Tis the Season to be Fall-y, part 1

The crush is on at the wineries. Not a great year for grapes, but never fear, there will be wine.

Leaves are turning, air is crisp, but not clear and clean. It's that time of year: the lifting of the BURN BAN! Everyone and his cousin are out burning the brush that has been accumulating all summer. Makes for some smokey air days that make the Dollar Fire smoke look like small change. I've stocked up on eye drops, and am thankful I don't have breathing issues.

It's also election time. The off year elections put local politics on full display, for better or worse. Tuesday night's White Salmon Candidates Night did not disappoint. There were only about 100 people in attendance, but it was a pretty good crowd. It will be interesting to see how it gets written up in the local paper next week.

It's always good to see candidates in person if you can. To see how they present themselves and interact with the audience and the other candidates. Paper bios don't tell the whole story.

The contenders were for School Board, Fire District 3 Commissioner, Port Commission, City Council, and Mayor. Since this will probably get too long, I'll save discussion of the most entertaining (City Council and Mayor) for next entry.

Two contested seats are up for School Board. As I don't have kids in schools any more, and never had them in school here, I don't know much about the history of the school board. The incumbents seem to be good folk who have done a good job. Tom Stevenson is a long serving incumbent whose kids are now grown. He obviously is very proud of the school district and his dedicated service. Jeffrey Cooper is the other incumbent running for reelection. The challengers have young kids in school, are involved in the classrooms and the sports fields as well as employed by the high tech industries in the area (Insitu and Google). Both have set up websites to give voters more information about them, and their visions for the future of the district. Eric Shank is a former educator who helps out in the classroom and with the band/orchestra in his spare time. Dave Karlson, a former tech director for public schools, has championed Robotics in area schools with great success. I think people were impressed. I was.

The two contested Fire District seats had one challenger and one incumbent show up. The incumbent for one seat and challenger for the other did not, unfortunately. Those two share signs around town and are running as a package deal, I guess. Both candidates who did appear were well spoken and very competent. I have met them both before, but have had direct 'fire' experience with the incumbent. Jim Hulbert has spearheaded a community education program that assesses wildfire risk for property owners along the bluffs. He came to our house at no charge and showed us what we were doing right and where we needed to improve our chances, should a fire rush up the wooded slope from 141A. He's a retired forest service guy and I believe he deserves to be reelected. The awkward thing about the race is that both he and the challenger for the other seat, Nancy Sliwa, live in the same outskirts of White Salmon neighborhood. The other two, Riggleman and Zoller, are many generation residents of the rural area. I really wish they'd shown up. I would have like to hear what they had to say. None of them has any info in the Voter's Guide.

Port Commission has an 18 year incumbent, Wayne Vineyard, versus a relative newcomer, Cheryl Park, a friend of mine with excellent business, management and communication skills. People are frustrated with the Port and its inaction or painfully slow action on vital projects. Hard to say how this one will go. Both are very well spoken and intelligent. Unfortunately, the challenger's bio and statement did not appear in the online voter's guide.

I'm waiting for my copy of the Enterprise before I write about the city council and mayor races later today. Stay tuned. It's a doozy of a small town drama.