COMMUNITY NEWS

April 2002

Once again Lyleites respond when asked to attend meetings concerning the urban property boundaries of Lyle! Approximately seventy-five (75) citizens attended the Lyle Community Action Council meeting last Monday night to hear the latest proposal by Trust for Public Land for Lyle Point.  County Commissioner Joan Frey read a letter the County had received requesting that the county work with TPL and remove the overlay so that the land could be taken off the tax rolls. If the county would do this, TPL would “maybe put in a playground for children, would try to sell it to someone who MIGHT pay the taxes, etc.”

Bill Schmitt, Lyle District School Board Chairman spoke and explained how this tax loss would effect the taxes the citizens of Lyle would have to pay on existing school levies. Janis Sauter, Vice Chair of Gorge Reality showed how the Urban boundaries of Lyle have been shrunk by this purchase and other purchases by members of the Friends of The Gorge, Nancy Russell, Forest Service, Nature Conservancy, Army Corps of Engineers, and the Wild and Scenic River Act. After much discussion and commentary a vote was taken of those attending to see how they felt about the land coming off the tax rolls.  Sixty-seven (67) voted that they want the county to find some way to keep the property of Lyle Point on the tax rolls.

The next Lyle Community Action Council Meeting will be held on Tuesday May 28^th due to the Memorial Day Holiday. Virginia Kelly from the Forest Service will tentatively be in attendance to address their plans for the “Starr Property”.  Indications are that they are ready to move forward on developing this property into a day park.

The Sundowners Good Sam’s met at Tygh Valley Fair grounds last month with eleven rigs. There were 3 couples that attended from the White Salmon Good Sam club. They were Jim & Tina Anderson, Pete & Beth Yarnell and Leland & Arlene Brausell.  The next camp out will be the weekend of May 10 – 12 at Beacon Rock Resort.

Dallesport elementary School will hold its Spring Carnival and Bingo on Saturday May 4^th from 11:00 to 2:00 p.m.  Come and join in the fun!  This year’s theme is “Red, White, and Hullablue.” It should be fun for kids of all ages. The Dallesport classrooms have again put together beautiful gift baskets to be sold during the carnival in a silent auction.  This year’s baskets are decorative wooden wishing wells made by Mr. Huffman and Mr. Cliff that have been filled with all kinds of fun items. The annual Bingo game, which takes place in the lunchroom during the carnival, promises to also be exciting and fun!

Lyle History: As published in the Ruralite September 1974.

“That Tim Wall is the diggin’-est gopher I ever saw,” said PUD manager, Emmet Clouse.  “He’s small, but he’s mighty strong. Why, when he was digging in a deep hole, that dirt would keep flying up over the edge so fast and so regular you’d think it was from some automated machinery.”  Says Tim, “ well, I just believe if you’re hired and paid to do a job, then you should do it right and fast. This idea of folks just loafing along on a job makes me mad. Why, once it took a crew of three over two weeks to dig eight holes. And I dug 10 holes, six feet deep, in four hours all by myself!”

The best way to get even is to forget!

The Dan Frey’s had a calf killed by two large dogs last week.  This is a friendly reminder to those with dogs; you are responsible for any damage your dogs cause to livestock Owners should beware of where and what their animals are doing at all times. 

There is a Celebration of ONENESS, a free Italian Unity dinner, April 28, 2002 at the Lyle Lions Club at 6:00 p.m.  Call 509-365-6884 for more information. 

The Council wants to give the town of Lyle and the following a big thanks for this year’s successful Annual Spring Clean Up. Rabanco, Tri-County Disposal, Steve Crow and his Juvenal crew, John Currie from J.C. Appliances in Goldendale, Lyle School District for allowing us to use the bus yard. A special thank you to the three B’s, Buster, Brad, and Bill.  Also the following LCAC and Lions Club members, Don Brashers, Terry Mills, Darla Brashers, Jim Rutledge, Pam Essley, Glenda Lovejoy, Peter Lovejoy, Peyt Turner, Barbara Sexton and Joy Collins. Thanks to Jim Curl for the loan of the cream can for donations and Patty Elkins for the food and drink.  If we missed thanking anyone, just remember how tired we were when we made out this list and forgive us.  THANKS!!! Another year with six (6) dumpsters of trash leaving the community of Lyle!!!! 

Lyle History: As published in the Ruralite September 1974.

“I tell you if we had more teachers like her nowadays there wouldn’t be all this monkey business going on in schools,” said Tim.  “When we played hooky she was big and strong enough to give us a good licking – and she did! I’ll never forget when she picked up a checkrein from the livery stable near by, and snapped it around my ankles.” 

Tim was only able to stay in school thru the 4^th grade.  He well remembers driving cattle and pigs to market in The Dalles.  When he was seventeen he started working on the SP&S bridge repair gang.  And he’s had the reputation ever since of being a hard worker, and a fast one.  

At one time he was “powder man” for Claude Knight who was sub-contracted to the PUD when it was putting in lines all over Klickitat County.  “When you’re putting up poles on solid rock there’s no way but to blast with dynamite. But you couldn’t beat me with a shovel, either,” said Tim. 

You'll notice that a turtle only makes progress when it sticks out its neck . . . .

We would like to see a packed house at the next meeting of the Lyle Community Action Council. The meeting is Monday April 22, 2002 at 7 P.M. at the Lyle Lions Community Center. Joan Frey County Commissioner, Bill Schmitt, and Janis Sauter will be speaking on the latest developments concerning the Lyle Point and Trust For Public Land.  This meeting will be an informative meeting so that the county can hear from the citizens of Lyle concerning the Point. It’s very important that you attend and voice your opinions.

If you haven’t visited the new Lyle Web site please do. Pam Essley has done a wonderful job and we can be proud of this informative site. http://community.gorge.net/lyle/  or go to Gorge Net and look under Communities. Pam is also hard at work on the phone tree for the disaster plan and may be calling upon some of you to be listed on the tree. Pam is on the advisory board for the Community Action Council and is really helping get these two projects up and running. Thanks to all who have spent so many hours working on the formulation of this plan.

March crime stats are as follows:

Disorderly conduct 1, driving while suspended 2, trespass 1, fire 1, warrant arrest 1, agency assist 4, motor vehicle accident-injury 1, assault 1, burglary 1, 911 hang-up 3, suspicious circumstances 3, malicious mischief’s 3, domestic dispute 1.  Twenty-three calls to Lyle. Come on guys that’s too many!

We have had several calls over the past two weeks concerning the contents of this column, both supportive and critical. We welcome
both as it shows this column is being read. For that we thank you. We would hope that when you have news or information that needs to be gotten out to Lyle that you would let us know about that as well. We have fun doing this and feel that just maybe we are contributing a service to the residents of Lyle. We thank you for this opportunity.

Just a reminder:

Cemetery Clean up is scheduled for May 18^th.  More information will follow.

Grand opening for “Bottoms Up Espresso” is looking like the middle of May.

Grand opening for the handicap ramp at the Methodist Church should be in late May or early June.

 The chip Site is open.

Lyle History: As published in the Ruralite September 1974.

One moonlit night another drunk, mistaking his own shadow for a lurking enemy, accidentally rushed off the bank into the river.  His yells for help woke Gus Haleburg over on the Oregon  shore, who rowed over and pulled him out.

The one-room school house where Tim and Frank Bradford were school boys in 1907 or so was located just across the road from where Tim’s house now stands. (Note:2002- this is the only house still standing on Lyle Point.) According to Tim and Frank, their teacher, Anna Mulligan, was quite a person.

Leonardo da Vinci could write with one hand and draw with the other at the same time.

The Annual Lyle Spring Clean-Up is Friday, April 12th and Saturday, April 13th!

The dumpsters will be at the bus garage all day Friday and Saturday.  The hours are 9 to 5 both days.  The items that we will be able to accept are:  clean vegetation, household appliances, vacuums, kitchen appliances, and for a fee, refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners and microwaves.  No hazardous materials, liquid paints, cleaning supplies, aerosol cans with contents, oil, batteries, and no tires.

In coordination with the Sheriffs department, the Lyle Community Action Council is close to having a complete plan for our area in the event of a disaster.  The most important part involves notification of local people.  This will be done by a telephone tree in which there are specific people that will receive notification from the Sheriff, which will start the chain of calls to our citizenry. 

Volunteers are needed to be callers to get this tree in order.  There are a lot of new people in the community and we need your names and phone numbers.  Please call Pam Essley at 365-4673 with any new information or if you can help with this project.  We will be having a trial telephone calling to see if the system works.  More information to follow. 

Lyle had six medical calls and one fire call for the month of March. 

“Bottoms Up Espresso” is progressing rapidly towards a middle of May opening.  We’re really excited about this new addition to Lyle’s business community and look forward to an early morning caffeine break. 

As with all new businesses, glitches sometimes occur and if you haven’t received last week's copy of The Klickitat County Monitor, that was one of them.  Delivery problems should be resolved by this publication.  Let’s show Lyle support for these new businesses in town.

Just a reminder:  The Chip Site is open for Spring.  Lots of chips are bagged and ready for you to pick up.  Thanks to Klickitat County for maintaining this facility, and to the citizens for using it properly.

Lyle History: As published in the Ruralite September 1974.

Tim was a small boy when he came to Lyle in 1901.  His mother cooked for the railroad  crew which included many white-turbaned Hindus, Orientals, and Austrian immigrants.  They were building the Goldendale branch of the SP&S railroad.

There were three saloons in those days, and Tim still rocks with big guffaws as he recalls the fellow who had “one too many” and tumbled into the “one-holer.”  The Sheriff rescued him and then hauled him down to the river to soak a while.

Age is very high price to pay for maturity.

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