HEADLINES & HISTORY SINCE 1879
Goldendale, Washington
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2022
Vol. 143 No. 38
$1.00
MEET THE CANDIDATES
The Sentinel talks with candidates in contested county races We finally connected with candidate for Klickitat County Auditor JoAnne Chambers last week. Following are comments from that conversation.
LOU MARZELES
A BETTER PHARMACY: Friday was the open house for the newly remodeled Goldendale Pharmacy, completing sweeping changes both outside and inside.
Pharmacy open house showcases changes TAYLER BRADLEY FOR THE SENTINEL The pharmacy in town has been around for a very long time and recently changed hands to a lady who has made some big much needed changes. Jaqueline Eide really wants to make this place something that this town can come visit so their needs are met, and she has done a great job of doing that thus far. Last Friday the Goldendale Pharmacy held an open house to welcome the community in and show off some of the new changes they have been making and inform them of all of the services that it will be offering. Some of the changes you can see from just driving by. The outside got a new sign and some paint, and awnings were changed out. Scott and Felcia Gray also painted a gorgeous mural of the Goldendale Observatory on the side of the building. The pharmacy entrance on the corner also got some gorgeous glass work done by Sandra Choate. As you open the doors, you will see great changes and additions to the gift area. It is beginning to look like an old-school candy shop with lots of candy
Council hears on projects completion RODGER NICHOLS FOR THE SENTINEL The Goldendale City Council meeting Monday, in contrast to the previous meeting, was notable for its congeniality and some nice bits of good news. Goldendale Police Officer Sgt. Mike Smith, sitting in for Chief Jay Hunziker, had one of those bits of good news, this one about Cameron Howell, new hire for the police department, whose recruitment was announced at the September 6 meeting. “Last time,” Smith said, “the chief talked about how he wouldn’t be able to enter the academy until January. We got some good news–he’s going to start the academy October 10. He’ll be done the 21st, so we’ll have him back a little sooner, which is great news for our department.” City Administrator Pat Munyan reported a couple of street projects are getting close to winding up. That included 18th Street, where he said concrete work should be completed in time for final approval by the council at its next meeting, and Byers Street. “They plan on pouring concrete next week and finishing the sidewalks,” he said. “Once that is completed, they will start forming the approaches, so there is a smooth transition from the private road back onto the road.” Munyan said that he spoke
selections. The staff has also done a great job of bringing in some new items to shop for. The baby section is adorable, and they have ordered new Montana Silversmith jewelry, a section for our furry friends and toys and games for the kids. They really want this to be a place to find that perfect something for your family and friends. As for the pharmacy side, they are also trying to get in things that are needed like medicines, vitamins, and a variety of services. If you don’t have time to go to the doctor, you can stop by the pharmacy and see the pharmacist for a few different things. These include seasonal allergies, insect stings, swimmers’ ear, minor burns, headaches, shingles, animal bites, and more. You can also stop by for Covid testing and of course refills for medications. The changes that have been made to our local pharmacy are a boon for our community. The staff and owner have done a great job speaking with people and figuring out what it is that they need or would like to see. If you haven’t been in yet to check out all these new changes, be sure to stop by and say hello!
Sentinel: Would you back us up to when you made the decision to run, and what led you to that decision? Chambers: When we returned to town in October of 2021, we decided to return home to help with the family farm—family farms are struggling. I am from a four-generation family farm, and it needs some help as well. So we found a good opportunity to return and to help with the farm. Plus we have a grandson, so that helps to bring the family together. I came home, and I was hearing from different people, friends who are very involved in the county. They were saying that Brenda [Sorensen, incumbent county auditor] was retiring, and I was asked if I would consider running because there’s some issues that seem like they could be done better. I also have an unusual background. It is very detailed. I don’t run into a lot of people with the same background that I have, with 28 years in law enforcement, over 30 years of forensic, investigative, and bank auditing. So I’ve seen a lot of different records, and I’ve audited a lot of different records. I’ve seen a lot of different record keeping systems. I’ve created record keeping systems for people to maintain a streamlined record keeping system to make life easier. I want things to be easier for people. I have always done that throughout my whole career, help people, even though it was above and beyond the call of duty. I enjoy helping people. I like it when people thank me because they’re like, “Oh man, this is so much easier than what we’ve been doing.” I like that. So that’s what I decided: my background could easily mold into that and look for better ways. There’s always better ways of doing things, and sometimes you have to work at it to get it done, but I think it’s needed. Sentinel: Would you identify what positions you held? For example, you said you were in law enforcement. Chambers: For 28 years I worked with the Washington State Gambling Commission. I began as an auditor. They basically started hiring accounting at the state level, hiring accounting people and sending them to the law enforce-
ment academy because a lot of investigations involved numbers, and it’s wasn’t that often that some guy came in, grabbed stuff and left; it was more that people hid their theft in the numbers, in the records, in the paperwork. So you had to know enough about records and numbers. Sentinel: This is the Washington State Gambling Commission, this is the agency that supervises all the casinos and things like that? Chambers: We regulate them. We don’t run them. We go in, and we review their records. We review everything from processes, internal controls—internal controls is a series of steps that are created to make sure, not that fraud doesn’t happen; it’s that it cannot happen without being noticed. So checks and balances are made to catch fraud to make sure it doesn’t slide by. I had my own area that I regulated, and then I helped others with specific accounting-type issues, police officers who had retired from other police agencies would come work for us. But if they weren’t that into accounting, I would then go help them if they had something that was difficult or they wanted help with. At the time I was the only auditor. Everybody has their strengths, and so I called on them for their strengths, and they call edon me for mine and, and I would help them. Like I said, I created record keeping systems. I created some records that the state adopted. I would help people. Now, granted, I packed a weapon. I took
people to jail. And I was excited to get into the bank auditing part of it more than the packing, because you can go into some really interesting places. It was never a dull moment. Sentinel: What led you to shift from the Gambling Commission? Chambers: About a month after I found out that my supervisor had taken credit for some of my records some 15 years before, he decided that he wanted to fire me, and he told lies, flat-out lies to the administrative law judge and to the commission. And they said, “Well, we’re going to go with him.” And I said, “Well, I’ve been at these places he accused me of not working.” He says, “Well, when you’re not in the office, you’re not working.” I say, “My job is not in the office. My job is at the locations. It’s at the bars. It’s at the casinos. It’s at wherever we’ve got to go.” The supervisor was not being honest with the commission, and he told his boss, “Hey, she did this.” And I’m saying, “I didn’t do that.” He wanted me gone, and he had been making my life pretty difficult for the last two years. He had been telling me that I needed to get everybody else’s approval, my co-workers’ approval, before I could take time off. And I said, “Why would I do that? They don’t check with me before they take time off. You’re the supervisor; whoever puts in time off, you document it. I don’t understand why that would be that way.” I said, “I’ve only got a couple more years, and I’ll retire early.” He decided, “Nope.” I said, “But this is not accurate. Does the truth matter?” My husband wanted me to sue, and I’m saying, “Trying to look for a job while in a lawsuit is probably not a good thing.” But also it was an at-will position. I even talked to the administrative law judge when I fought it, and she says, “Well, technically they don’t need a reason. So the fact that it is inaccurate doesn’t matter.” I think the truth should matter. So that’s how I moved on. Then I went on to bank auditing, which actually was quite interesting. And then the whole COVID thing
See Chambers page A6
RODGER NICHOLS
NEW RECRUIT: Cameron Howell’s recruitment to the Goldendale Police was updated at Monday’s city council meeting with the group of Byers Street residents who complained about some of the construction choices at the last meeting and said they were going to hold off until the project is completed, then work through any problems that still needed to be fixed. In other items, councilors voted on a contract for new city Clerk/Treasurer Sandy Wells. Previously she had been a union member, but as a new supervisor, she needed her own contract. They finalized the purchase of a new lighting system for the city for $58,800 as the seller of the previous system has gone out of business and replacement parts are hard to find. It will take some time to replace all the street light fixtures in the city, but councilors felt that it was better to start over than try to take a piecemeal approach. Mayor Mike Canon also presented a report on the prospects for affordable housing. Councilors suggested that the ordinance committee look into possible ways to create incentives for developers. Under the public comment section, businessman Terry Luth, a longtime airport board member, thanked the council for finally being able to begin construction for an aviation fuel system at the airport. “It’s two weeks short of nine
See City page A6
CONTRIBUTED: MRS. CLIFFORD MCCONNELL
A PIECE OF HISTORY COMES TO GOLDENDALE: Clifford McConnell, lower right, was a G.I. serving as a guard at Sugamo Prison in Tokyo right after World War II. Among the infamous inmates he tended were Tokyo Rose, seen in the outdoor enclosure above, and former Prime Minister of Japan Hideki Tojo, coming out of the doorway in the picture above right. McConnell’s widow lives in Klickitat and last week brought these pictures, all taken by her late husband except for the one of himself, to The Sentinel.
County woman shares pictures of famous World War II history LOU MARZELES EDITOR The message, written with a fountain pen on the back of the grainy black and white photograph, is still sharp and clear. “Tokyo, Japan,” it begins. “Sugamo Prison, the inside of the wall, April 1946. The gal you can hardly see is Tokyo Rose.”
The photo and the message were by the same man, Clifford McConnell. Seventy-six years later, they ended up at The Goldendale Sentinel by way of McConnell’s widow, who identified herself only as Mrs. McConnell. She lives in Klickitat now. She came across her late husband’s old photo album and kindly thought to share some of the pic-
tures with our readers. They are of extraordinary historical significance because they capture rare images of Iva Toguri—the woman McConnell and others called Tokyo Rose—and the prime minister of Japan during World War II, Hideki Tojo, incarcerated at the famed Sugamo Prison in Tokyo. McConnell was a handsome G.I.
See Pictures page A6