Okanogan Valley Gazette-Tribune, May 02, 2013

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Hometown Pizza fire caught on video

FUN IN THE SUN

Owner credits neighboring business, police and fire departments with limiting fire damage BY GARY A. DEVON MANAGING EDITOR

Brent Baker/staff photo

Tonasket School District staff joined forces with a posse of kids in one of several Tug o’ War battles that took place at Sunday’s Big Splash BBQ. The fundraiser for the Tonasket Water Ranch spray park drew about 500 people and netted about $5,000 toward the project on an afternoon filled with food, fun and games.

BIG SPLASH, BIG PARTY

Big Splash BBQ fundraiser nets $5,000 for Tonasket Water Ranch spray park BY BRENT BAKER BBAKER@GAZETTE-TRIBUNE.COM

TONASKET - A sun-kissed spring afternoon, a common cause for the community to rally around, and the seemingly bottomless pool of ingenuity offered by Linda Black and her team of energetic volunteers turned the Big Splash BBQ into a memorable day in Tonasket. The community party, which drew around 500 people to Founders Day Park on Sunday, April 28, was set up as a fundraiser for the Tonasket Water Ranch spray park project, which Black has spearheaded both as an enhancement to the community and a bridge to give area kids a summertime activity until the condemned city pool can be replaced, which is a years-long proposition. Black hopes the spray park can be built this summer. “It was a really good community feeling,” she said. “It was great to see so many young families and kids.” While there was plenty of food on hand, the park was filled with activity. Quill and Barley Hyde’s A Cavallo (mobile carousel creation) served both backdrop and stage for musical entertainment. Julie Ashmore and the group SPARoW (Steve Sher, Leaha Passaro, Tim Alley, Mariliz Romano and Doug Wilson) provided the music for about three hours. Bud McSpadden emceed the event, asking for donations for the water park and engaging in good-natured mockery with “victims” that agreed to take a dive in the dunk tank. Tonasket Mayor Patrick Plumb, who has advocated for both the spray park

Brent Baker/staff photos

Above, Jensen Sackman (right), trying to raise money from for dunk tank bids, tries to separate Mayor Patrick Plumb from his money. Below, Community mastermind Linda Black rounded up a team of energetic volunteers to pull off the massive Big Splash BBQ fundraiser, which turned into as much of a town celebration unto itself as it was a vehicle for raising money. and swimming pool, was predictably in the middle of much of the action. “It was one of the greatest things I have participated in as Mayor,” he said. “As the Tonasket Tiger mascot can attest, it may have been so much fun that it should have been illegal.” Kiddie pools and spray guns kept the younger portion of the crowd (as well as the mayor) busy, though things really got wet in the aftermath of a number of Tug o’ War contest, which culminated in the watering down of contestants with a fire hose (including Plumb, who two months ago had a similar encounter with the fire department). “It was fun to see what a little bit of water can do,” Black said. “It doesn’t take much.

SEE PARTY | PG A2

OKANOGAN VALLEY GAZETTE-TRIBUNE Volume 109 No. 18

OROVILLE – A fire in the early morning hours last Sunday at Hometown Pizza and Pasta in Oroville was limited to mostly smoke damage because of the quick reporting by the owner of the recently opened Pastime Bar and Grill. “Vicki (Henzie) from next door told a police officer that she saw smoke coming from the roof. Officer Patterson called the fire department and broke the front door glass with his flashlight. He came in and used a fire extinguisher to put it out,” said John Desjardin, who owns the popular restaurant with his wife Becky. Desjardin said he and his wife were awakened with a call sometime after 1 a.m. on Sunday morning. “She’s still crying but it could have been a lot worse, we plan to get the whole crew in here tomorrow and open back up on Wednesday,” said Desjardin. He was surveying the damage on Monday morning while a crew from Omak Glass was working on replacing the glass in the front door and Vinnie DeMartino from Vinnie’s Carpet Cleaning was steam cleaning the carpets. The smell of smoke could still be distinguished, but was not overpowering as Desjardin pointed to a bakers rack where he had stacked a pile of dishrags on the top rack next to a box of pasta to dry after their second run through the washing machine. “They were clean, but they still had some grease in them. They obviously caught fire and the fire spread to some plastic pitchers we had on the shelf below. The fire melted the pitchers and scorched a cooler that is behind the baker’s rack, but otherwise was limited to mostly smoke damage. “Vicki saw smoke coming through the ceiling vent. If the Pastime hadn’t opened this week... say it opened a week from now, we probably wouldn’t have a restaurant to open up again on Wednesday,” said Desjardin.

As much time and energy as the spray park project has consumed, it does highlight the magnitude of what it will take to get a swimming pool funded and built to replace the city pool that was condemned two years ago. It isn’t just the price tag of building it (likely upwards of $2 million), but the costs associated with running and maintaining a pool, which will not be a major factor when it comes to the spray park. “I think we are going to have an immense challenge in front of us to get working on a community swimming pool,” said Tonasket Mayor Patrick Plumb. “I have faith that this community can step up and assist us with this project. If we address this issue with the same energy and turnout as the Big Splash BBQ, we can accomplish this project too.” Part of the issue with the swimming pool is that because of the money required both to build and maintain it, it needs to be

SEE POOL | PG A2

BY BRENT BAKER

TONASKET - Yard sale season is beginning in Tonasket, and with it complaints of traffic and congestion in residential areas. The City Council has been mulling an ordinance to limit the number of yard sales permitted in the city. However, after plenty of discussion at the Tuesday, April 23, council meeting, it was clear that the council was undecided on exactly how to move forward. The proposed ordinance defined a yard sale as a yard, patio, garage, rummage or similar type of sale by an individual or group for profit. The ordinance would limit such sales to three per calendar year with a maximum length of four consecutive days, to be held no fewer than 30 days apart. It was unclear whether or not it would also apply to business properties. “I need the clarification,” said council member Scott Olson. “There is the weekly yard sale at Sarge’s (the closed restaurant that also serves as the food bank on the north end of town). Does this not apply because he’d a business?” “He does have a business license,” said Mayor Patrick Plumb. “Note that (being a yard sale) doesn’t exempt them from collecting sales tax.” Noting the extreme rarity of anyone collecting sales tax at yard sales, Olson said he didn’t want to use whether or

“We were lucky.” On the ceiling pointed towards the kitchen and the baker’s rack Desjardin has a video camera. On top of the cooler that was scorched facing toward the front of the restaurant is a monitor. He said he believed the fire would have been caught on that camera. While Fire Chief Rod Noel, DeMartino and Father David Kuttner from the Oroville Catholic Church looked on, Desjardin played back what happened in the early morning hours. The area around the rags fills with dark smoke and soon the pile of rags seems to suddenly burst into flames. These continue to get higher as the video is played and then you can see more flame from the area where the plastic pitchers are stored. Eventually a flashlight can be seen in the kitchen and the fire goes out as it is hit with a dry powder extinguisher. Not long afterwards

SEE FIRE | PG A2

not someone licensed to collect sales tax, whether they did so or not, as a litmus test for whether or not their business activity could be considered a yard sale. “If we do that, that means that if it’s illegal, we’re calling it a yard sale,” he said. “I just want it to be clear what is a yard sale and why. I think of it as residential places.” Olson added that when he has received complaints about yard sales, it has been about traffic and congestion in residential areas. “The definition should be ‘residential,’” said council member Lee Hale. “The main problem is with some in residential areas making it into a business. But in town that’s different.” Council member Jean Ramsey, saying it was past time something was done, added that a number of people come from out of town to hold yard sales in town. Signs left up after the yard sale was over have also been an issue as they quickly turn into litter. “If Sarge is holding a yard sale (on the restaurant’s own property) that’s different,” she said. “But someone else using it over and over is a problem... After a set number of times it becomes a business and revenue is not being collected.” “I struggle with this issue,” Olson said. “I hear what you’re saying. But I want to respect property owner’s rights and that includes business owners with business property... But when I drive by (Sarge’s)

SEE COUNCIL | PG A2

INSIDE THIS EDITION

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

The scorched cooler and rack where the fire started at Hometown Pizza and Pasta in Oroville last Sunday morning.

Tonasket weighs yard sale ordinance BBAKER@GAZETTE-TRIBUNE.COM

What about the pool?

Gary DeVon/staff photo

Schools A4 Letters/Opinion A5 Valley Life A6-7

Calendar A7 Classifieds/Legals A8-9 Real Estate A9

Sports Police Stats Obituaries

A10-11 A11 A12


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