Headlines & History since 1879 Goldendale, Washington
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2026
Vol. 147 No. 7
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Sheriff standards bill passes State Senate Jake Goldstein-Street Washington State Standard Klickitat County
THE HEIGHT: The black line in the center of this image with the arrow pointing up shows the height of the proposed flagpole. The county commission voted against it, but the fight may not be over.
The flag flap: to fly or not to fly Lou Marzeles Editor The fate of a giant American flag for Goldendale is still in the wind, despite a decision by a majority of Klickitat County commissioners not to accept the gift. Yes. A gift. To hear some tell it, two of the commissioners looked the gift horse in the mouth and decided they didn’t want it. They did offer arguments to support their views. Goldendale resident Ty Ross proposed to give the county the enormous flag and mount it on what would be the tallest flagpole in the state—200 feet high. Ross jumped through a requisite series of hoops to meet city, county, and state considerations and came out with assurances at every level that the flagpole would be agreeable. Ross said he would cover
all costs for the flag and pole and placement of it on the courthouse lawn, along with all future maintenance costs. He cited an agreement with the Goldendale American Legion to regularly raise and lower the flag as needed. There was also discussion about placing lights so the flag could legally fly at night. But it was the maintenance issue that gave Commissioner Ron Ihrig pause. To cover those potential future costs, Ross arranged to open a special bank account that would accrue significant interest over years. It projected to earn interest of about 10% annually. “That struck me as highly uncertain,” Ihrig said of the plan. “And with the county in a hiring freeze, I could not in good conscience vote to allow the county to risk paying some $10,000 each time we needed to do something
at the top of the flagpole.” That figure is about the cost of getting a special crane and bucket to lift a worker up to that height. Other arguments against the flagpole include concern that the courthouse and its associated property may be listed with the State Historic Preservation Office and thereby precluded from a flagpole of this height. Also cited were claims from the county courts about insufficient parking for court hearings each week; some said that having the flag as a tourist attraction would compound the parking issue. To the point about a bank account being unable to earn sufficient interest, an examination of Ross’s bank account plan shows his funds were not going into a standard savings account in which lower interest rates would
See Flag page A8
Double murder suspect found guilty Catherine Couture For The Sentinel
Two years ago, on the morning of March 29, 2024, Klickitat County Sheriff’s Office Deputies responded to a report of gunshot victims on Austin Road, near the outskirts of Goldendale. Upon arrival, the victims were identified to be a 57-year-old male, and a 44-year-old female, Steven and Sasha Hicks. The suspect, a 56-year-old male by the name of David Joseph Lavine, was found
armed with a firearm at the scene and was taken into custody under charges of murder in the second Degree. David Lavine appeared before the court on January 27 this year, though the documents of the hearing were not released to the public until February 12. Included in the documents were several pages of evidence recovered from the investigation, totaling 209 individual exhibits. These included, but were not limited to, text correspondence, phone calls,
photographs, and personal notes taken by the suspect. In the autopsy reports, the victims were found with gunshot wounds to both the torso and head. Motive of the crime is still unclear. The jury found Lavine guilty on all counts. He was charged with two counts of murder in the First Degree, and two counts of murder in the second degree. His sentencing will be held on March 2, 2026. Until then, he is being held at the Klickitat County Jail without bail.
Contributed
NEW LINE: PUD contractor workers were digging a trench to replace the water main on Red Cedar in Ponderosa Park Friday.
The Washington state Senate approved legislation last Thursday to set stricter eligibility standards for sheriffs and other police leadership, weeks after a sheriff’s comments on the bill left some lawmakers feeling threatened. The legislation now heads to the House. The contentious measure also looks to give the state a path to remove elected sheriffs from office if they don’t meet the new requirements and limit the use of “posses” of police volunteers that some sheriffs deploy. After roughly two hours of debate, Senate Bill 5974 passed on a party-line 30-19 vote, with no Republican support. Democrats say it’s a necessary measure to hold sheriffs and chiefs accountable and help build public confidence in police. The bill’s sponsor, Sen. John Lovick, is a former Snohomish County sheriff and longtime state trooper. He noted other states, including Texas and Georgia, have passed similar legislation. He said he thinks the bill will “continue the positive and productive law enforcement culture in our state.” “No one who fails to uphold the integrity of the law should enforce it upon others,” said Lovick, a Democrat from Mill Creek. Republicans believe the bill is an override of the will of vot-
ers and state overreach into the power of local governments. They called it a “solution in search of a problem.” “If voters hire the sheriff,” said Sen. Chris Gildon, R-Puyallup, “voters ought to be able to fire the sheriff, not a commission in Olympia.” Sheriffs and police chiefs are also staunchly opposed. What it would do Currently, appointed police chiefs have to be U.S. citizens with a high school diploma or equivalent who haven’t been convicted of a felony or a recent lesser crime involving “moral turpitude.” They also have to be certified as a peace officer and have at least two years of full-time law enforcement experience. Elected sheriffs don’t have the same requirements, but they have to get certified by the state Criminal Justice Training Commission within a year of taking office. The governor appoints the commission’s board. The bill the Senate passed would add new eligibility requirements for police chiefs and extend all of them to sheriffs. They’d need to be at least 25 years old and have at least five years of law enforcement experience, instead of two. This requirement would disqualify the sitting sheriff in southwest Washington’s Pacific County, Daniel Garcia, a naval veteran who won office without prior law enforcement experi-
See Bill page A8
County moves to secure loan for hangar project Rodger Nichols For The Sentinel
Public Works Director Jeff Hunter wanted to make things perfectly clear at the February 10 Klickitat County Commissioners meeting. Before the Bluebird Solar project begins, he told commissioners, there would be some graveling on Dot Road and paving on the approaches to Wood Creek Bridge on Schrantz Road. “Part of their haul route is to pave both sides from the bridge out,” he said. “There’s going to be a lot of traffic, and that’s a gravel road. It won’t withstand that; it’ll be washboardy. You’d have to grade the thing almost every day, so they’re going to pave it all the way out of the draw up to the top, both sides. And before somebody gets confused, the county taxpayers are not paying any of that.” He also wanted to clear up an earlier misconception. “There are two bridges on Schrantz Road,” he said. “A lot of people think we’re talking about the same bridge; we’re not. There’s the bridge over Wood Gulch, which Avengrid is paying to repair. And then there’s the wood bridge over Big Horn Creek on Schrantz Road, a little short span wood structure which is scheduled to be replaced later on.” Commissioners also approved a public meeting on March 3 to consider extending the mora-
torium on new Battery Energy Storage Systems in the county that is due to expire. The March 3 date was chosen because of the public notice timeline requirements. A significant portion of the morning workshop was dedicated to a legislative update. The board discussed its opposition to a proposed “millionaire tax,” the status of a clean energy excise tax bill, and a major effort to recover over $2 million in gas tax funds that were shorted to the county between 2006 and 2023. The actual amount was given as $2,048,616.73. And commissioners shared a mutual interest in developing a system to track the time and cost associated with fulfilling public records requests to better inform the legislature of the financial impact. In the formal afternoon session, the board approved signing an assurance agreement to secure a $360,000 loan for the Columbia Gorge Regional Airport T-hanger project. The City of The Dalles, as 50 percent owners of the airport, was originally going to get the loan, which would provide the required matching funds for the airport grant, and the county would co-sign. But a better rate was found at the Washington Investment Board as this is one of the two boards set up by the 1986 National Scenic Area Act to support economic development in the Gorge.
See County page A8