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SERVING WASHINGTON’S

OKANOGAN VALLEY

SINCE 1905

GAZETTE-TRIBUNE WWW.GAZETTE-TRIBUNE.COM | THURSDAY, JULY 19, 2012 | 75 CENTS NEWSSTAND PRICE

Odd weather hasn’t totally dampened cherry harvest BY GARY A. DEVON MANAGING EDITOR

OROVILLE – You don’t like the weather in the valley, just wait five minutes and it will change – from extreme heat to rain and hail, this year’s cherry harvest has seen it all. Yet despite the high heat, bouts of torrential rain and the occasional hail thrown in, Greg Moser, General Manager of Gold Digger Fruit, says the crop hasn’t suffered nearly as much as one might expect. “The only thing Mother Nature hasn’t thrown at us has been snow,” said Moser. “We’ve had rain, hail and extreme heat, I keep waiting for a blizzard.” Moser said not all the cherries have come away unscathed, with some blocks of Rainiers splitting from the combination of rain and sunshine that growers fear the most during harvest. “Our splits have actually been minimal, although some growers had damage from the rain, especially in their Rainiers. We have had some growers who have had to walk away from certain blocks,” Moser said. “But most of the damage has actually been coming from the extreme heat.” The growers cooperative’s GM said cherry growers have been using helicopters and blowers to affectively dry off the fruit all throughout the North end of the valley. It hasn’t been unusual to see two or three helicopters slowly flying low over rows of the fruit trees and then heading back to Oroville’s Dorothy Scott Airport to refuel and return to begin the process in another block. Moser said the cherries are high quality and look good, but the biggest problem his growers have seen this year is their small size. “While we normally have nine row and larger, we have been getting smaller sizes like 10s and 11s... that’s uncharacteristic for our area,” he said. The cause was a wet cold spring, which didn’t allow for enough cell division,

BY BRENT BAKER BBAKER@GAZETTE-TRIBUNE.COM

Photo by Gary DeVon

Blow Dryer: A helicopter from RJ Helicopters hovers over a cherry orchard off Sawtell Rd. in Oroville in an effort to dry off one of the many rains that have hit the valley this summer. There is always a danger the fruit will split after a rain followed by a heat cycle so growers hire helicopter services like this Yakima-based company and use blowers to try and dry the cherries as quickly as possible. resulting in smaller, weaker fruit that apples, but not the cherries. The worst With market prices down, as well as didn’t “shuck” off the tree because the hail seemed to have been in the Omak the size of the fruit, cherries might not trees never got the heat, according to and Conconully areas,” he said. “Most make the returns that the growers were Moser. of the hail here came with lots of rain hoping for. However, the apple harvest Now that it’s summer and the heat is which tends to keep the damage to a could make that up for some growers as here with a vengeance, some growers minimum.” they’re forecasting a strong apple market have taken to running water on their Most of Gold Digger’s cherry grow- in the fall. trees for two or three hours to try and ers have been sorting their fruit in the “Michigan froze out, the East Coast keep damage from the sun to a mini- orchards and Moser said the pack-outs at is predicting a 35 percent smaller crop mum, he explained. the warehouse have been normal. and Europe is predicting a seven per“That doesn’t help the top of the trees Currently Gold Digger has over 750 cent smaller crop. Even with a record though,” said Moser. people working either in the orchards crop forecast for the state, we won’t have The hail has just been in spot areas, or at the warehouse, according to Moser, enough to replace all that,” Moser said. according to Moser. who says the company is at its employ- “Hopefully it will be a promising year for “In our area it may have marked some ment peak right now. our apple growers.”

Osoyoos Lake level meetings next week

24-hour ballot drop boxes

BY GARY A. DEVON

OROVILLE/OSOYOOS – The International Joint Commission is seeking public comments in meetings planned for Oroville and Osoyoos regarding the regulation of water levels of Lake Osoyoos. The first meeting will be held Tuesday, July 24, at the Oroville High School Commons, 1008 Ironwood St., at 7 p.m. The second meeting will be on Wednesday, July 25 at the Best Western Plus Sunrise Inn at 5506 Main Street, Osoyoos, at 7 p.m. The commission has regulated lake water since 1946 under the Lake Osoyoos Order which provides for the regulation of water levels for the benefit of agriculture, tourism, municipal interests and fishery protection. In that year the commission approved alterations to the old wooden Zosel Dam which was downstream from the lake. In 1987, under orders of the IJC the new Zosel Dam was constructed to replace the old dam. The orders set maximum and minimum lake elevations of 911.5 and 909 feet during normal years. During a drought year, water may be stored to lake elevation as high as 913.0 feet. The current Orders of Approval for the lake are set to expire on Feb. 22, 2013, unless renewed. The commission asked its International Osoyoos Lake Board of Control to present a report of recommen-

dations for renewing the Osoyoos Lake Orders. Drawing on the results of eight studies commissioned by IJC, the board recommends that the scope of a renewed Order remain limited to the management of lake levels with only minor modifications that are primarily related to a revised lake-level rule curve (i.e. prescribed lake water level elevation limits over time per an IJC Order). The board also recommends that the Commission should encourage the continued cooperation between British Columbia and Washington State to balance flow needs across the international border and downstream of the dam, while respecting goals for lake elevations and limits on releases that are possible from Okanagan Lake in southern British Columbia. The Board recommends a public review of a proposed rule curve. The proposed rule curve would provide additional seasonal flexibility in achieving targeted lake levels, and would accommodate multiple uses and users of the lake. The proposal would also eliminate drought/nondrought declarations and would limit the maximum lake levels to 912.5 feet in the summer. More detailed discussion of the proposed rule curve and the Board’s recommendations on renewal of the Order are contained in the Board’s Report entitled Recommendations for Renewal of the International Joint Commission’s Osoyoos Lake Order now posted on the IJC website at www.ijc.org.

OKANOGAN VALLEY GAZETTE-TRIBUNE Volume 108 No. 29

TONASKET - The City of Tonasket’s move to re-bid the pending pedestrian crossing project appears to have paid dividends, based on the response it got through a process it was able to utilize known as a public interest finding. The council had been taken aback by its original bid for the full project, which exceeded the available funding to put in a solar-powered, manually operated crossing light at the intersection of Whitcomb and Second. It would provide safer access to North Valley Hospital from its parking area across the street. Project engineers from Varela and Associates recommended the public interest finding process, which upon state Department of Transportation approval allowed the City of Tonasket to break the bid out into separate equipment and installation segments. The council approved a quote by Traffic Safety Supply for $13,220 for the purchase of the sign itself, contingent on DOT approval, the lowest of three bids. “Just for the sign itself, it floors me how much of a difference (there was) between going out and getting quotes ourselves,” said Tonasket Mayor Patrick Plumb, “as opposed to going out and having a third party go out and get a quote for a capital purchase.” The council discussed whether or not to go ahead with the installation project immediately, but opted to wait until the next council meeting. Washington DOT officials plan to be at that meeting to discuss the project, including how it will mesh with the DOT project that will involve grinding down and repaving Whitcomb, as well as installing new ADA-approved sidewalk ramps.

“We’d rather do it right then do it quick.” Patrick Plumb, Tonasket Mayor

Plumb said that while he was anxious to get the pedestrian project underway, “We’d rather do it right then do it quick.”

International Joint Commission seeks public comments MANAGING EDITOR

Bid for crossing upgrade accepted

Pool update

Submitted photo

Okanogan County Auditor Laurie Thomas (left) and Tonasket Mayor Patrick Plumb show off the new ballot drop box in front of the Tonasket City Hall. There are now three 24-hour drop boxes in Okanogan County, they are located at Tonasket City Hall, 209 S. Whitcomb Ave., at the Omak City Hall/Police Department at 8 N. Ash St. and at 180 Pateros Mall, parking lot, and will be available for the Aug. 7 primary election. Ballots are being mailed on July 19. The ballot drop boxes will open on Friday, July 20 and remain open until 8 p.m. on election night. The drop boxes were purchased and installed with the assistance of a HAVA (Help America Vote Act) grant made available to Okanogan County by the Washington Secretary of State’s office. Thomas would like to thank the City of Pateros and mayor Gail Howe, the City of Omak and mayor Cindy Gagne along with the City of Tonasket and Mayor Patrick Plumb for their cooperation in providing the sites for the official drop boxes.

SEE COUNCIL | PG. A2

INSIDE THIS EDITION

While a committee to spearhead the building of a new swimming pool has not yet officially formed, Councilman Scott Olson said he’d made headway in finding a number of volunteers, as well as someone who expressed interest in leading it. “Joyce Fancher is interested in heading the committee,” Olson said. “The greater Tonasket area needs to be well represented.” City Clerk Alice Attwood said that she hadn’t received any calls from people volunteering to be on the committee. “I was approached on Sunday as to why the city isn’t busing kids to Omak (to swim),” said Councilwoman Jean Ramsey. Mayor Plumb asked if the creation of the committee required council action. “My understanding is that they are going to try to create a parks / pool district,” Olson said. “That district will then work with the council ... “As far as ideas and limitations we’ll want to be involved in it.” “The vision we’ve had over time, we need to make sure over time, what are the next steps? Say, they get a taxing district that exists outside the city limits, we would have to vote to join it. And then we would have to deal with the ownership

Community A2-3 Valley Life A4 Letters & Opinions A5

Valley Life A6-7 Obits/Police A8 Motor Sports A9

Classifieds/Legals 10-11 Business & Services A11 Valley Life A12