HEADLINES & HISTORY SINCE 1879
Goldendale, Washington
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2021
Vol. 142 No. 42
$1.00
Shots fired on Goldendale street The reports began to drift onto social media late Saturday and through the beginning of the week—shots were fired on the streets of Goldendale. The social media accounts were fragmentary and incomplete as people struggled to get a clear handle on what had happened. But the general gist was: a man with a rifle was firing shots in the vicinity of groups of children. First it was near the Goldendale Library, then World War II Park, then somewhere west on Collins.
Songer to FBI: ‘Stay out of our county’ LOU MARZELES EDITOR The U.S. Justice Department on October 4 announced it was calling on the FBI to use its authority against parents who threaten or use violence against public school officials. On Monday Klickitat County Sheriff Bob Songer sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland telling him, “The FBI or any other federal agency needs to stay out of our county.” The Justice Department referenced what it called a “disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff.” Garland said he was directing the FBI to work with U.S. attorneys “in each federal judicial district” to come up with strategies to address potential threats within the next 30 days, signaling a concerted campaign to crack down on threats against school officials. Songer’s letter Monday indicated he took such possibilities seriously but that his office would deal with them without federal intervention. “The Sheriff’s Office will investigate any parent who is
reported as making threats of bodily harm to school board members, teachers, or school staff,” Songer wrote. “However, this also includes school board members, teachers, or school staff making threats of bodily harm to any parent. If our investigation shows an individual has made threats of bodily harm, we will file criminal charges against the individual under Washington State law.” But Songer says he sees a difference between that kind of threat and parents speaking their minds at meetings. “A parent telling the school board members to resign or that they are going to recall them is not a crime under Washington State Law,” he wrote. Songer’s letter said that, as the elected sheriff of Klickitat County, he would not cooperate with the FBI in targeting parents as “domestic terror groups at school board meetings.” “Parents have a constitutional right under the First Amendment to free speech and assembly at school board meetings,” Songer wrote. “In my opinion parents have a constitutional right to question the school
See FBI page A8
According to one person, the incident began with an intense argument between kids near the library that devolved into a fight, though that has not been confirmed. There were reports of passersby in vehicles stopping to help kids get out of harm’s way. Monday afternoon the Goldendale Police Department issued the following statement: Goldendale Police Department Officers Kelsey Rooks and Nolan Randall responded to a weapons offense complaint at about 6:01
p.m. in the 400 block of South Grant. It was reported an adult male carrying a “Long Gun” was walking eastbound on Collins Street towards Holcomb’s Market. Multiple callers also reported a male subject with a gun was chasing juveniles. Officers Rooks and Randall located the male suspect with the firearm in the 100 block of West Burgen. The suspect was recognized by Officer Rooks as being AJ George, an adult male.
See Shots page A8
CONTRIBUTED
SAILING VESSEL ON DRY LAND: The Avacello Carousel art car lights up the night at Horseshoe Bend Ranch in Goldendale last week as the Escape VII-FallOUT event came to town.
Escape FallOUT event unfurls at Horseshoe Bend Ranch Escape Events brought Escape VII - FallOUT to Horseshoe Bend Ranch, 12 miles west of Goldendale, on October 7-11. The event included art and music, and community sharing principles of love, gifting, sharing, and creativity. From the Acavello Carousel art car to LED art lighting
up the night to fire performers and flow artists, the community shared its gifts and talents in a radically expressive environment. One of the unusual principles of the event is that there is no money exchanged inside the event with one exception. Ice was available to purchase with
proceeds used as a fundraiser for the local fire department. The event also raised money for artists from all walks of life and specifically those local to the area. The event was open to all, including families, adults, and service animals. The hosts shared
See Event page A8
Sentinel 2022 Calendar on the way
NOAA
WEATHER WAY OF THE WORLD: La Nina is back for a second consecutive year, and the National Weather Service says this map gives a good indication of what it’s going to do to weather this winter across the U.S.
Winter in our area likely to be wetter The National Weather Service announced October 14 that La Nina, a seasonal climate condition, has developed and will affect weather across the United States from December to February next year. What that means for our neck of the woods is that we’re likely to see wetter than usual condition, which could mean more snow than we’ve had for a while. La Nina intensifies the average atmospheric circulation—surface and high-altitude winds, rainfall, pressure patterns—in the tropical
Pacific. Over the contiguous United States, the average location of the jet stream shifts northward. The southern part of the country is often drier and warmer than average, which could mean even drier conditions for the southwest. “El Nino isn’t a storm that will hit a specific area at a specific time,” says a National Weather Service website. “Instead, the warmer tropical Pacific waters cause changes to the global atmospheric circulation, resulting in a wide range of changes to global weather. Think of how a big construction project across town can change the flow of traffic near your house, with people being re-routed, side roads taking more traffic, and normal exits and onramps closed. Different neighbor-
See Winter page B1
The 2022 Goldendale Sentinel calendar is soon to arrive—it’s been shipped and will land at The Sentinel office in just days. The calendar this year reflects contributions from photographers all over Klickitat County and is now called the Klickitat County Calendar, affording access to readers in all parts of the county The Sentinel now reaches. This was a bumper-crop year of photo submissions—we re-
ceived hundreds of pictures, and it was a difficult but welcome task to choose the shots contained in the calendar. The cover picture is a stunning shot from Dalles Mountain Road, taken by Darlissa Black, who wins our prize of an Amazon Fire tablet. The photographs for each month were taken by: January – Darlissa Black February – Dave Telford March – Tammara Tippel
April – Darlissa Black May – Donna Lobdel June – Tempie Davies July – Edith Gidley August – Tempie Davies September – William Larsen October – Sarah Martin November – Trudy Woosley December – Darlissa Black Our thanks and deep appreciation to the photographers, advertisers, and Sentinel staff who made this unique calendar possible.