Okanogan Valley Gazette-Tribune, March 08, 2012

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Council raises privacy concern

Chamber looks at future of RV Park

Buttercups: Spring is on the way

Councilman Olson voices concern about video surveillance being used in town

48 members have paid dues for 2012 so far, more still coming in

BY BRENT BAKER

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TONASKET - Tonasket Chamber of Commerce president Dale Crandall said at the Tuesday, Feb. 28 chamber meeting that after examining options for the future of the Tonasket RV Park, attempting to make it legal for tenants to stay for longer than a month at a time would be inadvisable. Crandall said that when city water is supplied, there aren’t issues that would run the park foul of the Health Department. But unless the tenants can be defined as temporary or recreational, the park would have to be designated a mobile home park. “If we have tenants there that are not vacating at least one night a month we will fall into (mobile home park territory),” he said. “We have to define our tenants as transient for recreational purposes in order to be an RV park that is exempt from mobile home park regulations. And believe me, that would be a lot more complicated.” There were no formal decisions made about the RV park, however. Treasurer Bill Nelson said that 48 members have paid dues for 2012 so far, with more still coming in. The account balance stood at $13,517 with all bills paid. Vice president Julie Alley said that she’d been attempting to contact area cottage-type businesses with chamber applications. “The Oroville chamber had a good notice with last year’s application that described how people benefit from the Chamber regardless of whether they are members or not,” she said. “They gave us permission to ‘plagiarize’ that.” Alley added that a number of businesses had been requesting printed brochures, similar to ones designed last

BY BRENT BAKER

TONASKET - Tonasket City Councilman Scott Olson has concerns about video surveillance being used in town without a policy in place. And while his motion at the council meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 29, to curtail the use of such surveillance until a policy is written failed, he hopes his point was made. The motion read, in part: “Until the Tonasket City Council passes a policy on the use of video/photo/audio surveillance including the reasons for the surveillance, use of the material gathered, what will become of the data gathered and how long it will be until it is destroyed, such electronic surveillance shall be banned except where allowed under a judge’s order. “The intent of this motion is to suspend electronic surveillance by the City of Tonasket until a policy is in place. This action is not intended to set policy.” Olson said he made the motion not because he felt such surveillance was being done improperly, but because there was nothing in place to define how and why the information would be gathered in public areas and what would be done with it. “This isn’t about how the material gets

Photos by Justin Haug

Members of the Haug family were out enjoying the warm weather, hiking in the Sinlahekin Wildlife Area, when they were surprised to find not one, but three buttercups blooming, along with other wildflowers. The tiny yellow buttercups were found on a south facing slope in the wildlife area, said Cari Haug, whose husband Justin took photographs of the flowers and their son Riley who is in the fifth grade.

“The intent of this motion is to suspend electronic surveillance by the City of Tonasket until a policy is in place. This action is not intended to set policy.” Scott Olson, Tonasket City Councilman

used in court,” he said. “It’s about what happens to the material internally.” He expressed frustration that he originally asked for a policy to be written when game cameras were purchased last fall in part to monitor for illegal dumping at Chief Tonasket Park. Despite multiple requests to police chief Robert Burks during council meetings, a policy was still not in place. Burks was not in town last week and wasn’t present at the meeting for the discussion. “I don’t want to create this policy,” Olson said. “The police department needs to write a policy that fits their needs. What I want is a policy before they start using (the cameras).... It will in effect suspend camera use.” Olson and councilwoman Julianna Griffin voted in favor of the motion, while Councilwomen Jean Ramsey and Jill Vugteveen opposed. Councilwoman Selena Hines was absent and mayor Patrick Plumb abstained; at 2-2, the motion failed. Ramsey, Vugteveen and Plumb, however, supported the intent of the motion. “I would say ‘yea’ to the motion if we were fair enough to give them a timeline,” Vugteveen said. “We’re not going to wait another six months before it’s there. But we shouldn’t restrict the use of the camera as there’s been no abuse or history of it to this point. There’s no need to not trust that our officers aren’t doing their jobs appropriately.” “I’m going to take this on myself to

SEE COUNCIL | PG. A3

SEE CHAMBER | PG. A3

‘Join Me on the Bridge’ March 8 Men and women from around the world meet on bridges to stand for peace on International Women’s Day BY JULIE ASHMORE EVENT PUBLICITY

OROVILLE - On Thursday, March 8th, at 3 p.m., community members from the United States and Canada will meet at the Canada/U.S. border crossing on the Oroville side, to help create a peace banner representing our two cities and our two countries. The “Join Me On the Bridge” event honors the resilience of millions of women survivors of war around the world. Community members from Oroville, Osoyoos and the surrounding areas will stand with women across the globe to give them strength and

OKANOGAN VALLEY GAZETTE-TRIBUNE Volume 106 No. 10

Submitted photo

Troupe Masarrat dancing at “Join Me at the Bridge” in 2010. to show support for their demands for peace and equality.

This is a global event with women and men meeting on bridges around

INSIDE THIS EDITION

CONTACT US Newsroom and Advertising (509) 476-3602 gdevon@gazette-tribune.com

the world to stand for peace on International Women’s Day, organized by by Women for Women International. To see where others are meeting this year across the globe, visit http:// joinmeonthebridge.org/page/eventmap. For the past two years, this event has been spearheaded by Ellie Braman. She had the idea to bring local people together, from both sides of the border, toward the common goal of peace and equality for all -- and she made the event happen. Braman is greatly missed in our communities and attending this event is an exceptional way to carry forward her enthusiasm and love for others. Stand with women on March 8th to build bridges of peace and hope for the future. Women and men are equally invited to attend. RSVP & more info: joinmeonthebridge.org/events/oroville. Send email inquiries to: jashmore@communitynet.org.

Community A2-3 Letters & Opinions A4 Movies A5

Valley Life A5-6 School News B1-B2 Sports B3

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