Headlines & History since 1879 Goldendale, Washington
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19, 2026
Vol. 147 No. 33
$1.00
Victor Baca for The Sentinel
THE BIG PARADE: This year’s Klickitat County Fair held its customary parade Saturday. It was short but featured a mix of American Legion members, vehicles, horses and riders, and people running for office.
Animal shelter starts agenda at County meeting Rodger Nichols For The Sentinel The animal shelter project was the primary discussion in the Klickitat County Commission’s August 11 morning workshop session. “We don’t have the money to do that,” Public Works Director Jeff Hunter told the Board. “If we had to pay prevailing wage, [the cost] would have to go up another 25 percent. Instead of $600,000, you’d be looking at $800,000 to $900,000, and that’s just for construction.” The county could get around that problem by using County staff to construct the shelter, but that would create another problem because there is another grant-funded project at the fairgrounds that has the same deadline. Klickitat County Sheriff Bob Songer attended the meeting and spoke strongly in favor of the project. Ultimately, the Board decided to hold a workshop on the subject soon to consider whether to move the project forward or not. Other topics included an update on the airport’s T-hangar construction project, which was on track and seeing high demand. “The airport is building two new hangars,” said Airport Manager Jeff Renard. “They’ve finished the roof on both buildings now, and they are sheeting the doors.” The response from the flying public has been good. “One
building is at nearly 100% occupancy, and we received another email last night. It’s a great problem to have.” And the commission approved an exemption to the hiring freeze for the Sheriff’s Office in order to replace the vacant civil clerk position, which is a current position and in the budget. In the formal afternoon session, the board confirmed they had hired a public records officer for $75,000 a year. A little online research found that to be fairly generous. The City of Vancouver pays $51,000 a year, Spokane pays $56,000, and Seattle pays $69,000. Granted, those are all cities, but they range from eight to 32 times the population of Klickitat County. Counties in general, though, do pay higher than cities. The most significant item of the afternoon session was a motion by Todd Andrews who moved for “An interim ordinance declaring an emergency and adopting a moratorium on the acceptance of permit applications for data centers in unincorporated Klickitat County.” Before any discussion or vote could be taken, the session was hijacked by unknown persons who interrupted the Zoom feed with a bizarre video of a man throwing up. The session was closed in just seconds, and when the meeting resumed, the motion died for lack of a second. The Commission did agree to schedule a workshop on data centers for September 3.
Complaint registered against livestock in city Rodger Nichols For The Sentinel
Contributed: Rhys Logan, RhysLogan.com
RODEO ROUNDUP: The rodeo at this year’s Klickitat County Fair was a running display of old-fashioned derring-do.
The August 17 Goldendale City Council meeting clocked in at just 25 minutes. It would have been 12 minutes, but the last agenda item just before adjournment is for public comment, and Goldendale resident Mark Harmon had a complaint. “I am here tonight to urge the city to maintain a strict and absolute prohibition against fourlegged livestock within the R-1 low density residential zone,” he said.” “Specifically, I request the council to ensure that livestock, especially sheep, are not permitted in R-1 zone, under any condition or exception including educational or 4-H project.” He argued that such animals create noise and sanitation problems and that small residential lots are inhumane for them.
Police Chief Mike Smith responded: “We have an ordinance that covers all livestock animals, and there are restrictions and acreage for horses, different things. It’s all stated in the ordinance, but there is a permit for the 4-H that bypasses all of our ordinance stuff. And so we’ve always allowed those 4-H permits because of the temporary short-term raising of an animal. It’s not an ongoing year-round thing. So we won’t enforce if they have the permit.” He added that exception has been in place for at least 25 years, and in that time he’s had maybe three complaints. Ultimately, the council agreed to have the ordinance committee examine the actual language of the ordinance and report back to the council. In the first 12 minutes of the
See City page B1