Headlines & History since 1879 Goldendale, Washington
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2026
Vol. 147 No. 35
The Sheriff candidates Catherine Couture For The Sentinel Anthony Warren, detective sergeant with the Klickitat County Sheriff’s Office, is seeking election as Klickitat County sheriff in 2026. During a recent interview, Warren discussed his priorities for the department, his background in law enforcement, and the goals driving his campaign. As of now, Anthony “Tony” Warren is working directly under current sheriff, Bob Songer. He said his duties extend well beyond investigations because of the department’s staffing shortages, explaining, “I have my hand a little in just about everything.” In addition to supervising investigations, he regularly works patrol shifts, manages department programs and training, and said he worked approximately 350 hours of overtime between January and September 2024 to help cover staffing needs. Asked about his previous employment and introduction into the world of law enforcement, Warren explained that his law enforcement career began in Skamania County, where he started as a reserve deputy in the late 1990s before serving as a part-time deputy. After earning a bachelor’s degree, he pursued full-time law enforcement and eventually joined
Catherine Couture For The Sentinel
Tony Warren
Warren campaign website
the Bingen-White Salmon Police Department, where he worked as both a patrol officer and detective before moving to the Klickitat County Sheriff’s Office. Although he originally came to the area for work, Warren said he quickly grew attached to the community. He began working in White Salmon in 2008 and moved there permanently in 2009. Reflecting on the move, he said, “I’ve lived in White Salmon since I moved here in 2009. I raised my kids here in White Salmon, so I’ve
See Warren page B4
Dwayne Matulovich, former full-time law enforcement officer for the Klickitat County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) and currently a foreman for the BNSF Railway, is running for election in the race for Klickitat County Sheriff. During a recent interview, Dwayne discussed his passion for law enforcement, his connection to the community, and the goals he hopes to pursue if elected in the upcoming general election. Matulovich has been with the BNSF Railway since his departure from the KCSO in 2023. He Matulovich campaign photo currently acts as welding foreDwayne Matulovich man and also serves as a volunteer firefighter with Rural Seven, which helped fight flames while minoring in law enforceduring this last fire season. “I ment and worked as a firefightwas actually on the Burdoin er for the Department of Natural Fire,” he says. “I was there when Resources to pay for classes. “I it jumped the river, and we were started as your normal firesaving the houses. I was on a fighter,” he states. “I went to the crew there that worked either next level of class, then I went to 14 or 16 hours straight fighting their Engine Leader Academy to the fire.” become an engine leader. I just Matulovich spent much of continued to progress and learn, his youth working with the and better serve the community community he lived in, having and the job that I was in.” been a volunteer firefighter for His career in law enforceFire District One’s community ment began in 2004 with the from ages 16 to 22. In college he Bingen-White Salmon Police Demajored in exercise physiology See Dwayne page B4
More data centers possible for county Lorrie Fox For The Sentinel The Sentinel has learned that three separate large-load electrical projects are being considered in Klickitat County, including a proposed data center and two additional projects with potential data-center connections. Together, the three projects represent 2,078 megawatts of proposed electrical load. The projects are identified in the Bonneville Power Administration’s (BPA) transmission interconnection queue as Energizer Data Center (L0493), Energizer II (L0702), and Vines Rest (L0704). The three requests are separate projects, with proposed electrical loads of 78 megawatts, 1,000 megawatts and 1,000 megawatts respectively. The projects add to the growing number of large-load proposals in the county, including the Dallesport Data Center, first reported by the Sentinel, and the Lakeside Industries data center proposal, as recently reported by Columbia
Gorge News. Energizer Data Center The Energizer Data Center is proposed along Hoctor Road in the Columbia Hills area, on or near property owned by 101 Bar Ranches LLC, associated with the Callan family. The project is identified as L0493 in the BPA transmission interconnection queue. It is as a large-load request that was submitted June 29, 2021, with a maximum summer and winter electrical load of 78 megawatts. The project is currently listed as “In Progress,” and the Facility Study has been completed. Its point of interconnection is the KPUD Energizer Substation. Energizer II Energizer II is proposed on property owned by 101 Bar Ranches LLC, associated with the Callan family, between Chamberlain Goodnoe Road and Goodnoe Hills Road and bordered by Goldendale Goodnoe Hills Road. The project is identified as L0702 in the BPA transmission interconnection queue and has a
proposed electrical load of 1,000 megawatts. The project is currently listed as “In Progress” and is in the initiation and planning phase, with a sub-phase of scoping. According to KPUD Commissioner Dan Gunkle, a presentation by representatives of the Energizer project left open the possibility of a data center, an AI center or both, as the project remains in the due diligence and feasibility stage. Gunkle said large power consumers have been required by the utility to bring their own power to the county for about seven years. “So, in order for a large power consumer to come to Klickitat County at the utility side of it, they would have to bring their own power to the county,” Gunkle said. “And they have to get in line because Bonneville is the transmission corridor. It’s called a queue.” Gunkle said the PUD does not own the generation facilities or the energy that will serve these projects. “The PUD will not own the gen-
Old fruit practice meets the future Lou Marzeles Editor There is something decidedly old-fashioned about the way Gunkel Orchards grows fruit near Maryhill. Wait. Wait some more. And when a cherry or peach has finally reached the point when it tastes the way fruit is supposed to taste, pick it. But follow those cherries from the trees into Gunkel’s packing operation, and suddenly the 1930s give way to the 21st century. Today, cherries travel along conveyor belts through a sophisticated electronic sorting system. Cameras examine individual pieces of fruit. Computerized equipment evaluates such things as size, color, softness, mass, and imperfections, then sends the cherries where they belong. It is an intriguing marriage of agricultural traditions separated by nearly a century: fruit allowed to ripen on the tree, picked by hand—then scrutinized by technology sophisticated enough to
Lou Marzeles
AI CHECKS THE FRUIT: Susana Markowicz at Gunkel Orchards points to a picture of a peach as the fruit is carried on a conveyor belt past multiple cameras. The camera take pictures of the fruit that are then analyzed instantly by AI to detect flaws. make decisions about individual cherries. That combination may help explain how a family farm founded in 1936 became a roughly 300-acre growing, packing, and marketing operation whose fruit has traveled from Maryhill to grocery stores throughout the Pacific Northwest and, at least historically, as far away as Canada and Asia. And it began with a family that arrived here more than a century ago. The Gunkel family’s history in
Maryhill reaches back to the early 1900s, when Dan Gunkel’s grandfather came to the United States from Austria and the family settled along the Columbia River. The operation that became Gunkel Orchards was founded in 1936 by Daniel Gunkel. What began as a relatively small family farm expanded gradually as the Gunkels acquired additional suitable land and planted more fruit trees. It was agriculture on a very different scale from today’s operation. Family members supplied much of the labor themselves.
eration facilities. The PUD actually won’t own the energy that flows to them because they use so much power. It is a very big number,” he said. “We will simply charge them a fee to use our system to operate here.” Gunkle also said the state’s energy policies affect the type of power large-load projects can use. “So, the only form of energy that’s acceptable in the future to meet the policy goals of the state is zero carbon,” he said. He said large data centers are exploring potential power sources, including gas and nuclear generation, as well as whether those options can be incorporated into the Bonneville system at a cost that makes the projects economically feasible. Vines Rest Vines Rest is a separate largeload project proposed on property east of Alderdale owned by Columbia Ridge Orchards LLC, associated with the Mercer family. The site is near existing electrical infrastructure and is roughly bordered by Columbia Ridge Road to
See Data page B4 As acreage increased, so did the infrastructure. Eventually there was enough fruit to warrant the family’s own warehouse and packing lines. The business became Gunkel Orchards Inc. in 1993, with brothers Dan and Ron Gunkel serving as directors. Their parents structured their estate with an explicit objective: keeping the farm intact and in the family. It worked. Dan and Ron became the third generation to operate the business, and more recent accounts describe Gunkel Orchards as a fourth-generation family farm. A 2017 Washington State University report offered a rare look behind the scenes. At that time, Gunkel Orchards was producing fruit on approximately 300 acres, growing sweet cherries, apricots, nectarines, peaches, and wine grapes. The operation included multiple orchard sites rather than one uninterrupted tract of land. One thing, however, appears to have remained central to the business: Gunkel wants its fruit ripe. The supermarket can wait Commercial fruit growing presents an inherent problem. Fruit ripens according to nature’s schedule. Warehouses, trucks, and supermarkets operate according to human schedules. The two don’t necessarily agree. Large packing operations need fruit flowing steadily through their facilities, and growers can face pressure to harvest as soon
See Orchard page B1
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Public Works head says department needs ‘culture change’ Rodger Nichols For The Sentinel
Klickitat County Commissioners had four major issues on the August 25 agenda afternoon session and went 50/50 on them, passing two and postponing two for more citizen input. The Dallesport wastewater rate increase hearing was continued from last Tuesday’s evening meeting in Dallesport. Oral testimony ended that evening, and though the written record was held open until last Friday, there were no written submissions. The 10 percent increase in rates and the rounding up of the hookup fee to $6,000 passed unanimously. The other vote that went through was a six-month extension of the moratorium on battery energy storage systems (BESS). Planning Director Scott Edelman believes that a full-scale ordinance will be ready before this moratorium arrives. Right now, he said, he’s waiting for the comments from an outside consulting council to draft ordinance language. “The proposal is to extend the moratorium to March 4,” Edelman said, “and I think we have the commitment, both from the attorney and the planning commission, to get that done and get that to you, I would say January, February, at the absolute latest.” Again, the vote was unanimous. Edelman mentioned that the planning commission was ready to take up a proposal to reduce the energy overlay zone, but he had a clarification. “I think it’s real important to make it known to the public that the proposed reduction to the energy overlay zone is only for solar. Wind would still be allowed in the entire energy overlay zone. Battery energy storage systems would still be allowed anywhere in the county; it’d be conditional use there.” The first of the two postponements came with the proposal to change the ordinance on RV parks. There would be a number of changes, including removing the 60-day stay limit, to make them available for workforce housing. Between incoming solar, wind and pumped storage projects, as many as 2,500 workers would be looking for housing in the coming years. But the Prosecuting Attorney said several areas of the proposed ordinance needed modification, and several citizens testified more time was needed, and the hearing was postponed until September 15. And finally, there was a public meeting, which means no testimony was taken on changes to the additional dwelling units (ADUs). There were some aspects to the planning commission proposal that could be used to turn the ADUs into short-term rentals, among other things, and commissioners decided to open up the subject to public testimony with a public hearing on September 22. The morning session featured some good news from Public Works Director Jeff Hunter: “We secured the other $3.4 million for Bickleton Highway phase two,” he said. “We got to give the group the kudos. We were the only county to get that. WSDOT gave it to us because we have a history of delivering projects. That brings the total for Bickleton to $7 million, which will finish the Bickleton project, all 7.4 miles.” The county also received a $240,000 grant for the sidewalk
See County page A2