KYLE MacCONNELL PERFORMS
SCHOOLS RECOGNIZE EARTH AND ARBOR DAYS
Esther Bricques, May 1, 5 p.m. Pastime Bar & Grill, May 2-3, 6 p.m.
See Pages B2-3
SERVING WASHINGTON’S
OKANOGAN VALLEY
SINCE 1905
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FIRST RESPONDERS, SCHOOLS STAGE DISASTER DRILL
Tonasket grapples with leak charges BY BRENT BAKER BBAKER@GAZETTE-TRIBUNE.COM
TONASKET - The council engaged in a lengthy discussion on how to handle bills for properties that had water leaks that technically are the payer’s responsibility but may have extenuating circumstances involved. A water leak that occurs on the “house” side of the water meter is the homeowner’s (or renter’s) responsibility, while those on the “street” side are the city’s. However a number of recent leaks, including one that resulted in a bill of $4,255.80 and two others exceeding $500, has the city working to formulate a set policy to deal with those charges. The council mulled several ideas, including a possible forgiveness of those charges, but didn’t reach a final decision. “My first concern is negligence,” said council member Scott Olson. “Are we comfortable that they weren’t?” The problem, city works manager Hugh Jensen pointed out, is that the customer may not know they have a leak either until they receive a water bill, or unless the city notices the leak. With the new digital meters being installed that should make it easier for leaks to come to light more quickly, but Jensen said that even a small leak can release a lot of water with 60 pounds per inch of force behind it.
Tonasket School District and multiple first-response agencies staged a drill on Tuesday, April 29, to gauge the effectiveness of those various entities in coordinating a multiple-casualty event. A bus-car crash was staged on Highway 20 (above); the scenario included a mocked-up emergency room at Tonasket’s North Valley Hospital, where “victims” were treated and ultimately reunited with “parents.” Multiple observers were on hand to assess the response efforts. Full story and more photos will be in next week’s issue of the GazetteTribune.
Olson questioned whether or not the $4,255 bill, for example, truly represented the loss to the city if it’s not paid. “We’re running a business; it’s not a service. You may certainly have the right to write things off if you have a policy for it. When the hospital board of commissioners write things off it is considered a bad debt. They have to approve each one separately. It should never be a staff member’s call to write off public money. It needs to be the elected officials to write things off individually at a specific time.” “Yes,” Olson said, “but I would like staff to tell me a person was non-negligent.” Complicating matters was one case where a tenant, whose name was on the bill, informed the landlord of a leak; the landlord subsequently didn’t get the leak repaired in a timely manner, sticking the tenant with the large bill. “That’s important information that we need for each one of these,” Plumb said. “Because we are asking to gift public funds every time we are doing this. There needs to be a darned good process in place before that gets done.” “I think some people don’t know what they have available to them (in terms of emergency service) if they need it,” said council member Jill Vugteveen. “... I lived
SEE WATER | PG A2
Food Bank dinner to raise funds for building BY BRENT BAKER BBAKER@GAZETTE-TRIBUNE.COM
TONASKET - The Tonasket Food Bank has led a nomadic existence over the years. The organization has an opportunity to make its current location a permanent one and is hoping that the community, which was highly supportive over the winter with huge donations over the holidays, will help to raise the necessary funds to purchase the old Sarge’s Burger Bunker building. The Food Bank will be hosting a fundraising dinner at the Community Cultural Center of Tonasket on Saturday, May 10, at 6:00 p.m. Rob Thompson will be serving as the “master of ceremonies” with Steve Kinzie and the Hyde family providing entertainment. As part of the program, a number of the churches and volunteer organiza-
Photos by Gary DeVon and Brent Baker
tions that have helped work at the food bank will share their experiences. There will not be an auction; dinner will be by donation, with envelopes left on the tables for diners to give that evening, or to take home and send in later. Two of the Food Bank’s Board of Directors, Debbie Roberts and Diana Weddle, described recent challenges, including a change in leadership, leading up to the current dilemma. “Since we’ve taken over the donations have been substantial,” Roberts said. “We’ve tried to do more outreach. Our board of eight has been working hard; before it was one couple that did just about everything. So we have more resources in terms of presence and dividing tasks.” The current building owners were hoping for a sale by the end of May. That won’t happen regardless, but they offered
SEE FOOD BANK | PG A2
Emrys are May Fest Grand Marshals Connections with ‘May Day’ event go way back to 1930s BY GARY A. DE VON MANAGING EDITOR
OROVILLE – Clayton and Joyce “Boots” Emry have been selected as this year’s May Festival Grand Marshals – a year when Oroville’s special event marks its 80th Anniversary. Clayton arrived in Oroville in May 1935, just in time for that year’s May Day activities – although he says he didn’t celebrate that year and the next year was when he first got involved. Joyce, or “Boots” to those that use her childhood nickname,
wouldn’t arrive in Oroville until 1943. Clayton’s family followed other relatives who had come out from Allen, Nebraska, about 35 miles from Sioux City, Iowa. They came in a 1930 or 1931 Whippet twodoor sedan that was pulling a four wheel trailer “with no brakes and no lights” he recalls. Clayton, just eight-years-old, came with his parents, Lloyd and Merna, as well as his older brother Cleland, who was 12 and his younger brother Wayne who was just 18-monthsold. They were to be joined in Oroville by a sister, Elaine, in 1937 and brother, Kenneth, in 1939. “It took us 13 days,” he said. “We stopped and spent three days at one of my uncle’s in Montana. Uncle Lester and Aunt Ellen and
Gertrude Sawtell came at the same time. We were all from the same area of Nebraska.” Clayton said he saw an article that noted 11 families had moved to Oroville that year, all relatives of his – with names like Lawson, Snyder and Forney. “We were told that land was pretty cheap and we could set out and orchard and dad could get a job paying 25 cents an hour,” he said. “That was pretty good at the time, better than at home.” His dad did go into raising apples and worked for the irrigation district for a number of years putting in the wooden flumes and the tunnel at Shanker’s Bend. Boots’ grandparents and uncle preceeded her immediate family to Oroville in 1935. “Some came on the Balmes-
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Clayton and Joyce “Boots” Emry are this year’s May Festival Grand Marshals. They have a long history working on May Day, with the barbecue and with transporting the float and royalty to various communities around the region. Gary DeVon/staff photo
Clark Truck,” she said. “We came from Warden, Missouri, which is near Springfield. Everybody was poor, I think wages when we came were 35 cents an hour.... That was more than we could make back home. My father was a farmer and many times when it
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was time to get crops to harvest we would have no rain.” She said the family was planning on staying a year, but at apple blossom time they fell in love with the area. “Dad liked the fact you could make it rain whenever you want...
through the irrigation ditches. Dad had a job at Blackler and Evans,” she said. “It was quite a job, he ran the ditches, this was before sprinklers, and he had the whole system in his head. Water here on Tuesday, there on
SEE MARSHALS | PG A3
INSIDE THIS EDITION Cops & Courts A4 Letters/Opinion A5 Community A6-7
Obituaries Sports Schools
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Classifieds/Legals B4-5 Real Estate B5 Business Directory B6