HEADLINES & HISTORY SINCE 1879
Goldendale, Washington
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2023
Vol. 144 No. 43
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Meet the candidates
LOU MARZELES
CANDIDATES NIGHT POORLY ATTENDED: There were marginally more people in the audience than candidates at Monday night’s Candidates Night at the Goldendale Grange Hall. Here, School Board Position No. 1 candidate Chris Twohy speaks at the podium. Other candidates speaking were, at table left to right, Danielle Clevidence, David Jones, Michael Standley, and Theone Wheeler. Moderator John Miller stands in background. The entire evening lasted about an hour. Only Standley offered no positions or opinions on issues. Candidates Darlene Williamson and Filiberto Ontiveros Jr. were no-shows.
The Sentinel continues its interviews with local candidates for political office. This week we present our conversation with Danielle Clevidence, running for Goldendale City Council Position 5. Sentinel: Would you give us a basic summary of your background? Danielle: Certainly. I’m retired now after 30 years in the Navy, and I was a command master chief. I absolutely loved it. During that time, I received three awards for military outstanding volunteer service. I love doing that, and I was able to help countless sailors and marines also do that, to teach them how to work for their communities. I retired in 2018, and since then I’ve lived here. I’ve been volunteering a lot of my time with the American Legion. I was their manager in the restaurant area for quite some time. And I volunteer with the Art at the Heart of Goldendale, which is great. Those women are brilliant. Unfortunately, I have zero artistic skills, but what I do have are other skills that I’m able to do. I’m great with grunt work and them saying, “Hey, Danielle, can you grab me this?” Or “Can you do that?” So that’s been a lot of fun, and I’ve actually been able to sculpt a few things since then. I am with Friends of the Library, so I’ve been able to volunteer there on the book sales and things like that. I made a cake for the ice cream social. I’m part of the [Sheriff’s] Posse, so I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to help evacuate people during the fires and stand watch to make sure nobody comes through and they can’t steal people’s things while evacuations are going on. I’ve been able to work with the Home and Garden shows and things like that, so that’s been fun, too. Sentinel: Why do you feel you are the better candidate for this position? Danielle: My experience in both leadership and in community service, literally the community service, I have that down to a science. I’m very much into action and results rather than just having good ideas and expecting things to just all of a sudden change. I don’t like excuses. I don’t like red tape. I tend to push through that type of thing. And when I say push through, I mean I find ways to get rid of the red tape, or with the people with excuses, I go around them. There are always ways if it’s a good idea
LOU MARZELES
RUNNING FOR CITY COUNCIL: This week The Sentinel features Goldendale City Council Position 5 candidate Danielle Clevidence.
and it’s here to help the community. Now, it doesn’t mean that everything happens overnight. I’ll give you some examples. Just trying to get the signs to block off streets for parades—it’s very difficult. People said, “Well, it’s the city’s job.” “Well, no, it’s the county’s. No, it’s this.” It sounds silly, but the time that it takes to try to figure all of that out is ridiculous. I think things like that can be so simplified. I like things simple. I was a mechanic in the Navy, aircraft mechanic. My IQ may not be super high, but I’m a really hard worker, and I know how to get things done. I like to keep the lowest possible denominator so everybody has a chance to get things done. If it’s to help our community, I don’t see why we would want to have red tape on it. It should be easy. Sentinel: What are the immediate and long-range concerns you see facing Goldendale, and what do you see as the best courses of action to address them? Danielle: I think the drug problem is huge, and I think it’s bigger than a lot of people think, because if you see somebody who’s on drugs, it’s easy to walk right by them. I am a firm believer that you can try to lead someone to water, but you can’t make them drink. However, there are ways that you can ensure that they drink as much water as they can and try to help them that way rather than just ignoring the problem, which I feel has been happening for years now. Hopefully now that we have this little law that helps free up the police officers to be able to do their jobs a little bit, at least more than what they were able to do. I think with that alone, hopefully we’ll have citizen patrols and more people will say, “We’re not going to allow this to happen here” and try to help to see what we can do. Alcohol, too, that’s huge here as well, I’ve found. Just be able to ask them if they’re okay. That might be all they needed in order
“I think the drug problem is huge, bigger than a lot of people think... It’s easy to walk right by them.”
A SENTINEL PUBLICATION
2024 CALENDARS ARE HERE: The new Klickitat County calendar for 2024 is now available at The Sentinel office. Price is $8, which includes tax.
Voting across Washington has begun
CONTRIBUTED
COMING BACK?: If a new train-enthusiast group in Goldendale has its way, a train museum, maybe a train restaurant, maybe even train lines could be coming back to town.
They want to bring back the trains In 1889, Goldendale incorporated the Columbia Valley & Goldendale Railroad to run through town. By May of 1903, the line was completed from Goldendale to Lyle, and by 1908 it was connected to the newly completed mainline from Portland to Spokane. The rail lines ran regular passenger and freight, serving the mills, the logging industry, and agriculture. As transportation needs evolved and those industries shut down their oper-
See Candidate page A8
ations, the line became less useful until it was ended in 1990. An effort was made to save the line by using it for tourism and rail excursions, but that was apparently unsuccessful. By 1992, the line was removed, though the railbed was left almost completely intact. Part of the line was successfully converted into a hiking trail through the Rails to Trails Conservancy program. A grassroots effort is now underway to breathe new life into
the railroad in Klickitat County, starting in Goldendale. Friends of the Klickitat Railroad is an organization established to explore ways to bring as much of the railroad back to life as possible, starting with a railroad museum based in Goldendale. The museum would potentially include logging, as rail was a significant part of the logging industry, and it played a major role in the history of Klickitat County. Space
See Trains page A8
County elections statewide have distributed ballots for the state’s 4.8 million registered voters to participate in the 2023 General Election. Ballots must be returned to a county drop box or voting center by 8 p.m. November 7 or postmarked by November 7 if mailed in to be accepted. All 39 counties have races on the ballot in this election, with 3,095 offices up for election and 128 local measures to be decided. Secretary of State Steve Hobbs encourages all voters to use the state’s comprehensive system of trustworthy resources to participate in this election. State and county elections officials provide voters’ pamphlets with election information to every registered voter’s home address. Voters can vote independently and securely using the 590 official drop boxes and voting centers administered by county governments. All voters can use VoteWA.gov to check their ballot status and sign up for cellphone text updates as their ballots are processed. “We work hard to ensure your vote is safe and secure before, during, and after every election,” Hobbs said. “Every voter in Wash-
ington can be confident that when they use that county ballot box or the mail to submit their ballot on time, their voice will be heard.” For the first time, the statewide Voters’ Pamphlet includes expanded resources voters can use to learn more about the state’s budget and fiscal decisions by internet or phone. Statewide Voters’ Pamphlets are available in English, Spanish, and audio-only versions at the Secretary of State’s website, which also has King County editions available in Chinese and Vietnamese. Voters who have not yet registered can still participate in the November 7 General Election. Online registration via VoteWA. gov or registration forms submitted by mail must be received by Oct. 30. In-person registration at county elections offices is also available until voting closes at 8 p.m. November 7. “This election is an opportunity to make important local decisions in every county across the state,” Hobbs said. “Washington’s elections are fair and transparent, and our priority is to continue providing trustworthy and convenient access to empower voters in every community.”