HEADLINES & HISTORY SINCE 1879 Goldendale, Washington
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2024
Vol. 145 No. 39
$1.00
Commissioner shares ‘dirt’ on critic LOU MARZELES EDITOR Klickitat County Commissioner Dan Christopher, handed what he thought was dirt on one of his critics, shared the information with workers at the county offices and sent it to his critic with an intimation that he might use it against him. A supporter of Christopher’s sent him the presumptive dirt in the form of a scan of his critic’s criminal arrest record. On it the sender added, “This is who is throwing you under the bus.” After showing the scan to people in county offices, Christopher then sent it to his critic, adding, “Someone gave me this last week.” The critic wrote back: “Are you threatening me?” Christopher responded, “I haven’t decided what I am going to do. Time will tell.” Christopher’s critic brought the supposedly damning document and Christopher’s comments to The Sentinel, sharing
The Sentinel presents interviews with the two Position 1 candidates for Klickitat County commissioner, Amanda Kitchings and Todd Andrews.
TODD ANDREWS
Please share your background. I was born in Clovis, New Mexico, and in kindergarten moved to Lubbock, Texas. I was there from first grade to first year at Texas Tech University. Then I got a chance to go to Wright Patterson Air Force Base and go to college there. There was a hotel and restaurant management school, and that’s what excited me. I found that way more exciting than going to school, but I still felt it important to have some kind of education, so I went to a hotel and restaurant management school up there and took a Walt Disney World internship. During that internship, I met Alicia Stein and moved up here, and we got married. She was born and raised here in white Salmon. That brought me to the Gorge. That was 1994, and I’ve been here ever since. The first 10 years I had Loafers Old World Bakery in Bingen, Washington. We had 32 employees at its peak. We had another little coffee house in Stevenson and the creamery in White Salmon. Then, due to having two kids and a third on the way, we were looking to slow down a little bit. So we were looking to downsize, and next thing we knew, we’d sold both main production facilities, and I started doing consulting, helping other people open bakeries. That ended up being similarly, a little more travel than I wanted to do with three young boys. This started my third decade of redevelopment. All my brothers-in-law and father-in-law were builders in this area. For the last 10 years, probably 90 to 95%
AMANDA KITCHINGS
What have been some of your significant accomplishments? Growing up in White Salmon, I loved going to Brownies meetings and dances and friends’ concerts at the Grange. When I returned to the area in 2015, it was obvious that the Grange building, built by volunteers in 1934, needed serious restoration. After years of hard work by board and community members, the Grange building has been restored and will serve as a community space for years to come. We offer low event rental rates to ensure access for the whole community. We are also very excited to be hosting a pickup site for the Gorge Farmer Collective and a farm tool and food preservation library organized by the Underwood Conservation Fund. As we prepare to celebrate our 125th anniversary as a working Grange, we’re proud to be a space that locals know and depend on. What was your involvement with the White Salmon Arts Council? The White Salmon Arts Council began as an effort to connect local artists with one another. WSAC has since expanded its mission to support arts education in our public schools. I assisted in this transition and acted as an education liaison, building relationships with local teachers so that we can better support their efforts. How did you support local arts and culture? Owning and operating an art gallery was a dynamic and challenging occupation. I helped
them on condition of anonymity. The document proved to have no damaging consequence since the matter was subsequently dismissed in court. Contacted for comment and asked to disclose who sent him the arrest record, Christopher initially said he would come to The Sentinel office with the person who sent it. But he subsequently reversed his decision and denounced any suggestion of wrongdoing on his part, claiming The Sentinel was showing political bias against him. He has refused further comment. Since obtaining Christopher’s texts and emails, The Sentinel has learned from others, also sharing on condition of anonymity, that Christopher has made similar veiled threats against them. Some legal authorities suggest the document sent to Christopher may have come from a law enforcement source, possibly from within Klickitat County.
See Dirt page B1
Dallesport airport well faces FAA obstacles RODGER NICHOLS FOR THE SENTINEL Amanda Kitchings
Todd Andrews
of my work has been as a licensed contractor doing construction. What moved you to run for commissioner? I was civic minded in that I would vote and paid attention to elections. But there was not a bone in my body that ever made me think I would do anything like run for any office or be political. I was on the Bingen revitalization team to help decide on the trees and getting a grant to fix up Bingen. That type of civic engagement I enjoyed. But in the last four years, my kids were growing up, and I was paying more attention in this political landscape and noticing that since I moved here 30 years ago, I’ve seen a few really bad decisions in government. Often government was having a real difficult time trying to be efficient or fiscally responsible at all. I started to notice this trend that they occasionally make these disastrous decisions. I started to see property values increase at such a rapid pace and roads not
getting better, maybe worse. I just started paying more attention to government and how it was working and not being pleased with it, knowing I want my kids to grow up here and be able to have grandkids who could afford to live here. So we were out looking for people to run for county commissioner, talking to a number of people, and they’d always say, “Why don’t you do it?” And I’d say, “That’s not my forte.” But a number of people started telling me, “Well, that’s why you should do it, because that’s kind of what good civics is—you do it because you want see things get better.” Not necessarily because you want the position or you have land to develop. You just want to see good governance. I didn’t sign up until the very last day because I was really trying to figure out how to make a living and have time to campaign and finance it. I won’t make as much money [as a commission-
manage the gallery’s 13 represented artists, the gallery staff, and our logistical partners. I assisted with exhibition design and press outreach and traveled to art fairs around the country and occasionally abroad. I learned that making and viewing art plays an important role in the way we navigate and make sense of the world. Simply viewing art can help relieve stress and increase dopamine levels. I believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to make and experience art, including those of us who live in rural communities. We have makers and artists of all kinds here, and I am grateful for the richness they bring to our community. Why are you running for county commissioner, and what do you hope to accomplish? As a fourth-generation White Salmon resident, I’ve felt the changes in our county and witnessed how they affect our community. When I returned to the area with my family nine years ago, I knew I wanted to be a steward for Klickitat County. I want to protect our landscapes, support our farmers, and bring resources and jobs to all who call this county home. In my first term I will aim to update the county’s comprehensive plan, which has not been updated since the 1970s, to address the opportunities and challenges we face today. I will work to hire a full time grant writer so the county can more aggressively pursue state and federal funding to tackle issues like affordable housing, child care, and
resource protection. I will work to build strong relationships with outside organizations that focus on economic development, fire and public safety, and resources for our families such as childcare and affordable housing.” What unique perspectives do you feel you bring to the table, and how do they inform your approach? I understand the people have lived here for generations, and because I have lived in communities outside of the state, I also understand the new residents moving in. We are all here because we appreciate this majestic landscape, and many of us make our living in it. As commissioner, I will support job growth in the agricultural and forestry sectors, industries that our people know well. I will bring my small-town civility and experience building relationships to work for our county on a local, state, and federal level. I will lead with my head and my heart. We are better together. How do you plan to support childcare initiatives to help working families in Klickitat County? I am learning about the meaningful work of the Klickitat County Childcare Committee so that I can support it once elected. KCCC has raised the funding for a childcare center in Goldendale, and the county and city need to come together to help them get this center up and running. If we get the right people together, we can create a model for the rest of the county. What are your priorities
See Andrews page A6
See Kitchings page A6
Just like in the Dolly Parton song, Klickitat County Commissioners worked 9 to 5 at their September 17 meeting to make up for last week’s shorter meeting, which was brief for lack of a quorum. In the public comment section, commissioners were able to correct a statement made by a candidate at a candidates’ night event September 12 in Dallesport. The candidate accused the current commission of not correcting problems with the Klickitat County Jail, specifically that they had not changed the vents in the cells so they couldn’t be used for self-harm. At the commission meeting, Commissioner Dan Christopher said they had been changed, with the one exception being the cell where a suicide took place. “That was blocked off and being unused and untouched while that case was ongoing,” he said, “But the rest of them I know have been upgraded.” Another caller thought the recent Highway 97 fire had been caused by a wind turbine accident and suggested the turbine owner be assessed the cost of fighting the fire. Later in the meeting, Emergency Management Director Jeff King said that was not the case. “That was ignited along Highway 97 by someone traveling on the highway,” he said. “To my knowledge there haven’t been any determination of an exact cause, but what I will say is it was not started by any activity of any commercial company in that area, and it was not a wind farm incident.” King appeared in place of Undersheriff Carmen Knopes, who had been originally scheduled on the agenda. A possible solution also emerged to deal with the long-running problem involving the county not turning over operation of a well on the airport site to the Dallesport Water District despite having signed a contract in 2011 to do so. The problem stems from the Federal Aviation Administration, which insists that the well is an asset of the airport, and their policies prevent any asset from being given away. This reporter passed on a suggestion that Klickitat County and the City of The Dalles, which jointly own the airport, give a grant to the Dallesport Water District in the amount the FAA would consider a fair value for the well. The water district would then use that money to pay for their access to the well. The FAA would see the well being
paid for and allow the airport to honor the contract. And since the county and the city own the airport, they would get their money back. The original contract is conditional on FAA approval. To honor the contract without FAA approval would jeopardize millions of dollars of future grants and possibly trigger a demand that the airport return millions already granted. Commissioner Jacob Anderson said the idea was new to him and would be worth considering. During his weekly report on progress at the jail, HR Director Robb Van Cleave told commissioners that, in preparation for setting up a Department of Corrections to take over jail operations, the team had worked on everything from getting an address for the department to installing and setting up a copy machine. Several applicants for the new jail manager had been interviewed and a provisional offer had been made to one candidate. He also said that the insurance pool that covers the county had reminded him that the county had until the end of this month to use a $5,000 grant dedicated to risk management. “We’d like to spend all of the money in the jail and buy six all-in-one suicide prevention beds—actually mattresses,” he said, noting that NORCOR in The Dalles uses them as well, “And nine suicide prevention smocks and nine suicide prevention blankets. It totals about $4,800.” As the county moves into the budget-building cycle, commissioners are holding budget sessions, looking to build a balanced budget in the face of a $5 million shortfall. But Anderson said the county can handle it: “This is not the sky is falling, doom and gloom,” he said. “We have ample reserves. We are not bankrupt. The county will be able to manage this. Yes, we’re going to have to make hard decisions. Yes, we’re going to have to prioritize, but we will be okay, and we have multiple years in which we can be OK.” In the afternoon session, commissioners heard an appeal against granting a zone change that would allow two adjacent property owners to divide their holdings into smaller lots capable of supporting additional housing. Several members of the Snowden community challenged the approval, saying it would impact a wildlife corridor. Ultimately, commissioners upheld the zone change, noting that the two properties were surrounded on three sides by the more permissive zone and that a few new
See County page B1