HEADLINES & HISTORY SINCE 1879
Goldendale, Washington
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2023
Vol. 144 No. 37
$1.00
CONTRIBUTED
AND A CHILD SHALL LEAD THEM: Brent Fuentes, Mayor for the Day, leads the Goldendale city council in the Pledge of Allegiance last Tuesday.
Mayor for the Day leads council meeting RODGER NICHOLS FOR THE SENTINEL
The deadly high Fentanyl rises to new lows; Mosbrucker at crisis meeting LOU MARZELES EDITOR For many fentanyl users, the thinking seems to be, if you’re going to die, die high. Either fentanyl fans don’t realize how easily fatal the drug can be, or, worse, they don’t care. The high seems worth the risk, and in that mentality, when the high is that high, the risk is that low. In 2011 and 2012, overdose deaths involving opioids nationwide totaled 2,600 per year. That number rose to more than 68,000 in 2011 alone. Now it’s ballooned to about 258,000—and according to the Centers for Disease Control, that growth is chiefly due to the deadly popularity of illegal fentanyl. Is fentanyl ever legal? Sure. It’s been around since 1959, and it’s approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use as an analgesic pain reliever and anesthetic. The Department of Justice’s Drug Enforcement Agency says it’s 100 times more potent than morphine. It’s 50 times more po-
TOP: J.D. CROWE, AL.COM. ABOVE: DRUG ENFORCEMENT AGENCY.
INADVERTENT SUICIDE: Opioid overdose deaths nationwide climbed from a few thousand per year a decade ago to more than a quarter million since 2013. The Centers for Disease Control attritbutes the rise chiefly to the prevalence and ease of lethal exposure of fentanyl. The deadly drug is often sold in multicolored candy-like pills (top image). tent than heroin as an analgesic. Illegally manufactured fentanyl (a huge business) can be injected, snorted, smoked, taken orally as a pill or tablet, and ingested from spots on blotter paper. The ease of accessibility and vast range of possible usage make the white powdery substance a high seeker’s dream come true. But that’s just the start. In case the fentanyl kick just isn’t good enough, the drug can be mixed with any number of other similar drugs to form a mind-numbing cocktail. The latest designer high utilizes horse tranquilizers. But the danger doesn’t stay with users. Fentanyl exposure can seriously harm innocent bystanders. Like law enforcement officers. And medical personnel. The fentanyl craze is indeed crazed, and officials have been struggling with how to deal with it. The consensus generally seems to be education. Users need to understand that using fentanyl to
experience a high is kind of like jumping off a building because the fall feels so cool. The simple, stark reality is that there has likely never been a drug that can so easily and quickly lead to death. People inclined to use the drug just don’t get it. If they want to live, they need to. To that end, Rep. Gina Mosbrucker joined a meeting on the burgeoning fentanyl crisis last week with representatives from the City of Toppenish, including Mayor Elpidia Saavedra; the Yakama Tribal Council; Yakima Tribal Police; Toppenish Hospital; Yakima County Sheriff Robert Udell; Yakima City fire and police; Melissa Howtopat from Goldendale, whose son died in the aftermath of fentanyl use; and others at the Toppenish Community Center. “We were trying to choose areas where people are most affected,” Mosbrucker says. “And the
See Drug page A8
KPUD meets with Trout Lake residents ZACHARY VILLAR FOR THE SENTINEL
A meeting was held between representatives from Public Utility District No. 1 of Klickitat County (KPUD) and the community of Trout Lake on September 5 to discuss customer concerns regarding the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) project. The KPUD began implementing the project this month. The AMI project involves installing new advanced meters on all homes in the county that receive electricity from the KPUD with the goal of allowing customers to better monitor and manage their energy usage and allowing the KPUD to improve the safety, reliability, and efficiency of energy delivery for customers.
ZACHARY VILLAR
TOUGH QUESTIONS: KPUD Commissioner Randy Knowles (center) and KPUD General Manager Jim Smith (right) address a group of citizens in Trout Lake concerned about the AMI project, moderated by community council member Pat Arnold (left). KPUD General Manager Jim Smith and KPUD Commissioner Randy Knowles fielded questions from the group of people that filled the Trout Lake Grange’s sitting capacity, with many people standing along the walls and in the back of the room. The meeting was moderated by Trout Lake community council member Pat Arnold.
The group of citizens’ concerns ranged from privacy violations to personal health and safety. Several people had more than one question to ask, but Arnold did her best to allow only one question per person so everyone could speak. The meeting lasted an hour and twenty minutes with questions continuing to the last minute.
The star of the September 5 Goldendale City Council meeting was 7-year-old Mayor For the Day Brent Fuentes, who won the position by coming in first at the scavenger hunt for kids during Community Days in July. With just a little coaching from Mayor Mike Canon, he said, “I call this meeting to order,” and banged the gavel with gusto. Fuentes occupied the mayoral chair for the first hour of the meeting, which included a detailed report on the Firewise program by Jeff King and Frank Hewey of the Klickitat County Emergency Management Team and by Goldendale Fire Chief Noah Halm. Firewise is a National Fire Protection Association program that “teaches people how to adapt to living with wildfire and encourages neighbors to
work together and take action now to prevent losses,” according to its website. Much of the information regards siting construction in areas of least fire risk and creating defensible spaces around buildings. Mayor Canon remarked on a recent situation that got a lot of media exposure. “I watched the Maui fire very, very closely,” he said, “because I thought my daughter was there. There was a house that was completely Firewise. Over 100 years old, it was right in the middle of that town, and the fire went right around it.” In other actions, councilors approved adding a water service to a property outside city limits, after learning that a 1912 agreement required the city to add service in that area when requested. And they approved a pair of amendments revising the 2023 city budget.
Special fundraiser dinner to help family LOU MARZELES EDITOR A tragic act of desperation and a long, painful return are the stories behind a special fundraiser dinner to be held Friday, September 29, at 6 p.m. at the Goldendale American Legion, 108 N. Grant Street. Some months ago, Goldendale resident Molly Nicholas put a gun to her head and fired. A relative deflected the gun as it went off, preventing a certain death. But the blast severely injured her jaw, which is being reconstructed by bone and skin taken from her leg. Now in recovery, Molly does not flinch from what happened. The first question was a threeparter from Duane Farnham who wanted to know what problems the AMI project and the advanced meters resolve for the KPUD. “What are the objectives and key success criteria you’re measuring by; what would be a failure and what would be a success by how you’re measuring it? Straight Talk part 7 states, ‘70 percent of the meters in the system are already electronic.’ Why do you need [the AMI project]?” Jim Smith stood and spoke loudly to answer this question, as there was no microphone system set up for the meeting. He said that KPUD has been talking about implementing an AMI project since before Smith became general manager in 2009. “We’ve talked about it for 20 years,” said Smith. “It has not made sense economically, in a business perspective, of what we thought would be best for our customers until now. The fundamental issues that are changing and making it important now: changing power prices and a changing world. Those new things are the key issues. Power prices are going up because there are restrictions on new generation being placed statewide. At the same time, we’re
She could have told the world the shot was an accident. “No,” she said to a family member recently. “I shot myself.” In the wake of the incident, the Goldendale community is gathering around her and her family to support her recovery and help raise funds for her medical and related expenses. The dinner on the 29th is called “Pasta with a Purpose.” It’s a spaghetti dinner by donation, and there will be a live auction with many items of high value donated by area individuals and businesses for the cause. The dinner marks a new start for a person on a new path, helped by her community.
seeing load-growth at a higher rate than we have before.” In the electricity market, load is the demand for electricity at any given time. Smith said that the number of electric vehicles (EV) being used by people in Klickitat County is going up, which illustrates one way people are starting to use more electricity here. As of June there are 206 EVs registered in Klickitat County, as stated in an article published by the KPUD. “That number accounts for just 1% of all vehicles,” the article stated. “The state predicts 1,300 EVs will be registered in the county by 2030. Keep in mind, the current legislation in Washington State bans the sale of new internal combustion engine vehicles starting in 2035.” Things like EVs are causing the KPUD to see significant load changes based on the amount of power individual customers use. “That’s okay; we’re fine with that,” continued Smith. “What this is intended to do is to allow us to be able to get information and design a rate so that rate structures give our customers the ability to make decisions based on when they use power, what their power bills are, and to allow a cus-
See KPUD page B4