Becky Schertenleib Nan Wimmers

"Cowboy Boots & Country Roots"
Wasco County Fair, August 19-22


Have a friendly competition with your neighbors in exhibiting your produce,"get ether" after harvest is over and take a look at the very latest in the equipment line.

Dates and Events to remember:
*Farmers Fun Day, Aug. 19
*Antiques RoadShow, Aug. 19
*Zac Grooms & Unwound, Aug. 20
*Donkey Race, Aug. 20 & 21
*Run & Walk, Aug. 21
*Coyote Creek Band, Aug. 21
*Demolition Derby, Aug. 22
*Safeway's Free Breakfast, Aug. 22
*2010 The Great Oregon Grill

For a complete Event Guide, visit: Wasco County Oregon

Riding the Ghost Rails: Historic Railroads of Wasco County
August 16, 23 & 30, at the Discovery Center


Local historian/storyteller Jerry Tanquist will offer three audio-visual programs for history enthusiasts on the constant movement of trains against the landscape on Mondays at 1PM featuring: "The Great Southern Railroad" (August 16th),"Railroad Stories Along the Deschutes" (August 23rd), and "The Portage Railroads & the Celilo Canal" (August 30th).

Jerry grew up "at the end of the line" in a small prairie town, and remembers watching trains at the switch- back with his mother, the day an engineer invited him to ride with him into the roundhouse. He first began researching railroads in '95, when he and wife Betsy Johnson begin to find evidence of tracks cutting through their property in The Dalles. Their neighbor on Fifteen Mile Road, Jack Kaiser, said "That used to be the Great Southern," and Tanquist's hobby was born. The Great Southern Railroad was built in 1905 from The Dalles to Dufur, and then on to Friend. John Heimrich had a dream of laying rails from the Columbia River all the way to San Francisco, thus the name "The GREAT Southern." Jerry has a wealth of stories about the people who lived along the route, and its history from beginning till end, in 1936. He even picked up a rare pair of Great Southern tickets at a swap meet, currently on display at the Discovery Center.

Many people have donated ghostly photos and oral histories to his collection. He claims "the best stories come from railroad retirees," who have experienced everything from the rails, like mentor Gary Conley, formerly of Union Pacific. "Railroad Stories along the Deschutes" offers new episodes of the fierce competition between railroad tycoons J. Hill and E. Harriman; the Stand Off between their forces at the Fred Girt place; a shooting at Oak Brook, the water cistern tale of Tuscam, and the building of the Crooked River Bridge.

"The Portage Railroads and the Celilo Canal," tells of lines constructed with the purpose of making river traffic possible around Celilo Falls from 1863 on, including one built in 1905 to serve as a shuttle for river traffic during the construction of the Celilo Canal, until 1957.

Two decades after the Oregon Trail brought pioneers to The Dalles in 1843, the railroads opened the area up from the ocean to the tri-cities area. We still depend on railroads for freight, and they are a great, environmentally friendly way move people," states Tanquist. No other form of travel is as social or scenic, and trains are an enduring part of the romance and history of the Gorge.

The Discovery Center and Wasco County Historical Museum is the official interpretive center for the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, located off 1-84 at exit 82, 5000 Discovery Drive, The Dalles, OR - (541) 296-8600 or visit www.gorgediscovery.org

Open daily from 9AM-5PM. Adult admission is $8 and $7 for Seniors.

Rymmel Lovell shares research
Sunday, August 15, 2PM

Wasco County Historical Society invites the public and its members to the Rorick House, 300 W. 13th St. in The Dalles, Sunday the 15th, 2:00 p.m., to hear Rymmel Lovell share her extensive research into the interesting history of The Dalles' UCC Congregational Church.

FREE event with refreshments offered.

Visit the 1850 Rorick House, the oldest surviving home in the city, which serves as the head-quarters for the WCHS.

Neon Cruise - Friday

The weekend starts off on Friday night with a "Neon Cruise" at 8PM as participants "cruise the gut" in downtown The Dalles.

Registration begins at 5PM at Burgerville USA located in downtown The Dalles at 118 W. Third Street.

Show in the Shade - Saturday

Hosted in a beautiful park setting on the grass and under the trees at local Sorosis Park, followed by Drag races. Registration begins at 9AM at Sorosis Park.

Dallesport Drags - Sunday
Round out the weekend on Sunday, across the river at The Dalles Airport.
Event will start at 10AM.

Dufur Threshing Bee - Sunday
One can also take part in the Threshing Bee Car Show at Dufur Park, 13 miles south of The Dalles, starting at 9AM.

For more information click on: Cruise the Gorge

Makani Power topic of technology series July 27

On Tuesday, July 27, the Gorge Technology Alliance will host a presentation on the latest developments in harnessing wind power by Corwin Hardham, PhD and CEO of Makani Power.
The event begins at 7 p.m. at Erin Glenn Winery in The Mint, 710 E. Second St. in The Dalles). The Gorge Tech Alliance received a Google grant to support its Leading Edge of Technology speakers series, making this event free for everyone to attend.
Clean, abundant energy is the key to maintaining our quality of life while preserving our natural environment. This requires enormous amounts of energy from renewable resources which is proving to be one of the most fascinating engineering challenges of our time.
Makani Power is developing a game-changing solution which can deliver energy at a fraction of the cost of established renewable energy technologies. Once matured, the scalability and flexibility of this technology will enable it to be deployed more rapidly and in a greater number of sites than conventional wind or solar energy.
Hardham will review the background that led Makani to focus on airborne wind energy and provide a detailed presentation of the Makani technology. For additional information visit www.makanipower.com.
The Gorge Technology Alliance seeks to promote the technology business sector of the Gorge by helping start, grow, expand, and sustain high-tech companies. It meets regularly and provides networking opportunities with learning events about technology business resources in the area.

Oregon's first-in-the-nation environmental plan for recycling paint started on Wednesday, July 1, affecting retailers and customers across the state. The PaintCare "product stewardship" plan makes paint manufacturers more financially responsible for managing products at the end of their useful life, rather than relying on local governments to manage waste disposal programs. The paint recycling program was passed by the Legislature in 2009.

Customers purchasing paint will pay a surcharge or "recovery fee" ranging from 75 cents on gallon of paint to $1.60 for more than one gallon up to 5 gallons. This fee, as well as funding from paint manufacturers, will pay for a statewide system to collect paint for recycling. Good quality latex paint will be remixed for retail sale through the MetroPaint recycling facility in Portland. Other leftover paint will be used as cement filler or burned for fuel; these recycling and reuse actions keep material out of landfills and reduce paint waste.

Households and businesses will be able to dispose of leftover latex and oil-based paints at no charge at participating paint retailers as well as local government hazardous waste collections. Without such programs, leftover paint ends up dumped in landfills, down the drain, or stays in storage for years. The new PaintCare program will give everyone the chance to properly dispose of old paint for free. For more information, visit www.paintcare.org.

Locally, the TriCounty Hazardous Waste & Recycling Program will be able to expand its program to collect latex paint, which was not collected previously. Cindy Brown, coordinator, explained that the TriCounty program uses public monies, so has focused on collecting the most toxic chemicals. "Latex paint is a disposal problem but not toxic. Once it is dried out, it can be put in your regular trash. But with the new PaintCare program, we can now dispose of latex paint for free, which helps people get rid of paint especially larger containers."

Sawyer's TrueValue in The Dalles will soon become a PaintCare collection site, as manager Jared Sawyer stated they were receiving the collection bins in the next few weeks. They are currently in the process of updating their computers for all affected paint products, and have the new PaintCare information materials at their counter. Tanya Tyler, paint manager, said customer reaction to the surcharge fee has been mixed. "Some people think it's just another tax, or another way for the government to get our money. ..some contractors and painters feel like it's a tax that they didn't get to vote on."

TriCounty Hazardous Waste Collection Events --- free to households and small businesses. Held the third Friday-Saturday of each month. Next dates: Friday, July 16 9am-2pm at Hood River Garbage, 3440 Guignard Drive in Hood River. Saturday, July 17 9am-2pm at The Dalles Disposal, 1317 W First St in The Dalles. For more information, visit www.tricountyrecycle.com, or contact the TriCounty Hazardous Waste & Recycling Program at 541-506-2636.