HEADLINES & HISTORY SINCE 1879
Goldendale, Washington
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2023
Vol. 144 No. 36
$1.00
Can the meter invade your home? KPUD’s new advanced meters spark privacy, safety concerns ZACHARY VILLAR FOR THE SENTINEL
As the Klickitat Public Utility District begins rolling out the Advanced Metering Infrastructure project, there are some in the community who have doubts and concerns about the endeavor. They are worried that the new advanced meters will violate their privacy and possibly threaten their safety. KPUD General Manager Jim Smith hopes they can assuage these concerns t h r o u g h open communication. He says his goal is not to to change people’s opinions but to provide the PUD’s 15,000 customers with accurate information. “Do we care about what everybody thinks? Of course,” says Smith. “My goal is never to change anybody’s mind. It’s to put the information out. What the [KPUD Board of] Commissioners are concerned about is, are we looking after the needs and the desires of the majority of the folks in the county, because that’s all you can do. That’s what
we’re trying to do.” The KPUD is governed by a three-member board of commissioners elected by the citizens of Klickitat County. Each commissioner represents a different district of the county and serves a six-year term. The advanced meters will be able to transmit your electrical usage information remotely so customers will not have to either read their own meters or have KPUD employee sent out to check their meter. Currently, if that information is not provided to the KPUD on a routine basis; they have to estimate your monthly electricity usage. KPUD Customer and Accounting Services Supervisor Brandy Myers said that they receive more complaints about this outdated system than they do about the incoming advanced meters. She mentions issues such as those new to the county not expecting to have someone come onto their property to read their meters, or customers who have had their power usage estimated for several months
suddenly being hit with a large power bill and not understanding why. “We have far more, ‘Why is my bill so high? Why are you estimating?’, versus those that are opposing AMI,” Myers says. She states the discussion about advanced meters has been going on for 20 years. Smith, who worked for the KPUD as engineering manager before becoming general manager, initially resisted managerial interest in advanced meters 15 years ago because he didn’t believe it was economical. “So why we haven’t done it till now is actually me,” he says. The first step of the new AMI project is to install new meters for all houses that get power from the KPUD. Even if you choose to opt out of having your electrical usage information communicated directly to the KPUD every fifteen minutes as the new advanced meters will do, you will still have a new meter installed at your house that will require an employee from the KPUD to come out and download that information from it. So why are they making this change now? According to Smith, KPUD has doubled the number of customers on its power grid in the last three years. “We doubled our connects with folks who want us to supply
See Meters page A8
KELLY HALL
MOONSHINE: This was taken minutes after moonrise last Thursday as the rare blue moon/super moon appeared. This time exposure shot makes the moon seem to light up the sky more than it actually did, but not by much. See a stunning close-up from the Goldendale Observatory of the super moon on page B1.
Bickleton Community Day a crowd pleaser
ZACHARY VILLAR
SMALL TOWN CELEBRATION: Bickleton shared love of community and small-town life this past weekend as neighbors, friends, and visitors enjoyed a perfect day. People shopped for crafts and goodies on the street, enjoyed the colorful car show, checked out the horses at the Carousel Museum, and mingled in the sunshine.
Opiod crisis focus of town hall meeting ZACHARY VILLAR FOR THE SENTINEL Klickitat Valley Health held its EndOverdose town hall meeting on August 31, International Opioid Overdose Awareness Day, at the Goldendale Grange. The town hall consisted of several speakers from the community discussing personal experiences and local programs that exist to help deal with the problem of opioid addiction. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Washington was one of two states that saw the highest percentage increase in overdose deaths in 2022, the other being Wyoming. The town hall began with a candlelight vigil where people were invited to light a candle in honor of someone lost to overdose. Those remembered during the vigil ranged from family members to celebrities like Tom Petty who died of opioid overdose in
2017. First to speak was Cecelia Kilgore of Goldendale who lost her son James Kilgore to opioid overdose in 2018. She began crying as she took the podium to speak. Kilgore said that her eldest son came from a very normal, loving family, was involved in sports during his school years, was an incredibly conscientious student, and was known to be a very kind and accepting person. She said he was introduced to opioids when he had his wisdom teeth removed in high school. “He told me at that time that the medication made him feel good,” said Kilgore. “It was a different type of feeling good. He did not finish the prescription because once his pain subsided, I didn’t give him any more, and he didn’t ask for it.” Kilgore’s eldest son attended the University of Oregon until dropping out temporarily to come
ZACHARY VILLAR
HONORING: At Thursday’s KVH-led EndOverdose town hall meeting, a display commemorating opiod overdose victims allowed space for people to light candles honoring those who lost their lives in the epidemic. home and help his father run a new woodworking business. It was during this time that he began taking OxyContin. The drug OxyContin is a sustained-release oxycodone preparation that was introduced by Purdue Pharma in 1996. They marketed the drug aggressively, spending an unprecedented amount of money on its promo-
tion. According to an article from the National Library of Medicine, the high availability of OxyContin correlated with increased abuse, diversion, and addiction, and by 2004 OxyContin had become a leading drug of abuse in the United States. According to statistics from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, drug overdose deaths involving prescrip-
tion opioids (such as OxyContin) rose from 3,442 in 1999 to 17,029 in 2017. “He had no idea it was addictive,” said Kilgore. Her son had a fractured spine from a football injury, and he was given OxyContin from a high school friend he didn’t know was addicted to the medication. Kilgore said her son was only taking the drug for a short time before he came to her and told her he was addicted. “My first reaction was, ‘What are you talking about addiction? Addicted to what?’,” said Kilgore. She said it was difficult at that time to find information about oxycodone addiction. James Kilgore began taking Suboxone, a prescription medicine used to treat opioid addiction, and told his parents that he never wanted to use painkillers again. “James was very ashamed of what happened to him. He didn’t want anyone to know he became addicted to pain medication.” He did tell some of his close friends, though, who were very supportive and said anytime he was struggling he could reach out to them for help. But despite that support from friends and family,
See Opiod page B4