use the Student Mock Election and help encourage lifelong participation in our democracy.” Ballots, vote tabulation sheets, posters, and Voters’ Pamphlets are available for download at www.sos.wa.gov/mockelection.
Free “I Voted” stickers can be ordered from the website as well. In this year’s Mock Election — History Edition, students have the opportunity to vote on historical questions from past Washing-
ton elections, including which city should serve as the state capital (an 1890 election), whether to lower the state voting age (1970), and other milestone decisions. An alternate ballot, also downloadable, offers participants choices of favorite desserts or seasons, or whether to ban pineapple as a pizza topping. From October 6 until the November 7 General Election, participation statistics will be available on the Secretary of State’s Mock Election engagement dash-
board website. The Mock Election website also offers a free Teaching Elections in Washington State curriculum book and a series of 30-45 minute lessons to help students learn how elections work. “I’m proud to make this toolkit of free resources available to every teacher and home educator,” Secretary Hobbs said. “I hope to help students across the state learn the power of civic engagement.” Washington’s Office of the Secretary of State oversees a number of areas within state government, including managing state elections, registering corporations and charities, and governing the use of the state flag and state seal. The office also manages the State Archives and the State Library, documents extraordinary stories in Washington’s history through Legacy Washington, oversees the Combined Fund Drive for charitable giving by state employees, and administers the state’s Address Confidentiality Program to help protect survivors of crime.